CHAPTER: 6
Knave and Reno arrived in the dormitories not long before Lirael and Hakujou found the Library. Reno kept quiet after they'd left the girls behind, and Knave wasn't sure what to think. Was he supposed to do the talking? Or was there a reason Reno had split apart the group? The gunner was silent as they went through the dormitories, searching rooms and opening drawers and cabinets. What they were searching for, Knave wasn't sure. Hadn't they been headed for the Command Centre? But, Knave felt it wasn't his place to question the gunner's motives, and so he followed Reno's lead, trying to stay on the other gunner's good side.
"So . . . what are we looking for?" Knave asked at last, as they began to move amidst a large section consisting mainly of lockers. But Reno ignored his polite enquiry and continued on down the line, occasionally stopping to check what was inside an open locker. One of them appeared to still be in use, and he pulled out a small stack of magazines accompanied by a long cloak-like jacket. Reaching in further he came away with a packet of cigarettes that he eyed for a moment before taking one and pocketing the rest. Further investigation turned up a lighter and he sparked the short white stick into life, inhaling deeply.
Lirael didn't like him smoking, and he'd given up doing so around her. But right now, so close to the strange guy from Traverse, he decided that it as a necessity.
Trying the jacket against himself, he tossed the reading material on the floor by Knave's feet and slipped into the coat. It fit perfectly, and the dark silvery colour went well with his blue suit.
Crouching to look at one of the magazines, Knave read the titles half-heartedly as he followed along behind the Turk. They seemed to be issues of some kind of combat training booklet – but all jumbled up like this the headlines made little to no sense.
Reno led him through the long dorm area and through a hallway, then took a sharp right and paused in front of a large set of double-doors that had all the markings to indicate that the command room lay inside. Like the rest of the doors they had come across, this one was also powered down, and it took the two of them together to force it open.
As the door opened with a loud creaking sound, something shot out lightening fast at face level and leapt directly for Knave's face – stumbling back in shock he narrowly avoided the claws that scratched the air in front of him.
A strangely human-looking Heartless gave a low hiss and was about to attack again when a shot from Reno's pistol took out the thing's mid-section and it burst into a cloud of black mist with a screech. Twirling the gun around twice he slipped it back inside his jacket and stepped forwards, checking to see if there were any more.
Shaking the image of the child-shaped monster's explosive demise from his memory, Knave rose back up onto his feet and rubbed at his throat – checking there was no injury there where the monster had attacked. "Thanks." He murmured, and meant it.
"Don't bother." Reno commented simply, "I was just paying you back for saving Lirael back on Traverse. We're even now – I don't owe you anything anymore."
"Um . . . alright." Knave frowned. This guy was certainly trying to make things hard for him. "Is this the place we've been looking for?"
Reno glanced through the doors into the room beyond. It was dark and cold, with no light penetrating the thick window-less walls. "Yep," he replied and stepped inside.
---
There was a sound from across the hall, Hakujou was the first to hear it – not unlike metal being prised apart. Slipping down the staircase she was perched upon as quietly as possible, she ran to the doorway in time to catch a brief flash of white hair before it vanished through a newly-opened doorway and was gone.
Sighing, she looked around for Lirael, who was still rummaging around at the base of a large bookshelf. "The chase is on again." She called over to her charge, and together the two of them resumed their hunt. However, in light of their findings in the classroom earlier they were much more cautious.
Neither of them had seen a Heartless on this world yet, but they sure as hell would be ready for them should one appear.
"It looks like he's heading for the roof." Lirael stated simply, as she counted the floors beneath them. "He keeps on going upwards every other corridor."
"Probably trying to throw us off the scent." Hakujou noted.
But Lirael wasn't sure that was the case. The rooms he had led them to so far had been informative to them. First the classroom, that had warned them of the Heartless' presence on this world, and enlightened them to the fate of the local population. Then the library, where she had found a book directly linked to her own bloodline.
Was this stranger trying to show them something? And if so, why didn't he want to slow down and speak to them?
Hakujou paused beside a computer panel and pulled out a handful of wires. Toying with them in her hands, she twisted three together and replaced them carefully. With a splutter and a humming sound the screen clicked to life, clearly displaying the layout of Balmb.
"Hmmm . . ." She mused. "We can cut him off here," she circled her finger around a small landing that connected the stairs and lifts with the rooftop doors. "But to get ahead of him we'd need to get the lifts working."
"I wonder how the boys are getting on?" Lirael breathed.
Frowning, Hakujou took the chance to utilise their time alone, leaning back onto the wall she let the monitor go dead and turned to face her friend.
"I've been meaning to ask you . . ." she started in a subtle attempt to work up to a question that had been bothering her, and then rethought her tactics. Lirael was a sensible person, she'd appreciate a direct approach to any problems she might have. "Why did you let Knave come along?"
To her credit, Lirael didn't look at all surprised at the question. But she didn't give an answer straight away, instead shrugging and pausing to think about it. "I guess because he's so lost. On the one hand I feel sorry for him, and on the other . . ." she paused.
"Yes?" Hakujou pressed.
". . . while I was unconscious in Traverse he kept the keyblade safe for me, and not once did the darn thing vanish. Everyone else who tries that can only keep it in their grasp for a few seconds, but he had it in his possession for over an hour. Then when he touched my hand for the first time I had a kind of vision." She shrugged her shoulders again helplessly. "Does any of this make sense to you?"
"Not really," the winged girl admitted "but then you understand that thing better than I do. And this is your party after all, you are the one in charge."
Lirael smiled and nodded her head once, sending a bob through her long hair. She was sure that wherever the boys were, they would be getting along alright without them.
---
Reno dived to one side and sent three bullets hurtling into the thigh of the Heartless, and whilst the leg buckled under the monster's immense size it refused to die.
Upon entering the room they had swiftly dealt with the small amount of Heartless that had been crowded around the main computer station. But to the collective horror of the two men, when they had approached a much more grotesque and larger one had uncurled from the spot where it had been resting.
Now it stood between them and the console, hissing like a cat whilst resembling a cross between a spider and the more humanistic Heartless that populated this world.
Reloading, Reno took a calm step backwards and narrowly avoided a flailing leg as it tried to snatch at him. Kicking the thing away he swung around his gun arm and let loose another volley.
The beast reared up and away from the gunner to protect its face, but just as it did so the blue figure of Knave darted in beneath it and pierced the bulbous insect-like sack at the base of its body with his blade. Twisting the sword violently he opened the gash and continued to slice his way upwards until the monster toppled over backwards.
With a last burst of strength he slid the blade out of the beast and severed the head, causing it to explode into a black mist and vanish. Without the bulk of the monster's body beneath his feet, Knave slipped and fell to the floor some meter below.
Looking about the room, Reno checked to make sure that there were no more targets before reloading his weapon and stowing it away inside his jacket.
The Command Center was a long room with pillars supporting the roof high above and a short set of steps that led up to a large monitor that filled the length of the far wall and a row of dishevelled computer banks. Some of the Heartless had apparently made this room their nest, he guessed that there would be more hiding throughout the complex, but nothing stronger than the one they had just eliminated. As far as he could tell the basic command structure of the monsters was one swarm of lesser Heartless to every one large abomination.
"Get up." He murmured to Knave without looking and stepped past the downed swordsman without a second glance. The control panel closest to him held the power readouts for the facility, and it seemed to be in working order. With practised skill he began to bring Balmb Garden back to life. Flooding the area with power that reactivated the doors and computers spread throughout the massive compound.
Knave dusted himself down and came to stand a little way away to his left. Evidently he wasn't as computer efficient as the Turk was because he made no move to help. That thought made Reno smile, he was better than the new guy.
Thumbing the monitor to life, he flicked through the surveillance cameras until an image of Lirael and Hakujou appeared on the monitor. With great relish he tapped another button and turned to look at them on the screen.
---
"Why hello there ladies. Having fun are we?" Reno's voice seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere all at once, and it made Lirael practically leap out of her skin with shock. Glancing around she spotted the speakers along the top right edge of the ceiling, planted ever meter down the corridor.
She tried to answer, but all that did was inspire a fresh round of laughter from Reno. When he had relished his god-like moment over them for long enough he let her in on the joke. "You've got to use the comm unit on the wall to speak back to me babe," he announced with glee. "Otherwise I can't hear you. I only have visual on this end."
Looking around she spotted the device and flicked the switch.
---
"Alright, can you hear me now?' she asked in a tinny voice. Reno lent over the speaker and fiddled with a few more of the controls, trying to clear up the channel for better quality. Slowly, her voice began to swim into its normal tone.
"Yeah," he replied "That's better."
Hakujou looked up at the camera and shook her head, then lent in close to the mic on their end "I don't suppose that you have the lifts working yet do you?' she asked.
This sent Reno into another blur of motion as he jabbed buttons and called up a variety of charts to the screen so fast that Knave couldn't follow them. After a moment they settled on one of the elevators for that wing of the Garden and he highlighted one in red. A few moments was all it took for Reno to re-write the power from the other lifts into that one, effectively shutting them down whilst keeping this single mod open.
"Consider it done." The Turk announced after a few seconds.
"Can you get a look at this guy on the upper level cameras?" Hakujou suggested.
There were two or three images of empty halls, one of which contained three Heartless, then just static. White noise drilled across the speakers.
"He's taking out the cameras as he goes." The gunner returned to the girls with the news. "He must have guessed that we had control of the Command Centre the moment the power went back online. Sorry girls but I can't help you."
On the screen Hakujou straightened and pointed Lirael in the direction of the lift. With her other hand she waved at the screen and the two of them vanished from shot up the hall. Switching to the next camera, Reno watched them board the elevator and then lost them. Pressing a button, the screen went dead and he started work on getting the hidden security cameras on floors twelve to the roof back online.
---
The lift clattered to a halt and the two girls stepped out into the foyer. It was a broad and wide room, with entrances on two side for stairs from lower levels and another flight that led upwards to the rooftop. The place looked empty, which meant that they had beaten their mystery man up there.
Walking across to the centre of the room, Lirael jumped as Hakujou suddenly grabbed her hand and pulled her back a step. She stumbled into the winged girl and the two toppled onto a pile.
"What's going on?" Lirael gasped as she tried to pry her way off of her friend.
"There's something there." Hakujou answered simply. "I got a feeling of anticipation as you neared the middle of the room."
They stood and looked around, trying to spot the source of the danger. "You sure?" Lirael asked half-heartedly, she'd never known Hakujou to be wrong before but there was always a first time. After all, everything looked quite normal from where she was standing.
The other woman nodded her head again and closed her eyes, trying to get a better feel for the room. There was certainly an area of disturbance somewhere in the room, and the closer she got to the centre the stronger it became. Yet whenever she tried to get a feel for the shape of the thing it seemed to shift and become elusive as a shadow, skittering just out of her reach. Whatever it was, it knew they were there and was determined to stay hidden until they sprang some kind of trap that it had lain down for the pair of them.
"I think it is Heartless in origin." She stated as she opened her eyes again and panned them over the ceiling. "If we stick to the edges of the room we should be safe, I think that we can . . ."
Too late she felt it slip close and explode into a new form, a tentacle of the same mould as the Heartless they had fought on Traverse burst from an air-grate in the ceiling and tried to entangle her, but Lirael swept the Keyblade around in a short motion that severed it before it could touch her friend. The dismembered tendril fell to the ground and writhed around on its own for a moment before burning away into black mist.
"I take it back, you were right." The brunette commented with a smile as she spun to see where the tentacle had come from, but as she did so three more erupted from the ceiling and ripped the blade away from her hand, curling around her wrist and lifting her off of her feet. The smile wiped from her face, she pulled back with as much force as she could muster and was relieved when Hakujou cast a spell to freeze them solid. Another pull shattered them and she was free in seconds.
They retreated towards the lift but more tendrils blocked that path, the whole ceiling was now a writhing mass of black worm-like tentacles that reached out for them from every angle. One large mouth snarled and snapped at them, framed by sharp white teeth.
Lirael waved her hand and the Keyblade materialised there, but the monster was now aware of the danger that the glowing object represented and stayed tantalisingly out of reach, goading her closer to the centre of the room.
Hakujou tried to call out and warn her not to get too close to the mouth, but three tentacles wrapped around her waist and mouth, lifting her up off of the floor. Others bound her hands and legs, pulling her painfully in separate directions all at once. Trapped, she was unable to invoke or cast a spell without the use of her voice or the ability to make gestures with her hands. The Heartless' mind pressed close to hers, trying to force its way inside of her. And all of the time Lirael was getting closer to that great gaping maw.
One great eye opened above Hakujou and stared unblinkingly down at her, the thing's presence starting to prod painfully at the edges of her mind, breaking down her mental defences. It must have realised that she was the Spellcaster, she realised with a surge of nausea, and it was taking steps to make sure that she couldn't use her powers to help Lirael before the trap was finally sprung.
Kicking and screaming against the tendrils that held her, she cried out in vain but her voice was muffled and muted by her captor.
Lirael swung her blade in a wide arc that managed to slice through one of the larger tentacles, but around her they were beginning to close like a curtain, obscuring her view of Hakujou and forcing her to keep moving if she didn't want to find herself hemmed into a corner. Another cut severed a smaller one that tried to trip her, and gave her enough space to dance lightly out of the way of a third.
There were so many of them, every one she destroyed seemed to be replaced by another five before she had the chance to react. And above her she was all too aware that the mouth was beginning to gnash its teeth.
---
The screen flickered and flared to life, images of the two girls came into sharp focus. Knave gave a shout to the other man that it was on, and only then did the truth of the situation hit them. Lirael was in serious trouble, even as they watched the mouth opened wide and sunk downwards as if to drop down upon her.
Reno's face filled with an expression somewhere between shock and desperation, grabbing his coat he made to run from the room but Knave caught his elbow before he could leave, holding him in place.
"Get off! I have to go help her!" the Turk sneered in distain and kicked out at the other man, but Knave was still watching the screen intently.
"Wait." He murmured, and used his other hand to point. Another figure had entered the room, this one clad in black and with long silvery-white hair.
---
A blade swung through the air and pierced the eyeball above Hakujou's head at the centre of the iris. Foul smelling black liquid poured down over her face and blinded her, stinging her eyes where is touched them. With a suddenness that shocked her, she was released and hit the ground with a loud thump, unable to see the ground to cushion the blow.
The Heartless reared back and hissed in pain, the giant mouth stretching around the sound and then grimacing as the whole thing shrivelled inwards upon itself. The tendrils around Lirael crumpled in on themselves as if they were hollow and then burst into black mist, whilst the bulk of the monster on the ceiling seemed to shrink and writhe in agony.
Knowing it was about to die, the Heartless used the last of its energy to form one large tentacle and flung it towards her, hoping to bludgeon her with its dying breath but the stranger stepped in between the two and severed the thing in half with one mighty blow.
Screaming in fury at its thwarted plan, the monster exploded into mist that filled the room and for a moment, obscured everything. In the confusion that followed, Lirael fell over and lost sight of her saviour.
"Hakujou? Are you alright?" she called out, unable to see her friend.
At first Lirael thought it was Knave who had saved her, but she saw the sword resting a little way away from where she stood and realised that whilst his had a broad, flat blade, this one was longer and thinner. The handle was plain, with a pummel long enough for two hands to easily grip it.
But then who could it be? She wondered, there shouldn't be anyone else here . . . except. She pushed herself up onto her knees and glanced around with her eyes narrowed to see through the smoke. Spotting the sword again, she also saw the stranger.
The sword's owner bent down and lifted it up, tucking it easily away at his side before turning to face her. He was about her age, but a head taller with long silver hair, garbed in black trousers and a tight fitting black tunic with no sleeves and yellow trim.
When he turned around she gasped and slipped back down onto her knees, her mouth falling open and mouthing a name that she didn't seem able to verbalise. His green eyes locked with hers and his face was split with a broad smile that took the edge off of the otherwise sharp features.
"Hello there Lirael." He commented and held out a hand to help her up.
"Riku . . ." she breathed, and let him pull her back up onto her feet. But he didn't stop there, drawing her close he held her close to him and kissed her. Shocked, but not entirely horrified, she let his arms drape around her waist and kissed him back.