How to make a heart
Graveyards are scary, this is a fact.
So Donald and Goofy were surprised that Sora seemed quite interested by the graveyard. From the outset it looked spooky, horrifying with all the tombstoned aligned against dead looking gardens and a dark red moonlit sky cobwebs scattered all over. Yet Sora didn't even flinch when Jack opened the squeaky black iron gates, he didn't flinch at the tombstones that surrounded him, he didn't even screech when he saw a bony hand stick up. It was if he was if he was complete and utterly calm, almost at ease. This was a surprise to Donald and Goofy who were shaking in there metaphoric boots as they went deeper into the haunted looking place.
"Gee Sora, isn't this place kinda scary." Goofy whispered as he followed behind him and Jack. "Thought you'd be a bit more freaked out by it."
Sora shook his head. "No...Not really."
"I wanna go." Donald muttered, "This place is giving me the heeby jeebies"
"Really?" Jack said looking surprised at Sora. "Not even a fickle of bone chilling terror and fear, despair, just a little sense of the heebie jeebies."
"Nope-I've been to graveyards plenty of time. They aren't so bad once you get to layer of the land a bit. Plus I like to think of it as a place to visit all the people you've missed, nothing scary about that. People important to you can be here."
"Well to each there own" Jack shrugged and began to casually looking around the Graveyard sight for Sally.
Now the reason for Sora's calmness was simple if you knew him, for most of the early part of his childhood Sora went to the cemetery, to visit the gravesite of his father. Once a week every week for 7 years he would place a single flower on the grave and talk. Mostly about guy stuff, but also about things he didn't understand, things he wanted to explore to see. Things he didn't even want his mother to know. So over time he became used to the graveyard and all that would seem scary and spooky to others was familiar to him, and once something become familiar to him, it was no longer scary.
As he looked on the ground Sora found a wilted flower and picked it.
While everyone was looking for sally he found a unnamed grave and gently put the pedal down next to it and leaned down.
"Hey dad." He muttered, knowing full well that he wasn't there but he could sense a presence
"Who's he talking too?" Donald whispered.
"His dad." Goofy said understanding full well what was happening..
Donald looked confused. "Where?"
"It's a spiritual thing Donald."
"Oh-I still don't get it."
Sora chuckled. "It's ok nobody did, Tidus used to make fun of me for talking to ghost. But I knew he was listening."
"Well I think it's lovely gesture" Goofy explained.
"Now, now friends, we have a job to do" Jack said getting the attention of them again, "We'll to need find the ingredients to give to a Doctor so we can make a heart"
"I still feel strange about this" Sora said, sounding unsure, "I mean making a heart, aren't hearts supposed to be natural, born with one"
Jack smiled, "Well clearly the Heartless don't have one, since they are Heartless"
"Yeah, but if you give a Heartless a heart? Does that no longer make them a Heartless?"
"Hmm," Jack tapped his chin thinking, "Certainly an interesting philosophical debate, but sadly one we don't have time for in the moment"
"Well I uh-" Sora protested but sighed, knowing Jack was determined with going forward with this idea.
Goofy frowned, "I don't know about this"
"Me either," Sora said, "But maybe being able to give the Heartless hearts, it could restore them to normal"
"Or make things worse in the process" Donald muttered.
In his mind when the heart left the body, one could talk to their loved ones anywhere...Though a gravesite was nice place to do it. It had a comforting place to talk in solitude without others around, although this day was the exception.
"Excuse me?" A soft lady's voice spoke. "Who are you?"
Sora jumped back and landed on his back. From behind the graveyard a female looking head emerged stitched together to the rest of the body that was covered in patched rags. Brown hair flowed behind her head, and her eyes were wide and innocent looking. Though the more Sora thought about it the more he thought of those raggedy dolls Kairi used to play with when she was younger and that Riku thought was groose.
"Ah Sally." Jack beamed adjusting his bat bowtie. "I'm so glad you're here. We are looking for your memory?"
"My memory?"
"Her memory?" Sora repeated sounding confused.
"Yes…." Jack asked not even looking remotely worried. "It's a special little twig, bound together by the memories of others."
Sora was confused, were they going to pick out her brain. The very thought made his stomach queasy. Yet Sally answered his question quickly but picking up another wilted flower and handing it to Jack.
"Is that...Memory?" Sora asked looking at the plant.
Sally nodded. "Yes….A forget-me-not….Helps us remember important things. Dates, people, the things we love….Jack show him."
"Ok." Jack handed Sora the forget-me-not. "Gaze into it for a moment, memories are probably some of the most valuable things. Though they might be a part of the mind, they are also key to the functioning of a heart and all the friends, loved ones and even day I say on a dark front enemies we make."
Sora gazed upon the twig for a moment unsure what to make of it. It was so small and tiny in his gloved hand. Yet something about it entice him greatly. He gazed closer, and closer until he realized that the twigs branches were growing, until ...they turned into a tropical tree, like the one's back home, Pampu fruit grew on each branch.
"Woah." Sora shook and the tree vanished returning to a twig seeing out of the corner of his eye three familiar children running around with one another. "Kairi...Riku."
Jack took it back. "Yep...This memory will help the Heart form. After all hearts and memories are very much intertwined."
"Fascinating." Sora said.
"Wonder if it would show a image of my son Max." Goofy replied, sighing thinking of his own memories with his beloved son.
"Or Della." Donald thought, sighing.
"Jack are you sure this is a good idea." Sally replied with a look of worried expression. "These Heartless don't seem trustworthy ...dangerous."
"They are." Sora replied confirming Sally's fears. "I've fought them before, they go to worlds and steal people's hearts to make more of them."
Jack seemed unfazed. "Well they don't seem that bad, they haven't done any of what you said so far ...Beside Doctor Finkelstein Heart will make them perfect for our show...Now all we need is fear and will be on our way."
"Fear?" Sally said shaking his head. "I'm afraid I don't Jack."
Jack frowned and began to pace.
Sora wondered exactly how all these ingredients worked in harmony with one another. He supposed that the heart was a mix of emotions. Memories of the ones we loved, fear of what we lost….Strangely saying all this made him think of his dream back on the Island. How the images of his friends asked him what was important to him and what he feared to lose. The more he thought about this the more it did make sense that memory while part of the brain also played a Important role in one person's heart and the experiences that would come through them. Emotion itself seemed to be an important aspect of all this.
"Excuse me-" Sally said causing Sora to jump back looking embarrassed. "I don't think I ever got your name, Jack being, well Jack."
"Oh right." Sora blushed. "I'm Sora, nice to meet you."
"Likewise."
Sora scratched the back of his neck. "So you seem to know Jack pretty well, he seems really excited about getting the Heartless to dance with one another and what not. Seems like a really spooky Halloween huh."
"Yeah-" Sally sighed looking sad. "Jack tends to get very obsessed when he puts his heart into it. But that's why he's the Pumpkin king, sure he gets a little over the top, but he has so much love for putting the fun and thrill into the holiday."
"It still kinda weird to think fighting people is a good thing." Sora asked.
Sally shook his head. "No, it's more like giving those a certain thrill, a bit of jump into there lives, not in a mean spirited way but more-"
"Of course!" Jack interrupted before Sally could finish her point, he looked thrilled however as the realization came to him. "Oogie Boogie has fear."
"Oogie." Sally looked dumbstruck a bit of fear now showing on her right now. "Jack...This is Oogie Boogie we are talking about, he's not going to give it to you."
"Wait, wait, wait pause!" Sora interjected now. "Who's Oogie Boogie….You mean like the Boogie man."
Riku had told Sora stories about the boogie man, how he would sneak into his room at night, hiding under his bed, and try every night to eat him. Sora remembered when he was younger how he would hide under his blanket in the dark keeping to his bed tight as he stayed up for hours trying to get to sleep .It got so bad that Sora's mother would have to comfort him and even rest with him until he felt secure enough to have a full night sleep.
"Well yes…." Jack explained.
"He's also a big troublemaker." Sally added. "Oogie Boogie been Jack's rival for years, he always wanted to make causing spokes to be more like personal tourment. That's not what the spirit of Halloween has ever been about. So Jack had to banish him from the town, he lives in the outskirts, though he still manages to cause trouble. Jack you know he won't be happy to see you."
"Oh I'm sure he's gotten over the whole banishment thing." Jack brushed aside. "Beside, I said he could come back when he behaved himself."
"Which he hasn't." Sally reminded him.
Jack sighed. "True, well maybe time has allowed him to cool off. Honestly I haven't seen him for most of the last few years, so that must be a positive sign right."
Sora seemed hesitant not sure if he liked just were this path was heading them, sounded like the start of trouble.. " Maybe getting fear from him isn't a bad idea."
"Hmm…" Jack bit his finger. "Oogie isn't the most negotiable person in the world to be sure….But perhaps he could be reasoned with….Hmm….I got it...We'll challenge him to a game."
"A game?" Sora asked, liking the sound of that..
"Yes, Oogie is a gambling man, he's addicted to it, we can challenge him to a wager for his fear."
"And if you lose?" Sora pointed out.
"Well….We'll cross that bridge when we get there….Will probably save Oogie for last then, we stil have a bit more to do."
Sora had a feeling that this was a dumb plan, but Jack seemed determined to go. "Well then, let's get going."
-000-
"Let's see..." Jack said as he scratched his head, "The ingredients of the heart we have so far are: pulse, emotion, terror, hope and despair, and now memory."
"All we need now is fear right?" Sora asked.
"That and Surprise." Jack replied, "We should head back to the mayor, he should have some." The group walked throughout the graveyard until they found a small grave in the shape of a dog house; Jack lowered his hand towards his leg and slapped it. What came soon was a small ghost in the form of a dog. Sora and Company were in shock at what had just happened until Jack began to speak to the specter, "Zero, do you know where the Mayor may be?"
The dog barked as it flew towards a gate leading to another segment of the graveyard.
"Good boy!" Jack exclaimed, "Come on fellas, Zero will lead the way."
"So now we're taking orders from a dog?" Donald asked in a combination of confusion and annoyance.
"It's not like this is the weirdest thing we've done." Sora replied as he and Goofy followed the lanky skeleton. "Though I am more of a cat person."
Zero swirled around and barked alerting the group to where the Mayor was, "Just the man we were looking for." Jack exclaimed.
"Jack, what brings you here?" The mayor asked.
"We're trying to give the Heartless hearts, but we need 'Surprise' before we get fear." Jack replied as he waved towards Sora and the others.
"Well you are in luck!" The mayor replied, "I was just consulting some of the ghosts for a special surprise to go along with the decorations, but I can't remember which one said they had it."
"We can look." Sora said with enthusiasm.
"Great, just know they are hiding behind the tombstones, but they scare easily so be cautious."
Sora nodded as he krept up slowly towards one of the tombstone to catch the ghost; luckily the ghost he did catch enjoyed the little spook and left the special surprise: a jack-in-the-box.
"Got it!" Sora exclaimed as he held the toy high into the air.
"Great, now let's get these to the doctor, and then we'll find Oogie." Jack responded as he took the toy into his hand
-000-
The trip back to Doctor Frankenstein laboratory was a quick one. Sora questioned though whether partaking in this construction of a heart was a good idea or not. Something about it didn't quite sit well with him and although he did not see any malevolent intent within Jack or the Doctor, he still felt uneasy about the whole situation.
As they climbed up the stairs to the lab Sora looked up Jack who seemed excited and spoke, his voice echoing along the hall. "Jack, why do you want to build a heart so bad."
"To get the Heartless to dance of course." Jack explained nonchalantly. "You know that."
"Yes but why?"
"To bring fun chills and terror of course." Jack said sounding proud of the idea. "Instill bone chilling horror and spooky delight, oh just the thought makes me smile."
Sora pondered the idea of delightful fear, for all his life most of his fear had never been delightful. If anything it had been horrible, from nightmare he had when he was a child to now facing the Heartless and knowing that people were relying on him to save them with his Keyblade. Anything and everything about fear seemed to be bad in his eyes. How on earth or any other world could fear be fun.
Any time for thought quickly ended when Jack opened the door to the main laboratory. Doctor Finkelstein was wheeling across the room going from table to table as he continued to work on the outer casing of his mechanical heart. Sora getting a closer look as the Doctor moved away from it, freaked out by it's constant beating movement.
"Doctor Finkelstein, we have the other ingredients!." Jack said as he put the two ingredients on the table. "Sally was quite thrilled to help."
"Splendid, now all we need is fear and the heart will be complete." The Doctor stated as he grabbed the ingredients and the heart, he then moved towards the the work table.
He began to enter the pieces into the heart, taking several tools and drilling in one by one. Sora, Donald and Goofy tried to watch but the Doctor's chair blocked most of the work. But from what they could see the work seemed intense. There stomachs started churning a bit as they heard what could only be blood vessels and veins popping and other gooey sounding parts getting moved around.
"So how do you make a heart?" Sora blurted out causing The Doctor to pause before going back to his work.
"It's not easy I'll tell you that much." Finkelstein muttered taking out what looked to be a screwdriver and inserting it deep inside the bag. "It took me several times before I could get to this version, not to mention getting all the blood vessels together and working jointly."
Sora, Donald and Goofy all grimaced at the mental image.
"But I wonder if there is more to a heart than blood vessels and what not." Goofy added. "I mean if that's it then why are Heartless so into hearts."
Doctor Funkenstein strugged. "I know nothing of that, though for some reason these Hearts of mine just always seem to go haywire at the end-I have no idea why."
"Well when finally complete this one, will have the best Halloween show ever!" Jack exclaimed looking excited. "It's going to be my magnum opus!"
"Halloween really is important you huh." Sora smiled.
Jack nodded. "Of course, the spokes the fear, it's all around good times. The spokes the thrill-the only time of year were embracing a more darker element of the world is actually acceptable."
"Acceptable?"
"People confuse things like dark and fear with darkness, but it's not true. Being dark doesn't mean being bad or mavolevent. Sure we look scary but many of the town folk here are some of the nicest people I know."
Sora nodded. "We say a few they seemed nice."
"Exactly-Scary and fear, they aren't bad,
"Yeah it's fun to make people scream-OUTTA THERE SKULLS."
"Huh?"
Everyone turned behind him as three kids in costum appeared jumping behind them knocking Doctor Finkelstein out of his chair as they jumped on the workbench taking the Heart. Sora tried to get ready but his Keyblade did arrive. These children were definitely not Heartless.
"You wretched hooligans, drop that heart at once!" The Doctor exclaimed as he moved towards the three kids.
"Fat chance" Lock stated.
"Yeah , Mr Oogie wants this." Barrel added.
"Oogie gonna use the heart to finally make people really scared of him, then he can do whatever he wants whenever he wants. Lock explained.
Barrel cackled. "Yeah it's gonna be Oogie day every day!"
"Smell ya later!" All three kids shouted before running away while laughing.
"After them!" Jack shouted, but was soon stopped by Sora.
"What about the doctor?" Goofy asked.
"I'll be fine, just get that heart back!" The doctor stated as he made his way towards his wheelchair. "If it gets into Oogie's hands...Well, I don't want to know what happens next."
Sora gulped not wanting to know what would happen if that heart fell into the wrong hands. With that the four run off; Quickly running outside they looked around, there was no sight of the trio of mischievous pranksters, though the sound of panic echoed in the distance.
"Over there!" Donald exclaimed; The group followed as they saw various Heartless causing mayhem all around the Town Square. The group sprang into action as they attacked the enemies, as the last heartless was defeated the town was now empty and had no sign of Lock, Shock, or Barrel
"Dang it, we lost them!" Sora yelled as he saw no visible trail of where the tricksters had ran off too.
"Not entirely. Zero, after them quick!" Jack ordered his dog.
Sora, Donald and Goofy followed Jack and Zero throughout the town, they had to get through a pile of Heartless and other defenses and quickly. It was a harsh battle, surprising Jack was far more mobile than Sora had given him being a dead skeleton and all, but it definitely aided him as they went through the Heartless one after the other. Mummy shaped ones tried to spring from the walls trying to leap onto Sora from behind, but all were in vain for now the newly trained Keyblade Master knew a few more tricks, and was better to take them down with much ease. Sora himself was even amazed by the speed of and agile nature he was able to handle. He supposed that the training back at the Colosseum really was worth it after all.
Eventually the town was clear.
"Good work everyone." Jack said looking around. "Come on out Townsfolk, you are safe now, come on, that's good."
The townsfolk began to return to normal now, Sora found it hard to believe that such horrifying monsters like them could feel scared. Yet to their surprise instead of remaining scared they applauded. Many of them actually seemed happy, thrilled even. Jack waved to them and gave a polite bow.
"I-I don't understand." Sora continued to look in confused shock. "Why are they applauding, I mean I guess we saved them but-
"No,no, no it's not that." Jack explained. "I mean yes, I'm sure they are grateful for you helping them, but you see, we here at Halloween Town enjoy being scared. A good fright now and then makes life a bit more important. Fear isn't a bad thing, in fact, we consider fear one of the most important things ever."
Sora still looked confused. "Really? But being brave is what helped me fight those monsters not fear."
"Ah well you see-"
Before Jack could finish Zero approached barking widely as he pointed off into the distance.
"What is it boy?" Jack asked as Zero barked. "You found them-Wonderful, will have to finish this topic later."
Sora gripped his Keyblade. "Ok, let's get going!"