Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts II are copyright Square Enix. And, just so you know, no matter how much you beg, 50 cents will NOT make them yours. It will just make you look like a poor poor idiot.
A/N: 12/05/05 to 02/16/06. Yep. Feel free to stone me, all of you. Take the heaviest thing you own and whip it at me. I deserve it...Anyways, er, I had this all written out, but then accidentally 'x'd' out the window before I saved, so like an Idiot now I need to rewrite anything. And I can't spell because I just drank some coffee. Good News: this chapter is done. Better news: The next chapter is being begun today. Bad News: Coffee makes me uable to form coherent sentences. Dilemma: Should I write on a coffee high, or stay up late at night and write? Either way, I don't think I'd be able to form coherent and correctly spelled sentences.
Blah.
Enjoy!
Title: Blood in the Cesspool
Rating: PG-13
Author: Zoshi the Confused
Genre: Kingdom Hearts
Sequel to These Wings That Ache
Chapter 2
Isidor grimaced, pulling at the sleeve of his new blue shirt. It wasn't exactly the kind of thing he liked to wear. The fabric of the shirt was slightly elastic, and on his torso it clung to his skin, making him feel like he was being wound up in rubber bandages. On his arms, however, the fabric was different. Minus the elasticity, it was flowing, and the sleeves were wide and billowy. He looked down at his pants woefully. They were a dark grey, made of a thick material, and not the most comfortable pants in the world. They hung in stiff ripples around his ankles, leaving only the very front of his boots uncovered. He sighed, looking around at the rest of the store he stood in.
Sasha had shifted them through worlds not long after that night, using a tri-colored amulet hung around her neck. The world they were in now, full of glowing neon signs and smoke-billowing mechanical contraptions that moved people from place to place, was a large change from the world they'd come from. Timid, Isidor could do no more than stare around him, wide eyed, when they'd first arrived. Even now, he found himself shying away from the voices and people that littered the store. He slid back, leaning against a wall between a rack of blue colored pants of the same kind of stiff material, and hangers with multicolored billowy sleeved shirts. People passed by, seeming oblivious to the boy, laughing and talking as they pushed forward metal carts on wheels, filled to the brim with all sorts of clothes and other items.
"Isidor? Where'd you go?"
The boy turned in the direction of the voice. Pushing off from the wall, he looked around for Sasha, and both the boy and girl nearly ended up running into each other.
"Hey, so, whaddya think?" Sasha asked, spreading her arms. She had on a dark green, ¾ sleeve shirt, tied with black strings like a corset in the front and back. Her pants were of the same stiff material as Isidors, only black. Isidor smiled, then noticed something. He tilted his head quizzically, his gaze going over her right shoulder.
"Hm?" She noticed his look, then realized what it was he was looking at. "Oh, yeah, I guess I totally forgot to tell you."
With a shrug, she unfolded her remaining wing, its black and silver feathers glittering softly in the halogen lights.
"I have a wing. Used to have two, but…" Sasha's face darkened suddenly, a strangely grim look. She looked at Isidor, and brightened. "But it happens, heh. Come on, lets get out of here. There's still lots for us to do."
Isidor smiled, and walked with her out of the store. The noisy machines that came careening down the street still made him flinch, but at least he was jumping at everything like he was before. He looked over at Sasha. She seemed relaxed, looking into the store windows as they walked by, glancing around at the signs and lights that were scattered across the lamp poles and building walls. Isidor grinned, a small grin, and relaxed himself. Everything was fine, it seemed. Everything was warm and bright and nothing was going wr----
He reeled, as though something had collided with his abdomen. Dropping to his knees, he wrapped his arms around himself, head ringing. He would have whimpered had he the voice. Had he the voice, he would have been screaming in pain. He felt Sasha's hand on his shoulder, but the stars blossoming in front of his eyes were stabbing with their points, ripping into his body and shredding everything they touched. He collapsed on the ground, the stars growing into giants of points and gnashing teeth, tearing into him, blinding and devouring him, and all was fading, and the silence of the stars drowned out the curses and screams and the chitters of coming dark…
Sasha barely dodged the attack, fire blossoming on the ground where she'd been a moment before. With a curse, she aimed a bolt of ice at the Red Nocturne dancing above their heads. It burst into a myriad of sparkles and faded away, only to be replaced by three Yellow Operas, bristling with unspent electricity. Sasha set her feet, facing the flying heartless with a growl. Around her, behind her, people were scattering, screaming as they ran from shadows that came out of the ground and walls, fleeing from apparitions that dove from the sky.
Subconsciously, her hand moved up to grab the hilt of the Masamune, the sword having appeared as soon as danger showed. She grimaced, pulling her hand away sharply and clenching her fists. No, she didn't trust it, no matter how much it begger her to. The Yellow Operas swung around each other, lightning arcing from one to another. A ball of lightning started gathering at the center of their circle, and Sasha's eyes widened. This was new. Pulling back, she focused on gathering energy, centering it on the Yellow Operas' position. Putting her arms in front of her, her hands open, palms towards the heartless.
"Gravira." She muttered. The Yellow Operas stopped their dance, jerking around frenzily as the air around them became denser, started to squeeze them, and finally imploded, the sparks pulling into each other. Sasha died, then ducked as a Wyvern dove at her from behind. A quick sidestep kept her from being crushed beneath a Large Body. The resounding crash it made caused the ground to shake violently, and although she struggled, flaring her wing, she was surprised to find herself crashing to the ground. The Wyvern, who'd missed its chance earlier, swung back, mouth opening to reveal sharp, needle like teeth. It screeched, a high pitched sound like metal on metal, and Sasha, who'd been readying another spell, lost her concentration.
As long as she'd remembered, the only sound heartless had made had been a chitter, a low clatter like the sound of rats in the walls. No heartless, no matter what kind, had ever made any other noise. Except, that one dog heartless in Traverse Town she'd met. Although she had reasons to believe that wasn't entirely a heartless, maybe something else. But this Wyvern was screeching, the sound grating through her ears and clutching her heart. The lightning she'd been gathering in her hands fizzled out of existence, her concentration going at the unexplainable phenomenon that had just occurred.
A second of missed concentration, and those needle-like teeth were clenched onto her arm, raised to keep the heartless from reaching her neck. She winced, the blood dripping down onto her face, trying to knee the writhing heartless off of her. The wyvern ground its teeth more, the claws of one foot digging into her hip. It whipped its wings, worrying her arm like a dog a bone, growling wetly around it. Sasha grimaced, bracing the arm that was in the heartless's mouth with her good arm. She wasn't scared, as she might once have been, just annoyed. Annoyed that she'd come all this way, and she was going to go like this, shredded by a wyvern heartless, a weapon on her back, and no way of reaching it without allowing the heartless unimpeded access to her neck.
The heartless was gone. Sasha blinked, trying to figure out why she was suddenly seeing bright sun instead of yellow, glistening eyes in a dark red face. She pushed herself up with her good arm. Looking up, she saw Isidor standing next to her, a group of heartless off with what seemed to be the exhaust pipe from one of the rolling machines. A heartless dodged forward, and he swung hard, the blow ripping the heartless apart and reducing it to a few, fading sparkles. The remaining heartless crouched, ready to spring, but Sasha pulled herself onto her feet, holding out her hand. A moment, and lightning arced towards them. A few good hits, and the heartless scattered away for the moment, eyeing them warily.
Isidor turned in surprise, relief flooding his face when he saw her. Sasha smiled, a bit painfully, wondering just how ghastly she must look with all that blood on her face.
"Let's go, that shop over there's as good a place as any to jump worlds." She said, motioning to a little café not far from them. Isidor nodded, and they took off towards it. The heartless leaped after them, Shadows and Soldiers, Blue Requiems dodging forward with their ice bolts blasting just inches behind the two. The door to the café was closed, and both Sasha and Isidor ended up slamming into it. Without wasting a second, Isidor swung the pipe, breaking the door lock and pulling Sasha in after him. The heartless attempted to follow, but Sasha shot out fire, lighting up the doorway and causing the heartless to chitter and growl unhappily.
Catching their breath, the pair looked around, surrounded by shocked and frightened faces of others who had hidden in the café. Sasha grinned at them weakly, then looked at Isidor.
"Hold on," She said, and Isidor grabbed her around the waist, more holding her up than holding on, as she was on the verge of falling over. Sasha reached up with her good hand, clasping the tri-colored amulet. The flash blotted out all the terrified faces, all the sounds of heartless growling behind the fire, faded it all into blinding light that was all colors and none, the light of all the worlds that existed, that ever had and ever would, stretching before, behind, and beyond them in all directions, pulling them across the strings of their hearts.
E/N: Sooo... yeah. Funky things are happening. I think we're learning something about our friends here. If only I knew what it was that we were learning...
Now I'm off to start on the next chapter. And this time, I will make it in a week. I WILL!
Laters, Zo