Chapter 8 Dr. Marx
Sora was thrown into the air by the explosion under his feet. As he flew, he saw Xosnaj and Boxcly disappear through Corridors of Darkness without another word, though Boxcly did laugh maniacally as he left.
He hit the ground hard with a loud 'thump.' Though, you really couldn't tell as it was drowned out by the explosions, the force of the shrapnel hitting the ground, and the screams of the town's citizens. Sora looked up to see the rigging for the face of the clock tower begin to fracture and the actual clock part fall out and hit the ground with a clattering crash! Blazing fire followed the clock face at it fell at the base of the train station. Sora couldn't tell from where he was if there were people there and if they had gotten injured, but he had other things to worry about.
The explosion had seemed to subside and all that could be heard were the groans of the people and the crackle of flames. Sora pushed himself off the ground and turned his head back to see his group pulling themselves up as well. No one seemed to be seriously hurt, only scuffed up and maybe bruised. Riku looked no worse for wear. His lip had been busted from hitting the bricked road from the blast but other than that he was an image of health. Donald, Goofy, and Mickey were alright though, a good bit of dust had gathered on top of the mouse's head. Kairi was alright, thank goodness. Just a bit of dust. Nothing to worry about.
Except for one teeny tiny thing that maybe ORGANIZATION XIII WERE BACK!
The day just couldn't get any worse!
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"Well this is just great!" strained Demyx from behind Goofy's shield. Why did that Keyblade brat have to be here? In Twilight Town? Though if he hadn't missed his guess, Boxcly and Xosnaj had been here too. The mass destruction pointed to them and it had to be them together cause only Xosnaj could keep Boxcly from going on a rampage and killing anyone and everyone! But right about now, he wished that Xosnaj had found him and Fuu than Sora.
After he had found Fuu, she had told him everything that had happened lately. He was surprised when she told him about Axel. Course she didn't know that he was a former Nobody. Demyx figured that if he was human again, Axel must be too. It seemed like Axel had already got in trouble with this girl's friend. Same old Axel. Always mixed in with something.
He was tempted to tell her what he thought had happened to this 'Seifer.' That Heartless had disturbed him. But as she had already been an emotional wreak when he had found her, it wouldn't work. After that they felt the tremor and he hid her them in a shop. Now that all the explosions were over he had taken her out of there to help her find her friends, but instead he was once again at the wrong end of not one, but four, four Keyblades! His life sucked!
"Hey, Sora," the Melodious Nocturne spoke with hesitation and true fear in his voice, "I'm not here to beat you up or anything. Honest!"
Sora sneered at Demyx. "Like I'm going to believe that after all that just happened. Two monsters just came in and tore this town apart and you think I'll just let you walk out of here? You're dumber than I remember."
Demyx flinched. He knew exactly why Sora wasn't going to trust him. He just needed some proof. That would be real easy! If only he and Fuu hadn't split up at that last alleyway. This was just great. "Come on Sora!" he pleaded. "I'm not a bad guy! Scouts honor."
But before Sora could respond another voice. "Hey, Sora!" He turned around to see Axel with Fuu who looked relieved to find Demyx in the presence of friends even if they were holding dangerous weapons of light aimed at his trough.
"Demyx!" She ran through the Keyblade wielders and grabbed Demyx by the hair. "Moron!"
"Sorry!" She may not look like it but she had one hell of a grip! He was as able to release himself from her only at the cost of a few hairs. "Look, Sora," he said finally being able to face the brunette again, "I was with her during the whole thing. She can vouch for me."
Sora looked to Fuu who nodded very animatedly which from his experience with her was a rare sight. "Fine, but I'm going to keep an eye on you."
Demyx shrugged. "Fair enough."
Axel looked at Demyx and grabbed him by the forearm and whispered to him. "Just to warn you now, Larxene's here too and she remembers everything!"
He paled, "Everything?" the redhead nodded. This was going to be utter hell.
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The group stood together at Hayner's house. That side of the town hadn't been affected by the bombs and many of the people were still looking if there had been anymore left that hadn't gone off yet. The clock tower, the sandlot, part of Market Street and a bit of Sunset terrace had been attacked by the two terrorists. Sora had been able to get everyone to calm down long enough for them to come together with a plan.
"Look guys," he said his voice strained as it was after having to yell over everyone else's, "we can't sit around and do nothing, we have to go and check out the other worlds to see if this was a onetime thing or this Xosnaj guy is wanting to do what happened here everywhere."
Axel jumped in. "He won't, Sora. The bombs here were warning shots to you. Not an attack."
"How do you know him so well?" Donald asked.
The pyro looked to his fellows then turned back to Sora and the others. "Shortly before you guys went to Castle Oblivion, Organization XIII got two new members. Xemnas found them and inducted them into the Organization. Boxcly, you got a good bit of his personality today. He is psychotic and will do whatever it takes for the pleasure of a kill."
"But," Kairi said confused, "I thought Nobodies couldn't feel anything?"
"We couldn't." Axel said firmly. "That what made Boxcly so strange. Every enemy he defeated he was revealing in their destruction and always on the lookout for more. Since all Nobodies use an element, Boxcly uses Color. His weapons are those prisms. They are not crystals but glass that is set that can bend light into all the colors of the rainbow. He can also refocus the light back around to make a laser if need be."
"A laser!" Goofy shouted, his dog eyes wide.
Axe nodded gravely. "That's just the tip of it. These two are dangerous enough alone, but pales in comparison of how they are together. Xosnaj is the only one who can get Boxcly to follow orders. Another than him, it would be impossible for someone to make Boxcly do anything. I'm not sure why he follows him, it just that he does."
"What were those things," Riku asked rubbing the bandages on his arm, trying to shake of the phantom pain, "that Boxcly summoned?"
Axe chuckled slight from the question. "Those would be Nobodies under his command. The Crysmals are unique to say the least. Unless you completely obliterate them, they would continue to grow and spread out. After the fight they will revert back to their original position and return to whence they came. But they are a true force to be reckoned with. Xosnaj can summon Smiths, as in blacksmiths. They are like the Berserkers that Saix used. Though these are stronger and are much faster. They have an axe blade on the other side of that hammer so it would be good to keep you distance."
Sora mulled over Axel's words. This was just the thing they needed. As if teenage romance weren't bad enough, now they had to deal with guy who had total control of a maniac. Just when things could have started to become simple . . . MORE CRAP!
Then Sora realized what Xosnaj has said. He knew! He knew who Sora was, where he came from, where his family was, where his friends were! And if the bombs were just warning shots, then what would he do once he was focused and ready for a war. What would happen to his mom, dad, Riku . . . Kairi? Would Xosnaj find them? Would he kill them? No. Sora wouldn't let him. He had beaten them once; he could do it again!
"Guys," he said determined, "we need to spilt up."€
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Leon looked at the letter Sora had sent ahead of the group that was to arrive later that day. The Organization was back and three of its former members were a part of the contingent sent to Radiant Garden. And here Yuffie had been complaining about it getting boring.
The swordsmen paced to Ansem's old office. They had finally been able to clean it up and make it look presentable. Many of the old heart research had been packed away and placed in a storage area. He had placed a few books in there himself but the walls that had once held pictures concerning a person's heart now were digital layouts of the city and maps of the worlds. He would constantly look at them and check to make sure there was not too much Heartless or Nobody activity. It had been hard for Cid to program the maps to the Nobodies as they truly didn't exist, but with time he had been able to lock onto the frequency of Corridors of Darkness being opened. He could never be worried about the World that Never Was. Since it was so close to the Realm of Darkness and the Realm of Nothingness, there was huge activity there. He had gotten use to the little red light under the name flashing. But when Twilight Town started to go off, it was a cause for concern.
He called in Cid to see if there were any messages coming in from the town. Nothing had come in until a letter came up off the digital screen. Sora had said that two new Organization members had come in and trashed the area with Nobodies and explosives. What's more, it seemed that the members on their side were afraid of these guys. Could his day get any better?
The door burst open to show a black clad, energetic ninja come in with that annoying little smile on her face. "Hey, Squall! The freak show has arrived!"
Him and his big mouth.
The scared man put away the letter and followed Yuffie down halls of the castle. After three years, they had finally finished the repairs on it and it looked like the castle it had once been before the Heartless. All the marble had been replaced and all the systems that had kept the complex operating were at a hundred percent. The heating and air conditioning were perfect and nothing was malfunctioning except maybe for the lights in the lower parts of the basement.
They made it to the castle postern where they could see three mostly normal looking people. There was a redhead leaning on the railing looking out at the morning sun. He was wearing black pants with a chain sticking out, a black tee with flames at the bottom. Standing with him was a blond with two streaks of her hair standing up like insect antennae. Her dress was similar to the guy next to her only her shirt had lightning on it instead of fire.
The last guy was the flashiest of them all. White pants, light blue shirt, with a long bright blue jacket and a sitar strapped to his back. His hair was light brown and spiky on top going up. He was leaning against the stone wall with earplugs in his ears head banging to something.
"Hey!" Leon yelled to get the newcomers attention. "You from Sora?"
The redhead and blond turned around to face him with looks of annoyance. "You had better be Leon, or you're going to be teriyaki. We aren't 'from' anybody. No orders, we might take suggestions though."
Leon felt the incredible urge to pinch the bridge of his nose, but he didn't. His experience with the new city council had given him much experience in dealing with stubborn and/or stupid people. Leon just looked at them passively and waved to them to follow him into the castle.
This was going to be long day.
XXXXXX
Sora couldn't breathe. His lungs were collapsing. The oxygen that kept his existence continuing was not coming in. He felt his skin turn blue. The world was slowly turning dark. Sora was losing his grip on life.
"Dear, please, your crushing our son."
Oh, how he would have to thank his father later.
Mrs. Hikari released the young Keyblade Master from her titanic grip and continued on her tirade on the importance of keeping away from dangerous men who could turn Sora into roast chicken. She seemed to forget that he had fought these sorts of people for two years of his life. Thankfully his dad wasn't joining with mom on the principle of safety of a home life as an accountant. Yeah right!
"Mom!" he yelled to get her attention. "I'm alright! I'm not injured! There is nothing wrong with me!"
His mother gave him "the look". You know that look you get when you tell the truth to your parents but they think that you're a lying just so you can go off and get into more trouble. That look. "Sora, you are bruised and those bandages on your leg tell me a different story. That you are being reckless and getting in things that don't involve you!"
Sora's father finally roused from the armchair he had been sitting in and put his hand on his wife's shoulder. He was a tall man who looked a lot like Sora. Brown hair, fair complexion but his eyes were green where Sora's eyes were blue. But those greens had a weird light behind them always that seemed somewhat intimidating. "Matsuri, he'll be alright. Why those are only small bumps and bruises from what I see. Both he and I have both had a lot worse and you know it."
The woman looked at her husband sadly. "That had been your job to do stupid things. He shouldn't be doing that. I know what I am doing, Ikari. This whole adventuring mess needs to be nipped in the bud. It's not like this Xoslig or whatever is name is will come here. It's not like he knows us."
At the very bad mispronunciation of Xosnaj's name, those gleaming green eyes seemed to widen. The man released his hand from his wife's shoulder and slumped back in his chair. Ikari put his hands together and brought h chin to rest on them in deep thought. ". . . Xosnaj . . ."
What's with dad? Ever since you told him about Xosnaj, he's been acting weird. Course he is the one who takes all the weird stuff in stride so he does kind of deserve some weird time. spoke Roxas from inside Sora.
Now Sora could have reacted to that sentence in a number of veritable ways. First, nothing. He could have done nothing. Smiled, smirked, or anything, but no, he had to laugh.
For most people this would not be a problem. Of course most people don't have to find denizens of Darkness and Nothingness on a daily biases nor do they travel with a duck and a dog just as often. And most people don't have a mother who doesn't understand the fact there is such a thing as smothering and over protectiveness.
"Sora!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. "I'm beginning to think that your behavior since you came back has been just too unusual. I saw you talking to yourself out loud numerous times. Did you hit your head while you were out there? No!' she said before he could answer such a stupid and pointless question. "Don't answer that! I'm going to take you to that new doctor that opened up here just before you got back. Dr. Vladimir Marx."
Before Sora knew what was happening he had been shuffled off to go with his mother to see this Dr. Marx. He had never heard of the guy. His mother said that he had arrived only a few days ago. His new little 'clinic' had been set up in the shopping area near the school that now, unfortunately, Sora attended. That was just great. A shrink next to a school. What will they think of next?
The two Hikaris made good time as they walked though the hustle and bustle of the shopping district. Sora could only wonder how these people would react if they had heard the news. Twilight Town attacked! Organization XIII back in business. Yeah, like they would believe him, the runaway with the weird key.
Sora looked at the clinic in somewhat fear. It was a one story building that looked more like a house than a doctor's office. There was a picture of the good doctor in the window. He was a middle aged, somewhat wrinkled, brown hair flecked with grey and beardless, though the picture suggested that he had shaved a good bit off recently. He was smiling, though it looked somewhat strained, like it was hard for him to do.
"Well," she said, pointing to the building, "don't stand there. Go in!"
He entered into the house and swore that the seasons had gone from summer to winter. The floor was hard metal with those flimsy plastic chairs that were supported by arching metal rods. Whoever was running the thermostat was insane because there was no humanly reason to have a building this cold. He could have sworn that he saw ice on the metal floor. Sora sat down in the chair and expected to find ice in the seat of the chair, but it felt surprisingly lukewarm. Mother went up to a desk they had sent up to the side of the room where a young man a few years older than Sora sat with a paperback book in his hands reading.
"Hikari, Sora: two o'clock," she said simply. The boy didn't even look up from his book, but handed her a slip of paper and continued to read the book. Though Sora could faintly make out the top of a scar running down the boy's face. "Come on, Sora." He got up from his chair as he went into the 'dragon's lair.'
She opened a door on the left side of the room and stepped into a hallway. Their seemed to be multiple rooms but they were heading to the room at the end of the hall. He knew this cause that was the one with DR. MARX, PSYCHIATRISTstamped on it. He had expected another picture, but there were surprises everywhere. They stopped at the door and mom backed away. "Aren't you going in?" he said.
She shook her head. "No, I think it would be better for you if I didn't go in." Yeah a whole lot better. It's much better nowadays to tell the things you can't tell your mother to total strangers!
Sora sighed and turned the doorknob. Inside he saw a darkened, somewhat maroon walled room. Of course in front of him was the famous couch that they made you sit on, and in a small, black spinning chair sat the doctor.
Just as the picture had shown him, Marx was tall and seemed pretty well built, especially for someone who sat in a chair and listened to people's problems. His brown and grey hair was swept back and flowed down his neck but stopped at his collar. A bit of five o'clock shadow was starting to form on his chin, but he looked just as the picture had shown him with an open black suit with a white buttoned up shirt and black dress pants.
"Ah, Sora," he said in a deep voice that fitted for a man his size, "It's nice to meet you. Take a seat; you don't have to lie down if you don't want to."
Sora looked at the doctor strangely but complied and sat down. "I'm not crazy."
Marx snickered. "Never have said that. No one is crazy. Just different. Such as you."
Sora darkened. "That's just another way to say I'm crazy." He rose to his feet. "Just unlock the door and let me go." He grabbed the handle of the door and found it . . . unlocked.
"Go as you like but your mother will send you right back in here as I know she is right out that door." The doctor looked at Sora gently. "You might as well sit down and at least pretend that you have something wrong with you. Such as a certain blond that talks in your head."
Silence flooded into the room and Sora didn't know at that point if his voice would return.
HE KNOWS! GASP! BLASPHEMY! I NEED CAFFEINE! ALL! GIVE IT ALL TO ME! MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I'M BOARD.
But we have no time for the triviality that is . . . politics. Never mind. But who is this doctor? Where does he come from and is he important? Will I ever get back to the point?
REVIEWS!
Fiendslayer- I need my eyebrows but Zabuza doesn't. Now I have five unique and very detailed orders for you. Go get me Dr. Pepper. Go get me Dr. Pepper. Go get me Dr. Pepper. Go get me Dr. Pepper. Go get me a Taco.
0o0-The-Melodious-Nocturne-0o0-there is your diet of hdyrokenetics for the months so you may be happy and content for all time or five minutes. Either or.
flowergirl220-You have no psychic powers, those are copyrighted by the Wonderful World of Disney. But worry not. There will be a great minimum of drrors in this chapter. Three million a sentence! Isn't it Grand!
Well, I hope you all have had a wicked summer and hope the next one is even better. May the Caffeine be with you!