Heartless Imperfection

Chapter XIV

"It's getting bigger!"

The group finished off the last of the Heartless, and turned toward a newly formed portal. Cloud lifted Sora from the desk, and strode toward Aerith. He placed Sora in her arms, and drew his Buster Sword. Barret grabbed hold of Rufus's shoulder, and kept him in check.

"He's cold," Aerith exclaimed, and placed him on his back, against the floor. She studied him, and felt a hint of breathing emanating from his lungs.

A scream broke the paused silence as a figure dropped down before the group of fighters. "The heck," he said, coughing on dust. It was a boy, not older than Sora. In relation to the chosen keyblade master, this one had close-cropped, black hair with emerald green eyes. He was dressed in a black t-shirt that read on the front, "Old School" with pixilated pictures around the text. Jeans clung to his slim legs and thighs, barely covering a pair of boxer shorts jutting from his backside. He wore strange white running shoes, also. He brushed some dust off of his shoulders, and looked at the men and women before him. "Whoa, I think I should've listened to mom when she told me to stop playing games."

The group eyed this newcomer strangely, "Who're you," quacked Donald.

The boy's green eyes lit up at the question. "Hey," He stepped forward, and put a hand out, "Zenver Lapite-Zen for short-it's great to meet you."

Donald looked at him for a long moment, and shook his hand.

"So when's this dream gonna' end? Being in the presence of my two favorite Disney and four favorite Square characters is driving me crazy. It's almost as outlandish as my last one."

"Who are you, again?"

"Zen Lapite! Didn't you hear me before?" The boy sighed. He stroked his raven-colored hair and looked about the chamber. "Looks like we're in Shin-Ra headquarters, huh. I don't remember these papers, though." Zen knelt down next to Rufus at the pile of red-stained papers. "Rufus of Shin-Ra, right. You all look much more different in person, you know?"

Completely mystified by the stranger, no one said anything. Aerith watched him as he went back and forth, talking to each of her friends; He's innocent, and fun loving, and youthful. She nearly laughed, but her gaze was on Sora. She gasped, nearly slapping herself for forgetting about him. "He's not waking up!"

Zen turned around, "There's a new face," He jumped over. He didn't seem any taller than Sora, either. "What's wrong with him?"

Aerith looked at Zen, "He fell into this trance when you popped out of that big, purple sphere."

Zen placed a hand on Sora's arm, "He's pretty cold. You sure he isn't dead?" The boy turned Sora's arm over and felt his wrist for a pulse. Sora's body shuddered, and Zen backed away. An item suddenly formed in his hand, "What's this?"

The keyblade shone brightly, magical in every aspect. Zen got up from the floor and proceeded to put the weapon down. When backing away, the weapon teleported back into his grip. "What's going on here? Is this even a dream? Slap me!"

With that, grinning, Donald let Zen have a punch to the face. Donald misjudged, and broke the boy's soft skin, causing the cheek to swell somewhat.

"Augh! Pain! This isn't a dream!" He fell backward, staring at Sora, past the keyblade in his hand.