Yaysees! Next chap! Okay, yes, this is the final other-world chapter. But maybe there will be another, in another place. But I highly doubt it. Unless someone tells me otherwise.
Sephy: *reading Zoshi's bio* I'm insane?
Yes you are.
Sephy: *growls*
Look, sugar! *points in random direction*
Sephy: Wheeee! *runs off*
Er, yes, anyways, KH is not mine. Neither is Sephy. Insane Sephy, well, he's just there.
Chapter 6
"So, where now?" Sasha said, hands on her hips, turning round and round to get a good look at all seven tunnels that branched from the main tunnel. She sighed, turned back to Riku. The boy was looking critically at one tunnel.
"This way." Turning on his heel, he started into the tunnel directly opposite the one he had been looking at.
"If you say so…" Sasha began to follow him. In short time they had moved quickly through the tunnel, and soon reached another split. All along the way, a glow on the tunnel walls gave them just barely enough light to see with. Just barely.
"Hey, if this is a renegade Heartless we're dealing with, then, shouldn't he have little heartless helpers that should be fighting us right now?" Sasha glanced uneasily into the darkness behind them as Riku stood, studying the tunnels.
"That's true…" Riku looked around, shrugged. "Well, it just makes it easier for us. Come on, I think this is the way."
He set off into the left branch, and Sasha followed. Their walk lasted, how long, they couldn't tell. But it was long enough to make them stop to catch their breath. Sasha sat down near the wall, leaning back against it and wondering how she had ever gotten herself into this. She sighed, looked over at Riku. He was standing at the other wall, head lowered as he thought about something.
"Hey, Riku? Were you always at Hollow Bastion?" Sasha asked casually, putting her hands behind her head. The boy looked over in her direction.
"No. Not always. I came from a different world…" Riku trailed off for a second.
"How'd you get with that sorceress? She's all freaky…" Sasha put her hands on her knees and leaned forward. Riku smiled.
"Yeah, she is. Well, she said she'd help… she said she'd help me find my friends." Riku looked away again.
"And your world?" Sasha asked. Riku shrugged.
"It doesn't matter. That's not the important thing. The important thing here is to find them. Then…" Riku said firmly, then got a thoughtful look on his face. He shook his head. "It doesn't matter what happens afterwards, just as long as I find them… that's all that matters."
Sasha was in awe of his words. All of this, everything he'd do, was to find his friends. But, what if what Sephiroth said was true? That Maleficent was so close to the darkness… Riku wouldn't know what he was getting himself into. But, then again, Sasha thought, Neither did I, when I helped Sephiroth. She sighed, when chaos strikes, kids are always exploited.
"So, what's your story?" Riku asked, and although his head stayed down he glanced at her from the corner of his eye.
"Well, my world got destroyed by the heartless, and ever since then I've been stuck in Limbo, running errands for Sephiroth and getting scared by randomly appearing walls and various kitchen appliances." Sasha shrugged. "Pretty boring, actually. Unless Sephiroth starts ranting. Then it gets interesting, what with all the dramatic speeches and poses and plans."
Riku raised an eyebrow at that last part.
"He tells you his plans?" He obviously thought this a stupid move, as Sasha would have, but considering the circumstances, she didn't.
"Oh, don't worry, they change every time. I think we're on his thirty-fourth one by now." Sasha grinned to herself. Sephiroth may be insane and evil, and evilly insane, but he sure made the boring nothingness of Limbo a lot more bearable. Riku shook his head and chuckled.
"We should get moving. The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we get out of here." Riku said, pushing off from the wall. This time he waited until Sasha got up before setting off.
It took them quite a while to get through the maze of tunnels. Finally they decided to leave markers in the tunnels they'd been through. Following those that were unmarked, they managed to make their way to a large cave. By this time they were hungry, thirsty, and severely annoyed by the sudden droppings of little lizard-like creatures that began falling from the ceiling, leaving purple smears on whatever they hit. Grimacing with disgust as he plucked another small lizard out of his now-purple streaked hair, Riku looked forward and took a step back in surprise.
"What the hell is that?"
Sasha, busy trying to get a squirming lizard out from the back of her shirt, took a moment before looking. Then she too took a step back in surprise.
"Whatever it is, it looks… gooey." Sasha tilted her head, with a puzzled look on her face, and Riku nodded.
Indeed, whatever had plopped down in the middle of the giant cave was gooey. Not only that, it seemed to be oozing masses of the little lizards that were everywhere. It looked like a giant melted multicolored gumdrop, with black, rubbery spikes sticking out of it in random intervals. All the crawling lizards created an almost inaudible hiss, sounding just a little like snow on a TV. Before either Sasha or Riku could speak again, though, silence came, and a low voice spoke.
I am Inidor.
Where the voice came from, they couldn't tell, until it finally clicked that the voice could be coming from the giant blob itself.
"Are… are you a heartless?" Sasha finally managed to ask.
A heartless? Or maybe you should be asking, the heartless, the one you seek.
"Er… yeah, okay, are you?" Sasha sidled a little closer to Riku as the wave of lizards suddenly increased in their direction.
Yes, I am the one you were sent to destroy. Although, I ask, please, do not.
"And, why's that?" Sasha asked, readying her axe and wondering why she was doing all the talking. She glanced over at Riku, saw him staring intently at something on the other side of the room.
The sorceress… she fears this worlds. Fears my influence. She does not understand… I had lived here, once. Long, long ago. And now, I do not wish to destroy this world. All I want to do is protect it.
"But…" Sasha started, realized that she really didn't know what she wanted to say. Riku moved suddenly, pulling his sword ready.
"We have to fight it." He said, then looked at her, his turquoise eyes hard.
"We do?"
Sasha was getting confused. The heartless was being… nice. All it wanted to do
was save the world it had known. Didn't… didn't that mean that it… it just
might have a heart?
"Yes. You'll see why soon enough."
Riku gripped his sword tightly.
Suddenly, a familiar sounding yowl filled the room, and a dingy-brown streak dashed past them into the room. It launched itself at the giant blob, dove into it.
What?! NO! What is this? What… what is happening?!
The blob suddenly spasmed, shook. Its colors brightened, then darkened, then brightened again. The lizards closest to it that had been crawling forward stopped, turned back into it. It pulled itself up, up, thinned, formed into a large dark purple opaque lizard.
"The cat! Dammit!" Sasha's wings bristled in aggravation, sparks flying. "That must've been the real heartless, the real one we were supposed to be after!"
"But… it didn't have any heartless signs!" Riku said, turning to Sasha.
"Well, how else would you explain that?" Sasha pointed at the dripping lizard, which now was flicking its long tail about the room. Riku looked back, trying to figure it out. He shook his head. No sense worrying about it now. They had a job to do.
"No matter. Now we have to go through with it," Riku said, running forward.
"How do I get myself into these things?" Sasha muttered, rushing after him.
Just as they reached it, the lizard swung forward its tail. Both jumped over it easily, Sasha hovering in the air for a second, long enough to see the massive leg come swing at Riku as he landed.
"Riku! Watch out!" She sent a blast of fire towards it, and although it didn't seem to damage it, it stopped the appendage long enough for Riku to roll out of the way.
With a cry, Riku lunged forward, plunging his sword into the lizard's body and slashed it out. The lizard reared its head in a silent scream, then plunged it down in his direction. Sasha dove down, managing to slice into its neck before it reached him. Unfortunately, this left her open to an attack from the tail. It whipped her wings, covering them in the dark goo that formed it. She fell in a heap on the flour with a resounding crash.
"Owww…" She groaned, looking up in time to see Riku fly over her thanks to a hit from another lizard arm. "Dammit… how're we supposed to beat this thing?"
"Maybe… maybe we should try magic…" Riku said, breathing hard and trying not to choke as the remainder of the lizards searched frantically for a hiding spot, and thought that his mouth made a good one.
"Good idea…" Sasha pushed herself off the ground and stood shakily. She stared the lizard down, or maybe, attempted to, since there were so many yellow glowing spots on its head she found it hard to just pick two and stick with them. "Okay lizard, eat lightning!"
Pointing her hand at the lizard, she mustered up as much lightning as she could without passing out and shot it out. The lizard reared in surprise, and the lightning hit it straight in the chest, right where the heartless logo had formed (finally). It left a gaping, smoking, bad smelling hole, and also an enraged, fuming giant lizard.
It lurched forward again, and Sasha took off running. Now, running wasn't exactly the greatest form of battle, but it suited her just fine.
Riku got up painfully, brushing away dust and the lizards that remained clinging to his pants. He took in the battle scene. Obviously, lightning was damaging the lizard, and more than Sasha fire blast had done before. Actually, now that he looked at it, the lizard was weakening with each splash of goo that dropped from its gaping wound. Unfortunately, they couldn't wait for it to drip to death, because the hole was also healing quickly. Thankfully, he hoped, the lizard was paying all its attention to Sasha, who was running and jumping, and basically acting like a spaz, in the intention of not getting eaten. So far, it was working. Riku just hoped that it would work long enough for him to gather some energy and cast that lightning spell.
Sasha was about to yell at Riku to help when she glanced at him and noticed that he was gathering energy. She found herself quite happy to be stuck in a situation like this with someone who could think of some sort of plan; she only hoped that he'd act on it before she became lizard chow. She kept running, until suddenly the lizard began slowing. Its head began to turn, its dozens of eyes turning to look in Riku's direction.
"Oh no, that's not gonna work, buddy," Sasha said, and turned around. She ran at the wall, jumped, bounced off and landed a high kick straight in the middle of all those dozens of eyes… and promptly bounced off. The lizard reared its head, shaking it in dizzy pain, as she fell backwards to the floor. She tried to flap her wings and almost slapped herself for her stupidity. They were still held closed with all the goo that the lizard had slapped on them. A second later she hit the floor… and bounced again. The goo had turned rubbery, and now she was flying through the air again. And now, she found herself heading at the ground again, at high speeds. Face first.
"Oh no…" She muttered.
Just as she though she was going to end up going to a plastic surgeon for the next few years of her life, Riku unleashed his lightning. Bright blue flashed to white, a boom like a dozen jets breaking the speed of sound, and Sasha found herself falling into a mass of slurring dark purple goo-soup. It splashed around her, and she groaned.
"Need help?" Riku stood above her, a smug look on his face. Sasha growled at him, thoroughly disgusted in her new purple covering and aggravated at the fact that the only dark purple goo on Riku was on his shoes, but held out an arm anyway. It was hard getting out of that goo.
"Thanks." She said once they had gotten her out of there. They stood there for a second, not really knowing what to do, still hungry, still thirsty, and now very tired. Suddenly, there was a hiss, and all the purple goo disappeared. It faded from their clothes, and Sasha's wings; although, for some strange reason, it didn't fade from Riku's hair.
"Dammit!" He growled, and gripped his hair in frustration. Sasha laughed.
"Don't worry, maybe it'll wash out." She said, still laughing.
There was a rush of wind about them, and they turned to see Maleficent standing behind them.
"Very well done. I applaud you both." Maleficent looked at them from on high. She turned to Sasha. "Sasha, I have an offer to make to you."
"Yeah?" Sasha said, hoisting her axe onto her shoulder tiredly.
"If you would come with me, work with me, I think I'd be able to help you find your world." Maleficent said sweetly, darkly. Sasha looked at her, shocked for a moment. Find her world? She almost jumped at the opportunity. Then she stopped herself. Her world had been taken by darkness, just as this one had, and look what happened here. She sighed, shaking her head. Working with Sephiroth wasn't any better, but she was sure she'd find his company better than the sorceress'.
"Nice offer, but I'd rather not." Sasha said.
"Are you sure?" Maleficent looked at her, a fake caring glint coming to her eyes. "You would be able to see your world again. You would be able to see your friends, your family. Everything, it would be yours. All you have to do is come with me."
Sasha, in truth, wanted to go home very badly. What if it was true? She thought. She'd be able to see everyone again, able to visit all her favorite spots, with no more of this heartless nonsense. But, the way Maleficent had said that it would all be hers, sent a shiver through her heart. She shook her head again. There was no way she'd do that. She couldn't trust that the heartless would be out of the picture, because Maleficent was in the picture. If she were in the picture, all her terrible power would be too. Sasha didn't want any of it. She was aware that Riku was watching her closely, and something else twinged in her. If she stayed, she might just have a friend. No lonely days while Sephiroth stared in silence, no more random suicide-training… She shook her head again. No, no matter what she gained, it wouldn't be worth all the darkness that followed.
"No. Really, thanks for the offer, but I'd really rather go back to limbo." Sasha sighed, met eyes with Maleficent.
The sorceress wasn't please. But, there was still time. Still time when they could bring the girl into their grip. For now, she'd let her stay with Sephiroth. Later, later, there was still time.
"Very well then. I shall send you back." Maleficent said, and with a wave of her hand, Riku found himself staring at nothing.
He turned away quickly, a little miffed about not having someone to talk to anymore. But then again, it didn't matter. The girl didn't take the offer, he had. That meant he still had things to do. Like finding his friends. He'd find them first, worry about her later.
Yes, okay, remember now, no SashaxRiku stuff, they're just gonna be friends. Wanna make that clear. And yes, there are many things I don't like about this chapter. Many many more than I like about this chapter. I hope you kinda enjoyed it. Hope.
As always, flames, questions: zoshitheconfused@yahoo.com
Sephy: *sends twenty flames* hee hee heee….Muahahahaaa!
Um, you okay?
Sephy: *still grinning evilly, runs away and eats… donuts! The chocolate glazed and sugar frosted ones*