Chapter 21: Voice of the People

With visions of lavish luxury now a memory of the past, Mew and Kairi exited their way out of the Pyramid as they tended to this time of day. The descent grew longer, but at the same time easier. Probably helped Mew that he wasn't being worn down by Kairi glaring into his back with animosity.

In fact the only sounds she made on the way out came from her stomach. She had a light breakfast after all. Once they were out in Sancturia, Kairi herself spoke up.

"Ugh, getting tired of my stomach complaining," She growled through clenched teeth. Mew looked at her and she said, "I-I'm going to grab lunch somewhere."

"Alright, I'll meet you back at the house." Mew replied with a smile. Kairi fluttered her eyelashes then puckered her lips.

"I said...I'm going to grab lunch." She forced through them.

"Yeah?" Mew rolled his eyes and laughed, "I'm not deaf."

"But you're clueless..." She grumbled under her breath before she threw her head back and proclaimed in a huff, "Fine! I'll see you back home..."

She stormed off and Mew didn't know why she was so upset this time. His immediate thought was, "Guess the casino was a bit much for her."

He felt confident that she'd be fine on her own. He put his hands behind his head and whistled his way back to the Aurora household. His body was a little stiff from Neptune's magic but hey! At least its better than dragging a broken arm around.

Gabriel wasn't watching the house when he arrived. Mew stood at the door and was half worried as he thought, "Guess he went on a lunch break too?"

He slowly pushed open the cloth door and went inside. Auris was sitting on the farthest couch, glugging down a pot of coffee like a whale downs krill.

The last ounce of black caffeinated liquid went down as he entered and stared utterly baffled at her face. She slammed the pot smack dab in the center of the table and remarked in her hypnotic voice, "Nothing like a pot of espresso to start the afternoon."

She then looked at Mew, smiled, and said, "Oh I didn't see you come in."

"Ha. Good joke." Mew coughed up a chuckle and made his way to the other couch.

"Guess its time for another 'counseling' session, huh?" He said while putting quotation marks in the air.

As he plopped down on the center cushion Auris leaned forward and laid her clenched together hands under her chin, "What bothers you today? Tell Mama Auris."

The playful banter was a little condescending coming from her, especially now. Mew leaned out, waved a hand beside his chest and immediately told her off, "When were you planning on telling me that Gravitus brought peace to hundreds of worlds?"

"Well, I wasn't planning on stealing the spotlight from our lucky little lesbian loving friend..."

"Auris come on..." Mew pleaded rather tiredly, "Didn't we go over this enough yesterday?"

Auris perked her head up and smiled, "Is it really that you dislike me hiding that from you? Or rather...that you despise what the truth implies?"

Mew paused and rested back into the couch. With a quick scoff he pinched the space between his eyes and grumbled, "A little bit of both?"

He shook his head and swung his body out arms and all to declare, "What am I supposed to believe? None of the accounts on Gravitus make any damn sense! He can't be a peacekeeper and a tyrant!"

"Now, you understand." Auris replied softly.

"Pardon moi?" Mew leaned his head in and widened one eye open.

Auris gently waved her right hand out then curled all but her pointer finger in, "Do you see now how little good it would have done to tell you everything I know about Gravitus? It would've painted a picture in your head that would contradict the accounts of the people you fought along the way."

She laid her hand down on her lap and murmured, "Gabriel and I are biased against Gravitus. The Planetary Aurians see what he wants them to see. Ergo, the only one who can tell the truth is..."

"The man himself." Mew interrupted.

Auris nodded, for what little comfort the confirmation provided.

"But if Neptune's telling the truth..."

"She bluffs, never lies," Auris addressed swiftly, "And yes. You're thinking 'What am I supposed to do about a tyrant who holds two-hundred planets hostage under the threat of peace?'"

"...Well that's a lot wordier than I was thinking," Mew whispered, only to raise his voice and ask, "So? Do you have any advice? Cause this just got a HELL of a lot bigger than what I signed up for!"

"Is it really though?" Auris said with a smile, "I told you from the start that if Gravitus gets the Neo Drive, it'll be a danger to the whole universe."

Mew thought back and did vaguely recall her saying that. He rubbed the back of his head and sighed, "Its...been a long couple of days for me."

"Well put what you learned of those other planets aside. That is not your fight."

"Like hell it isn't!" Mew got up and slammed his hands on the table and stared straight into Auris' eyes. She looked shocked, but not scared.

"When you say stuff like that, I know I made the right decision choosing you."

Mew slowly edged back onto the couch and bit his lower lip. Auris leaned and put her hands on his before they could retreat. She then looked him in the eyes and said, "Leave those planets to Saturn and her friends. Right now, your opponent is Gravitus."

She patted his hands and leaned right back into the couch, her eyes now closed, "Though as it stands now...Your chance of victory is 25%."

"Tw-Twenty-five?" Mew got half a crooked smile and looked down, "After all that?"

Auris took in a deep breath, which was more exertion than Mew had heard her take. So of course he shot his head back up and kept his eyes on what she was about to do.

"But...there's something I can say now that you got this far. You can't learn this from anyone else, especially not Gravitus."

"I told you that Gravitus used to be called Damascus. That was not his birth name, but his given name."

"He was a servant of the Ten Sages." Mew's remark earned him a rare glimpse of Auris being surprised. But then she smiled and regained full control over the conversation.

"Oh? I didn't take you for the nostalgic type...'D.'"

The demon growled in Mew's head as she continued, "A servant, or as some would say a slave. My father tasked Damascus with guarding the Neo Drive from those who'd try and take it. A simple enough job, and one that'd keep his power in check."

"But in the absence of growth Damascus felt a longing for a higher purpose. He believed himself destined for greater things and thus, when his chains were undone, it was no surprise that he'd ascend to the empty throne that awaited him."

"It wasn't enough though, was it?" Mew remarked.

"There are no peaks for people like him. He will climb the mountain until no one can look down on him again."

"Its all starting to make sense now, except..." Mew looked straight at Auris and asked, "How can he get the Neo Drive?"

"Hmm?" She hummed innocently, prodding him to say a little more.

"Gabriel made it sound like...Kairi is the key to it all?"

"She is," Auris stated plainly, "It is something Gravitus lacks...worthiness."

"Define...worthiness." Mew said, not to throw shade on Kairi, but rather that that word could mean anything.

"Lets just say the proof is closer to her than you think, and shall shine brightest when you least expect it."

"...I mean, if you don't actually know just say so." Mew grumbled really quietly.

Auris stood up and swerved towards the kitchen. On the way there she had one last thing to say, "Since you listened to my ramblings...Your odds of victory have risen to 35%. The rest...is up to you."

And then she was out, just like that. Vague answers, and an even vaguer glimmer of hope. Mew slowly let all that info settle in then cupped his hands under his chin.

"Boy do I wish it was as easy as 'here's the bad guy, go beat him up!'" Mew sighed out loud then fiddled with his fingers like he was playing a piano. He then clapped his hands, stood right up, and said, "Ok! Time to plan for Operation: Tyrant Exposure!"

He whisked his right hand and formed a whole notebook out of thin air, cover not included. He then fiddled around in the drawers for a pen and clicked the tip out over the front page.

"And to start things off..." Mew got a big grin, the biggest he ever had, "I think its time for the people to join the fight."

He headed for the front door only to find Kairi coming in holding a bag from a fast food place. The crappy parody name of the place went right over his head as he rushed out the door.

"Hey, where're you going?" She tried to ask.

"Need a walk! I'll be back in an hour!" He hoped his chipper tone would hold her back, despite such a lame excuse. Seeing as she went "Hey! HEY!" until he couldn't hear her no more...Mew knew he'd have to work fast.

He had a plan. Or at least, something resembling a plan. What he actually had was a notebook, a pen, and a set of particular questions in his head. All to perform his most dangerous task of all – a survey.

Once he got close to the middle of the city he decided to work his way out from there. He started with just some random passerby and walked up to them with a smile.

"Hey, can I get a moment of your time?" His approach worked like a charm. The person was amicable and didn't tell him to shoo right away.

"You doing a survey?" He asked, looking down at the notebook in Mew's hands.

"Yep! Extra credit assignment at summer school, y'know how it goes." Mew passed his task off with a shrug and a little white lie, "It won't even take a minute."

"Ha, that takes me back. Alright sure, ask away!"

Mew looked down at his papers, clicked the pen a few times then gave it a twirl, "I want to ask you a few questions about our leader Gravitus."

He had three major questions lined up and ready to go, and plenty of pages to fill with ink.

"First, why don't you tell me what you think of him?"

He sought out a large number of people across all of Sancturia. He felt he'd need at least a couple thousand answers to get a good enough general point of view of the man. The responses he got were...interesting to say the least.

"Gravitus? He's been our leader as long as I can remember. Never met the guy of course but...Its felt like he's always had our best interests in mind?"

"I saw him, once, when I was but a wee lass. He looked strong. Proud. But...also detached? Like, I saw him in front of me, but he felt so far away..."

"Yo Gravitus is COOL! His medical achievements saved my mom's life! Oh, you meant what I think of his personality? Uhhh...couldn't tell ya man. He's never come into town in my lifetime."

Men and women. Children and seniors. No type of person went ignored. Mew valued each of their opinions just the same. There couldn't be room for error.

"Next up, I want to know what you'd want Gravitus to do to improve Sancturia." To his surprise, the responses almost unanimously agreed.

"We got everything we need!"

"Good food, great medical benefits, plenty of employment! What else could we need?"

"Sancturia's supremo primo dude! Waaaay better livin' than that crappy Earth!"

The rest of the people just listed personal stuff they wanted or threw unneeded aggression at Kairi and Auris. Even so, he wrote those opinions down. Then came the third and final question...

"If Gravitus asked you to do a favor, even if its something you might not like, would you do it?" And that was when things got a little foggier.

"Umm..."

"I...guess? I mean its not like he'd ask us to die for him yeah?"

"I wouldn't mind! ...Wait when you say 'Might not like'...?"

Even going as fast as he could with no breaks and no detours, it took three hours for Mew to get a satisfying number of answers. By then the pages of his notebook were full save for one...And he had a particular subject in mind for the last questionnaire.

On the way back South Mew popped on by that statue of Gravitus marked up in Kairi's grafitti. No, he wasn't going to make the statue take a survey. Though when he looked at it he did have a peculiar question to ask it.

"Why are you here...?" He squinted his eyes and tapped the bottom of the pen against the statue. He then held the pen against it and the tiniest spark of electricity flowed along the pen onto the statue.

"Hmm..." Mew's lips creased out and with a heinous chuckle he remarked, "I'll get back to you later."

He then continued walking until he wound up back at South Sancturia Academy. There his luck proved its strongest, as his so-called "man of the hour" was just leaving through the front doors the moment he arrived.

"Yo! Bobby!" Mew proclaimed to the not-so noteworthy substitute teacher now dressed in a drab plaid shirt and shambled brown slacks.

He locked his hand around the front door and slowly turned his head back at Mew, who twirled his pen around then laid it behind his right ear. He threw his arms up like greeting an old friend for the first time in years and proclaimed, "Bobby! Mr. History himself! How's it going?!"

"Mew?" Bobby's quiet response was about the best Mew could get after that overwhelming greeting. He pulled his hand off the door then leaned back until Mew eased up a little.

When Mew's hands dropped they dropped hard against his hips. He then clicked his tongue and swung his fingers up like guns to say in a sing-song voice, "Some-body once told me, a story you're gonna owe me! I ain't-"

"Would you cut it out?" Bobby whispered through his nervously clenched teeth, "Everyone's staring at us!"

Mew glanced back and at least two dozen pairs of eyes were locked on them. He sucked his lips in then turned around and chuckled, "Yeah point taken. This should just between the two of us."

Bobby exhaled with a hand pressed up to his chest then whispered, "You scared the crap outta me though. I already thought I was gonna die today..."

"The kids are that bad?" Mew sounded surprised.

"Why don't YOU try and rodeo in a bunch of hyperactive kids discovering their powers for the first time and see how you feel after a week?" Bobby grumbled the whole way through that.

Mew laid his hands on the back of his head and asked, "Soooo should I come back another time or...?"

"Nah forget it. I told you to come back in two days and I plan to keep good on my word." Bobby leaned his back against the door and tucked his hands in his messy pockets. He tilted his head down, his eyes locked on Mew's notebook.

"What's with the notes?"

"Oh these?" Mew slyly propped the book up, and wiggled it around to taunt the contents to Bobby's face as he asked, "Wanna take a peek?"

"Nah, just tell me what's in them."

Mew pouted then lowered the book back by his hip and shrugged his shoulders to call him a "Spoilsport."

"I just finished walking around Sancturia to take a survey on Gravitus."

"A survey?" Bobby looked utterly confused, "What's that about?"

Mew smirked and wiggled a finger around his head while imitating Saturn's tone of voice, "That's my little secret."

"Hrmmm..." Bobby was annoyed, but Mew recognized that curious glint in his eyes, "What were the results?"

"A lot of positive responses, very few negative ones...Buuuut there were a very high amount of neutral ones too."

Bobby closed his eyes and his shoulders slumped as he sighed out, "I see..."

"But enough about that! I-"

"There you are!"

Mew turned around and saw Kairi running right for him with her fists at her hips and her legs pounding the ground with the combined force of a herd of wild buffalo. Kairi stayed her rampage a few feet away and with a big bubbly pout threw a pointer finger up in his chin.

"What have you been doing?!" She accused.

Mew quickly tucked the notebook behind his back and put on his usual grin as he played around with her a bit, "Geez, have you been following me this whole time? You must really like me now!"

"Ugh!" Kairi's cheeks turned pink and she whipped her hand back down and planted a foot inches away from Mew's toes, "As if! Whenever you run off on your own it means trouble!"

Her eyes darted for his hip and the corner of the notebook that stood out like a sore thumb, "And what's that?"

Mew tucked the notebook in deeper and said, "Nooooooothing~"

Kairi wagged her left hand out and muttered, "Hand it over."

"Nuh uh, you have your own!"

Her eyes widened and she proclaimed, "H-H-How do you...?!"

This childish exchange appeared like it would have no end. But thankfully that's why someone as straightforward as Bobby exists.

"...Kairi?" With one word he shut the two up and put her eyes all on him. She leaned past Mew and looked at this ordinary man with a blanketed look of confusion plastered all over her face.

"Do I...know you?" She said as if the answer was on the tip of her tongue. Mew just scooted aside so he wouldn't be a roadblock to the two's supposed reunion.

Bobby pointed at his messy clothes with a rather awkward grin but a carefree laugh at his own expense, "I know I look like trash but come on, you don't recognize this face?"

He gestured to his shaggy beard and bright smile and the color in Kairi's eyes seemed to fade out for a moment. She then crossed her arms under her chest and stuttered, "W-Wow...You look like shit Bobby."

Mew could almost feel Bobby's smile shatter like glass as he physically recoiled from the comment. He stared straight at Kairi's face and told her, "Geez, when did you start swearing like a sailor?"

"Hmph, people change!" Kairi said while raising her head up high as if this was something to be proud of.

Bobby started rubbing the back of his head and looked to be having a hard time keeping his eyes focused on Kairi's face. In his distracted state of mind he muttered nervously, "N-No kidding...You look a lot older now. In fact, you remind me of..."

His voice trailed off into quietness and only Mew wound up hearing the second part of his sentence. Bobby ended off with a sigh then tried to sound a little more positive, "A-And it seems like you're staying healthy."

Kairi opened her eyes and leaned in with a big smirk on her face, "Oh yeah. I'm muuuuch stronger than the last time you saw me."

"Hooo boy..." Mew shut his eyes and felt that familiar sense of dread coming to a head in his mind.

"Last time I saw you was what? A year ago?" Bobby sounded rather nostalgic, but then his lips turned sour and he remarked, "...Though, word travels fast about what you're getting up to nowadays."

Kairi stood there in the same pose as Bobby listed off a few of her, as it sounded like, lesser misdeeds, "Tagging public property with graffiti, skipping history classes, picking fights with students outside of school..."

Kairi rolled her eyes then stood up and proclaimed, "Ah who cares about all that! I bet you haven't heard the good news!"

"Good news?" Bobby sounded doubtful.

"Good news?" Mew mirroring that in a worrying tone got Kairi to glare at him for a bit.

"Well, thanks to this goofball..." She lazily waved a thumb his way, then proudly propped her fists up against her hips and proclaimed, "I am now capable of beating the legendary Planetary Aurians!"

Mew laid a hand on the right side of his face and moaned quietly, "Oh god this isn't what I wanted to happen..."

"The Planetary Aurians?" Bobby's tone of voice turned gravelly and harsh as he bit his teeth down and asked her, "Why the HELL are you fighting them?"

Kairi perked her eyes open and spat out before stating the obvious, "Uhhh, because we need to in order to get to Gravitus? Duh!"

With one word she managed to briefly redirect Bobby's ire towards Mew, who just threw up his hand in a shrug to try and save face. Then Bobby turned back to Kairi and Mew could see him squeeze his trembling fist by his hip.

"I knew it..." He whispered to himself.

"Maybe you've gotten tougher Kairi, but you can't go and fight Gravitus." Bobby stated firmly.

"What...what are you talking about?" Kairi's bravado was shaken but she still put up a haughty demeanor as she swung a hand down at Bobby and told him, "I'm not going to fight him. I'm going to kill him."

"Kill him? And what's that going to accomplish?" Bobby narrowed his eyes and his general attitude came across like storm clouds forming in the middle of a sunny day.

"Revenge," Kairi once again rolled her eyes and laughed at Bobby's face, "What else would it be?"

"Do you think revenge is something you deserve? If you think you can just waltz into his place and take his head...!"

As Bobby raised his voice, so too did Kairi, "When I'm through with him there'll be nothing LEFT of him!"

"He'll be just as merciless!"

"I don't care! That bastard deserves nothing less!"

"THROWING YOUR LIFE AWAY WON'T BRING SHINA BACK!" Bobby screamed until his face was purple and he had no breathe left to spare.

Mew felt a knot form in the pit of his stomach as the echoes of the boy's rage shook him at the knees. But Kairi was much worse off. The color, flushed from her skin. Her pupils, smaller than needles. And her attitude, diminished to a silent whimper.

She took a couple steps back then slowly turned her head towards Mew. He couldn't give her anything but a blank stare, the worst kind of "comfort" someone like her needed right now. She bit her teeth down, trying desperately to rekindle that last bit of bravado before it flickered out.

But she couldn't. She shook her head and stuttered "W-What are you looking at?!" to both him and Bobby, and then when neither answered she turned and ran. Mew could hear her crying for the few remaining seconds he saw her. A noise that'd quickly become dwarfed by the banging of flesh against metal behind him.

"DAMN IT!" Bobby yelled as he bruised his fist against the door and hung his bitter scowl out of Mew's sight.

He then swung his hand up and grabbed Mew by his shirt collar and, fueled by pure aggression, growled in Mew's face, "What the HELL were you thinking bringing her into the Pyramid?!"

"Its not like she gave me much of a choice..." Mew chuckled.

"Don't screw with me!" Bobby jiggled Mew's body and he threw his hands up and exclaimed, "I swear! I honestly didn't know!"

Bobby let go of Mew then turned around and slammed both his fists against the door. Mew brushed the wrinkles out of his shirt then heard Bobby struggling to compose himself. His fists slid down the door and he looked ready to drop to his knees.

"...Bobby, who is Shina?" Mew asked, although he felt that he had already a pretty good idea.

Bobby pulled himself back up and slowly turned his head to the left to answer, "She was Kairi's older sister...And my best friend."

With a long sigh he turned around to face Mew with a sorrowful glance and stern body. He held his right hand out and whispered, "I...I'm sorry for yelling at you. You...you couldn't have known..."

Mew stayed calm and waved a hand up by his face, stating with somewhat of a smile, "And I'm guessing this is what you wanted to talk about?"

"...Yeah. Yeah," Bobby nodded his head twice and tried to keep a stiff upper lip as he remarked, "I know its not my place, but...I think you deserve to know."

Mew crossed his arms under his chest and stood there in silence. Once Bobby caught his breath he leaned back against the door and put his hands in his pockets.

"Shina was two years older than Kairi and around the same age as me. I first met her when we were in Elementary School, and we remained friends all the way to High School. Heck we were so close that we...even had nicknames for each other."

"I swear there was no stopping Shina. When she wanted to do something she'd do it. When she was happy everyone around cheered up too. She was like...a rainbow on a cloudy day." Bobby closed his eyes and drifted off with a smile for a little bit.

"Heh, I bet you'd find this hard to believe but Kairi? She never used to be like this. Whenever I saw her around Shina that little tyke was gripping her big sister's leg and refused to let go."

Mew chuckled. He couldn't imagine the present Kairi ever doing that.

"Kairi loved Shina very much. And for Shina, Kairi was the most important person in the world to her. Heck, Shina was pretty beloved around all of Sancturia..."

Then the story came to a swift and sudden stop as Bobby pulled his head back and took in a deep breath. His melancholic vibes were not lost on Mew.

"...But then Shina just...vanished."

"Vanished?"

"Yep. Right around Kairi's fourteenth birthday Shina...disappeared from Sancturia entirely," Bobby scratched the side of his head and found himself strained to mention, "And a terrible rumor quickly spread that Shina decided to rebel against Gravitus and was killed in the process."

"The rumor is that she was killed? So there was no body?" Mew was quick to deduce.

"Exactly!" Bobby snapped his fingers out and had a quick bit of pep in his step, "Plus...I don't think Shina would have rebelled. She would have stuck by her sister's side through thick and thin."

Mew crossed his arms back up and Bobby continued in his dour tone, "But everyone else in Sancturia either didn't believe that or chose not to say they did. After everything Shina did for them, those bastards...!"

Bobby grit his teeth, a floodgate against his growing anger. But the rage breached through and he swung his head out to yell, "They turned on her! Now you only bring up her name if you want to be ridiculed for 'siding with the traitor'..."

"Hrrmmm..." Mew growled to himself. That kind of behavior was utterly sickening and there was zero doubt in his mind now that Kairi had been getting hit with the worst of it.

"But Bobby's attitude...Even I ain't stupid enough to not know what it means..."

Mew looked at him and asked, "You loved Shina, didn't you?"

Bobby's tired body sunk as he smirked and hung his arms down. He shook his head and appeared to laugh at his misery.

"...I wish you never would've come here Mew. Everything you've done has reminded me that even two years later...I can't let go of the past." His cruel tone of voice was indicative of a lie to deflect what he really felt. Immediately after saying that he squeezed his eyes shut and muttered, "N-No...that's not it."

"I'm just pathetic..." He said to himself, "I couldn't save Shina. I can't save Kairi..."

He looked at Mew and finally the tears dripped from his eyes, "Tell me Mew...If-If I had confessed my love back then, do you think...Shina would still be around?"

Mew slowly shook his head and wasn't about to lie just to make Bobby feel better, "Sounds to me like her love for her sister would've triumphed in the end."

"...Yeah." Yet Bobby sounded almost...accepting of the fact.

He curled his hands into fists and beat one into Mew's chest as he got right into his face and told him, "You have to swear to me that no matter what, you won't let Kairi suffer the same fate as Shina."

"Don't worry about it. I'll handle Gravitus on my own." Mew said, firmly planting a hand on Bobby's wrist and pushing his fist away.

Bobby bit his teeth down and cursed out loud, "It sucks...! I want to wring that bastard's neck but can't even drag myself to his doorstep and yet you...You didn't even hesitate to say 'Yes'."

"...You think you're powerless just because you can't throw a punch at Gravitus' face?" Mew widened his eyes to glare deep into Bobby's eyes, "You believed in Shina when almost everyone else turned against her. Your body may be weak but your heart is strong!"

Mew then pulled out his notebook and took the pen to it. He wrote on it quick as lightning and Bobby didn't even have time ask what he was doing before the notebook was shoved into his chest.

Mew held it there and said firmly, "And there's still a chance for you to make a difference."

When Bobby moved to hold the book down Mew swung his arm up by his face and waved him goodbye as he turned away, "Anyways, later!"

"W-Wait!" Bobby swung the book up in one hand and proclaimed, "What am I supposed to do with this?!"

Mew turned back for a moment to tell him, "Well you were curious to see the answers yeah? Just thumb it over when you get a chance alright!"

And then Mew was out of there. Bobby blinked a few times then slowly lifted the book up to his face. The first page he saw was the last one Mew had to fill in, and upon reading it his eyes became as wide as quarters as he muttered in confusion, "W-What the heck...?"

Mew tucked his hands in his pockets and thought to himself, "I need to find Kairi and have a talk with her. If I had to guess, she probably went back home already..."

He paused for a moment and looked up at the sky. He put one hand over his eyes to shade them from the sun. With a smile he whispered, "Siblings huh?"

And then as he continued walking he continued whispering fondly to himself, "I wonder what Riku's up to these days..."

Next Time: I am your...