I wouldn't usually upload on a saturday but since I missed my weekly upload then I guess I'll have to push it out before next week. Anyway, on with show!


Chapter 61

Piercing Through The Dark

"Tell me. How does one such as yourself even manage to smile when you wake up in the morning, knowing what you've done? Then again, maybe it's easier than you like to make your friends think it is. Was it easy for you then? Pointing your Keyblade, a weapon that should be used to protect, at children and taking their lives away? I'd like to think any smile you show must be bittersweet otherwise you're hardly even human."

The words uttered by the faux-librarian sent a chill down Sora's spine, or maybe it had just been the wind. Sora stopped moving for a moment. How had Alfonso come to know of what happened back in Basil's world? If he knew then it could be safely concluded that the rest of Moira's Crescent also knew. If that was the case, then any prospect of working with them as had been proposed by their other member, Rhea, had just been thrown out of the window. Still, he wanted to plead his case. He wanted to tell them all that had happened on that world in its entirety and truth, but to do so now would expose him and that was exactly what Alfonso wanted.

One shot.

Remembering this, Sora began moving slowly again. He kept low to the ground and snaked his way forward, keeping his ears alert where his eyes were useless. This was probably the only time he could comfortably say that the darkness brought by night and trees coveting the moonlight was his ally. As long as he stayed in the shadows and kept as quiet as possible, he couldn't be spotted, or so the theory went anyway. Though he wasn't adept at sneaking, in fact the entire situation of having to play on the defensive seemed odd to him, there was something comforting about being trained by someone who seemed to know the first thing about scouting. If there was any time to take Neuge's skills to heart, it was definitely now.

"Is this what you usually do when you don't want to face the truth? You run? Why don't you face me, Sora?" Alfonso shouted from somewhere near Sora's right. He had picked up on the fact that the direction of the voice had changed while he was crawling.

Maybe because I'm not an idiot, Sora countered inwardly. He inched towards the right with his entire body and propped his Oblivion Keyblade up like a sniper. As much as he didn't want to admit it, Alfonso was right. Sora's patience would inevitably be tested and Sora was anything but patient. Alfonso was counting on that weakness to manifest itself. Sora could only imagine that Moira's Crescent had one big file on him just like KRONOS seemed to have on him and his friends.

That was when out of the corner of his eye he saw movement. It had only been due to the moonlight being able to pass through a certain exposed area. In fact, it was the only area anywhere near Sora where the light could pass through, and in that split second he saw a human's shadow. It was at that moment that an idea sprouted in Sora's mind, and dangerous though it could be, he could see no other way to reach Alfonso without making his presence known. He lifted his Keyblade up slightly and fired off a flare far off into the distance. The red light hit a tree and a loud spitting sound akin to fireworks could be heard from his location.

Within the short window of opportunity he had, he made to go ahead with his original plan of summoning the Gullwings when something stopped him. Was it perhaps a self-inflated ego? No, it was more like it just felt wrong to do it. That it would discredit Sora in his hunter's eyes. Now why he even cared about the words of someone who was trying to kill him was beyond him, but just hiding and waiting for the Gullwings to do the work seemed to be exactly what Alfonso had described him to be doing—running away. Maybe then it was out of some need to prove that Alfonso was wrong then that Sora let the Keyblade disappear in his hands. He crawled quickly until he was behind another tree before and counted the time left until the flare would run out.

Three…

Two…

One…

The hunt was back on.

In the time that he sat underneath the giant sequoia tree, Sora saw things that he would not usually have been able to if he were just, as Alfonso put it, running. He saw life. He had always been passing through worlds, and while he indeed could see them in their plainest form, he had never really taken the time to feel or smell or listen.

He placed a hand against the tree and moved it up and down to feel the rough and uneven layers tickling his hand. There were splinters, cracks and indents from which each of the tree's branches spawned out in multiple directions. He moved his hand from the tree to the air in front of him, feeling the wind wrap itself around his fingers as if it were just for him. Well… if he was really as powerful as he felt at this moment then his life would be much different than it was now.

If Neuge was here now, she would be instructing him to keep his eyes closed and his ears open. Now in this place of green covered by darkness, her words had never been so befitting. He only had one shot at this and he certainly didn't intend to go back to sneaking on the forest floor. With his lessons of meditation at the forefront of his mind, Sora closed his eyes, slowed his breathing and listened to everything around him. He was looking for something unusual, be it the way the air seemed or even the tiniest rustling of leaves. Though this task seemed impossible at first, no one, careful though they may be, could completely cover their tracks.

Sora had always admired bats' ability to sense things through echolocation. It had been the one thing that had stuck with him when he had studied biology at school. It wasn't just animals who had the ability though. He realized only now how grateful he was that he came across Rhea. Though he had never asked her, he had a strong feeling that she used a similar ability to fight others. Sora's hearing or any of his other senses weren't as honed as hers, but he could still hear something. It was a weird sensation, as if time itself had stopped and the only thing he could hear at first was his own heartbeat, but as the range of his hearing slowly spread out he could also pick up on something else. The landing of feet on branches some few trees to the left of him and the slight snap of a twig that had then landed in the grass. A satisfied smile appeared on Sora's face that he didn't even know he had made until he opened his eyes. He began running in the direction of the sound, paying no heed to the obviousness of his own footsteps and their weight against the ground.

Up ahead, he could just about make Alfonso out. The blue haired adult had turned in a hurry and was readying his bow. He quickly took the shot but Sora had predicted where Alfonso would aim and tilted his head sideways. Sora could hear a frightening whoosh of a sound from a close call but he didn't let that stop him and continued on his assault.

Sora summoned his Keyblade again and shot a Firaga at Alfonso. Alfonso jumped onto another tree and out of the way of the attack before firing again. His hands were sharp and quick using magic to create arrows and fire them one after another but for Sora, time seemed no longer relevant. His life was on the line and he was pushing his adrenaline for all it was worth. Sora's hand moved like a blur, and rather than dodging the arrows this time, he confidently deflected the arrows coming at him with the Keyblade.

"What? How is that possible?" Alfonso yelled out. He withdrew his bow from sight and transformed it into a Keyblade before jumping off the branch and landing on the ground. Before he could do anything, blue wisps of ember appeared right in front of him, and Sora appeared out of the wisps swinging upwards with Oblivion. The tip connected with Alfonso's chin and lifted him up into the air. Sora continued his onslaught by firing off Aeroga after Aeroga from his hand, keeping Alfonso juggled in the air. After a while, he dropped his hand and spun, batting straight into Alfonso's side and sending him on the ground.

Alfonso backed himself into the tree he had jumped from and clutched his ribs while staring at Sora with a look of outrage.

"Impossible! Tell me, how were you able to deflect my arrows so easily? And that speed!" Alfonso yelled.

"I have a good teacher," Sora responded proudly. He then squatted down to meet Alfonso at eye level. "Listen. I don't know who told you about it or showed you it but they're wrong. Those children, they were infected with the Chimera virus. There was no way of saving them. That's why I did what I did. Do I regret it? Of course. There's not a day that goes by where I don't blame myself. I can't forget such a horrible thing. It's etched into my mind and heart. A permanent scar that will never fade and I'll carry it with me for the rest of my life and even to the grave if it comes to it. Did I have a choice? If it meant letting them turn into Chimera then no."

"Chimera, huh… And why would I trust a single word you say?" Alfonso asked.

"You're a Keyblade wielder. Aren't you supposed to be objective? Figure it out," Sora said. A disappointed sigh escaped his mouth and he looked down at his Keyblade. "You know, I thought once that we could at least try and work together. That since we were all Keyblade wielders we could do better to keep the worlds safe. But we can't even agree on that. The problem's not on my end, it's with you people and I would be willing to work with you if you accepted that but if you don't, then I will keep fighting and I will keep winning."

"And you'll bring the whole world to ruin just to prove that point?" Alfonso asked.

"That prophecy of yours won't come true."

"It always does. I don't blame you for not believing it though. You only knew Yeul for such a short time before you let her die," Alfonso said, a hint of bitterness in his voice.

Sora's eyes lit up at this and a frown appeared on his face. "Don't tell me that's what this is all about? You're trying to satisfy your revenge under the guise of some vision?"

"Believe whatever you want. It doesn't change the fact though that you fail to protect anyone you touch. Yeul, those children… who else? I probably wouldn't want you joining Moira's Crescent anyway. We'd probably all be next." Alfonso attempted to laugh but after the slashing of Aeroga against his chest, all he could manage was a painful cough.

A disdainful look befell Sora's features, but he couldn't exactly deny the truth of the matter either. He could not yet shake off the guilt he felt for failing to protect them and it was one thing to blame himself but hearing it from someone else hit a lot harder. After so many words of encouragement from his friends, could they so easily be shattered like a sheet of ice with words of guilt?

A foggy smoke clouded Sora's vision. He tried rubbing his eyes at first, thinking that the night's events coupled with not having gotten any rest must have worn him out, but the fog failed to disappear. It was Alfonso's "What in spoony bard's name…" that caused him to look up and see that it was not his vision but rather the entire forest that was barely visible.

"The fog… this isn't good. We need to go!" Sora said before extending his hand out for Alfonso.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"What do you think? I'm saving your life. Can you walk?"

Alfonso gave a questionable stare to Sora as if he were crazy. In all truth, Sora thought he was pretty crazy to be helping someone who tried to kill him as well. But then again, it was just the kind of person he was and Alfonso could come to whatever conclusions he wanted to even if it was one blinded by revenge. He didn't know Moira's Crescent's relationship to Yeul all that well but he could at least tell from the way Alfonso talked about her that they probably had known her better than he had.

"I can walk just fine," Alfonso finally said after a submission of stubbornness. He pulled himself up by using the tree as a support and picked up his Keyblade. A screech and ragged breathing very close by sent them spinning around and raising their Keyblades.


The boat gently touched the shore. Lunda did not wait for it to fully settle and jumped out of the boat. As she ran, she looked behind her to see Pocahontas, Meeko and Flint following behind.

"Luna, wait!" Pocahontas called behind her. Luna slowed down but kept jogging at a steady pace. "There's a shortcut through the fields."

"Oh. I just realized that I have no idea where I'm going anyway. Take the lead," Luna said, letting out an awkward laugh. Pocahontas smiled and sped past Luna. She was going at a pace even faster than Luna could manage and she had to call several times for Pocahontas to slow down so she could catch up.

After swerving in and out of a bundle of trees, they arrived at a field with tall crops of maize in neat and tidy rows. Here, Pocahontas slowed down to tell Luna that this was where she worked and that the corn they had gifted Luna and her friends had come from these fields.

"How long do you usually work out here for?"

"A few hours a week. Don't worry, it's not nearly bad as you might think it is though it can be a bit tedious especially with the sun beating down on you. I spend so much time here I can pretty much tell when the maize is ready to be harvested. It has to do with the silk at the top of the corn, you see. Once it's shrivelled up, that means the corn has pollinated and you can harvest it," Pocahontas said.

"I… have learned things! I will definitely take that into consideration the next time I decide to grow crops," Luna joked. For just a moment though, the idea of living on farmland and living off what was purely on the land was one that appeared in her head. Well, the factory that was her mind conjured many insane fantasies anyway. This certainly wouldn't be the first and it wouldn't the last either.

The two and their animal companions moved quickly through the maize field and onto dirt road. Just up ahead was the village and even closer, Luna soon found as she ran head first into her was-

"Ow! Kairi, sorry about that. What are you doing out here?" Luna asked, rubbing her forehead.

"I can ask you the same thing. At least Pocahontas was with you. Where did you two go?" Kairi asked, mirroring Luna's own reaction. She shook her head immediately after. "Actually, no. That doesn't matter right now. Sora's in danger."
"Where is he? Is it the Chimera?" Luna asked.

"Not exactly. We set out hoping to find you after we saw that you were missing from your bed and then we heard this high pitched scream. We thought it was the Chimera too and that it had found you so we set out into the forest. We got pretty deep in when a member of Moira's Crescent attacked us," Kairi summarized in a hasty manner.

"If you're friend is out there by himself then we need to hurry. The night is not favourable to those who wander out by themselves," Pocahontas said.

"Why did you leave him though? If it was a Moira's Crescent member, wouldn't it have been dangerous seeing as they're after him?" quizzed Luna.

"Sora asked me to find you. He didn't want my help. He's stubborn like that. Anyway, we need to hurry!"

"I see. I'm sorry if it seemed like I was accusing you of leaving him. I'm sure you wanted to help him," Luna apologized, feeling quite guilty.

"If anything it's my fault. I shouldn't have pressured Luna into coming along with me. I could have waited until tomorrow instead. I was just so excited when she mentioned the other worlds and I wanted to confirm something," Pocahontas said.

"Don't worry about it. As far as I'm concerned, it's all water under the bridge at this point. Let's just get to Sora," said Kairi. She turned heel and led the way into the forest.


Arrows rained down from the sky and slammed down on the griffon. The creature shook off the arrows and flapped its wings wildly. A strong current of wind blew throughout the forest, disturbing the locale within the area. Sora attempted to hold his ground by stabbing his Keyblade into the ground and holding on for dear life, but the ground eventually broke apart and Sora was flung backwards by a powerful force. It was a sudden jerk of force that stopped him from crashing into a tree, and when he looked down, he could see a rope thrown around like a lasso around his waist and keeping him suspended in the air. As the wind died down, gravity took effect and Sora hit the ground on his back.

"Leaving so soon, Keyblade Master? Stand your ground," Alfonso mocked, releasing the rope from Sora's waist.

"You're a funny guy," Sora muttered. "But if you have time to make jokes, then you have to time to fight instead of just standing there, right?"

"Unlike you, I actually think about my next moves. You may not know this Sora, but every fight is like a chess match and on a looser basis, like poker. Both involve reading your opponents moves before they happen and visualizing the best possible strategy to overcome those moves. The Heartless may appear illogical but even they have patterns," Alfonso said.

"Well, I don't really get poker but I get the chess one. So you're reading the opponents moves then?" Sora asked.

"Hmph. Simpleton, a game of poker or two would do you well. Many lessons from poker can be applied to real life and it can often mean the difference between life and death," Alfonso said.

"I have the feeling you're greatly exaggerating there but okay. One thing though. We can't kill it. If there's any chance we can save it, I want to take it. Kairi has the injection needle for the antidote," Sora said.

"And you sent her away if I recall correctly," Alfonso said.

"Which is why we should try and capture it for now."

"And you're so sure this antidote will work?"

Sora shrugged. "I haven't seen its effects for myself yet but it helped someone I knew out. We have to try."

Alfonso seemed to weigh this in his mind for a moment before his eyes fell back on the Chimera which was currently charging at him. Sora wondered for a moment if Alfonso was so simply stumped that he couldn't move and was about to move when he saw something wondrous. At the last possible moment, Alfonso leapt around artfully to the side of the Chimera and brought his Keyblade down on to its body.

The Griffon extended its long neck around and tried to chip away at Alfonso's head. Alfonso moved his head out of the way of two of the lunges before wrapping his arm around the Griffon's neck. He conjured a yellow arrow out of nowhere and stabbed it into the Griffon's neck.

"Electrocute!" He yelled. Sora turned away as the dark forest lit up to a blinding display of light. The light soon died down as far as Sora could tell from his covered eyes and when he looked back, he saw a Chimera lying on the ground unmoving and Alfonso standing above him, coolly brushing off the soot that had stained his clothes.

"Wow… that was awesome!" Sora yelled with the giddy grin of a newly made fanboy.

"Please, it was nothing. Don't worry, it's still breathing. I hope you and your friends know what you're doing. By the way, this still doesn't make us allies so don't get the wrong idea. We are enemies, as far as I'm concerned," Alfonso said.

"Sora! Sora, where are you?"

Picking up on Luna's voice from somewhere behind him, Sora spun around in its direction. He could see what looked like three shadowy figures in the foggy distance. A grin on his face, Sora jumped up and down waving his hands. "HEY! OVER HERE!" He checked to make sure that they were coming in his direction before turning to speak to Alfonso. "Well if we do still consider me an enemy then- huh?"

As he looked around he could find no sign of Alfonso, only the slowly breathing creature whom he had just stood over.

Sora shook his head. "The oldest trick in the book. And he says I run. Don't worry. I'll be even stronger the next time we face each other, though I'd rather we could understand each other instead."

Footsteps coming closer made him turn again to see Luna, Kairi and Pocahontas emerge out of the fog with distinctive worried looks on their faces.

"No broken bones, right? Cuts? Bruises?" Kairi asked in between breaths.

"I said I had a plan. Gotta have more faith in me, Kairi. You seem more out of breath than I am," Sora said.

"Oh, shut up," Kairi replied. She looked past him along with Luna and Pocahontas and then looked back. "Sora, is that…"

"I'd like to tell you that I beat that thing all by myself but I kinda did nothing. It was that member of Moira's Crescent, Alfonso is his name. Kairi, do you have the antidote with you?" Sora asked.

"Yeah. Where is he?" Kairi asked while walking up to the Griffon.

"Alfonso? He just left, I think. He must be shy," Sora said. Kairi took the needle out of her pocket and injected the Chimera's neck quickly before backing away.

"And he let you go? Maybe there's hope yet then. If he was hesitant to kill you then surely the rest of Moira's Crescent must have some doubts about going after you," Luna said.

"I wouldn't be too sure of that. There doesn't seem to be any unanimous agreement among them. Some of them are hella convinced that I'm some sort of evil entity while others don't see me as a threat. Because of that, it's basically luck of the draw as to who we encounter and since we can't tell who is on what side I'd just rather avoid them all personally," Sora said.

"While I do question your use of the word 'hella', I guess you're right that the safest approach would be to avoid them. Still, I feel like if we could just convince one of them to argue our case for us, that would be enough, you know? Like we'd still have a fighting chance," Luna replied.

"Astra, right? You want to talk to her," Sora confirmed and Luna nodded.

"Mmph. She's the only one of the members that I actually know and I think she would listen. I know she was rather cold to you at first but if you got the chance to know her and her you then I think it would be different," she said, kneading her thumbs together.

"You also said you met someone else in their group who could help, right? Rhea, was it?" Kairi joined in with her eyes still on the heaving mass.

"Yeah, but who knows if she hasn't changed her mind by now. She said she was going to give me time to consider whether I should join Moira's Crescent but I don't know how she'd be able to get back to me. We're constantly moving worlds, after all," Sora said. Well… maybe he had an idea or two. That Alfonso had been able to find him had been no coincidence, that he was sure of. He was being tracked. If that were the case, then it was possible Rhea had also used the same technology to track them. Just thinking about it sent shivers down his spine. He could only wonder how living under the same roof with them would be with nothing but suspicion and distrust on both sides.

"And you'd be willing to accept her offer?" Kairi asked after what seemed like a long period of silence. "Just so you know, Riku and I would be supportive of whichever path you choose."

"Oh don't be ridiculous, Kairi. I'm not going to abandon you and Riku," Sora said.

"But it's not ridiculous, is it? This is your life we're talking about. Besides, I'm sure they would allow us in two if we asked," Kairi said.

"No, I'm not getting you involved in this. You've done a lot for me, but this is something I have to figure out on my own," Sora dismissed in a low voice.

"Why do you have to be so stubborn sometimes? This isn't just your fight. We all have something to lose here if we don't plan things out carefully," Kairi said. She was about to add something further but the inhumane groan of the Chimera rang out. Sora, Luna and Kairi reacted instantly by summoning their Keyblades but as the scream gradually morphed into a completely different cry, or whimper as such, they halted in their advance.

"It's… a puppy," Sora announced, more to himself in surprise than to anyone else. They could obviously see it anyway, but as to whether they believed it was something else entirely. Sora recognized the small puppy as being a Shiba Inu, a type which he knew mainly because Selphie owned one back on the islands.

"Well ain't that a thing?" Luna said. She crouched down and motioned with her hands for the puppy to come to her. When it did, Luna patted its head. "Good boy. He's so cute!"

"Yeah, I think I'm starting to notice a pattern between you and dogs here," Sora said to her. Worry soon displaced the grin on his face. "But turning a puppy into a Chimera? So then it wasn't just humans that Abraxas experimented on? Even from the grave he's making my blood boil."

"I've never seen something like this before. What kind of animal is it?" Pocahontas enquired.

"You've never seen one before? It's a dog. They're pets you keep in the house, or at least they are where we're from," Kairi said.

Pocahontas let out a small gasp. "Pets you keep in the house? That sounds horrible. Surely they should be free? I would never keep Meeko and Flint within the village."

"Huh? Oh no no. They actually like being in the house. They're domesticated animals. We consider them like family really. Now whose family do you belong to, little one?" Kairi asked.

"There's no tag or identification on him. He could be from anywhere. I mean, Abraxas had a laboratory back in Alexander so maybe the puppy could have come from there but that's assuming all the test subjects came from the same world and that that's his only laboratory," Luna said.

"So we have a puppy on board then for the foreseeable future," Sora said. A frown appeared on Luna's face which then soon became a look of fear as she took the puppy into her arms. "Is something wrong?"

"He just collapsed all of a sudden. The shaman... We have to get him to the shaman, quickly!" Luna yelled. She did not wait for the others to reply. Instead she took off running in the direction they had come from. Her shape soon disappeared into the fog and Sora had to rely on Kairi and Pocahontas' guidance to follow her.


For all he tried, Sora could not find the essential comfort known as sleep. Though his eyes were closed, there was one worry on his mind and that worry was what kept him awake. Upon returning to the village, they found that they did not have to wake the village shaman for he already stood waiting for them on arrival. The guards had most likely alerted him and Chief Powhatan, Sora deduced, after he and Kairi had pushed past them.

A short burst of anger followed in which Powhatan chided his daughter for leaving the village. It took the combined efforts of Sora, Kairi and Luna to quell the village leader and divert blame from Pocahontas. The wounded puppy in Luna's arms also accelerated this process. As Kekata led Luna to the hut where the hunters that had been attacked by the Chimera were, Luna refused to leave the pup's side. Her explanation—because she felt as if a thread tied the two together, that thread being that they had both been Chimera. She gave them her utmost assurance that she would be fine and that they both get some rest for the night. Pocahontas, feeling somewhat guilty for putting Luna in danger, decided to stay with her.

Sora twisted and turned throughout the remainder of the night however. He really only fell asleep after hearing the loud call of the wild turkey signalling sunrise. So it was only three hours, he estimated, of sleep before he exited the tent to a busy village. He let out a long yawn and immediately made his way to the hut. He didn't even need to enter to see that something was incredibly wrong.

"Sora…" Kairi said with a face much paler than usual. Besides her was Riku, using his shoulder as support for Kairi's head. Kairi had probably informed him about everything sometime beforehand. Sora absently shook his head and with his legs suddenly feeling weak, he gave into them completely and fell to the ground.

"No. No no no no NO! It's not fair. It's not… It's not…" Sora slammed his fist into ground, attracting the attention of villagers passing by. He didn't care.

"The overabundance of darkness in his heart was probably too much for the poor fella to handle. If your heart can't handle the imbalance, it shatters. I know because I faced the same hardships once before," Riku explained. But he had survived, Sora wanted to shout back at him. Riku at least had the choice of fighting back. The puppy and those like it, animal or human, they never had the choice. Abraxas had taken advantage of their weaknesses and exploited them in an effort to create a travesty. Worst of all, for all the despair and sadness he felt at the moment, Sora knew that none of it must have compared to what Luna was feeling at the moment. Did he dare even look at her after this? If he did, what would he find?

The knotted feeling in his stomach soon meant nothing to him and gave way to anger, directed at no one but himself. After Alfonso had put his trust in Sora's words and had even been willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and let him go based on that trust. He had betrayed him. There hadn't exactly been anything he could have done, true, but he still felt as if he alone were to blame for not being able to save it.

"It doesn't change the fact though that you fail to protect anyone you touch. Yeul, those children… who else? I probably wouldn't want you joining Moira's Crescent anyway. We'd probably all be next."

The words stung him like the sharpest of needles. Suddenly, Sora began to feel very uncomfortable. His eyes fell on Riku and Kairi for a moment; he looked away.