A dark chapter up ahead but lots of development. The tonal shift of this chapter was actually one of the most jarring to write. Hopefully there are better days ahead for the gang.
Chapter 47
Crime Scene Investigators
Luna let out a shiver as they walked into the cold foggy night once more. She was already starting to miss the warm fireplace and the cup of tea that she had been invited to by Mrs. Judson already. The Flaversham household wasn't exactly nearby either, so it was a wonder that Olivia had come so close to finding it by herself. That reminded her…
"Say Olivia, you were using a magnifying glass on that fireplace earlier, weren't you? Do you always carry that around?" Luna asked the young mouse.
"It's quite neat, isn't it? My dad bought it for me when he realized that I had an interest in solving things. I've always wanted to be a detective myself, so I picking up on stuff from watching Basil secretly. Don't tell him I said that," she whispered back.
Basil let out a sneeze and looked around. "Huh? Was someone talking about me? Pfft, as if anyone would believe something as ridiculous as that. Hmm? What's that?"
Luna followed his finger to the black flat cap that had been left on the ground outside the house. Basil picked it up and examined every side of the hat.
"Do you know who left it?" Stephanie asked. "I don't think it was here when we arrived."
"If what you say is the case, then that's a huge problem. This hat belongs to that peg-legged bat with the broken wing that I mentioned earlier, Fidget," Basil said.
"Then… he was spying on us?" Luna asked. "But why? Unless he knew…"
"You've caught on too it seems. Fidget was probably following young Olivia around. I imagine he had intended to intercept her before she came to me but it was fortunate that she met up with you before he could act. Not quite sure why he didn't try to capture her sooner, but then again, he has always been rather slow on the uptake," Basil said.
"The way you talk about the Ratigan guy, it doesn't seem like he'd be the kind to accept someone as incompetent as that," Sora said.
"Well let's just be thankful that he was or we would never have met Olivia," Donald helpfully pointed out the optimistic side of the situation. Still, it was unnerving to know that they had been followed and were possibly even being watched from outside 221 ½ Baker Street.
"Is there any way we can track down Fidget using the hat? Oh, I know! You say he's incompetent, right? Then maybe it's his favorite hat or something. He's that kind of killer that has to come back to the crime scene because he has no choice!" Luna suggested with a big grin.
"Luna, what did Kupopo sneak into your breakfast this morning?" Sora asked.
"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?" Luna retorted with a tilted head.
"Well, what your friend says is true. There are instances where the perpetrator is compelled to return to the scene of the crime because of evidence that may incriminate them, but that is usually only in cases of immediate danger. In this case, there was no such immediate danger and so even if it is Fidget's favorite hat, he has no reason to come back here," Basil explained.
"Also, if we take the chance of waiting, we risk letting Fidget get away, right, Mr. Basil?" Olivia added.
"Er, yes, I… was about to say that." From the way he was reacting, Luna could tell that Basil probably wasn't used to other people stealing his thunder, especially not an eight year old girl. Basil put two fingers in his mouth a whistled loudly before continuing to speak. "Then I suppose that just leaves your other suggestion, Moona. We'll have to track Fidget down using the hat's scent!"
"Moona? It's Luna!" she corrected. Was her name really that forgettable? "Also, how are we going to track him based on the hat's scent? Well, that is unless you have a super sensitive nose or something."
"I don't. He does," Basil said, pointing behind her. Luna's head turned just in time to see something big and brown knocked her to the ground and started lapping away at her with its tongue.
"Toby, boy, I'm over here," Basil called out. The dog lifted its head and looked at Basil before looking down at the saliva-induced Luna. It stepped away and offered and apologetic smile before heading over to its owner.
"Sora… how many showers does it take to wash my sorrows away?" Luna asked.
Five minutes before, she had sworn a solemn vote to hate this dog. Five minutes later, she was loving every second of it. How had her opinion of Toby the dog changed so quickly? By riding it, of course.
"YEEEE-HAWWW! Shoot for the stars, doggy!" Stephanie yelled joyously from behind her as Luna held onto Toby's collar for dear life. Even though she was the front passenger on the ride and she could have fallen off at any moment, it was still incredibly exciting, like a roller coaster ride. Behind her, Stephanie was pressed up against her back and hugging her tightly and holding onto her was Olivia. Essentially, in order to get everyone on the dog they had to squash up against each other. It had been uncomfortable at first but they easily forgot about this as soon as they took off.
"Look, Dawson! It's that creature from before, and there are more of them this time. Why, this is quite exciting!" Basil exclaimed.
"I'm not sure you'd say that if one came up close and personal to you," Sora said before flinging out his right arm to summon the Keyblade. The Neoshadows moved quickly in a way that could be described as galloping. They learned in a zigzag pattern and when they were close to Toby, leapt out of the dense fog and attacked with its razor sharp claws. Luna kicked one away as it was nearing Stephanie before summoning her own Keyblade and taking out the ones which neared them with magic.
Toby turned into another street and was beginning to slow down. The Neo Shadows kept attacking in droves but Sora, Luna and Donald's magic was enough to fend the rest of them off. A loud howl caused Luna to look at the place Toby had finally stopped at.
They had arrived at a toy shop, similar to all the other buildings in the area in its exterior but seeming like a completely different world from inside. From the window display alone, Luna could make out wooden puppets with noses of various shapes and sizes, dolls with incredibly varied and colorful hair reminiscent of the rainbow, and small robot moving their arms about mechanically or clapping their hands together in a musical rhythm. On the higher shelf were several toy vehicles from sailboats to model cars.
It all quickly reminded Luna of the toy sailboat that her dad had given her on her fourth birthday. That day, the two of them both went out to the pond near the park and watched as the miniature sailboat glided alongside the ducks and created ripples in the water. The toy store in Alexander had definitely been one of Luna's favorite places to visit when she was young so the fact that Toby had stopped in front of one now seemed almost non-coincidental.
"A toy shop? Why would this Fidget come here?" Sora asked.
"Hm, a toy shop and a toy shop's owner being kidnapped. Ooh, maybe he's creating an army of toy robots and evil dolls?" Luna suggested with a beam.
"Yeeeaaah, no," Sora dismissed. "Well I guess there's only one way to find out. Into the lion's den we go."
The moment the group stepped into the toy shop, they were confronted with a more comforting environment than the foggy, unknowable outside. The room was dark but the amount of toys in the room made the place feel more than alive and welcome. Even better was that the scale of these toys were equal to their own heights. This made the train on the tracks on one side of the room similar to a real one's height even though it was actually smaller, for example, and there were many other wonders like it.
"It's a big teddy! Why hello, kind sir, would you like some tea?" Olivia took hold of the bear's hand and shook it frantically with a grin.
"Hey, do you think we can get the train to move? I wanna ride on it!" Stephanie exclaimed, looking around eagerly for whatever controlled the train.
"You do all remember that we're here on strict business, yes?" Basil said before turning to Sora and Dawson. "Do be sure to keep your eye on those two. I can't be held responsible for what happens to them and there are much more pressing issues at stake here than getting a toy train to move."
"Aw, I kinda wanted to ride the train too," Sora said but upon seeing Basil's frown, immediately changed his tone. "Of course, finding Olivia's father is a lot more important right now… Maybe later?"
Luna also couldn't deny that she felt an insatiable urge to ride the train but knowing that Fidget could be anywhere kept her more focused on the mission. The group continued to make their way across the room eventually finding themselves on a giant chessboard that had been placed on the floor. Immediately, Luna wanted to run right through it without looking at a single chess piece. Her first and last experience with chess hadn't exactly been a joyful one and it had stressed her out completely.
She wouldn't get her wish. The moment she crossed the middle of the chessboard, the carefully crafted pieces in front of her came to life. The pawns remained in their place but the special pieces behind them advanced forward. The black piece king approached them with its sword dragging behind and the bishops in support. Meanwhile, the knight chess pieces hopped towards either side of the Queen and faced the group, pointing their jousting lances forward. Luna turned around to see the white chess pieces also replicating the same moves.
"Heartless?" Luna asked.
"No doubt. Probably Possessor Heartless taking possession of each of the chess pieces," Donald answered. "There's probably two ways to go about doing this. The first is to destroy the pieces completely though I'd think that they'd just go into another piece. But if we keep on destroying pieces then they'll have nowhere else to go."
"Sounds easy enough, if not a little repetitive. What's the second option?" Sora asked.
"You have a Keyblade, don't you? Use your head!" Donald ordered, lightly hitting the back of Sora's head with his staff.
"Ow! Yeah, yeah, I get the point. Don't need to pound it into my head," Sora muttered before adopting his Ars Arcanum stance. Luna only had time to briefly admire how Sora's style reflected Neuge's own samurai stance before the chess piece behind her swung at her head with its sword. She ducked underneath and quickly parried the attack from her position, forcing the chess piece onto its back by exerting some extra force.
As she resumed a standing posture, she looked to see Olivia and Stephanie being escorted away by Dawson around the chessboard to avoid the attacks. Basil, on the other hand, was incredibly fascinated by the moving chess pieces in front of him as well as the weapons in Sora, Luna, Donald and Goofy's hands and so continued to marvel while occasionally evading attacks almost unconsciously.
"Basil, now's not the time! Get away from here!" Luna yelled.
"And miss the chess match of a lifetime? Never! Don't worry about me, I've been in far worse situations," Basil responded in an excited tone. Luna somehow doubted that but nevertheless heeded his wishes and continued to fend off the Possessor chess pieces while keeping an eye on him.
A glowing Sora quickly cut through the white bishop pieces and watched as dark orbs floated out of their hiding place and moved around the room. Sora aimed his Keyblade up at one of them, a beam of light coming out and striking it, causing it to vanish.
"Busting never felt so good," Sora joked before aiming his Keyblade at the next possessor. The beam of light shot out but the possessor skilfully evaded the beam. Luna watched patiently as it tried to enter another chess piece, one of the black pawns, before shooting her own beam of light. Too focused on trying to merge with the object, the possessor failed to notice the beam and was struck with it, taking it out.
The battle dragged on with the group doing their best to exorcise the possessors before they could find another chess piece to attach themselves to. It hadn't been an easy fight and the group had let their guard down more than a few times to the point where they had received several blows.
Luna looked around before her eyes fell on the toy train. She pointed her Keyblade at it and used Magnega to drag it towards her. The train flew off its rails and Luna quickly gave a warning yell for everyone to get down. The train clipped over the edge of the chessboard and flipped over their heads, rolling and knocking off the remaining pieces before finally settling on its side. The last few possessors flew out of their knocked over pieces and soon disappeared out of sight with no other suitable object near them to take over. The group stood up once more with looks of complete relief on their faces. Sora panted heavily, his legs giving way, sending him back to the ground. Luna propped her Keyblade up and used it as support while trying to catch her own breath. Her eyes scanned the room before finally settling on Dawson.
"Where are Stephanie and Olivia?"
Stephanie heard the sound of rushing water from inside her confinement. There was also the sound of footsteps, more notably a dull clunking that always followed a normal footstep. Aside from that, all she knew was darkness and the girl that was hugged up against her. Olivia had been crying out for Basil and the others ever since the both of them had been swiped and stashed in the sack without anyone knowing. Stephanie had cried out too of course, but had stopped before Olivia had and tried her best to calm her down. It was what her big sis would have tried to do in those situations, she imagined.
Stephanie held onto Olivia's hand gently and kept hold of it until the sound of footsteps resided.
"Heh, heh! Ratigan, got the girl! Got the girl!" The voice of their kidnapper presented enthusiastically.
"Well done, Fidget. I just knew you'd come through for me. Now let her out so we can give her a proper greeting."
A moment later, Stephanie was rolling out of the sack and landed on her back with Olivia following in tow. She blinked and looked upwards to see a ginormous rat looking down at her with a cigar in his mouth. The smoke was unbearable to her and caused her to cough more than once.
"And who would you be, m'dear? You don't look like Flaversham's," said the rat. He took the cigar out of his mouth and pointed it at Olivia. "Now her? That's definitely a Flaversham. I can see it all over her. Fidget, what's the meaning of this?"
"Really dark. Couldn't see. Heartless! Friends were fighting! Just grabbed at first chance. Err, yeah, yeah, that's it!" Fidget answered with a nod.
"Fighting you say? Then he must be here…" Ratigan said. He took another puff of his cigar before grinning. "Well done, Fidget. Not only did you bring me the main course but you've also brought me dessert. Now what do you say to letting old man Flaversham reunite with his daughter?"
Stephanie stood up and looked into Ratigan's eyes. "You've just made a big mistake by kidnapping us. You better let us go right now or my friends won't be happy when they find you. I wouldn't underestimate them."
"Why, aren't you a cute one. Trying to act big and tough in front of your friend even though you're probably scared half to death right now."
But Stephanie laughed at this and folded her arms. "As if I would be afraid of a stupid poopy head looking rat like you."
Ratigan's eyes twitched and he opened his mouth as if wanting to say something but soon caught himself and reconsidered. He eventually gave her a smile before leading her and Olivia down a dimly lit tunnel. They soon arrived at the workstation and upon seeing him, Olivia left Stephanie's side and ran into her father's arms.
"Aren't I a nice guy, Flaversham? I was so kind as to bring your daughter over here. Don't worry, Fidget will be taking good care of her and her friend here so long as you keep your end of the bargain, of course," Ratigan said.
"I will. I'll do it, just don't harm my daughter," Flaversham said before retreating from Olivia's arms to return to his work. "Don't worry, Olivia, we'll be with each other again soon."
Stephanie turned to follow Fidget and Olivia but Ratigan held her by the shoulder.
"Not you, dear. I have plans for you. How about we make you some new friends while you're here?" Ratigan turned her around like a doll and led her down a different hallway. Stephanie turned her head to the side and gave a small nod at Olivia who replied with her own.
Toby came to a halt near the riverfront at the center of the city with Sora, Luna, Donald, Goofy, Basil and Dawson getting off. Luna ruffled the dog's head and issued a smile before turning to look at the sewerage entrance. She exchanged a quick nod with Sora before cutting through the metal grates of the entrance with her Keyblade.
Dawson had explained at the toy shop how he had tripped just before Luna had told them all to get down. In the short time that had lost sight of Stephanie and Olivia, Fidget must have quickly captured them. Sora and Luna had begun to frantically panic at that moment. Not only had they failed to keep Olivia safe but they had failed to keep their promise to Stephanie's mother and if something were to happen to her then they would never be able live with themselves. Even now as Sora followed the others down the tunnel, his heart was racing and a fog of fear had made his body less than responsive to what was going on around him.
Fortunately, Fidget, perhaps in the heat of the moment, had dropped a list containing the things that Ratigan probably needed for his plan such as cogs, costumes resembling the royal guard, and of course Olivia. Back at Basil's house with a little forensic work and a good nose, Basil was able to discern the origin of the paper as being near a sewerage treatment facility. The alcoholic smell of the paper also further narrowed down the search to a sewer underneath a certain pub by the river, which is where they were now.
"Can't say I've really gone through many tunnels before. Where do you think this leads?" Sora asked.
"To a secret underground facility ruled by mole people," Luna guessed.
"Mole people? Really?"
"Well, have you ever come across mole people? Most people who find them are never found themselves."
"But seriously, mole people? That was the best you could come up with?"
"Like you have something better. And besides, how do you know mole people aren't real?"
"Uh, could you two be any louder? I don't think the whole sewer quite heard you," Donald muttered.
Goofy took his finger away from his mouth and looked at Basil with a smile. "Say, you've really gone out of your way to help Olivia. You really care for her, dontcha?"
Basil spluttered about before recovering and furrowing his brows. "And what would give you that impression? She's a child who was in my duty of care when she was kidnapped. It's any gentleman's duty to rescue a young lady in distress. You would do the same for Stephanie, no?"
"I don't think that's quite what he means, Basil," Dawson said with his own smile. "I don't believe you're purely doing this out of a sense of duty. If I'm not mistaken, it appears you've formed some kind of bond with Olivia. A first, at least in my experience."
"Does Basil have many friends?" Goofy asked.
"I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to say it in front of the person." Basil let out a sigh but continued nonetheless. "I can't say I have much need for friends. I've never really seen much use in them."
"Use?"
"My experiences with friendship have told me that friends really only use each other to get what they want. Scientifically speaking, things like friendship and love act as a drug that gives us pleasure. We seek thrills and having others around us as conduits allow us to fully indulge and satisfy our desires. I have no need for that. You could say solving mysteries is my drug, one that I get enough of as it is already. I don't need the factor of friendship complicating things," Basil explained.
"Friendship complicates things? Well, have you tried viewing it out of a scientific scope then?" Luna enquired. "I'm not sure I care much for the word 'use' here. It's true that friends and family fill a hole in our heart and we can't live without them but I would hardly call it using them. We help each other, not just through the medial everyday tasks but also seeing their perspectives on life and coming to understand and even possibly change our own. It's part of our development, and why we're so adaptable. Did that come off as cheesy?"
"No, no, you did great! Ten out of ten, would listen again," Sora said with a thumbs up. "I mean, you and Dawson have been together for how long? Wouldn't you say you're friends?"
"Friends?" Basil glanced briefly at Dawson before responding. "I don't know. I've never really thought about it. I suppose it's just easier for me to distance myself from others."
"Well, I'm sure Dawson sees you as a friend and I'm pretty sure you do too otherwise you wouldn't have kept him around," Sora said. Basil said nothing and simply continued on but there were signs of a small smile forming on his face if even for the few seconds that it was there before the detective had become aware of it. Luna would have loved more than anything to be able to believe that her words had helped. So why couldn't she?
"You allow them to define who you are because you don't have the qualifications necessary to define who you are. To put it simply, you're using them."
The words of her younger self back at the factory flashed briefly in her mind. She stopped and shook her head dismissively. No, she couldn't afford to think about that right now. Instead she clenched her fists tightly and used her anger at even remembering the words to keep her on determination burning strong. With a solemn nod to herself, she pressed on.
The sewers were teeming with Heartless of different kinds, some Luna and even Sora had never encountered before. Whenever they got tired of fighting the tenth Hook Bat in a row, a Cannon Gun or Driller Mole would opt to take its place, just to 'renew' interest. Of course it wasn't renewing anything and they were starting to become worn out with not just fighting the Heartless, but also going down the narrow pathways and climbing up ladders.
Their patience soon rewarded them however, or at least that's what they thought at first. Sora used his Keyblade to unlock the door that they had arrived at and they opened it to see a much wider space and a much appreciated face.
"Stephanie!" Luna cried out and ran up to the smaller girl.
"Hold off a bit, Luna. Let the girl breathe," Sora said with a chuckle. He walked over and hugged Stephanie as well soon after Luna let go.
"I'm sorry, it's just… I was so worried, but now I'm so happy. You're okay, aren't you? They didn't do anything bad to you? You're not hurt?" Luna asked.
"Hey, you're starting to sound like my mom. I'm alright." Stephanie giggled before turning to look at five other mice all cuddled up against the wall. "I don't think they are though."
"Who are they? They're... children?" Dawson asked. Basil moved nearer to them to inspect them before ushering Dawson over with urgency in his voice.
"Is there somethin' wrong?" Goofy asked, hurrying over to them.
"See for yourself. These children, they've been starved. Their eyes are dilated and saliva is running down their mouths," Dawson stated as he cocked one of the mice's head gently to the side.
"Is this truly the work of Ratigan? He's devious but to go out of his way to starve children… that's going too far, even for him," said Basil with a troubled stare.
"What about a connection? Do you think there might be a connection between the victims?" Luna asked.
"Those two, Jewels and Avery. They're brother and sister. The other three, Cherryl, Archie and Arthur, they're orphans from an orphanage somewhere in the city. They were kidnapped about a week ago and rat face did something to them but they don't know what. That's what they told me earlier," Stephanie explained, pointing to each mouse as she named them.
"But why would Ratigan show any interest in-" Sora paused for a moment before his eyes widened, probably at the same time as Luna, Donald and Goofy's. It was only then that the group all realized how cruel the World could truly be. The dam had broken merely through the opening of a door, and the cold, hard-hitting, rushing flow of gloom overpowered their smiles. No one among the four fighters wanted to say anything. They couldn't say anything. They all hoped deep down inside that this was some terrible nightmare and that they would eventually wake up, but seeing the reactions on everyone else's faces confirmed that they wouldn't be waking up. How could all four of them be having the same dream after all?
"Sora, what do we do?" Luna finally managed to wheeze out. Sora hadn't heard her. He wasn't listening to anything at the moment. He just kept his eyes trained at the ground, afraid to look up. There was only one conclusion he could arrive at and maybe it was selfish to think it, but there was no reason to believe it wasn't the truth either.
The kids had been kidnapped a week ago, around the time Sora and Luna had overheard Pete give the tip that Ratigan and Kefka were performing an experiment here. And he did something to the children, according to Stephanie. It was obvious, now that Sora thought about it. Abraxas had been the first to come up with the experiment. Abraxas was with KRONOS. Abraxas gave them the knowledge to perform the experiments. This chain of logic soon arrived at its horrific conclusion: KRONOS' experiment had involved turning people into Chimera, and these kids had been test subjects in that experiment.
"The sins of Xehanort, they still live on. Even after he was defeated, he left behind his will. That will continued with the man you call Abraxas but even though he was defeated, he was and is only the first in what I fear will be a series of incidents that will get worse and worse. It would seem that Abraxas passed Xehanort's will on to KRONOS."
That's what Rhea had told him, and until now he had been inclined not to believe her but now the proof was staring him right in the face. It had been a trap from the start. He had been wooed by Luna's devotion to changing the world. Now he was being tested on how devoted he could stay to such a cause.
"Stephanie, where's Olivia?" Donald asked in hopes of breaking up the tension. Stephanie explained that Ratigan had separated her and Olivia, placing the latter under Fidget's care. She had also met up with Olivia's father who seemed to be close by. Donald gave a nod before looking concernedly at Sora. "Sora…"
"It's my fault," Sora whispered. It probably hadn't been a coincidence that Ratigan had separated Stephanie and Olivia either. As far as they knew, Stephanie hadn't been experimented on, after all Ratigan hadn't had enough time to do it. But she could have been and that made things even worse.
"Sora, if you need time to let things sink in, then it's okay. You don't need to push yourself. You too, Luna. Goofy and I can save Olivia and her father on our own."
"No, it's alright. I still have a job to do." Sora slowly stood up and stilled his face in a way so consciously that it made it seem like he had turned to stone. "We need to make sure Olivia and her father are safe before anything else. Dawson, do you think you can stay here with the kids while we're gone?"
"I think that would be best," Dawson agreed. With that, the group split off from Dawson though there were still concerns, though silent, about Luna and particularly Sora's state of being able to perform well at the moment. Sora could certainly admit that his mind was currently in two places at once and because of that his mind had become numb to certain things around him. He almost hadn't even noticed the others stopping in front of yet another door and accidently bumped in Goofy.
"Sorry," he muttered a quick apology and returned to looking at the ground.
"Sora, are you sure you don't wanna-"
"I said I'm fine, Goofy," the annoyed Sora responded a little too loudly. No, he was must certainly not fine, was probably what the others were thinking, be he didn't really care about that right now. Instead, he gave another quick apology and looked at the prison cell door mainly in an attempt to ignored the worried looks everyone was going him.
"You're Mr. Flaversham I presume? Olivia's father?" Basil asked once Luna had opened the door with her Keyblade.
"Yes, yes, you know Olivia? Wait, a minute, is one of you named Sora?" the toy maker asked.
"Yeah. How did you know?" Sora asked with renewed curiosity.
"Ratigan and another person were talking about luring you here. Kefka was his name. Oh, Ratigan's bad but Kefka? He's ten times, no, a hundred times worse. I could almost feel the temperature in the room drop when he entered. He's no man. He's something far worse than that."
"Do you know why they kidnapped you?" Donald asked.
"They've been forcing me to work on something. Two things actually. My first instruction entailed I design a toy robot disguised to mimic her majesty perfectly. I'm not sure what Ratigan's intention is here but I'm assuming he intends to hijack Buckingham palace and assert his own rule through the queen," Hiram explained. "You're too late in that regard. It's already completed. Ratigan is probably on his way to the palace as we speak."
"That explains the cogs and the need for royal guard uniforms on that list then. What was the second thing?" Basil asked.
"This one was conceptually trickier. He wanted a machine that could convert large amounts of liquid into gaseous particles. As a toy maker that is a little beyond me but he insisted I do so otherwise Olivia would be fed to his cat."
"Turning a liquid into gas? Well, you'd either have to boil it or store it in… liquid nitrogen! It has a boiling point of -195 degrees Celsius and is easily compact and transportable since it doesn't require pressurization," Basil explained.
"And the liquid itself would be dispersed through the air?" Luna checked to make sure she was following along correctly. "And this would fit into his plan how exactly?"
"You're not thinking big enough, Luna. Not just him, but KRONOS as well. They've been experimenting on children here, right? Whatever they gave them, it was in liquid form, I'm sure of it," Sora said. He could easily make that guess because he had seen Abraxas and Megumi Kitaniji both inject needles into their arms as well. "Imagine if they had something like that in every home, or even in the food or water. Until now, we've only had to worry about the individual case of someone turning into a Chimera. Now, KRONOS are taking it one step further."
"They want to turn an entire population into Chimeras? Oh my-" Luna covered her mouth and looked away. Sora couldn't tell if she was hiding her tears, and he couldn't bring himself to comfort her because he too was paralyzed with fear. He feared KRONOS. The time in which that thought finally sunk was as long as the time it took for the lump in his throat to go away.
"I- I'm sorry, what's a Chimera?" Basil asked.
"It would take too long to explain. We need to hurry up and find Olivia and then we have to make sure the queen is safe. But if they succeed with this weapon here, they'll be using it in other worlds too. It has the potential to end entire worlds, in spades."
"The worlds would never be able to recover," Donald agreed.
"I'm sorry, other worlds? What are you talking about?" Basil asked again but the entire room dismissed his comments upon hearing another voice.
"Uncle Basil, help me!" Olivia yelled, running towards them at full speed from the other end of the corridor. Behind her, an obese beige cat seemed to be chasing after her, though not successfully because Olivia was clearly faster. Before anyone could react, Toby jumped over them and barked at wildly at the cat. The cat seized up for a moment before running off in a panic.
Olivia let out a sigh of relief and shook Toby's extended paw. "Good boy, Toby! Thank you so much!"
After a reunion between father and daughter as well as Olivia and Stephanie that could at least put a smile on their faces for the time being, the group made their way back to the room with Dawson and the five children. The children seemed to be out of their previous dazed state now, but they still reported that they were experiencing pains that were shooting up through their entire bodies. Simply put, they couldn't be moved from this room.
They all sat cuddled together, shivering from the cold. Sora's eyes scanned each of them with a longing sadness, a longing for wondering what their lives could have been, and now never would be. They had suffered for so long with only each other to comfort and quell their loneliness. Today would mark just another day in their suffering, their inevitable path towards a terrible fate.
"We can't just leave them here," Luna said. Stephanie and Olivia were behind her, looking on in worry.
"You're right but…" No matter how much he tried to think of a way to help them, he couldn't. The symptoms were becoming more apparent and they were clearly hurting from whatever physical, mental and chemical changes were taking place to them. No, there was one thing he could do. The only thing…
"Maybe we can bring them back to Radiant Garden and get them treated-"
"It's too late. They wouldn't be able to make it in time," Sora said. Tears were beginning to roll down his cheeks but he turned and wiped them away quickly. "Everyone, I'm sorry for what you're about to hear but you need to understand. They're suffering. They're already dying and… I don't want them to go through that."
"Sora? What are you-?"
"You need to take Stephanie and Olivia and leave. I don't want you to have to do this and I don't want you or them to watch. This sin is mine alone to bear," Sora said.
"You- you can't… Sora, they're just kids!" Luna cried out.
"And they won't be soon! You think this is easy for me? No, it's anything but. It's absolutely crazy, the world is absolutely crazy right now and I don't know what to think. I keep trying to think of some other way to save them but the more I do, the more obvious it becomes that this is the only way to save them. I don't want to see them turn into Chimera and I know you don't want that too. As I said, I'll bear the consequences of my actions."
"I… don't want to see them turn either but even so, this is just too much. I… don't want you to face this alone so… so I-" Luna tried to finish but her head was hurting. It really was too much even consider, and she didn't want Sora to face this alone but she couldn't… couldn't just kill children and pretend like everything was going to be fine.
"I'll handle it, Luna. You're brave, but not that brave. Neither am I, but one of us has to do it and care too much to see you suffer over this. Also, the closest place Stephanie and Olivia can be right now is by your side. Take them and head back to Donald and Goofy," Sora said. He couldn't stand to see what type of emotion was displayed in not just Luna's, but everyone else's eyes and so he looked instead at the peeling off paint coating the walls.
Luna hesitantly nodded and then turned to Stephanie and Olivia in an effort to encourage them to start moving. Sora drowned out their voices and soon enough they were gone, leaving only him and the other five children in the small room. He summoned the Kingdom Key and held it up, pressing the back against his forehead hard.
"You'll be free soon. I won't make you suffer. Whenever I look up at the stars, I'll think of you. As long as I remember you, you'll never die," Sora said. But his words seemed like fancy illusions in the end. It didn't change the fact that he was committing a crime that he could never take back. It was undeniable, irrefutable, absolute… it was death.
"Thank you…" Jewels, the older sister of the mouse she was holding to her chest, managed to wheeze out weakly.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," Sora said through gritted teeth. He pointed the Keyblade towards them but looked into their eyes. He wouldn't look away. They deserved that much for the sin he was about to commit.
