Seeing people read this pet project of mine is really awesome! Keep any reviews up and I'll be writing to my heart's content. Song is Killing Me by Cauterize. Go check it out if you want to. I like it :)
-Drachesoul
The six of them didn't meet up again until right after school. By then, Aqua, Riku and Terra were sporting lettermans and Kairi was decked out in the red and white uniform of the Cheerios, hair done up in a ridiculously tight ponytail.
Sora took one look at Kairi and burst out laughing. "Wow, Kairi, I never thought I'd see you in a cheerleading uniform again. Exactly how short is that skirt again?"
Ignoring the jab, Kairi merely flipped him off and adjusted her ponytail. It wasn't easy getting Sue Sylvester to let her join the team mid-season. She'd had to prove her worth running suicides and laps before being told to execute every move she knew. In the end the irate coach had let her join grudgingly, handing her a uniform and telling her that while she was certain that a toddler could do better than she could, she'd do for now.
Upon walking out of the office with a Cheerios uniform, people began purposefully moving out of her way and apologizing to her profusely for the smallest of things, like accidentally walking too close to her or for blocking the congested hallways. A few minutes later she had met a girl named Brittany by her locker, also in a Cheerios uniform.
"You must be the newest Cheerio. You must be really, really good, 'cause Coach Sylvester never takes anyone after tryouts."
Kairi nodded. "Yeah, I'm Kairi, nice to meet you."
"I'm Brittany. Ooh, you should come with me." Without waiting for a response, she had grabbed Kairi by the hand and bounced off towards three other people loitering near another row of lockers, two cheerleaders and a female jock.
"Hey, Britt-Britt," said one, a fiery looking Latina, bringing the other girl in close for a chaste kiss. Her smile faltered when she met Kairi's gaze. "What are you looking at? Yes, I'm gay, so if you have a fucking problem with that then get lost."
Kairi shook her head vehemently. "No, of course I don't have a problem with that." She was slightly frightened of the girl standing protectively in front of Brittany.
The girl jock slapped the Latina upside the head. "Santi, be nice. There's no need to be a bitch to everyone. Hi, I'm Olivia, Santana's cousin," she said, pointing at the now grumbling cheerleader, who was cursing under her breath. Out of all of them, save for Brittany, Olivia looked the friendliest. She seemed to be the polar opposite of the taller Latina.
The quiet blonde cheerleader was busy looking Kairi up and down. Looking satisfied, she said, "I'm Quinn Fabray, captain of the Cheerios. I don't know why Coach let you join, so you must be either really famous or really good."
"Well I don't know her, so she must be really good," Brittany pointed out in the way only Brittany could do.
"I'll be the judge of that, Brit, but thank you for pointing that out." Quinn's voice seemed to take on a softer edge when it came to the other blonde. Kairi determined that all four of them were rather close to each other.
"Now that you mention it, why did Brittany drag you over here?" asked Olivia.
"Because she's new and she's obviously related to the other new students, right?" Brittany chirped.
Santana gave Kairi another once over. "You're related to the other transfers?" Kairi nodded.
"They're my brothers. We're all adopted," she added quickly, seeing the looks of confusion on the other's faces.
"Oh, you must be Kairi," Olivia snapped her fingers in recognition. "Aqua said she had a sibling trying out for cheerleading."
"Yeah, actually. How do you know Aqua?" Kairi cocked her head quizzically.
"I'm on the volleyball team, and we met a while ago. She's really quite the player." The bell rang and Olivia shut her locker door. "Sorry guys, I gotta go. Coach wants to scrimmage during lunch again. I swear the woman is almost as bad as Sue."
Upon seeing the glares from her other friends, she ran a hand through her hair sheepishly. "Alright, no one on Earth could be as bad as Sue Sylvester. I guess I'll see you guys in glee after school?"
"Yeah Liv, we'll be there, providing Coach doesn't make us run two hundred laps again as part of her "Cheerios are endurance machines and cannot feel fatigue" phase," Quinn said, grimacing. "If she does, I'll make sure none of the girls faint from heat exhaustion like last time."
Olivia nodded and walked off, Brittany following her closely at her heels, asking her if the new volleyball player had a cat.
"But it's the middle of October. In Ohio," Kairi said, looking a bit shaken. What in the worlds had she signed up for?
"Yeah, so what?" asked Santana in a bored tone. "You'll learn soon, newbie. For some reason Brit has taken to you and considers you her friend now, so I think you'll be okay." The Latina shot Kairi a barely noticeable smile, but a smile nonetheless. She closed her own locker and walked off with Quinn, motioning for Kairi to follow. "Now about Sue Sylvester…"
"Oh my god, no way!" Sora shouted. "You're already friends with three hot cheerleaders? Maybe I should try out for the team," he mused.
"That's really cool Kairi," said Ven, who had had a very eventful day himself, though it had very nearly involved him being doused with a slushie. He had met some guy in gym class, a very feminine boy named Kurt. After gym, and after which he had set a new school record for the hundred-meter dash, he caught up with the boy and they began talking.
"Hey, sorry to bother you, but do you think you could help me?" Ven didn't want to walk up to one of the jocks and ask for directions, so he settled for asking the flamboyant boy from his gym class.
"Of course. My name is Kurt, what's yours?" The boy was wary at first, but could detect no malicious intent from the new student.
"My full name is Ventus, but you can call me Ven." The spiky haired boy held out his hand and Kurt tentatively shook it. So far so good. "I just transferred here and I don't know my way around yet, though some girl named Rachel said me and my siblings should join glee club."
At this, Kurt squealed and clapped his hands together. "Well you've come to the right person then. I can show you around and tell you all about glee club since I'm in it too." The boy's smile suddenly faded when he saw a trio of jocks round the corner, each carrying a large cup in their hands.
"Why don't we go that way, and we'll see where your next class is." He grabbed Ven's arm and started to drag him away from the rapidly approaching jocks. He stopped abruptly when he ran solidly into another duo of jocks that had come around from the other side. Really, out of all the days they decided to slushie him, it had to be in front of the new kid? Kurt cursed at his luck, or what was left of it.
"So, Lady Hummel, where's the rest of your Homo Explosion group?" sneered one. "Did they decide that even you were too gay to be a part of your little outcast group?"
"All the better for us then," said another, gripping his cup of slushie and faking a toss. He chuckled when Kurt visibly flinched. All the while, Ven had never left his new friend's side. "And who the hell are you?"
"I'm Ven, what's it to you?" he growled. The group stepped back, looking fearful.
"You wouldn't happen to be the new guys' younger sibling, would you?" Ven nodded and they paled.
He whispered to his idiot friends and they backed away, skulking. "Consider yourself lucky, Hummel. We'll be back next time you don't have the new kid around."
"Huh. I didn't think I was that scary," he said, placing a friendly hand on the still pale Kurt's shoulder. Inwardly, he had a good idea that Terra and Riku had already done their part in placing the fear of the Heartless into those boys.
"You made an entire group of jocks back off with just your name," Kurt breathed in awe, color coming back to his cheeks. "Who are you?"
"Like I said, I'm Ven, but I think that had to do more with my siblings, Riku and Terra. They're probably the new stars of the football team already." Ven sighed. He wished he could join a popular varsity sport, but his teammates said that they wanted him to stay as far away from high school politics as he could.
"Well, whoever your siblings are, I need to bow down at their feet and thank them profusely. Figuratively of course, there's no way I'm getting anywhere near the floor in this outfit." The two shared a smile and Kurt dug his own schedule out of his tastefully matching messenger bag. "It looks like we have the next class together, so I'll walk you there. I share the class with my boyfriend and a few other friends from glee, so I'll introduce you." He tilted his head in the direction of their next class and Ven wordlessly followed. How could this boy act so happy after nearly being doused in icy corn syrup? He must have a very strong heart in order to deal with that.
Ven shrugged and started chatting aimlessly with his new friend, hoping to gather some intel of his own, regarding the whereabouts of the rest of the unknown wielders. He was fairly certain that this boy was one of them.
"Those idiots almost slushied you?" Terra snarled. "When I get my hands on them, they won't know what hit them."
"Relax Terra, there isn't anything we can do about it now," Kairi placated. "Besides, they backed off in the end."
"But what if Ven hadn't been there? That boy would've been slushied for no reason." As the oldest, Terra was the most protective and had a rigid sense of both right and wrong. "It's despicable."
"The point is they didn't and the kid's okay," Riku drawled. "But back to a point Ven made earlier. You said he felt like one of the Keyblade wielders?"
Ven turned his gaze onto the newly minted football player. "Yeah, there was something about him that seemed right."
Terra considered this. "We met some of the more civilized jocks at lunch and felt the same feeling. Who were they again?"
"Name's Puck. This here's my buddy and the quarterback Finn Hudson, and fellow teammates Sam Evans and Mike Chang." The three other boys waved hello and went back to their lunches, digging in voraciously. "Who're you again?"
"I'm Riku and this is Terra. We just joined the team." They fist-bumped and Puck gestured for them to sit down.
"So I hear you guys are transfers," he said. Things traveled fast in this school as it was, and new students were always a point of gossip, for no one knew where they would end up fitting in. It was because of this that new kids had a temporary limited immortality of sorts that they hardly ever knew about. Nobody was stupid enough to slushie or bully a new kid because they might end up becoming a powerful jock or a Cheerio. And God forbid if anyone had the balls to bully a cheerleader.
Terra nodded. "My other siblings are around here somewhere. I think Kairi made the Cheerios and Aqua made the volleyball team, but I don't see them anywhere," he craned his neck to see if he could catch a glimpse of them among the other students.
"Oh, the first day is always the hardest," Puck said. "I remember when my little sister started here a few months ago and I was that protective."
Terra just sighed, "Am I really that bad? Or that obvious for that matter?"
Sam shook his head no. "Nah, not really. You just have that new-kid look plastered on your face."
"Oh, you mean like the look you've been wearing for the last three months?" Finn joked, shoving the blonde. Sam retaliated by chucking a french fry at his face.
"Shut up," he groaned. "This place can be kind of scary at first."
"Until you met Quinn, right?" Mike said. He seemed to be the quietest of the group of jocks, even more so than Terra. Yet still, his heart shone with the same light that emanated from the other three.
Sam blushed. "I suppose so. Things were pretty great there for a while."
"Who's Quinn?" Riku asked.
"Quinn's the smokin' hot head cheerleader over there," Puck pointed out. Terra could've sworn that the Mohawked jock began drooling a little. "The shorter blonde next to Brittany and Santana."
"You're going out with her?" Even Riku was impressed. Quinn was really gorgeous, and he almost felt a twinge of attraction. Almost.
"Was going out with her," Sam pouted. "We broke up a while ago."
Finn clapped him on the back. "It's okay dude, maybe she wasn't good enough for you."
Sam stuck his tongue out at the tall boy. "You're only saying that to make yourself feel better. After all, you went out with her too."
Both Riku and Terra hissed in sympathy, while Finn just ran his hands through his hair, looking embarrassed. "So what if I am? She's been the cause of misery for more than a few guys."
"She doesn't look that mean," Puck added, "But if you mess with her or her friends, I'd catch the next plane to Antarctica before either she or her attack dog of a lieutenant finds you."
Riku looked at his teammate for a minute, silently asking the same question that was rolling around in Terra's head. He could see that all four of the boys had the same light within them, though it was hidden. They seemed to be oblivious to the power they had, which could end up being either a blessing or a curse to the two when the time came to reveal themselves.
"Are any of you in any other clubs besides being football players?" he decided to ask. He had a feeling that all of the pure hearted people they were ordered to protect knew each other.
"Yeah," Finn replied slowly, warily, "So what?"
"Relax, I don't think he means to sound hostile," Mike placated the tall quarterback. "We're all also in Glee Club, but it's not really a wise idea to broadcast that fact."
"In case you haven't noticed, the Glee Club people aren't treated very well. We're relatively safe thanks to our status as badass jocks," Puck said in all seriousness, "but even we catch hell every now and then for it." The other three nodded, all to familiar with the teasing and taunting.
"Were you guys thinking of joining?" Mike asked, finishing up the last of his chips and throwing the wrapper in the trash with a well-placed basket toss.
"I honestly don't know," Riku admitted, poking at the few remaining crumbs of his lunch. "We met a girl named Rachel Berry this morning and she said we should join." All at once, the answer hit him like a ton of bricks and his eyes widened behind silvery bangs.
Terra caught the look on Riku's face and made the connection. Rachel Berry had the same feeling of light as the four boys in front of them. What did they all have in common? Glee Club.
"I think we might check it out at least," he settled upon an answer. "It looks like it could be really interesting."
"Oh, cool." Finn said, the worried feeling in the pit of his stomach dissolving with Terra's statement. "We thought you'd be, I dunno, weirded out by a bunch of dudes singing Broadway hits onstage."
"Believe me, we've seen weirder things," Riku scoffed.
The bell rang, and students dutifully began shuffling their way to afternoon classes. The four jocks gathered up their things, leaving with various farewells and see you after schools and left Riku and Terra to their thoughts.
"I'm starting to think that Glee Club has something to do with this," Terra mentioned off-handedly.
"Gee, you think?" Riku retorted, placing his lunch tray in the return stack and following Terra to Chemistry. "I wonder what the rest of them are like?"
"I guess we'll have to wait until after school, then."
"So that's it?" Sora said. "You met up with a bunch of jocks and all you could talk about were girls and glee club? I don't know why I even bother," he muttered under his breath.
"You were the one who suggested we join in the first place," Aqua reminded him none too gently.
"Touche. Well, I guess the only thing left to do is see for ourselves. Ven, do you still have that map the short brunette gave you?" Ven nodded and pulled out the map, handing it to Sora.
"Wait, why don't we get to hear about your day?" Kairi asked. "I want to know what you were up to."
"As if I'm going to tell you," Sora said distractedly, staring at the hastily drawn map. "So if we're here, where the heck is the choir room?"
"Sora!" Kairi berated, all but snatching the map from him. "It's not fair, we all told how our day went, it's your turn, so spill."
"I don't see Aqua saying anything," Sora responded, taking back the now rumpled map. He smoothed it out as best he could before resuming his search.
"At this rate, we'll be late to Glee Club," Aqua said, trying to remove herself from any questioning. Her day hadn't been as interesting as the other's had. All she had done was meet the rest of her volleyball team and almost flunk a surprise pop quiz in fourth period. She'd been saved thanks to a somewhat nerdy-looking boy in glasses and a wheelchair, who had whispered the right answer to her.
"We're so not done here," Kairi huffed, taking hold of the map in Sora's hands and turning it to the right. "I will hear about both of your stories later, count on it. By the way, the auditorium is that way, doofus."
"Oh."
XXX
The six of them barged into the choir room a few minutes later, having run across campus to make it in time.
"Um, hi," Sora panted, trying to catch his breath. He and Ventus seemed to be the only ones out of breath. Damn his teammates and their athletic personalities. Sure, he may be one of the Keyblade wielders, but he wasn't really built for the fast running. He considered himself more of a long-distance endurance person.
"See, I told you they'd show up," Rachel smirked, turning to Puck. "Noah, I believe you now owe me twenty dollars." The Mohawked boy cursed and fished in his wallet for a twenty, which he handed to the smug girl.
"Never bet with Rachel Berry," Olivia joked, sitting next to the three cheerleaders. "I tried to warn you Puckerman."
"Shut it, little one," he growled in resignation.
"Don't call me that, I'm only a few months younger than you and Santana!"
The rest of the club broke out into scattered chatter after that, Kurt and Blaine sweeping up Ven and ushering him into a chair in their group, which contained a boy in a wheelchair that waved to Aqua and an Asian girl that greeted them shyly.
"Oh, Kairi, Aqua, over here!" Brittany squealed, gesturing for them to sit next to her and her friends.
Terra and Riku were soon caught up with the football players, who were jeering at Puck for his lousy betting skills. Only Sora remained, put out until Rachel Berry, an African American girl and a taller, thinner brunette boy walked towards him.
"Seems like everyone else has found where they belong," he lamented.
"Don't worry, things will look up soon enough," Rachel said. "The first day's always the hardest. I'd like to introduce Mercedes and Michael and officially welcome you to glee club."
"Thanks. Are things always like this?" Sora wondered, gazing around at his teammates, who were laughing and smiling with their new friends.
"Kind of," Michael said. "We don't officially start until Mr. Shue gets here, and that could take a while."
"Recently we've been in kind of a bind. We're supposed to be practicing for Regionals, and by practice I mean giving me solos, but Mr. Shuester has taken it upon himself to 'form a more cohesive bond with the team'," Rachel grumbled, none too pleased.
"You're just upset that he's trying to get more people to sing solos this time around," argued Mercedes. "Not everything should be about you, you know."
Rachel sighed, and Sora guessed that she was used to these talks. "I know, I know, but really, none of you can compare to the years of extensive vocal training that I have been partaking in since the young age of—" Michael clapped a hand over her mouth.
"Excuse her, she tends to talk in paragraphs," Mercedes said, motioning for Sora to follow them to their group of chairs. Rachel shot both her and Michael a death glare from underneath the brunette boy's hand.
Sora laughed at that. He may not have made friends as quickly as the others, but he sure liked the ones he made now. He could feel the different auras of the glee kids and almost all of them shone with light. He noticed that the Goth looking girl, the boy in the wheelchair and Mercedes didn't have that light, and that made him hesitate, though he didn't think they were threats.
He had zoned out for a minute and was brought back to reality when Mr. Shue walked into the room.
"Hey guys, so this week we're going to—" he paused for a minute, "—are there suddenly more of you or am I just imagining things?"
"No, this is real," Puck said. "We found the new transfer kids and asked them to join."
Kairi raised her hand, "We don't know for sure if we're joining, but we thought we'd at least check it out."
"Well then, this is a nice turn of events. Guys, why don't we show our new friends the number we've been working on." Mr. Schue cleared the front of the room and beckoned the rest of the members to the front. Rachel bounded to the front, while Santana brought up the rear, grumbling to her cousin about how unfair that it was that Rachel got yet another solo.
Sora clapped his hands excitedly, wondering what song they'd be singing. Maybe a seminal Broadway classic or a nice blues song. He was utterly surprised then when Puck reached out for an electric guitar and began hitting the first chords of the song, Finn backing him up on the drums.
Rachel took a deep breath and began the song, with the six Keyblade Wielders looking on in wonder when Puck began playing a wicked riff on the guitar. This was nothing like a Broadway tune, it was just plain awesome, with a fast, fierce beat. The short brunette started the song softly, crooning out the notes like a professional.
I wonder where you are
Please don't come around tonight
Cause I can't stand to see you
And I don't wanna fight
Give me one more drink and I swear I think
I'll be ready to make the same mistakes again
With you
Suddenly the beat picked up and Puck continued wailing on the guitar as he took up the next part. Terra and the others were thoroughly impressed.
I finally figured out that you're not coming back
And I'm not going anywhere
You were the one with all the faith
How'd you let it slip away?
That's right, I'm blaming this all on you
The little things you didn't do
Olivia and Quinn joined in to harmonize with the next bit, their voices blending perfectly together.
We both knew that you were stronger
Could've fought a little longer
Didn't hold it tight enough
You lost your grip and I slipped right through your fingers
By now, everyone else had joined in for the chorus, clapping their hands and dancing with each other, and all in all having a great time. Brittany soon dragged Kairi up to have fun with them and at her request, the other five Keyblade Wielders soon followed.
No more sleepless nights alone
This bed is better without you
No more waiting up for calls
I've got nothing left to say to you
So I will save this last breath for words that I won't scream
I don't feel like dying, but you're killing me
Everyone was so engrossed in the magic of the music that they didn't notice a dark cloud coming over the school. The few remaining students at school all shivered and looked up at the menacing cloud of darkness.
"Guys, is it just me, or does something not feel quite right at the moment," Terra shouted over the music.
Riku paused and looked out the window. His eyes widened and he had to consciously stop himself from summoning his Keyblade at the sight. "Shit, they've found us. We have to leave, now!"
"But the others," Terra yelled. "They're still—"
"There's no time for that. They'll be mad for a while, but don't you think their lives are more important than a performance?"
"I don't think Rachel would agree," Terra muttered.
"What?"
"Nothing, let's just get everyone to safety, and soon."
The song ended with a huge cheer from everybody, Kairi and Aqua leading the charge. "Oh my god, that was awesome!" Kairi said. "I always thought glee clubs did boring songs," she added.
"Guess you were proved wrong," Quinn told her. "Still wanna join?"
The others waited with bated breath, ignoring Riku and Terra, who were still staring out the window.
"I can't speak for the others, but I'm in!" Ven, Sora and Aqua quickly seconded it, and yet another burst of cheering filled the room. "Terra, Riku, how about you? Guys?"
"Is there something wrong?" Puck asked the two, approaching them. They jumped back, looking like they'd just been caught doing something bad.
"Uh, no," Riku edged away from the window. "Everything's peachy, it's not like there's a huge cloud of darkness headed our way." Terra facepalmed. Now was not the time to get everyone scared.
Puck leaned towards the window and directly at the rolling wave of dark clouds. "Oh, it's probably a storm or something," he said.
"I dunno Puck," Olivia said doubtfully, "There's definitely something weird about those clouds. They feel, would dark be a good word for them?" she asked Quinn and Santana, who nodded.
They watched as it started to rain, little pitch-black droplets falling from the cloud, followed by several blue ones.
Then the screams started.
"What the hell was that?" Finn asked, setting down his drumsticks and looking around.
"I'm not sure," Mr. Shue said. "Sue should have left by now," he mused, wondering what all the commotion was about. He stuck his head outside and saw nothing.
"I'll be right back guys, just stay here and stay calm." He walked out, Terra and Sora yelling at him not to.
After five tense minutes, Mr. Shue still hadn't returned and everyone was getting visibly nervous. "Is he okay?" Brittany asked Santana.
"I don't know mija, I don't know." The fiery Latina held onto her girlfriend.
"Terra, we have to do something," Aqua pressed her teammate. "Master Eraqus told us to protect them with all of our powers."
"Alright then, let's go," Terra summoned his Keyblade and all fifteen pairs of eyes focused on him. "Aqua, you and Riku secure the immediate area and the rest of us will go and get them to safety."
Five other Keyblades soon joined the fray and they rushed out to meet the oncoming Heartless and Unversed head on.
XXX
As soon as the new transfer kids left the room, with key-like weapons in their hands, the Glee Club disintegrated into chaos. Artie, Tina and Mercedes had taken one look at the strange creatures that were crawling down the halls and had fled, screaming.
"Where is everyone going, San?" Brittany asked.
Almost immediately after, Kurt, Blaine, Mike, Michael and Rachel followed, leaving Finn, Puck, Sam, the cheerleaders and the volleyball player in the room as several of the shadowy things broke apart from the main force and jerked towards them.
"Q, what the hell are those things?" shouted Santana, a hint of panic creeping into her usually confident demeanor. She ushered her girlfriend Brittany and her younger cousin Olivia behind her and on top of the grand piano while the creatures scuttled around the floor, pouring through the open door.
"How am I supposed to know?" Quinn shouted over the screams of the rest of the glee club. "Hey, get back here you cowards!" Too late. Finn, Sam and Puck had run away. So much for being macho, Quinn thought, as she kicked one of the shadowy creatures. It was surprisingly lightweight, as it flew backwards, hitting one of the plastic chairs with a soft but audible thump.
Brittany seemed to be the only truly rational one right now, which came as no surprise to the people who knew her best. She poked her head out from behind her protective girlfriend. "San, why don't you just hit them like you do everybody else?"
A lightbulb seemed to go off in the Latina's head and she leaped forward to help Quinn, who was having no luck with whatever monsters these were. No matter, Santana fucking Lopez was here, and she was going to fight. "That's an awesome plan babe. But I want you to stay back with Olivia. Puck would kill me if I let anything happen to you two. Hell, I would kill me if anything happened to you."
Standing back-to-back with her best friend and captain, she squared her stance and got ready to kick some ass. She swung for one of the shadows as it leapt for her and it fell back. Cheering internally, her victory was short lived as three more shadows immediately took the place of the one she had felled. The damn things seemed to be coming out of the ground. Wait—they were coming out of the ground!
"Quinn! They keep coming! What're we gonna do?" She could feel the blonde's back pressed up against hers as they lost ground, slowly becoming overwhelmed by little shadows. She could just see out of her peripheral vision, an entourage of shadow creatures leaping onto the piano and crawling towards Brittany and Olivia. "Britt, little one, watch out!" Her warning was lost amidst a bright flash of light. When her vision cleared, her mouth dropped to the floor.
Both her cousin and her girlfriend were holding some sort of key in their right hands. Olivia's was jet-black, and rather deadly looking. The only real spot of color on the weapon, among the alternating shades of black, was a dark blue diamond near the hilt. A chain dangled from the end, ending in a symbol she thought she had seen before. Oh, yeah, Olivia had that exact symbol on her wallet. Well, something similar anyways. It looked sort of like a crown, though the same shade of black, but there was something different about it. Something dark.
Brittany looked just as surprised at hers, which was a gorgeous blue. It started near the hilt with the same shade of blue as her eyes before fanning into a wave-like end with a star in the middle. It seemed to fit her, personality and all. Santana couldn't help but smile despite the grave situation. Even while cornered by small shadowy gremlins, Brittany managed to look both confused and excited.
She watched as the shadows around them disappeared into poofs of darkness.
Both Santana and Quinn's jaws dropped. Their friends were holding the same type of weapons that the transfer kids had. The mass of shadows shirked away from the two of them, as if they were frightened of Brittany and Olivia now. But that only made them agitated, and they rerouted to scuttle towards the undefended Cheerios.
"San!" Brittany screamed. Her warning came too late as the two were overwhelmed completely, buried under a thick shadow of darkness.
"Brit!" Santana yelled back, struggling to breathe underneath the creatures. For being made of what seemed like pure shadow, the bastards still weighed a ton. She was not going to let these things hurt Brittany. She wouldn't allow it. They had come too far together to lose now.
Beside her, Quinn was struggling similarly. Suddenly, Santana felt a warm weight settle in her right hand, the comfortable feeling of a weapon. She swung outwards, blinded by the shadows and light suddenly filtered into her vision.
Shadows dissolved as Santana swung her silver Keyblade at them, unable to dodge her wild swings. Quinn soon followed, a white and blue Keyblade coming to life in her hand. Awed for a moment, they stared at their Blades.
"Okay, what the fuck?" Santana said, testing her newfound weapon, weighing it in her hands. Brittany didn't even have the heart to correct her language, helping Olivia off the piano and examining her own Keyblade.
The room was quiet now, the only sign that a struggle had occurred being a row of chairs that had been toppled over by shadow and cheerleader alike.
"I think the new kids had things just like ours," Olivia deduced, weapon at her side. She liked the feel of it, it felt perfectly balanced.
"No shit, Sherlock," Santana replied, earning herself a glare from Brittany and a smack from Quinn. "Sorry."
A yell of terror interrupted their silent wonderings and the four of them whirled around.
"Should we help them?" Quinn asked. She had to admit, she felt powerful holding this blade in her hand.
"Of course we need to," Brittany admonished. "That sounded like Puck and the others."
Nodding to each other, they ran out to help their friends.
XXX
They found Puck and the other Glee Club members huddled in a circle, surrounded by a combination of black and blue creatures.
"Guys, get away, they'll come after you," Puck yelled, always the savior.
"We can stop them," Santana replied, swinging her silver Keyblade and rushing into the fight.
"Santana, don't you think we need a—" Olivia warned. "plan?" She sighed and waded into the fray, hacking at the small shadows, followed by the two blondes.
"How the hell are you doing that?" Finn asked, skirting away from a shadow that had been creeping closer and closer. "Shoo. Go away," he growled.
It kept it up, scuttling forward before sinking back into the floor, just out of the quarterback's reach.
Finn was getting frustrated and he could feel the other guys indignant complaints as well. Here they were standing around, looking rather useless while the girls were kicking some serious ass. Not that he had anything against the girls taking charge, he just wanted in.
The shadow slunk forward, a teasing look in its bright yellow eyes, practically daring Finn to come and get it. "Fuck. Off!" he yelled, swinging downwards at the shadow.
It poofed into small flurries of darkness and Finn stared in surprise at the Keyblade now resting in his hand. It was shorter than the others, which miffed him for a second. White at the hilt with alternating blue and black spiked ridges, ending with a rather wicked hook, his Keyblade seemed to vibrate with power.
His show of bravery emboldened the others and set off a chain reaction. Within seconds, seven other Keyblades sprung into the hands of the Glee club members, who began hacking and slashing at the remaining enemies, no longer defenseless.
It only took a few minutes of downright bashing for all of the remaining blue and black shadows to disintegrate. Everybody stood still, panting with the exertion.
"Okay, I repeat, what the fuck?" Santana reiterated, rushing to Brittany and embracing her, dropping her Keyblade to the tile floor with a clatter.
They all stood in silence until Riku, Terra, Ven, Sora, Kairi and Aqua came running back in, weapons at the ready. Ven nearly tripped over Santana's discarded Keyblade and that's when they noticed eleven other Keyblades clutched in hands.
"I guess we have a lot of explaining to do," Riku said.
"Damn straight, Riku," Sam snarled. "What the hell were those things, and why are we all carrying oversized keys?"
Terra jumped in. "Look, I know that things seem weird right now."
"Duh," Rachel said, uncharacteristically silent.
"I agree with Sam," Kurt raised his hand. "Don't get us wrong, we're practically used to strange and dangerous things happening, but this is completely…" he struggled to find a word.
"Insane?" Blaine offered helpfully, his Keyblade held loosely at his side. He and Michael were the only two that had left-handed Keyblades, which surprised him, considering he wasn't even left-handed.
"Thank you. This is insane," Kurt said.
"And we promise to explain everything soon enough, but right now, we're not safe." Aqua tried to calm down the other teenagers, who looked like they were slowly coming off their adrenaline highs.
"She's right, we don't know how many more Heartless and Unversed are out there, so we need to go. Now." Sora waved a hand and a portal formed out of thin air, frightening the Glee Club kids.
"Look, you have no reason to trust us, but I don't want anything bad to happen to anyone. You guys are special. Really special, and we have to keep you safe." Ven pointed out before ushering the teens to step through.
"Nuh-uh. We're not going anywhere without an explanation." Santana said stubbornly.
"San, I think we should go," this came from Brittany, who looked directly at Riku and Terra. Santana stood no chance once the blonde dancer redirected her gaze at her.
"Damn it, fine, we'll follow, but you have a hell of a lot of things to explain."
"Which we will get to, we promise," Sora said, looking around for signs of any more Heartless and Unversed. "But we really need to leave."
Santana, Quinn, Olivia and Brittany followed Ven and disappeared into the portal.
"What about Tina and Artie and Mercedes?" Rachel gasped. "We need to find them!"
"There's nothing we can do right now for them. I think they'll be okay, but right now our priority is the twelve of you," Riku met her determined gaze with one of his own and she folded.
"Fine. I'll come," she snapped. "Anyone else?" At this moment, she felt that long-winded sentences weren't appropriate for a time like this.
Six other voices assented and one by one they walked into the portal, followed by Aqua, Kairi, Riku, and Terra.
"Is everyone in?" Sora called from the outside, his voice sounding distorted and distant to those inside the portal. A muffled yes responded and he himself walked in, sealing the portal shut behind him and sending everyone back to Master Eraqus's castle.
When they arrived, they all fell inelegantly out of the portal at the same spot where Sora and the others had left, only this time from several feet up.
"Ow, that was my shoulder!" Sam winced as Puck fell on him. The other new Keyblade wielders murmured things along the same line.
Dusting themselves off, the twelve new Wielders looked out at the view of the castle and its surrounding courtyard.
Santana rubbed her eyes, not believing the magnificent view right in front of her eyes. "Holy—"
"You ain't seen nothing yet," Riku replied. "Things are just getting started."