A/N: Well, here's the next chapter! Not much I have to day other than that…
Anon Reply -
Nin4: Hooray for favorite chapters! Yep, Myde gets to keep his job…he livens the work place up. XD I want some sea-salt ice cream; plain salt tastes gross! Especially when you're expecting sugar…anyway, thanks for the review and the ice cream!
Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Final Fantasy, etc. etc.
-MISFITS-MISFITS-MISFITS-
On an unknown world, a hooded figure appeared out of thin air. He examined his relatively plain surroundings: simple brick roads and wooden houses, lit by candles and street lamps in the dark of night. The figure walked along the road until he appeared at a humble tavern in what seemed to be the town square. He entered the bar and ordered a drink from the bartender, and then headed for the corner of the room. There, he pulled out a small glass sphere and set it across from him.
"Nice little world, eh?" the figure said in a scratchy voice to the crystal ball. Its only response was to fill with some sort of murky cloud.
"Straight to business, as usual," the figure muttered, chuckling lightly. He peered intently into the murky substance within the ball. "Well, what do you have to show me today?"
Footsteps approached the figure conversing with the sphere.
"Um, sir?" came a deep voice. The figure looked up to see a muscular brunette man with simple black pants, a white T-shirt, and some sort of animal hide belted onto his shoulders. In his hand was a large draft beer, the milky-white bubbles still rising to the top of the dark liquid.
"I believe this is your beverage," he continued uncertainly, eyeing the hooded figure. The customer had been talking to a little glass orb, after all.
The hooded figure thanked the man for his drink and offered him a small tip. As soon as the young man was gone, the cloaked man returned to his crystal ball.
"You know," he said casually to the ball. "That young man reminded me of a particular someone who I wanted to see this evening: him, his acquaintances, and that…scientist." He spat out the last word.
"As you wish, Master Yen Sid," the crystal ball responded in his head. Yen Sid blinked; since when could it talk? Perhaps he really was going mad after all. He stared into the murky depths of the magical sphere, where an image of four teens slept in a blank white room, which was most likely some sort of scientific healing house. Suddenly, the image flickered and fizzled out. It was replaced by a setting in some sort of run-down apartment with four fey. Three of them – the youngest ones – had a definite resemblance to the trio Yen Sid himself had been watching: a young blonde no older than ten years old with large, violet-blue eyes, another girl with hair of a midnight-blue, who appeared to be a replica of Kairi with sky-blue eyes, and a young silverette with shocking aquamarine eyes and a slightly heart-shaped face.
The appearance of these three both astonished and intrigued the warlock. Who on earth could they be?
"Crystal, I would like more information on these three," he demanded. The image of the three teens shifted into a scene in the science lab with black creatures destroying Even's collection of materials, and then the same creatures burning to death at the hand of a frightened blonde faery. The said faery swept the violated materials up, which Even proceeded to use to create three humanoid beings.
"Ah, so that was what you were up to, my dear friend," Yen Sid said with a chuckle. "Well, it's good to see that the gremlins I sent after you did their job to the end. It's too bad, though; those little servants were hard to come by."
"Would you desire more servants?" the crystal ball asked seductively. At this question, Yen Sid frowned. The crystal ball had now spoken twice to him; why hadn't it spoken in earlier conversations he had with it?
"Never mind that, I just wish to understand these…replicas more," Yen Sid finally responded to the crystal ball. The image on the sphere vanished into thick gray fog, and reappeared as a side-by-side comparison of both trios.
"They are merely mixtures of the three children you were after for your heart's desire," the crystal ball explained dismissively. "It is highly unlikely that they have the hearts necessary to wield weapons like the original children. However—" A strange grin crossed the crystal ball's surface."– They have given me an interesting idea to help you gain back what you lost."
A light gleamed in Yen Sid's pale eyes. "I pray you, do tell of this idea," he hissed greedily under his breath.
"I will, but there is one minor condition: all you have to do is accept a gift of mine," the glass ball said simply.
-MISFITS-MISFITS-MISFITS-
Ugh, what had just happened?
Sora's hand flew to his head, which felt as if he had been banging it into a brick. Who knew; maybe he had been. After all, the last thing he remembered was seeing an older, human version of himself flying around in a Gummi Ship.
"It must've been a dream of some sort," he decided. Slowly, his eyes flew open and saw what he had least expected: a plain white room filled to the brim with medical equipment and about a dozen simple hospital beds. On his left, Sora noticed Riku staring blankly at the wall. Straight across from Riku was Kairi, who still appeared to be out cold. To the right of Sora was a familiar light faery…
…Olette?
Sora rubbed his head. "Where are we?" he asked Riku, breaking the elf out of his daze.
"Oh, you're awake," he responded simply. "I'm not sure where we are; I just awoke myself, to be honest."
The two sat in silence for a moment, still in a haze from being unconscious for so long. Suddenly, they heard a boisterous voice shout, "Happy Birthday, Riku!"
Turning to the entrance, they saw a small faery flutter in and quickly grow to a human size. Before them stood a tall, young man with a sandy-blonde mullet and music note-like wings. He was dressed in a white lab coat that had been sloppily thrown over black leather pants. In his hands was a simple clipboard with a ridiculous amount of papers attached to it; in fact, several pieces had drifted to the ground in his outburst.
"How do you know my name?" Riku finally asked.
The blonde gestured to his clipboard. "It says so right here, along with tons of stuff about you. That's how I know it's your birthday!" he explained enthusiastically. "Good thing you woke up earlier than Mister Ansem expected, or else you would've slept right through it."
"Oh, do you have papers about me, too?" Sora asked excitedly, his exhaustion long forgotten.
"Yep! You're Sora, I think," he said. "Unless you're Kairi, but I don't think that's your name. Oh hey, look! Your birthday's only a couple days from now; what a coincidence!"
On the other side of the room, the auburn-haired fey stirred in her bed. Groaning, she pulled herself up from the pillows and rubbed her eyes.
"What's all the commotion about?" Kairi asked groggily as her eyes scanned the room. They finally rested on the rocker faery that she had never seen before. "Um, who are you?"
"Oh, I'm sorry; did I really forget to tell you my name?" he asked, scratching his head. "Well, I'm Myde. Are you Kairi?"
She nodded in response. "Yep, that's me."
"Well, it looks like most of you are awake now!" Myde said. "Now, if only that other girl would wake up. For some reason, Mister Even didn't have any papers on her at all."
"Even?" Sora echoed, his tone holding confusion. "What does he have to do with anything?"
On the other hand, Riku merely nodded. "That would explain how you got all those papers about us," he said thoughtfully. "Is this where he works?"
"Uh-huh," Myde replied. "He and Mister Ansem got you four out of some messy situation, but he won't tell me about it."
Suddenly, the memories hit them like a pack of werewolves. Yen Sid, something about magical blades and being connected to them, an evil spell, a ring in the ground leading to a giant vortex, swirling and swirling 'round and 'round…
"I see that they've finally awoken," boomed a deep voice. A tall man with platinum-blonde hair and a matching beard stood in the entrance, his piercing amber eyes examining the young teenagers. Beside him, Even appeared with a flustered expression.
Sora, Riku, and Kairi stared blankly at the man for a moment.
"Forgive me for not introducing myself earlier," he said apologetically. "I am Ansem the Wise, the head of this research lab. I have heard much about you from Even here, although I must say, seeing you in the flesh is much more…interesting."
"Uh, thanks?" Kairi replied awkwardly.
"If you are well enough," Ansem continued, "I would like to show you around the lab and hopefully get to understand you a little better."
Understand? Well, that was a strange way of putting it.
"Hey, why are you science guys all over us too?" Sora asked bluntly. "Yen Sid told us why he wanted us, but I thought you science people didn't mess around with magic."
A smile formed on Ansem's lips. "My, what a clever faery you are," he said, which caused Riku to chuckle. As all eyes went to him, Riku began to cough in attempt cover it up.
"I can think sometimes," Sora responded with a pout.
Ansem cleared his throat. "Anyway, I wish to show you around the lab. I shall answer your questions on the way, if you so desire."
The trio nodded and pulled themselves out of the beds. As they reached the doorway, Kairi turned to the stirring Olette. "You're just going to leave her here?" she asked, her tone holding that of great concern.
To this, Even responded rudely, "Why yes, this doesn't concern her. Myde can watch her while we're out."
"Oh, come now, Even; don't be so grumpy in front of our guests," Ansem chided, before kindly adding to the taken-aback fey: "The young girl aided us in our rescue of you three, and so she deserves to rest some." This statement caused Even to grumble something about the bathroom and storm out of the room.
If Ansem could look any more exasperated than he was just then, heads would've probably began rolling.
"I apologize for his rude behavior," he said apologetically to Sora, Riku, and Kairi. "A major experiment of his went wrong earlier this week. Now, how about we start in the dining hall first? I hear it's your sixteenth birthday, Riku."
-MISFITS-MISFITS-MISFITS-
A few short minutes later, they were eating away at the food in the cafeteria. Rather, Riku was eating. Kairi was picking at the foreign land foods that she wasn't accustomed to, and Sora was practically absorbing the meal. Ansem, on the other hand, merely sipped politely at a glass of iced tea. Finally, the wise scientist spoke.
"Well, now that we've all gotten something to eat, why don't we start by answering young Master Sora's question first," he said seriously. "As you know, the wizard wants you for some sort of magic you possess that was spoken of in a certain ancient prophecy. At least, that's what they say."
"You don't believe that?" Riku surmised.
"I don't believe in fortunes; I believe in facts," Ansem replied simply. "However, when Even went to visit my dear old rival and saw that you three indeed existed, I realized how you could greatly impact the scientific community."
"Wait, how would magic help science any?" Kairi asked confusedly. "I thought they were opposites."
To this, Ansem merely chuckled. "My dear, it is not in the magic that you are rumored to bring; it's in your genetics!"
He received a blank stare from his audience. Finally, Sora piped up. "Genewha?"
"Your genetics!" Ansem repeated passionately. "Sora, your genetics are frozen in that of a child. Your genes could hold the secret to eternal health and youth! Kairi, you are the only successful halfling to be produced by two separate species. Ri—"
"But what about my sister?" Kairi interrupted.
Ansem sighed. "My dear, don't you recall that she was born a human? You were born the perfect hybrid: a human torso as opposed to that of a fey, and the lower half of a fish. As I was saying, you could open a new world of love between two conflicting species and create an entirely new subspecies.
"Riku, you are one of two Moon Elves in the world. We have never been able to examine the genetic codes of this particular elf due to their rarity and disdain for humans. You could help us unlock the key to why Moon Elves are as rare as they are, as well as what separates them from other elves."
Silence fell upon the room. Eventually it was Sora that broke it, proceeding to lean into Riku and hissing, "Did you get any of that?"
"Not a lot," Riku admitted under his breath.
Apparently, Kairi didn't understand much of what Ansem had said, either. "Well, that makes—uh…sense, I guess," she said awkwardly, "but what's a genetic?"
Ansem rubbed the temples of his forehead to hide his frustration. He had forgotten that they knew very little – if anything – about science. How could he explain it so that they would understand? Finally, he gave up.
"It's a fancy scientific term that's hard to explain," he told the teens shortly. "Now, do you have any other questions?"
"Can we go explore outside? I don't like being inside too long," Sora complained. Although neither one said anything, Riku and Kairi agreed. This lab just wasn't the place for an outdoor fey, especially with all the bleak whiteness and the sharp, strange scents lingering everywhere.
Well, there goes anything getting done today. "If that is what you want," Ansem replied reluctantly. "I shall send Myde to give you a tour of the area; I would like to speak with Miss Olette anyway."
"Great, thanks!"
"Thank you!"
"Thanks a lot, mister!"
As the trio eagerly thanked Ansem and leapt out of their seats, the scientist spoke again, "I would like to begin genetic testing tomorrow though, if that's alright with you three. You are living here for the time being, after all."
"That's fine," Riku said quickly. With that, they were off. Ansem shook his head as he watched them run off giggling into the lobby, where Arlene began yelling at the 'little brats.' As thrilled as he was to have finally gotten these extremely rare genetic anomalies, he had yet to understand the mind of children.
-MISFITS-MISFITS-MISFITS-
"Listen, you little brats: this isn't a playground, this is a science lab. More importantly, it's my munny source. Quit running around here, or so help me I'll fry your sorry butts out of this facility!" Arlene roared at the three fey, who were no longer giggling and instead were darting out the door. Kairi nervously eyed her feet, trying to avoid Arlene's electrifying gaze. At the same time, Riku and Sora were cautiously backing away from the secretary as electricity began to form around her body and surge up her hair-antennae.
"Hey, be nice to these kids; it's Riku's birthday!"
Myde had finally come to rescue them from the snarling storm nymph. It was just in time, too; she looked as if she were about ready to burn them to ashes. The little rocker faery darted into the main lobby and grew to full size right beside Riku, causing music note faery dust to cover his silver hair.
"Besides," Myde said. "Mister Ansem wants them to live here for a while. I'm supposed to give them a little tour of the town."
Arlene made a disgusted face. "What, are we a street-rat shelter now or something?" she muttered under breath. Myde didn't appear to hear her, for he didn't respond. Instead, he gestured for Sora, Riku, and Kairi to follow him out the exit.
"C'mon, guys," he encouraged, holding the door open for them. "Arlene's just being a meanie, as usual." The three of them darted out of the door as fast as they could, stopping only when they had arrived outside and out of Arlene's piercing gaze.
"Whew, she's scary!" Sora commented as Myde closed the door behind them.
"You bet!" Myde replied earnestly. "She fried me on my first day here."
"Fried you?" Kairi gasped.
Myde nodded his head vigorously. "Yep, fried me. It hurt a lot, let me tell you," he replied. "Anyway, on to happier topics! Let's show you around the area." The trio agreed to this suggestion, and therefore began following him as he led them up the street. There were flowers and trees everywhere, lining every cobblestone street and beautifully arranged in every yard.
"You'd think they have enough flowers here," Sora said, eyeing a patch of indigo roses.
"Well, it is called Radiant Garden," Riku pointed out. "It would make sense that they would have a variety of plants here."
Suddenly, Myde stopped in his tracks. "Oh, hey, it's your sixteenth birthday, right Riku?"
Riku shifted uncomfortably. "I guess it is," he replied nervously.
In response, Myde clapped his hands together and said, "Let's go to the shopping center then! They have some tasty goodies there like sea-salt ice cream." He licked his lips excitedly. "Thank goodness it's so cheap, or else I'd be broke from buyin' that stuff all the time. It's the best stuff in the world!" Turning right, Myde eagerly led them down another flowery path and into a large circular clearing.
"Hey, can I try some too?" Sora piped up as they approached the shopping center. "My birthday's just a couple days from now; it couldn't hurt to celebrate early."
"Sora? I think that's kinda rude to ask," Kairi pointed out. However, she secretly wanted to try some too after hearing Myde talk about it, only she didn't have the excuse of an approaching birthday. If only it had been a month later…
Myde giggled at Sora's statement, breaking Kairi out of her thoughts. "Don't worry little guy, I'll make sure that there's plenty to go around!" he assured the faery.
This statement didn't go over well with Sora.
"Excuse me!" he exclaimed indignantly. "I'm going to be fifteen in two days." He crossed his arms and glared pointedly at Myde, who merely returned this with a blank stare. Sora's irritated pose fell almost as quickly as it came, shifting to confusion at the rocker faery's reaction (or lack thereof).
"What is it?" Sora asked curiously.
A flicker of realization crossed through Myde's music note-filled eyes. "Aha, that makes perfect sense now!" he exclaimed excitedly.
Sora grinned. "I knew someone would finally get it," he said smugly. He returned to his signature walking pose, slouched over with his fingers laced behind his head. In contrast, Riku and Kairi were left even more bewildered than ever.
"I don't follow your logic," Riku finally spoke for him and the redhead. "It makes no sense." Kairi nodded alongside him.
Suddenly, Myde's mood went from excited to uncomfortable. "Oh, well, it's nothing," he said hastily. "It's just a friend–"
He stopped dead in his tracks, staring in shock at the kiosk that they had arrived at. Rather, at the people behind it. A slender man with wild hair and what appeared to be a fire's reflection flickering across his skin was dropping off three young fey at the wooden stand. An elderly, anthropomorphic duck was handing them aprons and explaining something to them, although Myde and his gang were too far away to understand him. Finally, the fire spirit and his guests noticed Myde and his party.
Time seemed to freeze. All eyes stared at each other; they met with familiar eyes, with unfamiliar eyes, and with their own eyes.
Finally, the redhead spoke. "Nuthin' to do here!" he said, chuckling nervously. "See ya 'round, Myde!"
BOOM.
Before Myde could say anything, the one called Lea burst into flames.
Silence ensued. Then:
"You can't be serious, Lea!" Myde cried hysterically. "What in Radiant Garden were you thinking? Now my job—" He abruptly cut off his troubled mutterings and turned to the six confused kids. "Eh, well, you kiddies stay put!" he said with forced enthusiasm. Quickly, he shrunk to his faery size and darted down the street.