Chapter 54! Just in time for Thanksgiving. :) Happy Turkey Day to Americans, and for everyone else, well... Just happy new chapter day! XD It's one of my shorter ones, but I wanted to get it finished today.
Anyway, yeah, not much happens in the way of the KH2 storyline in this chapter. But read it anyway? Please? I promise things will get interesting after this.
Enjoy!
Disclaimer- I'm thankful KH exists. But I don't own it.
Anxclof had been sitting in the tunnels that led up to Ansem's study for what felt like hours, and still, no sign of that accursed redhead and her Keybearer made itself known to her.
The Nobody shifted impatiently from where she crouched in a hidden nook of one of the many hallways that wound their way around the building and tightened her grip on her Keyblade. In all honesty, the only thing that was keeping her from going out, finding Char and Sora, and tearing both of them apart was the thought of annihilating Char in the place she had grown up. Even now, just the mental image of Anxclof ripping Char to pieces while the other three idiots gaped made a smirk flicker across the female Nobody's countenance. She could almost see the look of shock and grief on Sora's face as well. While his face was a mirror image of Roxas', she knew the brunette boy would have let his guard down long enough for her to soon forget about that.
Of course, an instant after thinking that thought, her glee was tempered by the cold feeling of a hard rock's corner digging into her back.
Snarling, Anxclof whirled as best she could in the small space and in her cramped position and struck the protruding brick behind her as hard as she could with her Keyblade. It made a satisfying thud of protest and yielded just slightly under the pressure.
Feeling sufficiently mollified, the Blade of Vengeance returned her gaze to the hall before her, scanning it just in case some movement had occurred in the moment she had looked away. She knew she shouldn't be concerned about what might have happened in such a short length of time, but if her time in the Organization and killing Heartless had taught her anything, it was that every infinitesimal moment counted.
Her fingers twitched. Nothing greeted her eyes, except for the shadow of something far below her eye level vanishing into the darkness of the tunnels. Although every muscle in her body ached to take out her tension on something, she knew it would be a bit pointless to go after the mouse now.
It might taste good fried with my powers, though, she thought. As if in response to her dry-humored mental comment, her stomach gave an insistent, almost pleading rumble. For the first time, it occurred to Anxclof that she had not eaten since before arriving at the Pride Lands yesterday.
"Yo, Anx!"
The aforementioned Nobody rolled her eyes, somehow unsurprised by the identity her mind attached to the voice. She huffed out a sigh, suddenly weary just due to the presence of the man she had expected to be here; as a result of the way that fatigue had suddenly come upon her, she didn't lash out with her Keyblade like she should have. Instead, not even bothering to locate him, she spoke. "Axel."
"Don't sound so irritated," Axel said in what might have been mild indignation. The sound of shoes tapping against the tile floor heralded his approach, and the next thing she knew she was face to face with the Flurry of Dancing Flames.
She narrowed her gaze as Axel stooped down, an odd look in his acid-green eyes. "The hell are you looking at?"
"Oh, nothing," Axel hummed, straightening and turning away. "I was just wondering why you were hiding in there."
Although his words were innocuous enough, Anxclof bristled at the inherent contempt she could hear in his voice. "When Char comes, I'll be ready," she spat, heat creeping up her back at the small part of her that was agreeing with his scorn. "Unlike you, I know how to be stealthy."
"Are you calling me obvious? I'm crushed." Axel put a hand over the place where his heart would be, then lowered it with a smirk. "Least I'm not the one hiding in the walls."
"Oh, please," Anxclof growled. "Like the way you've been sneaking around behind Xemnas' back is any less cowardly."
"See, that's different," Axel drawled, turning away and running one gloved finger along the wall behind him. Drawing the finger back, he grimaced at the layer of dust that was starkly visible against the black leather, then shook his hand off before looking back at her. "I'm smarter about it. I don't sneak up on Sora and then try to kill him the way you do."
Despite herself, Anxclof's eyes widened. The memories of when she had attacked Sora's group in the cave at the Land of Dragons and at the entrance to Beast's Castle flitted through her mind, and a frigid talon traced its imaginary way up her spine at the thought that Axel could have been watching. "How – who told you about…?"
"Uh, you did. Just now." Axel grinned wickedly at the pure fury that twisted Anxclof's countenance at that. "Really now, Anx, I know you better than you think I do. I figured that'd be your strategy."
At those patronizing words – almost as though he were implying she was too stupid to think of another way to bring back Roxas – something seemed to snap within her. Almost unconsciously, she summoned her golden Keyblade. Upon the fading of the golden light caused by the weapon's arrival, her fingers tightened around the hilt such that her nails tore through the fabric of her fingerless gloves and broke the skin of her palm.
In spite of the fact that he had seen her this profoundly angry multiple times before, Axel actually took a step back, slight alarm replacing the former derision on his features. Strange as it was, the sight coaxed a smirk onto Anxclof's own countenance.
"And I know that you would pick the sleaziest, most underhanded strategy possible," she purred, icily calm despite the fury that sizzled just below the surface of her emotions. "Putting the decoy to lure Sora to you in the Superior's old home? Really, now, Axel, I thought even you had more sensitivity than that."
As she went on, Axel's apprehension seemed to undergo a transformation. First bemusement replaced it, then an expression of realization and amusement overcame that. The female Nobody leaned forward, gripping the edge of the broken wall fiercely with her free hand. "What now?" she snarled.
"You thought I put Kairi here?" Number VIII's laughter ebbed, and he wiped imaginary tears away from his face. "Oh, Anxclof, you really don't think I'd be that stupid, did you?"
"Stupid?" Anxclof frowned, then decided it didn't matter.
"The point is that Sora's here anyway," she hissed, bringing her other hand against the edge of the wall in front of her. The contact of the brick against the raw cuts on her hand, tangible with the rips her nails had made in her glove's fabric, stung viciously, but she ignored it in favor of the newfound urgency she felt. "We can bring him back, Axel." Unbidden, the image of the aforementioned Nobody appeared in her mind. His blue eyes and smile shone the most vividly in her thoughts of him, and suddenly she wanted to leap out of this stupid hiding spot and charge through the corridors until she found Sora and Char and could make them pay.
"We can get Roxas back," she went on, almost trembling with the force of her suppressed desire. "And then Char will go down for putting him back in Sora, and then everything will be the way it was."
And she believed it: that even with Roxas' absence – even with the way his time in Twilight Town and experiencing what Sora had experienced had changed him – their friendship could be put back together again. She could do it, she would do it. Even if Axel refused to take care of it the way she did. In some rational part of her mind, she understood that such a delusion could never happen again, but she found herself not really giving a damn at the moment.
Because she was so close, so damn close and there was no way she was going to slow up now.
Axel was staring at her with his mouth slightly agape. She heard someone laughing, and realized it was her own voice making those amused little giggles. "Close your mouth, Number VIII, you'll catch flies," she sang, still laughing. It occurred to her, vaguely, that she had never seen him this flustered; the sight entertained her far more than it should have.
Finally, Axel spoke, so softly she had to strain to hear.
"I care for him as much as you do, Anx. But Roxas is all I want. Your little revenge kick, this obsession you've got going on – you can keep me out of it. I'm done trying to help you." (1)
Without another word, he opened a portal and vanished through it.
"This is it," Char said.
Behind her, Donald let out a "wow" of wonder as he surveyed the area; Goofy echoed that sentiment aloud, as did Sora, albeit only in an awed murmur. The sight of the half-ruined castle looming up before them reminded him vaguely of Maleficent's, but thankfully, aside from the spacious outer appearance, the resemblance ended there.
Almost against his will, he found himself glancing over at Char. Only when they had gotten halfway down the bailey's broken stairwell and she had led them toward the cluster of broken buildings to the right did he realize she was taking them the same way she had gone when she had shown him the meadow.
As they had passed the entrance to the odd white cavern, the pristine glow that emanated from the area had caught Sora's eye. He had been about to bring it up to Char when she turned slightly, not slowing in her now-smooth stride in the slightest, and gave him a look that suggested she did not want to discuss it. For some reason, her not wanting to bring up the place where they had first connected worried him more than anything else.
And now that they were standing in the postern, the place that not only led to what might finally give Sora some answers about his friends but was also apparently close to the place where she had lived – now that they were here, that concern was magnified more than ever. On the way here, she had seemed calm enough, disposing of the Heartless that appeared before them with the same precision she normally used; but now an expression of faint dread had drawn itself up over her features.
"Big place," he tried to start a conversation.
Char simply nodded, putting one hand on one of the pipes that surrounded the entrance to the area. He could have sworn he heard her murmur something that sounded like "home again," but then Donald was speaking. "We should find Leon," the duck suggested.
"Oh yeah – right." Sora ignored the mildly annoyed look he got from the mage in response and resumed glancing around the area. A glimpse of brown hair and that dark jacket had been the goal of Sora's search, but he stopped short when he saw the building next to the castle before them. Although small – it appeared to only have one story – the brick looked somewhat worn, almost to the extent of its much larger neighbor, and a series of scribbles that had been inscribed on the door told the brunette it was not just crumbling due to old age.
"What's that?" he asked, pointing to the building.
Char followed his gaze. The sight had a visible effect on her; she actually tensed for a moment, earning herself a suspicious glare from Donald and a worried look from Goofy. Then she deflated, almost as if deciding she had revealed enough already, and spoke. "That's the building where I used to live."
"Really?" Goofy moved his head to look around Sora, trying to get a look at the small structure.
Char nodded, staring at her former home. "Yeah."
"You and the other apprentices?" Sora asked, feeling a surge of impatience that he had to speak like this to her just to get this much out.
The redhead gave another nod, but said no more.
Seeing that she had divulged as much as her own boundaries would let her, Sora returned to his prior task. "Leon?" he called out.
"Sora!" The Keybearer turned and saw Aerith running up to them. For the most part, she looked no worse for the wear, despite the Heartless that Sora and the group had had to fight through. Maybe she found those Potions she needed after all.
"You found Ansem's computer?" he asked.
Char immediately shoved him, giving him a pointed look. "Geez, Sora, don't say 'hi' or anything."
He didn't know whether to be grateful that she had recovered enough to make dry jokes, or wince at the pain that was building up at the back of his shoulder. Either way, he decided to just smile sheepishly. "Right, right…"
Aerith just looked amused, but then her expression turned serious. "Yes, we found the computer. The King is very interested in it."
Those words had an immediate effect on Donald and Goofy; they exchanged a wide-eyed glance before returning their attentions to the flower girl. "The King is here?" Donald cried.
Aerith nodded. "He's with Leon, at the end of the corridors."
"Oh, great," Char muttered on Sora's other side.
Her comment went all but unnoticed by said brunette. Even as his two longtime comrades began to chatter excitedly behind him, he could only draw his gaze down to the ground, feeling a bittersweet twinge deep inside him. He knew its identity, dual as it was: happiness, and envy at the same time. Donald and Goofy had found what they sought, but… Not for the first time, the words of the blue-haired Nobody in Twilight Town echoed in Sora's head. Don't be reckless… do you want to end up like Riku?
Raising his head, he dared to speak the question whose answer he dreaded. "Uh… is Riku with them?"
Aerith shook her head, much to his dismay. Sora sighed, trying to fight back the despair that now threatened to overwhelm him in its dark grasp. "Well, at least I can ask the King about him. Maybe that computer can tell us something, too."
Hearing Sora's pathetic attempt at optimism, Char could only avert her eyes. She found herself wanting to tell him about Riku – if not his whereabouts, then at least that the silver-haired boy was all right. But she had made a promise, and she didn't want to go back on her word. No matter how badly I've screwed it over at this point.
Besides… She allowed herself to look back over at the building she had spent her days, then at the castle that housed the corridors leading to Ansem's study. Char didn't know what kind of information Sora would find in her master's old computer – he and Even had been the only ones privy to all that, and she had hated being so near the Heartless factory besides – but she did know that by the end of this trip, she would have to tell the brunette and his friends everything about her past. The idea sent a shudder rippling through her entire body. Donald and Goofy were wary enough of her already; telling them she used to work with the people who had later founded the Organization, while hardly something that condemned her in particular, would likely push them over the edge of that suspicion.
And Sora. Gods, she didn't even want to think about how Sora would react. The thought drew – what was that, a tear? – into the back of her eyes. Furiously, she pushed it away. Neither of them had time to worry about it right now, as far as she was concerned.
And really, wouldn't finally giving all your secrets away be a relief?
Char did not dare consider that question for fear of its answers.
"The King and Leon are through there." Aerith nodded toward the path that spiraled down further below, the walkway whose makeshift metal surface eventually yielded to the gray tile of the postern's corridors.
As Sora bid her farewell and began to lead his companions toward the declivity, Char took a deep breath. Relax, she told herself. Honestly, they were barely in the castle and she was already letting her anxiety get the best of her.
Only after they had stepped inside did she realize that not once had nostalgia cut into that anxiety. Not for the first time, she realized she must be getting better in that regard.
She looked around to give herself something to do. A year or so away from these halls had not done wonders for its dust level, she noted dryly; even in this dim lighting, she could see that decay had set itself rather thickly upon the corridors she had taken to get to Ansem when he was deep in work. Some of the walls had corroded, leaving the pipes that wound themselves about the building starkly visible.
Donald uttered a noise that might have been one of bemusement. "This place is kinda gross," Goofy agreed.
At that, Char had to take umbrage. "It just hasn't been touched in a while, is all," she argued. When the trio gave her odd looks, she huffed out a sigh. "I had to walk through here a lot when I lived in Hollow Bastion. Trust me, it doesn't normally look this…" She groped for the right word. "…decrepit."
Sora looked as if he accepted that answer. "Well, since you know your way around –" He cut himself off abruptly and whirled around.
"What? What?" Donald yelped, drawing his staff.
The brunette seemed to return to reality at that moment and relaxed. "Nothing," he said. "I just thought I heard something, is all."
"Probably it was just a mouse," Goofy pointed out.
Char snorted. "Right. Sure."
"Just tryin' to be helpful." The knight ducked his head, and Char immediately, stupidly felt guilty.
"Either way, we have to get to Ansem's computer," Sora quipped, reminding himself as much as everyone else. "So… Char, do you want to lead the way?"
Char started at that. "Um, that's probably not such a good idea," she demurred, feeling heat creep up her cheeks at the disbelieving look she got from Donald. "What?" she growled at the duck. "These tunnels are easy to get lost in, you know!"
"Right, right," Sora laughed. To Char's humiliation, transferring her glower to him only made him laugh harder. "Well, anyway, let's just keep away from the crumbling parts of the building. They don't look very safe."
He retook his place at the front of the group. Still grumbling to herself, Char followed. As much as she wanted to tell Sora the scarce amount of shortcuts she remembered, she knew he had a point about the eroding walls. Not only would any falling rubble seriously injure one of them – especially Donald, whose bone structure wasn't the strongest around – but the holes in the walls created by the parts that had already crumbled were the perfect spot for enemies to hide.
Like Anxclof. Char cringed at the thought of the Blade of Vengeance. Last time the two of them had crossed paths, Roxas' presence had mollified Anxclof, but she had only had the short time in the Pride Lands to be with him. And Roxas' comment about Anxclof wanting to take her revenge a step further still rang inside Char's head.
But things are different this time, she told herself. Her fist clenched with the force of will behind those mental words. Next time we cross blades, only one of us is going to emerge from the battle. Oddly, like the revelation of her feelings for Sora, thinking about the realization she had come to in Twilight Town was getting easier the more she did it.
She didn't know whether to call that a good thing or not.
For the most part, the journey through the corridors went relatively smoothly. While Sora's stubborn avoidance of the less-than-stable walls meant they could only take one specific path, few Heartless chose to harass them. The enemies that did appear were mechanical in appearance; one type was bipedal and darted around the group, while the other resembled a small, laser-firing machine. Fortunately, the four of them disposed of the Heartless fairly easily. Then again, Char's taking out her agitation on them might have helped, as well as Sora's realization that aerial attacks were the robots' weakness.
Char felt torn between bemusement and relief at the lack of Heartless; while it meant the group was fresh for whatever fight might be ahead, it also gave her fewer targets to take her conflicting emotions out on.
Whatever time she might have had to dwell on it vanished immediately when she saw where they were. The pale white door that rose up before them struck the same familiar chord and stirred the same feelings she had always experienced when standing right outside it: slight nervousness, and the distinctive sensation of preparing herself for speaking to her master about whatever topic was troubling her.
Troubling me? Now that she was reflecting on it, she realized she had never really talked to Ansem about anything other than help with an assignment, or maybe some munny to go out into the town when time permitted. They had never really discussed anything beyond the academic; that, she had reserved for her fellow apprentices. Even then, though, they never talked about everything.
No wonder I have such terrible communication skills, she thought, but not even blaming her inability to deal with being so close to the heart of all her secrets could soothe her.
The flicker of movement caused by Char's fidgeting caught Sora's eye. Strangely, her tension had a contagion about it, and he soon found himself tapping his own fingers against his pant-clad thigh. Faintly, he remembered the last time he had seen her distressed enough to create that gesture, the urge to seize her hand and console her had nearly taken over him. That urge returned now, and it was all he could do to keep it at bay. If he wanted to keep all his fingers, anyway. Before the now-familiar sadness could tug at him at acknowledging her pride, he spoke. "Char, you okay?"
She looked at him, and the amount of misery that escaped her typical angry façade made the breath catch in his throat. Leave her alone, he told himself, she doesn't want your comfort. "Yeah," she said. "The King is past here, right? We should go in."
Nodding, Sora turned to Donald and Goofy. "You guys ready?" he asked.
"Yup," Goofy said, grinning as best he could.
"Of course!" Donald acquiesced, looking more eager than ever at the prospect of Mickey being behind the doors.
Sora grinned in response and turned the knob.
Char had braced herself for the sight of disarray in Ansem's study in correlation with the corridors' ruination, but the degree of disorganization in the room pulled a small sound from her nonetheless. The diagrams that she and the other apprentices had helped create hung haphazardly from the walls, and the papers that Ansem had kept together so well had strewn themselves about the area. Books lay in random places on the floor, corresponding to empty spaces in the shelves. Almost on instinct, she searched for the entrance to the blue-surrounded computer room – which, she realized, looked rather similar to the computer room they had used in Twilight Town; she supposed even Ansem had to have his nostalgic moments – but found only a solid, creamy wall in place of that entrance.
Slightly bemused, she strode across the room and bent over to pick up a book. Staring at the cover – it was worn almost to the point of indecipherable, but she could see the word Hearts at the top – she suddenly wanted to find its shelf and put it back in its place. She could almost hear Ansem scolding her for just leaving it there, and almost replied aloud by saying it was the Heartless' fault, but caught herself just in time.
Guess I'm home after all.
"Alright, now if I were a computer, where would I…?" Sora trailed off in his hypothetical query.
Char looked over, putting the book down on Ansem's desk before following his gaze. "What are you…?" Then she saw what he was looking at. "Oh," she said, feeling ineffable fury rise up deep within her. It was just like Xemnas, that egomaniacal bastard, to put a portrait of his former self on the wall where Ansem's father had once watched over the room. Stern and collected as the previous memory in the spot had looked, staring right at Xehanort – the man who had started not just Char's trials, but Sora's as well, albeit only in his other forms – was the less preferable of the two.
"Ansem," Donald acknowledged, clenching his fist. Char glanced over, wanting to correct the duck, but knew it would be useless to correct his assumption. Besides, technically, for all intents and purposes, the Heartless they took down was Ansem.
"Gawrsh, I guess this must be his room," Goofy mused aloud.
Char nodded, folding her arms across her chest. That, at least, they had gotten right.
Sora stepped up closer to the portrait, clearly intrigued by the picture of his old enemy. The sight of Ansem – his gray hair and arrogant eyes – stirred familiar emotions he had felt around the Heartless: anger, fear, and defiance. Those sentiments rose so strongly within Sora that he had to remind himself that Ansem was dead and gone, defeated by the light of Kingdom Hearts.
"Where's the King?" Donald asked.
Torn out of his reverie, Sora turned away from the picture and looked at his friends. Donald looked impatient as ever, while Goofy was picking up a few of the papers scattered about the area and squinting to read them.
Almost in dread, Sora looked at Char. He had saved his scrutiny of her for last, and now he understood why he had done so: out of fear of what he would see there. The fact that she had led them so close to the heart of their former enemy's stronghold left a bitter taste in the back of Sora's mouth and a desperate feeling around his heart. It didn't help that Char was looking around the room with a look of nostalgia on her face.
Shaking it off, he called out instead. "Hello? Is anybody here?"
"Hey, you!" The voice came from just outside the room, in the corridors. Sora looked over at the doorway – oops, forgot to close the door, he thought in embarrassment – just in time to see a dark-clad woman with long, chocolate-colored hair step into his line of sight.
The rest of his group moved to Sora's side to see the newcomer better. Donald tilted his head to the side, looking a bit disgruntled that she wasn't King Mickey, but curious nonetheless; Goofy put down the sheet he was looking at and ambled over; and Char merely eyed the woman in a detachedly interested manner. Sora himself just waited to hear what she had to say.
The mysterious woman glanced around the room before looking back at Sora. "I'm looking for somebody. Have any of you seen a guy with spiky hair?" she asked, miming said 'spiky hair' by pointing a finger above her head.
Sora blinked, and tugged at his own, gravity-defying locks. Char sniggered behind him. "We've got your man right here," she joked.
The woman laughed and shook her head. "Spikier," she amended.
Sora lowered his hand and shrugged. "Sorry," he apologized.
"Spikier hair than Key-boy? Didn't think that was possible," Char said, and he could hear the smirk in her words.
He whirled around and stared at her indignantly. "Hey!"
His pout only served to pull a small chuckle out of her. "Don't get offended. I'm just pointing out facts."
He was about to give her another retort, but stopped dead when he realized she had a point. Somewhat annoyed, he turned away and folded his arms, much to the amusement of Donald and Goofy.
"So, what's your name?" the latter queried, once his snickers at Sora's expense had faded.
The woman blinked reddish-brown eyes, clearly having not expected any of the others to address her again. "Tifa," she said, still scanning the room. Even though he was stubbornly looking at one of the odd diagrams on the wall in lieu of his comrades, Sora could hear the hastiness in her voice, as though she had only introduced herself out of formality and just wanted to find what she was looking for. Just like Cloud.
The brunette blinked and glanced back over at her. He opened his mouth, wanting to ask if she knew Cloud, but she beat him to it. "I'll just take a look around," she decided aloud, and without another word had swept off to another part of the circular area.
"Right, right," Char said, narrowing her eyes. "Just don't touch –"
Ignoring the redhead, Tifa had chosen to stalk right over to the wall that covered the entrance to the computer room and searched it. An instant later, she delivered a sound kick to the wall that reverberated throughout the entire room and nearly made Donald lose his balance.
"– anything," Char finished with a resigned, yet irritated sigh.
Tifa looked back up from where she had swerved to look under Ansem's desk. "Sorry," she said, genuinely contrite. "I just thought he might be back there."
"He…?" Sora cocked his head to the side.
But Tifa did not answer the Keybearer's unspoken question. "Sorry to bother you," she called as she left the study.
"No bother at all, ma'am," Sora called after her. Donald and Goofy echoed his sentiment just as the door closed behind her.
"Geez," Char grumbled, as the others returned their attention to the room. "Tearing up my master's room like that…"
"Your… master?" Donald gave her a squinty-eyed glare.
"Gee, but if this is Ansem's room, that means…" Goofy cut himself off abruptly.
Char's eyes widened, and she immediately began defending herself. "Look, just because one gray-haired guy decided to stick his picture up on the wall doesn't mean it's his study," she growled, hating the way her heart began to pound at the looks in her companions' eyes. Donald looked almost triumphant that his suspicions were true, Goofy had the expression of one who began to put two and two together, and Sora…
Char did not dare glance at Sora for fear of the disapproval she would find there.
"The guy you fought…" Hesitation made her pause.
"Yeah?" Donald demanded, already wielding his staff threateningly. "What about him?"
Despite her slowly-growing horror, Char scoffed. "Put the weapon away, duck boy. I'm not a part of what he had planned and you know it."
Then why did you pretend you didn't know about him when we first met you? With some effort, Sora pushed that question to a seldom-visited part of his mind. "Then why are you saying this room belonged to your master?" he asked softly.
For the first time, the redhead's icy gaze slid over to him; and for an instant, he almost wished he hadn't met her eye contact. He almost flinched away at the depth of desperate anger there, yet he managed to stand his ground and stare right back at her. It couldn't be more obvious that she hated divulging this much of her past, but as far as he was concerned, her little confessions were long overdue.
"Because it does," she answered just as quietly. Donald let out a squawk of confusion and made as if to speak, but Goofy put out a hand to silence the duck. "The guy you all fought is – used to be, I guess – he was one of the researchers who worked alongside me."
Silence reigned in the room, as Disney residents and Keybearer alike took in the news. Sora in particular felt a rush of odd fascination; when he and his friends had defeated Ansem, they had not especially dwelled on their foe's identity prior to becoming a Heartless. But really, it made sense that Ansem's picture would appear here, of all places, if he had lived here.
"So…" Goofy put his free hand under his chin in thought.
Whatever the knight had to say was immediately drowned out by Char's next words. "And when he was alive, his name wasn't Ansem," she went on. "We called him Xehanort."
Her tone – sounding as though she had been holding this information close to herself for a while, and that she felt freer at expressing it – strengthened Sora's feeling of interest toward her story. "So the guy we fought was Xehanort's Heartless," he said, sounding as though he were asking a question.
"Yeah." Char nodded, relief overtaking her countenance. Sora couldn't fathom why she would feel relieved at confiding the truth behind Ansem's identity to them. Then again, though, he still did not understand why she felt she had to keep this all a secret in the first place.
"But if his real name was Xehanort –" the brunette began, only to be cut off by a familiar voice.
"So, you made it."
As one, the group jumped slightly, then spotted the speaker. Due to the dark hue of his jacket against the creamy-beige wall, Sora immediately spotted him. "Leon!" he greeted the older brunette. Then he smiled, a little abashed. "Uh… how long have you been standing there?"
Leon rolled his eyes, but a tiny smirk of his own covered his countenance. "I just walked in."
"But, uh, how didja get all the way over there so fast?" Goofy asked, looking confused.
"I'll show you in a sec," was all the man said.
Sora blinked, then decided it could wait. Clearly, Leon had not heard much of what Char had said, otherwise he would already have asked about it. For some reason, the Keybearer felt a little comforted by that fact. Despite the fact that Char had trusted Leon enough during their last visit here to tell him about her insecurities – a fact that still rankled Sora for a reason he now knew all too well – it was obvious even to Sora that Leon still distrusted her a little.
"Hey, isn't the King supposed to be with you?" the girl in question asked.
Sora took a closer look and realized she was right; no small, round-eared shape stood beside Leon.
"Yeah, where's His Majesty?" Donald added, albeit with a much softer degree of brusque inquiry than he had used toward Char. Ironic, considering the subject of his current query had been what he and Goofy had searched for for ages.
Leon simply brought up one glove-clad finger for silence. As the mage jerked his eyes away, grumbling under his breath, the older man went on. "You'll see him soon enough." When that failed to palliate Donald's annoyance, Leon's smirk grew a bit wider. "Here, this ought to tide you over."
He turned and placed his hand on a specific part of the wall behind him. The square surrounding his hand shone, and a bright light filled the group's vision, causing them all to bring one arm over their eyes. When the light cleared, that particular section of the wall was gone, replaced by a doorway to a pale gray-blue, almost metallic-looking room.
Sora, Donald, and Goofy let out noises of awe at that, but Char simply looked away. She already knew that would be there, had realized it the moment Leon had placed his hand on the wall. Of course – of course Ansem would have sealed away the room that held his most valuable secrets just before escaping to Twilight Town with her.
He could have picked a less obvious way to find it, though, she reflected. Everybody knows the hand-on-the-wall trick is the biggest cliché in the book.
"Ansem's computer room is just beyond here," Leon said, before turning away and moving deeper within.
"All right!" Sora cheered, following the Gunblade wielder at a steady pace, and Donald and Goofy raced after him. Char herself went more sedately. That idiotic agitation rose up within her again; the brief interlude between her telling her companions more about Xehanort and Leon's appearance had been a welcome break, but now her pounding heart and shaking hands had returned.
"Slow down," Leon called irritably after the Keybearer, but Sora ignored him. He moved over the threshold and did not even balk at the all-but-transparent floor beneath him as he skidded to a halt at the front of the adjoining room.
Panting slightly, he surveyed the area. Mechanical beeping sounded in his ears, as well as a low hum that announced the computer was still running. His gaze roved about the room, glossing over the doorway opposite him and the odd-looking, almost portal-like wall in his haste to see the computer itself. For the most part, Ansem's computer did not look particularly impressive. A smaller square on the monitor showed a bird's-eye view of Hollow Bastion, with the castle they were currently standing in the most prevalent feature.
Practically trembling with excitement, Sora forced himself to cross the room slowly and halted in front of the massive keyboard. "This is it," he murmured breathlessly, placing his wrists at the edges of the desk.
As the rest of the group stopped at his side, with Donald breathing the hardest, Sora began frantically typing on the keyboard. "Where's Kairi? Where's Riku?" he pleaded, forgetting the computer's inability to respond verbally in his desperation. When it failed to do anything at all, however, Sora let out a growl of frustration and slammed the palms of his hands as hard as he could down on the buttons. Donald and Goofy glanced at each other nervously, as though wondering what to do, but Char beat them to it.
"Easy!" she hissed, grabbing Sora's wrists in midair and forcing them against the desk. She could feel more than hear him gulping in air, half asphyxiated in his blind vexation, and tried not to inhale too deeply herself for fear that how close they were would become clear to her in that action. When he whipped his head toward her, however, the force and brightness of those clouded sapphires boring into her own gaze sent reality crashing down on her.
Abruptly, she went on, mentally scolding herself for acting so impulsively and at the same time trying to ignore how her chin now practically rested on his shoulder. "Calm the hell down," she spat, concern briefly overriding her hormones. "Do you want to break the stupid thing? You wouldn't find anything on your friends then, now would you?"
Of course, you do know where one of them is, so it wouldn't be that much of a problem.
For a few, agonizing moments, Sora glared at her, his breathing beginning to slow in spite of the sudden increase in his heartbeat. Of all the ways to calm him down, she had to pick this one…
He forced himself to shake off the debilitating effect that his inhalation of her cinnamon scent seemed to be having on his legs. At least now he knew where that fragrance in the air of Twilight Town's mansion came from, he thought dryly. "Sorry," he murmured, forcing himself to pull out of her grasp. "Guess I got a little carried away."
"Damn right you did," Char said, folding her arms. Oddly, their closeness had no visible effect on her, much to Sora's dismay. "If you break my master's computer, I'll have to kill you."
Pathetic as the justification was, it made Sora smile nonetheless. "Sorry," he repeated.
Suddenly, Goofy let out a cry of shock and pointed up. As one, the others – including Leon, who had just stepped into the room to see the cause of the commotion – looked up and saw what had startled the dog. A small blue creature was scuttling across the ceiling, but, upon seeing the witnesses below, let out a sound of confusion. It – he? Sora decided it was male and left it at that – he drew his forepaws off the surface of the metal part of the ceiling to get a better look at what odd beings stood below. An instant later, however, he let out a howl and plummeted, landing on the keyboard on his hind paws.
"What the…" Char eyed the newcomer with growing bemusement. He did not respond, but instead drew himself up and looked around.
"Get offa there!" Donald ordered, and leaped onto the desk. He scrambled to grab the blue-furred creature, but the latter easily squirmed out of the duck's grasp, and laughed as he darted off down the corridor. Looking humiliated, Donald drew himself up and put his fists on his hips, pivoting toward where the unknown animal had disappeared; they could hear his webbed feet clacking against the keys as he did so.
Suddenly, an alarm blared throughout the area, startling the others badly. Donald glanced around in panic, trying to find the source of the noise; copying the gesture, Sora realized it was coming from the computer itself.
"Attention, current user," a voice reverberated, causing a distinctive ripple in the air. "This is a warning. Further misuse of this terminal will result in immediate defensive action."
"Who are you?" Char demanded, nervous now for an entirely different reason than before. She couldn't recall a defense system like this dwelling in Ansem's most prized device; then again, she had left all that nonsense to Ansem himself and Even. Not for the first time, she cursed her own lack of attention span from back then.
"I am the Master Control Program," the voice boomed. "I oversee this system."
The hell you do, Char thought, but said nothing.
"Where are you?" Sora added, in search of confirmation for his suspicions. However, he received no reply.
Hesitantly, Donald lifted one foot and dropped it back down on the keyboard. Immediately, the sirens flared up anew and with more force, to the point where Goofy had to push his hands over his ears. "Donald!" everyone hollered at him.
"I'm sorry!" he shouted back in protest. Releasing one hand from his ear, Goofy dragged the mage off the keyboard, but it did nothing in regards to the room's loudness.
"Decision gate reached," the voice suddenly announced. "You are all under arrest."
"Arrest?" Sora cried incredulously.
Up until now, Leon had been watching with growing trepidation on his face. Now, though, his gaze roved over to the wall opposite Ansem's computer. The crimson sphere within the portal-like structure suddenly began to glow with a bright white light.
"Run!" he shouted to the others, but it was too late. Just as the four of them turned toward the accumulating light – with Goofy still grasping Donald – the light shot toward them in a thin beam. Sora immediately brought one hand over his eyes, while Char stepped back, alarm on her features. As the light landed on them, it seemed to separate and spread out into cubes that settled over the group. Leon could only watch as the immobilized bodies of the four seemed to become transparent squares. A tiny gasp escaped him as the beams of light swept across the bodies they had consumed and seemed to suck them into the portal.
Silence. Leon brought one hand over his eyes and groaned. "Now what?"
Indeed, Leon, indeed.
(1) You can get AkuRoku out of this little statement if you want to. I personally see them only as BFFLs and intended that to only be friendshippy, but again, YMMV on it.
Next chapter will start off the Space Paranoids! Before you all start groaning at the thought of the montage of boredom that that world is, don't worry, it won't be boring when I write it. Hopefully. -sweatdrop- Knowing Char, it'll get screwed up somehow.
We're almost at 200 reviews, guys! Get me there and I'll love you all forever! :3