~*.*Disciples of the Keyblade*.*~
Title: Captured
Rating: K+
Warnings: Comic mischief, a little violence
Characters: Ventus, Terra, Aqua, Master Eraqus, Jack, Sally, Lock, Shock, Barrel, Oogie Boogie, Santa Claus
Summary: A visit to Halloweentown results in an impromptu rescue mission. Why must they meddle? Pre-BBS.
Special Notes: This chapter is dedicated to natcat5, whom gave me the idea. Several others did also, but natcat5 was the first. Thanks a lot! Axrat, your suggestion is also in here. I hope you enjoy! Since this was so heavily requested, I put a lot of effort into this chapter. It'll end up as one of the longest so far. All of the costumes for the apprentices were designed by my friend UnVeRsEd, with the exception of Terra's. Though that was my idea, she came up with how it would look exactly. A very special thank you goes out to her for all the help she did with this chapter.
~***~
Ventus's armor retreated with a sharp flash of light that lingered in his vision for a few seconds. Blinking away the radiance, he took a good, long look at the environment around them.
The world seemed dull. Everything was a brown-gray-black color, or if there simply had to be any other shade of hue, it seemed strangely quiet. Subdued. The blue, for example, of a flyer tacked to a crooked black streetlamp wasn't bright like it should have been; in fact, it looked like the vibrancy was drained from it. The sky was dark, with a scattering of stars that were far and few between, with a large yellow harvest moon hanging low on the horizon. Bent and twisted buildings made up the town that was just beyond the knobby, dark metal gateway before them. Ven realized he had materialized in some kind of dead-end, and the rectangular corridor only had one exit. And that was forward.
Jack-o-lanterns flared powerfully, yellow light leaking through grotesque faces, staring into oblivion with unblinking eyes.
These were the first words spoken by any of the trio once they entered Halloweentown.
"Why's everything so pale?" Ven exclaimed, turning around to look at his compatriots. Instantly, his eyes flicked to Aqua, and he gaped like a fish out of water, opening and closing his mouth.
Aqua looked at him with an identical expression of surprise, except her mouth stayed closed. "Ven?"
"Aqua?"
The female Keybearer's appearance had undergone a complete revamp, as Eraqus had warned them. Halloweentown was one of those worlds that changed newcomers upon arrival. She still had her general shape, with short blue hair and all, but she seemed almost…scaly. Her pale white skin had acquired a blue-green tint, and three horizontal slashes on either side of her neck resembled what Ven thought looked like gills. Where her ears should have been, webbed fins extended out of her pale locks, twitching slightly, though she didn't seem aware of the action. She had a tail similar to a mermaid's lower body, swishing from side to side, the scales catching the sparse light and reflecting it back in iridescent glimmers.
Aqua's eyes were the same though. A deep azure.
"What are you looking at?" Ven finally snapped out of his stunned reverie.
"You."
The blonde raised his hands and looked at them curiously. The fingers were faintly clawed, though not enough to seem catlike. Orange from the moon bounced off of the long black and white checkered wristbands he wore, and the matching rings on his fingers. From the corner of his eye, Ven noticed for the first time that he had white angel wings. They appeared to just be part of his outfit; since he couldn't move them, but he didn't know what muscles moved wings anyway. His clothes had assumed a white-gold tint, and he reached a hand up instinctively to feel the object whose slight weight had gained his attention. A small pumpkin ornament, one eye missing, the other being a swirl, rested above his right eye. He felt the small feathery wings that sprouted out from its sides with the tips of his fingers.
"Cool! I'm an angel!"
"I'm not surprised," Aqua remarked.
Terra groaned, bringing his hand up and smacking his face with a sigh. Staring at their older friend for the first time, Aqua and Ven broke into laughter.
"What?" growled the brown haired apprentice, glaring through his fingers at them. He pulled his hand back and looked stupidly at it. He was completely covered in fur. Earthy, coarse fur that seemed thick and shaggy and a little untidy, like his normal hair. His clothes were ripped slightly near the sleeves and at the bottom of his leggings, and that was probably because he had clawed paws for hands and feet. Terra didn't even get the benefit of his armored metal shoes, unlike the others. Pointed ears twitched in agitation on his head and his tail kinked itself up into knots, reacting to his annoyance. His dark blue eyes narrowed for a moment, then widened as he said incredulously to no one in particular, "Really? Really?!"
"He even has a snout!" Ven howled with laughter as his werewolf friend twitched his nose. Aqua clapped a hand over her mouth and twisted away.
"What's so funny?" demanded the elder boy. "I'm a wolf, sure, but Aqua's a fish."
Ventus switched his gaze onto Aqua and ended up laughing so hard that he struggled to breathe, taking in great gasping breaths as his female companion sighed and covered her face like Terra had a moment ago.
"Our costumes are better than his," Terra commented, pointedly ignoring Ven as he addressed Aqua.
"True. Halloweentown must be an interesting place for a set up like this." She gestured to herself.
Finally reigning in his mirth, Ven cleared his throat. "Right. What did the Master what us to do again?" He had an expression of exaggerated seriousness.
"We're to find someone named Jack Skeleton or Skellington or something like that." Terra scratched his ear thoughtfully with one heavy yellow claw.
I wonder if he has fleas, Ven thought with a barely suppressed snicker. "Yeah! Then what?"
"Don't you listen?" Aqua sighed with a smile in his direction.
"I do. I just want to be sure. Apparently Jack is behind some sort of attempted kidnapping of Santa Claus? But I don't get it. Who's that?" Ven asked.
Terra and Aqua exchanged a startled look, then their expressions smoothed out until they both seemed to be saying to one another, that's right. The poor boy had lost all of his memories. To Ventus, his life had only actually begun when he stepped into Eraqus's Castle for the first time.
"Santa Claus is…well, he's a guy that gives gifts to all of the good kids in the entire world." Aqua started awkwardly.
"But we're not from this world, are we?" Ven frowned. "So we don't get any?"
"Doesn't matter," Terra responded with a shrug. "Santa Claus can just…do that. Somehow. I, personally, don't believe in any of this."
"Terra," Aqua scolded. "Stop ruining the fun."
"I'm not ruining it." Terra smirked at her, revealing a row of jagged fangs. The girl stuck her tongue out in response. The wolf-boy simply snickered and stepped ahead of them, ready to lead like always. "Alright. Let's get a move on. Act casual."
Ven and Aqua followed their friend through Guillotine Gate and into the main bulk of Halloweentown itself. The entire place was alive with activity, lights being dug out of boxes by an assortment of monsters that were all so bizarre that the trio of Keybearers fit in perfectly. No one gave them a second glance as a stream of zombie clowns rode by on unicycles, laughing manically. Ghosts moaned as they drifted by, carrying odd presents with Halloween wrapping paper. Mummies, werewolves like Terra, fish people like Aqua, and human-looking citizens all paraded by as they worked quickly to set something up.
"What's going on?" Ven asked in shock.
"I don't know. This whole place is out of control. But that doesn't look like Halloween stuff they're setting up." Terra muttered.
The blonde only had a rudimentary knowledge of holidays. Halloween was about having fun scaring people; Christmas was for caring about people. So…"But what does garland have to do with Halloween?"
Ragged, dead green wreaths were being placed on every door by a horde of vampires carrying tiny black umbrellas over their pale heads.
"Jack's upsetting the world order," Aqua placed her elbow in one hand and rested her chin on her palm, fingers drumming her cheek thoughtfully. "That's what the Master said."
"Isn't it meddling if we interfere?" Ven questioned.
"I think it is. But also, this whole 'no meddling' thing is a load of—"
"Terra!" Aqua snapped, glaring at him.
The wolf-boy twitched his ear. "Okay. It's ridiculous. We're supposed to maintain peace, but we can't maintain that peace without meddling."
"The key is finding the right point to set up some middle grounds." Aqua nodded at him.
"Right," Terra conceded. He flexed his fingers. "Let's ask around, see what's going on."
Ven didn't wait. He set off instantly, splitting up from his friends, searching the crowds for a relatively friendly face. Not watching where he was going, the boy bumped right into someone along the way. "Oh, I'm sorry," he apologized, putting his hands up and smiling nervously. He really hoped he hadn't walked into the Loch Ness monster or something…
"No, its okay," a soft voice assured him. Taking a step back, Ven examined the young woman he had collided with. She looked like a doll, wearing a patched brown and green dress. Her pallid gray-white skin was covered with multiple stitches, as if she had broken a lot and had been sewn back together again and again and again. She also had long, dark amber hair that flowed down her back in neat, straight strands. She tipped her head to the side curiously, looking distracted but interested at the same time. "I'm sorry, but I've never seen you here before. Who are you?"
Tapping his fist against his chest and grinning, the protégé said, "My name is Ven. I'm new around here. I don't even know what's going on. This is Halloweentown, isn't it?"
The girl sighed loudly, but her exasperation wasn't directed at him. "This was Halloweentown. Jack's gone and gotten carried away. He even sent out Lock, Shock, and Barrel to 'escort' Sandy Claws back here."
"Why would he do that?" Ven thought Jack didn't sound like a particularly deadly name. Didn't every villain have threatening titles? Like Maleficent, or Chernabog? "Is he going to hurt him?" He added anxiously.
"Jack? No. The kids?" She shook her head. "Maybe. If they involve Oogie Boogie…Oh. My name is Sally, Ven. It's nice to meet you, though I'm sorry you have to see the town so out of sorts."
"It's fine. But, are you okay?"
She wrung her hands. "Nervous. I'm afraid something terrible will happen."
"It's gonna be alright Sally! My friends and I will help you however we can." Ven liked her already, though he wasn't sure exactly why. She seemed to be the only person in town not running around like their rears were on fire or the end of the world was coming unless they didn't finish their work.
"Where are your friends?" Sally asked.
Ven turned and pointed to Terra and Aqua, whom were a little apart from one another, talking to a zombie man and a fish-guy in a fountain. "We've…been sent here to maintain the world order." Some sixth sense told him that he could speak to Sally about this.
Sally looked surprised, then she nodded, and that was all she did. "Well, you couldn't have come at a better time…oh, here's Jack." She bunched her hands in front of her chest and sighed with a mixture of longing and something close to annoyance.
A tall skeleton with a toothy, cheery grin wearing a red outfit came striding towards them with a spring in his step. "Sally! Everything is going just splendidly, don't you think?" Seeing Ven, Jack frowned slightly. "I must have forgotten to give you an assignment, didn't I?" He didn't say it in an unfriendly way, as if it was an order, but as if he was feeling guilty about it.
"Er—I'm just helping Sally out." Ven beamed. "What're you up to?"
"Glad you asked!" exclaimed the former Pumpkin King. "I've decided to bring Sandy Claws here so he can relax whilst I give him a vacation. This year, Halloweentown will handle Christmas!"
Ven tipped his head to the side. That didn't sound very evil. Tapping his chin, the young blonde hummed a response.
Jack looked him up and down. "Your costume is rather Christmas-y…but…the white needs to be brighter!" He prodded Ven's chest with one long skeletal finger. "Sally, do you think its fine as it is, or should we…?"
"It's fine, but Jack, I—"
"If you're still worried about Sandy Claws, don't be. Lock, Shock, and Barrel won't hurt him." Jack assured her. Sally grimaced in response.
"Jack, I don't think this is a—"She started again, and Ven shared her irritation as the skeleton suddenly switched his attention elsewhere. The boy could tell he wasn't doing it on purpose to ignore her, but rather he was just very scatterbrained when excited.
"Look at that! The conveyer belt is under way! Come on guys, Christmas is just around the corner!" Jack shouted over the noise.
Sally turned to Ven. "We've been doing this Christmas thing for a while," she explained. "Someone got it into their heads to build an electric conveyer belt so we didn't just do it by hand…"
"So you guys are hostilely taking over Christmas?" Terra growled suddenly from behind Ven, and Sally lifted her eyes to look at him.
"Who are you?" she asked warily.
"Terra. This is Aqua." He pointed to the girl beside him. "You guys just can't—"
"I know," Sally sighed. "But Jack won't listen."
At the sound of his name, Jack turned back around. "Well, hello there! Welcome to Halloweentown. I've been here a long time, and I don't forget a face. You haven't been here before, have you?" He folded his elongated arms, not waiting for an answer. "Would you like to help with the preparations? It's so close to Christmas, I'm excited! And yet I still get the feeling I'm missing something important…"
"You can't just—"Terra began, but Aqua cut him off.
"Did you ask Santa Claus if he wanted to…?"
"Ask?" Jack's face became completely blank all of a sudden. He looked stupefied. Quick as you please, a grin was back. "It's okay. I'm sure he won't mind. He'd probably appreciate a holiday!"
"But how do you know that?" Terra asked with a small hint of venom in his voice.
Jack didn't miss the hostility, but he shrugged it off. "Oh, just a hunch."
"What if someone took over Halloween without asking you?" Aqua said.
Jack frowned. "Well…I'd be more than happy to let Sandy Claws borrow Halloween for a year or two, if I can borrow Christmas," he replied, not really answering her question.
"Really?" Sally choked out.
"Sure! I—"He turned his head as a gate at the end of the plaza opened to reveal a bulging brown sack sitting in a walking, off-white, claw footed bathtub. Riding on top of the wriggling thing were three kids. One was dressed as a small devil, the other a witch, and the last a skeleton. They wore masks over their faces that matched their costumes.
The devil removed his mask with a flourish, revealing a pointed, pale face with blue lips and dark eyes. "Jack, Jack!" Lock called. "We've got him!"
"I'm sure it's him this time," the witch pulled hers away too, showcasing a face similar to Lock's. Shock grinned and bounced with excitement, her high voice bubbling with anticipation.
"Right," the skeleton agreed, yanking off his mask. A round, wide lipped face beamed with a foolish joy. Barrel hastily removed himself from the tub, followed by the others.
This time? Ven thought, remembering Lock's words.
Jack grinned. "Splendid!" He took just a few steps, his long stride decimating the distance easily, and settled near the sack. He opened it, and out popped an old man's indignant face, red hat sliding over his eyes.
"What's the meaning of this?!" spluttered the person Ven assumed was Santa Claus. Or was it Sandy Claws?
"It's an honor to have you here in Halloweentown sir," Jack began earnestly. "And I want you to know that this year, you have a day off. We'll handle Christmas!"
"Day off? What—"
As usual, Jack ignored any interruptions. "I want you to know that I'm a huge fan of your work, and I'll try my best to do as well as you. Now, I want you to relax. And don't worry; it's no trouble at all!"
"But I don't want a day—"Santa began again.
Jack blinked—somehow, without eyelids—and suddenly plucked Santa's red hat. "There we go! I knew I was missing something. Now, kids, be good and take him somewhere nice to rest. And leave that no-good Oogie Boogie out of this," he growled.
"Wouldn't dream of it, Jack!" Lock told him, pulling the drawstring closed again and leaping back into the walking bathtub.
Jack wore Santa's hat now, and he looked like an undead, very skinny Saint Nick. "Ho ho ho! No…." His face became thoughtful as the mechanics of the laugh escaped him.
Ven was perplexed, astounded. It had all been so fast; Terra and the others couldn't even react.
"Jack, you can't mean this!" Sally pled.
"Of course I do! This'll be the best Christmas Halloweentown has ever had!"
Terra tapped Ven's shoulder. "Go after those kids and release Santa Claus. We need to ask him some questions."
Aqua nodded. "But are you sure Ven will be okay?"
"I'll be fine. I can handle children." Ven sprinted after the bathtub, leaving Aqua and Terra to try and deal with the eccentric Pumpkin King and his exasperated friend.
~***~
Ventus couldn't believe he had almost lost its trail. If the ground hadn't turned muddy a little farther on, he would never have found the stupid kids and Santa. The footprints the tub left were as bright as a beacon to the Keybearer, and he hastened after them, trying to figure where they were going, and why they were heading farther and farther away from town.
Was "somewhere nice to rest" outside of the town?
Ven put on a burst of speed, enjoying the sensation of the wind flowing past him, feeling as if his feet weren't touching the ground. Coming to a halt, he stared up at a huge, lopsided tower that seemed to be made from spare bits and pieces of other buildings. It looked ready to collapse. "Whoa," he murmured.
The kids were taking a ramp up to a large birdcage, using it as an elevator with Santa Claus still inside the bathtub. Ven could hear them talking to one another, their voices fading as they went up higher and higher.
"Give Mr. Sandy Claws to Oogie Boogie?" The three chorused as one.
"I wanna do it," Lock objected.
Barrel shook his head. "Let's draw straws," he suggested.
Shock bopped them both on the skull. "No, we should do it together."
"Three of a kind," Barrel grinned.
"Birds of a feather," agreed Lock.
"Now and forever!" The trio of friends started laughing, and that was the last Ven heard before they drifted out of hearing. Running up the slope and craning his head up to survey the mess of a building, he quickly commandeered another elevator and started up after them.
They're giving Santa to Oogie Boogie. Jack doesn't like him, so…he must be someone bad. Ven reasoned. Upon entering the run-down place that seemed ready to break apart over his head, the boy looked left and right, but saw no sign of the kids. Maybe they had already gone up the flight of stairs?
The inside resembled a twisted child's playroom. He shivered as he carefully picked his way through the mess of "play things" on the floor that resembled torture devices. "How can a bathtub vanish so fast?" Ven muttered.
He turned a corner, looking left and right all the while, not quite sure what to expect. There was a strange black metal mouth on the wall, the opening being a large tube with a swirly eyed face above it. There were weird sounds issuing from within.
Frowning, the blonde headed towards the disturbance. He poked his head inside the chute, and he recognized the noise as voices echoing up from somewhere down below.
"Who are you?" Santa asked.
A deep, cackling voice replied, "Who am I? Who am I? I'm the Boogie Man!" He proceeded to give a wild laugh that rebounded loudly back up to Ventus.
Oogie Boogie, he realized. The kids had broken their promise like that. Before he could contemplate anything else, three voices, shrieking with laughter, sounded from behind him.
Ven turned around just in time to see a large, blunt hammer swing into his chest and knock him down the open mouth. Everything became dark and chaotic, and the startled boy struggled to get a grip on the smooth metal, but to no avail. After an impossibly long time of twists and turns, he was catapulted out onto the cold, hard floor.
Groaning, and rolling onto his side as he tried to get his bearings, the boy opened one sky blue eye. The room was dark and circular, with odd neon-light style things hanging on the walls. The bats in the room had stripes that glowed in the dark, dull yellow, like dying fireflies. Some of the skeletons had identical markings, though theirs were purple. In fact, when Ven looked harder, the whole room looked like…
A giant roulette wheel. The tiles on the ground resembled the little slots, with bats, spiders, skull heads…
A boisterous shout attracted Ven's attention. "Well, well, well. What do we have here?"
Ven's eyes widened as he looked up at what seemed to be an animated, fat, humanoid burlap sack. Stitches kept the brown, filthy material together, and there were only two dark holes for eyes. He got to his feet swiftly, Keyblade materializing in his grip. He pointed it backwards and knelt down, ready to fight.
Oogie Boogie laughed uproariously. "Oh, he's going to battle me. I must say, you're feistier than that Sandy Claws fellow." He jabbed towards the middle of the roulette wheel, and Ven gasped as he saw Santa, his arms tied over his head, struggling to move as he waited on the center platform. The outlandish lighting made everything look purple-blue and turned white things dark.
"Let Santa go!" Ven demanded, his body tense as he waited for the inevitable mêlée.
"Let him go? Let him go?" Another round of guffaws. "Why ever would I do that? He's snug as a bug in a rug! Please, why don't you…stay a while?" He stomped a strange tile on the floor, and the next thing Ventus knew, he was shot into the air as the ground rose up with a sharp hiss. He landed hard on his back, and Oogie chuckled heartily as he started stepping on more of the hidden buttons, knocking the stunned apprentice Keybearer around.
On the tenth collision, Ven was too dazed to even stand up. His Keyblade clattered from his hands and vanished with a white musical flash. Oogie snatched the collar of his shirt and lifted him up to eye level. The blonde grimaced as a snake shot out of the monstrosity's mouth and came within an inch of his face.
"My name is Oogie Boogie, and you aren't goin' nowhere."
Ven shot a fireball from his hand in response, and the creature gave a shout of pain.
"Why you…! I hope you enjoy your stay, you and the big guy are goin' to be here for a long time!" Oogie flicked his wrist, sending Ven to the ground a few feet away, and concentrated on putting out the flames that were starting to ignite.
Ven got to his feet doggedly, but then Oogie lumbered to the center and started spinning an orange and black wheel. The roulette chamber began to turn, and the Keybearer struggled to maintain his balance. Three slot machines shaped like skeletal gangsters wielding guns began firing at him, and he raised his Keyblade hastily to block the bullets.
"He's only a kid, let him go!" Santa objected, sounding dizzy himself since he was whirling around constantly on his little pedestal.
Oogie just chortled in response. "Your game is nearly over, Keybearer! You haven't got a prayer!"
Ven twisted around as giant cards from the ceiling, sharp as axes, began to move towards him. He had to fight the relentless spiral of the wheel to escape coming into contact with the bladed edges.
Meanwhile, the Boogie Man tossed some dice. They landed in the eye sockets of a violet skeleton, and out they poured from its mouth. Oogie scowled as he saw the number. "Snake eyes?" He slammed the floor in agitation, and they rolled over to display…"Eleven! Game, set, and match! Gaw hah haw!"
"Oh…snap…" Ventus was breathing hard. This was too much all at once. He climbed up onto the gun wielding slot machines and took refuge on the top, since they were unable to change what direction they were aiming in. From there, he jumped to the center and brought his Keyblade down in a direct vertical slash. Oogie retreated, but a large gash still appeared in the flimsy material of his body. Two dozen or so squirming bugs escaped the wound.
"Oooh you'll pay for that!" Holding himself together—literally—Oogie called, "Fire!"
Ven turned around too slow, even with all of the speed he had at his disposal. He couldn't outrun a gun.
Bang!
The dart clipped his shoulder, and the world started to become blurry. "You're…so…dead…" Ventus staggered, his Keyblade disappearing. He collapsed on the ground, eyes slipping closed.
"That wouldn't have worked on Jack, no blood you know. But you, it'll do just fine!" More laughter. "If I'm dead, you're double dead! We'll have loads of fun, you and me!"
That was the last thing Ven heard before he slipped into unconsciousness. The last thing he thought was, Terra…Aqua…help me…
~***~
This will be continued from Terra's POV next chapter. Why? This one-shot would be about twenty—maybe more—pages if I put it all together. I would end up POV switching anyway so you could see how Terra and Aqua get to him. So I decided to split it apart, hope you don't mind.
It was either this, or wait 'till next week for an update.
Mind dropping a review? I'm actually attempting to follow the movie's plot with this one, even if it might be a little too early for it.
Thanks to everyone that has this on favorites/alerts etc, from the people that read and tell me what they think to the folks that don't say a single word.