A/N: A bit thanks to my the readers and the reviewers, it means a lot to me!
On with the story!
Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Capital Elusion-Ilusion
"To get to the capital of Sunset Horizon, you must travel one either an airship or by using one of the bi-plane like machines found in the city of Nokia. The capital is a place of wondrous magnitude. You would be surprised to judge it on its looks for they will leave you spellbound. As the saying goes, never judge a book by its cover, this applies to Elusion-Ilusion for its technological advances are by far envied throughout the whole universe…" – from the passage found in 'Orritonze' page 120, paragraph 2.
Lightning was able to remember the passage so clearly, since half of the page in that particular encyclopedia was ripped, or rather, it looked like if someone burned it. That was the only thing she could tell the others on what she knew of the capital's description, and that was better than nothing. Yomigami thanked her and looked back at the others. "We're going to have to pay a visit to that place." Yomigami said. "We've already rested for a day so we need to get going, we're on a schedule."
With that everyone was dismissed from one room in the inn and they all walked out into the city. They had noticed that there were a couple of people by the door of where the meeting was being held, like if they were trying to spy on them, but they didn't think anything of it and continued with their departure. Nokia, was still in its glory, boasting off its power in technological advances, but it didn't come to par with the capital. Several guards walked down the street protecting the perimeter, but for some reason it seemed a bit weird to have that many guards in one city. 'I wouldn't be surprised if they went to war regularly…' Amaterasu thought following everyone else as they went back to the outskirts of town.
Lightning carried her 'violin' case as if it were a piece of glass, but still the approach in her walking did not change, she was still as forceful and powerful as ever in that manner of hers. Amaterasu walked alongside her, and the contrast was plainly visible in manner of walking, the girl was a bit shyer, avoiding gaze on the street, but her down cast eyes did prove at times to be rather cold. "You think the sphere is in the capital?" Amaterasu asked the Heartless.
"More than likely…" Lightning said her blue eyes scanning the outskirts of the city for a moment. "It's strange, no one in this world has asked for travel permits." She said looking back at the entrance to the city. The storm clouds had disappeared as they left, and everything still looked the same. Something caught her attention as she turned around, a black silhouette was noticeable in the distance. Lightning popped the hatch of her case and propped her weapon to lean against one of her shoulders. "Company…"
Amaterasu noticed the silhouette and summoned her weapon. Riku did the same watching the silhouette continue on its path in the same direction. Yomigami and Gabriel stepped forward bringing out their own weapons. Yomigami this time carried a pair of chakram that reminded Riku of the ones Axel had used back then. Gabriel gripped his sword tightly with both hands preparing himself for an oncoming battle. Gekigami brought out a lance out of thin air watching the figure move closer and closer.
"You guys ain't from here, are ya?" the figure said drawing out what appeared to be a futuristic shotgun, it was metallic of course meaning that by the design it was somehow manufactured within Nokia. From that it was easy enough to say that he was a Nokian, as that was what they were called. "Can tell by the way you move… Don't tell me that ship back there is yours?"
"And what if it is?" Gabriel asked planting his weapon into the ground. The figure laughed, and judging by the pitch in his voice he was male. "What's so funny?" Gabriel asked looking at the man straighten in the eyes. "You're kind of wasting our time."
"Just wanted to look at the ship. We don't get much outsiders since with the wars and Nokian's leaving from here." The man said sighing for a moment. "Nokian's don't really like outsiders especially those from the capital… it wasn't like this before." his gun was aimed at Gabriel for a moment, and when Amaterasu moved her Keyblade he aimed it at her. Lightning aimed her own weapon at the Nokian.
"What makes you think we're from Elusion-Ilusion?" Riku asked getting defensive and moving a bit towards Amaterasu's side, trying to protect her. The man pointed to the Keyblade he was holding. "This?" Riku asked looking back at the man with a confused look in his eye.
"Recently a king came in from the capital with a weapon like yours. It had a keychain, and from then on out these things called Heartless have been coming down to our city. You can tell since some many guards have been dispatched here. People are blaming the capital for it all…" the man said lowering his weapon, noticing the look in Lightning's eyes. "But then again, you guys don't look like you're from that place either…"
"Just let us go, we're not coming back here…" Yomigami said twirling one chakram in his hand. "Unless if you want to fight us then…" the man let out a hearty laugh and let them pass.
"Looks like the King has already been here…" Gabriel said as they all walked back to the gummi ship. "Hmm, he probably went back to the capital though…" he said thinking a bit more about it. "I guess he's looking for that sphere too." Amaterasu thought about that for a moment and remembered that Yomigami had promised to give that sphere to the King so that he could protect it, to make sure no one would ever use it.
'It's hard keeping promises…' she thought thinking back to giving Lightning a heart. If there was one promise she would never break, it was to give someone a heart. Lightning, from her personality, seemed to be kind around people, even though she kept to herself most of the time. 'I'll make sure not to fail on that…' Amaterasu thought as they reached the gummi ship.
"Heartless…" Gabriel said rudely, Amaterasu felt her hand twitch slightly, trying to fight off the urge to hit him. Lightning looked at the man with the purple eyes and was about to tell him something when he cut her off. "Do you know the coordinates for the capital?"
"Lightning…" she said gripping on to the handle of the case. Gabriel looked at her for a moment, still trying to process what the Heartless had just said.
"What did you say?" Gabriel asked walking to the back of the group. Amaterasu instinctively moved to the side standing in front of Lightning. "Move, Amaterasu…" Gabriel said nudging her slightly, but she shook her head. "Move." He said again this time trying to get her to move. He froze feeling Lightning's weapon dangerously close to his neck.
"You do not touch her like that…" Lightning said in a very demanding voice. "Respect the name she has given me even if I am a Heartless." She said staring at Gabriel coldly, purple and blue eyes did not look away from one another. Gabriel withdrew and smiled at the Heartless.
"Fine, Lightning… What are the coordinates?" he asked again, in a rather gentle tone. The coordinates never were recorded for the capital, it was only known that you would have to travel about 350 kilometers north of Nokia. "That helps a lot," he said sarcastically. He apologized to Amaterasu, saying that he wasn't use to a Heartless reacting like that.
"You'd better start treating her like she's a human…" Amaterasu said trying to threaten him, but he was able to laugh at her like she was no threat. "She'll kick you ass." Gabriel thought about it for a moment and rubbed the back of his head, there was no doubt that she moved very fast in combat.
Riku and the others were inside the gummi ship checking on the supplies and the fuel for the gummi engines. Everything seemed to be in perfect working around, and Gekigami's voice boomed out of the speakers on the side of the ship. Amaterasu and the other two climbed into the ship.
The Nokian man from before grinned watching the ship fly north of the city. He pulled out a little device that indicated a slow moving target. He pulled out a cigarette and lit it watching the ship disappear over the edge of the city. "The King'll be happy to hear 'bout them…"
King Mickey
Donald Duck and Goofy waited outside by the doors of a meeting room within the walls of a luxurious Middle Age castle. The whole city seemed to be set to an advanced era, yet the ruins around it were from the Middle Ages, the castle seemed to be untouched by time, and yet for the era the guards from this world wore medieval-style armor but carried assault rifles, rather than using magic or swords. Donald and Goofy were still dressed in their outfits not really fitting into this world. King Mickey on the other had was dressed in a black version of his attire, fitting in with the world.
King Mickey sat before the only heir of Elusion-Ilusion, discussing the matters on the importance of the sphere that was before them in the middle of the table. The heir's name was 'Versus'. His name can stand for the past tense of this word, "vertere" meaning "to change direction". Versus sat in his gothic styled chair, it was very distinct from the other chairs since it was crafted from dark marble, and it had blackened silk cushions.
The heir of Elusion-Ilusion wore something that more or less mimicked the style King Mickey had once seen on Cloud Strife from the past months. He also had feathery dark blue hair with bangs that fell forward, his eyes were of a dark color, but at one point King Mickey had seen his eyes turn red when he held his sword.
The heir crossed his leg slightly as he sat on his chair, his elbow rested on the arm rest while his head was casually resting against his palm. "This sphere then… It has great and terrible power within it?" his voice gave the impression he was around his twenties, but none the less he knew what he was doing.
King Mickey nodded after explaining to Versus about the Dark Keyblade Master. "Yep." The King said. "How'd ya come across a thing like this?" King Mickey couldn't help but ask him that. Versus smiled for a moment and leaned into his chair.
"I won it in a battle." Versus said not really wanting to say more, but since both were of royal lineage it seemed better to explain. "There was a battle with one of the neighboring countries, as they decided to attack Nokia, which is under my rule as well. It took a while to put that country in its place, and I gained a new addition of land, and this." He said. Telekinetically he removed the glass cover from the sphere and let the sphere hover above the table. "Rumor has it that a Dark Keyblade Master started a war in the outskirts of the place Nokia, and it grew from there… Which means all of Sunset Horizon was brought into it… as a result for the ruins that must have displeased your visit here." There was a knock on one of the wooden doors and Versus opened it with his mind. "Yes?"
"There is a message for you, King Mickey…" one of the guards said bringing a little note to the royal mouse. Versus decided to just teleport it to the king, and the guard left at once when Versus took over his role. "What does it say, Mickey?" Versus asked with curiosity.
King Mickey's black eyes scanned the contents of the letter reading it very carefully, making sure not to over look a word or sentence. He mumbled something to himself, and Versus waited with a sort of immaculate patience that could even make a holy figure jealous. As he finished he looked up at Versus who was waiting to hear King Mickey speak of what was addressed in the letter.
"From what one of my subordinates has been able to gather, since I stationed him in Nokia, is that there is a group of people are coming into the capital. One had purple eyes, which could only mean that it is a Chaser by the name of Gabriel, since there is no doubt in my mind that Maleficent sent him there, and he's not alone. I can only suspect that they are just as strong as him." King Mickey said noticing Versus manipulate the sphere to twirl around the table.
"So then from what you're saying is that we have unwanted guests…" Versus said looking at the King with his dark colored eyes. "No doubt to take this little sphere." He said placing the sphere down with his telekinesis. "Do you want me to station some guards outside the capital?" Versus asked King Mickey. "Or do you want to see them out personally?"
"I'll leave the decision up to you," King Mickey said. "This is after all your capital, Versus, and I have no doubt that you are a capable ruler." He said nodding reassuring to the dark blue haired man.
"I'm the only ruler this place has." Versus said standing up from his dark colored chair. He placed the glass case over the sphere using the elements of his mind once more and looked back at the King. "You want to greet them with me?" he asked hoping that the King would say yes. "To be honest, I don't really feel like fighting them unless if they plan to hurt my country."
With Sora
Sora sighed again watching the reflection in the mirror before. Roxas stood there in the reflection, in plain sight, walking around trying to figure out what was going on. Both blue eyed teens had no clue as to what was happening. All Sora knew was that he was suppose to get Roxas out of the mirror, without breaking it. He tilted his head and thought of a lot of possible reasons. At one point he placed his hand on the mirror, but that didn't do anything.
"What about the Keyblade?" Roxas asked as he finally stopped moving. Sora hadn't thought of that. "Try pointing your Keyblade out, and calling me out… or something like that." Roxas said watching Sora pull out his Keyblade. "Just don't break the mirror."
"I know…" Sora said the tone in his voice was wavering as he didn't really know if it was going to work or not. He placed both hands on the Ultima Keyblade and felt this light radiate from within him. "Come out, Roxas…" he said. The Keyblade emitted a light but nothing happened. "nothing…" Sora said disappointed.
"Hmm…" Roxas sighed and stood in his mirror prison. "Maybe you have to do it to yourself…" Sora agreed, he had never thought of that, but it did seem like a possible idea when Roxas said it. Sora raised the Keyblade and stabbed it into his heart. "What are you doing?!" Roxas yelled out. "Are you trying to…?" but at that point he found himself out of the mirror, and Sora had disappeared. "Sora?" Roxas asked.
"In here!" It sounded like there was a voice in his head.
"You're in my head?" Roxas asked looking around the room he was in.
"No, in the mirror!" Sora said knocking on the mirror loudly. "What am I suppose to do now?"
Yen Sid watched from the opposite side fighting off the urge to laugh at Sora's choice of release. He dismissed the mirror from the area, and Sora reappeared back into the reality he was meant to be in. Roxas began to fade smiling slightly.
"See you later, Sora…" Roxas said giving him a thumbs up. "Tell Naminé I said hi, okay?"
A m a t e r a s u
I looked at the landscape that was under us, all you could see was desserts and mesas on the ground. Sunset Horizon really was a desolate place, but when you'd get to the cities, that was a different thing entirely. I looked back at Lightning and she gave me a small smile. With each day it seems she's starting to act more and more human, today she reacted to Gabriel not saying her name, she really does like that name.
Anyway Riku and I were talking about what we were going to do when we got to the capital, but we still don't have a plan to it at all. We don't even know where the sphere is, so that's going to be a little detour. If that means we're going to have to snoop around the capital then we'll have some issues, from what Lightning could gather from it's history it's a very powerful city, with an excellent militia at hand. Though the information is a bit outdated, since AgitoVI is no longer King, that was probably about two decades ago. Probably his son Amos ruled, or is still ruling whichever one of the two.
We're taking a small break since Gabriel is starting to get hungry, and it's getting on Yomigami's nerves. It was always like that when we were still within the Chaser 'circle' as I use to like calling it. At times I do wish we were still considered Chasers, but I mean if I was still in the group I never would've met all the new friends I've made. In a way I thank Xehanort because if I didn't start to care for him, I might of lost sight of my own heart.
"Hey is that snow?" I asked out loud watching white flakes land gently on the one wing of the gummi ship. Lightning leaned over and looked out at the wing. She nodded and said that Elusion-Ilusion was known for having snowstorms, which came with very cold temperatures, it was a place within Sunset Horizon known for its beauty and precipitation, and slightly gothic architecture, but not to mention its power in technology and in warfare.
"Snow…?" Riku asked looking out of the same window. "Wow…. I've never really seen snow before." He looked back at us and smiled slightly. For someone who's lived on the islands almost all his life, he did really seem excited about the flurry, well sort of anyway.
"We didn't pack for snow!" Gekigami said noticing the snow on the wings. "We're going to get sick on the job…" he said sighing and looking back at us. "We should've packed heavier clothing…"
"With the magic within the capital I doubt we'll have to worry about the cold…" Lightning said watching a giant clock tower come into view, it had gothic numbers to tell the time. "It'll help us blend in, if we choose to that is…" at that point the gummi ship rocked violent to the side and I could see fire starting to blaze at the wing.
A/N: You know what to do, one review, please!