Kingdom Hearts

Ch. 42

Deep Jungle

In Darkness Looms

As the world fell apart around them the colonists of Britannia began feuding with each other over what to do. The entire crew gathered together on the flight deck. The higher ups remained on the floor. While the engineers stood on the scaffolding above the others. Men and woman wearing fancy clothes continued to argue. "We can't leave without the Sir Ralum and Sir Clayton. News of their abonnement will cause a great outcry on home world," said one of the colonists.

"But if we don't leave now. None of us may return. Will disappear along with this world," argued Thaddeus Porter. The short scientist tried to reason with the people but to no avail. Jane stood silently by the window of the ship starring at the doomed jungle. Thinking of the creatures and the people she met her. She thought about Sora and the others. She thought about the animals that once called this place home.

Heard of elephants conversing and bathing in the nearby lake. The baby monkey eating a papaya for breakfast. The love birds pampering each other. And finally, she thought about Tarzan and the gorillas. "What will become of them now?"

Her mind wondered as the rest of her colleges continued their debate. "Lady Dagger as the highest authority here it's up to you to decide what our orders are," said an old-time mechanic who's just fed up with the bickering while the world was ending outside. Dagger stayed off to the side. She knew the choice would eventually fall on her. She thought of a well-intentioned response to tell the colonists. She calmly and firmly spoke, "As I told you all. Ralum went rouge. He had a hand in the death of our top cleric. He assaulted me and tried to murder and innocent 12-year-old boy. I don't know what was going through his head but whatever it was he will face court martial if he returns home."

"The arrogant ass is too proud of owning up to his actions. He'd rather die alone in an apocalyptic wasteland then face the Prince in chains," spoke another mechanic sitting on a railway above the others.

Dagger continued her proposal, "Then that leaves Sir Clayton of the Scientific Branch. I don't know what happened to him but he's too good of a survivor to be killed by the elements." She went on to speak of Clayton's possible reasons for his disappearance. "Cecil has a track record of going off on his own without telling anyone. Though he only leaves when he goes out hunting. But he's so good at it. He's never gone long before anyone notices. It's also never inconvenient to us so we don't normally mind. No doubt about it. The reason he left is because he found prey that was worth his time."

"That's crazy, but he should've been back by now right," said a woman standing next to Dagger.

"Yes, but this prey wasn't like anything we've seen before. I believe he went to kill the gorilla that took Ralum down in one blow. This creature couldn't even be described as an animal. A better term is monster," explained Dagger touching her chin with her fingers.

"Knowing Clayton. He loves a good challenge," spoke another man.

"Yes, but his actions are putting this crew in danger. He could be dead or worse," spoke Dr. Porter.

"Yes, his actions did cause his own down fall." The crew turned to the person speaking expecting him to be a fellow colonist. Looking at the man, their eyes turned to both a confused and frightened stare. A man dressed in black attire walked out from the shadows sporting a large gash mark across his body. He fell to his knees fighting off the pain.

"Cloak!" shouted Dagger. She ran to her friend calling for her healing abilities. "Curaga," she sounded healing the dark draped man. His entrance broke Jane from her trance. She joined the others as they surrounded the man.

"Cloak, are you okay? What's happening?" she said worried wrapping her arms around his neck.

"This is the cloaked person she claimed saved her," said one woman to another.

Cloaks wound was healed and he was finally able to explain what's going on. "Both Clayton and Ralum have fallen to darkness. They're both beyond help now. You need to leave before you're dragged into the void with them."

Hearing the news gave Dagger confidence leaving now is the best decision. The rest of the crew remained shocked after hearing they lost two Elites. "Well you heard him. Get to your stations. Prepare for takeoff," commanded Dagger. The pilots and engineers ran to their designated areas while everyone else returned to their rooms.

Jane walked to Cloak to ask him an important question. "Cloak do you know what has become of Sora and Tarzan?"

Dagger grabbed him by the arm preparing to take him to the medical facility. Cloak nodded, "I brought them back to their own ship. We parted ways after that. I don't know if they made it off the world yet?"

"Was Tarzan with them?" she asked again.

"Yes, I left him to care for Sora. I don't know if he'll join them on that ship though," he replied. Jane remained quiet thinking over the situation. Dagger helped Cloak down the hallway leaving Jane alone. He Father patted her hands looking at her humbly. The ship began to lift off the ground. Her Father left her alone in the room.

Jane walked down the hallway alone till she heard something coming from downstairs. She opened the cargo door and made her way down the steps in the poorly lit corridor. She could make out faint moaning. She followed the sound till she came across a standard steam powered motor car. She walked to the other side of the car to see a small hairy animal shivering. It was the young ape Terk huddled in fear alone.

"My little one are you alright. Did you stow away?" said Jane bending her knees. The young gorilla looked to her and grabbed her pulling her close. The two embraced tightly while Jane whispered in Terks ear, "It's okay you don't have to be afraid anymore."

Back in the jungle, the forests creatures have been replaced with the shadows of the heartless. They roamed the fading jungle like army ants ready to attack any poor creature unlucky enough to fall prey to them.

Up in a tree, Clayton was struggling about with his limbs tangled in the vines. He knew something was wrong and he had to get back to camp. He pulled out his hunting knife to cut the vines hanging him in the air. He did this without thinking as when most of the vines were cut. The few that held him up gave way to his weight. He fell nearly 8 feet landing on his back. The fall threw him into a daze. His hunting knife fell into the dense jungle leaves out of sight. Clayton opened his eyes to see something small standing in front of him. It was all black with yellow eyes. A heartless.

Clayton not in the mood to deal with this creature tried to send it off. "What are you looking at? Get lost," he said standing on his feet. But it did not leave.

He summoned his weapon making it appear in his hand. The Heartless wouldn't stop staring at him. Clayton annoyed and bothered didn't have the patience to have a conversation with it. So, he took his gun and shot the creature in the face destroying it. He began to walk back to camp with a fast pace. Around him more yellows eyes stared at him through the jungle.

As an Elite and skilled hunter he has been trained to be wary of his surroundings. He knew something was wrong. He could feel the darkness creeping in around him. His steady run turned to jogging and then to running then to sprinting. He could feel the darkness as if it was around his neck. He felt that something was following him. One would turn around to investigate but he was too scared to do so. He ran up hill as fast as his legs could carry him. His throat began to burn. His heart pounded like crazy. Out of panic he transformed his hunting rifle into a machine gun. He turned around before making his way up the incline. He fired his gun relentlessly at his stalkers. In front lay hundreds of yellows eyes belonging to shadow creatures of all kinds coming after him. His gun began destroying the incoming waves. But for every heartless he shot down two would follow.

Clayton has never been scared in his whole life. Not by the might of Kerchak or the fierceness of a dragon but the minions of darkness can make anyone with a heart experience fear. Clayton new his efforts were fruitless. He threw away his gun before preceding up the incline. The heartless followed behind him. He made his way to the top. Through a gap between two trees he could see what has become of this world. The giant black orb was almost ready to engulf the jungle. The forest began to disappear piece by piece into the darkness. Clayton looked on in horror as the world reached its final hour. In a distance, what he saw was the thing he feared the most over anything.

He saw the flying ship begin to leave the atmosphere. Abandoning him here. "No wait. Don't leave me,"

Clayton knew the heartless were coming from behind him. He jumped off the high point falling 10 feet landing in a pool of contaminated water. He ran screaming towards the ship waving his arms in a hopeless attempt to get their attention. He watched as the ship disappeared in the sky stranding him on this doomed planet. His face gave the impression of fear and shock. Tear fell down his cheeks. His heart pounded. His hands shivered. "They-they left without me," he though not able to speak.

The heartless finally caught up with him. They surrounded him as the ground beneath him turned black. He looked up not having the will power to move. The heartless then sprung at him from all directions. He screamed as the darkness took over drowning his heart with the rest of the world. Gone into oblivion.

Dark Chapel

Far off in another world, several shadowy figures watched from a magic projection on the fate of Deep Jungle. They watched as the world fell into darkness disappearing without a trace. Leaving one less star in the sky. They watched as the gummi ship and the Voyager escape going off in their own direction. The figures began to converse over the recent events. With a horned witch seeing over the committee.

"I can't believe he made it out. It would have been so fitting to see him fall into the darkness. We wouldn't have to lift a finger," said a mysterious women with a deep feminine voice.

"Yeah but did you how that kid just stared crying when the world fell apart. I swear what a loser. Of all the people for the keyblade to choose it had to be him. Normally I'd complain but I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth," said Hades of Olympus. The fiery god's flames lit the room a bit showing his face while the others remained hidden in the darkness.

"Yeah he got his ass whooped and everything," said another with a more enticing voice.

"Yes, but what was it that drew the heartless to that world in the first place," said the women with the deep feminine voice.

"Isn't it obvious it was the culmination of those two men from Britannia. The two weak hearted fools were no match for the heartless." The man speaking walked in the room. A tall, thin man in pointed robes walks out of the shadows, a snake staff in his hand.

"The boy was not as big of a threat as we thought he was. But we have a more serious problem. That Prince from Britannia. I thought the people of Britannia were sealed off from the outside world. They've been dormant for nearly two hundred years. But now they're out slowly conquering worlds one by one. They will be a very sore pain if we cross paths," said the skinny man joining the rest of the group.

"Fear not, the people of Britannia have no concern with our own affairs. They are blissfully unaware of our plans. Let them have fun exploring worlds. In time, they'll fall to us after we find what we're looking for," said the horned woman.

"Yes, the princesses," remarked the thin man.

"They are falling into our hands, one by one. Speaking of which..." spoke the horned woman. Out of the shadows steps a frightened Alice.