AN: Okay, next chapter, um, the worlds are that of Okage: Shadow King and part of FF7, I figured that if Square was going to move half the final fantasy chars to Hallow Bastion than I could put some in a different world. So, introducing Shinra World.

Disclaimer: Don't own it.

Through These Eyes

Chapter 2

"Manifestations of Love"

"All your purposes are gone, nothing's right and nothing's wrong
Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Feel no sorrow, Feel no pain."

-Life of my Own, Three Doors Down

  "Slave!" The blonde man called as greeting.

  The boy winced, he knew that voice all too well. He walked faster.

  "Slave! Halt! Stop! GET BACK HERE!!!" The man shoved his way through the semi crowded streets in pursuit of his once servant.

  The boy shook his head in defeat, took a deep breath, and turned, he didn't really have much of a choice, he would be caught anyway, and, if he were honest with himself, he had been rather missing Stan lately.

  The blonde man grabbed his arm and pulled him back down the road, toward his house, talking all the while. "Slave, we are going to the northern mountains at first light. After that," he paused, making a face, "hero arrives."

  That sounded dangerously like an adventure. "I'm not going to the northern mountains. I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying here and having a normal life." He was resolute.

~~~~~~~

  "You're going to the Northern Mountains?! How wonderful! You can capture a Galloping Snow Beetle! Excellent!"

  "Dad, I'm not goi-"

  "Oh and dear, you can bring back a roast, those Northern cattle are supposed to have the best ribs."

  "Mother, I'm not going to-"

  "Of course my boy! Don't forget your coat."

  "I don't want to go on any-"

  "Oh, is that lovely princess going to be traveling with you too? You two would be so cute together, dear."

  The boy blushed faintly, and tried one last time. "I don't wan-"

  There was a knock at the door.

  "Must be the hero." Stan said glumly.

  The boy's mother pulled open the front door to reveal not only the pink hero Roslyn, but also the former evil king Epros, and his stalker, former evil king Linda.

  Roslyn strode in, "Are you ready to go? The sooner we stop this new threat the sooner I can go back to ridding the world of him." She nodded toward Stan. 

  "You will never defeat the one true evil king!" Stan snapped, and then they were fighting again.

  The boy put his head in his hands. Nothing ever changed.

~~~~~~~~

  He woke stiff and in an entirely different place than where he had fallen asleep. The grass was bright green and the short flowers surrounded him. There was also a pink ghost hovering over him.

  Sora screamed.

  The ghost laughed to itself, and rolled its eyes. This was too easy. It smiled and readied itself to cast the ultra sticky curse 'I am rubber, you are glue, everything bounces-' it halted its ghostly mumblings as a giant key was swung at its head. It fell back, surprised and dazed, it had been hit with sticks, chased by swords, and pursued by fire, but a key was a new one. In fact the only kid weird enough to do something like that was... The ghost leaped up to its ghostly tail and zoomed off. He had heard that the boy had red hair and green eyes, but he wasn't going to take any chances that this brown haired key wielder was the feared evil king destroyer.

  Sora stared after the fleeing ghost with a confused expression on his face. The heartless had never run from him before, they always seemed more than willing to fight, but then again, they had also always been black before and more serious looking. He swung his keyblade up onto his shoulder and looked around him, the other blade was no where to be seen. He shrugged and shook his head, never noticing that a few nearby chickens stood to follow him.     

~~~~~~~

  The once evil king destroyer would have been surprised to know that he was remembered, let alone feared. He was sitting in the basement with his 'friends' preparing for the trip to the Northern mountains. They had a map, food, and the boy had pulled out his sword, which had been buried under a mound of boxes in the hope he would never have to use it again. Right now they were examining the key that had fallen on him the week before.

  "Its just a dumb prop." Stan said, waving his hand dismissively.

  "I do not think it is wise to dismiss such a thing as this. There is power here, that to me is quite clear." Although he had lost his power as an evil king two years before Epros still spoke in rhyme, he was also still very perceptive.

  "Its nothing, and stop with that infernal rhyming." Stan reached out and grabbed the handle, bringing it close to his face and inspecting it critically. He moved to toss it back onto the dresser, but found himself suddenly dizzy, he felt light, and awkward on his feet. He shook his head, trying to clear it. "What?" The world was above him, he was lying on the floor, he pushed himself up, eyes widening at the familiar sight before him... Ari, the boy's, back.

  "ARRGGGG!! BLAST IT!!! I'm a shadow again!!!" 

~~~~~~~

  "Damn it!" Riku punched the door. The locked door. He felt centimeters away from tears, but he had never been one for crying, what good would it do? There was no one to help him. After all he was the helper. He was the protector, he was the strong one, the powerful one. It was what life gave him. Now, now he was the traitor. Soon to be the uncontrollably sobbing traitor.

  He had been here. Sora. They had been on the same world and he had missed him. He had been looking for so long, and he had been so close, and he had missed. God only knew where the boy was now. He leaned forward against the door, resting his forehead against the rough surface for a moment, gathering his strength, taking comfort from the success of his friend.

  He pushed himself up, weakness left behind, and picked his blades up from the ground, flipping them comfortably in his hands. The quest wasn't over yet.

  "You." His voice was hard, commanding. In another world he might have been a prince. 

  The small shadow that had been creeping behind him pointed its antennad head hesitantly toward him.

  "Go, find the nearest hot spot."

  He had never had a gummi ship, he had to travel through the worlds by magic, the easiest way was from hot spot, or magically charged area, to hot spot. The heartless typically used them to travel through the unlocked worlds.

  The shadow groveled briefly before scampering off.

  One step closer.

~~~~~~~

  The coffee was cold the donuts were old and President Rufus was angry. Typical day in the Shinra mega corporation.

  "I think he's just pissed because Sephiroth isn't returning his calls." Reno said to his partner through the stale donut stuffed in his mouth. Free food was free food after all.

  "..."

  "Knew you'd agree with me." Sephiroth, famed inter world traveler, had made a home on Shinra Planet, as Reno unaffectionately called it, for years before having a severe falling out with Hojo, the old man, and, apparently, sanity. He had stayed just long enough to wipe out Rufus's father, and then had high tailed it out of there. Rufus had been crushed at the loss of such a powerful resource, not to mention the fact that no one kept the heartless out of the air conditioning system the way Sephiroth could. "Where's Elena anyway? I haven't seen her all morning."

  "..." Rude shrugged.

  "She's filing her reports. I think the real question is, where have you been?" There was no mistaking the cold cultured voice behind them.

  Reno turned and grinned, though it was a bit of a struggle, "Eh, trying to tell us something boss?"

  Tseng looked indulgently dangerous, his smile was a threat. "4 o'clock, Reno."

  "Yeah, yeah, I'll have it in." He waved his hand in a dismissive gesture.

  "Today, Reno, 4 o'clock today. Not tomorrow, not next week. Today."

  "Yeah, I hear ya, today." The look was making him uncomfortable, but he couldn't very well scamper off to it in front of his boss, that would be giving in.

  "Just wanted to make sure we were perfectly clear." The black haired man inclined his head briefly to Rude, and walked off.

  Reno nodded knowingly at Tseng's back, "Areis's not returning his calls."

  Rude cracked a smile and hmed agreeably.

  "Back to the grind stone."

~~~~~~~ 

  'Master'.

  It was a feeling more than a voice, seeping into his consciousness. He looked up from his polishing, to where the shadow stood uncertainly before him.   

  Riku nodded and stood, putting away his rag and sliding his sword into a newly materialized sheath hanging from an equally new belt. Making things from nothing could be difficult, especially if what he made was not something he usually had. Materializing his armor had become second nature, but new additions to it tired him, so as he followed calmly behind he the shadow he worked at marshalling his power. Traveling between locked worlds was always a trial.

 'Here.' That feeling again, pervading his mind, as the shadow pointed down at the ground, all the while looking up at him, head cocked to the side and antenna quivering hopefully.

  Riku had always found that there was an unexpected sweetness to the shadows, as if they longed to please, were always waiting to be hit and hoped desperatly for a bit of praise. Riku nodded at the creature, "Good, this'll do. Come here."

  The shadow approached hesitantly. It had traveled through worlds with him a number of times, but was forever cautious and unsure when with its master. It carefully touched his calf, wrapping its claws delicately around his lower leg.  

  Riku waited for its tentative touch before transferring his power, and himself through the hotspot and to the closest foreign magic.

~~~~~~~~

  Kairi sat in the sand, Sora's wooden sword in her lap. She could see where it was worn from handling, and from beating. He always seemed to hit the same place. Riku's wooden weapon lay by her feet, it was worn too, a little more evenly, but still bore distinctive marks from where another had hit it time and again. She sighed, eyes traveling from the notches on one weapon to the other. She didn't need to lay them side by side to tell that the wounds matched, that the area where the varnish was most worn from one would fit comfortably in the notch on the other.

  She picked up Sora's sword and swung it awkwardly. She hadn't played fight in a long time, having proudly grown out of it around 7 years old and moving on to rafts, sand villages, and brightly colored doll clothing. Sora's sword was light, easy to handle, even for her, but she didn't see how he kept from snapping it in half. She took Riku's sword up with her other hand. It was heavier, and felt more solid, more comfortable under her fingers. 

  She lifted it up close, inspecting it affectionately. She could remember them fighting, most of her memories of them were fighting, on the beach, hearing the thud and crash as wood met wood. She could remember herself too, rolling her eyes, telling them to hurry it up, or laughing. Whenever she laughed they always got worse, they would try doing flips, cartwheels, or bizarre jumping attacks. She could remember the time Riku got in a wonderful wack to Sora's side then moved to flip away, only to fumble on his hands and fall backwards, over the Papou and into the ocean. She had been sitting on the tree, waiting for them to finish up their battle so they could go to her house, make a fort in the living room and raid the fridge. She had laughed hysterically, at his fall, at least, after the utter terror of 'oh my god is he okay?' wore off.

  It already seemed so long ago.

  She swung Riku's sword cautiously, it gained momentum quickly, it felt fierce and dangerous, as if it were more than a hastily sanded stick.   

  Kairi shook her head and walked up the beach, looking for Tidus and his friends.

~~~~~~~

  "Hey, Ele-What the hell is that?" Reno's eyes widened in surprise before narrowing again.

  "Um, what's what?" She smiled up at him, feeling cheerful, she was pretty much finished with her paperwork, which meant she could actually go home on time today.

  "That!" He gestured to the side of her desk, "That giant key-thing!"

  Elena blinked, oh yeah, that, "It's a giant key, Reno."

  He glared, "No shit, but what does it do?"

  Elena shrugged, signing her name neatly on the next dotted line. "I don't know, probably just a novelty item, I found it when I was looking for the Hanson report," she looked over her reading glasses at Reno, expression vaguely accusing. 

  Reno shrugged it off, remembering the Hanson report as a distant but much hated enemy, and had treated it as such. "You mean you actually went into the closet?" he laughed, no one went into the closet, it had a life of its own. Not only was it filled with a variety of incredibly dangerous and hair trigger weapons, there were also mountains of paperwork, valleys of office supplies, and a highly advanced rodent civilization complete with religious idols and Shinra hate shrines. It was rumored that Tseng's predecessor had once locked a prisoner in it for safe keeping and he had never been seen again. In fact, the only one who dared enter the ancient report tomb was Tseng himself, who's three foot aura of perfection protected him from the chaos within.

  "Uh huh," Elena nodded, "I needed to find this report," the accusing look returned, "There were three year old donuts in there."

  Reno shrugged, and kicked the key gently, glancing it over, "Its ugly."

  "Hey! Careful, I don't think its ours!"

  "It was in our closet, besides, who would want this thing?" He picked it up, meaning to get a closer look, "OW! Dammit!" He dropped it swiftly, waving his hand in the air. "Its hot as hell!"

  Elena cautiously righted the key, "...No its not, its cool. Cold even." She picked it up, demonstrating.

  Reno glared at it, before resolutely reaching out again. When his hand was about and inch from the metal a bright blue spark leapt from the key to his skin. "Damn it!" He looked down at Elena, "That thing is broken."

  She covered her mouth with a hand, trying not to laugh, "Its got good taste."

  Reno glowered.

~~~~~~~~

  He had met about a dozen ghosts during his trek to town, a few of them ran away, but most stayed thinking Sora a most delectable snack, only to be disappointed when they were beaten into the ground by his keyblade, which for all of its unreliability in locking doors still managed to injure monsters. He had seen a few conventional heartless as well, their dark and somber looks standing out in a world of bright vibrant colors and bizarre wild eyed monsters.

  The town was also bright and a tad wild eyed, large men moved around what appeared to be a fishing village, some chuckling in a deep and disconcerting way.

  He walked into the closest building, an inn. An oddly dressed man stood of to one side, a crystal ball floating in front of him. He smiled widely when Sora entered, and bouncing slightly on his heels said, "Hey, hey, want to know your love fortune?"

  "Huh? My what?"

  "Your love fortune! You know, the person you're destined to be with." It nodded it pink jester like head emphatically.

  "Uh," Sora looked at the hopeful face, "Sure." He grinned, "Tell me."

  "Okay, let's see" The man peered into his crystal ball, "you're true match is," it squinted, "hmm, Ric-no Rikku? Ah, wait, Riku, that's it Riku." He nodded, obviously proud of his prediction.

  Sora stared, "Riiiiiight, that cinches it. This world is twisted."

~~~~~~~

  He staggered, falling forward to his knees while the shadow cringed behind him. He was exhausted, unusually so, there was something about this world that drained him. Like a buffer of magic, keeping him out and others in. It had taken a ton of power to break through, but he had arrived, and he was alive, and all the bits of him had reappeared in the right places.

  He looked up wonderingly. He was collapsed in an alley way formed by two massive skyscrapers. His eyes widened and his head swam. The entire city reached upward, a mass of concrete and steel, seeming to touch space, and was engulfed in a bright green glow.