Just thought I'd finish this chapter before New Year rolled around, so I wouldn't look like someone who hasn't posted since last year XD
Char: Right...
Me: But I don't really like this chappie... (sulk) Nothing really happened in it, except that they get to Disney Castle and Anxclof and Roxas have some fluff. Just be happy I even got this chapter done at all, because I've been busy lately playing .hack/GU.
Char: Pfft. "Busy", my ass.
Me: D:
Disclaimer- Um... Can I call a friend on this?
Things were unexpectedly quiet on the Gummi ship without the actual Sora there. It took only about ten minutes to reach Disney Castle, especially with Donald's reckless piloting, but the sliver of time seemed to take an eternity.
While the duck and the dog navigated quietly in the front, Char chose to wait in the back room of the ship. Currently she was stretched out on the floor, lying on her belly with her fists on either side of her face. The Heartless Sora bounded around the room, looking bored with the proceedings. He made a few circuits through the area before plopping down next to Char.
The redhead watched him – she had decided to know the Heartless as male, because hopefully the real Sora would be back before all of this was over – furtively with her peripheral vision. So far, the Heartless had shown almost no signs of hostility toward neither her or the other two occupants of this vessel, much to her curiosity and bemusement. Perhaps there was still a fragment of Sora's heart left in the creature, she mused thoughtfully, and that fragment recognized who these people were.
She had also taken to calling the Heartless "Anti-Sora", for wasn't that, in a nutshell, what the dark creature was – a shadow, an antithesis to the hero and champion of the worlds of light?
Anti-Sora stretched out on the floor. He tilted his head to the side, watching Char in a way that made her skin crawl a little, before moving slowly, meticulously, to match her position.
Char held back a laugh that was half-amusement, half-relief. "It won't be long now," she murmured.
The yellow eyes didn't stray from her. No expression showed in them, but for now Anti-Sora seemed rather relaxed.
When we get to the castle, though, that's going to be a different story…
"Hey!" Goofy called to them.
"We're here!" Donald added, sounding as though he could barely contain his excitement at being home.
Char pushed herself up and looked at Anti-Sora. "Ready to go?"
In response, he leaped up, still retaining the somewhat-feral posture of a normal Heartless. He looked up at her, and she almost felt guilty for what she was about to do to him.
The breath caught slightly in her throat when he raised a dark hand, clearly wanting her to take it. She hesitated, then accepted the hand. It felt odd to be virtually leading a Heartless around – almost like a dog.
The two of them left the room to meet Donald and Goofy.
"So, see your friends yet?" Anxclof asked.
Roxas sighed. The grip of his hand on hers tightened almost imperceptibly. "No, not yet. I'm sure they're here, though."
Inside, Anxclof's head was still whirling from what her friend had told her. So, the Twilight Town he had been put into had been virtual; a fake. The thought of what Char and the Superior's master had done to Roxas made the brunette's blood boil. She'd like to see how they liked being torn away from everything they knew and being thrown into a whole different place indefinitely.
Honestly, from Roxas' story, she was now glad that she didn't know where her Other was. From the sound of things, the reason Roxas had been kidnapped was because Sora had needed him to awaken.
People were passing by, bustling about in the busy streets of Twilight Town. Anxclof, who had spent her three years of existence in mostly isolation, found herself feeling rather overwhelmed by it all. Women were gathering their children away from where they had been playing with their friends; men were giving each other friendly challenges and swinging what looked like blue foam bats at each other; shopkeepers were calling out loudly, trying to sell their wares. She noticed that Roxas instinctively raised his free hand to wave at some of these people, and guessed that he had known these people in the virtual Twilight Town.
"Is it hard?" she murmured.
Roxas' blue eyes flicked down to her. "Yeah," he replied after a moment. "I see these people, and I try to say 'hi', but they look at me like I'm crazy and walk away." He stared down at the ground. "Sometimes… I feel like I am crazy. I mean, I get kidnapped and put into a virtual world? Pretty weird-sounding, huh?"
"You're not crazy," Anxclof argued at once. "This is just the exact meaning of the saying 'Bad things happen to good people'; that's all."
Roxas laughed. "Maybe you're right." He pressed his arm a bit closer to hers. "I'm just happy you're here."
Anxclof felt a slight tingling on her arm where he'd touched her. Char's words came back to her in a harsh rush:
"Here's a news flash for you, Anxclof: neither of you have hearts!"
Unconsciously, Anxclof's hand tightened around Roxas'. What she had told the redhead was true: while the Organization didn't have hearts, they remembered how it felt. They remembered feelings of sorrow, anger, love and pain. They remembered the warmth of someone they cared about, and the coldness of someone who didn't care about them. Roxas and Anxclof were no different.
"Hey Anx," Roxas suddenly said.
Anxclof tilted her head up slightly to look at him. "Hm?"
"I want to show you something."
The female Nobody felt her curiosity piqued at the intense look in his eyes. "Sure."
Roxas nodded and smiled before leading her off toward a sign that read "Station Heights".
"So, this is your home, huh?" asked Char, looking around at the garishly glowing lights of the Gummi shed. An entrance to the courtyard of the castle lay nearby, with a pool of pale light spilling into the shed.
Anti-Sora was also surveying the area with his dark yellow eyes darting about warily. The grip of his hand on Char's was starting to hurt, it was getting so tight.
She flexed her fingers and gave the Heartless a glare. Thankfully, he took the hint and his iron grip lessened.
Char knew that he could sense the light and general happiness surrounding the castle and everything in the world. For Heartless, not just a Keyblade and a very good pair of twin blades were the perfect annihilators – enough light and joy could be an unwelcome catalyst as well. Anti-Sora was clearly no exception.
"Yup," Goofy answered cheerfully, looking around.
Donald was grinning so widely he could barely speak. Char restrained a smirk at the duck's obvious enthusiasm. If it hadn't been for the unpleasant circumstances in which she had left Hollow Bastion, what felt like so long ago, she would probably have felt the exact same way when she and Sora had gone there.
The mage and the knight led her out into the courtyard. Char found herself breathless as she looked around. A pleasant breeze ruffled her hair, causing the grass around them to sway slowly. A cobblestone path wound its way around the circular area. Sunlight shone onto the grass formations that were scattered around the courtyard, casting a pale sheen against the emerald.
"Wow," she said. "It's actually kind of… nice."
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Donald retorted.
Char rolled her eyes and decided to dodge the question. "Meh, well, I guess I shouldn't expect anything less for King Mickey."
Meanwhile, Anti-Sora was trembling slightly, and he nuzzled a little closer to Char's side for comfort. She stared down at him in surprise, then sighed and put her hand on his head. Since the Heartless was the dark part of Sora incarnate, it made sense that when she touched the dark spikes, the feeling of caressing hair reached her hand.
If Anti-Sora's "hair" felt like this, Char mused, then it conjured up the question of how the real Sora's spiky tresses would feel.
Then she started. Whoa, Nightblaze – get your head out of the gutter!
Was it her imagination, or did her cheeks heat up just a little bit? (1)
She noticed Donald and Goofy were looking at her strangely. She cleared her throat, attempting to get her composure back. "So, um, which way is this 'Cornerstone'?" She raised her free hand and did air quotes with her fingers on the last word.
"It's this way." Donald and Goofy led the way with Char and Anti-Sora following close behind.
They made an odd foursome, the redhead thought – a duck mage, a dog knight, a Heartless, and… she didn't know exactly what to refer to herself as. The outcast? The vagabond?
The extra wheel? she mentally added dryly.
Whatever it was, she found herself hoping that it would change by the end of this journey. Back in Twilight Town, she honestly hadn't given a damn whether Sora lived or died. But now, whether it was the promise to Riku driving her or not, the thought of the brunette being gone forever because of her stupid mistake made her throat tighten tangibly.
I'm getting too sentimental for this, she thought. Must be the dorks rubbing off on me.
With a chuckle, she stepped forward, only to get yanked short. She glared at Anti-Sora, who was refusing to move. "What's your problem?"
The Heartless just shook his head frantically. Donald and Goofy turned around from where they were standing at the entrance to the castle itself.
"Gee, you think he can sense the Cornerstone?" asked Goofy.
"Probably," Donald said.
"You guys aren't helping," Char muttered. She tugged Anti-Sora's hand, not too hard, but firm in her grip. "C'mon, let's go."
But no matter how hard she pulled the Heartless, no matter what cajoling words the trio tried to use, Anti-Sora was set in his decision. He didn't want to go inside.
Char hissed, letting out the breath from between her teeth. "Gods, his dark side's even more stubborn than the real thing…"
She looked up at the sky. The sun was just starting to glitter in the dying shine of twilight. Great.
Donald and Goofy didn't know, but Anti-Sora had a time limit; a time limit until the real Sora ceased to be forever. She had asked DiZ about it after he had brought the girl back from the Cornerstone, and he had patiently explained everything to her. If he hadn't gotten the girl – or rather, her Heartless – to the light in time, her heart would have been consumed by Kingdom Hearts itself.
If Anti-Sora didn't get to the Cornerstone…
Char swallowed nervously at the thought.
Anti-Sora noticed the small, almost imperceptible movement – it unnerved the redhead, how focused this Sora could get on a single thing or person – and cocked his head.
"What are we supposed to do?" murmured Donald.
Char's head jerked up from where she'd been staring at the ground. She was going to have to play the tough-chick card again.
She opened her mouth to speak, but the Heartless, surprisingly, was way ahead of her. He glanced back from where one "hand" rested on the doorknob into the castle, his shoulders tensed in a slight wince. Char could tell that being so close to so much light and happiness was hurting him, but he chose to brave it anyway, which mystified her.
Donald and Goofy stared in equal bemusement at the dark Sora. But he just stared at them more insistently, as if telling them to get going.
Char felt something pull deep within her, and with a start she realized that it was her heart, twinging in sympathy for him. Despite his current state, Sora could still manage to stick his neck out for his friends.
A smirk spread over her countenance.
"Well, what're we waiting for?" she asked Donald and Goofy. "Let's get a move on!"
"So… remind me what we're doing here?" Anxclof muttered dryly as Roxas pulled her along.
The blond cast her an annoyed glance. "We're trying to get to Sunset Hill. I thought I told you already."
"Yeah, well…" Anxclof let the sentence trail off on purpose. I might've been tuning you out… she finished in her head.
Roxas shook his head in mock rebuke and returned his gaze to the path ahead. "I told you, the tunnels are more fun than the train."
Anxclof opened her mouth to reply, only to squeak and leap back as a thunderous roaring noise sounded above their heads. The ground trembled under their feet, nearly unbalancing both Nobodies in the process. The deafening crescendo lasted for only about three seconds before pealing off into the distance.
Anxclof let out a deep, shuddering breath. She realized, to her humiliation, that she had instinctively clung to the nearest solid thing, which of course happened to be Roxas. She put one hand against his chest and pushed herself away, knowing that her face had gone a shade of red reminiscent of Char's hair.
"Oh, yes, so fun," the brunette muttered, dusting herself off, trying to regain her dignity. "A freaking earthquake every ten minutes. That's great."
Roxas laughed. "Ah, you'll learn to love it."
Anxclof raised an eyebrow at him and put a hand on her hip. "You just liked that because I was clinging to you the whole time."
The blond put a finger to his chin and darted his eyes about, acting like she'd caught him in the act. "Well, maybe…"
Anxclof rolled her eyes. "You're horrible."
They continued on, with Roxas leading the way. Anxclof managed to listen carefully as he rattled off the destinations of the various tunnels beneath the subway. She realized that, despite the circumstances of his kidnapping, Roxas had gotten something out of it: he had met loyal friends, and while there was the slight little complication that they weren't real, they seemed to care about him; and he had learned more about life here than he ever had at the World That Never Was. For some reason, Anxclof felt a pang of jealousy at that thought.
She knew that even though Nobodies weren't supposed to have hearts, she distinctively recognized the feeling of being in love; she supposed that her Other had been in love at the time Anxclof had been born. That indescribable emotion appeared whenever she was with Roxas, as it was now.
The memory of when she had first joined the Organization popped up, unbidden, in her mind. It had been almost a year, and prior to that, the brunette had been on her own for nearly two years. Xemnas had spotted her hacking apart some Heartless in the world known as Agrabah, and obviously his curiosity had been piqued.
He hadn't really captured her, in the true denotation of the word. The Superior had approached her, and with a few words got her to come with him. Looking back, the female Nobody laughed softly; she had been so naïve back then. Despite Anxclof's feigned toughness, she was really just confused and nervous at being around so many people like her.
Most of them were creepy, she remembered that. Xemnas had looked at her like she was a dead animal he was about to dissect – detached; cool; almost impassive. The others had greeted her either with somewhat-playful threats, or with apathy and indifference.
The boy that everyone called Number Thirteen caught her attention almost at once. He had been hanging around the edges of the crowd with a spiky-haired redhead known as Number Eight. When she had passed their rooms on the way to her own quarters, Axel – the redhead – had clapped her on the back and, with a mock-grim smirk on his face, wished her luck at living here. Roxas had just smiled and nodded. Almost at that moment, the trio's friendship had been born.
At this point, they were almost to the path that, according to Roxas, led to Sunset Terrace.
"…and then Pence said, 'Dare', and Hayner told him to propose to the trash can!" Roxas burst into laughter at the memory. (2)
Anxclof snickered. "Man, you guys played some weird games. Who would willingly do that kind of thing?"
"Well, that's why it's fun," Roxas explained. "You get to see your friends do some pretty stupid stuff, and then you get to make an idiot out of yourself too. But it's never anything dangerous."
Anxclof snorted. "Whatever."
They emerged from the tunnel, blinking to get used to the sudden light. Anxclof had just enough time to absorb her surroundings before Roxas grabbed her wrist and yanked her off again.
"Oy!" she shouted. "Let go!"
Roxas looked back without slowing and grinned, but didn't say anything.
Anxclof growled in protest, but she didn't make an attempt to stop him. Clearly, Roxas knew what he was doing.
No matter how moronic being here has made him, she added silently.
The main reason she was so jealous of him preferring Twilight Town over his former home hit her. The World That Never Was had heralded fear and anger, the desire to learn the truth. Here in Twilight Town, while Roxas had initially been forced to stay there, he had lived like a normal teenager, blissfully unaware of his past life as a Nobody and a Keybearer.
And for the first time, Anxclof wondered if she'd done the right thing by killing Sora to get her friend back.
"Whew." Donald plopped down on the floor, panting. "I didn't think there'd be so many Heartless…"
"Damn straight," Char muttered, flicking her sword in order to get a few stray pieces of darkness off of it.
The trio had entered the castle, only to find it swarming with Heartless. Needless to say, they'd been nearly overwhelmed. Surprisingly, though, they had managed to pull through.
A key reason for Char's dread at seeing the Heartless was that she assumed Anti-Sora, seeing his "kin", would go over to their side and fight with the Shadow Heartless. In that case, the Keybearer would truly be gone. To his credit, however, Anti-Sora stayed out of the way, though a distinct light of craving glittered in his yellow eyes.
Now, he was back to acting like an antsy child. He stared around anxiously, squirming slightly and, every once in a while, glancing urgently at Char. Even though the nervousness in his stance pulled tangibly at Char's heartstrings, she swallowed her sympathy almost at once.
It's a Heartless, she argued mentally. We get him to the Cornerstone, he's back to normal, we go on. It's as simple as that.
Yet the voice in the back of her mind popped up again.
You should know by now that nothing is ever easy. Just look at what happened back there!Char dismissed it with a shake of the head and chose to examine their surroundings. They had entered a library of sorts; thick books lined the walls and shelves seemed to take up all the space. The floor was a pristine, almost blinding white tile. Almost like the Beast's castle had been, broomsticks swept the floors, running on their own.
However, it was the being at the center of the room that got Donald and Goofy's attention. They gasped and shot to attention at once.
"Your Majesty!" Donald said, bringing his hand up in a salute. "Queen Minnie! We're back!"
The person in the room – who Char immediately realized was not human at all – turned to face them and smiled. "You're here! Thank goodness," she added gratefully. "You two have perfect timing."
"That must be a first," Char muttered.
This caught the mouse queen's attention. "And who's this?" she asked Goofy.
The redhead sighed and spoke for him. "Sorry, Your Majesty. I'm Char Nightblaze."
She could feel the surprised gazes of Donald and Goofy on her as she spoke, and cast an open glare in their direction. Was it really that surprising that she knew how to be polite?
"So, uh, where's the King?" she went on, looking around.
She felt an unceremonious tug on her pant leg. Donald gave her a pointed look and then glanced back at Queen Minnie. "You'll have to excuse her, Your Majesty."
Minnie put a hand over her mouth to stifle her giggle. "Anyway, you've all come at just the right time!" she said.
"Yeah, we noticed all the Heartless," Goofy said.
"Kind of hard not to…" Char added quietly.
"Oh… so those are the Heartless," Minnie mused.
Char thought that this world must be pretty secure, if the queen didn't even know what a Heartless was. For a brief moment, the idea of such a quiet, bright world tempted her; but she shook her head to clear it. They had more important things to think about right now…
…such as the way Minnie was currently eyeing Anti-Sora, a glimmer of fear visible in her eyes.
"Why are you traveling with a Heartless, then?" she asked, voice trembling.
Char reminded herself that Minnie was unused to such danger, and so she couldn't exactly roll her eyes and tell the queen to suck it up.
Now came the awkward part: telling her that the hero who had kept the worlds safe thus far, had, quite literally, been reduced to a shadow of his former self.
Because of my stupid mistake, the redhead added silently. She felt a pang of shame remembering how she should have seen Anxclof coming.
Donald and Goofy were staring guiltily at their feet, so the task of informing Minnie of the current disaster fell to Char.
This was going to be difficult.
She took a deep breath. In the same moment, she felt Anti-Sora's grip tighten. Unconsciously, she squeezed his hand in return – not really to reassure him, but to get him to stop cutting off her circulation – and opened her mouth to speak.
"Your Majesty… this Heartless here is Sora, the Keybearer. That's actually the reason why we're here."
"We need the Cornerstone of Light, Your Majesty," Goofy added tentatively.
"Oh, my…" Minnie sighed. "If that's truly what you need, then come with me. I'll need a guard to take me to the audience chamber. I haven't been able to leave this library by myself since the Heartless started attacking."
Char managed to swallow a bit past the lump in her throat. At least now they knew where they were going.
Donald and Goofy gave her a salute and turned to leave, but they were brought back by Minnie's sudden gasp.
"Oh, no! I forgot to warn everyone else in the castle about the danger! We must be sure they're hidden someplace safe!"
"Your Majesty, with all due respect, I think they all know about the Heartless," Char said.
"But…" Minnie looked torn between her subjects and curing the savior of the worlds.
"We'll go help get everyone somewhere safe, Your Majesty," Donald cut in.
"Yeah, you guys know your way around, so that would be best."
Anti-Sora just squirmed a little more, clearly wanting to be out of here. Char let go of his hand and threaded her fingers through the dark strands of hair, pressing his head close to her.
It'll be over soon, she thought, hoping against hope that her words would somehow reach him. (3)
"Alright. I'll stay with the queen and make sure she gets to the audience chamber safely." Heh. I'm almost like a regular little diplomat now, Char thought sardonically.
Donald and Goofy just nodded, summoned their weapons, and left the room. Minnie turned to Char.
"Well? Shall we get going?"
(1) XDDDD Of course, this is really just the scientific side of Char coming out. With a mind as quick as hers (and I'm not trying to make her sound Sue-ish either; think about how smart YOU'D be if YOU had Ansem for a teacher), one thought just kinda leads to another.
Still, I love playing with the idea that she likes him even now xP
(2) I had to actually do a dare like that once. It was partly funny and partly humiliating. o.O
(3) Aww. In her own awkward little way, she's trying to reassure him. (At least that's what I THINK it is... She keeps alternating from "suck it up, you wuss!" to "it'll be okay -huggles-").
Me: Next chapter... We might head to the Timeless River, or we might not. THE CHOICE IS YOURS.
Char: Not really; she's just trying to sound like the people that say the announcements at her school.
Me: D:
Char: So, in advance - here's to another crappy year.
Me: Also, along with the New Year comes another celebration: This fic's reached over 100k in wordcount:D
Char: That might just be because of your rambly A/N's...