Author's notes: Hope you all liked the last one. I wanted to keep typing but wasn't sure if it would be too long. I could almost have made this JUST a Kingdom Hearts fic because I've changed most of the names and SOME elements of the characters that wouldn't fit well into a Kingdom Hearts story (you'll notice Ajax's alternate doesn't swear or used bad words as much and Mercy is a lot more innocent and less mouthy than she was in the movie). But I wanted to give credit where it's due so this is in the cross-over section. Hope you all enjoy.
Jax stormed into the hideout without a word and sat down with a sullen huff at his habitual seat on the corner of the picnic table. Cowboy and the others tried hard not to smirk; knowing the softest giggle would prompt a fist fight. Jax had struck out again with Mercy. Exchanged glances with Apache, Rodent, and Flurry were the best Cowboy could safely do as their hot-headed older brother figure fumed in silence.
"So maybe we shouldn't sport our colors," Cowboy blurted out thoughtlessly, just wanting to end the awkward silence. The other four eyed with surprised disapproval, he sighed knowing it had been a mistake.
"Why the hell not?" Apache asked.
"It just seems a little risky. You never know what'll happen. The truce is on but all the other gangs out there, and the Union hard-liners won't like it! And with our vests on we can't even hide or blend in with civilians."
"Who wants to hide?" Rodent snorted, his Anguis (cobra) neckless dangling beneath his toothy grin. "And what do we care what the Unions like, they're the ones who wanted us separated! What you want to go back to your brother bears?" He nodded to Cowboy's bear necklace.
"NO!" Cowboy gasped, worried he was about to be expelled from the gang. "I'm just saying we might want to be a little subtle you know? What with everything that's been happening and what's coming and all!" he finished with a defeated sigh. He looked up in wide-eyed shock as his hat was swiped from his long brown hair. Jax's menacing grin mocked him from above.
"Yeah because THIS thing is VERY subtle, right?" Jax laughed dangling Cowboy's hat over his head. The shorter ex-Ursus Union member snatched wildly for his father's hat. All the boy had left of him. Jax laughed as he dangled the hat just out of reach. Cowboy's face grew beat-red with anger. Several seconds and even more spiteful cries, Jax tossed the hat to Apache, who stood up on his seat and dangled it mockingly over Cowboy as he rushed over to retrieve it.
Moments later Flurry had had enough. He stood to snatch it from Apache with a searing glare and roughly shoved it at Cowboy. Who accepted it with a nod and sat in a nearby folding chair, staring down at his only memento of his father with vengeful humiliation. Jax was at his side seconds later, mocking cooing over him like mother adoring her baby. Cowboy slapped away his hand as it patted his head in feigned affection. Jax leapt back with a broad smile and put his fists up ready to fight. Cowboy only seethed into the empty hole of the hat occupied in his earliest memories by the only family he ever knew.
"That's enough, Jax!" Cleo snapped from the entrance, Swan frowning beside him.
"I was only fooling around!" Jax snapped back. "It's not my fault he's so sensitive about it!"
"It belonged to his Dad, you know that," Cleo grunted. Jax sighed and stepped back towards his seat at the table.
"Yeah, well maybe it's about time he got over it!" Jax spat. "I never even KNEW my old man!"
"Well that explains a lot doesn't it!" Swan growled. Jax turned to him with both fists tight and eyes that could melt steel.
"You know something, cat? Maybe he ought to stop pining for what he LOST and start appreciating what he HAS! And maybe he ain't the only one neither!"
"STOW IT!" Cleo roared. "Both of you sit down and CHILL! Save it for what might happen if the conclave DOES go sideways, since you're both so worried about it!" he glared from Jax to Swan and back again. Both young men nodded in submission and returned to their usual seats. Cleo strode to the back of the room and sat on what Jax jokingly called his throne. A shining chair that looked silver but was really just aluminum. The Unicorn sigil of the Unincornis Union adorned the top, several inches above Cleo's masked head.
Behind the throne stood a small safe, in which contained the gang's most prize possessions; their collection of Lux. Contrary to popular rumors spread by their competitors, they never stole them from any of the unions or gangs. Each mystical star-shaped crystal they took off of dead Heartless, whose appearance around the city at random intervals to terrorize citizens had made the separating into gangs little less than a necessity. Many gangs had lorded over the local civilians, treating them like they owed them something. Feudalism was becoming the norm, not only in Daybreak town but throughout the world. The prophesized darkness hadn't even come yet, but the age of fairytales was already dead!
The sullen silence was broken several minutes later by Mercy as she casually stepped through the curtain. She said nothing, but her presence alone seemed to lift the burden from the young men. All of whom at least turned to nod as she entered. With a sad smile she walked to the corner and sat on her stool behind the snack table.
"So has anyone here actually met Ira before? Other than you, Cleo?" Cowboy worked up the courage to ask, gently replacing his father's hat on his head. Shrugs and mumbled replies of the negative rounded the hideout.
"All I know is what I've heard," Apache said. "I hear he's the best of the bunch, most powerful spell caster in the world!"
"Yeah right!" Jax snorted. "We all know magic, all the Foretellers are masters of it. What's so special about Ira?"
Apache leaned forward to glare past Rodent at Jax. "What's so special is, when you're the chosen heir of the Master of masters, you don't need to take crap from anyone!"
"Oh, forget him!" Jax grumbled before turning back to his onion chips. Thankfully Apache didn't press the matter. Cowboy was worried he had started another round of bickering. Time passed in tense and awkward silence until the last fading flash of sunset vanished beyond the curtain.
Cleo stood. "Let's go," he ordered. The Warriors shuffled to their feet. Mercy dawned her vest and fell in right behind Swan and Cleo as they led the way out to the street. Cowboy lingered near the rear with Jax. Still sullen but no longer spiteful of the bigger young man's taunting. He had grown use to it over the years. And Jax was always quick to change back to warm and friendly. As they entered the street, the stars overhead seemed to shine and fade sporadically as a faint overcast thinly filmed the sky. Like lightbulbs flickering before burning out. The brightest and most consistent illumination came from the twin castles and clock-work sigil between. Spotlights kept lit shone on the rotating gears, their movement the only certainty left. An abstract time-piece counting down to the dying of the light.
Cowboy paused to look up at the majestic castles, at the foot of which stood the tenements their hideout stood between. Ever this had been his home for months now. No matter how many Heartless they battled, no matter how many gangs or Union members they had to fight through, when they looked up at the castles, they knew they were safe. Even as a child Cowboy felt a sense of calm looking up at them when he and his father would come to town on errands. The interconnected twin fortresses stood as a beacon of hope and a show of strength to ward off all that was evil. A sign of unity against adversity.
The distant stomps of his friends fading with distance fell on Cowboy's deafened ears as his mind traveled painfully back to the day his father died of a fever years ago. Not long after he had been accepted into the Ursus Union and started his work as a keyblade bearer. Aced was good enough to let him go to his sickly father's side. The Prophecy of darkness wasn't kept tightly secret and was already becoming common knowledge back then and his father's dying gasp to his son still haunted Cowboy to date. "My son!" his Dad cried out as midnight rain pelted the old farmhouse. "Do not go gentle into that good night! Rage! Rage against the dying of the light!"
"I won't! I promise I'll fight it! To the end, Dad!" Cowboy tearfully promised, grasping his father's hand even as it went limp. He held it tight until it went cold.
"Cowboy?" a familiar voice softly called. He turned to see Jax slowly approaching, the rest of the gang gone. Only then did Cowboy feeling the tears streaming down his face. He tried desperately to sniffle and wipe them away. Certain Jax was about to insult him again. To his surprised relief, the bigger young man's face was somber as he pulled him in for a brotherly hug. Cowboy went limp in the arms of the only brother he had ever had. The hug only lasted a few seconds before Jax pulled away and dragged him along with a pat on the back. "Come on buddy, dry those tears and keep a chin up, before some wimps see you," Jax ordered softly but firmly. Cowboy strode alongside him, grappling control of himself. "Better keep your chin up, because one thing we might get out this whole stupid thing tonight: all those other gangs will probably have some pretty faces among them. Maybe I'll even find one to rival Mercy. We could have some fun on the way back," he said with a playful smile and wink. Cowboy couldn't help but laugh.
"You've got a one-track mind, Jax!" he chuckled.
"What's the matter? Lost interest in the girls? In that case get away from me!" Jax giggled and leapt back with his fists up. Cowboy smirked and playfully jabbed a fist at him. Both broke down laughing for a moment before power walking down the street to catch up with the others. About halfway to the South gate they past a circular square with a beautiful fountain tricking with crystal clear water. Just as they passed the fountain, Cowboy noticed something out of the corner of his eye. He turned and froze in shock.
A bald, dark, and menacing old man stood beside it in a large black overcoat. His silvery goatee stabbed downward toward the shorter figure before him. A young man, a little shorter than Cowboy, stood before the old man, he wore a shiny, smooth, dark helmet that completely covered his face, and a uniform or dark purple that seemed muscular in its' fabric. Something about them sent chills down Cowboy's spine. Both turned their heads to him and his whole body froze. The old man's yellow eyes shown above a dark grin. The vacant sheen of the other's helmet was equally nerve-racking. Cowboy's breath caught in his throat.
"HEY!" Jax stiffly grasped Cowboy's shoulder, snapping him out of his trance with a deep gasp. "What's the matter with you?"
"Who the hell are they?" Cowboy demanded Jax's puzzled glare.
"WHO?"
"THEM!" Cowboy turned back to the fountain and stopped short. The bald old man and the helmeted boy were gone. The young man stood in shocked silence as his mind bent over backwards trying to rationalize the bizarre event he'd just witnessed. One moment they were there, the next they were gone! Magic? Couldn't be! They'd have seen the magic residue and heard the noise!
"Where?" Jax demanded. "I don't see anything!"
"They were there!" Cowboy gasped a harsh whisper.
"Oh it's your imagination!" Cowboy shook his head. He knew he saw them! "You're still all emotional! You're freaking out over this whole thing! Now shake it off and let's go!" Jax dragged him by the arm down the road. Cowboy stared at the fountain until they turned a corner. What the hell just happened? Was he really losing it? He had no answers and nothing to do but hurry along with Jax to the relative safety of the rest of the gang.
