Everyone - Left alone
Faylin walked over casually to the young man and jumped up on a casket that sat for what seemed for decorative purposes at the end of the corridor. "You need some help?" he said with a chuckle at the werewolf still clutching his bruised leg. The blonde quickly however regained a manly pose "Psh nope I'll get it." His voice held tension in it that Faylin had never once heard in the cheerful blonde before. Faylin fought for words to say to end the silence between them but his efforts weren't working out nearly as well as he was hoping. "Move." Salem said bluntly, Faylin jumped at the command but did as he was told and got off of the casket. Salem then smacked the roof of the corpse bed and the lid snapped to pieces underneath his keyblade to reveal a hidden stairwell. "Umm is destroying public property such a great idea?" Faylin asked as he looked down the unwelcoming steps. "psh you would know a lot about that now wouldn't you." The boy said as he began to descend down the stairs fearlessly. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" "Just forget it; I don't wanna talk about it." However Salem's path was soon blocked as Faylin flashed in front of him. "Do you have a problem with me or something?" Faylin said, keeping a calm tone but the irritation in his face made it clear he wasn't playing around with the keyblader. Salem's sea green eyes grew wide with shock at the sudden outburst but were soon replaced with a stone like expression. "Maybe not with YOU, but that monster you've got stored in there." He said as he stabbed Faylin's chest aggressively. "Don't talk about things you don't understand boy." The stairwell grew extremely eerily as Faylin looked down at Salem. Almost towering over the young man in both height and power. A fire erupted into a roar from within Salem's already kindled spirit. "I don't understand?" He said as he pushed Faylin down a few stairs with a strength only possessed by one of the supernatural werewolf. His voice snarled as he spoke "I understand that when we first met you had a sense of honor, dignity, and I don't know…Justice about you. Even though you were a heartless there was good in you. You saved me and Gail from the unbirth when you didn't have to. You showed me there was good even in the darkest places. It's what kept Akira from killing innocent people and being consumed in her own darkness, that I know for sure by how she looked up to you. Even back at Twilight Town she followed your every step….but that guy back at the Islands? The one that attacked Riku with no mercy or regard for life? That wasn't the guy I looked up to as an equal. That was a heartless." "You don't know what all was going on you have no right to just assume!" Faylin fired back. The fire behind Salem's eyes simmered down, and he spoke with an unnervingly coldness in his voice. "That may be true. But I'm here to protect the people I care about. And if you give me reason to believe you're a threat? I won't hesitate to strike you down." He walked past Faylin casually.
Faylin took a deep breath as he tried to calm himself down. Ever since the bond he was having a harder time controlling his temper. A repercussion he would overcome, but that's not what was troubling him. Akira had been right, Salem was harboring a lot of anger towards him and maybe even more. Just like the rest of them he had seen and been through things that a 15 year old didn't deserve to experience. It was all too soon for him, and he didn't know how else to deal with these new emotions and fears spiraling in his head. He needed the extra hand, he needed Gail, Blare, Akira…even Faylin to steer him right. And losing control in front of the developing blonde wasn't the best way of doing that. Faylin had let him down along with everyone else, and he didn't realize just how much the group depended on him till Salem lashed out as he had. Blares words truly hit him as the memory came to his mind: I'm very much under the impression that you're the leader of the group, not Gail….Faylin shook his head and chuckled at himself. "I've got a lot of work to do." He said to himself. "What was that?" Salem said as he turned to Faylin, almost expecting the man to start something. But Faylin only smiled at the blonde. "I've got a lot of work to do in earning your faith back again." Salem's eyes grew wide with shock but was unable to respond to the comment, for Faylin had already walked past him now and opened the door to a new opening in this mysterious world.
The Iron Gate shrieked with pain as Blare pushed it open for the three of them. "Do you have any idea where they even went?" Blare asked as she eased her way through the doorway cautiously. Gail swiveled underneath the older woman's arm thanks to her small stature and began to lead the way. "Well I'm sure not too far, I mean honestly? How fast can a walking tub really get with three kids inside? Plus the fact that the legs themselves are so small in comparison." Blare's eyes widen with realization of Gail's logic "You raise a good point." She said with a chuckle. Akira's talons made a lurid clicking noise as she tried to catch up with the other two. "Would you keep it down Ms. Pigeon legs?" Blare said with a giggle as she teased the youngest of their group. "Hey it's not my fault." She said in a hushed tone, an attempt to make up for the noise her new anatomy was making. "Here just sit with me." Gail said as she sat upon her broom and used her magic to levitate the heartless on the broom with her. At first Akira fought off the magic, not liking not being in control of the situation. But once she sat upon the wooden means of transportation, her violent instinct dimed and she smiled at her female companions. "Thanks Gail, and even though yeah I could probably fly on my own." She pointed to the bat wings behind her that were now like the talons, a part of her genetic makeup. "But being lazy is cool too." She said with a giggle. "Hey I wanna be lazy too!" Blare whined from the ground. "Your already missing your chest cavity as it is, you're not carrying any extra wait like she is." Gail teased as she stuck her tongue out at the keyblader. "Yeah plus I'm younger than you so I'm not as strong." "You're a heartless though! You have double the amount of strength of me or Gail." Blare teased as she tugged gently on Akira's dangling leg. Akira went to give Blare a witty comeback but was quickly hushed by the white witch. The two instantly froze up as Gail hoped off her broom and looked around the corner to scan the area.
She thought she heard a voice but that notion seemed to be incorrect as she peered out into an empty square. The buildings all around were dark and gloomy like the rest of the world however their structure was almost, corrupt. Like darkness itself made the constructions twisted with fear. In the center of the plaza was a fountain; however the water glimmered with a shade of green that could only be replicated by slime. And in the center was a gruesome statue of a monster coming out of the murky water. The overall aura of the scene was frightening all together, however in a mischievous way. Similar to the feeling of watching a horror film and getting scared, yet enjoying the surprise and tension of the overall experience. Gail stepped out behind the corner and gracefully walked out into the center of the plaza. "Huh, I guess I was just imagining things." She said as she turned to face the other two. However their faces where white with fright and words were unable to pass through their frozen lips. "What?" Gail asked as she looked at them oddly, there was no one behind them causing this weird behavior. And there was no one in the plaza to speak of. It was then that she felt a cold breath of air on the neck of her naked skin. The witch slowly turned around to see skeleton staring her down maliciously. His grin stretched all the way across his face and his empty eye sockets were completely black and petrifying to look at. The skinned corpse had to be 7ft tall and wore a black suit to cover his skinny lanky body. Gail's breath caught in her chest as she tried to let out a scream but nothing came out. Her heart was racing at the sight and as her body shook with frights her vision darkened, and the poor girl lost consciousness right there in front of this terrifying creature before her.
"GAIL!" The girls said in unison as they watched their friend begin to descend. However right before she touched the ground the skeleton man stretched out his boney hand and grabbed her in midair "Woah now!" He said as he pulled her up. "Didn't mean to frighten her that badly." He chuckled as he help up the young witch by the shoulders. Her head drooped from slumber and her hat fell from her head gracefully. Blare summoned her keyblade and Akira snatched Gail from the corpse's grasp. However the man didn't seem threatened by the acts at all "I don't believe I've seen you three before. Welcome to Halloween Town, my name is Jack Skellington." He stepped out of the fountain and bowed gracefully before them. The reaction caught the two off guard; however Blare lowered her weapon slightly regardless of her own uncertainties. "Umm, hi…my name is Blare." She looked over at Akira "These are my friends, Akira and Gail." Jack looked down at the unconscious girl and held her hand. " I am so terribly sorry Akira for frightening you so bad." He said with deep concern in his boney structure. "Uh that's Gail, I'M Akira." She said with a smirk. Jack looked up sheepishly, "My bad…well did you guys come here to see the Halloween celebration here in Town?" He said, his grin taking up his whole face yet again, but more like a child at Christmas type of smile. The girls looked at one another, both beging for the other to know what to say to him. "Uh, yeah sure." Akira whispered uncomfortably. "Oh well that's too bad because we just finished an hour ago." "Aw man." Blare crossed her arms in disappointment and her keyblade vanished in a flash of light. "Oh a keyblade? I have a friend who uses one of those as well. A chap by the name of Sora, perhaps you have heard of him?" Blare laughed, "Of course I do, and he is one of my very close friends." Her teeth gleamed as she smiled. "Is that so? Well any friend of Sora's is a friend of mine. Anything you need you just ask." "Umm how about a place to put her." Gail was beginning to slip in Akira's arms. "Why of course! I was about to head to the doctor's anyway. I'm sure he has a place to set her." He said as he picked Gail up out of Akira's arms and began to lead the way. "If you were on the way to his house what were you doing in the fountain?" Blare asked. "The best time to do some high quality scaring is when its least expected. And what better time to do that than the day after Halloween." He said with a smile and continued to lead the small group to this mysterious doctor's house.
"Dr. Finklestein! Are you home?" Jack said as he shouted into the dark laboratory like house. The sound of breaking glass echoed throughout the bare walls. "Confound it….Yes Jack I'm here!" a grumpy old man shouted. The voice sounded like it came from upstairs so the group followed it in search of the doctor. Jack eased the door open with his leg "Everything okay in here doctor?" "No! I broke another beaker. Where that is blasted Sally I swear, she was supposed to find me some new glasses after those hoodlums crushed mine. Kids these days, simply no respect I tell you!" The group entered the room and to Blare and Akira's surprise the Dr. was even more creepy looking than Jack. The man was small in stature and sat in a wheel chair. His head was huge in comparison to the rest of his body and had bolts around it, as if his head were like a hatch to his brain. His eyes were tiny and black, and his mouth almost beak like. He work a lab coat and black gloves and was zooming around the lab to find materials to pick up the broken glass. "I'm sorry to hear that doctor but we kinda have a situation on our hands. This young girl needs a place to rest. Do you have a place she could stay for the time being?" Jack asked kindly. However Finklestein was still in a foul mood "Just set her down anywhere that won't be in my way." He said and swiveled around in his electric wheel chair back to whatever chemical experimentation he was conducting. Jack gently laid the sleeping Gail on a metal lab table where he hoped would be out of the way of him and went straight to business. "So I'm starting to plan a new Halloween for next year." "But Jack we go through this every year." The old man grumbled. "And every year it's missing something. I need something that will really curdle some blood. Chill bones to the core. Rid the skin with goose bumps!" he said getting motivated by his own words, but then slumped in depression. "But every year is lacking….perhaps I'm really not meant to be pumpkin king."
The Dr. swiveled back around to face the disheartened Jack. "That is absolutely absurd and you know it!" the old man punched the arm of his chair in outrage. "There is no one in this entire town that could be a better Pumpkin King than you and you know it. If you wanna find new things to use for Halloween instead of mopping why not check out Boogie's old place? I'm sure since no one has been there in years there would be some nasty cobwebs and old belongings from that nasty bag of bugs you could use." Jack's face instantly lightened up "That's a brilliant idea! Come on girls to Boogies lair!" Jack said as he darted off. However, similar to how Salem had done before. Jack scurried back to find out why the two weren't following him. He thought his exit was spectacular for them to anyway. However, both girls stood near their sleeping friend almost out of protection. Thankfully Jack picked up on their unspoken reasons for not being as gun hoe as he and said "Don't worry you two, the doctor will keep an eye on her I promise." He said crossing his heart with his long boney finger. The two glanced at the oddly shaped doctor and the old professor wasn't even paying attention to them anymore and was back to work at his lab table with his chemicals. "It doesn't look like he's going to be moving much more from that spot." Akira said unconvinced. "Yeah but have you seen this place? The old guy lives in pretty much complete solitude. Who is going to come and hurt her ya know?" she said comforting. Akira got a sick feeling in her stomach but assumed it was just her protective instincts kicking in. After all Blare made a valid point. So the heartless nodded her head in approval and the three were off on a mission to find spooky things for Jacks big Halloween plan.
GEM: I really hate what comes next.