.

Part 3

The End Draws Near

or

Every Story Must End

Chapter 201: Snatched

"Strange monsters around here," Sora mused, banishing his Keyblade and sitting back down. Most of the monsters didn't come near the spot Sora and Cloud had settled down—right by the gates of the wall that surrounded a town and, further inside, a Castle. But a couple of the monsters—the larger and probably smarter ones—would sneak over occasionally to examine Cloud's bike. Sora figured they hadn't seen anything like it before.

"It's not uncommon for a world to have monsters specific to it," Cloud answered, busy cleaning his sword. The monsters here weren't Heartless, but some sort of other creature that reminded Sora a little of trolls and, of course, bled. Sora's Keyblade magically cleaned itself, somehow, but Cloud wasn't so fortunate.

"Why aren't there any Heartless?" Sora asked, picking at the grass by his knees. "Do you know?"

"We're pretty far away from any other world we've been to…" Cloud replied, slowly.

"What does that have to do with it?" Sora laughed. "I thought there were Heartless in almost every world—and the worlds without Heartless are the ones full of light." He made a face. "And… this world doesn't seem full of light. It almost feels the exact opposite…"

The dusk around them lingered heavily, like it were a physical thing. The sun should've set a while ago, but it hadn't, it just continued to linger. Natural light wasn't the only clue, either. There was a feeling in Sora's stomach that just felt dark.

"It's because the Heartless have a…" Cloud paused, let out a long breath. He looked up from his sword, then back down at it, cleaning another spot as he thought. "A sort of… bubble of worlds they can be found in." The grimace on Cloud's face said he wasn't entirely satisfied with that explanation. He continued, anyway. "And the further out from the bubble you get, the less likely you are to find Heartless."

"Really?" Sora asked.

Cloud nodded, returning his attention to cleaning his blade. "Yeah," he grunted. "My homeworld's not far from here, and it doesn't get a lot of Heartless. I mean, there was that one time, but…" He shook his head. "Generally you'll find much more of the local monsters than Heartless."

"What's your homeworld like?" Sora asked, sitting up a little straighter. He hadn't heard much about Cloud's homeworld. Not that he'd told Cloud much about his…

Cloud looked up at him, seeming a little surprised, though he hid it well. He leaned back, looked around him. "Ah, a little like this world, actually," he said after a moment. "The scenery's a little similar. Much more mountains near Nibelheim though…"

Sora looked around him, too, processing what Cloud's world supposedly looked like based on this scenery. There was grass and green everywhere he looked, and a couple of mountains in the distance.

"But there weren't any Castles," Cloud said, after a moment. "Just a bunch of cities."

"You lived in a city!?" Sora gaped at him. He'd always wanted to see a proper city. The only one he'd been to so far was Agrabah, and between the Heartless and it being rundown, it didn't meet his expectations.

Cloud laughed. And then kept laughing. "No!" he said. "I lived in a little town in the mountains. But there were plenty of cities elsewhere. Like Midgar."

"Any chance we can go there some time?"

"You don't want to go to Midgar. Trust me."

Sora pouted a little. Of course he wanted to go, especially if it was a city, but… "What about your homeworld?" he corrected, to cover it up. If Cloud said Midgar was bad, then Sora figured he shouldn't let him know he'd been excited about it. "Could we go there?"

Cloud smiled. "Maybe another time. I wouldn't want to go home with a wolf still on our trail."

Now Sora really grimaced. "I thought we lost it…" he said, slowly, eyes narrowing. They hadn't seen it for the past day or so, and considering how far they'd traveled...

"Better safe than sorry," Cloud told him.

Sora sighed.

"Good point…"

"Besides, if you want to see a city, there is that one." Cloud gestured to the wall behind Sora. Or, rather, the town behind the wall behind Sora.

Sora looked at the gates for a moment. As much as he wanted to see a proper city, he wasn't sure if now was a good time. What if the wolf showed up again? When all those people were around? Someone would get hurt.

"Actually… I was thinking we could explore?" Sora suggested. "I mean, cities are nice, but this place looks like something out of a fairytale!"

Cloud squinted up at the sky, shielding his eyes, though the sun was well west of where he was looking. "Maybe we better not," he said. "It's getting dark, and if we want to spend the night not on the ground, we better go find an inn. No telling if they'll close the gates at sundown, but chances are they will."

"Oh…" Sora sighed and picked at the grass some more. "I don't mind sleeping on the ground. And we've cleared out most of the monsters around here…"

Cloud looked at him, long and hard. "Well—"

Cloud didn't get a chance to finish. Sora looked up, his eyes widened in shock, and he summoned his Keyblade to block. The wolf's teeth closed around the blade, but it knocked Sora onto his back, and suddenly they were in a different world.

Sora blinked a few times, and shook his head. There were spots dancing on the edge of his vision. He tried to push the wolf off, but it was at least the same size as him, not to mentioned weighed a ton.

"Sora!"

A flash of light filled the area, and Sora shielded his eyes. He felt the weight of the wolf leave his chest, followed by energy flowing through his veins. Someone had Cured him—not that that made the spots quit dancing on his vision, nor did it prevent him from staggering when he got to his feet.

"Mickey!" he said, in surprise, when he saw who was standing there.

"Funny we keep meeting like this, huh?" Mickey asked, smiling a little. His Keyblade was drawn, though, and aimed at the wolf, light trailing from his empty hand.

"Y-yeah," Sora replied, falling into his battle stance. His arms were heavy, though, and he moved with weariness.

The wolf's lips were drawn back in a snarl, a growl rumbling in its throat, looking ready to leap for Mickey. But there was an uncertainty in its growl, and after a moment its posture relaxed, like it was second guessing attacking him. Mickey's eyes just narrowed.

"And against the same enemy, too," he said.

Sora turned to him in surprise. "Wha-?" But then he looked back at the wolf. Like he'd noticed a while ago… it did have the same red fire, and a chain still around its neck, not to mention its hind legs looked like they had once been bound together.

His nightmare—the monster of his childhood—had had all these features. Could this wolf really be that same nightmare? Or, the Heartless he and Mickey fought in Beast's Castle, the Heartless that had taken said nightmare's shape? The similarities were uncanny, and would be scary if it wasn't the same creature.

"But how…" he murmured.

It was unfortunate his head was so foggy right now, otherwise maybe he'd be able to come up with an answer.

The wolf paced back and forth, looking between the two of them. It would tense as it looked at Sora …only to uncertainly glance at Mickey again and shuffle its feet nervously. After a moment it shook its head and grumbled something.

"Orders?" Mickey asked, seeming surprised. "Whose orders?"

Sora was even more surprised. "You can… understand… it?" he asked. His words slurred a little, he noticed, and his knees were starting to feel like jelly.

Mickey threw a glance at him. "You can't?"

Sora shook his head.

The wolf snorted, rolled its head as if rolling its eyes. It didn't seem to say anything more, but given Mickey's reaction, it had.

"What'd it… say?" Sora asked.

"It said…" Mickey frowned, thinking about it. "You could if you… tried?" He gave Sora a worried look, then his eyes widened a little in shock, but he didn't say anything and quickly turned back to the wolf.

The wolf let out a sharp bark, taking a step forward, its body tense. It was growling again, much louder and more menacing this time.

"Well, I didn't say anything about your master!" Mickey told it, confused and sounding slightly apologetic.

Sora wasn't sure how much longer his legs were going to hold him up. The spots in his vision were getting worse, too—he was probably going to pass out soon, given how lightheaded he felt.

"Maybe- maybe we should go," he said. Or he tried to say it. Whether the words left his mouth like he wanted them to or not was another story. "I'm not sure if… if we ca- can… it's tougher than it… looks."

"Oh, c'mon, we've fought it before!"

"Yeah, but—"

And then his vision went black and his legs gave way.

xxx

"Sora…?" Mickey sent a concerned glance at the collapsed boy, before the sound of movement reached his ears. He looked up to see the wolf bounding towards Sora, and quickly threw a blast of light at it to keep it back.

He dove between the wolf and Sora as it recovered, prepping his blade. The wolf shook its head, collecting itself. It straightened, still snarling, but suddenly took a step backwards and vanished.

Mickey stood there a moment, worried, but it wasn't long before he was certain that the wolf had actually left and hadn't just gone invisible or something. A creature that dark and that magical was easy to sense, and its absence was more than noticeable.

Since it was safe, Mickey went over and checked on Sora. He didn't appear to be injured, but he was definitely out cold, and Mickey figured better safe than sorry, so he cast another Cure.

Sora didn't stir.

Mickey banished his blade and let out a sigh.

"Well, now what do I do with ya?" he mused, plopping down on the ground next to Sora. Obviously, he couldn't just leave the boy here, but moving Sora while he was unconscious wasn't going to be easy. Well, he could probably move Sora just fine, but the fact that he was unconscious meant that they needed to go somewhere with little or no Heartless.

"And what'cha really need is a good night's rest," Mickey said. "In a decent bed, and maybe with a good meal afterwards, and- and…"

And preferably on a world with no Heartless.

Mickey got to his feet and pulled his starshard out of his pocket. There was only one place he could think of that matched all those requirements.