Chapter 5
The eleven sat in the dark halls.
"Sephiroth failed. We underestimated the power of Sora's friends as a group." One said, a note of disappointment in his voice. "What do we do now, Sir?"
The leader, after a moment of quiet contemplation, stood.
"I'm going to speak to the boy…face-to-face." Several others nearly stood.
"Sir, that's ridiculous! Even if Sora were to give you time to speak, Leon and his followers would cut you down in an instant!"
"I'll be taking Kuja with me…he can make time for me to talk…" He looked over at one of the others, who was wearing a red cloak with black stripes in it. The clasp of the cloak was the Heartless crest with the colors inverted.
"I request you come along too…you know what to say if he persists after I speak to him."
"Yes, sir."
Sora walked through the Radiant Gardens alone. So many strange things had happened… He was trying to figure out what they meant. First Sephiroth could control Heartless, and now Zidane's brother was with him…Zidane had refused to say anything when they got back, storming into his room and locking the door. Sora wondered if Sephiroth and Kuja were connected with the group that could control Heartless…the ones supposedly behind all this…
He suddenly realized that the talk around him had stopped. He turned, seeing everyone…frozen. It was as though he had dropped out of time itself…
"Sora." A deep voice rang out. Sora turned and saw a tall man walking towards him. He was wearing a black robe with jagged green stripes through it…and underneath it, dark green armor. He was wearing a hood, but Sora could see a glowing yellow eye beneath it…
"Who are you?"
"That is of no consequence. What concerns you is that I'm not here to fight; I just want to talk to you." Sora had been about to conjure the Keyblade…this man felt strangely familiar…
"Have we…met before?" Sora asked.
"…No. But I've heard a great deal about you." The man walked closer to Sora.
"You know of the strange and terrible things that are happening, don't you?"
"Yeah. And I think you're in on it if you're talking about them…so whatever you want, forget it." Sora snapped. He couldn't trust this man. The stranger laughed.
"I'm not here to ask you for anything…I'm just here to put a question to you. There's a war coming, Sora. I've seen it beginning. I'm just here to ask you…are you sure you're on the right side?" Sora was confused, but the man began to dissolve into darkness.
"Think about that…we'll meet again, sometime soon." As the man vanished, time resumed. Sora looked about in confusion.
He wandered aimlessly, lost in thought. Finally, he saw Riku and Kairi.
"Sora! Where have you been? We were getting worried." Riku called as he approached.
Sora told them about what happened.
" 'Are you sure you're on the right side?' That seems strange…maybe he was trying to trick you." Riku concluded. After a while, Sora began walking back to Merlin's house.
He suddenly realized someone was watching him.
Turning quickly, he saw a man in red and black looking at him, also wearing a hood.
"You…you're with that man that spoke to me earlier…aren't you?"
"Quick study, huh? You don't seem to trust us, am I right?"
"I've learned not to trust people that don't show their faces until they have a weapon pointed at me." Sora said coldly. The man laughed softly.
"Nice...I'll remember you said that…but I'm not here to chat…I got a message from the boss."
"What…?" Sora asked, confused.
"Either help us, or stay out of our way, Sora. If you start interfering, people—people like your friends—are gonna get hurt. Simple message. Got it memorized?"
Sora's breath caught in his throat. No…it couldn't be!
"Later."
"Wait!" Sora cried, but the man was gone.
Trembling, confused, Sora made his way back to the house without any further confrontations.
Elsewhere, the man in green and black sat in a chair. He looked quietly at a young man in a silver jacket and jeans working a synthesis furnace.
"Can you do it?"
"…Yeah. But I'm gonna need materials…and lots of them."
"Consider it done. How soon will it be ready?"
"When you can give me everything I need to finish it."
"So we understand each other."
"I won't mess up. You just worry about getting your stuff together, and I'll deliver."
"Good." And with that, the man was gone. The young man went back to his calculations.
"Heh…who'd have thought they'd be clever enough to figure all this out? This is going to be interesting…" He said to himself.