Rachel's Story: Part 2
Theme Song: Lack of Color- Death Cab for Cutie
With Nessa, I felt much better about my chances succeeding. She was bright and happy as normal, it still hurt me to look at her but it was much better then going off on my own for everything.
"Have you seen Meg?" Nessa asked, when we stepped out of the first portal.
"No…" I answered slowly, thinking back, "I haven't. Have you?" "I haven't seen her either."
We stood for a moment in silence, neither of us could think of anything to say.
"So," I said, "Ready to go?" "Yeah, where are we going?" "Beats me!" I said and raised my hand to open up the portal, "Diz, the guy I am working for, gave me these coordinates and asked me to find a scientific journal by Ansem in." "Ansem?" Nessa asked cautiously, she was looking at me nervously, "What about what happened last time?" "Ha, I don't think this is the same, he offered the work to me for one, for two he pointed me in the direction of you and for three he hasn't summoned any heartless," I explained to her. "And come to think of it… there were no heartless where I was."
"That's odd, where were you?" "Twilight Town."
"Never heard of it." "Me either. Ready?" She nodded and we stepped through the portal. There was the familiar suction of darkness pulling on us and then we were out.
"Oh that's more awful than I remember," Nessa said, bending over and resting her hands on her knees. I walked a little ways away from her and looked out.
Before us was a mountainous scene that would take place in any mystical adventure. Fog weaved in and out of the peaks varying in thickness from huge walls to a thin wisp. The sky was cool and heavy with imminent rainfall.
The cliff we were standing on was rocky with only small grass sporadically growing in the hard dirt. Nessa had now stood up and sucked in her breath as she looked around.
"Where do you think we are?"
"I have no clue," I answered, I kept looking around, "But this world seems to be about as real looking as ours, like Earth, I mean. All the other worlds we have been to have been somewhat unrealistic looking."
"Compared to what we're used to," continued Nessa for me, "this world looks very similar to ours, but I doubt that it is."
"That's what I am thinking." I turned around and behind us was something that looked like a path down. "Look down there!" I exclaimed, pointing. We both stepped closure to the edge of the cliff and looked down. There was a small village below. All the buildings were made of wood or stone and every window was dark. No smoke rose from the chimneys and no noises came from below.
"Do you think anyone lives there?" Nessa asked, she was squinting, trying to get a better look.
"It doesn't look like it," I answered, "but I am not really for going down there to look and getting ambushed by the inhabitants. It doesn't look as if they are connected with the other worlds very well."
"No it doesn't, but then how will we find out what is going on?" Nessa kept talking, running a plan out loud but I was not listening. I was concentrating hard on the darkness. "Rachel! Rachel no don't do that!" Nessa was scolding me. But whatever she wanted to prevent it was too late.
Before us on the ground was a very small flying heartless. It looked similar to a bird but there were no feathers or skin even. It was just blackness with the eerie yellow eyes.
"RACHEL!" Nessa managed to yell while whispering, "the heartless could have not even noticed this world and you just opened the door for them to get in here by creating that thing!"
"I don't think that any other type of attack would have left that town looking so intact," I answered, "The heartless are already here anyway, I can feel them. They are gathered somewhere in those foggy mountains."
"Oh," she said quietly, "Why didn't you say so?" "They weren't doing anything weird."
"So sitting in a foggy ravine is not weird to you?" "No, not really. I would be more concerned if they were scouting."
"Right…. So what are you going to do?" "I'm going to send this little guy in to scout the town for us, see if there are any survivors."
"Good plan." and with that we sent the heartless off into the valley. We sat down and waited for its return.
"So what exactly is Diz's big plan?" Nessa asked curiously after a few minutes.
"I'm not exactly sure. He was talking about Sora once, but I don't even know where Sora is. He wants me to find Ansem's journals that he had written before he became a heartless."
"That would help us understand some things about them and what happened to Ansem and the heartless," I nodded, "Hey your thing's back!" We stood up as the heartless-bird landed in front of us. I squatted down to talk to it.
I saw all that he saw while he flew around the town. There were houses and stores completely empty of life, save for a few small rodents and birds. There were no people or any remains of any sort. The houses had things fallen over and looked a little torn up from a struggle, but there was no sign of life. The bird had found a library and after it searched the town thoroughly it had come back to us.
"There is no one down there," I said to Nessa sadly and the bird dissolved into the air.
"Well then, let's go down," she started towards the small path that wound back and forth down the side of the cliff all the way to the bottom. It took us a while to climb down the path as it was steep and narrow.
When we reached the bottom and stood at the edge of the town an eerie feeling crept over us.
"Are we being watched?" Nessa asked me nervously.
"I don't know, I can't really tell but I have the feeling we are," I answered. We walked slowly into the town, both of us with our weapons ready in mist form at our sides. I followed the heartless's memory and it led us straight to a library that stood tall over the buildings.
"If you are looking for a book I suppose the library is the best place to go," Nessa said sarcastically. I smiled at her and together we pushed open the huge wooden doors.
"Now the real question is," I started and then stopped. My voice caught in my throat. There were books everywhere. Though there were a great many neatly placed on the looming bookshelves there were piles of them stacked precariously on every flat and semi-flat surface available. There were stacks of open ones on desks and nearly a hundred spilt on the floor. Looking up and around us the shelves on the wall had ladders that went up to the second and third floors, every level full of books, "how do we find it?" I mumbled.
"Oh my goodness," Nessa's mouth was hanging wide open. "How on earth are we supposed to find this book?"
"That is an excellent question," I said. "Diz said it would be in a leather bound journal with a brown ribbon to mark the pages. On the front it would have a roman numeral number in bronze."
"So helpful," Nessa said, "Well let's think, all of the books that are placed willy-nilly around here are typed, and I suppose this journal is handwritten?"
"Yes, that's what Diz said."
"Okay so we check out the autobiography and research sections first."
"What would I do without you Nessa?"
"Tear this entire library apart searching for it?"
"Too right you are!" And we set off in different directions searching for the book. I walked over to the research section and started pulling books off the shelves.
For an hour or more I searched and could hear nothing coming from Nessa's end of the library. The light coming from the tinted windows above was diminishing quickly, making it hard to see anything properly. I gave up trying to see the books and started walking in the bookshelves around me searching for a lantern.
I walked along the dark aisles, listening for any scrape of a shoe or breathing. I couldn't hear anything and Nessa should have only been two isles down from me. I moved quicker, looking down the darkening isles trying to make out her shape.
I wheeled around the last corner of her section only to be hit in the face with a book. I landed flat on my back and all the wind rushed out of my lungs.
"Oh! Rachel, it's just you!" Nessa leaned down next to me. I tried to suck in air. "I'm sorry! It is getting scary in here!" She pulled me into a sitting position.
"It's okay," I wheezed at her. I stood up quickly. The wind had picked up outside and started to shake the windows. "Maybe we should camp out in here for the evening," I suggested.
"Sounds good," Nessa answered, she started walking down one of the isles. "I think I found a sitting room in here. We could barricade it and maybe find some food."