Chapter 60: Down in New Orleans
"Looks like you dug just a little too deep."
Diablo glowered over his shoulder at Braig as he stared down the barrel of his arrowgun. So, this was it, then? Braig was the reason Facilier knew about hearts and the Heartless, how he had figured out to store his own heart in a phylactery and deal with the Heartless as he would the Loa. Diablo fought to hide his unease on his face; he should have expected as much. It was too obvious. Who else but Xehanort's and Maleficent's groups were even involved with the Heartless?
"Come to finish me off, Braig?"
"Only if you refuse to hand over the tacky necklace, pal."
Diablo spared a moment's glance down at the totem still in his hand, but didn't dare let Braig leave his sight for long. Without moving his gaze from the one-eyed sharpshooter, Diablo slowly turned his whole body to face Braig while slipping the totem around his neck. Braig narrowed his good eye but said nothing. He didn't need to; Diablo hadn't failed to notice the hexagon barrier at the entrance to the alley. And if he tried flying out of there, he'd get shot down in an instant.
I am not a fighter. As handy as he was with spells, he was not made for combat. He had held his own well enough when Xehanort had appeared at Hollow Bastion, but only for a moment before everything had gone south. His stamina just wouldn't hold up, especially as he'd need to stay transformed for the duration of battle. Diablo resisted the urge to gulp as he took a step backward—only one step—when Braig's finger on the trigger twitched.
He wasn't a fighter, but Braig wasn't giving him much choice.
Braig is a ranged specialist… I'll need to stay up close and personal. At least then he could minimize the damage he'd take.
The smoke was already beginning to rise up off of Diablo's body, earning a curious eyebrow raise from Braig. In a confined space, he couldn't turn into something big like a dragon…but he had an idea. Diablo crouched slightly, bending at the knees and arching his back. His clothing shrank, tightening around his torso and ridding itself of any loose fabric so as not to get in his way while moving. His hands contorted, his fingers transforming into razor-sharp claws; at the same time, green fire burst to life around them and his feet. The wisps of smoke that had been rising up off of Diablo's body did not let up; in fact, they grew thicker. The smoke condensed until blue-black streams of darkness, with licking green flames mixed in, were a constant feature of this half-beast form.
Braig let out a low, impressed whistle, and Diablo smirked. Nothing more needed to be said…and Braig fired.
It was just what Diablo had been waiting for. The instant he saw Braig's arrowgun flash pink, he shot forward and made an arcing swerve to the right. By the time the blast exploded at where he had been standing, he was already behind Braig with his fire-coated claws bared.
"The hell?!" Braig spun around to fire, but Diablo made his move before the trigger was pulled. He struck Braig across the chest, twin streaks of shadow and flame running along the grey fabric. Braig leaped back and, pulling out his second arrowgun, fired blast after blast at Diablo. He evaded them all, but not for lack of trying; still, it didn't drain him as much as getting hit would. He wouldn't last as long against Braig as any other opponents this man had fought before.
Diablo swung his claws out at Braig once more, but in an instant Braig vanished. Stunned, Diablo toppled forward from his momentum and caught himself before he crashed into the alley ground. Grimacing, he looked left and right for Braig. There was no corridor of darkness…where did he go?
"No one ever checks their most obvious blind spot!" he heard the sharpshooter call out from—above! Diablo turned his gaze upward and jumped aside, but it was too late. Standing in midair at a horizontal angle, Braig rained down blasts into the alley. Diablo swerved and moved through the air, but even at the speed this form granted him he couldn't dodge all of it. When the first pink blast hit him in the shoulder he was knocked off-balance and promptly pierced by four more bullets before Braig's assault quieted down.
Climbing up to his feet, Diablo examined the wounds that were already closing up on his skin, smoke escaping from the scars. His shapeshifting could be used to close the open sores, but it was purely superficial. There was no hiding the pain Braig had left him in. Still, he couldn't get out of here yet. He had to keep going.
Running toward the wall, Diablo kicked off of it and toward the opposing side. Kicking off of that one, he jumped from wall to wall until he reached Braig—or Braig's feet. Grabbing him by the ankles, Diablo flipped through the air and sent Braig hurtling down to the hard ground. Before they crashed he shot down to land before Braig did and hit him underneath, delivering a kick to his back and then clawing him back up into the air.
With Braig stunned, Diablo began an onslaught, never stopping his movement, clawing and kicking Braig from a different direction each time. Every attack was accompanied by darkness and fire, and every attack knocked Braig higher and higher up into the air. At the apex of their ascent, Diablo swerved through the air and positioned himself above Braig's prone form. Holding his hands up, he called in both purple-black shadows and emerald green flames together between his palms. Thrusting his hands downward, Diablo sent the ball at Braig's chest as it expanded and exploded, streams of green and black flying around it to add to the attack.
When it was all over, Diablo dropped down to the ground with a thud. Panting heavily, he fell to one knee and held his hand over his rapidly-beating heart.
"Aw, bowing before me? As if that'll help."
Still panting, Diablo glared up at the man as he leveled his gun down at him. "I'm not done yet."
"This form of yours caught me by surprise, pal, I've gotta give you that. But you're still a glass cannon." The spikes on Braig's gun flashed. "And now you're about to shatter." Braig pulled the trigger, and as pink light filled Diablo's vision he leaped to his feet. This was gonna be close!
x-x-x
The chase through the bayou to catch Naveen had taken longer than they had hoped. They hadn't been chasing him nonstop—there was no way Louis would have been able to keep that up—but they had only taken the barest minimum rest. And even if they had lost sight of Naveen, it didn't really matter. They knew he was being taken to Facilier in New Orleans. They just had to get there before anything happened.
"Faster, Louis!"
"I'm hurryin' as fast as I can!"
"Look there!" Tiana jumped up to Louis's head and pointed forward, to a break in the trees. "New Orleans, dead ahead!"
Quickly, amidst complaints from Louis, the rest of the group hurried up the gator's back to see that Tiana spoke true. As Louis transferred from murky water to hardened mud, the trees around them quickly began to thin out. Sora, Xion, Donald, and Goofy, having never seen New Orleans before, took in every nook and cranny of the town spread out before them. They were fast approaching rows of three- and four-story buildings, and trolleys that made their way down streets of roaming marching bands.
And Louis, caught up in the moment himself, failed to keep an eye on where he was going. The bayou gave way to the city abruptly, the mud-covered ground ending at a steep hill that the gator slipped over when he wasn't looking. With a myriad of cries, the group (sans Ray) tumbled down the hill, slamming into the earth and rolling around until they crashed into the pavement below.
"Ow…" Xion muttered, climbing to her feet and rubbing the back of her head. Beside her Donald had been buried head-first into the side of the hill. Pulling hard on his feet, Goofy and Sora popped him out of the earth but overestimated their strength and sent him flying back.
"Y'all need ta watch yer step, pal" Ray admonished Louis as he flew over to Donald to help him up to his feet.
Louis shook his head, clearing the stars dancing in his eyes. "Sorry, I was just so excited, and—and nervous, and…" Now on his feet, he frowned and scratched his head. "Where'd the music go?"
"I hadn't even noticed it was gone…" Goofy said slowly. He turned around, looking out onto the street, and the street looked back at him. Everyone in the area had quite literally dropped what they were doing at the sight of an alligator tumbling down from the bayou. Eyes as wide as saucers stared at them from every direction, including the trolley which had come to a standstill as its passengers leaned out the sides. Lucky for the rest of them, though, Louis was all that the townsfolk focused on.
"U-Uh…" Louis grinned for a moment, but quickly clamped his lips shut when the crowd of people pulled back all at once at the sight of his teeth. Laughing nervously, the lovable lug pulled out his trumpet and brought it up to his mouth, playing a song to calm the masses. Unfortunately for them, the tenseness of the situation and Louis's growing nervousness made the music come out…less than well. He was interrupted when a rock went flying, knocking the trumpet out of his hands.
"Get outta here, gator!"
"Don't antagonize the poor thing! It's prob'ly lost and confused!"
"Forget that, don't get it angry! Gators are sharp!"
"My horn!" Louis scrambled to the instrument, but he was stopped by a bouncy green friend when Tia hopped up onto his head and leaned down in front of his eyes.
"Louis, we can come back for it later! Right now we need to find Naveen!"
"But the people…" Louis glanced from his resting trumpet, to the street, and then back again. "Tia, there are so many people in the way!"
"Lookit you, man, whatchu doin'?" Ray flew up to meet Louis in the face. He jabbed his finger forward in as intimidating a way as a Cajun firefly could. "You're a big ol' gator! You ain't gonna let some people scare your scales off, now are ya?!"
Xion jogged up to Louis, who continued to shift between his trumpet and the crowds that watched with bated breath. There was a sound in the distance, a truck coming up on them. Animal control? Someone had to have alerted the authorities about the alligator that suddenly arrived in town. Tapping him on his leg, she called his attention. "Louis, I know you're scared, but—"
"Oh I'm not scared," he said with a shake of his head. "I'm not scared of them hurting me, anyways. I'm just, well, if I scare them off then how am I ever gonna earn their trust to play with the big boys?"
"We don't have time for this!" Donald shouted. Xion rubbed her face at his words; he was right, but Louis was just a big teddy bear at heart. Could they get him to barrel on through those crowds? Lucky for her, Sora had the answer.
"Louis, listen. We really don't have a lot of time." He pointed out into the streets. "But we're not asking you throw that dream away. You can't give up even when things go wrong. Hasn't this taught you that? I mean look at what Tiana's gone through in the last twenty-four hours."
Tiana nodded and patted Louis's head beneath her. "Louis, I promise you: when I get my restaurant, you'll be the star of the show. But we can't worry about that right now. Right now, we have a friend in danger!"
Louis shut his eyes and took a deep breath. "…Okay." Breathing out his nostrils, he climbed down onto four legs. "Hold on tight, because I'm going in!"
They barely had time to register before he took off running, teeth bared, throat growling, eyes wide and feral. They barely had time to grab hold of his whipping tail, and held on for dear life as it flung them up and down, left to right, with every step. Even Ray, normally keeping near or ahead of them in the air, found himself dropping down to rest beside Tiana on Louis's head.
The crowds parted like a sea as Louis approached them. He moved his entire lower body as he whipped his tail, and the snapping of his jaws resounded across the street. Yet anyone not caught up in the heat of the moment would surely notice that he never got near close enough to actually do anyone serious harm. Unfortunately, the animal control failed to notice this either.
Men with nets approached Louis from down the street, blocking the most obvious path. Of course, Louis had no intention of hurting them any more than he did the rest of the citizens, but they didn't know that. As he backed away from the men, they continued to move closer. One of them held his hands out, palms open.
"Easy, boy. We're not gonna hurt you." He spoke slowly, calmly, like talking to a kid.
"Guys, I don't see a way out of this," Louis whispered to his passengers.
Xion bit her lip and looked this way and that, trying to find something—anything—to get them away from the animal control unit. There were no obvious side streets, and any alleys were likely dead ends or otherwise going to get Louis captured. They couldn't just charge through the animal control, they were professionals who knew what they were doing. So it'd have to be something unexpected…
As she looked through the area, her gaze settled on the trolley that had come to a stop when Louis made his New Orleans debut. She hesitated at the idea that formed; it was crazy, but it was the most available option. The passengers were still aboard, but that could easily be fixed. Somehow she doubted anyone would stay still with an alligator charging at them.
"Louis, the trolley!"
"Huh? Oh! Yeah, I gotcha, Xion!"
Swerving to the right, Louis smacked one of the animal control men with his tail and called a heartbroken "Sorry!" over his shoulder as he climbed aboard the trolley's left door. At that same time, the screaming occupants—driver included—fled through the right door like water down a drain. By the time Louis had pulled his whole body inside it was completely devoid of humans, their newspapers and food wrappers still fluttering around.
"Does anyone know how to drive this thing?" Donald asked.
"Nope!" Tiana hopped off of Louis's head and landed in front of the driver's seat, out of sight. A moment later the trolley lurched. It moved forward at top speed, nearly running over the crowd that all moved aside at the last minute.
"YAAAAA-HOO-HOO-HOOEY!"
The trolley moved down the street at top speed, which in all honesty wasn't that fast, heading down to what Xion could only assume was the part of town where Facilier was. If Tiana knew who he was, Xion had to guess that she also knew where he worked. Outside, the people on the city streets stared in slack-jawed shock at the site of an alligator casually hanging out in a trolley manned by a frog.
Beside Xion, Ray quirked an eyebrow and scratched his head. "What da heck is dat?"
"What?" Xion asked.
He flew up to the front window and pointed forward. "Dat! Dead ahead, cher!"
He was pointing ahead of the trolley…no, ahead and to the right. Off the side of the street. Climbing up onto the windowsill (with some help from Louis), Xion peered out the window and squinted to get a better view. What was that? It looked like a green glow was coming from inside the alley, and she could see it illuminating the walls of the tall buildings. It was a fire-like glow…oh, no. Green fire?!
"Tia, stop the car!"
Tiana used her body to pull down on the brake and the trolley came to a sudden stop, so sudden that everyone lost their footing and tumbled backwards. Hopping down onto the ground, she helped Xion to her feet. "What was that about? The Shadowman's place is still a bit further down the road."
"Ray saw something. It looked like green fire." She turned to her companions as she said that.
Donald frowned. "You don't think…"
Sora was already running for the door with his Keyblade out. "Let's find out!"
The group took the leap from the trolley's step down onto solid ground, crossing the pavement as they moved toward the alley that the green glow had been coming from. As they approached, Xion heard the definite, unmistakable sound of roaring flames accompanying the sickly light. In addition, they heard…gunshots? And a cry of pain, followed by something hard slamming into the wall.
As they turned the corner to gaze into the dark alley, Xion caught sight of a pale man dressed in black, slumped against the wall with eyes half open. Familiarity struck her, but she couldn't place from where… Not that it mattered. The second man, who was leaning down to pluck something red from the pale man's chest, was a far more immediate threat.
"Braig!"
She called out to him as Braig stood up straight with the red something-or-other in his hands. As he looked over his shoulder his good eye widened slightly and then a wide, amused grin broke out on his face.
"Haha! Check you kiddos out!" Braig broke into a mocking, uproarious laughter, clutching his gut with one hand and pointing at them with the other. "Did you get some major malfunction on your ship or what?! Hey, maybe I should just squash you punks like bugs here and now! Aw man, as if. I totally would if we didn't need you, Poppet." Behind them, Xion heard Louis let out a threatening growl. Braig responded with a low whistle. "Got some backup, huh? Or maybe saving him for a nice gator-skin suitcase instead?"
"Braig! Why are you here?!" Donald demanded while waving his staff around.
"Ha! You should know by now I'm not one for blabbing." Braig held up his hand, revealing the dangling trinket he had stolen from the pale man: a glowing red pendant shaped like a skull. "This Voodoo mumbo-jumbo is beyond me, but I needed this." Giving a salute, he called up a corridor of darkness. "Later!"
"Wait!" Donald leaped forward, but the corridor vanished before his eyes and he sailed through the air until he crashed into the ground.
"A friend of yours?" Tiana asked.
Sora groaned and shook his head. "Something like that. What was that thing, and where'd he go? We gotta find him…"
"Hey now, I thought we were looking for Naveen?"
Xion rubbed her arm. "He's more immediate, but we can't let Braig just go… What should we do, Sora?"
"W…Wait…"
All eyes turned. The speaker was the pale man, who pulled himself up to his feet. He looked absolutely horrible, out of breath and with several obvious wounds on his skin and in his clothes. Xion frowned, once again struck by a familiarity. Where…?
Goofy chimed in, once again showing off a spectacular insight from him. "Hey, you're Maleficent's raven! We saw you when Xehanort came back!"
"Uh, raven…?" Tiana asked under her breath, clearly beyond confused.
The man smiled weakly as his body swayed from side to side. "Diablo. Remember it, won't you?" Leaning against the wall, he took several deep breaths. "Listen, that amulet Braig took belongs to Doctor Facilier. It's a Voodoo charm, and more importantly a container…it holds his heart. He needs it to control the Heartless."
"What?!"
Xion stared in silence as shouts rang up around them. She hadn't even stopped to wonder how Facilier had managed to control them. Of course Tiana, Ray, and Louis wouldn't grasp the gravity of this, but… Putting his heart in a container? He had to have learned that from Braig. And did it make him a Nobody now, or what? Somehow she doubted that much. Still, the conversation reminded them of what Mama Odie had said: she wouldn't be surprised if he even had a way into the Realm of Darkness.
"And you expect us to just trust you?" Donald asked with narrowed eyes and crossed arms.
But Diablo shook his head. "You're just going to have to. Listen to me, and listen well: destroy that thing! When it's gone, the Heartless threat to this world goes with it. Facilier won't be able to control them."
"Why do you care?"
Diablo let out a weak laugh. "I don't, at least not as far as this backwater hole is concerned. But Facilier is working for Braig…and my lady will not allow that. So stop standing around here and go get Facilier's heart! Return it to his body!"
Donald glared at Diablo, and Diablo glared back. After several long, tense moments, Donald quickly turned his head away and grumbled incomprehensibly before turning to Sora. "What do you think?"
"Well…" Sora let out a sigh and turned to the gang with a smile. "We were after Facilier anyway, right?"
x-x-x
"Where…Where is it?! Ohh, no, no, no!"
Facilier—frantic, hair messy, hat askew, and coatless Facilier—had turned his humble abode upside down and inside out. He was sweating, his hands were shaking, and his eyes were wide. Behind the locked door to his bedroom, he heard pounding as his shadow attempted to break the barricade down. He had awoken not long ago to that so-called partner of his attempting to attack him like just another of the Friends on the Other Side. Of course the reason quickly became apparent to Facilier: his heart was gone!
A strange man from a strange place had supplied him with the knowledge of hearts and how they work, had told him how to free his and place it into a phylactery. The one-eyed stranger had introduced him to the Friends on the Other Side and, through a combination of his heart and Voodoo, Facilier had discovered how to broker deals with them like he had the Loa. But now…now! With his phylactery—his heart!—separated from him the Friends would be coming for him.
"It's not here… It's not HERE!" Facilier knocked aside a lamp and buried his face in his hands. He had been hoping he had misplaced it, but this clearly wasn't the case. There was only one other place it could be, then. Rubbing his eyes, Facilier spat out a name. "Diablo…"
"El diablo es golpeado!" Behind Facilier, a shifting black and purple hole in reality opened wide. From within appeared his benefactor, the one-eyed man with golden eyes and silver streaks in his hair.
"Braig!"
"Keep better hold of your stuff, compadre." Braig tossed a glowing red object at Facilier, which he caught in his sweating palms. As he unfurled his fingers and looked down, relief washed over the witch doctor. His phylactery was fine as always, the heart glowing beneath it. He wrapped it back around his neck and immediately the banging on the door stopped. Unlocking it, he allowed his now calmed shadow to come on through.
After giving a nod to the shadow, Facilier frowned and turned to his visitor with much more composure than he had moments ago. "What in the world are you doing here, Braig? Did you take this from me? And here I was thinkin' we were pals."
"As if! Why would I take it when I was the one who told you how to use it?" Braig shook his head and rested one hand on his hip while he jabbed the other over his shoulder, toward the door. "It was that bird, and he flew the coop. Lucky you, I took it back. Though chances are you're gonna have visitors soon."
"The frog princess, right? I got her dear old Naveen locked up tight. My Friends are getting' impatient, see, and his heart—"
"I couldn't care less, doc," Braig interrupted with a wave of his hand. "I just came here to give that thing back to you and to give you a warning. You can handle our little problem, not can't you?"
"One slimy little frog is no problem, my good man."
"Ha! Yeah, one little frog. Well, adios then!" Braig gave him a mocking salute and vanished back into the shadows.
Immediately after he left, before Facilier could even begin to plot his next step, the door barged open to reveal, of all things, an alligator! Stepping back, Facilier quickly called on his shadow to defend him as the gator pulled itself in all the way…and revealed the guests on its back. Facilier raised an eyebrow at the sight of the frog girl that Naveen had taken off with the night before, but beyond that, there appeared to be children with her. Tiny children as tall as a frog, at that.
"Well now, I suppose you must be here for the froggy prince?" Facilier grinned as he fixed his hat and leaned on his cane. "Y'all ain't gonna get near him, I can tell you that now. My Friends on the Other Side won't allow it."
"You ain't gonna have any friends soon, Shadowman!" snapped the frog girl. "We know your secret, your weakness."
"Now what on Earth are you talking about, little lady?" She couldn't mean…
"Ray!" At the girl's command, a little ball of light—a firefly—darted forward from the gator's head. As its course became clear, Facilier's fears were assured. It was aiming for his heart! But it was only a bug; grimacing, Facilier smacked the firefly away. While it hung in the air in a daze, he shook his head.
"So I take it a little birdy told you folks all about this, now did he? Tsk, tsk. Looks like somebody's gotta clip his wings." Facilier snapped his fingers and pointed out the door. Immediately his shadow complied, sneaking down into the earth and shooting past the intruders and out into the city. It could take care of the rat with wings. As for these kids…
What?!
Twin gleams of light shone from the two tiny teens, and weapons manifested in their hands. Facilier's breath caught in his throat; the shapes were different, but they had enough similarities that he clearly recognized what he was looking at. Mama Odie used a weapon just like that, and he knew all too well what kind of powerful magic they packed. His Friends couldn't help him with this one, and Voodoo never works in a straight fight.
Still, they were so small… But bets not to underestimate 'em. "You kids like games?"
"What game you playing?" taunted the one in brown.
"It's a simple one, I'm sure y'all have played it many times." Reaching into his coat, Facilier pulled out three small, round pellets. They weren't Voodoo talismans or charms, but simple smoke bombs he had procured from a magic shop down the street. "Let's play a good ol' round of hide and seek!"
Tossing the pellets down to the ground released a thick white smoke. It would only last a moment, but a moment was all that Facilier needed. As they coughed and blocked their eyes, he slipped past the gator and broke into a sprint down the alley.
"Where did he go?!"
"There, fellers!"
Wrapping his fingers around his phylactery, Facilier turned onto the road. So then, the chase was on.
x-x-x
As screams rose up around the city, Diablo let out his own string of curses to join in the mix. Still in the alley where the Keybearers and their friends had left him, he had hoped to regain his composure and take some time to heal before returning to the World That Never Was for his report to Maleficent. No such luck.
Facilier's shadow had found him before he was ready, and before Diablo's eyes it had revealed its true colors. It had grown, stretching across the ground before lifting off the ground. Taking on three dimensions, it moved toward Diablo, growing larger and larger with each step. Its limbs contorted, its arms growing larger, more muscular. Bat-like wings expanded from its shoulder blades and the silhouette of a heart appeared over its chest. Golden eyes flashed beneath black tendrils as it let out a bellowing roar that shook New Orleans. Diablo swore again at the massive Heartless that rivaled the city's tallest buildings in height.
Facilier's shadow was a Darkside.
"I have no choice…" Taking on his combat form once again, Diablo stared up at the Darkside and bared his claws. Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves and slow down his racing heart, Diablo crouched down as the wisps of darkness rose up and green flames coated his limbs. "Maleficent is waiting. I will not fail her now!"
Stretching to its full height, the Darkside tilted its head back and held its arms out to its sides; if it had a mouth, it no doubt would have let out a bellowing roar. As the earth beneath Diablo's feet rumbled, the Darkside crouched down and leaned backwards, as a purple orb appeared in its heart-shaped chest cavity. Diablo had seen Darksides fight before, but something was different about it. It was moving far more quickly than any he had encountered. They usually lumbered and moved their limbs as if in slow-motion, but this one…
The Darkside fired, derailing Diablo's train of thought. The orb shot high into the sky and, rather than the tracking projectiles of a standard Darkside, it continued to fly up and up. At a point where it could probably be seen for miles around, it detonated. Diablo gasped and jumped aside, clinging to the alley wall as 'shrapnel' formed of darkness rained down on him. Jumping between the walls, he climbed up to the top of a nearby building—and his pale skin turned paler.
The shrapnel had not hit only the alley. It rained down across all of New Orleans, crashing through buildings, causing them to topple or ignite as citizens fled in droves. The various marching bands' instruments were left behind and the fortune tellers' street side stands abandoned. Though with all that said, it wasn't the destruction itself that worried Diablo. This Darkside, it wasn't just faster. It was more powerful. As a Neoshadow was to a Shadow, would this, then, be a 'Neodarkside'?
With its power made known, the Neodarkside struck out at Diablo. It raised a hand it into the sky and, letting out another silent roar that shook the area, it brought it down on the roof where he stood. He tried jumping aside, but he must have underestimated the size of the Heartless. Even though he thought he was in the clear, Diablo found himself struck by the razor-sharp knife-like fingers on the Neodarkside's giant hand. Sent flying through the air by the impact, Diablo crashed into a building across the street and broke right through the window.
As he climbed to his feet amongst the shattered glass, Diablo did not fail to notice the morning sunlight coming in through the window suddenly vanish. Turning around, he found himself face to face with one of the Neodarkside's massive eyes as it peered into the window. Eyes… Darksides' weakness were their eyes! Thrusting his hand forward, Diablo cast a Fira spell—Firaga was more than he could muster—and sent the emerald ball flying. The Neodarkside flinched back for a moment, but it gave enough time and enough room for Diablo to dive out the window and land on the street below.
All around him, the people of New Orleans continued to flee the sight of battle. The Neodarkside moved down the street, shaking the earth with each step. As Diablo sent off another fireball its way, it simply swatted the projectile away and then slammed a glowing fist into the road. The asphalt heaved upwards, cracking and shattering as purple light burst through the fissures. It collapsed in on itself, a giant sinkhole in the center of New Orleans.
Before the Heartless raised its arms again, however, Diablo struck. He slashed and kicked at its hand, swerving through the air and unleashing torrents of darkness and fire at it. Jumping up high, he finished the attack with an orb of the two elements, which spiraled outward to consume the giant black fist whole. When the orb faded, however, the Neodarkside's hand—while injured and leaking trails of smoke—was still intact. Before it could deliver a punch at point-blank range, Diablo took off running.
The Neodarkside melted into the shadows on the earth and popped back up at the far end of the street, cutting Diablo off. It raised its hand to the sky and then brought it down, thrusting at Diablo with its knife-like fingers raking through the air. Adrenaline peaked, blood pumping rapidly in Diablo's veins, as he saw an opening. Focusing all of his power, he used his shapeshifting magic to amplify the muscles in his arms.
As the massive arm approached him, Diablo raised his own hands up to meet it. An instant from impact, he jumped aside and dug his heels into the earth, planting his feet as firmly as possible. The razor-sharp fingers sailed past him and, while the Neodarkside was open, he grasped its massive wrist. Muscles straining even with their added mass, Diablo called upon darkness, an aura of purple and black beginning to swirl at his feet. Even then, Diablo's body shook as he fought against the massive arm. Still, he held fast; the Heartless could not escape his grasp and no matter how hard it pulled its arm was held low to the ground.
The Neodarkside, however, did not allow him to fight against it any more. It launched its other arm at Diablo…which was exactly what he was waiting for. Just before those claws gored him, Diablo released his hold on the Neodarkside's wrist and grabbed its other hand instead. Freed from its restraints and surprised by the speed with which it pulled its once-captive hand back, the Neodarkside lurched backward ever so slightly, but caught itself before the momentum could topple it. Still, that momentary distraction was good enough for Diablo. Before the giant Heartless could completely regain its balance he let go of the second hand and leaped atop it.
The Neodarkside would knock him off soon, but not if he moved quickly enough. The extra muscle mass dissipated from his upper body, returning Diablo to the glass cannon he had been before. As he dashed up the Neodarkside's arm he slashed his claws through the air, sending out blades of darkness with each swing. While he made no physical contact with the Heartless's flesh, his conjured blades tore its arm apart. Every inch he left behind him evaporated into a fine black mist.
By the time Diablo had reached the Neodarkside's shoulder, it attempted to strike at him with its remaining hand. Lobbing a fireball at it, however, solved that problem when the projectile struck it right in the eye. Reeling back, the Heartless held its hand over the wounded eye instead as smoke and green embers leaked between its fingers. With the air freed at the moment, Diablo took his chance and leaped up into the empty air before the Neodarkside's face.
The Neodarkside, recovering from its injury (or at least bearing through it), swiped at Diablo, but he merely swerved around its hand and used the black talons as a springboard to leap high into the air. As he shot back down like a bullet, Diablo held his claws out in front of him and ignited his entire body in green fire, aided by the darkness that began spiraling around him like a drill. The human missile pierced right through the Neodarkside's injured eye and out the back of its head.
Diablo crashed unceremoniously onto the ground, and moments later the massive Heartless followed. As he climbed up to his feet, Maleficent's loyal servant watched Facilier's shadow—now headless and missing an arm—began to evaporate. The empty heart-shaped cavity in its chest glowed with a brilliant light, and then the darkness making up its body collapsed. Swirls of black surrounded the heart while the rest of the Neodarkside vanished.
And with it went Diablo's adrenaline.
As the pink heart vanished into the darkness, he was overcome with an overwhelming nausea. Clutching his head, his claws making streaks of red that matted his black hair, Diablo heaved forward and emptied the contents of his stomach. His pale skin grew paler and a dizzy spell overtook him. His eyelids drooped, growing heavy—so heavy. As his consciousness began to fade and he fell backward, he was dimly aware of the black smoke beginning to swirl around his body.
In the ruined square, no one paid any mind to the unconscious raven that lay amongst the rubble.
x-x-x
"Faster! Come on, Louis!"
"I'm not built for this, you guys!"
The ground shook beneath Louis's four feet as the massive Heartless that Facilier had unleashed upon the city collapsed to the earth with an echoing crash. They hadn't failed to notice it, of course, but while deciding whether to fight it or pursue the Shadowman, Diablo had taken up the fight instead. Their course, then, was clear.
But without the trolley, keeping up with him on Louis alone was no easy feat. He was surprisingly quick for such a lanky man, despite looking like he had never run a day in his life. Still, the streets were mostly deserted now so it wasn't like he could hide in a crowd. Tiana had grown increasingly tense at the entire situation, but at the very least they didn't have to worry about time. It wasn't even sunset yet, let alone midnight.
Up ahead, the distant figure of Facilier vanished beneath a creaky old metal gate. A cemetery, in fact. Louis came to a halt and swallowed nervously, but urging on from his fellows, and a few flashes in the eyes from Ray to snap him out of it, got the gator to continue on. Facilier would be cornered here, it looked like the gate was the only way out.
Facilier saw it too. He let out a curse as he came up to the iron fence at the far end of the cemetery. Turning around, he pressed his back against a tombstone and glared at the gang. But he didn't look nervous; in fact, he was beginning to laugh. The area around them darkened, the shadows of the graves stretching forward.
Bum bum bum bum, bum bum bum bum…
Bum bum bum bum, bum bum bum bum…
"Oh, no…" Tiana moaned. All around them, Heartless began to appear, pounding on their drums and singing that same beat. Immediately Xion, Sora, Donald, and Goofy took to action, leaping up into the air at their foes and firing spells or smacking them away. But Facilier called up more immediately in front of him as protection.
"I got this, fellas!" Ray shouted. He jumped off of Louis and darted forward, arm stretched out in front of him and rear end glowing brighter than ever. "A bug's gotta do what a bug's gotta do!"
Singing masks and drumming dolls tried to intercept him, but Ray spun around tail-first and broke through the Heartless with his light. He spiraled through the air, spinning around in circles and weaving in and out around Facilier's head as the Shadowman reached up and tried to swat him away. Grunting and straining, Ray shined his light as bright as it could go right into Facilier's eyes.
"Gah!" Facilier threw his hand sup over his eyes, blinking rapidly and stumbling back. Ray took the initiative and wrapped his arms around the amulet, which was roughly the same size as him already. Pulling hard, he snapped the string it was attached to and pulled it free from Facilier. Unfortunately, at just that moment Facilier managed to recover.
"Cher, it's all yours!" Ray tossed the amulet with all his might, right for Tiana. As Facilier screamed in anger, Tiana leaped up high and caught it perfectly.
"You dirty pest!" Facilier shouted, swinging his hand out and smacking Ray as hard as he could. Ray let out a cry and tumbled to the ground, his light flickering. But Facilier wasn't done yet. Clenching his fists at his side, he glared down at the little firefly and raised his foot…
Xion's stomach lurched. "No!
Crunch.
"RAY!"
The Heartless forgotten, the gang dropped everything and all converged on the flattened, but still breathing, little hero. Xion dropped down to her knees and grabbed his limp hand. "Ray! Ray, you gotta hold on!"
"Issat you…Evangeline?"
"Ray, you can't die here!" Donald raised his wand up and cast a green glow over the area. "CuragAAAH!" A mask rammed into him, interrupting the cast. Sora frantically held up his Keyblade and began to cast a cure himself, but was knocked off his feet by soundwaves from a drumming doll.
Louis's steps shook the earth as he approached the gang and swatted the Heartless away with his mighty tail. Then, gently, tenderly, he knelt down and scooped Ray up in his palms. "I'll get him somewhere safe. Y'all deal with the Shadowman, then we'll go find Naveen together!"
As Louis took off, a shadow cast over the group. They looked up to find Facilier glowering down at them. He crouched down and reached for them, to which the gang responded by holding their weapons up in defiance. Tiana, though she held no weapons, raised Facilier's heart above her head as high as she could.
"Back off! Or I'ma break this thing into a million pieces!"
Fear washed over Facilier's face for a moment, but he quickly replaced it with a scowl…and then a grin. Standing up straight, he reached into his coat and pulled out a fistful of…something. Xion couldn't make it out with his clenched hand. Another smoke bomb? She was already preparing to cast Aero, he wouldn't get away with the same trick twice.
But it wasn't a smoke bomb. He quickly unfurled his fingers and blew at the dust that rest on his palm, sending it in their direction. Pink mist swirled around the group, disorienting Xion for a moment as the area around them transformed. Her perspective was shifting, the tombstones and graves growing smaller. It was shrinking? No—she was growing! All of them were! What on earth had Facilier just done?
"What…?" Beside them, a young woman in a white dress examined herself, glancing down at her clothing in silent shock. At her feet was the amulet, dropped in the shock. So this was what Tiana really looked like? She gazed up at Facilier and shook her head. "Why...?"
"Figure you'd want your last minutes to be in your own bodies," Facilier said as he reached down and picked the amulet up.
Beside Xion, Sora grinned. Facilier had just made a major mistake, and he hadn't even realized it yet. The two of them readied their Keyblades, well beside them Donald and Goofy raised up their weapons. "We can take you in a fight!" Sora declared proudly.
Facilier simply grinned and tipped his hat. "Now who said anythin' about fightin'?"
And the world began to waver. All around them, it seemed as if air itself was beginning to ripple. Colors were bleeding in from nowhere, and a swirl of greens and purples was spiraling around the borders of the cemetery as if they were in the eye of the storm. Xion's body began to sway from side to side, and her eyelids were growing heavy… So sleepy…
"What'd you… I…don't understand…"
Through blurry vision, she saw Facilier's face transform into a technicolor skull as green energy passed between the two of them. She saw mouth move, though his words sounded so, so far away.
"Dreams do come true in New Orleans…"
Exciting news! 2.8 has an HD remix of 3D, which I think we all saw coming. But something I genuinely never expected AT ALL was that they're finally releasing Birth by Sleep Volume 2, after years of thinking it was vaporware! The movie giving the backstory of the Foretellers is also exciting; no idea when this is meant to come out, but hopefully we get some Foretellers info soon for…fic reasons… .