Chapter Three: London Bridge is falling down.
Zwiiip. Funny thing, teleportation. It's a rather difficult event to describe. Have you ever seen those pictures on the street that look like they pop up or sink down, but only if you look at them from the right angle, and the moment you move you realize they're actually flat? No matter what angle you look at Noah from when he teleports, that's the one you continue to see and realize, is flat as he flickers into or out of existence. Dematerializing looks a lot like this Image seems to blink out, like suddenly turning off a TV, perhaps an older one. Rematerialization is very much like the same instant, played backward. Sometimes, a biological-based teleport means that the subject can throw in a little illusion power or time-warping if they're lucky, and leave an image of themselves behind, sometimes arrive before they leave.
Anyway, Noah materialized onto the roofed, open walking area just above the clock face of Big Ben sometime in the middle of the night. Actually, he didn't. Big Ben is really the name of the bell inside the clock tower, the tower itself isn't named Big Ben, but people seem to call it that anyway. Noah looked out over the London skyline, not all old timey, like the last time he had gone there with River and Nico during the industrial revolution. Now it had tall skyscrapers, metal and glass buildings, the works.
"I was starting to think you might not show up," came a familiar voice that almost made Noah tremble, almost. Noah turned around and saw Aanthoni standing there. He looked to be about 17 or 18, just slightly older than Noah, but looks can be deceiving, especially with shape-shifters. He had pitch-black shiny hair slicked back 50's-style. He wore a black leather jacket, and a slightly tight, but by no means unfitting, scarlet T-shirt that showed off his muscles. They weren't bulky or huge, but they were noticeable. Aanthoni was also wearing his usual Jeans, but had decided to forgo the large dark sunglasses that usually hid his eyes. His red eyes. Not the whole eye was red, the white and the pupil were completely normal; it's just the iris, the color, that's completely and undeniably blood-red. Compared to Noah's soft, kind, almost boyish face, Aanthoni might have been mistaken for an ape. However, in a normal setting, one would simply see that he had a strong masculine impression, a square-ish face, slightly large eyebrows, a thick neck and a cleft chin. As Noah turned to see the owner of the voice, Aanthoni smiled wide, showing his too-perfect unnaturally straight white teeth.
"Got rid of the fangs?" Noah asked.
"Wasn't working for me, kept poking my lips. I tried jigsaw sharp teeth for a while, fitted together like a piranha, but they kept getting dull, and sharpening them is a pain. What about you Noah? Any new body parts I should know about? Perhaps you've grown a spine since we last met? Maybe some balls?"
"What did you do to Nico?" Noah asked, he had a serious tone in his voice.
"Sang him a song, he thought it was pretty and we got married," said Aanthoni sarcastically.
"I'm serious Aanthoni!"
"Why would I tell you? It's so much more fun to watch the two of you squirm." There was a short pause, then Noah spoke again.
"Please, Aanthoni, let me help you. You shouldn't have to be like this, burning with violent anger all the time! You're hurting innocent people!"
"NOBODY IS INNOCENT! Why do you care so much about these lousy pathetic humans! Have you even seen them! They steal, kill, they wound, they mame, they have people whose job it is to find new and creative ways of hurting people! They're selfish beasts with no regard for one another, or even themselves! They know they're destroying their planet, that they're ruining lives, that their children are doomed and society is slipping, heading towards the worst world imaginable and they do nothing! They have people with money enough to buy entire islands with fancy houses and gas-guzzling sports cars, and seven mistresses, while children just a hop skip and a jump away are living in poverty, starving to death every day! What's the point of money and power if it's completely arbitrary? The only ones that have it are always the ones who least deserve it! But deep down, they're all the same anyway! They know that the world isn't going to last, that there are way more human beings than there ever should have been in the first place, but they insist on reproducing like freaking gerbils! They never learn! They're so stupid! Insignificant pestilence! And the rest of the universe is no different! Almost every species there is just the same, mindless cretins totally convinced of their own superiority."
"What did Nico ever do that's so bad? Why do you have to punish him? Look, take out your anger on me, but Nico never did anything wrong!"
"He never did anything right either, he's just a part of it, and he's going to grow up and own a car and have a job, and look out for himself while the rest of the world is screaming in pain, so I need to make it scream louder."
"Do you really think that's the solution?"
"No, that's the end. These people are going to suffer for what they've done as they're going out, but I have to destroy this universe-,"
"Let me guess, before you make your own better one? Run by you?"
"No, just destroy it. That's the only way, nothingness."
"But I'm guessing you're going to get 'enjoyment' out of this one while you still can?" Noah Asked. Aanthoni smiled, Noah kept talking. "What do you want from me?"
"What do I want? Noah, we're Space Lords, the only two in existence at the moment. We're practically family, but no. You don't write, you don't call, you don't return my texts, what's a god to do?"
"We're not gods, Aanthoni. And if it'll make you happy I'll send you a postcard."
"When I fix the universe, there will be nothing. Just empty Oblivion, not even an endless vacuum, but no space for a vacuum to exist in. no more time, no more space, even the gods, any ones you like, will cease to exist. You and I are the only ones worthy of surviving this, of existing beyond existence, you said you wanted to help me, well here's your chance," explained Aanthoni.
"we both know that's not what I meant."
"You will help me… even if I have to… oh… steal your heart?" said Aanthoni. Just then another boy stepped into view; he looked exactly like Sora but with dark black hair and yellow eyes. His hands were relaxed at his sides, palms facing in, but from his right hand a shaft of darkness appeared, accompanied by a shrill zzzzzaaappp as blue and black sparks jumped up and down its length and a trail of cubes of blue light spiraled helically along its length as Vanitas' Keyblade appeared. The Void Gear was mostly black, with a red border. The teeth of the Keyblade were shaped like half of a mechanical square-toothed gear, where the center would be; a blue reptilian eye pattern. The shaft of the Keyblade looked like a chunk of metal that thinned out in the middle and got thicker as it approached the teeth and the handle. It was also wrapped in tight black chains that looked as if they were thrown on haphazardly as they crossed and overlapped at odd unorganized angles. The rain guard where the blade connected to the handle was yet another blue eye with a black slit-like pupil. The Hilt as a whole also looked like a black gear, the cross guard consisted of two arcs with the teeth of the gear facing outward, leaving space for the grip to cut through the empty space in the middle of the gear.
"Vanitas?" Noah asked, surprised. He then addressed Aanthoni, "You were the one who restored Ventus?"
"I restored Vanitas," corrected Aanthoni, "Ventus was, …. an undesirable by-product. He just kind of, happened," explained Aanthoni. Vanitas reared the Void Gear up, ready for a battle. His stance looked like one that would indicate a mainly offensive strategy; feet far apart, body and head turned slightly so that his left foot and hand were both facing noah, Keyblade held high, his right arm extended upward, but bent at the elbow, a little bit like drawing an arrow. He held it as if ready to lunge, his palm facing away from his body with his thumb and forefinger at the forward end such that the tip was pointing at Noah, and the Teeth were pointing to the ground.
"What did he offer you, Vanitas," asked Noah, "power? Money? Wimen? Whtever it is he won't give it to you. Once you give him control of my heart he'll be done with you and get rid of you like a disposable battery"
"He's offered me control of the χ-Blade," Vanitas said cockily, his voice sounded exactly like Sora's.
"So, what'll it be, Noah? Join us? Or do we have to destroy you?" Asked Aanthoni as he summoned his own blade. Aanthoni transformed the air particles into his sword, as he did it was like a black smoke gathered around and assembled itself in his hand, solidifying into a short, steeply-curved Falchion blade. The blade was pitch-black but trimmed in a thin red border along the serrated cutting edge. One thought that always popped into Noah's head when he saw Aanthoni's blade was,
Who the heck has a serrated sword?
I do, Aanthoni answered back telepathically.
"I don't want to have to fight you, we can settle this peacefully," urged Noah.
"I wouldn't want to fight us either!" Vanitas taunted, but he felt rather silly, as Aanthoni had already began to attack Noah.
Aanthoni rushed him, and slammed him into the wall, causing cracks to spread along the stone where Noah hit. He went for a lunge with his blade, but Noah blocked it, crossing his own two long slender swords. They appeared to be similar to Samurai swords, silvery, very thin, but cut off at an angle at the tip they didn't widen or shorten at any point along the blade, and the cross-guard was small, almost not there. They were clearly designed to be quick, light, and maneuverable rather than heavy for strength.
Noah pulled his blades away from each other, forcing Aanthoni's back with a scissor-like motion, but the minute jagged teeth on Aanthoni's blade wreaked havoc on the cutting edge of Noah's as a flurry of yellow sparks resulted from the friction. Aanthoni teleported, instantly rematerializing behind Noah and slahing at him, but Noah was able to deflect the blow from behind while turning around. Aanthoni leapt backward, phasing though to the inside of the clock tower and was followed by Noah. Inside, Noah spotted Aanthoni, who flipped his sword so as to hold it by the blade, and slammed it into the real "Big Ben" causing it to ring with deafening sound. As Noah teleported to Aanthoni, the noise suddenly stopped as Aanthoni absorbed it, and then, before Noah had a chance to strike, Aanthoni's blade telekinetically suspended itself behind Aanthoni's back so that he could put his palms facing eachother a few inches apart, emitting the sonic energy at a different frequency. The blast almost caused Noah to lose his balance, but the clock tower was less lucky as the blast caused the walls and roof around them to crumble as if glass shattered by a voice. As the top of the tower collapsed around them and fell to the ground, Vanitas jumped in, Keyblade poised High to strike, but was thrown of his trajectory by a telekinetic push from Noah. The three of them were now battling on the flattened top of the clock tower just above the clock faces. Vanitas tried to run up to take another blow, but this time was thrown through the air by Aanthoni's mind.
"Let the grown-ups talk for a minute, kiddo," he commented, as he and Noah continued to clash their swords, utilizing not just their arms but their whole bodies as well. Aanthoni lept back again, and in midair made a bowling-type motion with his free hand absorbing thermal energy causing a thick layer of ice crystals to extend across the ground toward Noah and then curve upward like a wave as they reached him, but Noah teleported out of the way in time and rematerialized right in front of the ice wall just as Aanthoni landed. The brittle solid Nitrogen now beneath Noah's feet shattered, and the sharp fragments lifted themselves in the air and hurled toward Aanthoni, who did a back flip off the side of the tower to avoid them. His hands grabbed onto the ledge as he swung around and phased through the number XII. The next moment, there was an explosive sonic shock wave that emanated from inside the tower and shattered the clock faces into thousands of glass fragments which all slowed down in their fall until they seemed suspended in time, unable to move forward. Aanthoni shot up from the middle of the ground, telekinetically blasting the middle of the floor away, and the glass pieces rushed to him, concentrating into a single stream that charged Noah on his command. Noah teleported to behind Aanthoni, but instantly had to teleport again to a remote area, then again and again, until the glass shards finally left no escape and caught him up in a writhing storm of clinking glass, which sounded more like shrieking. The churning mass of glass organized into a rough sphere around Noah, constantly moving, and eventually a pink spread across the glass storm, soon turning dark red, the blood-stained glass fell, now reduced to a sandy powder by the sheer force of the abrasion, and revealed a foggy sphere of energy floating in the middle, much like Aanthoni's blade materialized, forming from foggy smoky clouds, so did Noah's body form around his preserved consciousness, black cloak and all as if nothing had happened. In anger, Aanthoni teleported high into the air, and pushed his arm out forward (which was really more like downward at his angle) and from his palm let loose a huge sound wave, the ring of clear energy expanding as it moved forward, but then suddenly started to shrink down again, still moving forward until it disappeared into Noah's hand who had teleported to a midpoint between the top of the tower and Aanthoni. Aanthoni didn't waste a second since unleashing the concussive sound blast, and teleported to the top of the tower under Noah, and started psychically ripping it apart, crumbling it from the top down by stressing just the right pressure points all the way down the tower. As Noah fell, he angled his body and adjusted it to just avoid the toppling tower, but Aanthoni Quickly caught up to him. As Noah fell past the clock hands, now in front of gears and mechanisms on the inside, Aanthoni with a motion of each of his arms, ripped off the hands with psychic power and continued to fall with Noah. With a motion of Aanthoni's arm and hand, the minute hand threw itself at Noah, quarter way down the tower, Noah let it himself phase through it, and landed on it temporarily, icy frost spread from his feet and the one hand he had placed on it for balance until the entire thing looked like a blue frozen clock-cicle, as Noah jumped off the now highly brittle metal shattered, Noah kept falling down, but seemed as if moving up toward Aanthoni as he spun around completely in the air, throwing the hour hand straight at Noah like an arrow. Just as the hand was about to pierce him throught the chest, Noah teleported, instantly reappearing right above the hand. He held his right hand out and to the back as if catching something heavy, and then moved as if throwing something at Aanthoni, while the hour hand stopped its downward descent, and flew back up past Noah Hitting Aanthoni and thowing him off his course. They were now halfway down the tower (still falling at normal speed) which was still crumbling and collapsing, the avalanche just keeping up with them. Aanthoni let go of his black sword, and straightened out his body, catching up to Noah and grabbing him closer by the front of his cloak, the two Aanthoni threw a punch, which Noah managed to evade. Meanwhile, Noah dropped his own swords, which flew behind him and blocked Aanthoni's blade from impaling him from behind. As Noah and Anthony continued to struggle, punching, and kicking and kneeing eachother, both refusing to let go, their three collective blades clashed and clanged together in dangerous proximity to the two foes, seeming to have minds of their own. Of course, both weapons being made by Space Lords, were made of top-of-the-line custom metal that was virtually indestructible. Three quarters of the tower had crumbled, keeping up with the conflict between the two boys. Aanthoni's blade went to stab Noah straight in the back, but Noah's swords arranged themselves into an X, blocking the tip of the blade as it tried to push through and Noah tried to push back, meanwhile trying to struggle past Aanthoni's limbs. Noah let his foot extend out and touch the wall of the tower where it had not yet crumbled, violently throwing of his fall by adding just a split second of friction causing Aanthoni and him to rapidly switch places, Noah now on the top. At that same moment, he pushed Aanthoni away, and spread out both arms to the side, letting his thin blades return to their place and relieving the resistance on Aanthoni's, allowing it to shoot upward and cut through Aanthoni's back, the tip coming out of the front of his chest. Finally the two of them landed on the street below, Aanthoni First, hitting the pavement hard, but Noah phasing through them both as the clock tower was finally reduced to a pile of rubble. Noah rose up out of the ground like a ghost, stopping just when his feet were above the pavement. He saw a figure still falling among some debris, and teleported it to him, causing Vanitas to materialize right in front of Noah's hand. Vanitas tried to strike at the boy who had just saved his life, but Noah backed up avoiding the hit, and was once again back on the offensive. He slashed at Aanthoni with both swords, but they passed through what appeared to be a frozen Image of Vanitas ready to strike.
"Too slow!" came Sora's voice as Vanitas rematerialized behind and above Noah, striking straight down with the Void Gear, Noah teleported out of the way just as the Keyblade hit the ground and caused an eruption of quartz-like ice crystals to sprout up from the spot where the blade hit the ground. Noah pushed his hand outward, and Vanitas was uncontrollably thrown through the air about ten feet back. It was Now that Aanthoni emerged, he started running toward Noah, as he did the pavement cracked and split under his feet, lifing up in huge chunks. Soon what was once a road lifted up into a sideways snake-like vortex of rock, a current heading straight for Noah as Aanthoni jumped up and hitched a ride on one of the pieces, standing on it like a surfboard as the rest of the current rushed Noah. Noah started to run from the long sideways tornado of pavement, but Aanthoni soon caught up to him, speeding forward alongside Noah, Noah turned his head but kept running forward as their blades clashed and tangled together, Noah using his left hand. On the other side, Vanitas Tried to attack from above on Noah's right, Keyblade once again held high over his head ready to strike.
Clang,clang, Vanitas swung the Void Gear back and forth once in rapid succession before even landing, but Noah deflected both blows with his right-hand sword, causing a quick flash of sparks with both blows. Vanitas was thrown off balance once more, and instead of landing on his feet ended up landing on his side and tumbling rapidly across the ground. Meanwhile, Aanthoni took advantage of Noah's momentary division of focus and twisted his blade around such that he could use it to pull Noah up to him, which he did, followed by grabbing him and teleporting them both deeper into the city of London. Aanthoni landed on the top of The Gherkin, a tall conical building with walls almost completely of interlocking triangular glass windows (It was actually shaped somewhat similar to a cob of corn), And forcefully pushed Noah down. Noah hit the side of the building and tumbled, flipping through the air down its side. He finally came to his senses half a second later, flipped both blades in his hand, and dug them into the side of the skyscraper. Still falling, his swords created two parallel slices in the side of the building as they slowed his fall, sharp enough to cut through the glass rather than simply shatter it. However, as his fall slowed, the swords created less and less of a controlled cut, eventually a whole area in front of Noah shattered out of the building, and Noah fell back with it. Aanthoni was quick to catch Noah though the rain of shattered glass, and swing him up sideways, slamming him flat onto the still solid wall next to him. Aanthoni's blade rammed through the glass on the other side of where Noah had just teleported from, he now stood sideways on the building (warping gravitational energy) just above Aanthoni. Aanthoni quickly maneuvered to his feet in front of Noah and tried to strike, but missed as Noah rematerialized right behind him, and slashed with one blade, blocked by Aanthoni's sword, he started to swing the other and completed the action without breaking the motion behind Aanthoni and to the left a little, but he already teleported to a position with his back to Noah's. He pivoted around on his foot and slashed through the air where Noah just was as Noah appeared Upside down (assuming the side of the building is actually down) above Aanthoni, cross-slashing his two blades as he did what looked like the latter half of a front-flip landing in behind Aanthoni once more. And so, the two of them continued to rapidly teleport about each other, slashing and clanging their blades together, which sometimes caused flashes of sparks. They preformed numerous acrobatic maneuvers, twisting their bodies and legs, and arms in multiple directions trying to confuse and overcome the other. It was at this point that Vanitas finally reached the bottom of the skyscraper on foot, where he remained stuck; unable to warp gravity, fly, or teleport long distances. With one final teleport (as if,) Aanthoni rematerialized where Noah didn't expect, and slammed him down through the glass wall with him from above. The two fell through an entire office floor sideways, Aanthoni Keeping Noah in front of him to use as a human shield to break through the cubicle walls first, but Noah grabbed Aanthoni by the shoulders and made them both intangible. They phased through the last few cubicle walls, passing though them harmlessly, and then the other side of the building, now outside again. Noah refocused his gravity toward the glass wall just in time to land on it, but didn't give Aanthoni the chance, his hands still on him, Noah completely froze Aanthoni's body covering it in blue and white frost making him still as a statue, and Noah didn't bother to readjust his opponent's gravity, letting him fall sideways out of reach for a moment, then back down to earth, Aanthoni then teleported (told you so,) and rematerialized In front, and a little bit above Noah, but Noah dropped down, swept his feet in a wide circle, casting of a fine line of sparks where he telekinetically sliced through the glass in the circle enclosing the space He and Aanthoni were standing in, he then jumped up, spread out his arms in a swan dive as the disc of glass fell out of the side of the building, separating Aanthoni and Noah on its two different sides. Noah went to shatter the glass disc with a sonic blast, but Aanthoni was quicker, grabbing it by the edge, turning it Horizontal to their now truly downward fall, and then whipping around his entire body to throw the disc, Noah twisted through the air, avoiding it in a matrix-style move (compounded by the long black cloak), but once behind him, the disc snapped into five rapidly moving discs, shrouded in dark light (yeah, it sounds like an oxymoron, but that's the best way to describe darkness) that continued on their path and attacked the Gherkin, and the top half of the building started to completely fall off. Noah and Aanthoni both landed on the street a few yards away from each other, just as the colossal structure fell crashing to the ground, demolishing buildings on its way down. Needless to say, people were running in the streets and panicking by now. Vanitas ran forward, trying to attack Noah but Noah stopped him, holding him in place motionless with a crush-grip of psychic energy, and then immediately assailed him with a ferocious combo of attacks with his swords, each motion flowing into the next perfectly as he slashed up, down, and across with one or both blades, teleporting to a new angle with each strike, and finally landing after one last strike, pivoting on the ground with the follow-through as he twirled his right-hand blade expertly and his black cloak flared outward with the spin for a moment. He pushed the weakened, cut-ridden Vanitas out of in front of him with psychic energy and was once again facing Aanthoni, who frisbied his black sword right at Noah. Noah countered, throwing both blades spiraling toward Aanthoni, but keeping his hands outstretched in front of him. Noah's swords morphed together into one as they hurled forward, and met Aanthoni's sword in the middle. Both blades continued to spin rapidly and grind against eachother, eachone trying to push the other toward the opponent, as they did they cast off continual showers of sparks from the friction, but Noah and Aanthoni kept psychically pushing on their respective blades. Aanthoni pushed the rapidly spinning metal storm toward Noah slightly, but lost his control as Noah forced it in the other direction toward him. Aanthoni swayed to the side slightly, causing the grinding blades to move with him and curve outward, and then around trying to flank Noah, but Noah pushed the other way moving them back to their path between them. Aanthoni gave a strong push right for Noah, but he swayed to the side, allowing the spinning metal to pass him; travel around his back in a wide ellipse, and then sling-shot back toward Aanthoni. Soon, under the influence of both psychics, the blades spinning against each other were moving in wide unpredictable orbits around the two of them, constantly turning direction and changing course. They ended up hitting the side of a building and slicing right along its wall, spreading frost along the edges of the gap as heat energy was absorbed, skyscrapers and buildings around them were demolished. The blades eventually started moving erratically, almost as if they were ricocheting off of imaginary and constantly shifting walls around them, they slammed into vehicles and buildings and pavement, indiscriminately breaking all of them. Eventually the two blades returned to the spot between Noah and Aanthoni, and Aanthoni's spinning sword seemed to erupt into a trail of darkness. The black serrated falchion seemed to have a meteor-like trail of dark energy shrouding it and trailing away from Noah's samurai sword as it spun and pushed forward on Noah's blade. Noah couldn't keep up, the added psychic energy was pushing the blades closer and closer to him, until his spiraling blade started casting off trails of light behind it, equal and opposite to that of Aanthoni. The spectacle was like watching; from close up, two comets compete in a judo match. They now seemed fixed to the space in between Noah and Aanthoni, only moving forward or backward as the two Space Lords tried to push against each other from a distance. Cracks opened up in the ground spreading out from the space where the two blades met, the conflicting forces stressing the fabric of space itself. There was a tremendous force emanating from the contact point of the black meteor and the white comet, Noah and Aanthoni both were having trouble keeping their feet firmly on the ground without sliding back, Noah's cloak was flapping back away from him at the waist as if in a strong breeze, and the same for Aanthoni's open leather jacket. Some tanks that had arrived were now firing at them along with some soldiers with machine guns, but the projectiles seemed to simply hit an invisible dome around them, only spreading ripples of clear light across its surface with no particular telekinetic interference on either Space Lord's part. Noah slowly pushed the Swords towards Aanthoni, but lost some ground as they ended up closer to him. Noah braced himself against the strong energy current acting against him, and pushed, slowly, evenly, steadily. Sure enough, the two conflicting blades slowly moved toward Aanthoni, and finally overtook him, knocking him back a few yards. Noah's long thin swords rematerialized in his hands, and he turned his focus now to the armed forces surrounding them, he let bullets and missiles phase through him, and when one exploded behind him, the fire didn't spread much but instead snaked into his hand, as he was pondering how exactly to make peace with the military, Vanitas, having recovered over time with cure magic, was once again upon him. As he attacked with combinations of attacks with the Void Gear, Noah expertly swung, twirled, and maneuvered his two blades, easily deflecting and keeping up with his attacks. Meanwhile, Aanthoni, who regained consciousness, telepathically invaded the minds of the soldiers working against them, and psychically stimulated the pain center of their brains all at once. For a few moments, Aanthoni enjoyed the howls and screams of their assailants, each one feeling every possible pain their body was capable of perceiving. As Noah heard the screams, he abandoned Vanitas and teleported to Aanthoni's side, only to immediately have a blow deflected by his sword. Aanthoni psychically manipulated air particles around Noah, causing an invisible spherical vacuum around him. Noah gasped for breath unable to move, it wasn't safe to teleport into or out of a vacuum, he could end up a splattered mess of atoms wherever he wanted to land. Any form of energy he tried to throw out at Aanthoni didn't work, sound needed to cause waves of compressed air, electricity needed a medium to pass the electrons along, fire needed oxygen and a fuel, heat needed particles to vibrate. Aanthoni cackled as the screams continued
"SUFFER!" he declared, as blue streaks of electricity jumped from his body and connected to tanks, and people. With a wave of one hand, three tanks shot up into the air, and then fell back down, each one exploding. Aanthoni held out his hand to absorb the fiery explosions which obediently funneled through the air into his body. He then planted a telepathic emotion in the minds of several soldiers, an emotion of extreme manic depression, and allowed them to shoot themselves. It finally occurred to Noah, light, the only energy that can travel through a vacuum, and of course, the only kind Aanthoni had trouble with. Noah struggled to move his hand but when he did, rays of radiant white light shone from his palm, and nearly fried Aanthoni. He was caught off guard and accidentally let go of the vacuum, teleporting to the middle of the clearing between tanks and officers, and black vans and whatnot. He immeaditley started absorbing energy as fast as he could, a quick recovery while getting back on the offensive. The air itself dropped to absolute zero and became solid, the ice slowly spreading from Aanthoni as everything in the area froze. Soon, the intersection in the street was completely encased in a big block of frozen atmosphere. Aanthoni phased up through the top of the small glacier, and with his newfound energy, let out a telekinetic shockwave that bisected nearby buildings and cut through them, but the wave kept moving destroying everything in its path until it dissipated at the edges of London, Having successfully leveled the skyline. He turned to face Noah, communicated telepathically in the same instant that he dematerialized with Vanitas.
I've made my choice, I am going to raze this world and every other one I can find before putting an end to this universe's misery, either join me, or get out of my way. Noah stood up and teleported to the top of the humongous ice cube, now giving off white mist as it reheated back into gases, skipping the liquid phase. Noah looked around and saw fires just starting from the city almost in ruins, sirens of ambulances, police cars, and fire trucks could be heard everywhere in the distance, especially if your ears were hypersensitive to sonic energy. As the sun started to rise, Noah felt conflicted, not knowing whether to help the city, or get out of dodge before he was arrested. Although he felt tremendously guilty afterward, he realized that saving London would take a while, too long. And it would get in the way of the mission he had already committed himself too, restoring the Keyblade wielders. Noah flickered out of existence, teleporting back to the middle of the night in Twilight Town.
As Noah walked up to his front door, he was greeted by a neighbor.
"What are you doing out so late, kiddo?" A woman's voice asked. Noah turned to see a woman in her mid thirties on his front lawn.
"That's sort of, a long story. And don't call me kiddo," he answered. I'm older than you are. Nico came out the front door at this point to greet Noah.
"Welcome back," he said, before noticing the neighbor.
"Thanks," Noah replied quietly to Nico, "And what are you doing this late too?" he asked to the woman.
"I jog at nighttime; it's much more peaceful, especially when I can't get to sleep. My name's Sally, you must be the neighbors, I've always wanted to meet the people who lived in this house," she said. A quick telepathic scan of Sally's mind revealed to Noah that she was a mild insomniac.
"We only just recently moved in, this afternoon in fact," explained Noah, "it's me, Nico here, and my girlfriend River." He continued. Nico's interest was caught again. Girlfriend? So he does know about this. With someone as naive as Noah is, Nico wouldn't have been surprised if Noah was the last one to know that he was in a relationship.
"What about parents?" Sally Asked.
"Well, that's sort of a long story; we're one of the few teenagers in the universe that actually can responsibly take care of ourselves. Speaking of which," Noah addressed Nico, "we have school tomorrow, and we shouldn't be up this late."
"Speaking of school, I should probably get back to my son before sunrise, It was nice meeting you! I hope you enjoy the neighborhood," she said as she started to walk off.
"Thanks, nice meeting you too!" said Nico
"We'll have to have you over for dinner sometime, bring your family!" Invited Noah.
"Will do, that'd be nice, see you around." She finished as she walked through the door of the house next to Noah's.
"She seems nice," Said Nico.
"What are you still doing up?" asked Noah as the two of them walked inside. "It's," Noah paused, looking up at the sky, "one thirty-seven in the morning!" he finished.
"You have got to be kidding, the stars? Don't tell me you can tell time by looking at the stars," said Nico as he closed the door behind them.
"Don't be ridiculous, of course I can't tell time JUST from the stars,… I also have to know what day of the year it is."
When Noah got to his room, River was already asleep. He pointed a finger, and as it moved upward he sliced the king-sized bed in two, and with a touch each one morphed into a complete one-person bed, the empty one of which, he noiselessly slid across the room and laid down in. The very second Noah closed his eyes, River opened hers, she looked across the room to the least intrusive boyfriend in the universe and proceeded to roll them. She got up and pushed her bed, slightly less noiselessly, over to Noah's so that the sides were touching. Noah was already fast asleep, his normally vast vortex of inner energy somewhat depleted after his fight with Aanthoni, but nevertheless River laid down next to him, closed her eyes, and counted three million, forty eight thousand, five hundred and sixty two sheep before falling asleep two seconds later.
Nico, River, and Noah got about four hours of sleep, before waking up at 6. In the morning, which was still pitch black outside, River made herself a smoothie out of an apple, some milk, some fried bacon, a granola bar, a banana, a guava flavored yogurt, a scrambled egg, a potato, a bit of cereal, and a dandelion. Nico's sweet tooth got the better of him; he had a sugar loaded breakfast cereal with orange juice, and Noah had three cups of coffee, five five-hour-energy drinks, and rummaged through the cupboard looking for whatever had the most calories, which he then took out. It shriveled up and turned black and brown in his hand and he threw it in the garbage, having sucked it dry of chemical energy. River drank her smoothie through a network of bendy straws, and calculated something about it on a graph on a napkin between sips for fun.
Sora heard his name being called, but vaguely, through a muffling veil of drowsiness.
The human brain was not intended to function this early….. He thought as he tried to rouse himself to his mother waking him up like she did every school morning. Finally his senses began to light up in his body one by one. Hearing came.
"Sora! Sora! Wake up!" she sounded a little irritated. Sora shuffled around and sat up, opening his eyes to look at his mom. He yawned,
"Goo'rorning' m'm"
"Sora, would you care to explain to me why you're sleeping on the couch?"
"Because, first day of school today. Couldn't stay up all night, need to get rest," he said incoherently. His head plopped down on the pillow again. "Still need to get rest…" he added.
"And what exactly is wrong with your bed?" His mother inquired.
"Nothing, I hope," he answered, still not able to connect the dots as he got up slowly off the couch.
"THEN, FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE, WHY AREN'T YOU SLEEPING IN IT?"
"Oh! Right, Roxas is using it."
"Roxas is using your bed?"
"Yeah."
"Why is Roxas using your bed?"
"Because he has school today too," said Sora simply, as he started to wander to the stairs.
"And what's wrong with Roxas' bed!"
"It's at his house."
"So?"
"Mom, it's his dad, he was going berserk yesterday, so I let him come over here for the night," Sora explained calmly.
"Oh,….well,….. In the future, I would appreciate it if you let me know,….. did you tell his fater?"
"Hahaha,…no…" Said Sora.
"Sora, you can't just do things like that!"
"Mom, please don't freak out, it was hard enough to get him to come over as it is, I don't want him to feel, unwelcome," explained Sora, now halfway up the stairs. His mom said something else, but Sora didn't hear, he would catch it later. Sora knocked on his bedroom door, Roxas opened it from the inside, letting him in.
"Mom's home," said Sora. "we need to get ready for school, I'm just going to grab some clothes, I figure we're taking the bus," explained Sora, as he walked over to his dresser and rummaged through for an outfit. "You can use some of my clothes, we're the same size," offered Sora.
"How do you know?" asked Roxas. Sora froze,
"I, uh,….kind of,…. Borrowed your old organization cloak for a cosplay thing a few months ago,….itfitperfectlyIgottagogoodbye," said Sora, dashing out of his room.