My World

Chap 8 – Gruesome Riddles

A week had passed by and as far as anyone was concerned, they weren't anywhere near finding out who was behind the murders. Mickey had set up a small nook for Riku, Sora, and Kairi to stay in at the castle, since he believed they would be spending a lot more time investigating the evidence inside the palace walls – and having to fly to and fro from Destiny Islands to here, wasn't particularly a walk in the park.

The three had tried spending every waking moment trying to pick out the clues and seeing if the messages the killer left were decipherable, but to no use. Mickey himself spent a considerably large amount of time researching as many records of criminals a he could to see which ones could be the culprit behind the violence. He also spent time trying to pick up things on the streets of the whereabouts of this mysterious Organization XIII that he strongly believed was behind this. He hadn't gotten much of the details, but heard that they were planning something big – and with an accomplice who was said to be the devil himself. This confirmed Mickey's hunch and also proved why there had been so many Emblem heartless lurking about. Apparently, they had a heartless factory somewhere about – where they liked to create their own dark armies – Mickey trembled at the thought of manufactured heartless, an invention like that could destroy countless of worlds. He knew he had precious little time to try and stop their plans and was constantly out and about to try and gather more information on them.

It appeared to Mickey that the Organization seemed to be the real threat to the cosmos, and their accomplice was just a pawn they were using to distract people from what they were really up to. Mickey decided to handle the case with Organization XIII himself, and gave the three children the job of trying to find out who their accomplice was. He had given them the information that he compiled of suspects – which was over ten pages of names. He hadn't particularly ever been good with trying to uncover a serial killer's mind games and riddles, he thought few were capable of such a feat, but he believed the more perky and active-minded three were more able than he was to try and figure out the messages.

The three were eager to help and seeing as how they had already visited the crime scenes in person, thought they were able to figure out who the felon was in no time. But the task proved to be much harder than they had anticipated. For one thing, they believed that the murderer was someone they had seen before, but when all possibilities came to a negative, they realized this was someone way out on left field. This person was new, which made it all the more difficult to find out who this person was. There were thousands of crooks across the cosmos and they just couldn't look through them one at a time. The only helpful thing they had to go on was the tiny little messages and cards he(or she) left behind for them to find. But of course, all the messages just seemed like nonsense to them and didn't tell them anything of his whereabouts or who he (or she) was.

They spent mind numbing hours of looking through photographs of the crimes and brain storming possibilities; but came to no significant brake through. They leafed through Mickey's name list, but thought it was useless to go through every name. They had spent so much time trying to find the killer behind the extravagant murders, that at times, they had forgotten to eat or sleep. They looked at too many pictures and read too many books that it sometimes gave them nightmares and made them a little paranoid, edgy and snippy.

Mickey was seeing that the work was eating away at their health – both mentally and physically and was regretting giving them the task and had suggested that they should take some time off to just relax. However, they insisted that they were fine and there was nothing to worry about. But the king knew better and constantly sent someone over to their room to make sure they weren't working themselves to death.

The troupe was now, once again, working on the case in their room, and Sora had the clippings and pictures and notes all displayed out before him on the floor. As he was looking at each of the pictures individually, Riku was occupying one of the three beds in the room and was intently reading criminology books that would better help him, and the group as a whole, to understand the crimes they were working on.

Kairi, who had the least amount of sleep amongst the three because she was the one most plagued by nightmares, was now heavily sedated in her bed. Her body was wrapped in countless amounts of baby blue and tickle me pink colored blankets. She was also surrounded by plush pillows of all shapes and sizes that made for an incredibly comfortable sleeping area.

Usually Sora would begin talking to himself so as to organize his thoughts and ideas. But, seeing as how both Riku and Kairi needed their silence, he decided to run through each of the key points in each crime scene in his mind.

The first, and only one that he didn't need to delve too much into because the scene was remarkably imprinted so deeply into his memory, was of the three ducklings, Huey, Dewey, and Louie; and with it, the memorable (and soon to be trademark) note written in blood and signed by "THE FUNNY-LOOKIN'". But this wasn't the only crime scene that the killer identified himself as "THE FUNNY-LOOKIN'", and definitely not the only one that was written in blood.

The second had also struck a cord in Sora's heart since it had also involved one of his good friends getting hurt. This one had taken place in Agrabah, and there was just a big a crowd that had been around the discovery of the homicide as that of Traverse Town. However, a lot of the people seemed uninterested in the death or simply weren't surprised. A vast majority in Agrabah suffered from poverty, a poverty Sora had never knew nor had ever really seen before. When Sora was out searching for the world's heart to lock away from the darkness – his sole purpose was to blend in and not ask questions.

So when people merely noted Abu's death as something disturbing and morbid and nothing more – Sora couldn't really blame them. They suffered from daily lack of food and sometimes even shelter. They could care less about a pinned up monkey on the wall whose heart was pulled out from his little furry chest. They had better things to do – children to feed – families to provide for. But it didn't hurt Sora any less or any of his other friends who were deeply connected to the once mischievous monkey

It didn't help the situation get better once they had found that Abu had been put through various animal experimentations before his death that made his mouth form a ridged grin and his fur turn a murky brownish-green. His blood seemed to have become a dirty red because of all of the toxins that had coursed through his veins and when the "THE FUNNY-LOOKIN'" had written his message beside the body – pieces of think gelatin like blood popped up from the writing. It read: "I LIKE TO PLAY WITH THINGS THAT LOOK LIKE HUMANS!" Again it was written with another ridiculous scribble of "HAHAAhaHAHAhahaHAHA!"

Since the discovery of Abu's death, Genie and Aladdin were no where to be seen and Sora and his friends weren't able to ask him any questions concerning Abu's disappearance or where he was the night before the abduction. Jasmine was in no talking mood either when they had met with her, she had been crying, not only for the loss of a good friend, but for the disappearance of her beloved – she was worried that he might be in some kind of danger. No one outside the palace or the three from Destiny Islands was allowed to announce the disappearance of Agrabah's hero, Aladdin. Though it would've probably lead to Aladdin's whereabouts sooner – the Sultan thought it would cause for world wide panic at a beloved citizen vanishing randomly. Not to mention, if he was in the clutches of a mad man and word had gone out there was a search for him, the killer might use it to his advantage to flee the world.

Instead, the Sultan had compiled a secret police force to try and track down where Aladdin and his friend were. And because the palace was in deep despair and Jasmine and her father, the Sultan, were busy trying to find out where Aladdin and genie were, the inner workings of the world's government slowly began disintegrating. They were spending too much time worrying about one man that they had completely ignored their official duties to the nation. Since the police had been put on hold of their normal duties of keeping order in the towns and cities to look for Aladdin, crime rates had gone up considerably and people were now afraid to step out of their homes at night – and sometimes – even in the day. Though Abu's death hadn't directly affected the people – indirectly it had caused more damage than the people would ever know.

Fortunately, within a few weeks Aladdin and the Genie had returned back to the palace. Apparently they needed sometime to themselves to think about life and clear things up in their minds after Abu's death. Though Riku never expressed his feelings about Aladdin's sudden disappearance, he scoffed when he found out he was merely out to "clear his head" and remarked, "He could've at least left a note." And now that everything was getting itself stitched back together, the people of Argrabah were growing suspicious of its government. They saw how the Sultan had spent his money and his time protecting just one man – and leaving the people in the dark to fend for themselves. And though it had been a beloved person they had taken the time to find – it was still no excuse to jeopardize the nation. Thoughts of a rebellion began to whisper throughout the kingdom – and it seemed that things were going to be a lot harder to patch up than the Sultan had anticipated.

The third body, though chronologically had happened before Abu's death, had been the third one to be discovered, recorded and then searched. Flounder, had been the next unfortunate one to have fallen prey to the serial killer. All of Atlantica wept at the news of their dear Flounder - now departed from their world. Ariel had discovered his scaly body nailed onto to her secret little room where she horded all of her humanoid related treasures. He had been stuck on with an incredible sharp and large White Shark tooth – and his yellow skin had been colored white, his blue stripes and fins were a vivid green and his mouth – was curled into a signature ghastly smile with red painted lips. His eyes nearly bulged out from their sockets, he seemed to have undergone the same type of animal experimentation, but hadn't dyed from toxins in his body but of asphyxiation, suffocation.

It was proven that Flounder had been caught with a traditional fishing rod when they had found a hook caught in his mouth. He was then taken onto land which would account for his death from lack of oxygen. To further prove their theories to be correct, the murderer had left another message written in what looked like red paint of some sort – to mimic the color of blood. It read: "HE WRIGGLED LIKE A WORM ON A HOOK WHEN I Drew HIM On LAND!" Instead of a Ha-Ha at the end of the message he drew a smiley face.

When people heard of the toxins that were found in Flounder's body, they began to panic. They believed that the toxins had contaminated the water and it was now coursing through their body's only waiting for a precise time to unleash its untimely death grin. Sora and his companion's looked into this and found out that the fish had contaminated the water, but the chemical was part of a binary compound and it had released only one half of the chemical that was needed to create the signature morbid smile. However, this did not relieve the mer-people's minds of the matter, they began to ponder: "If now every single one of them contained a part of the compound in their system – what would stop the madmen from coming back and dumping the other part into their waters?"

Tritan had commanded the masses to be weary of where they go and what they consume. People were forced to throw out suspicious things and the whole seven seas were given a curfew. Anyone who was out before a certain time would be held up and questioned by the king himself. No one was taking any chances for fear of bringing harm to themselves and their loved ones and were all to willingly to give up certain liberties of privacy and speech. People were constantly being watched and though it felt over bearing and tedious – they all convinced themselves it was for the best.

Even the rebellious Ariel hadn't rebuked her father's stern orders to try and keep the peace. Her usual rambunctious and curious self had now disappeared with the passing of her long time friend. She looked to be always in a floating comatose and rarely every talked with the same zest and life she once did. A sort of stagnant gloom had now settled over the world and it was as if the executioners axe was hanging a few inches above everyone's heads.

Kairi and seen the world underwater before it had been hit with hopelessness – and it was a beautiful world once filled with life and wonder, and now it's vibrancy was all washed away. She had felt sad for the sea creatures – even the most brightly colored ones seemed to have paled because of the situation. She wished she could've told them all that her and both of her friends were close to finding the killer and bringing him to justice – but she didn't want to put salt in their wounds by telling them a lie.

The last of the key horrendous deaths was found in Never Never Land. One of the Lost Boys, the one who was dressed up like a fox, who had a twin who also dressed up in a similar fashion, was found carelessly out on the shore where mermaids had discovered his body and reported it to Peter Pan. Pan was infuriated by the death of his comrade and had commanded the Lost Boys to scout out the island to see if the "blasted" murderer was still lingering about – but nothing was found. After hours of searching they finally gave up and settled for woe contemplation and saying how they'd "ring the bastard by his neck" if they ever saw him.

The Fox's murder wasn't as horrendous as the previous three murders, and hadn't affected as many people as the others did, but it still carried sentimental value for Sora and his friends. The Fox had been slashed across the mouth to form a Chelsea grin, it seemed as though the murderer had ran out of laughing toxins – or just didn't see the point of wasting it on this crime. Then he was stabbed in the shoulder, right where a major artery was located. It was presumed that he had died of blood loss before the mad man decided to cut open his stomach and locate his appendix. Then, with another of his trademarks, he punctured the appendix with two red and two black playing cards, two eights and two aces. Eight, Ace, Eight, Ace.

Sora took special note of this peculiar death. Though it was still grisly in its own right, it almost looked, sloppy. He hadn't taken time to actually do something spectacular nor had he put the body in an obvious place where tons of people would find it. He merely tossed it out to rot in the sun till someone just so happened to land upon it. Not to mention, the killer hadn't even left a message, just cards, and again "THE FUNNY-LOOKIN'" signature.

Another important thing Sora had discovered about this rather unusual death was when Leon had contacted Sora telling him of similar deaths around the worlds resembling that of the one found in Never Never Land. Each death in each world had impacted it either politically, socially, or even economically. There were a few deaths that had no real impact on a grander scale but still affected those who had known the person. Sora paid particularly close attention to these less than grandeur killings he had first come upon in Never Never Land. The way he saw it there were two possibilities for the killer changing his MO.

There was a copy cat

There was a message he trying to send out

Sora didn't particularly believe there was a copy cat this early in the game. But if there was a message in these crazed writings and murders, then there was obviously something that neither him nor his friends were able to understand. Not that he really wanted to probe the inner workings of a mad man – but perhaps if he could see things through his eyes, to know what he knew a little better, perhaps they would be more closer into discovering his whereabouts and his motive.

As Sora continued to stare at the scattering of photos and notes, his stomach grumbled angrily at him and pulled him out from his sea of thoughts. He looked down at his shirt and made a face. Riku looked up from his book at the noise emanating from Sora's stomach, Kairi just stirred.

"Hungry?"

"Seems like it." Sora sighed.

Riku folded the page he was on in his book and closed it before getting out of his bed.

"Let's go get something to eat, my stomach's been growling at me for the past five minutes."

Sora didn't reply at first but then responded, "Ya sure, not like I'm going to find all the answers to this case at this very moment."

"That's the spirit." Riku smirked as they both headed out the door, leaving Kairi to what they could hope were pleasant dreams of a happier time.

A/N:

I decided to update really early becuz last week i only updated once - when i usually update every three days soo - ya I'm just catching up on lost time. Not to mention I think this is one of my favorite chappies :D

Why you may ask?

Well simple - it's all a little game YOU READERS CAN PLAYY! I know it's a little lengthy but it's still a story. Basically these are the rules - THERE ARE NO RULES! They're mind games the Joker is using and I have prepared these solely for this story and they all do HAVE MESSAGES and such. You know I wasn't just making stuff up to make stuff up. So if anyone's feeling a little liek a detective at the moment - please feel free to look into the cases above and try to figure out hte message Joker is sending to the trio! And give me your ideas via reviews! Perhaps they're right on! Or perhaps not! Either way you'll all be finidng out in a few chapters soon to come!

In any case - the hard facts arent hte only things the Joker is giving them. In the story itself i wanted to intertwine anotehr element of metaphorical nad symbolic meanings. Here, let me show you! When the talk of Agrahba - you think of a landy sandy place! Riku's name is a play off the word Land - and thus you see his two cents put into the whole ordeal, same thing with Kairi in Atlantica, and Sora in Never Never Land! AH HAA! See see! It's pretty fun!

And for those of oyu thinkin why I haven't killed off any real MAJOR characters like Ariel or something - well - I thought that was being just a little to...over the top OO. I mean I know hte Joker's a genius and all but - that's pushin the envelope, I mean, c'mon! If he'd done that, EVERYONE would be on his ass and that's particularly not a situation he wants himself to be in.

Hope you all enjoyyy!