Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or any of the characters.
This chapter was written with almost no sleep, five assignments due the next day, two entries to turn into a club, and a diet Dr. Pepper. Good lord! Why's the fridge full of diet! Whyyyyy?Note: Currently in search of a beta for this story. Must be able to remind the lazy author to update, must be literate and grammatically correct, and must be able capitalize correctly. Don't be lazy; the shift key isn't that far away!
.::C h a p t e r IV::.
"W-w-wha…" Naminé dropped the rag, mouth agape; her blue eyes darted between the two men and the possible escape routes (Something that consisted of sprinting to the nearest exit or hiding under the counter). Somewhere, her flight-or-fight senses screamed for her to find a way to sink the boat and hope they died a horrible death of pressure compression as it sunk to the bottom of the marina.
Then again, water was Demyx's specialty.
And having a Nobody who could compress both time and space probably didn't push things in her favor, either.
'Shit' summed the situation up quite nicely.
Xigbar, oblivious to the blonde's train of thought, ran his fingers through his hair, grabbing his low ponytail and tugging on it, spilling the peppered hair over his shoulder when he pulled his arm back. "Haven't seen you since you found your 'other'." Naminé felt the hostility in the word 'other', but he didn't look like he was about to shoot her. Instead, he folded his arms across his broad chest. She almost wanted to laugh, Two looked different in a worn blue shirt with the words: "I'm too old for this shit" printed in white. "Not all it's cracked up to be, huh?"
She pursed her lips, fingers clutching the edge of the counter in a tight, knuckle-white grip.
"Hades doesn't do favors without a price." She reminded stiffly, shifting her weight to her other foot and straightening her back and shoulders to seem at least a bit more intimidating. She didn't feel the least bit intimidating…
Demyx didn't seem to think so either as he leaned forward, poking the spot between her brows with a sidelong grin on his face.
"We didn't deal with Hades…" His voice trailed off, hinting they'd found a way to work around the short-tempered god. "But how do you think Axel got out?"
Naminé paled.
She'd know Axel was on the island. She'd thought he'd just been passing through looking for Sora. But, as fate would have it, Sora was here looking for Kairi.
Sora who would take Kairi away, and she would fade into being just another 'other'.
"Squirt," Xigbar gave a side-glance to Naminé and the addressed looked up, a trace of fear lining her eyes. She didn't want to fade. When a Nobody faded, they didn't just die; they ceased to exist. Period.
"Listen, we're not here to cause trouble. We're looking for a place to crash." He explained, crossing his arms, but still gesturing with one as he continued. "We're over the 'becoming whole' gig. What's worth being whole? We saw what happened to Xemnas when he came to the underworld. Problem was: it wasn't just his heart."
"He found his heart, but he's changed. Whenever we saw him, he was always arguing with himself."
Naminé shuddered. She remembered the tests they sometimes performed in Castle Oblivion, placing a Dusk and its Heartless together. The results had been horrific.
The transformation reverted the body back a human body, but the heart and body had refused to be the dormant spirit to the other, making the man fight continuously with himself. Finally, both heart and body had snuffed out one another, leaving nothing but a corpse in the corner of those dreadful white rooms.
For a moment, Naminé felt guilty. At one point, they had all ached to be whole, and, while Naminé hadn't been a part of Organization XIII and had been against the idea of creating her own heart by means of another, she was still a Nobody. Only a fraction of what she should be.
Unlike returning to being Whole on her own, she had yielded to Kairi, becoming the dormant being. After she had separated from Kairi, she no longer relied on instinct like other Nobodies did. There was a piece of Kairi's heart within, beating; and it was enough for Naminé.
She didn't want to lose the feeling of being whole when she was on the Outside with Kairi.
"Well, well, well… Looks like someone decided to have a party without us?"
Did she say shit? She meant double shit.
0-0-0-0-0
Scratching the stub of his morning shadow, Cid stared at the ground, concentrating on the scratched metal poking through the asphalt. It wasn't very big. Just something that no one would notice unless they looked for the imperfection in the asphalt like the blond was.
"Shit…" He sniffed, flicking his nose with his thumb. He crouched down to the exposed area and ran thumb along the area no bigger than his palm. "Fucking kid and his shit driving…" He couldn't count how many times Riku had parked in this area, the lenient pavement easily ruined by the tires.
He got up—a sharp twinge in his lower back making him snort at the idea he was getting old—and he turned on heel toward the store. He moved toward the tills as the door closed behind him with the harsh clang of a tin bell. He scanned the store. No one was up any of the aisles, and Yuffie and Roxas wouldn't be in until later. He turned back around, moving toward the doors and grabbing the double-sided sign, flipping it over, letting it tap against the window as the word "CLOSED" hung in bright red letters.
Cid stalked down the aisles, grabbing a bottle of Lipton Iced Tea as he passed by the shelf of drinks, and walked through the door to his office.
The small room was messy (to say the least), with his swivel chair and desk resting against a cream-colored wall and an ugly puke-colored filing cabinet shoved into the east corner. Wrappers, cigarettes, and stray papers were skewed about the cheap blue carpet, a coffee stain near the door smelling like it'd been freshly spilled, almost undetected under the smell of smoke.
Overall, Cid liked his workspace.
Moving over to his desk and setting the tea down, he bent down, opening one of the side drawers and reached into the desk, fingers searching for something. When his fingers ran over a small switch, something that barely poked through the metal, he heard a quiet click and retracted his arm. Behind him, he heard an even louder click and the sliding of metal.
"CID!"
The addressed rolled his eyes; turning around to look at a boy standing in the doorway, opposite of the way he'd come in, hands on slender apron-clad hips.
"What?" He growled, grabbing the bottle of tea off his desk and unscrewing the top. "If it's about the spot in the back, I'm takin' care of it."
The boy opened his mouth, hand raised and one finger stiffly pointed at the man, and then closed it as he pursed his lips, finger curling into his fist and glaring at Cid.
"How're the repairs comin' on the transporter?" Cid asked, taking a swing from the bottle, giving a lip-smacking sigh as he pulled away. Much better…
"Dale's working on it now." The smaller mumbled. In his high-pitched tone, he grumbled something under his breath about leaving Dale with equations and ending up with only half your body where you wanted it to be, but Cid ignored him as he pushed past and ascended the spiral staircase. "Also, the Finrir has been having engine trouble and the Tiny Bronco's shield was damaged in the test-drive. Those government satellites orbiting are getting harder to avoid—"
"When's the kid supposed to arrive?" Cid interrupted, smirking when he heard Chip let out a 'hmph' behind him. The brunet hated being interrupted and Cid found the young mechanic to be wound a little to tight.
His brother on the other hand…
The two paused in their descent as a loud BANG from somewhere in the next room was heard, followed by the exclaimed: "SWEET MOTHER OF CHRISTMAS CHESTNUTS!"
Rushing down the last steps, they rounded the corner, looking down at the green glitter-like substance that shot out from beneath the cracks in the door.
"Dale?" Chip stepped forward hesitantly, biting his lower lip.
Cid looked down at the mess on the floor, scuffing his shoe across and surprised to find it didn't come off as easily as he thought it would. It was going to be a pain in the ass to clean later…
The door swung open to reveal another brunet, almost identical to Chip, save for the red highlights in his short hair.
Dale still had on his safety goggles and work apron, but he was covered head-to-foot in the same green glitter than was on the floor, walls, and ceiling. His hair looked like it had been gelled back—the blast the mostly likely reason why—sticking almost straight back and his whole body shimmered in the dim lighting.
That probably wasn't going to come out easily, either.
The youth reached up, removing his spectacles and pushing them up into his hair, blinking as his world focused back in and adjusted to the light. Cid nearly choked on his tea when he saw the large round glitter-free circles left around Dale's eyes.
"WOWY ZOWY!" He exclaimed, rushing forward to grab his brother in a hug. "Ya shoulda seen it, Chipper!" He giggled, bouncing with his brother in his arms. Chip didn't seem to share his brother's excitement, his expression crossed between being glad his brother was still breathing and scolding the younger. "It's fixed, but the built up magic caused an explosion; but oh boy, ya shoulda seen it!"
Cid shook his head, producing both a cigarette and his lighter from his back pocket. "Good job kid." The blond praised, patting Dale's speckled hair as he brushed past the twins, lighting the joint as he stepped into the room. "Just hope it doesn't do that when the kid arrives…" He mumbled, stopping to survey the damage of the room with a raised blond eyebrow.
The teleported hummed happily in the corner; the rest of the room lay coated in a thin sheen of green glitter, shinning as it caught the lighting of the room. I looked like no spot had been spared.
Vaguely, the blond mechanic was amazed Dale hadn't swallowed any of it in that big mouth of his.
0-0-0-0-0
"PERFECT!"
I reached up, feet still moving, wiping away the sweat gathering at my forehead.
"You're a star!"
Over the sounds of cheers and bad techno, I could hear Selphie behind me, seated on the couch, chanting: "Messpmesspmessp!" which translated as "mess up" as she bounced up and down. I smirked, resisting the strong urge to turn around and laugh at her when I passed the two hundred-combo count. She squealed, throwing a pillow at my back, but I didn't stop as it gave a soft 'fwump' and fell to the floor.
The song ended and the screen faded, returning to show the score. I grinned, reaching down to scoop up the pillow and throw it back at Selphie when she when she attempted a dive for the PS2. Her object was most likely to turn it off before the score could be saved.
"You're so mean, Riku!" She pouted.
I ignored her, moving back into the kitchen and grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge, "Says the one who was blackmailing me yesterday."
"Not like you had anything planned yesterday." Selphie called from the living room, concentrating on setting up another round of DDR. She'd forced me to watch her play after commandeering the TV. After watching her fail and telling her that even I could beat it, she'd told me to "put my foot where my beat was"; soon after learning her foot apparently belonged in her mouth.
"Besides, you would have slept in all day if I hadn't gotten you up!" She continued, her head turned in my direction, but her eyes trained on the screen while she stomped on the arrows in time with the beat.
I spread my arms, bottled water in one hand, and cap in the other. "Welcome to the world of apathy, I'd say congrats but I just don't care enough."
She giggled, but lost her rhythm.
"Riiiikuuuu!"
0-0-0-0-0
If saving the world (twice) with the help of a talking duck and a dog hadn't been weird enough, Sora found himself oddly comfortable (as comfortable as this uncomfortable silence would let him anyway), seated between Axel and Xigbar, sipping at his hot chocolate while Naminé looked about ready jump out of her skin—or close to murdering Axel.
"My food's cold…" The redhead whined, poking at the small container with his plastic spork, rolling a tomatoes around with a pout on his thin lips. Naminé had been generous enough to provide Axel with something to eat after his continuous moaning about Sora denying him breakfast so they could catch the ferry, but Sora suspected she regretted doing so.
"It's a salad." Naminé almost hissed. The brunet had never really seen the blonde so hostile, but, people changed with a hundred-something years between… "It's supposed to be cold…"
Demyx, sitting on the other side of Xigbar, began to play with the liquid in his cup, twisting a stream of coffee around in the air with his fingers, looking anywhere but where Axel was. Sporadically, he would glance to Xigbar, and when he did, Xigbar would look down at him, a small smile turning the corners of the gunman's lips.
Sora watched, amazed at how smoothly it moved across the table in large sweeping motions. He had never gotten the chance to watch Demyx use his powers. Well, he'd never gotten the chance to watch Demyx use his powers for something other than fighting… You tend to be a bit distracted trying to save the world.
"Why are you here?" Naminé asked; sitting down in a chair she pulled from a nearby table. It was still early and the ferry hadn't docked yet to pick up the waiting businessmen and women waiting for a trip to the main industrial island, so most of the ferry was empty, save for the early birds.
She cast a quick look over her shoulder, watching the door of the small reserved party room they had occupied. "Do you have any idea what kind of trouble you'll cause if someone finds out that you're not from this world?" The blonde sighed, glaring at each of them for a moment before she let out an exasperated sigh.
"Listen, we just need some fake Ids and a roof over our head." Axel rested his head on his hand, looking both bored an amused at the situation. Sora had a sneaking suspicion it had to do with Demyx, seeing as the water-user refused to look to pyromancer in the eye. Axel just had a habit to rub people the wrong way.
"We can take care of the rest." Sora tore his eyes away from Demyx's water figure (it had taken on the appearance of four-inch-tall Axel, walking across the table and wagging his finger dramatically as he walked around the table, mouth yapping) and looked to Naminé. "Listen, Naminé, we've been searching for years and I believe that—"
"I can't help you." Naminé snapped, her glare intensifying. She crossed her arms. "For all you know, they might not even be here. Now if you'll excuse me…" Scooting back her chair, she stood quickly, ignoring her chair as it clattered to the thinly carpeted floor.
"Naminé! Wait!" Sora quickly stood, knocking over his own chair and dashed after Naminé's hurried figure. "Naminé!"
Sora stopped, a strange sense of déjà vu halting his movements.
'Riku? Waitblonde…nosilverdon'tgowait… don'tleavemenowatchoutriku…'Sora, overcome by the flitting images in his mind, vaguely heard voices calling out, the pounding of rushed footsteps, before his skull connected with the hardwood floor and the world went black.
'Riku…'.:: E n d C h a p t e r::.
Author Ramblings:
Sorry, another slow moving chapter… I enjoyed writing in Chip and Dale. The duo is fun to write and I enjoyed writing Dale's dialogue. But don't get onto me about the slight bashing of DDR. I own one and I love it to pieces. x3
Sorry this took so long… I'm part of the AkuRoku club on DeviantArt and I've been working on the October contest entry and a 100 Prompt entry… Must finish…
Music: The Dresden Dolls: "Gravity" and Suicide Machines "High Anxiety"