And in this chapter we start one of my favorite parts of the game! -singing- Boys and girls of every age, would you like to see something strange? Come with us and you will see, this our town of Halloween -
Everyone: GET ON WITH IT!
Me: -covers ears and winces- Okay, okay. Geez. Monty Python references much? Well, anywhozer, this chapter is a mix of RikuChar flashbacks, FalconCopperhead flashbacks, and actual material from KH2. So, enjoy!
But first: -throws confetti- ONE HUNDRED REVIEWS, BITCHES! -happy dance-
Disclaimer- Unfortunately, I don't own KH2. -sobs- THANKS FOR REMINDING ME, GAIZE!
"Riku!"
The young man turns at the sound of his name and sighs, folding his arms across his black-clad chest as he halts in his tracks to let the girl behind him catch up. "Would you not walk so fast?" the redhead growls, half breathless from trying to keep up with him. "Some of us have trouble walking over the hem of this stupid coat, you know."
"Well, I've had to wear this coat longer, so it's only natural that I'm more used to it than you are," Riku points out, a smirk flitting across his face when she narrows her eyes in response. "I just don't like this place," he mutters after a moment, lifting his gaze to the gold-streaked, sunset-clothed sky. Silvery hair flutters in the light breeze as his turquoise eyes watch the clouds.
The redhead's glower softens just a bit. "Because it's where Roxas is?"
"Yeah," Riku answers. He hesitates, searching for the right way to word his emotions. "I think of Sora every time DiZ shows Roxas to us on the computer… and I can't help but feel like what we're doing is wrong."
"Bringing your friend back? Getting revenge on the Organization for what they did to us?" Char queried, raising one skeptical eyebrow.
"Of course I don't object to that part," Riku amends at once. His gaze switches briefly to their surroundings, and Char can't help but notice the shadow of a smile that appears on his face. Is he thinking of the old days, on the island with Sora and Kairi? she wonders.
But just as quickly, the expression is gone, so Char can't really be sure.
"I guess it's just the way we're going about it," Riku answers at last, and Char nearly flinches, because he's hit the mark of her own feelings as well.
"Hey, Master…"
The redhead's characteristically boisterous voice sounds cut down as she enters the basement of the mansion. She hates this part of the building: where it's all too easy to lose oneself in the sounds of the beeping of the computers; where it's all too obvious that a copy of this place lies just beyond a flash of a beam and a flick of a switch.
DiZ doesn't even look to acknowledge her presence, so fixated is he on the computer screens before him. "Where is Riku?"
"How should I know?" Char sighs, coming over to stand beside her master. Staring down at him, at the older man's form positioned in the chair, at his single visible amber eye focused on Sora's progress, it hits her: how far her master has fallen from the man she respected so much.
"The two of you are always together," DiZ points out, and Char holds her breath, waiting for more, but thankfully he leaves it at that. A glove-clad finger raises and presses against one of the smaller screens, a screen that, despite its mediocre size, holds the most important goal of all: the monitoring of Sora's progress. "You see this? It means we are getting closer to merging Roxas and Sora."
Char hesitates, doesn't really know what to say, so she just utters a murmur of "that's great" and falls silent. After a moment, DiZ turns around fully in his chair and appraises her with his piercing orange eye.
"Charisa," he says seriously, using her full name like he always does when he has something to say. And like she always has in response to this, Char straightens and listens up, because he never uses her full name unless it's important. "I have known you long enough to realize that all is not well with you."
"Why did you call him 'Riku', when you know what he's supposed to be known as now?" Char fires back almost instantly. Without another word, she turns on her heel and flees the room, hating the way her vision is suddenly blurry.
He promised me, she thinks to herself. He promised he wouldn't give in to the darkness.
The first thing Sora knew when he woke up was that his limbs were strangely stiff. He shifted about, still caught between that world between sleep and the waking world; after a moment of inward self-debate, he forced his eyes open.
The memories of last night in Agrabah swirled together in his mind, making it almost impossible to remember everything. He laboriously pushed himself up to a sitting position, one hand running through his hair and causing him to wince as he hit a tangle in his unruly brown spikes.
And then he realized why his arms and legs were so unwilling to respond: he was still wearing the tuxedo that had, strangely, been conveniently waiting in a drawer in the Gummi ship.
Abruptly, the memories of the ball came flowing back to him with the force of a crashing river: talking to the peddler; becoming so desperate for answers regarding his vision of Roxas that he had pointed his Keyblade at the man's throat; seeing Char in that amazing dress… Sora inhaled just a bit too sharply at the thought of the dance that had followed afterward, and immediately wanted to hit himself. It's fine to think that someone is cute, he told himself, remembering something his mother had told him. It doesn't mean you're in love with her or anything.
The self-reproach intensified when he realized what must have happened. "Oh, geez…" he groaned, slumping back onto the pillows and clapping one hand over his eyes. Good job, Sora – you go and ask her to dance and then you fall asleep on her? Some "hero of the worlds"… He closed his eyes and sighed. "If she doesn't want to kill me the next time I see her…" he murmured, voice trailing off.
A brisk knocking at the door sounded abruptly, causing him to sit up and blink a little dizzily at the feeling he'd gotten from moving too suddenly. "Hey, Sora." It was Donald's unmistakable quack, greeting him from outside his room. "We're making breakfast and if you don't want the big lug to eat all your pancakes then you'd better come out here."
"Gee, Donald, I didn't say I'd be eatin' that many…" Goofy's sheepish remark made Sora laugh under his breath. The brunette could already feel his spirits begin to lift. When he'd first met Donald and Goofy, he had felt like he was betraying Riku and Kairi in becoming friends with them, but the trio had been through so much since all of this had started that it had been impossible not to become close friends.
"I'm coming!" the Keybearer shouted. "Just lemme get dressed, okay?"
He carefully discarded the tuxedo in favor of his normal dark attire, finished up by placing the crown necklace in its usual spot around his neck, and headed outside. The scent of pancakes wafted out to greet him and he sighed in pleased anticipation of breakfast.
"'Morning, Key-boy," a feminine voice called from one of the chairs at the table.
Shockingly, Char's voice seemed totally devoid of the anger he'd expected from her; but he still hesitated before turning to meet her gaze. He stared at her for a few moments, searching for some trace of lingering resentment for the night before, but before he could open his mouth to speak she sighed irritably. "Sit down," she urged, nodding toward the chair across from her. "Unless, of course, you like to eat standing up."
"I didn't say that!" Sora protested instinctively, taking the offered seat. "I just…" He paused and glanced over at Donald and Goofy; the mage was monitoring the pancakes, while Goofy was gathering syrup and whatnot.
Looking back to Char's expectant eyes, he leaned across the table with his hands on either side of his body so he could lower his voice and still have her hear him. "About last night…" he whispered, suddenly unable to meet her gaze for fear that he would see a glower in her icy orbs.
Char sighed quietly: and, Sora thought, a little wearily. "Don't worry about it. We had kind of a long day yesterday; it's only natural that you were tired."
"But right after…" Sora's voice faded as something hit him. "Wait, did you guys bring me back to my room? Is that why I was still wearing that tuxedo when I woke up?"
"Duh," Char whispered, casting a furtive look over her shoulder; seeming to hesitate for just an instant before bluntly stating her explanation. "You fell asleep on me and then we carried you back. Is that what you wanted to hear?"
Sora gave a little grunt of surprise; he had thought that he'd felt something disturbingly warm just before he had yielded to sleep's temptation, but he never assumed that his previous thought about "falling asleep on her" was all too literal. "I'm sorry, I didn't –"
"And just what are you two whispering about?" Donald interrupted, teasing smugness clear in his voice. The two of them glanced up to see Goofy standing behind the duck, holding a large plate heaped with pancakes in one hand and four smaller plates in the other.
Not quite knowing how to respond, Sora opened his mouth, but Char beat him to it. "Nothing you need to know about, duck boy," she answered coolly, reaching out with one hand and taking the top plate off of Goofy's stack.
Donald growled at the nickname, while Goofy just laughed a bit nervously and said, "Er… breakfast time?"
"Falcon!"
She stops in her tracks, allowing an irritated sigh to hiss out of her. Without turning around, she folds her arms, the charm on the end of the Azure Ice's chain dangling from her fingers. "Can't you leave me alone?"
"What can I say; I'm just drawn to you," Copperhead answers smoothly, voice sounding from just a bit too close behind her. She whirls around, eyes partly narrowed, and he chuckles; takes advantage of her moment of surprise to speak.
"So hey, listen. Have you been getting some kind of Keyblade training in?" the young man questions, his tone of playfulness hardening into a serious sense of urgency. "I mean…" He casts his violet eyes around, making sure that no one else can hear, before returning them to her. For some strange reason she nearly shrinks under the intensity of his gaze, and hates herself for it. Hell, she tries to reassure herself, no wonder he has so many fan-girls; he does have really nice…
Dammit, no, what am I saying?!
Falcon almost misses Copperhead's words in her furious, mental self-reproach, but she does catch it just as the anger at those thoughts begins to ebb. "In historical accounts of people with Keyblades, those Keyblades almost always came to their wielders right before calamity struck their world."
Falcon blinks. Huh. So he does occasionally listen in history class.
Part of her just wants to dismiss his words as nonsense, that history doesn't always repeat itself and that there's nothing wrong. But at the same time, she acknowledges the truth behind his words: because why else would the Azure Ice have picked now to come to her?
"And also…" Copperhead does something strange then: he hesitates, actually averts his gaze nervously before returning it to her and running a hand through his unbound hair. "I wanted to know if you wanted to come hang out at my house this weekend."
Falcon stares at him, temporarily rendered speechless by his request. For a brief moment she considers saying no and walking off with a point against his pride, but his intentions don't seem too lecherous to her.
"Just for sparring and stuff, I mean," Copperhead quickly amends.
Falcon's eyes widen a fraction. "I didn't know you knew the sword."
"I don't, actually," he admits, and her surprise turns to brief anger at the thought that he's lied to her: brief because of his next words. "I've kinda known how to use a scythe for a while now."
That little comment causes her to instinctively roll her eyes. Leave it to Copperhead to attempt to obtain the "grim reaper" image.
"I guess it depends on what my parents say," she finally mutters, and immediately wants to snatch the words back again. Had she just agreed to spend part of her hard-earned weekend sparring with the boy who had personally made the past ten years of her life a living hell?!
Then again, she thinks dryly, desperate times call for desperate measures.
Copperhead brightens – actually, "brightens" is an understatement; his entire face seems to light up at her decision. "Seriously? That's great! I live with my older brother, so that won't be a problem," he hastily explains at the look on Falcon's face. "All right! I'll see you at… noon-ish on Saturday, I guess?" Thank the gods, his excitement calms just a bit as he speaks the last sentence.
"Guess so," she mumbles, secretly horrified.
"You must be the Falcon I've heard so much about!"
Great. It's like the first day of first grade all over again. Falcon nods and confirms the chirped inquiry of Copperhead's older brother, wondering vaguely exactly how much that pervert has said about least it's clear where Copperhead gets his enthusiasm from – Falcon's never known his parents, but she's heard that they disappeared not long after he was born; either way, she doesn't know what kind of people his parents were. At the very least, however, being raised by his older brother has definitely left its mark on Copperhead's behavior. She's only just been welcomed into his house and she already knows the influence his older brother has had.
"I'm Dyme," the young man introduces, brushing a strand of hair that's strayed from his dirty-blond mullet out of his eyes. He grins abruptly and sweeps out one arm. "Well, geez, don't just stand out there all day! Come on in!"
"Dyme, don't scare her anymore," sighs a voice from beyond Dyme's slender frame. And there he is: long-haired, violet-eyed, and looking just a bit put out by his brother's actions. Falcon can't hold back a small giggle; while Dyme and Copperhead aren't related by a father-son relationship, it can't be clearer that that's how it is.
"Aww, is the knight in shining armor here to rescue his princess from his big bad evil brother?" Dyme teases, causing completely unjustified heat to rise to Falcon's cheeks and Copperhead to roll his eyes. Before she can formulate a response as to the contrary, the brunette nearly chokes at Copperhead's sardonic response.
"That's exactly what I'm doing. Now can you be slain already so we can talk?"
He grabs her arm and drags her up the stairs, with her staring stupidly at the hand grasping her wrist."Sorry about my brother," Copperhead says, a smirk currently covering his countenance.
"He's definitely a handful," Falcon laughs. "I got in here and he was practically all over me." She restrains the mighty urge to ask what exactly Copperhead has been telling Dyme about her.
Copperhead chuckles, then as his laughter subsides, he sighs and looks away. "I remember he wasn't always like that," he murmurs. "After our parents left, he cheered up so much… At first I thought he was betraying our parents' memory, but now I know he's just trying to make up for their absence."
"Left?" Falcon tilts her head to the side. "I heard they just up and vanished."
She flinches at the brief anger that flares in Copperhead's eyes as he jerks his head up to stare at her. She considers taking the words back, knowing that some things are meant to be unsaid, but then he folds his arms and shakes his head. "Rumors," he mutters, only partly amused. "Don't believe a word you hear, Falcon."
Their eyes meet for a few moments, and that weird fluttering feeling returns to her stomach at the way those dark purple orbs are focused on hers. "W-wasn't today for sparring?" she asks quickly, trying to dispel the feeling.
Copperhead's face lights up in realization. "Oh, yeah! Go ahead and summon your Keyblade; I have to go get my scythe. Aw, don't worry, I'm not gonna cut you open," he adds, grinning at the look of nervous anticipation on her face.
Falcon narrows her eyes. "What's so funny?" she demands.
But he just grins even more impossibly widely and disappears.
Just before the sweet embrace of sleep takes Falcon – for the sparring had gone on all afternoon with the two of them only stopping for dinner, which Falcon had to cook due to Copperhead and Dyme's general ineptitude at the task – she sees Dyme approaching with a blanket in hand; feels the heat of Copperhead's lithe form and a lock of his dark blond hair tickling the side of her neck; and she has just an instant to wonder where the little brat who hated her so much disappeared to before she loses consciousness entirely.
"So, have any new worlds appeared on the map yet?" Char asked as she settled in the seat next to the pilot's chair.
The three of them had to blink at Char's question; Sora in particular felt surprised at her sudden enthusiasm. He wondered secretly what had happened to the young woman he'd met just a few weeks ago, the Char who had balked at the idea of fighting for Sora or his friends' sake and had stubbornly kept to herself.
"Is it that shocking that I'm showing some interest?" Char rolled her eyes. "I'm just curious. Your friends and the King could be in any of these worlds, after all."
Sora, Donald, and Goofy exchanged a glance, then Donald faced her, as if conceding the point, and answered her question, if not with a bemused look on his feathered face. "I thought I saw Halloween Town on the radar," he confessed, glancing to Sora and Goofy. He approached the control panel and typed a few things in; after a few moments, the map appeared. Sure enough, a globe resembling a jack-o'-lantern was visible, right next to the lamp-like world, which, Sora guessed, represented Agrabah. "Should we head there first?"
Goofy nodded once in consent, while Sora grinned. "Yeah; I love that place!"
"Why, because you got to walk around with a pumpkin mask on?" Char snorted.
"No!" Sora pouted, and Donald and Goofy snickered. Yet the Keybearer had spoken truthfully; Halloween Town had had a sort of charm about it the last time he had been there, even if every other specter that appeared had caused Sora to jump and cry out in surprise. He didn't care what Donald said; he hadn't sounded too feminine when he did that, although compared to what the past infuriatingly-blank year's puberty had done to his voice, Sora had to agree just a bit with Donald.
Then a frown creased his brows as he realized something. "Wait, Char, how did you know that my Halloween Town costume came with a pumpkin mask?"
"Hey, yeah! You weren't there!" Donald gave the redhead a suspicious glare.
A small shadow of fear flitted across her eyes, but it was gone so quickly that Sora couldn't be sure he had even seen it. "I guess you forgot that you told me about your time in that world, then," she said, shaking her head at Sora's forgetfulness.
Sora opened his mouth, fully ready to insist on his point, but then he caught the urgency in her eyes and decided to leave the matter alone. "Well, I don't remember, but I guess I must've brought it up at some point if you know," he said, unable to keep back a bit of dubiousness from his voice.
"Gee, d'you think our Halloween Town outfits are in the Gummi ship?" Goofy asked, tilting his head to the side.
"I guess if that dress and suit were here right when we needed them, then Yen Sid probably put our Halloween Town costumes in a drawer somewhere…" Even as he spoke, Sora was already casting his eyes about.
"Here!" Donald called from close by, standing on tiptoe with his arm fully extended, nearly causing him to hang off of the drawer he had just opened.
"Thanks, Donald," Sora said, smiling as he walked over to the mage. He managed to hold back a fit of laughter at the sight of the duck, though some of his amusement did escape in the form of a snicker. "You can let go of that now."
Donald promptly let go of the drawer handle, falling to the ground in a way that caused him to grunt out a quack of slight pain, as Sora dug around in the drawer for their respective costumes. His lips quirked upward in triumph when he found the magic-laden garments of Donald and Goofy – the outfit that caused the former to look mummified, and the costume that made the latter look almost zombie-like. The last time they had visited Halloween Town, Donald had created the clothing with a wave of his wand so that they would fit in more with the world's inhabitants; now, it seemed, Yen Sid had somehow created replicas of those outfits. It was fortunate, Sora thought, because they still weren't certain of the effect that Donald's new staff would have on casting other types of magic.
"Hey, Yen Sid even made an outfit for you, Char," Goofy commented to the redhead.
"Oh, great," Char sighed. "Some gothic Lolita getup, I'm sure."
"Uh… what?" The trio blinked.
"Never mind."
The four of them donned their respective costumes; Sora was just fitting the pumpkin mask over his right eye and getting used to the limited perspective that it offered when Char spoke, breaking the silence. "Do you guys know about the worlds within Halloween Town?"
"Of course," Donald said, belligerently glaring at her in a way that was somehow set off by his now-mummy-like appearance. "Valentine Town, Thanksgiving Town, St. Patrick's Town…"
"Wait, seriously?" Sora asked, surprised. "How is that possible?"
"Hell if I know." Char shrugged her now-bare shoulders. "No matter how many books I read, it never explained that little phenomenon. Damn these fishnets!" she suddenly snarled, pulling the offending clothing over her forearms and nearly entangling it in her fingers. "I don't see why we can't just go there in our regular clothes; it'd be a lot less of a pain if we did."
"Well, not fittin' in with a world would be…" Goofy raised one finger and stared at the ceiling as he tried to think of the right word.
Donald huffed out a sigh and barked, "Meddling!" at the knight; they had gone over this so many times on their previous journey that it was really no wonder Donald was so irritated.
"Oh, right," Goofy mumbled, looking abashed.
Sora grinned to himself before turning to Donald. "Are you going to use your magic to transport us down there like you did last time?" he asked.
Donald shrugged one shoulder. "Probably not. Last time we had my old staff and I could trust it, but…" He drew the red-and-black staff that the fire Heartless in Agrabah had dropped and stared at it. "Yeah, this one worked in the last big battle we had, but I don't trust it just yet. So, I guess we're landing the Gummi ship in town."
"Oh, that won't be conspicuous at all," Char couldn't help commenting, folding her arms a little self-consciously. She instinctively glanced down at herself and winced inwardly at what she saw: a crimson-and-black corset that tapered out to the sides just after it hit her belly button; fishnets encasing her arms; long black boots that went up to her knees in the front and ended mid-calf at the back; an ebony skirt that, thank the gods, extended to just before her knees, with frayed, smoke-like ends; and her normal green fingerless gloves replaced by black ones. The magic that Yen Sid had apparently placed on the costume made her canines just a bit longer and sharper. "Just a massive colorful vessel out in the middle of Halloween Town. Yup, that's not considered 'meddling' by any standards."
"Well, would you rather end up with your organs on the outside?" Donald growled.
Char hesitated; unable to think of a comeback, she crossed her arms just a little more tightly and glared at a fixed point near Sora's shoes.
"It's probably safer to stand out than to have something bad happen to us because we don't know what this new staff can or can't do," Sora pointed out, trying very hard not to examine Char's outfit for too long: not if he wanted to keep all his limbs intact, anyway. He abruptly tore his eyes away when her pupils shifted to him and took a few steps toward the pilot's seat. "So, we're landing there?"
"Of course." Donald made himself comfortable in the seat next to the pilot's chair, where Char had previously been.
"Thanks for stealing my spot," Char grumbled, plopping down on Donald's other side.
"You're just mad because you didn't get to sit next to Sora," the duck retorted.
Sora cringed, but settled in the pilot's seat nonetheless, determinedly avoiding Char's gaze. He couldn't help but feel slightly unnerved when all Donald got in response was a somewhat-flustered scoff of "Whatever", and knew that she was thinking of last night.
Secretly, he felt a bit guilty at how he had enjoyed dancing with her. He couldn't bring himself to explain it, even to himself, because in his mind's eye he kept seeing Kairi's welcoming smile and his island behind her.
With some effort, he put that out of his mind and flicked a few switches to allow the Gummi ship to lift off from the palace courtyard. If Halloween Town was showing up on the map, then that undoubtedly meant that the Heartless – and maybe the Nobodies – were up to no good again.
"Well, that was…" Char panted, clinging to the armrest of her seat with both hands.
Donald and Goofy nodded and let out respective grunts of agreement, while Sora took a deep breath and ran his fingers briefly through his hair.
"Stupid Heartless," Donald muttered, looking just as shaken as the rest of them.
"They've never been that hard to get through before…" Sora murmured absently, steering the Gummi ship sharply downward. "They must be getting stronger."
Or the Organization is getting more vigilant, Char silently corrected. Just because his Other, Xehanort, was the one to use DiZ's factory to churn out Heartless, that didn't necessarily mean that Xemnas never used the factory anymore. If anything, the fact that Xemnas clearly still maintained Xehanort's memories made him all the more dangerous.
Then she blinked. That's the first time I've let myself acknowledge the fact that he and the others were using our home for that. Wow. I must be making progress. About damn time, she should say.
She scanned the rapidly-growing scenery for a place to land and caught sight of a hill-like piece of land that seemed to coil inward at its very tip. "We could land behind that," she suggested, pointing it out with the hand that wasn't clutching the armrest.
Sora followed her gaze and nodded. "Yeah, that seems like a good idea," he acquiesced, quickly twisting the wheel in that direction in a way that made the entire vessel swoop awkwardly.
"A few weeks of driving this and you still haven't gotten the hang of it," Donald scolded Sora, who ducked his head sheepishly.
"Well, I can't drive it at all, so it could be worse," Char pointed out. The other three seemed to reminisce for a moment and then all shivered simultaneously, clearly remembering Char's disastrous near-crash in the Underworld. She frowned to herself at the distinctly mortified looks on the others' faces, but whatever snarky response that had been percolating at the tip of her tongue vanished when Sora brought the ship to a steady landing near the structure she had noticed. Now that she got a good look close up, she could see that the ground was covered with a haphazard mixture of tiny pumpkins and autumn-garbed leaves.
"Right," Sora said, pressing the button that made the hatch to the Gummi ship open. "Let's go!"
The four of them stepped outside, with Sora gathering all the supplies and distributing them equally among his companions. Char immediately noticed the difference in temperature from the inside of the Gummi ship and rubbed her practically-bare arms in a vain attempt to get warm. I know it's supposed to be a Halloween-centered world, but does it have to be so damnably cold? Again, she lamented the fact that she was unable to wear her old jacket out here, but chose to keep her complaints to herself.
"Moonlight Hill," Sora said, sounding almost like a tour guide as he surveyed the area. "I like this place."
"Well, no Heartless have jumped out at us yet," Donald remarked warily.
"Yup, but we should still take a look around," Goofy decided.
They passed through the gate, being careful to avoid stepping on any pumpkins after Char made that mistake and caused the guts of the pumpkin to fly everywhere, much to Sora and Donald's amusement. As they turned the corner, Sora, who had already taken his place at the head of the group, halted in his tracks in front of a sign reading "Halloween Town", which was mounted on top of a scarecrow with a pumpkin head.
"Yeah, this is definitely the place," Sora mused, staring at the sign with his finger and thumb on his chin.
"I sure hope it is, otherwise we landed in the wrong – wha?" Donald had obviously been about to start on one of his infamous berates when something caught his eye. The others followed his gaze and spotted some orange fluorescent lights scattered along the perimeter of the path, much to the group's bemusement; the amount of these lights was such that they extended off into the distance.
"What's with the lights?" Char muttered to Sora.
He shrugged, just as lost as she was. "Dunno. There was nothing like this the last time we were here."
Suddenly Donald and Goofy let out cries of surprise and the two teens looked over just in time to see a tissue-like ghost with a tiny glowing pumpkin on the tip of its nose. It circled the four of them in a friendly manner, faltering just a bit when it approached Char.
"Hey, it's Zero!" Sora realized, remembering Jack Skellington's odd ghost "dog". He extended a hand in greeting as Zero continued to fly around them. "How've you been, boy?"
In response, the ghost flew away from them, heading toward the fluorescent pumpkin lights. He didn't stop or even look back, but somehow Sora knew they had to follow him.
"Come on," he called, and set off at a run.
They soon found themselves in the town square, and Sora came to a stumbling stop so that Goofy almost ran into his back. The brunette stared around, eyes wide, feeling more confused than ever as he took in the new decorations. "Okay, this definitely wasn't here before," he whispered.
The lights that had been lining the path had made another appearance in the town square, casting an almost sickly orange pallor about the area and causing the dull blade of the guillotine to reflect the color eerily. The lampposts encircling the town square served as a higher home for the pumpkin lights, and even the nearby house's roof had been adorned with the brightly glowing bulbs.
"What're these for, anyway?" he voiced his thoughts aloud.
"It's Jack!" Donald cried, pointing with one tape-covered finger. Sora realized he could hear bells jingling; Char's words about there being other worlds within this one rang in his head again as he followed the duck's gaze.
Sure enough, there was the black-clad skeleton, commandeering a sleigh led by skeletal deer.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but we did land in Halloween Town, right?" Char asked sardonically. "Because this looks suspiciously like a Christmas-y place to me."
"Because it is!" Jack's voice boomed. He brought the sleigh to a stop and stood up in the seat. "Sora, Donald, and Goofy! And 'Anonymous Redhead'! Welcome!" he cried, waving one hand. "And merry Christmas!"
"Merry Christmas?" Char queried, dubiously folding her arms and looking a bit put-out at being addressed as "anonymous redhead".
"Don't you mean 'happy Halloween'?" Sora asked, holding back his amusement at the way Jack had addressed Char.
The skeleton seemed to realize the truth of Sora's words and dramatically swept out one arm. "Of course. Halloween greetings from Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King!"
The four of them blinked owlishly at his obvious enthusiasm and Jack lowered his arm. "Forgive me. I'm in a Christmas mood. You see," he brought the arm up to the sky, "I'm running the show again this year – but I need Sandy Claws' blessing, so I'm off to Christmas Town!" He finished by bringing his arm over his chest in a flourishing gesture.
"'Again'?" Sora tilted his head to the side. "And who's Sandy Claws?"
"Gawrsh, Sora, I think he means 'Santa Claus'," Goofy said.
Char's eyes narrowed at the mention of Santa Claus, but before she could make a dry remark at that, they spotted Jack standing on the rim of the acid fountain.
"Aren't these decorations wonderful?" he gushed, gesturing to the lights along the town square and the skeletal reindeer. "This year, Halloween Town's going to handle Christmas, too!"
"Joy," Char grumbled.
"Oh, don't be such a sourpuss!" Jack chuckled. "Oh, but before we do that, we have to go visit Sally. She's working on something no self-respecting Sandy Claws can do without. Come along – I'll show you!" Without waiting for a response, he had started toward the house at the end of the town square.
"A Halloween Town Christmas…" Sora's curiosity was piqued. Donald, Goofy, and Char cast skeptical looks around the town square, allowing their gazes to rove over the guillotine and the skeletal reindeer, and Char thought that any Christmas here would be even worse than a normal Christmas.
Of course, not that I've been allowed to celebrate that little holiday since I was eleven, she thought, but whatever; to each their own.
"Wanna go check it out?" Sora asked, and Donald and Goofy let out twin sighs. "What?" Sora prompted, blinking.
"Nothing, Key-boy," Char sighed. "Let's follow him."
"C'mon, hurry!" Jack called.
"We're coming!" the redhead yelled back.
They entered the building just in time to see the diminutive Dr. Finkelstein, parked comfortably in front of a massive book. "Hello, Doctor!" Jack greeted. "Where's Sally?"
The doctor glowered at the skeleton in a way that made even Char shiver a bit. "Can't you see that I'm in the middle of an experiment?" Finkelstein barked. He turned his wheelchair around and moved toward the table in the middle of the room. "Lock, Shock, Barrel – bring that over!"
"We're coming, you pushy old geezer," a tiny voice grumbled, and the four of them glanced down and saw three disturbingly-familiar children moving a mechanical part over to the table. Char caught a flicker of movement behind them and spotted a seemingly-patchwork woman with dark hair and dark eyes. From what she had seen of Sora's memories, this must be Sally.
"What're they doing back here, after they helped work with Oogie?" Sora half-whispered, half-demanded to Jack.
The skeleton shrugged helplessly. "They came here and said that they were done being pranksters, and the doctor took them in."
"Smart move," Donald snorted sarcastically.
"Hey, this is way too heavy!" Lock growled, his red-garbed arms trembling with the effort.
"Then let's toss it," Shock suggested, nodding her hat-covered head in agreement with herself.
"You do and you'll be sorry," Finkelstein growled. "Now bring it over here!"
Seeming to ignore the doctor's orders, the three of them grunted "Heave-ho!" and tossed it onto the table. The doctor quaked and snarled angrily as sparks shot out from the mechanical device; it trembled for a few moments before dissipating in a conflagration of brief flame, startling Sora and Jack. Sally allowed a gloomy sigh to issue from her, while the three children cackled and took off their masks, as if immensely proud of themselves.
"'Done being pranksters'. Sure," Char scoffed.
"Imbeciles!" Finkelstein roared, pounding his fist on the table even as the trio was running at a breakneck speed toward the door. "Now my experiment is ruined!"
The three of them simply laughed all the louder, laughter that rang throughout the room even after the children were out of earshot. Char folded her arms across her chest. "Something about those three puts a bad taste in my mouth."
Innocent children, huh? Sora thought, but didn't say it aloud.
Jack was already approaching Sally, and Sora had just enough time to wonder when she had arrived before the skeleton spoke, hope audible in his voice. "Sally, did you finish it? I want to show my good friends."
"I'm sorry, Jack," Sally murmured, staring at the ground. "I… I need a bit more time."
Jack leaned back and placed his fists on his hips in obvious disappointment. "Oh." There was a moment of silence before he put one hand on her shoulder and said cheerfully, "Well, it doesn't matter. Just as long as it's ready for Christmas!"
Without another word, he swept toward the door. "But… Jack…" Sally reached out a hand after him, but he seemed to not hear her.
"I'd best be off!" he chirped, turning to face the others. "I've got to go get Sandy Claws right away. It's been great seeing you again! Goodbye for now!"
He left the building, and as the metal door squeaked closed behind him, Char glanced at Sally. "You don't want him doing this, do you?"
The patchwork woman sighed. "No… I keep trying to get him to see, but nothing's working. He's got his heart set on having Christmas here."
"Go get Santa Claus?" Sora repeated, eyes widening gradually.
"Please, Sora," Sally quietly pleaded. "I'm afraid something terrible will happen if Jack goes through with this."
"You can say that again," Donald agreed.
"Sora?" Goofy ventured, for the brunette had gotten an anticipative grin on his face, staring almost giddily upward.
"Earth to Key-boy?" Char waved one hand in front of his face, but he didn't respond.
"Are those strange-looking fellows in the town square with you?" a voice suddenly came from the doorway. Sora snapped out of his stupor and saw Jack standing at the entrance with a thumb jerked over his shoulder.
"Huh? What 'fellows'?" Sora tilted his head to the side.
"You know – the ones that wanted to spoil Halloween and Christmas?" Jack prompted. He put one hand to his head in thought. "What're they called again – Heartless?"
"Well, they're definitely not with us," Char said.
"But Donald, Goofy, Char and I can get rid of them for you," Sora offered. The goofy grin took over his countenance again. "And then we can go see Santa!"
"You have got to be kidding," Char sighed, resisting the urge to flick Sora hard in the head. Donald put his fists on his hips and tapped one foot impatiently.
Seeing his friends' sentiments, Sora quickly amended, "But first, the Heartless."
"Somehow I don't think that's what you really want to do," Char said.
"Why are you such a Scrooge?" Sora inquired, just a little annoyed.
"Yeah, Christmas is a time for happiness and giving!" Jack added.
"I have my reasons. Now, weren't we going to take out those Heartless?" Char summoned her dual swords as she spoke.
"What? Oh, right!" Sora brought forth the Hero's Crest Keyblade, while Donald and Goofy drew their respective weapons of staff and shield and Jack flexed his claw-like fingers.
"Right, then, fellows – and lady fellow!" the skeleton added at Char's raised eyebrow. "Let's take out those Heartless!
"By the way – who is this lady fellow?" Jack asked this question as he gazed curiously at her. His pure black eyes shifted to Sora in obvious inquiry.
The brunette had been eagerly contemplating what would happen when he saw Santa – take that, Riku! he thought triumphantly; he does exist! – but at his comrade's words he came abruptly out of his excitement. "Oh, this is Char," he introduced. "She just started traveling with us a while back."
"And would I be wrong in thinking you and this lady fellow have some kind of… history?" Jack prompted suggestively, causing both teens to start slightly and exchange a glance.
"Of course not!" Char bristled.
"Yeah, you're thinking of Kairi," Sora put in for good measure. He vaguely remembered asking the skeleton about his friends the last time he was there.
"By the way – have you seen her around here? Or Riku, for that matter?" Sora asked this mostly for the benefit of Char, who was looking more irritated than ever; though he couldn't fathom why his mention of Kairi should annoy the dual wielder so much.
The skeleton shook his head, and Sora murmured in disappointment. "Okay, then…"
"Don't we have some Heartless to take care of?" Donald asked impatiently.
"Whatever," Char muttered, at a loss for words again. She made a mental note to never again let the duck get under her skin twice in the same hour.
The five of them left the house and were greeted with the sight of a few skeleton-like Heartless, Heartless that oddly resembled Skellington himself, wandering about the town square in strange, limping gaits. The mayor of Halloween Town, with his frowning face displayed to the group, was shouting vainly into his megaphone. "Now see here, you, you, things!" he blustered. "Leave Halloween Town now, or else!" When his orders failed to dissuade the Heartless, he shuddered visibly and lowered the megaphone. "Jack, where are you?" he yelped, casting his eyes frantically about. "I'm only an elected official – I can't handle this by myself!"
Then he spotted Jack standing among the others and cried, "Jack!" in a relieved voice.
"We're on it," Sora called, brandishing his Keyblade. The Heartless seemed to glance over and quiver just a bit at the sight of the weapon.
They took out the Heartless fairly quickly; Sora noted that Jack had learned some new black magic spells and that Donald was shooting the Halloween Town resident jealous glares. The Keybearer suppressed a giggle at that. He brought one of the smaller Shadows down with a swing of his Keyblade and looked around the town square, lowering the Hero's Crest in relief when no enemies greeted his searching eyes.
No Nobodies, still, he thought, not knowing whether to be glad or suspicious. And that girl still hasn't shown up, either…
But that summoned the thought of Roxas, and how the girl always seemed to accompany the blond in Sora's occasional visions of him, and that thought induced frustration and hopelessness at not knowing what was going on. So, Sora banished the memory immediately and turned to Jack.
The skeleton had his back to the group as Char and the others approached. "How is Sandy Claws supposed to relax with all this going on?" Skellington moaned. Suddenly he straightened and turned toward them; Sora, Donald, and Goofy leaned back in bemusement at the determined look on Jack's face, and even Char looked a little perturbed.
"That's it, fellows!" he declared, and swept his gaze over the group. "Sandy Claws needs bodyguards. Are you up to the task?"
"Us?" Donald blinked.
"Yeah!" Sora immediately blurted. Char and Donald gave Sora a simultaneous glower.
"Just charge right into it without thinking, why don't you?" Char grumbled.
"W-well, we can't let anything bad happen to Santa, right?" Sora amended hastily. The mage and the redhead still didn't look convinced.
"Guess they can agree on somethin'…" Goofy sighed.
"All right, bodyguards!" Jack cried dramatically. "Christmas Town is this way!" He turned and pointed in the direction they had just come from. "The doorway is in the woods just past the graveyard!"
As he listened to Jack's words, Sora recalled what Char had said earlier, about other worlds residing within this one. That's probably the way to get there, he mused.
He took his place at the front of the group and glanced back. "Right, then; let's go!"
Sora: SANTA :DDDD
Everyone Else: -headdesk-
I hope the way I'm developing Falcon and Copperhead's relationship seems plausible. I mean, it is just through flashbacks, so it's gonna be a bit disjointed, but I want to make it make as much sense as I can. (In case you guys haven't figured it out yet, Copperhead never hated her; it just seems that way because he was such a prick to her when they were kids. And they are about fifteen and seventeen, respectively, in the flashback.)
As for the whole "Xemnas using the factory in Hollow Bastion" thing... I'm kinda just going off of what the KH2 Ansem Reports say -sweatdrop- Seriously, I spent about half an hour writing down the contents of those things so that part of Char's past would make sense.
Reviews plox?