Ah, the inevitable "long-and-boring-everybody-talking" chapter. Well, explanations are in order, I'm afraid. How else are we gonna get Kaz back? Wait, we are gonna get Kaz back, right? Right!?
10: A Piece of the Heart
"Better to be without logic than without feeling." –Charlotte Bronte
The darkness vanished and a swell of voices rang in Tom's ears. But he was in too much shock to notice. The person who'd been dragging him along let him go, grabbed his shoulders, and turned him around to face him, pushing his hood back as he did so. A man with flame-red, spiky hair that jutted out in all directions, brilliant green eyes, and two, triangular marks just underneath his eyes gazed at him with something like a pathetic imitation of concern on his face.
"Hey, kid, you okay?"
"Kaz…" Tom's harsh whisper sounded distant, even to himself, "He can't be d-dead…that's impossible…Kaz can't d-d-die…that's not…how it works…"
"Axel, what's going on!?" Another black robed person, probably a man by the sound of it, with his hood still up appeared at the red haired man's shoulder, "What's wrong with this one?"
"Eh…" Axel let go of Tom who sagged backwards into a chair, still muttering, "Saw a Heartless take out his friend."
"That's ten people so far!" The other man jolted, silver tassels on his hood clinking, and swore loudly "The Superior's going to have our heads!" And he dashed off in a swirl of black.
Something in Tom's head snapped.
"He's not dead!" He screamed, throwing himself at Axel's feet, tears streaming unchecked down his face, fists clenched in the thick fabric of the black cloak, "He can't be! He's just not! He's not! Tell me he's not! Tell me it's not true!"
"Uh…kid…I can't…" Axel was attempting to pry Tom's hands off him but the boy just cried even louder and everyone else in the room was turning to stare at the spectacle, "Look, kid, he's not dead, okay! He just lost his heart! Though he might be better off dead…!" He grabbed Tom's wrists and shoved him backwards, "Stop your bawling and listen to me!" Tom hiccupped and stared, tears still trickling from his eyes, "He just lost his heart. Lost. His. Heart. Got it memorized?"
Tom blinked at him and Axel sighed, "I'll take that as a no. Whatever. Just…sit down and be quiet, okay. We're trying to fix things the best we can."
"GET AWAY FROM HIM!" Tobias roared, lunging at Axel, grabbing the back of the red-head's cloak, and hauling him away from Tom with surprising strength, "I DON'T KNOW WHO YOU PEOPLE ARE OR HOW YOU GOT HERE BUT SEVERAL MEMBERS OF MY STAFF ARE MISSING AND I WANT TO KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON HERE!"
Silence.
"T-Tobias…" Conner said in a hushed voice and the eldest Khaos brothers' flashing eyes zeroed in on his younger sibling, "Th-there's only eleven kids. W-we're missing one."
"Kaz…" Tom croaked out and Tobias looked down at the boy slumped in the chair, "Those things…they…got him…he's…he's…"
"You…" Tobias' voice rumbled, low and dangerous as he turned his fearsome glare upon Axel who stood his ground, "You've endangered the lives of countless people. Nine members of my staff have failed to report to me. And now…one of my honored guests has been…" Tobias shuddered and closed his eyes briefly to try and control his temper, "They were under my protection but I'm placing this on your heads!"
"Fine!" Axel sneered slowly raising a hand up so it was level with his chest, "But know that this is on your head!"
"Axel!" Snapped a chilling voice and the red-head froze, frowning over his shoulder at another figure in a black cloak. The person had their hood back, revealing silky blue-silver hair and calculatingly icy yellow eyes, "That's enough. Go with Roxas and Demyx, they're erecting a barrier around the building and this Cafeteria." When Axel didn't move, the man's hair seemed to stand on end, "Now."
Axel snorted but turned on his heel, waved his hand, and disappeared into the dark oval he'd created. It sank into itself as soon as the tail of his cloak had vanished. The yellow-eyed man blinked at Tobias and the still stunned Tom before calmly turning his back and walking out of the room.
The rest of the Khaos brothers, the handful of staff Tobias had allowed to remain at Khaos Corporation, and the ten other teenagers were all staring at the spot where Axel had created the strange portal.
"Thomas," Tobias said in a soft, comforting voice, " Come with me." Without waiting for an answer, the man grabbed the black-haired boy under the arm, hefted him up, and dragged him into the kitchen. Once there, he sat him on the counter like a five year old getting a lecture and started rummaging through one of the many cupboards.
"He was…my best friend…" Tom's voice shuddered as he stared at the floor, tears still trickling slowly down his already stained cheeks, "And I was…he…wh-why couldn't I…do a-a-anything to…save hi-him…?"
"You can't always play the hero, Thomas." Tobias had his back to the boy and was now setting a measuring cup full of water into the microwave. The buttons beeped as he keyed in the appropriate time, "Sometimes things happen that you can't stop and you need to accept that." The man turned around, pushing his glasses up his nose with a single finger, "Are you going to be okay?"
"No…" Tom buried his face in his hands and started shaking, his shoulders heaving with the sobs he was trying to contain, "K-Kaz was m-my b-b-best friend…I l-let him d-d-down…what're his p-parents…P-Peyton and S-S-Sarah will n-never for-forgive me…"
The microwave beeped and Tobias turned back around to carefully remove the steaming cup of water from the machine. He poured the hot liquid into two black coffee mugs emblazed with the Chaotic symbol and then stirred in a hot chocolate mix and added a few tiny marshmallows. He handed one to Tom who rubbed his eyes furiously and took the mug.
"Didn't know if you wanted marshmallows or not." The eldest Khaos brother commented as he propped himself against the counter opposite the distraught teen, "So, tell me about Kazdan."
Tom took a slow sip from his mug, staring without really seeing at the floor and swinging his legs through the air from the counter top, "We met…when h-he moved to my hometown from Chicago. We were b-both…eight years old."
"How'd you meet?"
Tom let a shaky smile flicker across his lips but it vanished almost as soon as it had appeared, "We both liked Chaotic. We were too young to have Code Scanners…but we both liked…the online game." The boy took another drink, "When we were t-ten…his mom took us t-to the park and…" Tom swallowed thickly, shuddering at the memory, and tightened his fingers around the arm mug of coco.
"Go on, Thomas." Tobias urged gently, taking a drink of his own hot chocolate but never taking his eyes off the boy.
Tom squeezed his eyes shut and a few stray tears leaked out, "He f-fell off the…the domed monkey bar…things…" He made a vague, round, gesture with his hand, "And b-broke his leg. And then he started to…to…" Tom shook his head, unwilling to continue.
"I know his medical record." Tobias said in a flat sort of voice that made Tom look up at him, "I know he suffers from such a unique medical condition that causes a severe reaction to his body when his adrenaline spikes too high." The man's lips twisted into a thin smile, "We keep a close eye on those in Chaotic who have medical conditions. There are programs in the Code Scanners that prevent harsh problems but we can't eliminate everything."
"He was the one who showed me Perim." Tom said quietly, "I didn't believe him when he told me about making friends with Creatures like Chaor and traveling across Perim to the Underworld. I told him he was just being a kid." Tom rubbed a hand across his face and took another sip, "Even though I was being a jerk about it…he stuck by me and he didn't shove it in my face the first time I went to Chaotic." Tom's hands started shaking, "And now he's dead! What am I gonna do!?"
"He's not dead." Said a young voice and the two looked around to see a short hooded figure in the now familiar black cloak standing just inside the closed door of the kitchen, "Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt." The figure pushed back their hood to reveal a boy probably no older than Tom with shockingly bright neon blue eyes and golden brown hair that was spiked off to one side, "I'm Number XIII, Roxas, The Key of Destiny and the Keyblade Master."
"Titles mean little when it comes to your group." Tobias hissed but Roxas didn't flinch.
"I know you're angry but give me the chance to explain what's going on. Axel's already doing the same for your friends outside."
"Explain away, it doesn't make me hate you less." The eldest Khaos brother said and drained his mug, setting it on the counter with a thud.
"Where to start…" Roxas murmured and then ran a hand through is spiky locks, "There are thousands of worlds and all of them are connected somehow. Within the space we; my…fellows and I; live the worlds are connected by Corridors of Darkness or via Gummi ship routes. But your world is different. The worlds in your space of the cosmos are linked through limbos between the worlds. You found a way to break the barriers around the worlds, punch through the limbo, and into another world, am I right?" Tobias nodded coolly and Roxas continued,
"We found a way to do the same but you…fought back, so to speak. When your company realized we were trying to bust into Perim you strengthened your own Generator which caused ours to act up. So then we'd add more power and make yours act up. It wasn't until we applied the full force that we eventually punched through but…" Roxas shook his head, "We weren't supposed to open up here; we were aiming for Perim where no one would get hurt. I told them they were using too much energy but I'm too new for them to listen to me much."
"What exactly were you planning on doing in Perim?" Tom asked in a wary voice, "You weren't going to…take it over or anything? Were you?"
"No." The young boy sighed, "We're Nobodies. Me, Axel, and the rest of us in black. We're all Nobodies."
"And they are?" Tobias seemed to be more interested than angry now.
"I have to explain the Heartless first." Roxas turned his attention to Tom, "Those things that took your friend, that's a type of Heartless. The Heartless are beings created from darkness. They're born from the darkness in a person's heart and they feed on the hearts of others. When a Heartless takes another person's heart, it falls into darkness and becomes another Heartless. We call it "losing your heart.""
"So…Kaz lost his…heart?" Tom made a disgusted face and Roxas forced a smile.
"Not the physical heart, the emotional one." Roxas' expression was swept blank again, "But the Heartless don't just seek the hearts of people, they want the hearts of worlds too." The boy shook his head, "But that's beside the point. When someone with an extremely strong will to live gets turned into a Heartless an empty shell is sometimes left behind. A being with instincts and the needs for survival but no heart. A Nobody. The lowest levels of Nobodies are Dusks and they're just like the Heartless; no consciousness only the need to find a heart. Some Nobodies, however, develop a conscious and look human." Roxas tapped his chest, "Like me. But we don't…have hearts. We're just empty shells…wandering around, looking for what we lost. We don't feel anything; we can only fake our feelings." Despite his words, Roxas looked upset.
"So there's a chance we could find Kaz's heart and bring him back, right!?" Tom asked excitedly, almost spilling his coco onto his lap.
"I don't know. Probably not." Roxas answered and Tobias made an odd growling noise, "His heart's been consumed by the darkness so he's a Heartless now but about his leaving a Nobody behind…" Roxas shrugged, "That's anyone's guess. We; Organization XIII, that is; release Heartless into worlds and destroy them so their hearts are sent…somewhere our Superior won't tell us. Apparently though, wherever they go, we'll be able to get our hearts back with it someday."
"Then why release your Heartless here?" Tobias' eyes were narrowed with discontent but the whole concept was rather intriguing to the man.
"I told you," Roxas said almost exasperatedly, "We meant to release them into Perim because they don't seem to like chasing after the Creatures there. This was an accident that we intend to fix. There's a shield around the Cafeteria so the Heartless can't get in here and cause any more damage and there's another one around the whole building to stop the Heartless from getting out. So we're trying to fix it."
"Trying isn't good enough!" Tobias and Tom snapped at the same time but it was Tom who set his mug down, leapt off the counter, and stomped up to Roxas.
"My best friend is gone because of your stupid Organization's stupid idea to trash Perim!" The boy shouted, grabbing the front of Number XIII's cloak and giving him a shake, "You have no idea how much I hate you right now! If you don't fix this then I'll see to it personally that you all suffer painfully for what you've done to us, to Mr. Tobias' staff, and to Kaz!" Roxas stared at Tom with an empty expression and Tom' temper flared even higher, "Why don't you say anything!? This your fault! All of it! Kaz could be gone forever because of you!" Tom hefted Roxas up, drew back a fist, and socked the other boy in the side of the face.
Roxas went sailing into the door and crashed through it, sprawling onto the floor. Axel and another Organization member with dirty blonde hair yanked into a Mohawk/mullet-like style were suddenly at his side. Axel was spinning strange black and red steel rings with protruding spikes around in his gloved fingers, his expression livid. The second man was helping Roxas to his feet.
"I'm fine, Demyx," Roxas muttered, pushing the man away and rubbing his cheek, "I…kind of deserved that one."
"Alright, Thomas, I think that's enough." Tobias put a hand on the boy's shoulder, "I'm going to need some help."
"With what?" Tom asked, immediately distracted as the three Organization members left the scene.
"Since it seems we're going to be staying in this Cafeteria a while, I need your help to clear out some tables and making a living space. You know, sleeping, eating, that sort of thing." Tobias wrapped an arm around the boy's shoulders and led him out of the kitchen, "We could probably get those Nobodies to get us some blankets and supplies if we really needed them…"
The man's voice trailed off as he kicked the kitchen door shut behind him and wandered to the other side of the Cafeteria with Tom at his side.
Wow, a whole chapter without a scene change, how amazing is that?
Okay now that we have all the "blah, blah, blahs" out of the way, we can get on to more exciting things! Trauma, trauma, blood and angst! Mwahahahahahaha! Okay, no, not really.
I think I covered pretty much everything in here. If I forgot something I'm super sorry. Yep, super sorry.
Aaaaaannnyyyyway, Tom's a jerk, Kaz is awesome, and Peyton and Sarah should totally be together.
Hee, hee, hee.
Okay, I'm done now. Seriously. I'll see you guys in the next chapter! Thanks for reading, please leave me a review, and byes!