"...are you…" Axel's sentence trailed off and his hand fell back to his side. "Well they were in a hurry."
Riku finished off the last heartless and approached Axel, "Who was that?"
Axel shrugged, "Obviously not numbers 3 through 6. They're on their homeworld."
"Who does that leave?" Riku wondered.
"Well… Xigbar and… they're kinda with Xehanort and probably won't just show up… There's Luxord but I mean he wouldn't just run like that." Axel scratched the back of his head in thought, "If it was Larxene, we would know it was Larxene… Demyx is a runner but only if he's in danger and, well… I don't think he'd ever get a keyblade with his cowardice… So I guess that leaves Marluxia."
Riku looked at the place where the figure had vanished from, "He's the one that tried to control Sora in Castle Oblivion, right?"
Axel nodded, "It would make sense. I did kinda help get him killed and if he's up to something I don't think he'd wanna risk it again."
Riku's eyes narrowed with determination, "We should tell Sora and Kairi and find out what Marluxia's scheming."
Trees with scary faces were not what Demyx was hoping for. This taught him for blindly opening a portal, even if it was to save his skin. He could swear those trees were laughing and plotting to eat him. Those branches were reaching for him and snatching at his jacket.
Running as fast as he could, he ducked and weaved through the branches, panic growing with every new pair of sinister glowing eyes. Where did he even end up? He had never been assigned this place and he wished he never discovered that it existed.
His hood got snagged on a particularly strong branch and he was yanked back, terror peaking to the point of ripping his hood away from the hand clawing at him and tripping over a root as he turned. Demyx landed with a thud hard enough to wind him.
He curled up as small as he could, trying to breath again which, even if he wasn't winded, would be hard enough with all the panic he was feeling. All he could manage were sharp shallow breaths that barely dragged in any oxygen.
Demyx squeezed his eyes shut and waiting for the trees to eat him, but even after a few minutes when he had caught his breath, it didn't happen. He warily opened his eyes and looked back up and saw that the eyes from the bushes were moving towards him, shadows slipping away and revealing a small rabbit.
It slowly stepped toward him, pausing occasionally to twitch its nose, and eventually sat a few inches from his face. Demyx just stared at it and then noticed a few other sets of eyes were doing the same thing. A deer stepped out of the shadows along with a few squirrels and a fox. Birds even hopped down to lower branches.
Clouds were moving away from the sun and shed more light into the forest where Demyx saw that the faces he had seen were oddly shaped knots in the wood of the trees. It was almost like the forest had thought him a threat and put on an illusion of terror, and once it realized it was terrifying someone who meant no harm, let it melt away into a beautiful forest that gave off a comfting feeling.
After getting his breathing and shaking limbs back under control, Demyx sat up and looked at the animals. "That wasn't fun."
The animals almost looked guilty. The rabbit pulled at his coat with its mouth and ran a few feet away, looking back at him.
Demyx sighed and stood up, "I'm guessing you're trying to apologize?"
The rabbits nose twitched again before it hopped down a faint path. After a moment, Demyx followed as the other animals disapeared back into the forest.
After only a few minutes of walking, the rabbit led him to the edge of a clearing and darted back into the woods. Demyx could see a cottage in the middle of it. It looked like it was either far off, or just small. As he walked closer, he saw that it was the latter.
He knocked. If anything, Demyx figured he could ask about Marluxia and Larxene before leaving to another world. He hadn't entirely intended to come here, and after seeing how it greeted its visitors, he didn't want to come back again.
The door opened and a young girl opened the door. "Hello. Can I help you?" she asked.
Demyx shuffled his feet a bit awkwardly, "I'm just passing through, but I was wondering if you had seen some friends of mine. One is a girl with blonde hair that looks like antenna and another is a boy with shoulder length pink hair."
The girl's expression turned a bit sad, "I'm so sorry but I haven't."
He sighed, "I figured. Couldn't hurt to ask though."
The girl smiled, "Would you like to come in? Dinner will be done soon and the dwarves love having company."
Demyx blinked in surprise, "Oh…" His stomach growled and he chuckled, "Well I guess my stomach says I should."
She giggled and moved aside so he could come in, "My name's Snow White."
He smiled back at her, "I'm... I'm Demyx."
It wasn't long until the dwarves were back and he quickly learned how Snow White had been kidnapped in the past. Apparently the world was so fond of her that after, it would try to chase off any newcomers in fear that it was another person coming after her.
Snow White seemed troubled by his story, "I'm so sorry that happened to you. You're such a nice person I don't see how the woods could think you'd harm me."
Demyx finished his plate and put his fork down, "It's fine. I probably should be used to this by now."
"Not here, anymore. I'll make sure the woods treat you nicely." she said with determination.
Finished with his food and ready to search for his friends again, Demyx stood up, "Well it was nice to meet you."
Snow White clapped her hands together, "Of course! Be sure to visit any time!"
Demyx left the cottage with goodbyes from the dwarves and the princess and made his way to the woods again. After what they had done when he first arrived, Sora didn't seem quite as terrifying to face. He knew that if it came down to it, he'd be able to get away. One boy was much easier than an entire forest of trees clawing at you.
He rolled his shoulders and stretched a bit. "Where to next…?" His eyes brightened as he decided on a world. "Xaldin said there were musical cutlery… let's try there."
A portal opened and Demyx stepped through hoping for a different rose than the one in the mission report Xaldin had turned in after his first visit.
