FANFICTION! Your DocX system is bad, and you should feel bad. -.-
Seriously though, I tried sending it numerous times to my Beta Reader, but it just wouldn't go through! D:
Well, enough ranting; here are my anon replies from the last chapter - sorry for the delayed response!
Cherucha: Hmm, maybe; you never know. XD
nin4: Aww, thank you! Hehe, I guess he does...he shouldn't be a kidnapper/pedo in this story though. XD And not before Yen Sid destroys you! :P
Thank you Mystics Apprentice for being my awesome beta reader! :D
Oh, you may have noticed that I tried out the Image Manager thing. The picture I used was a picture of Kairi that I drew for this fic. You can view the full one on my Deviantart account, Mosstarkitteh, if you feel like looking. :P
DISCLAIMER: I own the plot, and that's about it.
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Darkness.
Darkness, everywhere.
It had formed an impenetrable barrier of black and purple covering the grimy, stone walls; filling the once-pure air and clogging the sewer tunnels.
Suddenly, a pair of yellow eyes opened in the darkness.
And another.
And another.
Blank, eerie yellow eyes illuminated the dark place, gazing hungrily around the room.
They needed sustenance; but where was it?
The darkness began writhing and moving about the room, searching for something to feed on. Finally, one pair of eyes spotted a stairwell. It moved the mass of darkness up the stone stairs and to a tightly sealed door. The darkness clawed at it, slammed against it and tore away at its smooth surface. However, its attempts were to no avail.
Suddenly, one pair of eyes spotted a crack in the stone wall beside the door. Despite its small size, the claws of the darkness could pry away at it to make a larger hole.
Food was in its future; soon, it would be free to eat and devour what it wished.
Soon.
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Myde returned the next morning with a large, ugly bruise right in the middle of his forehead. He did make an effort to cover it – if two tiny Band-Aids count as coverage. (To be fair, it probably would've taken one of those large Band-Aids that one wears over a skinned knee to fully conceal it.)
Sora, Riku, and Kairi were eating breakfast in the cafeteria/lounge area when the rocker faery entered the room. Despite the large bruise on his forehead, he appeared to be in good spirits that morning. He hummed a little tune under his breath as he greeted Ansem and the young fey companions before grabbing a bowl of cereal and scarfing it down.
"So, what happened between you and Mr. Lea yesterday?" Ansem asked Myde as the faery finished up his breakfast.
Myde shrugged, taking a sip of orange juice. "It was just a little problem I had with him. It was no biggie, really!" he replied casually.
In response, Ansem raised an eyebrow. "Then why did you leave these three" – he gestured to the teenaged fey before him – "and run off after your friend?"
At this, Myde got a little agitated. He stared into his juice glass for a minute before he finally replied, "He took something of mine, and I freaked out. I do it all the time, really! I just wasn't paying attention to where I was going." He chuckled nervously. "I'm a wee bit of a klutz, after all!"
Ansem stared at his employee for a moment before returning his gaze back to his own meal. "Well then, I hope you're ready to catch up. Even and I are going to begin the testing today, so we will require your assistance," he said in a no-nonsense manner.
"Yes, sir!" Myde responded enthusiastically.
As they were talking, the five of them hadn't noticed a groggy light faery enter the room. Heavy dark circles lined her emerald eyes, and her brunette hair was a frizzy mess. She grabbed an apple before collapsing at the table, groaning.
"Well, it seems as if someone managed to pry themselves from the computer room," Ansem commented with an amused grin.
Sora's eyes grew wide at the sight of his old friend. "You played on the computer all night?" he exclaimed to Olette, who merely responded with a grunt.
"Well, since you're here, I may as well fulfill my promise to you," Ansem continued saying to Olette. "Once you are ready, I will escort you to my lab; Myde will take you three to Master Even."
On the other side of the table, Riku frowned. "Promise?" he repeated questioningly.
Ansem nodded to the elf. "Yes, I promised to have some of her questions answered for her brave acts performed earlier. It shouldn't take too long, since I have a hypothesis or two regarding her unique qualities."
After munching some of her apple, Olette finally spoke. "I'm ready whenever."
Ansem nodded and rose from the table, gesturing for Olette to follow him. She grudgingly pulled herself up from the table and trudged behind him.
"You know, I may have some coffee in my laboratory upstairs. Would you like some of that?" Ansem offered the light faery as they exited the lounge. Olette immediately perked up a little and nodded rapidly. "Coffee sounds amazing right now!" she admitted. As they closed the door, she even worked up the energy to wave to her friends with Myde, to which Sora and Kairi returned. Once she was gone, the three turned to Myde.
"So, are we going to go to Master Even's room now?" Kairi asked the blond. He nodded rapidly and jumped to his feet, straightening his wrinkled lab coat in the process. "Yep, let's get going then!" he said enthusiastically. Together, they headed out of the lounge and down the corridor.
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"Myde?" Riku asked the assistant as the four of them walked down the hallway. "How exactly do you know the faeries that we ran into yesterday?"
Myde scratched his head. "Well, I've known Lea for a looooong time," he started. "And now we're in a band together! Well, I mean, we have been for a while, just not as long as we've known each other."
Well, that wasn't very helpful. "What about the others?" Riku pressed.
"Oh, them?" Myde said. "Well, they – " Suddenly, his face paled. "Wait, who are they?"
"They were with Lea when you flipped out; I figured you would know them, since you and Lea are so close," Riku explained, a suspicious expression crossing over his face.
Myde laughed nervously. "Nope, I've never heard of them! I don't even remember seeing them yesterday."
Riku frowned; for some reason, his response just didn't seem right. "But they work at the ice cream place you visit every day," he pointed out.
"Wait, you know Naminé and her friends?" Kairi said suddenly.
All these questions about the people that he was supposed to throw away were driving Myde off the brink; he had no idea what to say that would cover his tail. Three big eyes were staring at him with questions that he just couldn't answer, especially in this facility. How was he supposed to get out of this?
Salvation was in sight – a form of salvation known as Even's laboratory. "Oh, here's Even's lab!" Myde announced, practically running to the door. "Let's hurry up so we don't keep him waiting!" He threw the door open, holding it for the perplexed Sora and Kairi and a now-very suspicious Riku to enter. Inside was an area much like the inside of his Gummi Ship: a bland room covered in strange metallic instruments and colorful bottled liquids. To the left of the entrance was a desk where Even sat, muttering to himself and scribbling away at a clipboard.
"Eh, Mister Even?" Myde called. "We're here!"
The blond scientist spun his chair around to face them. "Oh, hello again," he said rather vacantly. "You three can go sit in the chairs over there; I'll be right over. Myde, gather all of my supplies from the storage closet."
Myde nodded and darted off, eager to escape the young feys' questions. That had been much too close for his comfort, and he hoped that he wouldn't come that close to revealing his actions again.
While Myde began collecting the scientist's supplies, Even gathered several papers and arranged them neatly. The three fey fidgeted in their chairs. Finally, Sora piped up.
"Hey, what happened to all that other testing you did?" he asked innocently. This question seemed to have pushed one of Even's buttons, for his neutral mood abruptly turned sour.
"Well," he said curtly, "my perfect project was so rudely vandalized by the warlock himself, rendering it completely useless." He irritably continued scribbling away at a paper. "All of that planning, sample collecting, skillful chemical blending…all of it went to waste!"
The room went silent for a moment before Sora decided to ask another question. "So, we just have to do all of that testing again and we'll be free to go?" he asked the scientist.
Even shook his head. "Oh no, you're going to have to be here a couple weeks at the most to get all of this testing completed."
This was news to the trio. "But the testing back at Yen Sid's kingdom took fifteen minutes tops for each of us," Kairi protested. "Why is it going to take so long now?"
The scientist merely shook his head. "It's much too complicated for young ones like you to understand, especially without a basic understanding of science."
At that moment, Myde came rushing in with his hands full of delicate substances, syringes, test tubes, and other items that the fey had no name for. He placed them on a work table opposite of Even's desk before darting towards the entrance. "I think Mister Ansem needs my help," he called as he left the lab. "Toodles!"
Myde's strange behavior caused Even to raise an eyebrow. "Well, he sure seemed eager to leave," he commented as he shuffled the new supplies around.
"More like he was eager to avoid our questions," Riku muttered, annoyed.
"If that's the case, I don't blame the fellow," Even retorted. "I would be eager to avoid your questions too, since you have so little understanding of science." On that note, He filled a syringe with a clear liquid and approached the fey. "Now, who wants to go first?"
Sora made a face. "Something tells me that I'm not gonna have a very fun birthday tomorrow," he said as he reluctantly held his arm out for the needle. "Well, I guess we do owe it to – ouch!"
With the prick of the needle, testing had begun for the three of them.
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Once again, Lea was guiding Naminé, Xion, and Repliku to Scrooge McDuck's place to start their part-time job. It was unusually warm for midday, meaning that business would probably be booming. As they arrived at Scrooge McDuck's apartment, he welcomed the three into his home and waved goodbye to Lea – who was heading home for a nap before leaving to his own job. He lead his employees to the stand. As usual, they loaded the ice cream into the cooler and grabbed the signs before heading outside to the parked kiosk. All the while, Mr. McDuck attempted to coax a conversation out of the three to little avail; they just had absolutely no clue how to respond (save for Xion, who probably didn't know how to talk at all).
Today, however, something unusual happened. As Naminé and Xion were attaching the coolers to the kiosk, Xion reached into one of them and pulled out a stick of sea-salt ice cream, which she promptly began to eat.
Naminé stared at the raven-haired girl for a moment. It was the first time that Xion had acted of her own impulse, a breakthrough of sorts for the mute. While Naminé realized that she should have been happy for her friend, she couldn't shake the thought of taking food without asking was bad – something she learned from the memories she held.
"Um, Xion?" Naminé asked nervously. "I don't think you should be eating that without asking."
Xion made no attempt to respond or regard the blonde faery. Instead, she continued to eat the ice cream. Naminé shot a pleading glance to Repliku, who was just about to start pulling the kiosk. He dropped the front of the booth and walked over to the girls, although he was equally unsure about how to handle the situation.
"Xion, you have to pay for that," he told the girl. He pulled a few spare munny coins and held them out to Mr. McDuck, as to show her an example. "See? That's all you have to do."
"Oh no, it's quite alright!" Mr. McDuck replied with a chuckle. "I'm just glad to see her so excited about my ice cream."
"Oh no, I insist –"
"No."
Three heads whipped around to find the source of the new voice.
"No." This time, they realized it was none other than Xion speaking. She casually went back to finishing her ice cream, dropping her stick to the ground as she ate the last bite. Scrooge McDuck stared in shock at the clean ice cream stick in silence, Naminé and Repliku following suit.
Finally, the old duck spoke. "I thought you said she was a mute," he said to the other two.
"She was," Repliku answered. "That is, until now."
Mr. McDuck glanced at the ice cream coolers, and then at Xion. "Well, I knew that my ice cream was described as magical, but – wow!" he exclaimed. "It can cure the mute after years of silence! I wonder what else it could do…"
Naminé and Repliku shared a look before giggling at the duck's fantasies; they didn't want to burst his bubble and tell him the real story. Besides, Xion had taken a step towards becoming her own person, even if it were for just an instant. That was reason enough to forget the details and celebrate, was it not?
Although they never said it aloud, the two shared the same thought in that moment: perhaps Xion's breakthrough meant that the two of them had a chance to evolve as well.
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In the ruins of the Kingdom of Misfits, Yen Sid was scribbling away on a large piece of paper. To his left was the large spell book that his Heartless had retrieved, and to his right sat none other than his crystal ball. On the piece of paper was an intricate map of Radiant Garden, with notes and spells jotted down beside certain points.
After much grumbling and muttering to himself, Yen Sid sat up and examined his map with a critical eye. "There," he said finally, placing his quill down. "I believe I have constructed a fail-safe plan for obtaining what I need."
He placed the paper in front of the crystal ball for it to see. After a few minutes or so, it said, "Very good. I don't think I could have prepared a better plan myself. There is truly a reason for your fame, Yen Sid."
"Fame has nothing to do with it, nor is it what I desire," Yen Sid said curtly. "Besides, it is long gone now." With that, he rolled up the diagram and, with a snap of his fingers, caused the quill to vanish. "I must say, it is quite the coincidence that Radiant Garden contains both of the elements I require to rebuild."
If the crystal ball could've nodded, it would have. "That it is; who would've guessed that science could be so useful?"
"Indeed," Yen Sid answered with a chuckle. "Now then, enough of this chatter – we must place these plans into action."
He held his arms out and muttered an incantation under his breath. A large train appeared from a portal, the same one that used to transport misfits to his kingdom.
"Now then, are we ready?" he asked, turning to his crystal ball.
"Of course!" his crystal ball answered, a fiery orange filling its center. Yen Sid tucked the ball into the pockets of his robes and pulled his hood up before entering the train, closely followed by his Heartless. As soon as they were on, the doors swung shut and the train took off into the horizon.
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This is the last boring chapter for a while, I swear!