Chapter Nine: The Subbasement
"Let's go!" I shouted, but a flash of light from the sky made a dome of light in front of us. Stopping short, the silver-haired man stood up and turned around.
"Sephiroth…" I said with awe.
"So, you three are the new chosen warriors of light. Interesting…" he began. "Even you, the void," he proclaimed, pointing at me.
"What business do you have with us?" Amy asked him, her blade drawn, a hint of disgust in her voice.
"I was only looking for Cloud. Tell me if you've seen him," he instructed us. "Oh, and little girl, only draw a weapon against me…" he started, then placed his hand on his sword hilt. Amy's Sakabato subsequently went flying out of her hands. "… if you plan to use it."
"O-okay…" Amy said, this time rather shakily. We then went past him, but I made sure to watch my back. Walking into the dusty mansion, we found some footprints in the dust.
"Whose footprints do you suppose those are?" Jason asked me.
"Well, a lot of people live in Twilight Town. They're afraid of the mansion, though. There's two set of footprints… and judging from the size…" I started.
"It could only be…" Jason continued.
"Sora… and Riku," Amy finally finished. "Come on, guys!" Amy shouted, charging off toward the library. We followed her. There, in the shallow depths of the library, stood the two legendary heroes… Sora, and Riku.
"Sora! Riku!" Amy shouted to the two before thinking.
"Who's there?" Sora asked, he and Riku summoning their Keyblades. I grabbed Amy and, along with Jason, we slammed down on the floor.
"Shhh! We don't want to be seen by them!" I whispered to Amy.
"Why not!" she whispered back, somewhat aggressively.
"I can't explain it. Maybe later!" I whispered.
"Who was that? It sounded like Kairi…" we overheard Riku saying.
"It couldn't be…" Sora said. I felt a tone of aggression… sorrow… darkness in his voice. This was not the Sora we knew. "Either way, let's keep going," he said to Riku. I heard them walking off
We stood up, dusting off our clothes (the ground was really dusty).
"What was that all about!" Amy half-yelled at me.
"That's… not the Sora we know. He's different, in some way. I can't place my finger on it, though," I said.
"Well, what do you think we should do now?" Jason asked.
"They went off by the computer room, so let's try going through that blocked area," I said.
"But it's blocked!" Amy reminded me.
"Hey, no problem! I'll just slice the wreckage in two!" I exclaimed with a smile.
After taking the short walk down to the floor below (I jumped), I quickly and quietly cleaved the wreckage in two with my Buster Sword. Then, after pushing aside the pipes, we all broke the glass and stepped through the doorway, sealed within darkness.
"Dang it! I can't see anything!" Jason complained.
"Don't worry about it. Our eyes will get used to it in a second," Amy reassured him.
After waiting for a few moments, we wandered off into the dark recesses of the Twilight Town Mansion's subbasement. After meandering through the darkness and going down (what seemed to be) several staircases, we arrived at a doorway. I knew it was a doorway because it was glowing, and with the glow I could see an intricate pattern etched on the door.
"What do you suppose this is?" Jason asked.
"Duh, It's a door! Use your brain!" I yelled at him, smacking him on the head with the handle of my Souba.
"Ow! Geez, man, chill out!" he muttered.
"Well, let's go through it, then. What do you think we'll find on the other side?" Amy asked us.
"Who knows? At any rate, we won't find out unless we go through the door," I said.
"I suppose you're right. Let's go, then," Amy resigned, and we all went to walk through the door (me first, of course). The inside was quite familiar…