A slender face stared at the steamed mirror that obscured his features from view, a pale hand reached forward and wiped away some of it to reveal the face gazing into the glass surface.
The young male heaved a sigh as he took in his appearance in the reflection; creamy peach skin was slightly damp with the steam that filled the bathroom, his silver hair fell across his shoulders with even shorter bangs falling into his jade green eyes.
The band he normally used clutched tightly in his right hand. A pair of grey jean pants graced his lean form with a white sleeveless shirt adorning his chest.
For the past 20 minutes while he'd been was taking a shower he was trying to convince himself to take Velshdein's offer and not go through with their plan. So far he'd come up with half a million reasons why he shouldn't.
But only one reason why he should, and unfortunately this one was more convincing than all the others.
The sound of the door opening shook him out of his reverie, and just as he started to turn to face the person's arms encircled his waist. He felt a head placed between his shoulder blades. The height of the person was too short to be any of the doctors so he guessed it was his friend, Halo, of course this suspicion was confirmed when the boy spoke.
"Hey."
He smiled, immediately recognizing the voice. "Aren't you supposed to be upstairs?"
"Yeah but…" The arms tightened slight around him. "I was worried about you. You okay?"
Almost instantly the smile disappeared replaced by the same somber expression.
"I don't wanna leave him." He replied his voice breaking, looking down and away from his reflection. "I just… If I die here I will never see him again."
Tears fell from his eyes dropping into the sink. For several moments not one spoke, neither knew what to say. They'd never even considered the prospect of dying; of course they knew it was a possibility but none of them wanted to entertain the notion.
"I promised him… I promised him that I would come back." The taller boy said shakily.
'And now I'm not even sure I can do that anymore.'
"Then go back." His head lifted up looking into the mirror, the only thing visible of his friend was the dark brown hair resting on his shoulder.
"I believe in you and I know you can do it. Just-- please promise me one thing?"
"Anything."
"Promise you'll take me with you?" He chuckled at the request.
"To the ends of the universe and back Halo." He replied softly, a mantra they'd repeated to each since they were children.
______________________________________________
Riku opened his eyes, realizing with a grimace that he was in the same position as before staring at the same ceiling fan, surrounded by the same ugly orange walls.
Riku furrowed his silver brows in bewilderment. 'Something very strange is going on.'
This one particular dream had felt very real, almost as if he was there or had been there.
He thought about going back to sleep and seeing if he could get back into the dream, perhaps continue and see what else would happen. But he decided to sort out the events of the second one before going into another.
'The boy, I couldn't see his face but I remember his voice it sounded like the one from before. He took my pain away. He that told me I had forgotten.'
'But he'd been different this time and so was I, like I knew him or something. And who was the person they were talking about?'
He groaned in frustration, the more he tried to figure the dream out the more questions arose instead of answers.
'This person they keep talking about might the key; everything is about him. If I can find out who he is I can find out why all this is happening and why this freak Maldeo is after me.'
Jade eyes darted to the right side of the bed as a loud snort erupted in the room bringing his attention to Dr. Dimitri and Dr. Virgil, both were lying asleep in recliners. It seemed the loud sound had come from Virgil, as he was emitting various mutterings and grunts every now and then.
Silver eyebrows wrinkled in confusion, 'What a weird guy.'
Riku shook his head and turned away from the two centering his attention back on the dreams.
The dream had also been in the house as well, but that wouldn't make sense. He hadn't met the two doctors until he'd gotten trapped in here.
'Getting help from them won't do me any good, they're too secretive. But if I can get help from one of those robots…' A mischievous grin spread across his face. "Maybe they can tell me what I want to know.'
He slowly pulled away the orange covers care not to make a sound so he wouldn't disturb the two. He swung his legs over to the left side of the bed and stepped onto the cold floor, making a soft creak as he did.
Riku glanced back at the pair hoping the noise hadn't woken them up, thankfully they were still sound asleep. The green-eyed teen stood up and stalked quietly toward the door; with one last look at the two he left room slowly closing the door behind him.
______________________________________________
"They've escaped?!" The Heartless King shouted quaking rage.
His generals feared to speak up not wanting to anger their master more. But their leader Tomoko seemed to bold enough to take the chance.
"Someone else interfered, My Lord, someone we weren't prepared for. But we know where they're going next and we can capture them once they've landed."
"A frontal attack on Disney Kingdom would suicide."
Tomoko eyes flared with anger turning to face Tsineka, his second in command. Although he was supposed to be the leader of the group she almost always refused to recognize his authority.
"Now that they have both Keyblade masters, and this new addition, King Mickey will only call more reinforcements to his aide so that we'll have no chance to get to either them."
"And what do you suggest Sin?" She smiled at his bitter tone but nonetheless she did have a solution.
"If Mickey does plan to call for aide he'll need to send a personal messenger. And along with that personal messenger a bodyguard. And when he does we can capture them and find a way to get into Disney Kingdom undetected."
Even Tomoko had to admit it was a good plan, but risky as well. If Mickey realized that his messenger had been gone too long he'd automatically expect foul play and think it was Heartless, and prepare for an attack. But he'd have no way of knowing just how they would attack.
It was risky, but good.
The King seemed to be pondering the same thing as Tomoko.
"Tomoko your objective is still to find and capture the Keyblade masters. Tsineka you may go through with your plan but know that if it fails you will have to face the consequences for it." Both generals nodded in reply. "You're dismissed."
The Six Generals turned to leave, but one of them stayed behind.
His name was Qora; he was the most powerful general in the army. The King's Right hand man.
Of course it was only natural that he trust him, they'd been through quite a lot together.
"I must ask something of you, Qora." He could tell it was serious for him to be calling him by his name. "Surely you've felt it too."
"I—I tried to ignore it." Qora replied. "But it isn't going away."
"The source is focused intently in Twilight Town, I need you to find it and destroy it before it gets any stronger."
"I understand."
"Don't underestimate this thing Qora, even in this state he's still powerful. With one swipe…He could kill you."
________________________________________________
"Wow, Donald hits hard." Leon said, observing the bright pink bruise that now shown as a result of the brutality the magician had given his former student earlier.
"It was only one time; I don't see why he had to get so worked up about it." Tai grumbled, rubbing his cheek.
The two of them walked down the hallways of the castle, heading towards the throne room to see Mickey.
Unfortunately for Tai they'd met Donald on the way going to the meeting; and even worse was that he'd already been told by Sora in an attempt to get sympathy for his new friend that his former student had performed the forbidden spell.
Needless to say the result wasn't pretty.
"Well seeing as the only reason you managed to escape those heartless using that spell was by sheer luck, I'd say that Donald has every right to turn you black and blue." Leon said.
"Oh shut up! Who asked you?" Tai retorted in anger.
Leon smirked. "You'll get over it."
"So what was so important about this meeting that you had to send Sora on some bogus scavenger hunt around the castle?" Tai asked.
"It was not bogus! I really did hide candy all over the place." Leon replied.
"Liar, you hid fruit not candy you just made him think you did so he'd leave."
"Well in my defense it's much healthier for him anyway." Tai rolled his eyes.
Once they reached the double doors leading to the room, Leon paused and put a hand in front of his companion to stop him from reaching for the knob; Tai looked up at the tall man in confusion.
"Before we go in, I need you to promise me something." His tone was grim; his steel gray eyes cold. "Whatever you hear in this room, no matter how much he asks, do not tell Sora anything. Understand?"
"Leon---I don't…"
"I need you to do this for me Tai, no questions asked. Say you won't tell him."
"Alright I won't tell him." He said still confused by the man's actions.
They entered the room noticing immediately that Mickey had made a few adjustments to the throne room.
A large circular table now stood in the center accompanied by several chairs put around the edge.
The king beckoned the two to sit and join him; Minnie sat on the right of Mickey, and Daisy on the left.
Next was on the right of Minnie was Aerith, The three fairies Flora, Fauna, Merryweather, and Merlin. Then last but not least Yen' Sid.
Sitting beside Daisy on the left were Huey, Duey, Louie, and Mr. Scrooge beside a very unhappy Pete.
Tai and Leon sat on the left across from them was Aerith, it was then that the two noticed that she was unfortunately sitting in between Flora and Merryweather.
Leon groaned inwardly. 'This was going to be a very long meeting.'
A small ping echoed in the room. "Hey Leon," Grey eyes turned to Tai.
"Weren't Aerith's clothes pink?"
'Oh no!'
He turned his gaze back toward the young woman; Merryweather was currently trying to convince her that her clothes would better compliment her skin tone if the color was blue.
However Flora, upon noticing the sudden change in Aerith's raiment, disagreed completely and changed the clothes back to their originally color.
This only served to anger Merryweather and the short fairy changed the color back to blue, shouting to Flora that is was no business of hers.
"But blue is such a drab color Merryweather, pink is so much better and so much brighter too." She said trying desperately to reason with her.
"What about him?!" She said pointing a finger to Merlin who jumped in alarm.
By the look on his face Leon could tell the wizard what the man was thinking. That perhaps coming to this meeting and sitting so close to the two fairies was a very bad idea.
"He's wearing blue, I bet he thinks it's a fine color. Don't you Merlin?"
"Umm, I suppose." He struggled to say, not knowing which side to take.
If he took Merryweather's side, Flora would either kill him or turn him pink or both.
"But I'm sure if given the chance he'd gladly wear pink, wouldn't you Merlin?" His eyes grew wide as saucers at her statement.
"No-No I wouldn't thank you." He replied shaking his head violently.
"Well it doesn't matter! She was wearing pink when she got here and she's wearing pink now!" She shouted in fury waving her wand and changing the clothes back.
"No really—It isn't that big of a deal--" Aerith tried to say but again Merryweather interrupted.
"No! You're not stopping me this time Flora, she's wearing blue!" Merryweather waved her wand this time and transformed the color to blue.
The transformation went back and forth so much that neither fairy knew where their spells where going and everyone's clothes where being changed.
Both Merlin and Yen'sid put up shields over themselves to avoid getting hit, however everyone else was not so fortunate.
Pete got hit by Merryweather's spell and his clothes were turned blue. The triplets were hit by Flora turning each of their clothes a different shade of pink.
Leon and Tai ducked under the table to avoid the spells.
"This isn't exactly how I thought the meeting would be." Normally Leon would've laughed at Tai's jest but this was serious.
'This isn't supposed to be happening.' He tried to come up with a way to stop the madness. Hopefully one that didn't include getting hit by one of the spells the fairies were throwing.
Scrooge was most unlucky for he was hit by both, half pink and half blue.
Daisy was hit Merryweather and Minnie was hit by Flora but since they were already wearing blue and pink it didn't make much of a difference. That was until they were hit again, this time by the opposite colors.
"Hmm." Daisy observed the color of blue on Minnie.
"Ohh!" And Minnie regarded the color of pink on Daisy.
"Looks better don't you think?" Said Daisy, with a playful smile on her face.
"You know I always liked the color blue." She replied chuckling slightly.
The fairies fired three spells each in quick succession, all six of them hit the walls and bounced off hitting the corner of the room turning around and aiming straight for Mickey.
It was then that Yen'sid picked the opportune time to save his pupil and drag him away from the oncoming blast using a spell to pull him into the safety of his shield.
"I think it would be best for you to end this fight Mickey," He told the small mouse. "Before someone, namely you, loses your color."
Just as the fairies readied their wands for another flurry of spells Mickey intervened.
"Ladies! That's enough!" He shouted. "We've barely gotten the meeting started and already you're fighting amongst yourselves. We're supposed to be figuring out ways to defeat our enemy, not each other."
The two fairies looked back at each other.
"He's right you know." Flora said shamefully.
"Yeah, I know." Merryweather replied, reluctantly putting her wand hand at her side.
"I'm sorry I called your color drab Merryweather." Flora said, putting her arms out to hug the fairy.
"Oh, don't be too sorry. I suppose… If everything were blue I'd be pretty boring." Merryweather smiled and flew into her friend's arms, hugging her tightly.
Together they turned everyone back to normal, well almost everyone, Minnie and Daisy had requested the fairies leave their colors the way they were.
After they'd cleaned up the mess everyone sat back down in their seats, though Tai could swear that Aerith and several others had moved from their original seating now positioned even farther from the two fairies; but before he could bring this to Leon's attention Mickey began speaking.
"Alright then, now that everything is back to normal lets begin the meeting."
"Now I know you're all wondering why you've all been called here. Several months ago we started to notice that stars were disappearing in the sky much like before when ansem was controlling the heartless and making them take over worlds.
What's more disturbing was that the stars that were disappearing are planets that had already been sealed off from the darkness by Sora."
"I've been trying to find more information about how and why this has been happening but so far nothing has turned up. All we've heard are rumors and we can't be sure if any of them are true."
'That must be the reason why Leon was staying out all the time in the day and coming home at the same time every night.' Tai mused as he recalled all the days he'd asked Leon what he'd been doing at the man cleverly evaded the question
"So what's the plan?" Tai asked.
"We'll to get help as fast as we can and mobilize teams on the worlds surrounding the area to protect them from whatever's doing this." Mickey replied. "Pete and the three fairies will go to each world and assemble a team to help fight off the heartless."
"What?!" Pete said, complete fear and horror on his face. "I have to work with these two?!"
"I'm afraid it can't be helped Pete. Now as I was saying, the fairy godmother will work with them from here in case they need further assistance from us.
Leon and Sora will go to Midgar and find the team known as A.V.A.L.A.N.C.H.E. with their help you should be able to find out just who's taking over the other worlds." Mickey took a file and slid it over to Leon who opened the file, briefly looking it over.
"This is a list of who to look for; Aerith was once a part of team A.V.A.L.A.N.C.H.E. so you'll need to talk with her before you leave and get some background information on 'em."
"Sounds pretty easy." Leon said.
"Aerith, Minnie, and Daisy will stay here with Riku to try and help him the best they can. Hopefully we'll find some way to wake him up and then he can join you and the others. Meanwhile Goofy and me will try and get to the worlds that Leon, Sora and A.V.A.L.A.N.C.H.E. can't reach.
Yen'sid, Merlin, Scrooge, Tai, Huey, Duey, and Louie you guys stay here with Donald and protect the castle. Can I count on you guys?"
"You bet Mickey!" Huey shouted.
"Yeah! No heartless is getting in here while we're still kicking!" Said Louie.
"I hate to leave you here by yourselves but with the three of you magicians and help from Huey, Duey, and Louie together I'm sure you can defend against any attack!"
"Meeting adjourned." Mickey announced.
Everyone stood and filed out of the room each going their separate ways.
But Tai as usual followed Leon by force of habit seeing as he was supposed to go with the others.
"Why am I staying behind?" The blond inquired in surprise, walking in time with his quick steps.
"It only makes sense you stay behind to protect the castle. Your knowledge of magic will help the others---"
"Oh that's total bull Leonhart, and you know it! You tell me the real reason why you're making me stay here!" He bellowed, interrupting the brunette.
Leon stopped abruptly, Tai following suit. He slowly turned around and faced him with a look that could only be described as guilt in his eyes.
"This is getting too dangerous Tai. I almost lost you that night and I can't take the chance that I might lose you again."
"No," He said shaking his head. He'd been here before, heard the same words.
"The Heartless are too powerful for you and the next time you get into a fight with them they might kill you,"
"No! Do not patronize me, I am not some little kid I can take care of myself." He spat in anger.
He could hear it, the voice of his brother echoing in his head making his heart and his throat constrict.
"Just because you can do magic doesn't mean you can defeat them on your own." The memory was growing stronger, the feeling of déjà vu' coming faster.
"Stop it." Tai whispered burying his face in his hands trying to will the memory away.
"Tai listen to me." He reached for him grasping Tai's wrist.
"Stop it!" He screamed, turning around to run and trying desperately to jerk his arm away. But he couldn't get out of Leon's iron grip.
Leon pulled him closer; Tai's back meeting with Leon's chest as he released his wrist and curled his arms around Tai's waist. The blond struggled in his arms, hitting the man's arms repeatedly with his fist to escape.
"Let go." He sobbed, tears streaking down his face.
"Tai, Tai, please just listen to me its okay." He held the boy close, not relinquishing his grip despite the pain he felt.
"No, no it's not." Tai said his onslaught of punches lessening after awhile.
He leaned back against Leon's chest, turned his head to rest against the man's neck.
"Please don't leave me again. Please!" He begged him.
Tai was like a little brother to him, and as much as he hated to leave when Tai needed him the most he had no other choice.
He let out a sigh and pulled the blond closer. He couldn't tell him what he wanted to hear but he could at least comfort him for now.
Riku walked through the hallways of the mansion looking at each room for the small bots but he could find no sign of them. He'd been wandering around the house for hours and now he was beginning to think he was going around in circles.
Nothing seemed to look like it had when he first started walking, yet it was all oddly familiar.
"Ahh!" He cried out in exhaustion, fisting his hands in his hair and leaning his back on a nearby wall, sliding down against the smooth surface.
'This house is going to drive me mad.'
After sitting there for several moments the wall behind him started to creak.
He paid no attention to the strange noise passing it off as the house just being plain old; until a big chunk of the wall behind him started to give way and then pulled itself upward from into the ceiling.
"Huh? Whoa!!"
He fell through the new opening with nothing to support him and his head hit hard on the metal floor.
"Ow!!" His hand went up to his head massaging the lump that had formed.
Jade eyes now stared in between two rooms, one with a silver ceiling and one with a wooden one.
He stood up turning back to look at this new room regarding it with surprise and apprehension.
Inside he couldn't see very much since there was no light to show what the room housed. It was an eerie darkness, but he still couldn't fight back the need to see what was inside.
'Curiosity killed the cat, Riku.' He scoffed at the voice, it reminded him so much of jiminy his conscience. 'But then again I'm no cat.'
He said to himself before entering the room.
The moment he did the wall came down on him and closed with a hiss sealing him within and yet he didn't feel afraid. He stepped further and ceiling lights came to life illuminating the entire place.
Lining the walls were several computers and bookshelves; most of the books were worn and old and many of the computers looked as if they hadn't been used in years.
Although one computer in particular was still on with the bright light of the monitor focused in the center of the room.
He glanced to the center of the room taken aback at the strange giant glass tube of water that lay there. The bottom was covered by an organic metal that seemed to have grown onto the glass; the top portion of the tube climbed higher until it went into the floorboards of the ceiling. It had to stretch throughout the entire center of the house.
'Wait a minute that spoke on the roof. That must've been this thing.'
"Power output at 3. Returning core generator to main conductor." The mechanic voice seemed to come from above him inside the tube.
A dim light seemed to be coming from the top glowing brighter as it came closer descended down into the bottom of the tube. Riku covered his eyes with his sleeve to protect them from the blinding light.
The light was frighteningly intense but then all at once it dimmed down to a dull shimmer.
His arm fell to his side, his eyes entranced by this new appearance. A small humanoid creature now stood inside the container, his hands moving over transparent screens splayed across the glass tube. From the absence of clothes Riku could tell what gender he was.
His white skin glowed in the green water, silver hair floating serenely above him in the water. Gray eyes intently focused on the task in front of him, it seemed he wasn't aware of Riku's presence.
One last button was pressed and all at once the movement of the fingers stopped and the android closed his eyes, dropping its arms to down, shutting down.
Riku frowned in sadness; he'd hoped the machine would've been able to tell him something about this place and what was going on.
He sighed in disappointment at yet another dead end, walking back to the wall to see if he could find a way out.
Surprisingly enough the wall opened the moment he came close to it and came back down once he was out.
With one last look at the wall he headed down the hall rounding another corner and continued his journey through the mansion; making a note in his mind to visit the place once more later.
As he passed through the endless labyrinth of rooms he caught a glimpse of the small robot that he'd seen the other day in the dining room.
He paused and walked back, upon further inspection Riku realized the room was actually a library.
Tall wooden shelves lined the walls housing what must've been at east 10,000 books maybe. A large window was centered in the middle of the shelves, sunlight shining through it filling the room with a bright ambient glow.
"Good morning, Mr. Riku." The baritone voice had caught Riku by surprise.
He looked down to see the robot standing in front of him holding a book in its mechanical hands.
"How did you---" He shook his head. "Never mind, look I need to ask you some questions. But you can't tell the doctors about this, Okay?"
"As you wish, Mr. Riku." The robot replied.
He chuckled. "Just Riku." The robot looked confused, but nodded all the same.
Riku put his hand on the side post of the door looking to his left and to his right before entering the room and silently shutting the door.
"Come on." He said his voice lowered to barely a whisper.
He walked toward one of tall shelves with the robot following closely behind him.
"Is it possible for them to hear us if we're this far away from the door?"
"That would require a hearing ability that is beyond their physical limits." Gear replied.
"Okay, now there have been some strange things going on around here. Most of them are centered around the belief that I'm someone I'm not. So I need you to tell me are there any other people traveling with the doctors in this place?" Riku asked.
"I will search my memory banks…" Gear paused, silver eyelids closed over the blue orbs of the robot.
After a moment they shot open, with Riku restlessly anticipating the answer.
"No."
"What!?" He replied with confusion.
"There have been no persons traveling with the doctors Velshdein and Muchnut after their imprisonment here." Gear said simply.
Riku growled in frustration, running a hand through his. Yet another dead end, unless… 'Maybe I'm not phrasing my question right.'
If he remembered correctly Dr. Velshdein had said that he'd condemned two souls to death, so maybe they weren't still here at all.
"What about those traveling with the doctors prior to being trapped in here?"
The robot closed its eyes once again and a moment later opened them.
"My records show that there were two people traveling with them prior to being trapped in here." He smiled triumphantly.
"Great! Who were they?" Riku asked anxiously.
"My records show--"
"Riku!"
Riku winced slightly at the sound of the familiar voice calling his name and turned to find Dimitri standing in the doorway.
"Yes?" He answered.
"May I speak with you for a minute?" The question implied no argument.
Riku begrudgingly complied and followed the man out of the library. Away from Riku's only source of useful information
'So close.' He groaned inwardly.
The doctor led him down a long, empty hallway; in front of them was a door one he assumed led back to the room. Riku was immediately surprised when Dimitri opened the door and he walked into a room he'd never seen before.
The walls were painted a light gray, across to his right was a bed, a nightstand, and a tall dresser. Much like that in Virgil's room, but the furniture was mostly black, with the sheets of the bed being gray and white.
He looked to his left to see another door, on the one side was a large desk with a computer, a phone, and other tools he'd never seen before. On the other side another desk full of beakers, Bunsen burners, chemical bottles, and other various tools.
"Oof!" Riku gasped as he hit a hard, solid form.
While Riku had been surveying the room he hadn't stopped following Dimitri, this had led to Riku's body colliding with the doctor's back once Dimitri paused in his stride.
He moved away from the doctor once he noticed the close proximity, he hadn't realized the man was so strong. Any other person, Riku included, would be fooled by the sickly look that held his features from a day-to-day basis.
The shock from the collision had focused his attention to the situation at hand and Riku found he could hear the faint sound of water. He leaned to his right to see what the man was looking at and saw the white marble balcony situated right in front of them. Dimitri walked forward and placed a pale hand on the white rail, leaning against the sturdy structure.
Riku wasn't sure if he should follow suit, but did so anyway. Upon coming closer to the balcony he now had a clear view of the great body of water in front of them.
So they were sailing.
'That would explain why it felt like the house was swaying earlier.'
"I know it's hard to adjust here. I realize that keeping things from you hasn't made it any better either." Dimitri glanced at his companion only to find the boy had suddenly taken an interest in his hands.
He sighed. "But it's for your own protection Riku. The less you know the better."
Riku scoffed. "How am I supposed to protect myself if I don't know what's gonna come after me? You can't watch me every minute of every day Dimitri."
"I can try."
"Look I don't need your help. I can take care of myself just fine." He replied defiantly.
Dimitri scoffed. "Like you did last night?"
"Screw you! If you hadn't locked me up in that stupid room and just let me help maybe I wouldn't have had to try to escape." The blond spat back in anger.
"I did that to protect you." He replied turning away.
"Why?! What is it about me that everyone thinks is so important?"
"It's not about that!"
'Then what is it about?!"
That unfortunately was the last straw.
Suddenly Dimitri whirled around and grabbed Riku by his arms. "I CAN'T LOSE YOU AGAIN!!" He bellowed to the teen.
Riku stared at the man, his jade eyes widened in shock at the sudden outburst; he was so stunned that he couldn't find it in himself to argue with the man anymore.
Anger marred the man's usually calm face and yet, deep within his tired blue eyes Riku could see the same sadness as before when they'd been talking in the dining room.
Dimitri heaved a sigh letting his gaze fall to the floor, he loosened his grip on Riku's arms but did not let go.
"I can't--" He began. "I can't lose another person to Maldeo. I just can't." He said letting the last part out in a whisper. "I wish I could tell you more, make you understand, but the less you know the better."
He released him turning back to look out at the waves crashing against the house.
Something Riku said had struck a sore chord inside Dimitri.
"Dr. Velshdein—I—I didn't mean to--"
"Just go."
Riku obeyed his request; he strode over to the door but paused just before opening it. "I really am sorry for what I said."
And with that the silver haired teen left the room to search for the library; the sound of the door closing and the click of the lock told him Dr. Velshdein had no more to say.
__________________________________________
"I want you to know I don't like leaving you behind." Tai scoffed in disbelief at Leon's statement.
"Yeah thanks for letting me know." He watched as Leon took clothes and weapons, along with several chemicals and packed them into his bag.
"Are you sure you're alright after what happened earlier?" Tai asked.
"Of course, don't be ridiculous, I'm a soldier. I can take a punch." He replied.
"I meant what happened with Yen Sid's hat."
Leon paused for a minute thinking back to the incident.
--Three hours earlier—
"There you are Leon! It's been boring around here." Sora shouted with glee as he rushed to the man's side.
"Tell me you haven't gotten yourself into trouble while I was gone?" Leon said sardonically.
"Aww come on. Don't you have any faith in me?" A brunette brow raised in suspicion.
"Okay so I might've gotten me and Mickey into a little trouble."
"You and Mickey?" He repeated in confusion.
"Well see there was this really big mess in the hall, and Mickey said we should clean it up quick but I told it'd be much easier if we used Yen Sid's hat and well--- It kinda escalated from there."
"Where's Mickey right now?" Leon sternly.
"He's in the hall trying to catch Yen Sid's hat." Sora replied.
Leon rolled his eyes, releasing an aggravated groan. "Take me to him!"
Sora nodded and ran back the way he'd come, Leon and Tai following closely behind.
"Just so you know it's going crazy and shooting spells everywhere! One of the spells turned Goofy into a rabbit. I thought we'd have to change his name to Thumper but a second later he changed back, he said it felt real weird but fun."
"If this was so bad why didn't you get Yen Sid to stop it? It's his hat!" Tai shouted.
"Well Mickey said that if I did he'd hit me with his keyblade, and that things pretty hard."
"Well of course it is! His blade is made out of solid gold." Said Leon.
"Yeah you're right." Sora said pausing for a moment. "Why isn't mine gold?" He said thoughtfully.
"SORA!!" Leon shouted
"Oh! Right." Sora blushed and started his sprint again.
"There it is!" Tai said as they neared the sight of the hat floating in air shooting spells at random.
"Be careful, don't let it hit you. There's not telling what'll happen." Leon warned.
"Don't worry Leon the effects are only temporary." Sora said.
"Leon!" The young soldier turned to see Mickey running hurriedly toward them.
"Leon! Whatever you do, don't get hit!" His warning however came too late for Leon, Tai, and Sora for they had gotten much too close to Yen Sid's hat.
With several quick strikes of lightning the three were hit and subsequently knocked out.
--Three hours later--
"Oh! That. Yeah I'm fine. Just have this strange craving for peaches that's all."
"You should've let Daisy and Minnie check you, you know that hat can do dangerous things to people once the power gets out of control."
Leon smirked. "I'm perfectly fine. Besides staying here any longer will only delay our mission, and it won't change the fact that you can't come with us."
Leon could've sworn he saw the blonde's eyes widen slightly for a moment before narrowing to slits.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Leon smirked.
"I think you're the one who should get checked out, both me and Sora look fine. Your hair turned three different colors before it settled on silver."
Tai instinctively touched his hair before realizing that Leon was looking at him and snatching his hand away.
"Well be safe on your trip. And don't do anything stupid." Tai said harshly as he turned to leave.
"You know if I had really wanted to leave you behind I would've done it in Twilight Town."
Tai stopped at the door and for a moment Leon thought he would say something. But his hopes were let down as he watched the boy leave the room and closed the door behind him.
Leon sighed in dismay and continued packing.
After finishing he zipped up the small suitcase and started to take it out of the room except something in the back of his mind told him not to leave just yet.
He frowned and looked down at the suitcase. Something nagged at the back of his mind, an insistent thought that told him he should open the book given to him by Mickey and read it.
He bent down and reached into the side pocket fishing out the book; upon opening it to the first page he saw the same thing as before, mindless equations and drawings. But the more he stared at it the more he started to understand what the book was saying.
'When a source of two or more equal measures of this chemical are brought together with a large source of pure energy the mixture of the unstable chemical and the controlled power source will cause the chemicals to fuse. This fusion will cause the impurities inside the chemicals to be purged creating a source of regenerative energy.' Leon slammed the book closed.
"Impossible." He whispered softly. Leon had never been able to comprehend the book's scientific lingo before; he'd always needed the help of Mickey. And even then there were something's the king himself didn't understand.
'Could it be—Because of that blast from the hat?' His thoughts were interrupted by a loud knock at his door.
"Leon! You ready yet?" Sora shouted through.
"Almost." Leon shouted back, he tucked the book away in his suitcase making a mental note to look through it more closely later.
___________________________________________
"We've weakened the outer rim," Dea told his master who smiled happily in turn.
He'd been trying for centuries to destroy the outer ring, who knew the very person who trapped him inside would be the one to help him do it?
"But I fear the shield might try to regenerate itself. What will we do then?"
"Don't worry so much about just one; we have to think about all the others as well." Dea frowned.
"The others, Master?" He asked.
"Destroying only one ring won't grant me true freedom. But if I weaken all of them then the orb will collapse." He replied.
"Is that why you let them live? So you could drive them further inside?"
"Of course Dea. Although I hadn't counted on them going so far, my other counterparts will find them." The young boy looked down at this chains and tried to lift his right arm.
Even as powerful as he was in the end he only managed to raise his arm a few inches away from his chair before it fell back onto the armrest with a loud clank.
"Still so strong and heavy." Maldeo murmured. "But not for long."
The inhuman creature looked up at his servant Dea, even though the mask of shadow obscured his face from view he could still feel the burning gaze of hatred, and anger coming from his eyes.
"I know you think I'm cruel, demented, and evil. As you should, I've done horrible things to accomplish my ends. So why do you do these things for if you despise me so much?" He asked him.
Dea turned his face away, not wanting to look into the cold red eyes anymore.
"You of all people shouldn't have to ask me that, I have no choice. If I want to keep them safe I have to. And because… thousands of innocent people shouldn't have to die for one man's mistake." Dea replied.
"You think it was a mistake to try to destroy me?"
"I wasn't talking about Seiya, I was talking about you." He retorted boldly.
Maldeo smiled at his brashness, Dea's fear of him kept his servant in check. But at the mention of his brother, Dea would suffer any pain to defend him.
"Judge me if you wish Dea," He said turning to look out the small window at the top tower. "But no one will ever understand why I have done all this until you have seen the world through my eyes."
"Perhaps we have seen the world from your point of view; we just had more compassion than you did."
(A:N Sorry it took so long, all fans of my other story Vincent must Die you can rejoice. Cause I have the newest chapter ready for your hungry eyes. Also those who like Shadow Fantasy there's a new revised edition of chapter two. Please read/review makes me write faster.