Chapter 9: Lost Relations

Joe Dark stood there for a long while and slowly creaked his head towards his surroundings. Mew cautiously waited for some manner of response, thinking the odds were at least 99% that he'd explode with rage when he finally did.

The air was thick and unsettled, with Mr. Reality edging behind Mew just to avoid eye contact with the would-be Dark King. Mew's arms were full of goosebumps, and he could hear his heartbeat pounding inside the rib cage. They stood in a predator's territory, and it was just a matter of knowing when they'd pounce...

Mew waved his hand back to keep Mr. Reality there and then took a couple steps forward, dropping Dark Form at the cost of making the tension even more intense than before. The rustling of grass alerted Joe Dark's heightened sense of paranoia and his head swung right back and petrified his gaze directly at Mew's face.

His pupils shrank and his mouth started to move, biting his teeth down into a scowl. With what little time Mew probably had left he glanced over the Dark King and nodded at his brother before he started to stand up. A sort of acknowledgment of "I got this", even if it didn't instill much confidence.

Mew lowered his hands, didn't even clutch them into fists. He stood upright, and looked Joe Dark in the eyes. Then, he waited, throughout every long, passing, second.

"Heh...!" The teeth finally cracked open and a small, harmless laugh came out. Joe Dark then started to close his eyes and rear his entire body back, slapping a hand onto his forehead as a loud, rancorous laugh broke through the floodgates of his pearly whites.

"HAHAHAHAHHAHAHA! HAHAHAHAHAHHA!" His demented cries went from sour to sobbing in seconds. His voice cracked and grew so loud it rustled the leaves of the nearby trees.

A cold sweat went down Mew's face and his eyes twitched, but he stood his ground perfectly as Joe Dark finished his insane wail.

He slowly rose up and hunched over with a clawed hand hovering before his exhausted looking right eye. He turned his head back-and-forth and started grumbling, "Why did I expect anything else...?"

He clutched his head tight and grit his teeth, "Run, run, run...I tried to run far, far away from you. But it was pointless. Pointless pointless POINTLESS!"

He threw his hand aside and stood right up with a ferocious scowl. He angrily swung his arm out and exclaimed, "Every time I try to escape I'm DRAGGED right back in! You're not a person Whiter you're the goddamn sun! Everything revolves around you and nobody in your sight is allowed to pull away!"

"Why you? Why ME?! Its always about you you you! You're the center of attention while I'm stuck wallowing away in the mud, forgotten and tormented by the world! That's it! That's the only way to explain why I'm still being dragged into your goddamn antics after all this time! I-I can't escape! And if I do I'll just find another HELL out there waiting for me!"

Mew closed his eyes and said quietly, "Listen, Joe Dark-"

"No!" Joe Dark screeched, then steadily dropped to a growl as he levied his pointer finger towards Mew, "For once in your GODDAMN LIFE...You are going to listen to ME."

Mew narrowed his eyes as Joe Dark approached him at a snail's pace. The closer he got, the more clear it was just how tired his eyes looked. Mew felt pity, but couldn't show it without angering him more.

"I don't care how or why you threatened that alien to drag me back here. You will use his powers to send me back RIGHT NOW. And then, I don't ever, EVER, want to see your faces again. Not in my sight, not in my mind, and especially not in my memories! Just LEAVE ME ALONE, AND LET ME ROT...!" By the time he was done his face was planted squarely against Mew's and he whispered with a distinct hint of melancholy in his voice, "Anywhere is better than this Hell."

There was enough of a lull in Joe Dark's ranting and raving for Mew to catch his breath and try to speak to him quietly, "Can I speak now?"

"No. Do NOT," Joe Dark grit his teeth and pulled his head away, then drew his darkness filled hand out towards Mr. Reality, "You heard me. Send me back RIGHT NOW!"

Mew stepped in-between them and remarked, "He's not going to do it. He ne-"

Joe Dark's eyes flared open and he ripped his hand aside, "GET OUT OF MY WAY!"

"Not until you hear me out." Mew calmly retorted.

"I don't WANT TO HEAR YOU...OR SEE YOU OR SMELL YOU OR EVEN TOUCH YOU!" Joe Dark backed away a couple steps with a frightful look in his eyes.

Mew stood right where he was and shook his head, then waved a hand out, "I get what you're going through Joe Dark, witho-"

"Shut up shut up SHUT UP!" Joe Dark squeezed the sides of his head in an iron vice and tried to plug his ears with his palms, "You don't understand ANYTHING!"

Mew slanted his eyes and took one step closer, "I'm trying to help he-"

The ground at his toes was cratered by a small warning shot from Joe Dark's black fogged hand. He then shunted his palm up and prepared more darkness, "W-What is wrong with you? Why won't you just listen...AND LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE?!"

Mew nudged one foot over the hole and Joe Dark moved in sync back. Mew settled his foot down and rustled the grass, looking at his frightened company with a half-concerned stare.

"Then attack me," He muttered, "If you hate me that much, attack me. Cause I can't in good conscience let you go when you're acting like this."

Joe Dark's hand trembled until he thrust it forward and part of his body along with it. His teeth shook next even though, or perhaps because, he'd been biting them with all his might. Mew froze in place and opened his eyes all the way. His shrunken pupils were illuminated by the glowing darkness.

"Haaa...!" Joe Dark's mouth broke open with a dry laugh, then went slack-jawed along with his eyes growing wide. Freed from the confines of his jaw was another fit of laughter more broken than the last.

"HAHAHAHHAHAHAHHA! I...I see what's going on now!" His voice cracked to the point of sounding near incomprehensible. His aggression wavered and as he lowered his hand he spun his head around and declared, "This...this isn't real! None of its real!"

His voice started getting hasty as he flailed his body around and stopped to point at each individual around him, "You're not real! Or you or YOU!"

He stopped on Mew and waggled his finger up-and-down. He looked tipsy and ready to fall down at any moment with the sheer strength of his insanity being the only thing keeping him up.

"All of this...all of this is just one of the mannequin's well-crafted illusions yes...It all makes sense now!" Joe Dark clawed his hands beside his head and hunched over turned away from the sight of either Mew or Riku.

"I've been caught in her web of deceit ever since I laid eyes on her! E-Everything since then has been a fake, a fake! And now she's digging in deeper and deeper clawing out every last memory I have to weaken and break me! Hahahaha!"

He clamped the sides of his head and his finger dug into his skin, pulling it apart at the eyes and mouth to force a smile, "And maybe I've been trapped even longer! Justek, Gravitus, the whole two years alone in space the agony of death the murder of my family EVEN MY ENTIRE YOUTH COULD ALL BE A LIE!"

Joe Dark ripped his arms away and threw his body back as well. His last fit of laughter was a call to tears that flowed from his eyes and down the sides of his face.

"I don't care...! I don't care! I DON'T CARE I DON'T CARE I DON'T CARE IDON'TCARE!"

Mew took a deep breath in and out his nostrils then closed his eyes and slowly walked up to the ranting and raving boy. He tapped him once on the shoulder to get his attention and then slammed his forehead straight into his, gritting his teeth and putting his all into it.

Joe Dark went flying into the side of the house and nearly broke the wall. He then slid onto the ground, his legs and arms sprawled out all limp while his eyes remained completely wide-eyed.

Mew stumbled a couple steps forward then hunched down and clasped his kneecaps tight. He took a few breaths and then raised his head with a big red spot on his forehead.

"C-Can an illusion do THAT?!" He gasped hard and then stood closer to upright, wiping his knuckles under his chin, and giving his head a quick shake.

"Sorry but...I had to do it otherwise you wouldn't have stopped," Joe Dark gave him a 'deer in the headlights' look as he admitted to himself, "Ok...Clearly there's a LOT I didn't realize was happenin' with ya. I admit it. I MIGHT be in over my head here!"

"Hahaha...!" Mew laughed it off and after getting fully upright wobbled a couple steps closer to Joe Dark and said in a relaxed tone, "I didn't drag you all the way back here to torment you Joe Dark. There's a couple reasons but most importantly I just want to talk, mano-a-mano."

Joe Dark blinked, so at least he was still alive. Mew grit a smile and leaned to his side, propping a fist up to his hip, "Ok, minus one 'mano' for now. Just...hear what I have to say real quick."

"I know nothing about your feud with Alex or whether it was right or wrong for you to kill him I don't care about that," Mew shook his head and closed his eyes, "But you seem to have spent a lot of your life dedicated to the sole purpose of hunting him down. Now he's gone and...you don't know what to do."

Mew creaked his eyes open slightly to glance down at his side, "And I...I understand. More than you do. For you he was a target of revenge, for me...he was my brother. He was crazy and I never got through to him but...He was still my brother. I...I'm never going to stop missing him."

Joe Dark dug his fingertips into the dirt and grit his teeth until a scowl so intense his whole body shook.

"You...you just have his face..." He sprung to life and attacked Mew by grabbing him by the collar and pulling him directly into his spit-filled, screaming face.

"HE WAS MY BROTHER! SO DON'T SAY YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT I FEEL!"

"...: Mew stared dead-eyed into Joe Dark's face and hastily murmured, "I'm sorry what."

Joe Dark weakly tossed him onto the ground and Mew raised his head with a continued look of confusion. Riku got up from the steps and inquired, "T-That...can't be true. Who told you that?"

Joe Dark creaked his head back and grumbled, "That bastard Justek. It wasn't enough to torment me in life, he ensured that he'd be tormenting me in death too..."

He gripped and squeezed the side of his throbbing head and shook it around. Riku's mouth went agape and he turned away from the others to try and process what he had just heard.

Mew stood up and tried stepping in front of Joe Dark, only for him to keep turning away. Mew waved his hand out and inquired, "Then...he had to have been lying yeah?"

"Hahaha!" Joe Dark cracked a dry laugh and shook his head slowly some more, "Oh no why would it EVER be that easy?"

Tired, battered, Joe Dark muttered in agony towards Mew, "I...I've been seeing them. In my head. A cradle...not one but two...A baby crying next to me. A woman who looked nothing like my mother...A man who looked nothing like my father."

"That...could mean anything..." Mew said, having a hard time separating what was real and what was fake from everything Joe Dark was saying.

"Oh really?!" Joe Dark exclaimed with a bitter bite to his tone, "Then...I must be going crazy!"

He spun back and grit his teeth towards Mew, "Unless you actually know what's happening to me shut up and get away!"

"I-I'm not saying you're crazy or lying..." Mew sheepishly closed his eyes and backed away slowly, "If you can remember that much then your memories must be telling the truth. But..."

Mew puffed out a big breath and turned away. He felt a little dizzy and walked on over to the nearest tree to plop down and take a breather.

"You'll...have to give me a moment. I was totally not prepared for this bombshell..." Mew propped a hand up by his forehead and a long, awkward silence took the tension's place in the area.

"..." Joe Dark looked over at Mr. Reality, who diverted his gaze the other way and floated off to give the group their space.

"..." Joe Dark's eyelids sagged with barely any strength to remain open. His feet dragged him forward against his will and brought him down against the tree on the left side of Mew. Joe Dark sank back against the rough bark and flopped his hands and legs down upon the grass.

Mew glanced over his shoulder and remarked, "I wish I could pull up some of my own memories to confirm yours but...I got nuthin'. Guess Alex either didn't know or didn't give me those memories..."

"..." Joe Dark's head creaked to the right and Mew leaned out to see that he was staring at the gravestone for Alex Whiter at the side of the house.

Mew silently pulled back and leaned his head back, closing his eyes as a quiet, natural breeze passed through the mountains.

"...What...what were his last words?" Joe Dark muttered. Mew trembled, curling his right hand into a fist and going deathly silent.

"...I see," Joe Dark shook while pulling himself up a little against the tree, "...All I ever wanted was a family. A caring. Loving. Family..."

He shook his head and limply waved his arm up, "And I couldn't even get that. I lost them all. My mother, my father, my aunts and uncles, even my cousins...Wiped out. Slaughtered."

"...Me. The sole survivor...A child not even ten years old, forced to fend for himself in a harsh, unforgiving world. All I had on me were my clothes, the blood of my parents burned into my eyes," Joe Dark's hand shook tightly into a fist, "And an inescapable yearning for revenge."

"But all this time the person I was chasing was a brother I barely remembered I had...And not only did I fail to kill him, I now doubt his responsibility in the slaughter to begin with..."

"...The universe took a crap on us both but he...he got to BE someone," Joe Dark's hand went limp on the ground and he shook his head, tearfully muttering aloud, "I'm the hollow shell for the power of a hollow king...I'm less than nothing!"

Joe Dark's brittle bones cracked as his hands became fists, "No family, no promise, no future...I'm just trash waiting to be buried."

"...You're not nothing, Joe Dark." Mew sat on his side and turned to face him, prodding him once in the chest.

"How old are you right now? 16? Same as me? You've had a crappy life up until now sure but it doesn't have to end here. You've still got a good 80-84 years to make something of yourself and by golly, as your brother I'd be more than happy to help you figure that out!"

Joe Dark turned a dull eye towards Mew then tilted his head and opened his mouth to murmur, "...What?"

Mew flipped onto his knees and clapped his hands down onto them with a bright beaming smile, "Yeah, come on! This is the perfect opportunity to start over and find a new purpose in life! Something a lot more fulfilling and a lot less stabby."

"I-I'm...excuse me?" Joe Dark barely lifted himself up and started tucking his knees in towards his chest.

Mew just silently sat there, forcing his smile into Joe Dark's vision in hopes that he'd maybe smile back. Instead his jaw slacked and he glared at him with narrowed eyes.

"You...you're not my brother. You're just a CLONE of him." He muttered with mild disdain.

"Ahhh what's the difference?" Mew boldly declared while throwing his hand down in an arc, "I mean if it bothers you THAT much then fine..."

Mew gained a cat-like smile as he turned his head away and remarked, "You don't HAVE to live under our roof, with our comfy bed, three meals a day, fresh water, clean clothes..."

"Is this bargaining or torturing?!" Joe Dark exclaimed with his eyes growing wide-open.

Mew's wry smile snuck out from the corner of his face as he gave a knowing glare at him, "I don't know...Is it working?"

"Grrrr..." Joe Dark crossed his arms and had a foul mood on him as he remarked, "No!"

"Someone's in de-ni-al!" Mew sang with a chuckle afterwards.

"Are you five years old or something?!" Joe Dark hollered with his eyes flared up at Mew.

"Sort of yeah?" Mew jested back.

Joe Dark twisted his head away from Mew and muttered, "God you're just as irritating as he was but in a different way..."

Mew settled down a bit and scooted closer to him, "It doesn't have to be your permanent residence, but it sure as heck beats the outdoors!"

Joe Dark's face twitched as his eyes darted away from Mew. "Grrr..." He growled and began fiddling with his fingers against his knees.

Finally he tilted his head back and glared at Mew, "What do you get out of this?"

"Nothing." Mew said with a gentle roll of the shoulders.

Joe Dark widened his eyes for a brief stint and then cocked his head away from Mew, his cheeks turning a light shade of pink which, on his pale skin, looked extra bright.

"I'm not that smart or wise or anything like that but I bet if we put our heads together we'll figure out something you'd want to do in-"

"OH MY GOD ENOUGH ALREADY!" Joe Dark threw up his hands and rose to his feet with Mew doing the same. Though right away Joe Dark was leaning up against him to the point of Mew bending back, all the while wearing this big goofy smile.

"Do you do this to EVERYONE you try to befriend?! Just...wear them down with all this boundless sappiness and optimism?!"

Mew fought back a laugh as he replied, "Soooo...that's a 'Yes'?"

"YES DAMN IT YES! I'll live in your damn house for now, you happy?!" Joe Dark pulled his head back with a hefty grunt and then tucked his hands into his pockets. After tapping his feet a couple times he thrust a pointer finger up at Mew's snickering face and scowled.

"But there's going to be some ground rules laid down! And I'm not calling you or the other clone brothers!"

Mew couldn't stop himself from laughing as he told Joe Dark, "Hahaha whatever you say, brrrroooother!"

"THAT'S GOING TO BE RULE NUMBER ONE: NO CALLING ME BROTHER!" Joe Dark exclaimed with his eyes flared wide-open.

"Hahahah..." Mew settled down his laughter by tucking his hands into his pockets and lowering his shoulders.

"..."

"..."

Mew and Joe Dark stared at each other for a few seconds until a spark shone in Mew's eyes, "Oh shit I almost forgot!"

He spun to the left and exclaimed, "Yo buddy we're done here you can come back out now!"

Mr. Reality floated out from behind a nearby tree a few seconds later and asked, "So are you two getting along now?"

"Yep, sure seems like it!" Mew exclaimed.

"What did I just..." Joe Dark grumbled and put a hand to the side of his throbbing head, "Oh why do I even bother..."

"So then..." Mr. Reality gave a not-too-subtle cough and pumped his fist before his helmet.

"Yep, we're good to go on Operation Parasite Removal!" Mew excitedly rubbed his hands together whilst Joe Dark turned his head in confusion.

"Huh?" He uttered.

Mew briefly caught him up to recent events, after which Joe Dark sank his hands deep into his pockets and grumbled, "Oh...so THAT'S why you brought me here."

"Ehhhh," half the reason, Mew shrugged, "But yeah, think you're up for it?"

Joe Dark snubbed Mew with his elbow and walked a couple steps ahead of him, "You'll barely have to chip in. I can handle most of the work."

"Heh, better safe than sorry though." Mew drew his sword and went back into Dark Form. Mr. Reality floated a couple feet back and gave the two a quick nod.

"I'm ready when you are."

Mew stretched his hand out and Joe Dark did so halfway. Both their hands glowed with darkness and the energy began entering Mr. Reality's head.

Much like before the alien squirmed in agony as the parasites struggled to keep latched onto their hosts' brain. Mew and Joe Dark were pouring equal amounts of darkness in and so far there didn't seem to be any backfiring ready to happen to either of them.

"Ghh..! Stubborn worms aren't they?!" Joe Dark grunted and thrust his hand out harder.

"See why we needed you?!" Mew said, having a bit of fun with this.

"Yes, you clearly can't do anything without me or Whiter bailing you out!"

Mew gave a snide glare at Joe Dark and chuckled, "Why did you refer to yourself twice?"

"GHH!" It angered him but that was necessary to stoke the fires of his darkness a little more.

After a few more seconds of stubbornness on the parasites behalf Joe Dark's eyes flared open and he declared, "Enough of this! Get out of his head!"

He gave his hand a nice hard tug and squeezed it into a fist. Mr. Reality's eye turned pitch black and darkness flooded out of it, his ears and mouth all at once. There was this immense rumbling in the ground, and then complete silence. Mr. Reality and Joe Dark dropped towards their knees but Joe Dark used a hand to keep himself from falling completely.

He hovered his other hand up towards a terrible looking black orb full of squirming, squealing parasites that could not escape no matter how much they banged their bodies against the walls.

"I-Is that it?" Joe Dark wondered aloud.

Mr. Reality lifted his head up slightly and had this positively beaming smile on his face. He patted around the sides of his helmet and his eye lit up with joy.

"I...I can't feel them anymore! They're gone. They're gone!" He clamped his hands onto his helmet and gave them a couple slaps to confirm he wasn't dreaming, then started twirling around in dance.

Mew breathed a heavy sigh and then dropped out of Dark Form, his energy reserves exhausted. He gave a thumbs-up and said, "T-That's wonderful news..."

The alien was allowed to twirl and float through the air for a whole minute in celebration before he chose to stop and settle a few feet in front of his saviors.

Mew crossed his arms by his chest and wondered, "So uhhh...What are you going to do now?"

Mr. Reality paused and turned his head aside with a confident look in his eye, "I don't have to think about it..."

He lifted his right hand before his face longingly and started to pinch his fingers together, "I should have done this the very moment I got these powers..."

Mew had a bad feeling in the pit of his gut and stretched his hand out with an over-the-top proclamation of "NOOO!" as Mr. Reality snapped his fingers and a bright white flash spread throughout the sky.

It didn't last for more than a second and when it was done Mew paused in place. Nothing really...felt different. Though, not that he'd know if the alien wished it that way. But since he does know...

Mew pulled his hand back and when he did saw Mr. Reality on the ground covered mostly by his cloak. His body was steaming heavily.

Slowly he stood up and pulled his hand out from underneath the cloak...And there was a limp, noodle-y arm attached to it.

Mew and Joe Dark's eyes slowly opened wide as Mr. Reality stood upright and gripped his hand tightly onto the edge of his cloak. He shivered while cracking a smile and muttered, "I-I-Its cold out here..."

"You...you gave yourself your body back?" Mew murmured in surprise.

Mr. Reality shook his head and grinned, "I got rid of those powers. So that I could never be tempted by them...and no one else could abuse them."

"...Oh," Mew's rather dour remark got the alien to tilt his head in confusion, "Ah, never mind. I'm glad you're back to normal now."

"Thanks..." The alien turned to them with a light red in his face and waved his hand out, "I couldn't have done it without all of your help."

Joe Dark's eyes widened and he slowly placed a hand where his heart was. Mew could see that his face was turning red, but for once didn't have anything to say. He scratched the side of his face and said to the alien with a wobbly smile, "Oh it was nothing really. Glad to have helped!"

Joe Dark stood up and pulled the sphere of parasites closer to him, "That's all fine and good but what the hell are we going to do with these?"

"Haaaa..." Mew closed his eyes, pulled out his sword and went back into Dark Form. He then wagged his hand at the sphere and pulled it over, then raised the other hand to open a dark rift.

"I got someone who can handle this. And while I'm at it we'll drop you off with Saturn so you can get a ride back home." He eyed the former Mr. Reality.

"That'd be appreciated. Hopefully, her ship is warm."

The alien floated towards the portal and as Mew stepped one foot into it he turned to Joe Dark and said, "I shouldn't be long. Just uhhh...talk with Riku until I get back! Yeah!"

The two departed and Joe Dark slowly turned to Riku sitting on the front steps. The two had nothing but blank looks to give each other.

It was a quick jump to Sancturia, specifically Auris' house...again. The moment Mew stepped foot inside Auris was there to greet him.

"So you were successful?" She inquired with her eyes aimed at the black sphere.

Mew held it out before his chest and didn't even get a word in before Auris grabbed it in her own sphere of aura and dragged it close to her chest. She smashed her palms down on around it and with a very intense, almost frightening look in her eyes she crushed the sphere down to the size of a pea and then smushed that into nothingness with her palms.

Mew fluttered his eyes and Auris dusted her hands off, wearing her regularly mysterious smile as she tilted her head and said "There, all done" as if she had just wrapped up spring cleaning.

There wasn't an atomic trace of those parasites left. Mew shook his head with a lightheaded feeling and turned back towards the door.

"Ooookay..." See you later Auris.

And so, with the threat of the parasites and their master out of the way forever, Mew took the alien over to Saturn. She happily provided him a ride back home, and after a quick goodbye the alien promised that he'd come back someday with his family and give Mew a more proper thanks for all that he had done.

Mew was feeling pretty good about himself. He whistled a jaunty tune as he made his way back home and had the former Mr. Reality's safety in his thoughts at all time. Hopefully, he'd be able to help the others the same way soon enough. But right now...

He exited the dark portal and found Joe Dark standing around in pretty much the same spot he left him. He then glanced over at Riku being in the same spot and said aloud, "Really? Nothing?"

He swung his head back and drooped his shoulders, "Uuuugh...We'll work on this during brother bonding time."

As he started heading for the house Joe Dark glared at him and said, "I'm serious, you call me brother one more time and-"

Mew swung to his side and threw his left hand over his head, "Come on its been a long day! You want some dinner?"

Joe Dark's eyes froze wide-open and with a forceful unfurling of his arms from his chest he grumbled, "Anything but meat..."

Mew and Riku headed inside while Joe Dark lagged behind with his hands tucked in his pockets. With one foot up towards the door he paused in place and turned his head to the left.

... His eyes closed halfway and he paced himself along the side of the house, laying his palm along the wall. He closed his eyes and saw a clear vision of his baby self rocking in a crib. A pair of lithe, gentle arms picked him up and cradled him close to their chest. The person began humming a tune, and he could recall gently closing his eyes to sleep.

"...Hmmmm hmm hmm..." And soon he was humming the first few notes of that melody with a single tear slipping out onto his cheek.

He rounded the corner and stopped beside Alex Whiter's grave. His hand slid off the corner and drooped by his hip. He got directly in front of the stone and knelt down. He stared long and hard at the words etched onto it, and recollected his experiences with him.

"..." Joe Dark closed his eyes and felt a heavy weight from his heart to his gut. He thrust his eyes open with a fire inside them and curled a fist atop his right knee.

"I will survive Whiter..." He stood up and began rounding the corner, "For both of us."

STORY 2: Mr. Reality's Last Journey END

Three days later...

Mew walked out of his house with Riku and Joe Dark in tow. Mew hopped backwards down the steps with his hands in his pockets and a big smile on his face.

Joe Dark dragged his way down the steps with a hunched over, sour expression as he wondered, "Do I REALLY have to do this?"

Yes really really, Mew drew his sword and activated Dark Form, then opened a dark rift beside his right hand, "You've gotta get to know all my friends if you're going to be sticking around. Might as well start with Kairi and Auris, maybe Gabriel if we're lucky."

"Ughhh, fiiine..." Joe Dark rolled his eyes then glared Mew in the face, "But next time don't hold my breakfast hostage to force me to come along!"

"Hahaha!" Mew cheerfully waltzed through the rift and the other two followed close behind. The portal plopped them off right in front of the Aurora household.

Mew dropped Dark Form, propped his fists on his hips and proclaimed, "MAN that's a much more convenient method of travel!"

He then swung open the cloth door to the house and hollered, "Hey! Hope you don't mind us dropping by..."

He slowed down upon seeing Auris pacing beside her couches with a quiet, pondering look in her eyes, "...Auris?"

Auris perked up and slowly turned to face her company with a lofty sigh. She laid a hand upon the side of her face and murmured, "I should've known you'd show up so soon after..."

Mew looked around and tilted his head, "Hey where's Kairi? Is she out again?"

Auris closed her eyes and sighed, "You could say that."

"Auris, what's going on?" Mew wasted no time getting to the point and Auris complied with his wishes with little hesitation.

"...Kairi has left for space to get her sister back."

"WHAT?!" Mew exclaimed with his eyes nearly bulging out of their sockets.

NEXT: STORY 3: Sisters