-sheepish laugh- Uhhh... wow. Erm... I have no excuses, really. World history has eaten my life; that's all I have to say. That and Persona 3/4. -shot to death-
But, uh, yeah. Finally we finish up Halloween Town in this chapter, with a mixture of SoraChar and RoxasAnxclof flashbax on the side. (I really need to throw in all the FalconCopperhead flashbacks I've been planning, buuut I figured three chapters containing flashbacks in a row would kind of annoy my readers - not as much as my lack of updating for the past few months, but still annoyed.)
So here ya go - take this 16-page chapter as my sincere apology for being so late. I'll try not to sit around for so long next time.
Disclaimer- If I owned Kingdom Hearts, don't you think my OCs in here would all be canon characters? And you could unlock a version where you play as Char, not unlike Riku's in Re:CoM's Reverse/Rebirth. (I need to play more of that, but I keep running out of attack cards and have to stop and run off to the side to refill the gauge...)
They raced to the woods and had to re-experience the fall from Halloween to Christmas Town; thankfully, this time Char didn't fall on top of Sora, but it was still an ordeal she preferred not to go through, embarrassment or not. The vertigo caused Char to stand a little shakily, dusting the snow off of her frayed skirt, and she shook her head to clear it with a small growl under her breath, hating the dizziness that was whirling over her mind. Her head was just starting to clear when a stark flare of black against the navy nighttime sky caught her eye. Her gaze narrowed. Smoke… and it's close.
Jack looked after her and gasped. "It's coming from Sandy's workshop!" he cried, pointing with one bone of a finger. His free fist clenched.
"Come on!" Sora called after them, already dashing down the slope and stumbling just a bit on the snow.
"Slow down, guys!" Char yelled, hastily following. "Shouldn't we stop and regroup first?"
"There's no time for that; Christmas is in danger," Donald shouted from close at Sora's heels.
Goofy hesitated without breaking his stride, looking as though he wanted to take Char's side. "She has a point, guys," he finally said.
No words were spoken in response, but Char barely caught the Hi-Potion that was thrown her way. She rolled her eyes, panting slightly as the journey downhill ended and they were greeted by the sight of the Christmas Town buildings and snow-capped merry-go-round. "Just one? How generous."
Sora had kept silent until now, but when the sarcastic comment escaped Char's mouth he turned his head to give her an impatient look. "Look, just because you hate Christmas doesn't mean that we can just let Maleficent and the Heartless do whatever they want! What happened to 'follow us wherever we go', huh?"
Char halted abruptly, staring at him with shock. She knew that Sora's determination amplified tenfold about what he believed in, but he had never actually snapped at her over the course of this journey. For some reason, she felt hurt at the thought.
Seeming to realize what he'd said, Sora immediately tore his eyes away, just in time to stop in front of the door to the workshop and avoid crashing headlong into the pillars surrounding it. He noted faintly that there were no Heartless around, but that failed to alleviate the anxiety – and now guilt – accumulating inside him.
Without turning back, he knew that Char had followed them inside; he could tell by the flash of crimson red that her hair had patented. Even through the pinks and reds of the interior of Santa's house, that much was clear. He recognized that she could have left, could have gone back to the Gummi ship and waited for them, could have taken offense at his remark and left them to fend for themselves; but another small part of him also knew that she'd chosen this path herself, despite her obvious anger toward everything Christmas represented.
Why did he feel like that dedication was more than he deserved?
That thought remained in his mind as he threw the door to the workshop open and charged inside, Hero's Crest at the ready. He swept the interior of the factory with his eyes, but no flash of emerald green or ebony black or even white-and-red signified that anything was wrong.
An instant later, though, cackling sounded from above their heads, and they all craned their necks to see what looked like a bag on legs, with beady black eyes. It was still eerie to see Oogie Boogie's maw open, Sora thought, with the villain being filled with insects and the like; he still almost expected them to emerge from Oogie's mouth in dark swarms, a thought that made the brunette shudder with the icy feeling along his spine.
Oogie straightened and made a clumsy leap down from the platform where the three children had shown up to the floor below. Sora followed Oogie's movements with a bemused eye at first, wondering why the villain would willingly relinquish his higher position from the others; then that bemusement turned to fear and surprise when Oogie dragged out a struggling Sally from the room's entrance. I didn't even realize she followed us! Sora felt a surge of vague guilt at not having realized it before.
"Sally!" Jack cried, and directed his narrowed dark glare at Oogie.
The villain whirled around with his oversized arms on where his hips should have been. "Jack Skellington," he greeted, not taking the smirk off his face. "You and I have a score to settle. Same goes for your little sidekicks!" His gaze swept over the group, widening when it caught sight of Char. "Now was there any need to draw the pretty lady into this?" he purred.
Char fought back a shudder and wondered what the hell was with these people and lecherousness. Maybe it's another Halloween thing, she decided as an excuse. "Suck it up, bug boy," she answered fairly calmly, considering that her temper was bubbling just beneath the surface. "I'm staying over here."
"What are you planning to do with Sandy Claws?" Jack demanded.
Oogie blinked his black eyes and scratched his head. "Who? Sandy Claws?" he queried. "I don't know what you're talking about!"
With that, he promptly contradicted his own words and jumped off of the platform that led to the factory's entrance. A flash of dark red caught Sora's eye and he saw that none other than Father Christmas himself lay bound on one of the unmoving conveyer belts, struggling furiously to no avail. The brunette felt his senses go on high alert and nudged Jack, nodding to Santa when he'd gotten the skeleton's attention.
"And why is this roly-poly red guy here?" Oogie bellowed, startling Donald and Goofy. "Time to go, grandpa!" He forced Santa up to a standing position and made as if to push him into the dark hole that the conveyer belts led into. Char's eyes widened a bit as the reason why Santa was trying to escape the conveyer belts' exit hit her. If that was where the toys were manufactured…
"Stop!" Jack yelled, his skeletal fingers already splayed in preparation to aim a fireball in Oogie's direction.
"You stop, you idiot!" Char hissed, seizing one of Jack's arms in an iron grip. "Do you want to hit the fat man, too?"
Jack's fierce glower turned to Char, a glower that was smoldering with anger; but Char met his glare evenly and he lowered his hands after a few moments.
Oogie, however, had become distracted with something delicious he had found below: a seemingly-disembodied leg, just sitting between him and the dark exit. He picked it up, casting Santa aside as he did so. The villain chanced a look toward where he had thrown the old man – and stopped abruptly, dropping the patchwork leg like a hot poker as everything came together in his bug-comprised mind, as he watched Santa waddle over to a one-legged Sally, who had somehow escaped Oogie's notice. One fist clenched, and a snarl oozed its way out of him; immediately he charged toward the two as quickly as he could, but was stopped in his tracks by Sora, Jack, and the others.
"I don't think so," Sora challenged, shifting the Hero's Crest in his hands.
"Why, you…" Oogie growled. He cast his eyes about for a suitable escape, then suddenly whipped around and headed for the darkness of the end of one of the conveyer belts.
"What does he think he's doing?" Char muttered under her breath.
It was too late for one of the group to stop him, however, as the villain had vanished into the dark hole.
"I have a bad feeling about this…" Goofy gulped.
The five of them leaped onto the conveyer belt, only to suddenly see a glass-encased scaffold lower itself from the ceiling, with Oogie inside.
"Of course!" Jack suddenly gasped, causing the others to glance a little nervously in his direction. "He's going to manipulate Sandy's equipment!"
As if to confirm Jack's hypothesis, a low chuckle came from above, and a contrastingly high-pitched beep was the group's only warning before the conveyer belt abruptly began to shift backward.
"What the –" Char stumbled, barely managing to stay on her feet. "What the hell is this?" she snarled.
"Stop!" Donald roared, and charged into the dark end of the conveyer belt. There were a few seconds before he emerged on one of the other conveyer belts, which was moving in the same direction as the one the others were on. The duck uttered a cry of shock and ran back to where he'd come from, and he reappeared on the original conveyer belt. "Not again?!"
Sora readied his Keyblade, his heart pounding in his chest as he realized that he had no clue how to handle this. Normally he would just attack the Heartless or the villain until either the pink heart floated up to Kingdom Hearts or he or she surrendered…
Now, though, it seemed like that wouldn't be the case.
"Nice view from up here," Oogie taunted, and hit another button that sounded with another sharp beep.
"How do we get him down?" Goofy asked, casting a look behind them and wincing. Char and Sora followed the dog's gaze and both teens felt a surge of dread at the sight of the spikes protruding from the wall of the conveyer belt. If we get hit with one of those, we're screwed, Char thought.
"Jack!" a voice screamed from just beyond the conveyer belt. The skeleton risked craning his neck to find the source of the voice and spotted Santa and Sally, looking on with obvious horror. The sight of the two of them watching seemed to strengthen Jack's resolve, and he turned back to the task at hand, only to almost stumble and fall over…
…a wrapped box?
"Presents?" Char murmured as more emerged from the tunnel ahead. Her eyes narrowed. "So not only is Oogie trying to take out this dumbass holiday, he wants to have Santa's position of handing out the presents?"
An instant later, she realized her back was about six inches away from being impaled by the spikes, a moment before Sora's cry of "Look out!" told her what was going on. Instinctively she charged forward, but was stopped short by the deluge of gifts now littering the conveyer belt.
"Damn it all," she grunted, arching her back to avoid being gored there. "Never thought this stupid holiday would ever try to kill me." She directed her glower at the box directly in front of her. "Out of my way!" she spat, and lashed out with both swords at once, slamming them down into the present. The impact sent it flying into the air, where it crashed into the scaffolding where Oogie was standing. The villain let out a cry of surprise as the scaffolding swayed, threatening to throw him over the edge.
Goofy, whose attention had been caught by the scaffold's movement, stared for a few seconds; then his eyes lit up, as though an idea had hit him. "Everybody hit the presents!" he called back.
Jack couldn't help but frown. "But Sandy's worked so hard on them and…"
"Do you really think this is the time to be worrying about that?" Donald screamed.
Char had also noticed how the present had nearly knocked Oogie out of the control platform, and she immediately began slashing furiously at the nearest present. Sora quickly followed suit, throwing his Keyblade back and then forward again in a strange imitation of a golf player's swing.
"Try to do that, will you?" Oogie bellowed, and slammed his "palm" down on a switch, even as the scaffolding was trembling precariously under the onslaught of the presents. "I'll squash you flat!"
In response to his words, a gloved fist came smashing into the conveyer belt, startling Goofy backwards into Donald, who nearly fell over backwards, an action which would certainly spell death by spikes due to the difficulty of getting back up on this moving conveyer belt. "Watch it!" he grunted, barely dodging the fist as it crashed down again, this time just grazing Jack's body.
Another beep announced the arrival of a strange, bag-like gift. Sora blinked, wondering why Oogie would resort to tossing gift bags down at them; then a cry of surprised pain pulled itself from the brunette as the gift bag promptly exploded on contact with his arm.
"You okay, Sora?" Char called over to him, even as one of the skeleton Heartless sprang forth from one of the box presents.
Sora called back a shaken "yeah" as he examined his arm, which was currently dripping blood onto the conveyer belt. First the side wound, and now this…
His thoughts trailed off when a flash of pale brown caught his eye, a flash that was followed up by a drawn-out cry as Oogie tumbled onto the conveyer belt.
"There you are, you bastard!" Char snarled, and laid into him with both swords at once, while Donald and Jack stayed back and cast high-power spells. Sora and Goofy joined Char in the front line, slashing into Oogie in a way that caused tiny worms and beetles to fly in all directions. The duck let out a growl of disgust as insects sprayed into his face, wiping them furiously away with his free hand.
"Yeah, this is gross," Sora agreed. His own revulsion abruptly gave way to dread when Oogie leaped up and charged back into the conveyer belt's exit, vanishing into the darkness. An instant later, the villain reappeared on the scaffolding, which was now hovering above the left conveyer belt.
"Wha –" Donald squawked.
"That's not fair!" Sora protested. "How are we supposed to get over there?"
His only response was a cackle from Oogie.
"It's what you party crashers deserve!" the villain laughed, and a series of beeping noises were heard.
"I don't like the sound of that…" Char murmured.
Abruptly, the five of them were thrown forward as the conveyer belt surged violently in the direction of the spikes. Thankfully, the ends of the spikes glanced off of Jack, only managing to tear his clothes; but the others got the full brunt of the blow. Agony exploded in Sora's back, along with something distinctly liquid, as he got to his feet with some difficulty. "You guys okay?" he asked, his voice little more than a rattle of pain, as the wind had also been knocked out of him.
"I can… still… fight," Char rasped, leaning on one of her swords as she raised herself to a half-standing position. Her words belied the pain lancing through her body, and the feeling of something warm oozing down her spine told her that everything was most certainly not all right. However, if Sora was so determined to take Oogie down and save Christmas, then damn it, she was going to help the Keybearer even in her condition.
"I'm sorry," Jack immediately said, casting an ice spell to send one of the box presents sky-high. "I don't have any healing items with me…"
"Don't be," Goofy grunted, hefting his shield up. "Sora, do you have any healing items with ya?"
Sora shifted through his pockets, panic growing when he came up with nothing. "No," he answered nervously. "I think I gave Char the last Hi-Potion…"
"'M on it," Char hissed out the words, clearly still in agony, as she slapped the vial into his hand.
"Are you sure?" the brunette asked, running forward so as to avoid the spikes slicing into his open wounds. "I mean, you need it more than I do…"
"Just shut up and drink it," Char growled, shakily getting to a full standing position. "Didn't I tell you before? If you get knocked out, we're all screwed."
"Yeah, but…" Suddenly realizing it was pointless to argue, Sora unscrewed the vial and gulped down the panacea; it soothed the pain in his back just enough for it to be easily ignored. "Thanks," he called, and raced forward to help his other allies. Knowing she should follow, Char followed at a steady limp, biting the inside of her cheek hard to distract herself from her back. Stupid leg wound's acting up, too, she thought as her lower calf flared in pain.
"See if you can dodge this!" Oogie roared from above. A laser-like device lowered itself from the ceiling and began firing a thin bolt of lightning into the conveyer belt, moving in a zigzagging pattern.
"And we still can't figure out how to get over there…" Sora glared at the dark hole ahead of them, a dark hole that was ringed by a colorful blue. His gaze shifted from this conveyer belt to the left one, which Oogie's scaffold was still hovering above. The exit to the left one was also ringed in blue, while the right one was in pink. An instant later, however, the left and right had switched colors.
Weird… wait a sec. An idea suddenly struck Sora as to how to get to Oogie.
"Watch the colors around the holes!" the brunette shouted to the others, dodging around the laser's steady attack. "I think it's color-coded!"
"So one blue exit leads to another blue exit…" Jack let his voice trail off as Sora's plan hit him, and the skeleton made his way toward the exit to this conveyer belt, knocking aside presents and Heartless as he went.
Donald had been cutting into one of the Heartless with a thunder spell of his own, but, seeing the skeleton moving toward the exit, began to squawk indignantly. "Hey! Where do you think you're going? Wait up!" he yelled, chasing after Jack.
"Follow Jack while the exit's blue!" Sora called to Char and Goofy, already racing after the two mages.
The five of them charged through, made a hasty turn left while nearly crashing into each other in the darkness – Char snarled in obvious pain when Goofy's shield smashed into her side, to a hasty apology from the knight, but otherwise no other damage was caused – and emerged, to Sora's intense relief, on the left side of the conveyer belt that they had previously been on. Oogie had obviously not counted on this, for the villain uttered a scream of shock, followed by a frenzied series of beeps. Multiple presents, bag and box alike, crashed into the conveyer belt, presents that were narrowly avoided by the group. A few more slashes into the boxed presents sent Oogie tumbling back down again.
"For Christmas!" Jack roared, brandishing his claws and slicing in one direction.
Sora, Donald, and Goofy let out cries of agreement; the Keybearer slashed in another direction, a snowflake from the mage cut through Oogie from another, and the knight's shield whipped through the villain in a circle. Char let out a sigh, but a weary grin was on her face as she completed the five-way assault.
There was a pause; then a seam ripped open in five parts of Oogie's body, causing a confetti-like substance to pour out along with the insects comprising his interior. He cried out and tried in vain to close up the leaks with his hands, but the damage was already done. The group looked on in vague disgust as the terror of Halloween Town was reduced to a paper sack and insects scuttled away in all directions. Jack's foot crashed down on a beetle that was trying to make its escape.
All at once, the five of them uttered a simultaneous sigh of exhaustion and relief. "I never want to go through anything like that again," Sora murmured. The pain in his back returned, and when he moved his shoulders he could feel the multiple dried scabs shifting, a feeling that made him shudder.
A flicker of downward movement caught his eye, and he spotted the remnants of Char's near-collapse, stopped because she had fallen on her knees. Immediately he raised a green-glowing hand and cast Cura before she could protest. The green glow appeared briefly behind Char before she slumped down with a sigh of relief. "That's better," she murmured, and lifted her eyes to meet his. "Thanks."
The strange warmth returned to him at that simple thank-you, however grudging it had sounded. He abruptly realized that the others were still watching, as were Sally and Santa, who were approaching from behind the conveyer belts, and the brunette put his arms behind his head in a show of nonchalance. "Uh, you're welcome," he said hastily, grinning despite himself.
Behind him, he heard Donald and Goofy snickering under their breaths, causing Sora to lower his arms and frown slightly. "He likes her, you know," Donald whispered loudly to Jack.
"I do not!" Sora protested, whirling around to glare at them. His two long-time comrades simply chuckled, causing the Keybearer to pout.
"You're blushing, Sora," Sally pointed out calmly.
Sora gave a start and began rubbing his face furiously, as though that could get rid of it. He dared not turn around to see Char's reaction, though he did hear something that sounded like a mildly annoyed scoff coming from her direction.
"W-well, at any rate, Christmas is safe again," he tried to change the subject.
"Yup!" Jack chirped, stepping forward. "I'd better get down to business!"
Donald uttered a cry of shock, while Char sighed and brought a palm to her forehead as she got to her feet. "Leave that to Santa!" the duck said.
"Yeah, you oughta stick to Halloween and spooky stuff," Goofy added.
"Jack?" Sally called softly, and the skeleton turned around. The patchwork woman had a resigned air about her as she produced some folded red garments from her pockets. "It's done," she sighed.
"Wonderful!" Jack cried, gently taking it from her.
"Are you sure it's okay for you to do this, Jack?" Sally tried, watching the skeleton slip the garb on over his normal black outfit. Char had to admit that Sally's sewing skills were wondrous; while the amount of girth on Santa was gapingly absent from Jack, other than that, the skeleton resembled Father Christmas in an uncanny way.
"But I make a splendid Sandy Claws," Jack protested.
"Now listen here, Jack Skellington," Santa said firmly. "You saved me, and Christmas as well. And for that, I'm very grateful." He put his fists on his hips. "But please promise me you won't cause any more trouble!" He hesitated. "And about that suit…"
Jack had been spinning around to dramatically flourish his new outfit, but now he stopped, eyes almost comically wide and the attached beard on his chin swinging.
"Don't even think about taking over for me again!" Santa finished.
"I just thought you could use a little help this year, Mr. Claws," Jack said. "You must be exhausted with all the preparations. And I wouldn't mind a second chance to get this Christmas thing right."
Santa sighed. "Yes, being Santa Claus can be tiring. But let me tell you something, Jack." The skeleton straightened in attention. "Seeing the happy faces of little children when they discover the presents I've brought them makes it all worthwhile, year after year after year. And you, Jack – you love to make them gasp and see them shiver with fright. What if someone tried to take all that away from you?"
Jack lowered his head and scratched the place where his cheek would be, a frown appearing on his face as he began to see Santa's point.
"We both have very important jobs to do, Jack. Mine is to take care of Christmas, and yours is to take care of Halloween," Santa explained. Char couldn't help but admire Father Christmas' tact in telling Jack to stick to his own holiday and knew that she would have just told the skeleton to get the hell out and stay out.
"So we both have to do the very best we can. After all, you are the face of Halloween – Mr. Jack Skellington! The Pumpkin King; the Knight of Nightmares!" Santa winked at Jack, whose eyes widened.
"And even though you're fascinated with Christmas, Jack… Halloween is your true specialty. Don't you see? Children rely on both of us to do our jobs. Halloween needs your attention, and I know Christmas needs mine – urgently." With that, Santa turned and headed over to the conveyer belts.
"You're right," Jack murmured, voice growing steadier as his conviction became stronger. "I am the master of terror!" He dramatically swept out one hand. "And if Halloween has become too routine, all I have to do is think of something new that'll really make them scream!"
"And knowing that the mayor can't do anything without your approval…" Sally gently urged.
Jack straightened. "So true." He made his way to the exit of the factory.
"Good luck, Jack Skellington," Santa called.
"Well," Sora said, putting his arms behind his head again, "there he goes."
"Yes," Santa said, "and I've got lots of names to check and preparations to finish!"
Jack had been moving steadily toward the factory's exit, but now he stopped, raising his hands and staring down at his pink-glowing Santa garb in wonder. "What's this?" he asked. "Perhaps a bit too festive for our Halloween needs…"
Donald, Goofy, and Char all looked to Sora at once, who was already raising the Hero's Crest to open the way to more worlds. The infamous flash of light faded and Sora lowered his Keyblade. He turned to Santa and Sally. "We better get going."
"Before you do, Sora…" Santa's words caught Sora's attention. "I believe there's a friend of yours, who – if I recall correctly – was the one who told you there was no such thing as Santa Claus."
Sora blinked. "Oh yeah… He did say that."
"Be sure to give him my very best wishes," Santa requested.
"I will." Suddenly recalling his original task, Sora asked quickly, "But do you have any idea where I might find Riku?"
Riku. The sound of the silver-haired boy's name sent that same feeling of nostalgia and strange loneliness aching dully in Char's chest. She vaguely recalled her and Riku laughing at the prospect of a man in red flying over the world bringing presents to all the worlds in one night, and that feeling grew stronger, squeezed her heart just a little bit tighter.
Santa must have shaken his head, because Sora let out a sigh.
"But don't give up!" Father Christmas added. "Remember, if you believe in Riku, you will find him." His beady gaze shifted to Char at his last words, though he was still speaking to Sora. "Just as you found me."
Sensing the veiled meaning behind Santa's words, Char inclined her head very slightly. It wasn't much, but it was enough to get her point across.
The four of them left Santa's house. Char turned briefly to fully take in the factory that just a few hours ago she had thought didn't exist. Things change, she reflected.
"No luck here, either," Sora sighed.
"And I don't think the King's around here." Goofy's shoulders dropped visibly in a long sigh of his own. Surprisingly, Donald didn't voice a complaint, just cast his eyes toward the nighttime sky and uttered a little murmur of disappointment.
Char could understand how the trio felt; even though her feelings of weariness toward this journey and everything it entailed had been diminished slightly since she had joined Sora, those feelings were still there, faint, but there, lurking at the edges of her consciousness. Still, though, she couldn't help but shrug. "It's not like you guys to get so down about this," she remarked, causing Sora to stop in his tracks in a way that made an abrupt, albeit muffled sloshing noise caused by the snow. Donald grunted in annoyance as he nearly crashed into the brunette's back, but the duck's irritation went ignored by Sora, who had turned to look at Char over his shoulder.
Trying to ignore the intensity of Sora's eyes on her, Char continued, fighting the urge to glare defensively at him in her reflex at being the center of attention. "I mean, I can understand how you guys feel, but remember what Father Christmas said?" She noted Donald and Goofy's obvious surprise at her mildly respectful allusion to Santa, and she narrowed her eyes in response to that surprise. Otherwise, though, she ignored the residents of Disney Castle and kept talking.
"'If you believe in your allies, you'll find them'… or some sentimental crap like that," she added, striding on ahead.
Sora continued to stare at her, head tilted a ways to the side, the pumpkin mask adorning one side of his face somehow setting off the luster of his visible eye. "Char…"
Suddenly at a loss for words, not quite knowing what else to say, Char stopped in her tracks and whirled around, causing the frayed tails on her skirt to sway in the resulting wind. "So let's go," she finished rather lamely.
Goofy gave a single nod of agreement, looking abashed at his previous undisguised discouragement. Donald's eyes simply widened, as though he couldn't believe that Char had actually made somewhat of a good point. Sora said nothing, just took his place back at the front of the group.
"So…" The Keybearer trailed off, an embarrassed smile covering his features as he rubbed the back of his neck. Char gave a half-smile; now that was the Sora she knew and…
And she was not going to go anywhere else with that thought.
That self-reproach disappeared briefly with the distraction of Sora's following comment. "Where did we park the Gummi ship again?"
"And the Keyblade master's notorious short-term memory loss strikes again…" the redhead said wryly, folding her arms. She noted dimly the way the fishnets tightened about her arms and reflected again how glad she would be to get out of this stupid outfit and back into her nice warm jacket. Meddling, her ass; Yen Sid was going to get a piece of her mind the next time she saw him.
Sora couldn't help but grin a bit himself at Char's typical dry sarcasm. Then the insult in her words hit him and the smile on his face morphed instantly into a pout. "Hey, I've been trying!" he protested.
Only now did he notice that they all stood directly in front of the Christmas tree that led back to Halloween Town. The memories of only a few hours ago came rushing back: of frantically piloting through the attacking Heartless and Nobody ships in the realm between worlds; of memories of Moonlight Hill coming back as he prepared to land the Gummi ship.
"We don't want the Gummi ship sittin' out there forever, a-hyuck," Goofy pointed out.
Donald nodded and gave a grunt of agreement.
"Okay, okay, guys," Sora laughed, putting a hand on the doorknob and twisting it accordingly. The door swung open and a dim orange light radiated from within; the brunette could feel the icy, stagnant air floating up from where he stood above the doorway. He shivered very slightly and looked back. "Well… who wants to go first?"
That caused the other three to give a start of surprise and exchange nervous glances. Immediately, Char said, "Nose goes!" and promptly put one finger on her nose. Goofy quickly followed suit, leaving only Donald unprepared, his hand already directed toward his own feathered face.
"Aww, phooey!" the duck grumbled, stepping forward. He made a gesture to roll up imaginary sleeves, cast one last nervous glance within, then, as if feeling the others' gazes on him, leaped. A squawk that eventually petered off announced his departure.
"Sora?" Char raised one eyebrow. "You didn't put your finger on your nose either…"
"Oh yeah…" Sora laughed sheepishly. Hastily, before he could stop himself, he made the jump, curling his body up into the fetal position as he did so; the sound of "Cannonball!" could be heard before it faded out.
Char rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Leave it to Key-boy."
Goofy tilted his own head to the side. "Y'know, you ain't called him that in a little while."
Char blinked, her back heating when she realized that the knight spoke the truth. "Yeah, I know; I figured I was long overdue to," she grunted to try and conserve her composure. "Now get in there."
Goofy gulped audibly before obeying her command, a high-pitched scream resounding throughout the tree's hollow trunk as a result. Char's eyes slipped closed and she allowed herself one last deep breath of Christmas Town's stupidly warm air, her hand slipping to her forehead to run through her bangs as she allowed herself this brief moment of repose.
Then she opened her eyes, steeled herself, and followed the others through the doorway.
Of course, the first thing the group did almost as soon as the hatch of the Gummi ship closed was make a beeline for the pantry. Despite the vertigo created by the fall back to Halloween Town, their hunger returned even more powerful than before as soon as the nausea had worn off and they'd entered the Gummi ship. Sora, Donald, and Goofy searched with a sense of frantic anxiety, while Char followed a little more sedately. The memory of the thought she'd almost completed – the thought that sent a flame of shameful heat blossoming over her back even now – was lingering in her mind and accelerating her heartbeat, for whatever nonsensical reason.
The Sora she knew and… dammit. She still couldn't bring herself to finish that mental statement for fear of the connotations it carried. And that frustrated her even more, because she shouldn't feel afraid of the mere attachments of a thought, of all things.
"Char?" The redhead snapped out of her reverie when she heard Goofy's voice. The dog was glancing back at her over his shoulder while his comrades still rummaged through the cupboard, trying to find a semi-decent meal. "You can go change if y'want," Goofy continued, somewhat hesitantly. Char guessed that her impatience toward herself must have carried over to her expression.
"Y-yeah, think I will. The sooner I get out of this freaking corset, the better," she added for good measure as she headed over to the ship drawers where they had stored their original clothes. She gave Sora and Donald a sidelong glance, but they had temporarily disregarded their own ridiculous garb in order to more properly search for food; the redhead nearly rolled her eyes at that.
She slid the drawer open, scanned it briefly, spotted her brown jacket, and withdrew the contents that belonged to her before closing the drawer again. She could feel Goofy's eyes on her back as she gathered up her clothing in her arms and headed off to her designated sleeping quarters – oddly, she couldn't bring herself to call it her "room" just yet.
The knight tore his eyes away when the sound of a door slamming shut greeted him from her direction, fighting the urge to sigh. She's still hidin' something, he thought.
"Hey Goofy, we found some ramen noodles!" Sora chirped, waving the box of pasta in the air.
"Careful, you're gonna spill them!" Donald reprimanded instantly, standing on tiptoe in an attempt to reach the noodles.
"I'm not gonna spill 'em," Sora retorted, but a grin was on his face.
There was a moment of silence before Donald seemed to notice the lack of a sardonic female response and the duck narrowed one eye in the illusion of raising an eyebrow. "Where'd she go?"
Sora's broad smile gradually faded when he realized the truth of Donald's question. "Did you see where Char went, Goofy?" the brunette asked.
"She went t'go change," Goofy explained.
"Oh." Sora felt a strange surge of disappointment and knew that he still needed to apologize to her for snapping at her earlier. Brown spikes swayed as he lowered his head in a barely audible sigh.
"Aww, he misses her," Donald teased, causing Sora to straighten abruptly and direct a surprised glance at the duck.
"I do not!" the Keybearer protested, but the presence of heat on his face told him he knew he was lying. "A-anyway, shouldn't we heat these?" he hastily queried, lifting the box of ramen noodles.
His two present comrades nodded enthusiastically; Goofy made his way over to the table, seemingly having forgotten Sora's embarrassment, but Donald smirked as he sauntered by.
The mixture of mild annoyance and hunger roiling through Sora was tempered slightly by a sudden sense of exhaustion. The brunette's jaws stretched wide in a yawn as he covered his mouth with one hand and stretched the other arm high into the air. "Hey, you guys can go ahead and eat without me," he murmured, and the two of them glanced over, clearly alarmed by Sora's change of mood. "Don't worry, 'm just tired," Sora continued, his voice half muffled by a yawn.
Without waiting for an answer, he turned and made his way toward his room at a steady plod. As he passed by Char's room, he listened for sounds coming from beyond the door, but only the sounds of clothing rustling and a single irritated growl greeted his ears – probably she was still trying to get off the corset. A sleepy smile crossed Sora's face at the memory of how much her Halloween Town outfit had annoyed Char.
But he didn't have much time to dwell on that, because the next thing he knew the door to his own room was swinging open and he was collapsing onto the bed, the pumpkin-shaped mask digging almost intangibly into the side of his face as his eyes closed.
"Do you remember your true name?" a figure clad in the black hooded coat of Organization XIII asks the identically-garbed, albeit smaller, figure.
The younger hesitates. "My true name… is… Sora."
A collection of silvery letters whirls about in front of the blond boy and eventually comes to a stop, with the letter X flashing in the middle of the collection of four letters. With all these combined, the word created reads "ROXAS" in blocky letters.
"Hey look, fresh meat," Roxas hears the other Organization members jeer. The blond simply narrows his eyes and, having the perfect vantage point from the lowest throne of them all, watches the Superior cross into the spacious room. A figure with long, dark brown hair trails uncertainly after Xemnas, green eyes darting about nervously, and as she steps into the line of sight of the present Organization members, a low murmur begins to ripple among them.
"Cripes, it's a chick!" Xigbar whispers rather loudly, a lecherous grin crossing his face. Xaldin rolls his eyes in response before refocusing his gaze on the newcomer.
But the girl has caught Xigbar's comment and is directing her glower at Number II, one eyebrow raised ever so slightly over a now-darkened green eye. A smile twitches across Roxas' countenance despite himself; he can already tell that he's going to get along with this girl much better than he and Larxene ever did.
If, of course, the newcomer survives the tests.
The return of Axel is made obvious by the flames soaring high into the storm-gray sky, and as Xemnas strides away to greet the Flurry of Dancing Flames, Roxas turns to the brunette girl standing near him. "You're gonna love Axel, Anxclof," Number XIII says quietly. "He's been at Castle Oblivion for the past few months or so, but now he's coming back."
Anxclof sighs and rolls her eyes. "Well, obviously," she mutters. "I didn't see him the day I came here, did I?"
Roxas smiles and shrugs. "Just thought I'd tell you."
"Rox!" a thunderous cry sounds, and then the next thing Roxas knows he's being tackled by a blur of red and black. "Dammit, I missed ya," Axel laughs, squeezing his best friend even tighter. "You had no idea how bad it was having your Other beating us up the whole time. Not to mention, even Zex, Lex, and Vex got killed by his little silver-haired pal…"
The redhead's voice trails off when he sees Anxclof standing slightly behind Roxas, awkwardly tapping one foot and clearly feeling like the third wheel here; at the same time, Roxas is struggling valiantly and choking out something about needing air. "So this is Number XIV," Axel says. Seemingly just noticing his friend's need to breathe, the redhead languidly releases Roxas, and as the blond sinks to the ground gasping for air, Axel approaches Anxclof, who now has the air of a cautious wild animal.
"The Superior told me about you when he let me in," Axel explained at the look of surprise on Anxclof's features, surprise that is accompanied by amusement at the obvious friendship between Axel and Roxas. Number VIII rolls his eyes and ruffles his already-spiky hair with one hand. "Not even a 'hello, Axel, how's your lack of life?' Or maybe an 'I'm glad you made it out of Castle Oblivion alive with the Keybearer running around killing all of my allies.' No, just…" Axel deepened his voice in an imitation of Xemnas. "'We have received a new member who you will see on your way in along with Number XIII.' Yeesh!"
"And Roxas here has told me all about you," Anxclof answers loftily. At this, Roxas, who is still kneeling on the ground, jerks his head up in a swaying of honey-colored spikes and shakes his head frantically, drawing one finger across his throat repeatedly. Anxclof ignores him and pushes on. "How you like to burn things up and send your lesser Nobodies to go play pranks on people…"
"Wha – why'd you tell her about that?" Axel barked, eyes wide in obvious anger as he glares at Roxas; but the blond is already making his escape into the castle accompanied by the sound of Anxclof's raucous laughter.
"I've already summoned my own lesser Nobodies," Roxas explains, and true to his word, one of his Samurais stands beside him, its blades twitching every so often as it shifts its hands about. "And Xemnas told me you could. So…"
"And you want your Samurai and my Avenger to fight it out." Anxclof closes her eyes and utters an annoyed sigh before opening them again and staring critically at Roxas. "You can't be serious."
"Hey, I do this with Axel's Assassins all the time. It's kinda funny to watch, actually." Roxas grins. "Unless you really can't do it."
It's an obvious challenge, and Anxclof is never one to back down from a challenge. She growls and narrows her eyes. "Of course I can do it!"
And without waiting for him to answer, she concentrates, eyes becoming little more than emerald green slits and her jaw clenching visibly. In a few moments, a flash of gold announces the arrival of an Avenger Nobody, wielding its single blade in a way that reminds Roxas distantly of a fencer's stance. He puts a hand to his head for an instant to stifle the sudden pang that strikes it at that thought, but it's gone as soon as it starts, so he can't be sure.
"Well?" Anxclof urges.
Roxas suddenly realizes she wants him to go through with it; the competitive sparkle in her eyes and glowing on her face tells him that much. He smiles and flicks his hand; in an instant, the Samurai charges. Anxclof hastily copies Roxas' gesture, and the Avenger brandishes its sword and meets the Samurai in the middle.
Roxas risks a glance at Anxclof and sees the grin on her features; feels a weird warmth spreading through him at the thought that she's actually enjoying this; and knows he has to thank Axel later.
That, and pay him a hundred munny for winning the bet.
"Sora? Sora!"
The brunette jerked upward in bed with a cry, nearly banging his head against the wall behind his pillow in the process. He raised one hand to run through his hair in thought as the memory of the dreams flowed back into his mind. More dreams with Roxas and those two… Yet Sora's frustration ebbed slightly now that he had a name for Roxas' friends: Axel and Anxclof. The warmth that Sora's body had sustained even in the dream told him that Roxas had almost certainly cared deeply for Anxclof, much in the way that Sora did for Kairi.
Still, Sora wasn't so sure about the latter anymore. The presence of a dual-wielding redhead with blue eyes and a vicious temper had changed that. He groaned and allowed his head to fall back against the sheets, which were currently tangled around his body, feeling the weight of the pumpkin-shaped mask against his face as he did so.
"Are you still asleep in there?"
And speak of the devil. Sora shot up in a start of surprise as the voice of the very person he'd just been thinking about sounded through the door. "Uh, n-no," he called back.
"Then can I come in?" Sora noticed she hadn't voiced her request in a command. Moreover, a hint of… hesitation was audible in her words. Wonder what's wrong, he thought.
Realizing that she was still waiting for an answer, Sora delivered a hasty answer of approval even as he was disentangling himself from the sheets and making his way over to the door, unconsciously raking his fingers through his hair. Which was even weirder, because why should he care what Char thought of his appearance?
He knew why; he just didn't want to acknowledge it yet.
He opened the door and Char promptly let herself in, sweeping past him into the room. The sense of foreboding within him faltered; her behavior toward him still hadn't changed very much.
"So what's going on?" Sora queried.
Char winced visibly without turning around, as though hating that he had gotten right to the point.
"I-I mean, you don't have to tell me now if you don't want to," Sora quickly amended, putting his hands up in front of him even though he knew she couldn't see them. "I was just curious."
"Don't apologize," Char murmured, one hand lifting up to push her bangs out of her eyes. She hesitated. "About earlier, before we fought Oogie…"
Sora blinked, then the memory of his own guilt toward himself for shouting at her returned with the force of a flood. The self-reproach resurfaced with a vengeance and he immediately averted his eyes. "Oh… right."
There was an awkward silence between the two teens; then Char spoke, and the lack of confidence in her voice made his eyes widen. "Look, I'm the one who should be sorry," she muttered, still not looking at him. "All I did throughout that whole trip was act like a brat and bitch about how much I hate Christmas."
It hit Sora that she had used the present tense about her feelings toward the holiday and the brunette sighed. Even after saving Christmas from certain destruction, it seemed she still had negative emotions about it.
Then something dawned on him.
"Why do you hate Christmas so much?" he inquired, his voice soft.
This time, Char turned around fully, a look of mild shock on her features. Clearly, that was not the response she had expected: a shift of blame to himself, maybe, but certainly not the question she dreaded answering.
She took a deep breath – her chest actually moved up and down with the force of it – closed her eyes for a moment, then began to speak. "My master was relatively lenient toward the seven of us as far as gifts went at first. For the first five years I was there, we always celebrated Christmas together… almost kinda like a family." A weak little smile of reminiscence flickered across her face. "Even though we almost always got the same kind of present every year, it was still a welcome diversion from the constant work we did around Hollow Bastion. And we all enjoyed searching out presents for each other.
"But the year I turned eleven, something changed." A sigh pushed itself out of her and her breathing grew just a bit shakier. "My master called all of us to him a few days before Christmas, right when we were about to leave to go Christmas shopping. He said… he said that most of us were already well into our teens, too old to celebrate the holiday as it was. He turned a sympathetic eye to the two youngest – me and my friend Ienzo – and said that it was time to put Christmas aside and focus on our studies, if only for a year or so.
"Naturally, we all looked forward to the year that Christmas would return to us. But it never happened. Year after year, I watched people sing carols, or go shopping for gifts for their loved ones, or hang mistletoe around town… I hated it."
Sora's eyes widened gradually, and by the time Char finished her speech his eyebrows were arching into his bangs with the shock in his gaze. He barely even registered that Char had actually mentioned one of her fellow apprentices by name – Ienzo – in his own growing sympathy for her. The brunette himself couldn't imagine a lack of Christmas every year, as he and his mother had always celebrated it together even when his father was away for work. To have such a holiday snatched away indefinitely… Sora found an irrational anger toward Char's master for such treatment rising within, but the Keybearer mentally pushed it aside before it could rouse his temper. At last Sora spoke. "I-I'm sorry… I… I didn't know."
"Well you didn't bother asking, did you?" Char retorted, staring at the ground. Only now did Sora see that up until now, throughout her entire explanation, her eyes had remained closed.
Her words conjured up the recollection of himself snapping at her, doubting her promise to follow him and his allies wherever they went, and his stomach twisted in guilt. "Sorry," he muttered pathetically. "I shouldn't have yelled at you."
Char raised and lowered one shoulder. "Part of that was my fault too, y'know. I was a whiny brat the whole time we were saving Christmas Town," she reminded him, her voice almost inaudible.
But I was the one who kept pushing you even when you didn't want to be pushed. Sora left those words unspoken, but they hung in the air like a poisonous fog between the two of them.
Almost against his will, he found his eyes drawn to one of Char's hands, a hand that was lying motionless at her side and periodically twitching to tap a few fingers against her thigh in a nervous gesture. The thought crossed his mind that he should probably abandon that train of thought before it led to his losing an arm, but now the strangest urge to grab that hand was shifting restlessly within him. Just reach out and grab it, the impulse urged. It's not that hard…
But he was saved from the decision of acting upon that impulse when Char lifted the hand he had just been staring unashamedly at and ran the fingers of that hand through her hair, seemingly having not noticed Sora's gaze. "Well… just thought I'd clear the air there," she murmured, and made her way toward the door. The brunette looked after her; only when the door swung shut behind her did he realize that his heart had been pounding the whole time.
He groaned as he flopped back down on the bed, reaching up and ripping the pumpkin mask off of his face. The rush of sudden cold air to the area around the previously-covered eye went all but unnoticed in Sora's self-reproach.
Kairi, he reminded himself, picturing the dark reddish-haired girl in his mind: her laughter, her violet eyes, the way her whole face brightened when she smiled.
Yet that didn't stir the emotions about her that it used to; in fact, those confusing emotions only rose up again when the maroon hair was replaced by a bloodier shade of red, when the violet eyes were replaced by ice-blue.
…maybe it was time for Sora to take another nap.
And so Sora acknowledges that Char has replaced Kairi in his heart... The plot thickens...
Ah, Oogie. The most annoying boss fight EVER. I had to do it by myself on my playthrough of KH2 in Proud Mode because stupid Donald and Jack kept dying. I enjoyed writing about Char and Sora beating the crap out of him.
Also, in case some of you have noticed (it's not very likely, but I'll say it anyway), the whole Axel/Anxclof/Roxas meeting has been changed up; the one in this chapter is the "official" one. The first edition is from when I was ignorant of the actual KH timeline, and also because of the TSA timeline changes by me, the previous one just didn't work.
Next chapter should kickstart the Pride Lands, with a little twist...