Chapter 38

The Great Escape

If silence was torture, then Sora being alone in the same room with Desiree Elegia Skye was torture in its purest form. There was no telling how long they had been in the room since Mr. Incredible had been escorted out at the request of Syndrome. An hour, a couple hours maybe… either way, Sora was sure that Desiree was eyeing him right now. Sora didn't look her way of course. He wouldn't play her game.

The door suddenly opened with a hiss and both of them watched as Syndrome walked into the room with an incredibly smug smile on his face. He looked like a kid who had just been given the greatest birthday present ever.

"What did you do with Mr. Incredible?" Sora asked.

"Oh don't worry about your friend. I wouldn't kill him, not yet anyway." Syndrome then turned to meet Desiree. He walked over to her and patronizingly lifted up her chin to see her snarl. "I hope you two have had fun while I was gone, you're both Keyblade wielders after all so I'm sure you got along well. You know you look cute when you're angry."

Desiree smiled at him lovingly before spitting in his face. Syndrome backed away looking completely startled and stupid for a few seconds. Sora was honestly surprised that he hadn't expected it to happen.

"A compliment from you is the worst form of flattery. I have nothing to say to you and I do not intend to listen to you either." Desiree adopted her scowl once more but kept her eyes on Syndrome.

"Ooh, aren't you scary? Unfortunately, it looks like you're failing to comprehend the situation you're in. You must think just because you're a Keyblade wielder, you've got some sort of upper hand here."

"Non, monsieur. I'm actually thinking of the many ways in which I may be able to kill you once I am free. I've counted 16,032 so far," Desiree said, playfully shaking her head from side to side.

"Well if you need that many you must be pretty desperate, but I'll leave how that goes to your imagination," Syndrome replied before walking over to Sora. "Let's leave her to imagine how many ways she can try the same thing and fail and let's talk about something you and I have in common, Sora. Let's talk about the Heartless."

"And have you keep lying about how you want to get rid of them? Yeah, I don't think so," Sora said. But not even he could say he wasn't interested in what Syndrome had to say. The chance of it being a lie was high, but there was also the likelihood of truths being hidden in the lie. If there was any type of clue as to what KRONOS wanted, he'd take it. "Why the sudden change of heart anyway? I thought you didn't want to reveal anything else about your group."

"This isn't so much to with KRONOS as it has to do with the Heartless. It's just that I'm bored right now, and I figured that talking to someone who'd understand me would make the time fly by." There was something so condescending about Syndrome's tone. Sora didn't know how to explain it, but it was as if some sense of being threatened had left Syndrome no choice but to go on the offensive to prove, both to Sora and himself, that he was superior.

"Then go ahead, I'm listening."

Upon Sora's approval, Syndrome went on to explain something that Sora had not been expecting. "Do you know what I mean by a collective consciousness, Keyblade Master?"

"No, but I'm pretty sure you're going to tell me anyway."

Syndrome laughed. "Exactly right. It's a set of shared beliefs or ideas which are formed among a single unit of species. Take us humans for example. At our most fundamental, our basic instincts fall into this collective consciousness. We naturally want to fit in and be with a group, whether it be family or friends. I can also very much tell you that water is wet and if I drop an object, it will fall to the floor. Why is that?"

"Because that's just plain obvious," answered Sora, apathetic and not yet sure of where this was going.

"Exactly my point! We've been taught these things and they have become a part of our collective consciousness. We don't give a second thought to them because we know them to be true, and yet those who came before us probably were wondering this stuff all the time."

"Those who came before…? What are you talking about?"

However Syndrome ignored Sora's interruption and continued as if he were talking to himself. "It's like a river. We're all connected to it, and so it only makes sense that we'd have these same instincts and beliefs, but that river isn't contained. You do have many different branches and paths, those are the things that make us individuals and unique. So even if we may start from the same origin point, we quickly leave the main river for fear of losing our individuality. And what if there were no branches, you ask, but just a straight line from beginning to end? Well I'm sure Xehanort would have had an answer to that."

"How do you know so much? About Xehanort… and not just him, me and my friends as well? I swear if you people do anything to hurt them, I will not rest until every single one of you are-"

Syndrome pouted mockingly. "Aw, I think I'm about to spring a leak. It doesn't matter how we know these things. But let's get back to our discussion on individuality, shall we? So we know this applies to humans. The more obvious and stronger example though is bees and their gathering of nectar, or even ants working together to gather food and build a colony. This, we call a hive mind but it and collective consciousness are pretty interchangeable anyway. Now, question. Taking what I've said and applying it to the Heartless, what does this mean for them?"

It took a few seconds for Syndrome to hear Sora's response, not because he was slow at piecing it together, but because there was a pretty big question on his mind. "You're saying the Heartless have a hive mind. That they communicate and work with each other and have some sort of shared principles. You know, you're starting to remind me of a girl who was in my class. She was crazy obsessed with ants, even to the point of collecting them."

"I wouldn't go as far as to say I'm obsessed, but when you think about it, it is kind of beautiful. It's something that applies to all Heartless, like they're linked together by some invisible force we can't see. You've heard of telepathy, yes? Well this is that on a universal scale."

"And?"

Syndrome blinked in confusion at Sora's question. "And?"

"And so what? Is that supposed to change something for me? The Heartless are my enemy. They always have been and always will. What difference does knowing about some collective mind make?"

"Wow, you really are naïve and foolish, just as Abraxas said-"

"Abraxas?"

Sora and Desiree looked at each other having realized that they had repeated the name in synchronicity.

Syndrome pointed and laughed at this. "Hahaha, see? Now that's what I mean by a collective consciousness. Two minds on the same wavelength, that's just brilliant how you were probably thinking the same thing at the exact same time. Also seems like I've finally gauged your interest," Syndrome grinned victoriously at Desiree before turning his attention back to Sora. "You know, he told me that you fail to see the bigger picture and that is why you would lose in the end. That is why he felt that it was his mission to guide you down the right path. He referred to it as his will."

"Abraxas' will…" The words seemed strange to Sora. They lingered like smoke that refused to leave the room. His will… it didn't quite fit right with Sora. It was as if… no, surely it couldn't be…

"What a great guy, huh? Of course he never really liked showing his face off around us. I wonder why. Anyway, allow me to spark your imagination then. If an individual is unique because of the branches that verge out in a river, then what would adding branches do for the Heartless?"

"Huh?"

Syndrome laughed yet again. He seemed to be enjoying this quite a lot. "It's an interesting question, isn't it? Hypothetically, would the Heartless still be Heartless if they became unique? Would a ship still be the same ship if you replaced all its parts? When not even the 'heroes' have time to think about those questions, that is why we exist, so you don't slack off and forget them."

"Aw, so you're my personal diary then? I appreciate the kindness but I don't think I need your help," Sora replied sarcastically.

"Who was asking? Besides, the only thing I hate more than supers are you Keyblade wielders. So self-righteous… you think you're both above the rules of this world while we inferiors suffer because of your actions. You say you serve and protect people but is that really the truth?"

It was Desiree that spoke before Sora could, voicing his exact thoughts once again. "What do you mean?"

"Well, despite that you claim yourselves to make the lives of people better, the only reason they need to rely on you in the first place is because you keep them oppressed. In reality, if you Keyblade wielders didn't exist then there would be no glass ceiling. The sky would cease to be the limit. People would be able to fly. But of course, you wouldn't want that now, would you?"

"I have no idea what you are talking about," Desiree said. Before Syndrome could reply, the sound of an alarm blurted out and rang inside the entire base drowning out his subsequent sighs.

The door opened again and one of the guards came in. "Sir, intruders on the island spotted. They appear to be more Supers."

"A whole bundle of them? They just keep on rolling in, don't they? Aren't I lucky?" Syndrome backed away from Sora and addressed both of his captives with outspread arms. "Well, I'm afraid we're going to have to cut this little chat short. I pretty much said all that needed to be said anyway. I'll just let you two have some alone time, shall I?"

With that said, Syndrome left the room and the door to possible escape closed, leaving Sora alone with the person responsible for poisoning him once more. At least this time, the sound of a blaring alarm was enough to eliminate whatever tense atmosphere the silence had brought.

"Why?" Sora asked despite the continuous noise. The downside to the alarm was that he now knew what he wanted to say to break the silence. "Why are you after me? I understand the prophecy, I do but even so… it can't be true. I would never do that… do I look like the type of person who would destroy the World?"

"It does not matter whether you look the part or not. I have seen people you would not believe were capable of inflicting the damage that they did during my time in Moira's Crescent. It is not a good feeling to put your full trust in someone only to have them betray you in the end."

"You're talking about Abraxas?"

Desiree did not respond. She didn't have the chance to. The door opened once again. Sora expecting Syndrome to return almost gave him a heart attack when his and Luna's eyes connected.

"I think there's something memorable about this moment. The gallant hero in trouble while the beautiful and clever heroine must rescue him from the claws of evil. Yep, I'll definitely remember this moment," she said as she was walking over to a control panel that was in the room.

"You need to stop reading so much of your subversive feminist literature, Luna. You are way too happy about this," Sora replied with a grin.

"You're pushing it, hero!" Luna smashed her hand down on the big red button and Sora felt the metal clasps gripping at his wrists open up, sending him to the ground.

"How did you even get here? Was that alarm you just now?" Sora asked after Luna had helped him up.

"Sora, please, if it were me I wouldn't be here right now. It might have been Donald and the others on the island in which case we need to hurry." Luna followed Sora's gaze to see that he was instead looking at Desiree who was making her way out of the room.

"Hey, what will you do now? I'm not done with you, y'know!" Sora called out to her before she could leave the room.

Desiree stopped in her tracks but kept her eyes in front. "Do not mistake my letting you go for kindness, Keyblade Master. You are just the lesser of my priorities at the moment."

After watching her run off, Sora shook his head. "She just won't let it go. 16,032, huh?"

A projectile of fire from Donald's staff shot one of the velocipods that had been after them off course, sending it spiralling into a nearby tree. The explosion threw Donald off his feet, but he got back up quickly. He had no choice but to get up when there were countless more of these manned disk-shaped vehicles were coming after them.

"What's goin' on?!" Goofy yelped as one of the vehicles flew right towards him. His only option was to duck and cover his head since his shield had been rendered practically useless by the robot that had attacked them yesterday.

Dash winced and let out an awkward chuckle. "Um, well I may or may not have found a talking parrot while I was looking around that alerted the entire island."

"Or in other words you totally did," Violet translated. She surveyed her surroundings quickly before resting her eyes on Stephanie. "How about we split up? I think that will help take some of the heat off us. I'll take Stephanie. Dash, run!"

"Wait a minute. Where are you going to take Steph-" But when Donald turned to address Violet, both her and Stephanie had completely disappeared. The duck had barely any time to register what had just taken place when shots rang out from behind, hitting the ground and missing him and Goofy by just a few inches. Donald pivoted on his left webbed foot and parted his arms to erect a square shield. More shots rang out and smacked against the shield, ricocheting off in the process. The majority of velocipods managed to avoid the counter-fire except for one who had been going too fast to see the oncoming bullets.

"Dash, we need to mo- he's gone too, isn't he?" Donald looked over to where Dash had been to see that he too had disappeared. "Right. Just leave us behind. Yep, that's great."

Some ways ahead, a grinning Stephanie was being carried by Violet as they made their way through the dense jungle shrubbery with no destination in particular. The only thing on Violet's mind at the moment was getting the both of them as far away as possible from the aerial vehicles that were after them.

"Once we've lost them, we'll need to circle back and meet up with the others. I hope they're alright."

"Don't worry. Goofy told me he's been hit plenty of times and he's still okay and Uncle Donald, he might just annoy them and leave them running away in tears," was Stephanie's giddy response.

"The duck is your uncle?" Violet asked.

"Yep, yep. The uncle is my duck. Oops, I tongue-tied my tongue." Stephanie playfully let her tongue hang out her mouth to cover up her mistake.

"Oh, now you're just mocking me." Violet was about to chuckle when a group of Shadows popped up from the ground and surrounded them.

"Can they see us?" Stephanie asked shifting around uncomfortably in her arms. Indeed, it seemed that despite the fact that they were invisible, the Heartless were able to sense them. Their antennae twitched erratically, swinging from side to side before finding its mark, their invisible prey. Violet was almost sure now that they knew. She lifted up a foot to start walking. All the Heartless leapt forward at once. It was as if time was moving in stop motion. One moment they were panicking and fearing for their lives with Violet throwing up a barely sustainable forcefield around them, the next moment, Dash had swept in out of nowhere and began running around in circles. The result was the creation of a tornado that attracted all the Shadows into the windy vortex. The forcefield produced, although weak, was enough to keep Violet and Stephanie on the ground.

The dust and wind formed by the tornado soon cleared to leave a dizzy Dash spinning around in circles. An obstinately over-joyous Stephanie was set down by Violet who ran over to check whether her brother was okay.

"Oho, that was too awesome!" Dash yelled with Stephanie repeating his words right after.

"I'm just glad you're all right, Dash," Violet said ruffling Dash's hair.

"Hey, stop with that, okay? It's not like I was trying to save you or anything. Just Stephanie, yep, just her," Dash said swiping her hand away.

Unexpectedly, it was Stephanie who called him out on his lie while managing to keep a straight face. "You're a bad liar."

Sora used his warp ability to pass through the trees, although he technically wasn't passing through trees, he preferred to think he was at the speed he was going. It was also beneficial in that he didn't have to stop and lose momentum. The Heartless were appearing in droves but he cut through them quickly and almost without looking.

Luna spotted a guard or two coming for them out of the corner of her eye. She stopped abruptly and looked to Mr. Incredible, who was chasing along behind them along with Helen.

"I have an idea. Throw me!" Luna yelled. She had gotten a taste of Bob's power when she and Sora had watched him bust down one of the metal doors in the base as if it had been cheap cardboard. Adhering to her wishes, Bob watched as Luna kicked off of a tree and flew towards him before grabbing her wrist and throwing her towards the enemy. She was positioned in exactly the right place to strike both of the velocipods and destroy them.

After kicking away and taking out a few Heartless, she managed to join up with the others. It did not take long before they came across Donald and Goofy who were being swamped by more velocipods.

"Where's Dash and Violet?" Helen asked as she stretched out an extended leg to kick one of the vehicles into another.

"They ran off. Violet took Stephanie along with her. I think Violet turned invisible or something. I'm still not sure how to process that," Donald answered.

"Looks like she took your advice to heart then," Bob whispered to Helen.

"That's my girl," Helen declared proudly. She quickly changed shape to avoid a Velociraptor who found itself on receiving end of a belly smash from her husband. "Now we just need a way to find them, and a way out of this mess."

"There's too many of them!" As soon as Donald yelled this, hope came in an unexpected surprise. Heartless in the form of Powerwilds and Bouncywilds popped into existence and began jumping and scratching wildly at the guards inside the vehicles.

"Haven't seen those guys in a while. I'm not quite sure whether to feel happy or not about this," Goofy said.

"It's nostalgia. We'll let them have their moment while it lasts. Let's just hurry and find Steph and the others," Sora said. They quickly rushed past the frightened cries of the guards and headed deeper into the jungle.

The others had not gone very far, Sora and the others soon found out, probably because it would have been near impossible to regroup if they had travelled farther. The two parents greeted their children with hugs and a smile, but they didn't have long to chat either. Two blue beams of light hit the group and froze them all completely. After a test, Sora found that the only things he could move were his eyes.

"Well lookey here, we got a family of supers, two Keyblade wielders, a duck, a dog… thing, a bit unconventional but okay… oh, and a little girl!" Syndrome made his way over and stroked Stephanie's chin. "You even brought a little girl with you? Wow! I mean, I knew you Keyblade wielders liked to put others in danger but I didn't think you were that crazy. Speaking of which, I'm disappointed the other one's not here. I guess she was too busy thinking of ways to kill me to join you guys. No matter, I'm sure she's on this island somewhere. It's just a matter of tracking her down."

If Sora could move, his fists would have curled up into a ball and he would have already been aiming it at Syndrome just for being anywhere close to Stephanie.

"As for you guys," Syndrome continued with a wider smile. He took away his hand from Stephanie and looked behind him at the group of guards that had come with him. "Escort them back to the prison cell. There they'll witness the end of an era, and the beginning of a much brighter one."

"Sora, I've been thinking… about how Syndrome was able to build all this stuff I mean, and not just that, but hiring all the guards, building that robot… maybe he amassed all those funds through the taxes that Prince John gave to our mystery individual," Luna deduced as they dangled in the air bound by the same magnetic force that had held Sora, Bob and Desiree captive earlier. "That guy and Syndrome are both from KRONOS, right? So it makes sense when you think about it."

"Yeah, I didn't think about that. But what does this all have to do with their goal? That's what I can't figure out, can you?" Sora asked. During the time Luna had come to her conclusion, he had been admiring the humor of escaping a jail cell just to end up back in one anyway. Of course instead of just him, it was all of them. And the worst part was he knew Syndrome was right. He had put Stephanie in danger by bringing her here and if anything were to happen to her, he knew her mother would never forgive him. Heck, he wouldn't be able to forgive himself.

"No, but I don't we need to think that far ahead either. We just need to take this one step at a time and piece this all together once we have enough to go on, right?"

"Yeah. Right now we have to put a stop to Syndrome's plans. He's about to attack the city with that Omnidroid, and we're stuck here with no way out!"

"I wouldn't quite say that!"

Sora looked up from his wallowing in despair to see Violet in front of the console panel. He blinked repeatedly, completely baffled by how she had managed to get out of her confines. Well, no, the gadget which Sora assumed was connected to the electromagnets that kept them bound was still on her hands. He let the thoughts and confusion wither away however when she pressed the red button, freeing his hands for the second time that day.

Without further delay, the group made their way over to the launch hangar where both Luna and Helen had claimed to see a rocket as they were infiltrating to rescue Sora and Bob so it was naturally the safest bet. When they arrived however, a small problem presented itself.

"Let's see. We've got a caravan, a few jets…" Helen observed the vehicles available in the room.

"Jets aren't fast enough to get us there in time," Bob interjected.

"Hey, then maybe we can use this rocket to get there fast enough!" Dash pointed to the towering structure on one side of the hangar.

"Great. Anyone know how to fly a rocket then? Because I certainly don't," Helen stated.

"I've piloted a rocket before, but not this kind. It looks completely different to what we're used to," Donald chipped in.

"Well you shouldn't necessarily need to be able to pilot it to use it. Theoretically, you could just enter in the previous launch data if you have the password."

At this astute level of wisdom, everyone turned their heads to look at Violet in surprise. She smiled back quickly before averting her eyes elsewhere in embarrassment.

"KRONOS, then?" Sora asked in reference to the password.

"Yeah, but I can't imagine that Syndrome wouldn't have changed it. He must have had some intuition that we'd go after him if we managed to break out somehow. If only there was a way to know…"

"Say please!"

The speakers in the room came to life upon hearing a woman's voice. Sora and the others searched around the room until their eyes finally settled on a room on the upper floor shielded by glass. Sora had seen her before in the room he had first met Mr. Incredible. It wasn't until after he and Luna had met up that Bob and Helen had filled them in on everything that had been going on, including the woman's name.

Mirage. It was a name Sora would not be forgetting anytime soon.

A pretty short chapter but still rather action packed and full of information for you to digest. It obviously won't tide you over for the two weeks that I'm away and I do wish that I could work on it more while I'm gone but I'm not going to be able to. I just want to say thank you to everyone who has supported me whether it was by leaving a lovely or constructive review, following and favoriting or simply just reading. You don't know how much it means to me and there aren't enough words that can possibly describe that feeling. With that said, I'll see you all in just over two weeks hopefully.