The Kindly Heartless
By: RisingGear
~Halloween town~
After the Battle with Organization Thirteen, Sora, and Company's job is far from over. Without anyone to lead them The heartless became even more chaotic and dangerous. All-out attacks are becoming even more common across countless worlds. Stretched thin, the keyblade warriors continue to do battle with the forces of darkness even years after the defeat of Xehanort.
An older Sora finds himself returning to HalloweenTown on his own to deal with a Heartless invasion. He beams down from his personal Gummy Ship right into the town square, Kingdom Key in hand. A small group of shadows and soldiers try to sneak behind him. "Oh, how original!" Flames engulf the Kingdom key just before Sora Slashes in their direction, sending a wave of fire in the direction. Several heartless are cut in half by the flaming slash, followed by an explosion. *BOOM!*
Behind the wall of a nearby graveyard, a dark portal appears out of thin air. Out pops a ghost-like heartless with an exaggerated hourglass female figure. Long tattered sleeves cover her arms past her hands. Her top is a heartless emblem that covers her breasts and other parts of her anatomy. "Where … am me?" She watches Sora fight the heartless, and NeoShadow attempts to sneak up behind him. "Behind!" She fires a blast of ice, Freezing the other Heartless solid.
Sora noticed the strange heartless, who quickly panicked as soon as Sora saw her. "Did I just get helped out by a heartless?"
"Sora!" Jack Skelington joins in the fight, firing magic explosive Jack'o lanterns out of his hands. "I've missed you! Let's put on a performance People!" Witches fly overhead on broomsticks, blasting Heartless with magic. Droves of Heartless are blasted in Firework explosions.
Sora changes his keyblade to the Shooting Star, then transforms it into a pair of crossbows. "Oh hey Jack, sorry I didn't see you show up. How have you been?" Sora fires a mix of fire and Ice arrows, freezing and burning all Heartless around him. "So how are you and Sally?"
A glowing green creature wraps around Jack's wrist, It's head changes into a spiked flail. "Better than ever! We actually have a family now. Oh after this I insist you stay and meet the kids! Till then SOUL ROBBER!" Jack uses his soul robber to grab a Gargoyle out of the ground, pouncing on it with an exploding pumpkin point blank. *BOOM!*
Two heartless mummies attack him from behind, only to be grabbed by another soul robber, thrown into the giant guillotine in the center of town. "Father, don't be so careless." A young white haired woman with a soul robber stands behind Jack. Her skin is a delicate gray making a contrast to her gothic lolita outfit, resembling a porcelain doll.
"Oh Wonderful timing! Sora, please allow me to introduce you to Jezabela Skellington, My oldest daughter!" Jack's paternal joy is subverted by The swarm of Heartless they are dealing with. "Shouldn't you be with your mother and siblings?"
Both Jack and Jezabela combine their magic into one powerful attack, a cold vortex of Ghostly wind. Countless Heartless are sucked in then frozen solid. Jezabela goes through them as a lightning bolt before the Heartless explodes. While she is airborne, Jezabela makes it rain Jack'o Lantern fireballs over the battlefield. When she lands on top of a NeoShadow behind Sora, She bows like a performer bowing to an audience as almost all the Heartless are destroyed.
Sora laughs after watching that display, nonchalantly slaughtering heartless at the same time. "You really are a Skellington, bravo!" He suddenly gets a little uncomfortable when she squeals like a fangirl. "Are you doing alright?"
"I can't believe I finally met you, my father told me stories about you for years!" She enthusiastically grabs his hand, shaking aggressively. "You are almost as famous here as Father and Mr. Claws!"
"Thank you, and you have a real talent with magic." Sora looks around at the now vacant battlefield. "Are you still here, please come out." He shouts and the mysterious friendly heartless shows herself again. Jezabela charges up a pumpkin to blast her with, only for Sora to gesture for her to stop. "You are clearly not like the other Heartless, you tried helping me. I want to know why?"
"No idea … Feels right … helping you!" The Heartless attempted to tell him in a raspy feminine voice. Her mannerisms imply she isn't comfortable being out in the open.
"Where did you come from?" Sora asked her and the Heartless tilted her head in confusion. "Perhaps Yen Sid should know about you." The Heartless looks behind Sora to see a black ball of darkness forming behind. "Name is Sora, 'What do I call you?"
Before the strange Heartless can answer, Jack, clueless to the seriousness of the conversation, pulls him away. "Now that is taken care of, I insist you stay for dinner!" Jack leads Sora back to his home, a huge tower in the middle of town.
Behind them is a growing ball of dark energy, the hearts from the slain Heartless being sucked in. "Jack, I don't think we are done here!" After a demonic howl, they dodged the claw of a huge werewolf like Heartless. An empty heart shaped hole in the chest, with a core made of hearts in the center. "You're one big Pure blood!"
This Heartless shoots a blast of energy into the air as a shot of force. "Just once I'd like it to be easy!" Sora pulls a different keychain out of his jacket's interior pocket. Transforming his keyblade into a more ornately decorated white and gold form. "But at least the boss show's up to be destroyed ahead of schedule."
Both Jack and Jezabela stand behind Sora, ready to join him in battle. Jezabela snapping her Soul Robber like a whip with a Pumpkin fireball in her hand. "It's your final curtain call, Heartless!" She shouts with a grin on her face.
The massive heartless swings it's claws for Sora to parry, Leaving the Heartless open to be Bashed in the head with Jack's soul robber. Jezabela uses her own to swing above the beastly enemy. Making a giant pumpkin bomb, uses her Soul Robber to bash it over the Heartless's head. *BOOM!*
Sora uses Blizzard to freeze the monster to the ground to immobilize it. The Werewolf Heartless charges up another blast Aiming right at Sora on the ground. "Guys move!" He uses flow motion to smash it in the jaw with the Ultima. Jack follows his lead with grabbing the largest piece of rubble he can find with his Soul Robber and Bash the Heartless in the head with it.
The Heartless breaks it's claws through the ice. Slamming them into the ground to create a shockwave, knocking the trio off their feet. It grabs Jezabela with the intention of devouring her alive. "Unhand my daughter!" Jack screams as he desperately attempts to restrain the Heartless' claw with his Soul Robber. This proves fruitless as the building sized Heartless effortlessly resists, severing Jack's arm with no effort at all.
"Jack!" Sora's eyes glow a rainbow of colors as his keyblade is consumed by a blinding white light. He raises his keyblade over his head as he floats in the air. A magical circle of light underneath him. The keyblade turning a more conventional long sword with more swords of numerous shapes and colors appears out of thin air. His black clothing changes to a white with black stripes. His pumpkin eyepatch is changed to a golden Crown. Sora vanished in a flash of light, reappearing, severing the Heartless' hand and holding Jezabela in his arms. "That was too close!"
Jezabela is utterly memorized by this form, entranced by the bright colors. "You're beautiful!" She says without thinking, creating an awkward silence between the two. A blushing Sora teleports her to safety next to her father without saying a word. "Father, are you okay?"
Jack casually reattaches his arm without a second thought. "Why wouldn't I be? I am a little disappointed with my favorite suit being ruined." Jack bashes the heartless with more rubble. "We need a plan Sora, Nothing but your key seems to really hurt it."
Sora teleports away again, using his transformations, many swords to slash at the heartless. Every cut nearly instantly heals after injury, even the hand he severed grew back. Then he sees the collection of hearts visible from the heartless' chest. "That's it!" In that brief moment he was distracted, the Heartless blasts Sora at near point range. While Sora puts up a barrier to protect himself, the Heartless backhands him through town hall. The keyblade gets knocked out of his hand, knocking Sora out of his form-change.
"Sora!" Jezabela cries out, using her soul robber to grab his keyblade. As soon as the keyblade touches her hands, she feels a surge of power coming from within herself. "This feels strange but a good kind of Strange."
As soon as the Heartless noticed Jezabela, it got hit in the face by a pumpkin bomb by Jack. "See to Sora's wellbeing, I'll hold this thing off!" Jack cracks his knuckles as he smirks mischievously. "You seem to forget who I am!" A raging inferno inside Jack's skull as he gives a demonic laugh. "HAHAHAHA! I! AM! THE! PUMPKIN! KING!" The head of his Soul Robber takes the form of a mace. Jack takes a deep breath before unleashing a mass torrent of hellfire from his mouth. He actually managed to knock the massive Heartless back from the force.
Jezabela takes off running towards town hall, using her Soul Robber to swing towards the building at high speed. The beast howls, making it rain shadows from the pitch black sky. Jezabela is surrounded by Shadows as soon as she makes it to the front door. "Persistent little monsters, I would like you more if you didn't try to hurt us." Sora's keyblade points itself at the little black creatures. "Couldn't agree more keyblade." Some of the shadows jump at her, Jezabela slashes them without even thinking.
Inside town hall an injured Sora is poked with a stick by a resident of Halloween town. "Is he dead?" A witch asks with a mischievous grin to another witch. "We should probably help him out." One of them casts cure on the unconscious Sora, his wounds fading away as he wakes up.
Sora looks at the worried citizens of Halloween town around him. "Don't worry, I won't let them hurt you!" He tries to summon his keyblade to his hand, but it doesn't come to him. "I better get out there!" The werewolf citizen quickly opens the door for Sora, then just as quickly slams it shut.
Sora see's Jezabela is fighting off Shadows with his Keyblade. "Mr. Sora!" She returns his Keyblade to him. Sora momentarily is shocked to learn she had his keyblade this entire time. She then hugs him, snapping him out of it. "I'm happy to see you're not hurt." Sora hugs her back despite having only just met her.
"Okay I appreciate the affection but now's not the time." As she lets him go he pats her on the head. "I think I figured out how to beat this thing."
Jack slings himself above the rampaging Heartless, His Soul Robber twists into the shape of a drill. He uses his fire breath to propel himself down like a rocket powered drill. Slamming down Hard on the back of the head. He sees Sora and Jezabela returning to the fight.
"I need to get close to the hole in it's chest!" He explains as they run towards the Heartless as fast as possible. Jezabela uses her Soul Robber as a grappling hook, Grabbing Sora before she Slings towards it at high speed. As if to call it bad luck, Sora's face is buried in her rather amble cleavage. When they land on the monster's back, Sora's face is bright red. "I need to release the Hearts it has stolen!" His keyblade shines with a brilliant light as he stabs it into the hole. As hearts float out, the massive Heartless begins to shrink down. Transforming into just a regular shadow before fading into nothing.
After the boss Heartless is defeated, the lesser ones immediately retreat. After the coast is clear, Jack drops to a knee in exhaustion. "It's always the most physically demanding performance that feels the most rewarding!" Smoke puffing out of his mouth from his earlier fire breathing.
"I see being a family man hasn't slowed you down at all Jack!" Sora says complementary to his old friend. The two of them with big smiles on their faces. Jezabela gives Sora a friendly pat on the back, he cringes from pain. "I think a few of my ribs are still broken!"
"Oh Sorry, I think I have a healing potion you can use back at home." Both Jezabela and Jack have devious smiles on their faces. She cuddles Sora's arm as her father pushes him towards the Skellington family household.
"Now that insanity has been taken care of, I must insist you stay for dinner. You haven't lived till you've tried Sally's cooking!" Jack gleefully exclaims with familial pride as they reach the front door. Inside a few skeleton and Ragdoll children run around playing with a severed head like a ball. A ragdoll child kicks the head, only for Jack to catch it before it knocks over a lamp. "Timmy, how many times have we talked about head games in the house?"
A fangirling Jezabela practically bounces around at Sora is in her family's home. "I can't believe I'm gonna have dinner with THE Sora!"
Sora humbly rubs the back of his head at her fangirling over him. "Just what kind of stories has Jack been telling about me?"
Upstairs Sally is putting a ragdoll baby in a crib, now dressed in an elegant black dress. "Sally, we're home, and look who showed up!" She hears her husband from downstairs, looking down to see an uncomfortable Sora with Jezabela on his arm. Sally smiles at the return of an old friend.
"I think she likes you Sora!" Sally jokes at the overjoyed look on her oldest daughter's face. Sally goes in for a hug only Sora to offer his hand instead.
Sora and Sally shake hands, she has a disappointed expression on her face. "Ha! Lucky me right? Good to see you again Sally! I'd be delighted to accept that hug, But I'm afraid a few of my ribs might be broken." More of Jack and Sally's children run past them. "Looks like you and Jack have been busy for the past several years."
Sally pulls a bottle out of a cabinet, giving it to him. After he drinks it, Sora looks much better. Afterward she hugs Sora, with him returning the favor. "I'm assuming Jack has already invited you to join us for Dinner?"
"Complete with glowing praise for your cooking skills." Sora jovially tells her, earning a Approving smirk from the Pumpkin Queen.
An hour later, the Skellington family and Sora have just finished eating. Sora rubs his stomach with a happy expression. As Jack and Jezabela are telling the rest of the family about the fight with the large Heartless. Sally in particular laughs when they mention how Sora got hurt in the first place. "It backhanded you into town hall?" Jack and the kids join into the laughter.
"Hey! I'm just glad only I got hurt!" Sora defends, noticeably offended by the laughter.
Jezabela jumps out of her chair in her excitement. "You should have seen when he protected me from being eaten. He was like a fearless hero rescuing the fair maiden with his mighty…. " As she raises her fist into the air a flash of light, a black keyblade with a pumpkin keychain appears in her hand. Everyone is stunned into silence by this unexpected event. "Sword!?"
