And now…

9: The Parting of Kazdan Kalinkas


"Even if I saved the world, if I lost my friends, my life would shatter. So please don't die. Don't disappear." –Lenalee from Katsura Hoshino's '-Man'


Another shudder of the building threw Kaz and Tom down the stairs and to the floor. Tom was on his feet first and helped Kaz find his balance again. The two made their way over to the hypnotizing rip on the dais, shaking with fear but driven by the curiosity only a teen could have.

Tony stepped in their way just as they approached the dais.

"What do you think you're doing!?" He screamed, his eyes burning with rage, fear, and confusion, "Get out of here! This is too dangerous! I knew Tobias shouldn't have let you brats stay here but noooooo! He had to go and play the he—!"

The sword the suddenly sprouted from his chest cut off his words.

Tony blinked at the sword. It was black and red and curved like a crescent moon. He raised a shaky hand to touch it when it suddenly twisted and eased itself out of his chest.

Kaz screamed and fainted.

That was all anyone needed.

The engineers started screaming and running from the rip as fast as they could. Tony collapsed to the floor, his body disappearing into burst of white and blue light. Large yellow eyes were blinking out of the darkness beyond the rift. Tom stared at them for a moment or two before someone jostled him and he remembered something very important.

They needed to get out.

Tom grabbed his unconscious best friend under the arms and dragged him away from the dais. The stairs were harder to maneuver as everyone was trying to get up them at once but the boy managed. Once in the control box, he gave a quick glance to the floor below. Black things, as dark as shadows, were swarming out of the rip, scuttling around like insects. Tom shuddered and hauled Kaz out of the control box and into the room Willy usually occupied. By this time, it was completely empty.

Tom propped Kaz up behind one of the benches and slid down beside him, panting with the panic induced adrenaline rush. Whatever had happened, it was scarier than anything he'd seen in Perim. Something had just killed Tony.

An odd rippling noise caught the boy's attention and he peered over the top of the bench to see five figures all dressed in identical black cloaks with their hoods up were materializing from strange ovals of darkness that flicked tentacles of dark energy into the air before collapsing in on themselves and fading away.

Tom couldn't stop the squeak of fear the slipped out of him.

One of the figures spun around, saw those terrified blue eyes, and strode over. They yanked Tom to his feet and hissed in an accented voice, "Get out of here if you value your heart."

"But…Kaz…" The man (based on the sound of his voice) turned his head to look at the unconscious Kaz on the floor. Then he stretched out a gloved hand and murmured something odd. Green light sparkled over Kaz's form and the boy groaned, opening his eyes groggily.

"Now GO!" The man snapped and went to join his companions who had vanished through the door to the Wormhole Generator.

"Tom?" Kaz pushed himself to his feet, shaking his head, "Am I…was that a…dream?"

"We have to move!" Tom grabbed Kaz's wrist and practically flung him out of the door and into the hall, "Whatever's coming out of that…that hole just k-k-killed Tony!" Tom's throat constricted as he said the words but they got Kaz to move.

The boys took the stairs down as fast as they could, adrenaline numbing anything that would normally slow them down. They made it to the ninth floor landing when a black pool in the center of the stairs before them made them freeze. Something wiggled in the pool and rose out of it.

No…a handful of something's.

Armored warriors just barely taller than Tom himself with darkness beneath their helmets and glowing yellow eyes that stared at him hungrily. Steel swords clattered as they moved forward.

Tom and Kaz both screamed and dove out the door way to run full tilt down one of the ninth floor hallways. Tom glanced at his best friend. Kaz was pale, his steps shaky and faltering slightly, and his breath was coming short and quick. Too quick. Kaz was close to fainting again. Or worse. The two boys dashed down several hallways before finding another staircase to run down.

Where are we supposed to go!? Tom wondered franticly as they leapt down several flights of stairs, What are we supposed to do!?

They dodged into a sixth floor storage hall and paused behind some boxes to try and catch their breath. Kaz sank down with his back to the wall and his eyes closed and Tom slid down next to him.

"What do we do…!?" Kaz panted in a whisper, chest rising and falling dangerously quickly, "What do we do!? What do we do!? What do we do!?"

"I dunno!" Tom hissed back, fearing not only for himself but for his best friend as well, "Those…those things are everywhere! I don't think they're from Perim!"

Kaz seized up suddenly, gritting his teeth, and Tom looked at him anxiously but the spiky haired boy breathed out quickly, loosing his tensed muscles, and sagged against the wall. He looked worse than Tom felt.

"Attention all…um…humans! Attention all humans! Make your way as quickly as possible towards the Cafeteria! I repeat! The Cafeteria!" A melodious voice rang over the intercom and Tom and Kaz looked at the ceiling, "If you see any of the strange creatures just run in the opposite direction! Do not attempt to fight them! All humans make your way to the Cafeteria! Um…end of transmiss—!" There was a scraping of static, the sounds of people arguing, the strumming of a stringed instrument, and then a screeching noise. Then silence.

Tom and Kaz shared a glance.

"I guess we'd better head towards the Cafeteria…" Tom muttered, "Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah…" Kaz wheezed, pushing himself slowly to his feet, "My chest hurts and I'm shaking all over but I think I'll stay conscious for a while longer. Long enough to get to the Cafeteria at least."

After peeking around the boxes to make sure the coast was clear, the boys took off down the hall, running as fast as they could. To their ears, their footsteps rang out extremely loud and their breath was like a whirlwind but they saw nothing for the next three floors.

"Wait…Tom…I need…to…catch my…breath…" Kaz sagged against a wall, hand to his chest, breath coming up short, "I can't…keep this up…much…longer…" He pulled his glasses off and wiped sweat from his face with the back of his hand, "How much…farther?"

"One more floor…I think…" Tom was out of breath too but not nearly as much as Kaz. The combined force of fear and running down five floors had sent his adrenaline into a frenzy. Tom was amazed that Kaz wasn't on the floor twitching already. He was fighting with everything he had to stay conscious. Kaz's will to live through this was incredible.

Something snorted and clattered at the other end of the hall and Tom looked up to see one a centaur like creature with a huge, hulking frame and a wicked spear in one hand looming at the opposite end, the same place they'd just come from. It smashed its spear into the floor, cracking it and sending splinters of tile everywhere. Then it crouched low, snorting, and blue-white energy began to swirl around it.

"Kaz! We have to go! Now!" Tom grabbed his best friend's wrist and ran down the hall just as the centaur thing blasted off, charging down the hall with amazing speed despite its large size.

"Right!" Kaz yelped and they both fell head over heels into a connecting hallway, leaving the creature to smash into the wall where it lay, dazed. The boys didn't give it a second thought instead barreling down the hall, trying to find a staircase.

Out of the frying pan and into the fire…

A door burst open as they ran past it and another one of the centaur creatures jabbed its spear out, almost catching Kaz in the side. Kaz flipped back, pressing himself against the wall and sucking his stomach in for an instant and then ducked under the spear to catch up with Tom. In his haste, he tripped over his own feet and fell face first to the floor.

Scrambling, desperate, barely able to draw breath, he pushed himself to his feet and took off running again.

Or he would have had a spear not suddenly stabbed through his back and pin him to the floor.

Kaz's eyes widened as he found himself pinned against the tile. The first thing his fractured and shocked mind thought was, Hey…where's the blood? And then he screamed.

Tom was already at the end of the hall when he heard the piercing scream and turned to see Kaz held to the floor by a spear protruding from his back and one of the centaurs standing over him.

"KAZ!"

Kaz's vision blurred with tears and he scraped his fingers across the floor, trying to get away. Lights were bursting behind his eyes, his heart was pounding, his head swimming. Agony tore at every inch of him. All he could do was scream.

Tom dived forward only to be pulled back by a sturdy arm around his waist. It was one of the people in the black cloaks.

"NO! LET GO OF ME! KAZ! KAAAAAAZZZZZZ!"

Tom's eyes were burning, he could feel the tears slipping down his cheeks as he struggled against the hold of the person who'd grabbed him. They were dragging him back down the hall, away from Kaz, away from his best friend who was screaming in agony.

The centaur thing yanked its spear out, making Kaz scream even louder, and turned to face Tom and the person pulling him away. But Tom's eyes were on Kaz.

Kaz's body was dissolving in bursts of white and golden light, black tendrils flickering over him before vanishing again.

In seconds, Kaz was gone.

"Kaz…?" Tom hung limp in the person's arms as they dragged him away quickly into an impenetrable darkness, "Kaz…?"

Yes I did.

Yes, this is crossed over with Kingdom Hearts and, yes, Kaz just lost his heart.

I'm so evil.

Please leave me a review and…tell me what you thought. As always, thanks for reading.