Author's Note: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to their respective owners.
Ch.34 Making a Heart
When the four of us landed in Halloween Town, it took just a few seconds to see that the place lived up to its name. The sky was filled with dark clouds save for a huge yellow moon, the stones in the pathway and wall were black, and other various things were scattered around to make the whole place indeed look like Halloween. "This sure is a spooky place. I'll bet the people here are scary looking, too," Goofy said. "Don't worry; we look scary too. If they scare us, we'll scare them right back!" Donald said confidently. "You think so?" Goofy asked, and he nodded. Donald was right; this world had seen it fit to give us knew looks as well. Donald was wrapped up in yellowed bandages save for his eyes, mouth and the tips of his feet. A section was also missing from around his stomach, showing that his stomach wasn't there.
Goofy looked like a stereotypical "Frankenstein" with patched up and ripped clothe, holes in the ends of his shoes, and a giant screw in the back of his head. The addition was that the tip of his nose had a tiny pumpkin on it. Sora had a vampire look of overlong and sharp canines, faded black clothing, clawed white gloves and a small pair of bat-wings on his upper back. As for me? I had been given the look of a werewolf. My sleeves of my shirt and the legs of my pants had been ripped, showing that my arms and legs were now covered in thick dull silver fur. My head and face and thankfully been left alone, save for the fact that all of my teeth and lengthened and tapered into fangs. My shoes were gone, and in their place were black bandages wrapped around my foot, save for my toes. Those had, along with my nails, been sharpened into claws. The finishing touch was that my bone and spine structure had altered so that I was permanently crouching, like an actual werewolf.
"Gawrsh, I sure hope the Heartless don't look this scary!" Goofy said. Sora nodded in agreement. I sent my senses outwards and closed my eyes, frowning as what I sensed registered. "There are Heartless here, all right," I said, opened my eyes. "But they're not attacking anyone." All three of them blinked, before Sora said "Not attacking anyone? How is that possible?" I pointed to our right, down the path towards the town. "I'm not sure, but I can sense them in that direction. Let's find out," I said. We began walking into town, and in the square we saw yet more things having to do with Halloween. There was an old-fashioned guillotine, carved pumpkins, and a dragon-shaped fountain. I smiled. The dancing Heartless were a nice addition. Then I blinked.
Wait a minute. Dancing Heartless?
I rubbed my eyes to clear them, but I wasn't hallucinating. There were perhaps a dozen Search Ghosts scattered about the square, and they were all dancing. "What in the…?" Donald said, dropping his staff in shock. Sora and Goofy were similarly dumbfounded, so much that we didn't even notice a short man with a tall hat and a spider for a tie walk forward. What we did notice was when he held up a megaphone and called out "And now, allow me to introduce the master of terror, the king of nightmares- Jack Skellington!" The water of the fountain shook before erupting, and said person leaped out if it, his arms spread wide. Jack was indeed a living skeleton, and incredible tall. He wore a black suit with white pinstripes, a buttoned white shirt, and a spider-shaped bowtie.
"Bravo, Jack! Bravo! Those ghosts will be a big hit at the year's Halloween!" the short man said. I guess he was the mayor. Jack smiled, his grin as skeletal as the rest of him. "Thank you, thank you! But their movements still need work. It's not scary enough. I want to strike bone-chilling terror! I'm going to consult the doctor," he said, turning and walking towards a tower by the edge of the square. "And I'll work on the decorations!" the mayor said, scribbling on a clipboard. "The doctor? What does he mean?" Sora said. The mayor heard him, and looked up. "Hello there! Jack was talking about Dr. Finkelstein, the famous inventor! The two of them have been working together for this year's Halloween," he said. I raised an eyebrow. "And Jack believes the Doctor can help him better control the Heartless?" I asked.
"I've yet to see anything the doctor made go wrong. If you're curious then go and see; nothing makes the Doctor smile like seeing people in awe of his work," the mayor told us, before returning to his clipboard. I looked at Sora, Donald and Goofy. "Well? Think we should go and see if it works?" I asked. Donald shrugged. "I can't see any harm in watching," he said. "Then it's settled. Let's go!" Sora said, smiling at the thought of seeing the Heartless dance. We walked into the tower, seeing exactly what we would expect to mad scientist's lab to look like. Jack was standing in front of an old man with deathly white skin, beady black eyes and a beak-ish" mouth. This must be Dr. Finkelstein, I thought, seeing the white lab coat, wheel chair and massive head.
"I just don't understand, Doctor. Maybe the guidance system was damaged," jack suggested. "Nonsense! My devices are always perfect!" Dr. Finkelstein protested. Jack was silent, before suddenly looking up and smacking his palm with a bony fist. "Why of course! I've got it! The Heartless need a heart! Doctor, do you think we can add a heart to the device?" he asked. "Certainly. A hearts not all that complicated. Let's get to work," the doctor said confidently, turning his wheelchair and moving towards the lab table. I raised an eyebrow. "Did he really just say a heart isn't hat complicated?" I asked. "That's what I heard," Goofy said. I face-palmed myself; this guy really was insane. My master Ansem had spent almost his entire life studying the heart, and even he had been unable to decipher its complexities.
Dr. Finkelstein came back and held up a heart with a lock on it, saying "First, we need a container with a heart." Jack took it in his hand and examined it, saying "We need the key to unlock it first." "Is that so? Wait just a minute," the doctor said, wheeling away. But as the minutes passed we heard him muttering irritably, until finally he called "Blast it all! I can't find it!" Jack frowned. "Oh no. Then how are we going to add a heart to the device?" he said. Sora looked at us, and his smile told us everything we needed to know. "You're planning to unlock it for them?" Donald asked. "Why not? If they succeed, we won't have to fight the Heartless, right? Besides, I want to see them dance too, don't you?" he asked. "Not really," Donald replied, but he was already walking towards them.
"Excuse me?" Sora said, trying to tap Jack on the shoulder but only reached his elbow. Both he and the doctor looked at him, and the doctor said "Oh, what do we have here? You wouldn't happen to have seen a key lying around, would you?" At that Sora's smile grew wider, and he said "Not the one you're looking for, but I have one that'll help all the same." Before they could say anything he summoned his Crabclaw, and pointed it at the heart. The Keyblade glowed with power before it gathered at the tip, and fired at the heart. There was a distinct click as it unlocked, and Jack stared at Sora in amazement. "My! That was amazing! Uh, and you are…" he said, trailing off. "I'm Sora, and this is Donald, Goofy, and Dexal," Sora said, waving his head at us. "You four, I'd like all of you to be part of this year's Halloween," Jack said.
I blinked, before shrugging and saying "Sure. Why not?" Donald and Goofy nodded, and Sora asked "What are the Heartless doing here?" "Oh, the heartless came to town just recently. What's frustrating is that I can't get them to dance with me. So the doctor and I are trying to improve the guidance system. He's quite the genius!" he told us, before turning back to the doctor "Okay, Doctor. Let's continue. The ingredients for a heart are pulse, emotion, terror, fear, hope and despair. Mix them all together, and we have a heart!" he said. Jack laid out an item for each one: a frog for pulse, flowers for emotion, a head for terror, a spider for fear, a light bulb for hope and a broken mirror for despair. Dr. Finkelstein wheeled towards a lever and pulled it down, bolts of lightning firing down from the ceiling.
The objects rose into the air and began spinning around, drawing closer until they met in a blast of light. But when it faded the heart was lying on the table, still unmoving. "It failed!" Jack said, frowning. "Maybe we're missing some ingredients. Let's try adding memory," the doctor said. He opened the top of his head, showing his brain and scratching it. I raised an eyebrow at that, but said nothing. Then he looked up and called "Sally! Sally!" There was no response. "Goof-for-nothing-girl! Don't know why I bothered creating her. Sally's got the memory we need. See if you can track her down," he said, closing the lid on his head. "No problem! Sora, would you and your friends like to come along?" Jack asked. "Sure," Sora said, nodding.
Donald and I both sighed, Donald out of annoyance and me out of exasperation. Didn't we have a Keyhole to look for? Despite that we still walked out as one group, only to find the Heartless running around. The mayor was holding on to the top of the fountain, and saw us. "Jack! Jack! We have a major crisis! The Heartless are completely out of control! We can't stop them!" he called. Jack scratched his head. "Hmm… Maybe our experiment triggered something. Everything will be fine, Mayor. You have nothing to worry about," he said. I rolled my eyes before summoning my Stormfell, charging forward while the others did the same.
"Try this! Thundara!" Sora called, pointing his Keyblade into the air. Bolts of lightning rained down and blasted a trio of the Search Ghosts, destroying one while the others were injured. "One…" I muttered, before aiming at one of the Ghosts and casting Deep Freeze. The temperature around it dropped so fast that the moisture in the air flash-froze, enveloping it in a block of ice. I smiled and swung Stormfell like a baseball bat, hitting the ice block so hard that it shattered. The Heartless within promptly burst into shadows. "Two," I said. A pair of them flew towards Jack and swiped their claws, but he jumped over them and cast Blazing Fury. A massive ball of fire shaped like a pumpkin flew from his hand and exploded on impact, destroying one. Jack dropped down and drove both of his feet into the other. Three. Four. A fifth one vanished and reappeared behind Donald, grabbing him by the shoulder and rising up.
"Hey! What's the big idea?! Let me go!" he yelled, struggling. "I got you, Donald!" Goofy said, and threw his shield. It flew through that air until it hit the Search Ghost and cleaved it in two. Donald landed back down and cast Cure on himself, before pointing his staff at Goofy and casting Fira. Goofy shouted and dropped to the ground. The fireball flew right over him and exploded… incinerating a Ghost that had appeared behind him. Goofy stood and nodded his thanks, the two of them running back into the fight. Five. Six. Sora charged up Sonic Blade before shooting forward, stabbing a Heartless in the Stomach. Two more came after him, but I stepped in the way. "Sorry, but I think you condition just became rather groundbreaking," I said, and cast Quake. A cluster of jagged boulders burst from the pavement, impaling them. "Seven, eight, and nine," I said.
Jack cast Ghostly Scream and threw two orbs of gravity magic, hitting one Ghost with both and flattening it. Ten. I used Zantetsuken and paused, before slicing another in half on the spot. Eleven. The last Search Ghost hesitated, and that was long enough for Sora to slam it on the top of its head and destroy it. "Well, that makes all dozen of them," I said, dismissing my Keyblade. The mayor finally climbed down from the fountain, his face still full of fear. "Thank you, Jack, and your friends," he said. "It was no problem. Tell me though, have you seen Sally?" Jack asked. "Actually, I did see her making her way towards the graveyard. Why don't you check there?" he suggested. Jack smiled and nodded. "Thanks for the tips. Come on, friends. Let's go!" he said, taking off in the direction of the graveyard. We followed.
Sorry it took me so long to update- despite having just gotten fixed my computer found a way to fry its own motherboard. Now it's getting fixed, but with Spring Break starting today I hope to get back to you soon! Stay tuned!
Please review! If you flame me Liam Neeson will look for you, he will find you, and he will kill you. (I'm just kidding… or am I?)