Merry early Christmas, everyone! :D I say this both because of this update and because this is basically y'all's Christmas gift from me. I wanted to finish up this day/Halloween Town in this chap, but it's 23 pages as it is. On the bright side, next chapter is ALL original content not from the game. And this chapter has ACTION in it! So rejoice... I guess...?
The other reason I couldn't get another chapter done before Christmas is because of two things. A) my relatives are visiting tomorrow to Friday, and B) my mom thought it'd be a good idea to shove me, her, and Dad into a car and drive twelve hours to Iowa for New Year's. I'll try and get some writing done on the trip, but it's uncertain right now.
Anyway, enjoy the chapter! I'm rather proud of it, actually.
Disclaimer- Don't own KH.
Sora's eyes slowly flickered open, blinking in the sliver of watery green light drifting into his room from the blinds half-drawn over their windows. He fumbled about briefly in the sheets, which had tangled themselves rather intricately around him, before he remembered he wasn't in his room at Destiny Island and no alarm clock sat on his desk. In spite of his grogginess, the revelation made him blink; the misconception hadn't entered his mind for a while now.
Then again, he hadn't driven himself through every world in an imitation of his Keyblade through Heartless like he had initially.
Very slowly, he sat up, careful not to make himself dizzy with the movement, and found the clock on the wall, much like the one he had glanced at yesterday after he and his friends had stepped into the Gummi ship. To his confusion, the clock seared the numbers 4:47 into his bleary vision.
Wonder when I got to sleep last night, he wondered, blinking. I remember eating dinner, and showering, and then I pretty much went to bed right after that. Bringing one hand up to tousle his sleep-mussed spikes, he found his hair still felt slightly damp on his fingertips. Distracting himself with these trivialities only kept his mind off exactly why his consciousness had chosen to wake him for a few seconds, and soon he was brought back to his initial bemusement all over again.
He looked out at the door, which resembled a dark rectangle in his vision, and couldn't help remembering the momentous incident that had occurred right there. If he wasn't so tired, he might have spared a few moments reminiscing about how the single tear on Char's face had felt trembling against his finger, or the taste of her lips; however, all he could think was that her mouth had tasted just a lot like skin.
Which had been fine with him, really.
Now that Char had entered his mind, he found himself remembering the reason why he had woken up in the first place. He could vaguely recall that she had starred in his dream last night, and that, for some reason, they had been playing cards. Poker, in particular. Sora didn't even know how he could remember the scant lessons Riku had given him in playing that card game, but nonetheless, they had shone through the fabric in his subconscious and lit the stage for the dream.
For some reason, his mind seemed to have decided to make Char particularly skilled at poker, despite how on that very first day on the Gummi ship she had thrown her cards down in annoyed surrender to Sora's playing aptitude – the source of which he still didn't know, he realized with a frown. Then again, he thought, her being good at poker makes sense, considering everything she was hiding from us before.
Thinking of her barring him and the others from her secrets – from the secrets about their enemies – stung, but the feeling was muted, both out of the film his sleepy body had cast over his emotions and a couple of days having passed since she had sat them down in Ansem's study and told them everything. From her connection to the Organization, Roxas being Sora's Nobody, and everything in between.
Rather than condemn her for having loosed the gates of his doubt toward taking down Roxas' former comrades, though, Sora smiled as the remainder of his dream poured into his mind. Because he could remember his mirroring her gesture from that month ago, albeit with a bit more self-control than she had exhibited then.
And her laughing, lightly at first, then louder as her amusement at his expense elicited an indignant pout.
Sora couldn't remember anything that might have happened after that, because his consciousness had chosen that moment to awaken him. Had he not put every ounce of melancholia at her kidnapping behind him yesterday, he might have dwelled on the raw panic from when he had swung around and seen that dark figure dragging her away; now, though, the strength of yesterday's resolution was strong enough that he could only think of how much he needed to see that smile again.
He settled back, curled his fingers into the sheets, and closed his eyes, willing sleep to return so he could be ready for the day ahead.
Falcon was aware of Riku, Char, and Copperhead following close behind her as the dull buzz of conversation from the people who worked in the office buildings and the courtyard's fountain faded, replaced by that of the town square. Billowing gray clouds had gathered overnight and now hovered high above, their heaviness promising a good rain. As a result of bad weather's caveat, not as many people bustled about as usual, which worked just as well for her.
"We must've scoured every corner of the forest yesterday," Char remarked.
Although the comment was an innocent statement of fact, Falcon bristled anyway, because she knew for a fact that they hadn't raked over every single tree. It made her remember Char's rather pointed reference to how Falcon skirted a wide arc around where her parents had died.
Her shoulders tensed at the other half of that memory, one that wedged itself a little past the door she had slammed against it: how one of their murderers – the one who hadn't absconded into the storm between her taking her own heart and awakening – now walked just behind her. The irony was so palpable she could have screamed.
In public, though, scarce amount of people besides shopkeepers notwithstanding, Falcon only turned her head to signify she had heard the redhead. Somehow, she got the feeling if she looked into those icy eyes and found no trace of accusation, she would just get angrier. "That's why we're not going to the forest today," she growled out.
"Then where would we go?" Copperhead tentatively ventured. Surprising, that he was risking his own head stirring her already-boiling temper with his voice, when his presence was doing enough to infuriate her.
Her anger had begun to simmer earlier, when they had arrived at the city hall to pull him out of work again and that insufferable grin of his had faltered upon landing on her. Part of her had felt gratified that her hatred of him wreaked some sort of effect on him, but another part had demanded, however silently, to know what had happened to the man she had fallen for when she was younger and stupider. To the best friend who had charged into battle often before she did, scythe swinging and bloodlust roaring, with an enthusiasm she had always envied.
I know what happened. His brother died. It hardly excused what he had done, but Falcon knew that was where his betrayal had begun.
And she did not need that treacherous, gods-damned sympathy rising up inside her in a vicious black tide, so she pushed that wave into the confines of her mind and decided to answer his question. "There are other parts of town where we haven't looked, so I was thinking we'd run through there. See if anybody knows anything."
Char let out a sound of understanding. "That makes sense. No one in the main part of town had anything for us; it won't hurt to find some new sources of information."
"You sound like you're talking about machines or something, Blaze," Copperhead chuckled. Confusion made Falcon quirk a brow, until Char's rather flustered demand of "Don't call me that!" told her he was referring to Char. Even with her own experience with his asinine nicknames, a spiteful smirk passed over Falcon's face, that she was not the only victim of his inability to just call someone by their real name.
Riku had had the good grace to keep silent this whole time, but now he spoke, amusement-tinged voice soothing the annoyance that hearing Char and Copperhead had released into Falcon's body. "I guess you're back to normal."
"Meaning?" Char asked, slitted eyes audible in that single word.
"When he first started calling you that, you just sat there and took it. And I know you hate being called anything but Char," Riku elaborated. Falcon's own eyes narrowed at his affectionate tone, eyelashes blurring her view of the pathway ever so slightly. Jealousy roiled within her, only leaping higher when Char uttered an indulgent scoff and replied, "Yeah, I guess you've got a point."
About Riku… I don't… I don't like him like that. Not the way you do.
At the time Falcon's first instinct had been to immediately deny Char's final claim, even though she herself knew how true it was – and, at the time, how obvious she was being about it as well. She had gotten flustered at the new possibilities this confession heralded to her; at the number of pathways it lit up, pathways that Char's presence had darkened temporarily. Riku had mentioned having two best friends, one male and one female, back home, but as said female had yet to appear, Falcon had never paid much mind to that.
Had never paid much attention, she realized abruptly, to the way his eyes softened when he mentioned the maroon hair and violet eyes and unfailing kindness of that friend. Kairi, her name was. Falcon had noticed his notable change in demeanor, the gentleness of his voice as it wrapped around the name, but it had hurt too much to consider, so she had forced herself to forget about it.
It was a testament to her emotions persevering, then, that a thin tongue of agony lanced across her heart at remembering his tenderly speaking of Kairi.
Almost without realizing it, one hand lifted to press against her abdomen, where Xemnas' luminescent blades had sliced her. Because once upon a time, she had loved her best friend as well.
By this time, the four of them had left the town square behind, as well as the urban part of the Shadowed Desert. For some reason, this particular pathway, winding about and shaded by trees as it was, seemed vaguely familiar to her; she spent a couple of moments trying to place it, moments that proved lucrative when it finally hit her. However, once she realized the reason behind this place's scratching at the back of her memory, she fought back a shiver.
It was the path she had always taken to get to Copperhead's house, what felt like an eternity ago.
Fighting every ounce of her body that screamed at her not to, she dared look back over her shoulder at Copperhead, wondering if the same forsaken nostalgia brought on by memories of walking along here swarmed throughout his heart as well. Char and Riku were trailing behind him, much to Falcon's displeasure: both because the two of them had their heads bent close together as if discussing something important, and because she couldn't even properly analyze Riku's expression due to Copperhead obscuring them.
He lifted his head and gazed at her, shoulders twitching almost imperceptibly, as if he had never intended to meet her eyes. To her surprise, he stared evenly back at her, even though he had to find enough condemnation on her face already.
Eventually, the violet sun offered by his eyes proved too much for her, and, to her immense shame, she had to tear herself away before that light consumed her in its promise entirely. Remember what he did to you.
"You think I'll ever come back to you after this?" she had snarled at him that horrible night. "Things don't work that way, Copperhead! You're such a whore that you should know this by now!" At the time, his betrayal had sliced deep into her and hurt so much more than the lingering ache from having driven that Keyblade into her chest ever could; the mental image of him staring despondently after her had burned itself into her brain and flashed every time she blinked.
Now, though, after she had gotten a year to let the memory of her parents become less raw and painful, she only found herself torn between anger toward him and the memory of what had been.
She lifted her gaze back to their surroundings and saw the trees lining the path's perimeter had spread out to surround a clearing instead. Quickly, her eyes sought out a spot to sit down; all of a sudden, exhaustion had tucked its dark wings over her shoulders. Its source was all too clear to her, which only infuriated her more.
Her gaze landed on a tree stump near the center of the clearing, and she turned to the others. "We can rest here for a little bit."
"But we've barely gone anywhere," Copperhead pointed out.
Falcon folded her arms and raised an eyebrow at him. "We're going to need all the rest we can get. Especially with where we're heading."
The words were a subtle jab at him, and they both knew it, if the way his eyes narrowed was any indication; however, he had the common sense not to acknowledge it. Not when she already felt like firing a shard of ice into the next thing that roused her temper. "Well, whatever. I can work with that. Before I got to work this morning, I went by this sandwich place and picked up some lunch."
"Wow, you actually thought ahead," Riku commented, watching as Copperhead drew four plastic bags out of his pockets. "Didn't think you had it in you."
His dry remark earned him a playful glare from the other man, before he extended one bag to Riku. "I remember you saying how you liked roast beef, so I got that for you." Riku took it with grudging gratitude, and amid the sound of his unwrapping the plastic, Copperhead handed another to Char. "And for Blaze, another roast beef," he announced extravagantly, and Falcon could almost feel her eyes shifting in their sockets with how hard she rolled them.
Char glared at him, although she did tear the food out of his grasp. "Okay, seriously – now it's just getting annoying. I don't see you giving Riku an asinine nickname."
"Leave me out of this," Riku muttered, after swallowing a mouthful of food.
Falcon plopped down on the tree stump and glared out at the forest, hoping she could somehow incinerate the trees with her eyes and pretend they were Copperhead. "That's because he only does it to girls," she grumbled under her breath.
She heard him draw in breath to retort, then a sigh of surrender from him. Infuriatingly enough, a smile was still audible in his response. "Well, yeah."
A frustrated growl came from Char's direction, and Falcon allowed a small, satisfied grin to quirk her lips upward briefly. At least, until she felt a finger gingerly tap her shoulder and turned to see Copperhead kneeling next to her with a plastic-wrapped sandwich in his hand.
"I, uh… here," he finished lamely, for once wiped of all eloquence. The plastic wrap creaked as it made contact to her hand from his, as clumsy and awkward as the day he had first kissed her. Falcon was vaguely aware of Char and Riku speaking in hushed voices nearby, as though resuming their discussion that had so drawn her attention earlier; however, it failed to do so now, as she perfunctorily unwrapped her sandwich.
Copperhead was already shuffling off, presumably toward another corner of the clearing so he could eat without the fear of her barbed tongue slicing into him. And yet Falcon found herself totally bereft of the urge to snarl some obligatory pejorative after him, because even after two years he still remembered her tastes.
"You mean you hate mayo on your sandwich?" eighteen-year-old Copperhead had asked her sixteen-year-old self, eyebrows arching on his forehead. In the background, Dyme's sitar had unfurled a quiet, gentle melody that enfolded Copperhead's kitchen and wrapped both of them in a feeling of serenity.
"Yeah," she had answered, wrinkling her nose. "I just can't stand the texture, is all."
"Well, okay," Copperhead said, drawing out the last word as he nudged the jar of mayonnaise toward his own slices of bread. "Is there anything else you don't like?" He asked it in an almost expectant manner, and she nudged him playfully.
"Just tomatoes. Everything else is fine."
"What? What kind of red-blooded human being doesn't like tomatoes?"
And then Dyme's playing had stopped, and he had called out for them to stop arguing and just make the stupid sandwiches already.
The mental recollection of Copperhead's kitchen melted away then, broke down into more bucolic trees and thick clouds rolling above and the sounds of the forest instead of the sounds of the music. That was before everything went wrong, she reflected, and focused on biting into her sandwich in lieu of thinking about said everything.
Char watched Copperhead stalk off to another part of the clearing, before Riku cleared his throat and drew her attention back to him. "All right," he began warily, "you said you wanted to talk about this alone. This is alone as we're ever going to get."
His brusque words made her draw in a sharp breath as the subject of their discussion earlier, while Falcon had led them out of the town square and into the part of the forest that didn't border the citadel, slipped back into her mind. "This isn't actually alone," she dodged. "We're not the only ones here –"
"Char," he cut her off warningly, amber glare piercing into her and inducing a glower of her own. She bit fiercely into her sandwich, hoping she could delude herself into thinking she was chewing on Riku's head, then lowered it and sighed once she had chewed and swallowed. As much as she didn't want to have to tell him about this – didn't want to be the one who tore him apart and muddled their goal in his mind – once the subject of her bad news had drifted into their conversation, he had refused to believe her lie about said subject's true location.
"If Kairi's not on the island," Riku said, desperation inching into his words and distorting them slightly, "then where is she?"
Char hesitated, tapped the fingers of her free hand against her thigh, and crossed her legs again. Unfortunately, these actions only stalled for a grand total of six seconds, and soon she had to lift her head and look at his serious expression again. For a moment, watching his fingers twitch at his side, she could very nearly imagine those orange eyes flickering into the turquoise that their year together in Twilight Town had shown her.
Out of respect to that memory, and the need to wipe that pure terror off his face – it was weird on both Xehanort and his countenances, after all – she sighed and told him.
"The Organization got her. Well, actually, Axel did."
His brows drew together in shock and horror, and he all but rose to his feet before Char's hand shot out and gripped his sleeve to drag him back down again. Quickly, the redhead glanced over her shoulder to check if either of their companions had caught a glimpse of the potential outburst she had just prevented; seeing that both Falcon and Copperhead still had their backs turned toward them, she released him and watched his legs all but crumple back into a sitting position.
He drew his knees up and rested his elbows on them, such an insecure position for him. Those amber eyes stared out at her with such a horrified expression that nausea began to swirl about in Char's own gut as well, assisted by the food already there. "You're sure?" he managed at last, after a few uncomfortable moments spent groping for words.
Char sighed and nodded. "Straight from Axel's mouth. And I know he couldn't have been lying," she added as Riku tried to interrupt, "because… because he was talking to Sora."
"And so he was talking to Roxas too," Riku finished for her, gray locks spilling over his shoulder and brushing the tops of his knees. And he wouldn't lie to Roxas.
A beat, then, seeing Riku had yet to surface from the abyss of despair this revelation had just pulled him into, Char spoke. "I… I think he's doing it to lure Sora to the World That Never Was. So he can let the Heartless take his heart and get Roxas back. Just like what Anxclof was doing, but not as…"
"Direct?" Riku interjected, wry tone significantly deadened by the fact that he spoke to the ground rather than her. He sighed, one hand running back over his hair. "They're not… Xemnas hasn't done anything to her yet, has he?"
"I don't know why he would," Char said, nervous stuttering of her heart in her chest beginning to calm as the near-crippling dread of telling him this ebbed as well. Guiltily, she found herself a little relieved that Riku hadn't jumped up and tried to open a portal to the World That Never Was right then and there. "She's a Princess of Light. If their plan with Sora fails, she's their Plan B for opening Kingdom Hearts."
Riku sighed, the air whooshing out of him as her relief spread to him, though for an entirely different, more altruistic reason. "As long as she's not hurt, then we can keep looking. Ansem's machine is the next step to taking down the Organization," he added, almost as if to reassure himself of why he hadn't taken off already. "So… if we find it here, we can just go straight there and get Kairi."
It's not a big deal, Char could almost hear him telling himself. It's not a big deal.
Before she could stop herself, she leaned forward and lightly pressed her hand against his forearm. The contact made him lift his head with a surprised murmur and stare oddly at her, and she felt a surge of annoyance at the way his pupils darted down to where his warmth was soaking into her fingers through the leather. I can't try and reassure my friend?
Then again, before she had set off with Sora, she wouldn't have bothered trying to reassure him at all, let alone physically.
It'll be fine, Riku, you'll see, we'll get her back, she could almost hear Sora saying, and yet couldn't bring herself to channel him that way. The changes only extended so far, she supposed.
But then the sound of footsteps pattering frantically over the ground became audible, and she quickly withdrew her hand and stood up. Riku did the same, albeit with turning around to watch the young man stumble out from where they had come.
"What's wrong?" Falcon asked, racing up to stand beside Riku. Char heard fabric caressing the light breeze and felt Copperhead silently moving to stand next to her as well.
The intruder had been bent over, hands braced against his knees, to catch his breath, but now he lifted his head to fix them with a pleading stare. Char's eyes widened as she saw something dark and thick ooze down his cheek and fall onto the dirt. Crimson streaked his uniform, and it hit her with the force of a Heartless' claw that she knew this man. "Falcon, Copperhead," he gasped out.
"James?" Copperhead shot forward and caught the young waiter from the restaurant by the shoulders, as he was swaying on his feet. "James, what the hell's going on?"
Hearing his customer's voice, James lifted his head woodenly, though his gaze landed on Falcon, who stood just behind him with her Keyblade already in hand. "Giant Heartless," he managed. "In the town square. Mayor told me to get help."
Copperhead was already wrapping the waiter's arm around his waist and stretching his own across the back of his shoulder for support. "What're we waiting for?" he growled at them, determination tightening his jaw. "We have to get back to town. Now!"
Christmas Town was just as warm as Sora remembered. He readjusted the pumpkin-shaped mask so it didn't obscure his eye quite so much, reflecting on how Donald had transported them down from the Gummi ship with his new staff right after they had donned their Halloween Town garb.
Behind him, Jack Skellington hefted the presents in his arms. "Well, Sora? Lead the way. We've got to get to Sandy's house and get these back to him."
"Of course we do," Donald muttered, only half-jokingly.
"I told you already, I just found these! And Sally worked very hard making this suit, so I figured I should wear it." The skeleton turned back to Sora, ignoring the doubtful grunt from Donald and the indulgent chuckle from Goofy.
"All right, all right," the Keybearer laughed, pushing the door to Santa's house open. As he did so, though, he couldn't help remembering what had happened the last time he had walked into this particular building.
He winced ever so slightly at the memory of rebuking Char for her aversion toward Christmas, before he even knew why she was behaving that way. Before he even knew Ansem was withholding the special gifts, both material and emotional, of Christmas from her.
And, now that he thought about it, before he had even known Ansem's true identity in the first place.
Shaking the regret aside, he stepped into the hallway. Goofy grunted in surprise as he, Donald, and Jack were forced to move into single file to accommodate the narrow corridor, and Sora grinned at the sound, allowing himself a single moment of amusement before talking to Santa; that amusement only amplified when Jack cleared his throat upon stooping down to fit into the doorway.
"You need some help with those presents, Jack?" Sora asked.
The skeleton's face brightened as much as it could. "That would be splendid! Thank you!" He tipped one elbow down to transfer about half of his burden into Sora's grasp.
Turning back around, the brunette trotted into the main room, Jack and the others close behind.
Santa was sitting in front of the burning fireplace, quill scratching away at a long scroll whose ends scraped the floor. Sora guessed he was working on his "nice list," and couldn't help asking, "Am I on your nice list now, Santa?"
Hearing the boy's voice, Santa jolted in surprise and turned to face them. "Good morning, Sora!" he greeted, and then winked with a glimmer in his eye. "And that, my boy, is between me and my elves." Sora pouted a little at that, but the disappointment didn't last long. He set his pile of presents down on the table, and Jack did the same.
Santa's eyes widened at the sight. "Wherever did you two find those? My elves have been scouring Christmas Town for the better part of an hour!"
"They were in Halloween Town," Jack explained. "You'll be needing them for Christmas, right, Sandy?" he went on, heedless of the suspicious slant Father Christmas' eyes gained.
"In Halloween Town, were they?" he asked, cocking his head toward Sora, Donald, and Goofy in a silent request for an explanation. Sora couldn't blame him for his wariness toward Skellington, but at the same time felt the need to defend his friend.
Goofy beat him to it. "Gawrsh, Santa, it wasn't Jack!"
"Or those kids, either," Donald added. He paused, uncertainty coming over his face. "Well, at least I don't think so."
"Well, at any rate…" Santa turned to Jack, who had the good grace to look a little guilty. "This is only a few of the Christmas presents that were stolen."
Sora gave a start. "Only a few?" he repeated incredulously. "Who would steal so many?"
"A regular Scrooge, that's for sure," Donald muttered. "Like who my uncle used to be, before he started enjoying Christmas, too."
"If that's the case, then it couldn't have been Jack," Goofy pointed out.
Santa cast a doubtful eye on the skeleton, eyes roving over the suit that so mimicked his own and looked almost obscene on the much skinnier Halloween Town resident. "You've got to believe us, Sandy," Jack implored. "If you don't, we'll just have to find out who really did it!" His lanky fingers clenched into a fist as he spoke.
Sora nodded fervently, shock fading into determination. "Yeah, we won't let whoever this is ruin Christmas for everyone."
Oh, come on, Key-boy, phantom Char snorted, I thought presents weren't what Christmas was all about?
Before he could offer any sort of mental rebuttal, though, something shattering in the next room over brought him sharply back to the present. He swung his head about, trying to find the source; predictably, this proved unsuccessful, since he only glimpsed Donald steadying himself and Santa looking bewildered.
"What was that?" Goofy gulped.
"I don't know, but it sounded like it came from the factory," Jack said, pointing to the hall that wound its way into the toy manufacturing area.
Santa still looked considerably rattled, but he kept any remaining surprise out of his voice as he spoke. "I wonder…" He stared down at the list of present receivers, which had practically ripped in his grasp due to how badly the sudden breaking noise had startled him, and scanned over it briefly; then raised his head to the others again. "It couldn't be…"
He purposefully trailed off, only glancing down at the scroll before shaking his head firmly. Confused, Sora opened his mouth to speak, but Jack apparently figured out Father Christmas' unspoken accusation. "You don't think it was Lock, Shock, and Barrel again?"
"It's definitely a possibility," Santa murmured.
"We'll go check for you," Sora announced, as much to conceal his mild embarrassment at not having understood the very man who he now believed in as much as the Keyblade's power as to say what they would do next.
The four of them rounded the corner to the candy cane pattern rimming the factory's entrance. Sora waited a couple of seconds, then seized the doorknob and flung the door open.
Sure enough, between the conveyer belts where Oogie had terrorized Sora and his companions, he spotted a pointy shape tossing a shred of wrapping paper off to the side. Shock stared down at the doll in her hand, then slammed it into the ground, her wiry hair bouncing with the fervency of the action. "No!" she cried aloud.
Lock tore a box open to reveal a teddy bear, not unlike the one Sora had clung to around the age when Kairi had shown up. "This one?" the crimson-clad boy prompted, adjusting the devil mask on his face.
"No!" Shock insisted.
"Yeah, that's boring," Barrel added.
"Hey!" Donald shouted, brandishing his staff and waving it in a way that made the bandages hanging off his wrist tremble. "Give those back!"
As one, the three children whirled around, and Sora could almost see their eyes widening behind their masks. Lock shoved the teddy bear behind his back, keeping it close to him, and Barrel scrambled to hold the doll closer. The brunette's eyes widened at seeing this, the very subtle reminder that even with everything the mischievous trio had done – working for Oogie Boogie, hindering Dr. Finkelstein's experiments, helping Maleficent, and, more than likely, stealing the presents – they were still just kids.
Kids who now looked more than a little chagrined at getting caught.
Despite his prior vow to hunt down the present thieves, now that he had found the most fitting culprits, Sora felt his resolve diminish ever so slightly. He held back a sigh. I'm probably going to regret this.
He leapt down from the incline dividing the conveyer belts from the workshop's entrance, with the others hot on his heels. "You guys stole the presents, didn't you?" Jack demanded, his claw-like fingers extended as if ready to launch a dark magic attack at them when they confessed.
"It wasn't us!" Lock insisted.
"But that does sound like fun," Shock realized.
The three of them whirled around and darted off toward the edges of the factory, their giggles rending the air. A flicker of movement from nearby caught Sora's eye, and he glanced over his shoulder, past his friends readying their respective weapons. What he saw made his eyes widen: a single elf, peeking out from a present-filled alcove that lay beneath the inclined floor, watching them.
Whirling back around, Sora shouted, "Oh no you don't!" and lifted his hand. The Guardian Soul appeared and pointed toward them. Concentrating all his energy into what he needed – a way to gather them together and hold them without actually injuring them – he squeezed his eyes shut. He paid the puzzled cries of his friends no mind, only narrowing his mind into a focus on a way to trap the children; it became a tunnel down which he wandered for a few moments, and then –
"What the –?" Barrel yelped, his voice mingling with his friends' startled whimpers. Sora opened his eyes carefully, only for them to fly open in amazement. Directly across from the Guardian Soul's blunt shaft, a swirling, full diamond of shadow surrounded by two orbiting globes held the struggling Halloween Town residents in place.
"You – what – what's going on?" Lock wriggled valiantly, to no avail.
"I didn't know you still knew the Magnet spell, Sora," Donald gaped from behind him.
Sora didn't risk glancing back for fear it would fragment his concentration and cause Lock, Shock, and Barrel to flee again. "I didn't, either," he said, still in awe as to how he had done it.
"Good work, Sora!" Jack said, striding forward and staring hard at the three children caught in the diamond's grip.
"Let us go!" Shock snarled.
Sora shook his head. "C'mon, guys," he said, more than a little uncomfortable with this. It was either this or beating them up, he protested against the feeling. "We just want to know where you put the presents." Predictably, his anxiety only increased. This was more underhanded than he had ever wanted to get. Extorting children.
"We already told you we don't have 'em!" Barrel spat, initial terror apparently having vanished.
"Then why are you in here?" Donald demanded.
The children hesitated a moment, exchanged glances as best they could, then seemed to figure refusing to answer would only worsen matters for them. "We're looking for parts for the experiment," Lock said.
"Experiment?" Jack blinked, dropping his hands back to his sides.
"Yup! Dr. Finkelstein is making us a friend! One we get to boss around!" Barrel said.
"But Christmas presents are boring," Lock added, voice strained as he continued to wiggle about in the magnetic grip. "They're not scary at all."
"We should get back to Halloween Town," Shock said pointedly.
This time, Sora recognized an admission of defeat when he heard it. He jerked his Keyblade down, dispelling the pull that locked the children together as he did so, and they fell to an unceremonious heap on the ground.
Donald watched them scramble to their feet and scurry off out the door with disgust, then turned back to Sora. "Well, now what?"
"I guess we tell Santa that the kids ain't the thieves," Goofy said, a little disappointed. Guilt warred with that disappointment, which Sora found himself understanding, for the same feelings plagued him as well. If the kids had stolen the gifts, then the mystery could have been solved, and Donald could wave his staff and take them back to the Gummi ship in time for lunch.
This wasn't about food or finishing things quickly, though. A bloom of curiosity began to poke through Sora's heart, growing rapidly and refusing to leave things as they were. He nodded and turned to head back to Santa's main room, only to find himself face to face with a contemplative, muttering Jack.
"Experiment," he murmured to himself, tapping his skull with a finger. "Experiment."
"Jack?" Sora waved his free hand in front of Skellington's face, making him start and look down at him.
"What's up?" Goofy asked.
Jack shook his head. "Oh, it's nothing. It's just that Dr. Finkelstein has been working on something lately… but I heard it was a failed trial."
Sora folded his arms. "Well, for now, all we can do is tell Santa what's going on."
Complete chaos had descended on the town square by the time Copperhead dragged James' unconscious body past a group of howling people. In the relatively few minutes it had taken to shove the rest of their lunches down their throats and allot enough time for Copperhead to catch up with his precious burden, the clouds that had watched over them all morning had yielded some of their burden. Now a thin, icy mist coated the air and cascaded down, swathing the shapes of the very few townspeople who had gone out despite the weather fleeing and screaming in terror in a freezing curtain.
Falcon shoved past Copperhead, and Char watched her charge headlong into the mist toward a set of vaguely human-shaped silhouettes before panic seized her chin and made her desperately search the area. Giant Heartless, giant Heartless…
Beside her, Riku gripped the Soul Eater tighter in his hand, shivering from more than just the downpour piercing through his cloak. "You'd think a gigantic Heartless would be easier to see," he muttered, barely audible over the cries and shrieks of the crowd. Although his words sounded wry enough, his actions and restlessness the entire way here – fidgeting anxiously whenever Copperhead had to stop and re-adjust his grip on the quickly-fading James – belied that tone.
"Mayor!" Copperhead suddenly gasped, and the two of them turned in time to see the portly man approaching. His bloodshot gray eyes darted about, as if making sure he stood well out of the eye of this disaster's source, before addressing his subordinate, whose grip on the unconscious waiter's shoulder had grown slack.
"I'm so glad you're here," Hickory said, body jolting in a shudder as a particularly cold droplet lanced down his spine. He glanced around, then asked, slight nervousness flitting across the query, "Where is Falcon?"
Copperhead nodded quickly to acknowledge the mayor's greeting, at the same time never ceasing in his surveying the area. So far only the occasional burst of water created by panicking citizens charging through puddles broke the steady wall of mist, but Char knew he was watching for a much larger spurt to rend the air. Somehow, his vigilance did not shock her as much it should have, to observe a seemingly-careless pervert actually giving a damn about tactics.
Maybe because she had just watched him drag his friend all the way back here.
"Getting the people to safety, I guess. Hey, uh, look, sir," he added quickly, all but shoving James' catatonic, bloody shape into Hickory's arms, "could you get him to safety? And for the love of the gods, get him some medical attention; I know you've got some people who know Curaga working in the office. Get him to them, please."
Hickory stared blankly back at him, then down at the young man whose blood was already beginning to swirl and mingle with the falling rain. "I… all right," he said finally, clearly figuring flight was the best option now and the questions could come later.
Copperhead nodded to his boss, gratitude softening his face. "Thank you, sir. You can take as much money off my paycheck as you need to for this."
Hickory looked as if he would very much like to take umbrage, but one solid stare from Riku made him relent. He simply bobbed his head once and began to move steadily but surely back toward the city hall.
As fate would have it, at that very moment, something crashed onto the ground, and Char blinked as dark lightning illuminated her vision and effectively dispelled most of the rain's translucent curtain. In the time it took for those lightning bolts to fade, three things occurred: Riku and Char clutched their weapons tighter; Copperhead slid his scythe out of its scabbard and held it, blade out; and a very familiar voice snarled out from the storm, "A little help would be nice!"
Falcon's order snapped the three of them out of an odd sort of trance. From the downpour, a huge, violet shape stepped forward, footfalls rippling along the ground and making them stumble. Just in front of the shape, a much smaller figure stumbled as the full effect of the vibrations hit it, almost crumpling it to the ground.
"Fal!" Copperhead shouted, charging forward. Falcon steadied herself as he approached, but he dashed right past her and into the rain.
"C'mon!" Riku called to Char. She nodded, at the same time wondering how much this would echo their first battle with the Heartless and the Nobodies. Admittedly their appearance had caught her off guard and rendered her effectively motionless for the first few moments or so, but Falcon and Riku had focused only on taking down Heartless. She narrowed her eyes, at the same time working one hand into the pocket where she had stashed the healing items Copperhead had bought her. If worse comes to worst, at least I'll be able to help myself.
Still, she couldn't help but miss Sora's easy camaraderie and the way he watched out for his friends in battle.
Especially now, when Falcon appeared from the mist and barely rolled away from a shadowy lightning bolt in time.
But then the rain parted just slightly, enough to fully reveal exactly what had appeared to terrorize the town, and Char's breath caught in a choked gasp. The beast threw its horned head back and roared before leaping forward with more strength she would have thought its massive frame possessed; in the time it took for gravity to pull the Heartless back down again, she and Riku sprang apart in opposite directions.
It landed, making the ground turn liquid beneath Char's feet and forcing her to struggle for balance. She managed to catch herself by digging one sword into the ground and stood, shaking from more than just the cold. Rainwater dripped off the main blade of her sword as she took in every detail of the monster. Violet skin, long tusks, a single obsidian horn that rose up from its head and glowed now as it turned, rain driving around it and silhouetting its form in a line of water.
This particular Heartless conjured up the days of watching Sora's memories, of his rolling desperately out of the line of fire of the Heartless guarding the gate to darkness. Rainbow-colored shadows and light alike had intertwined around Sora, Donald, Goofy, and the Beast, who had fought alongside the main trio in Hollow Bastion.
It's only fitting that this thing's name is Behemoth.
Riku snarling in pain ripped her out of her thoughts, and she raced forward, frantically scraping the edges of her reminiscence to figure out how Sora had managed to take this thing down.
The Behemoth roared again, dark lightning sputtering into oblivion, though this time it sounded more furious than anything else. Falcon stood on the other side of it, view of her dread-filled face visible between the Heartless' legs, and lowered her Keyblade. "I guess magic doesn't work!" she called.
Riku lifted himself off the ground, eyes narrowing and jaw bulging, as if staving off the fiery agony that heralded an old injury ripping open again. Even from here, Char could see his features contorted in thought, then he shook his head with a frustrated snarl. "We'll just have to beat it down, then!"
"But how are we supposed to do that?" Copperhead's voice startled them all into turning, just in time to see him running out of the downpour. The grip he had on his scythe, which would have been white-knuckled had gloves not covered his hands, made the weapon tremble ever so slightly. "Unless we can jump, like, twenty feet into the air!"
Char shook her head, trying to think. Before she could say anything to the effect of having read about this as a researcher, though, both her mind and the Heartless brought her up short. Because this wasn't Sora, and because Riku had experienced the brunette's memories with her.
Because the Behemoth was lifting one cloven hoof again and stomping it into the ground.
Falcon was ready this time, and managed to brace herself against the shocks. When the Heartless readied its hoof to crush her, she easily rolled out of the way; the others, however, did not share the same fortune, and Copperhead yelped as he almost impaled himself on his scythe's blade.
The Behemoth turned its monstrous head toward Falcon, drawn by the pull of her Keyblade, and she met its glare with one of her own. Taking the opportunity while its guard was down, Char leaped forward, feet skidding over the slippery ground, and managed to land on the edge of its cloven hoof.
"Blaze, what's going on?" Copperhead roared, voice straining to be heard over the Heartless bellowing in surprise. The way he had landed on the ground after the Behemoth's quake had winded him as well, making his voice hoarse and reedy.
Char ignored the nickname for now and just thanked every god in existence that the path from her foe's legs up to its body was a fairly even one. "The horn!" she screamed, pointing one sword to it. "If we can get the horn, then we can beat it!"
"And you know this how?" Falcon shouted from below, skepticism somehow managing to drip off every word even with her voice raised.
"I read it in a book once!" The lie slipped from Char's lips before her common sense could preclude it, and she cringed, hoping beyond anything that Riku would just ignore it.
Her prayers proved valid: he just stood, and the tiny movement from the dark-clad shape below signified his nodding. Char breathed a sigh of relief, both from his lack of conjecture and from her lack of fearing heights. Both things that would make this whole thing even more of a pain in the ass.
She confronted the dark, unyielding horn before her and drove one sword into it, wondering if she could cleave it in two. Predictably, this attempt didn't succeed, and she stumbled back, panting angrily from exertion even as the Behemoth screeched in pain.
"Oh, shut up!" she snarled, delivering a series of blows to its horn. This proved too much for it to handle, and Char had a split second of warning to feel her center of gravity shift before the Behemoth began to collapse.
Quickly, she hopped off its back down to the ground, only to hiss in surprise when the impact created by the Heartless' fall pushed her forward and would have made her fall into the nearest puddle had Copperhead not reached out and steadied her in time. She looked up and gave a nod of silent thanks.
As one, the four of them faced the prone Heartless lying on the ground. "Is it dead?" Falcon asked, voice and body tense.
Riku shook his head, bringing his bat-wing blade up to his typical fighting stance. "I don't think so. Its horn is still glowing." Sure enough, the glow that still surrounded the Behemoth's weak point illuminated its hideous face like a lighthouse beacon amidst the rain.
"So what, we just beat on it until it gets back up again?" Copperhead gripped his scythe tighter. "I don't care how long it takes. I'll beat this thing down as many times as it keeps getting up!"
He led the assault into the Behemoth's horn, curved blade creating broad arcs in the air. The others avoided the fury of his attacks as best they could; Falcon slanted a glare across at him only momentarily, before seeming to reconcile with the fact that he was only helping them and joining in with rapid strikes of her own Keyblade. Char slashed furiously into the offending creature's horn, fierce determination channeling into every slice; although she didn't understand why she cared so much about Falcon's situation, she figured the least she could do was vent her stress on the obstacle before them and make it pay for appearing here and now. Even Riku, encumbered by his side injury as he was, carved a dark blur in midair with the Soul Eater becoming little more than an extension to his arm and a means to convey his fury.
The snarls and grunts of exertion turned to startled cries as the Behemoth suddenly lurched beneath their blades, and it flung them away with a flash of lightning. The aforementioned lightning sliced into Char's eyes; although she figured it originated from their enemy and not from the sky, whose gray hue leaned more toward the paleness of heavy rain rather than thunder and lightning, it still startled her.
She barely caught herself in time, and Riku, who landed beside her, turned back to her. "What do you say we keep wailing on its horn?" he suggested, a fierce smirk coming over his features.
Although his current expression reminded her all too strongly of Xehanort's Heartless when he had claimed every heart had to return to darkness, Char found herself, strangely, not giving a damn about that at the moment. She grinned back, adrenaline surging anew in her veins despite her sore muscles and lightning-induced bruises. "I think I can deal with that."
"Falcon, Copperhead!" Riku shouted to them.
The latter was occupied with swinging at the air, which confused and annoyed Char at first; however, upon closer inspection, she saw that he was dispelling a series of fiery spheres raining down and making the rainfall sizzle into steam. Falcon, however, paused in dodging them to glance at Riku.
"Think you guys could distract him while me and Char attack the horn?" Riku continued, voice raising in a crescendo as the Behemoth roared and stomped its hoof.
Falcon stumbled, crying out as she collapsed to the ground in a way that was audible from their distance. Copperhead immediately lowered his scythe and turned to her, but she swatted his hand away and quickly gulped down a Potion's contents before shoving the empty vial back into her pocket. "Yeah. Sure. Distraction. We can do that."
Seeing his former friend's wounds close up, Copperhead just nodded and faced the Behemoth squarely. "I am all about distractions!" he announced, a little too brightly.
Char rolled her eyes, at the same time charging toward the Behemoth's back leg with Riku at her side. As she reached the hoof and crouched low to leap onto its back – get on the Hydra's back! Phil yelled from weeks past – she heard water splashing behind her and turned to see Riku on one knee, grimacing.
"You all right?" she asked, at the same time watching the Behemoth's hoof in her periphery in case it rose up.
That head of gray hair lifted to stare at her, and Riku stood abruptly, swaying a bit as he did so. "I'm fine. Just the stupid wound acting up." He ran past her, using the momentum from that run to land squarely on the Behemoth's haunch. Glancing back from where he knelt there, he quirked a brow. "You coming or what?"
Snapping out of her concerned haze, Char huffed. "Of course."
Together, they climbed up to the Behemoth's horn and slashed into it. By the time the beast howled in agony again and began plummeting to the ground, just pulling her rain-soaked bangs out of her eyes required a herculean amount of effort, and it was all she could do not to collapse when she and Riku jumped back to the ground.
Shaking off the exhaustion, Char joined the others at the barely conscious Heartless' head. As she moved to stand in front of Falcon and Copperhead, she immediately noticed she wasn't the only one whose sore, sustenance-deprived muscles screamed for rest. Even though Falcon had used one of her healing panaceas earlier, blood oozed from one leg and past her boot-clad foot to mingle in a puddle, while Copperhead swiped some dripping hair out of his eyes and came away with the already-dark fabric of his glove just a bit darker.
"Next time you tell us to be a distraction," Falcon muttered, the words straining past heavy panting, "make sure we're ready first." She was actually glaring at Riku with some measure of irritation, making Char's eyebrows jump up into her bangs. Didn't think she had it in her.
Riku quickly distributed Potions all around, muttering a terse apology to Falcon. "We'll talk about it later," was all he said before blades began swinging.
Only when bits of obsidian started flying and one grazed a thin cut across Char's cheek did she notice that one of them had managed to score a deep enough cut across the Behemoth's horn for it to crack; from the arcing angle of it, she figured it was probably Copperhead. He didn't seem to notice, though, focused single-mindedly on damaging the beast as much as possible before it got up again.
"Guys, the horn's cracked!" she screamed, but something all but muffled her announcement. Dread suffused her heart and all but shoved it into her stomach as the violet shape dominating her vision heaved itself up off the ground with a primal snarl.
"Oh, come on!" Copperhead groaned. The determination that had propelled him forward earlier seemed to have petered off in favor of annoyance.
Almost as if in response to his complaint, their enemy threw its head back, sparks of light dropping off its cracked horn and all but exploding as they made contact with the rainfall. Char's lips twisted wryly at the caricature of fireworks, but it only took a moment for that wryness to morph into fear, as the sparks that remained securely within that dark spike began to coalesce into something much more dangerous.
"Riku!" she shouted, but he had beaten her to it. Falcon and Copperhead had been frozen to the ground in horrified anticipation – the latter had actually started moving toward the female Keybearer, presumably to protect her from whatever last resort this beast had up its imaginary sleeve – but they both snapped out of their trance at Char's voice hoarsely calling her friend's name.
A dark shape moved on the Behemoth's head then, one whose human-like form revealed that the horn had yet to explode with the power it was accumulating within. Vaguely, Char wondered if she and Riku had resembled ants wielding flashing sticks this closely to Falcon and Copperhead when they had kept their enemy busy.
But then a furious snarl was pealing out from the young man on top of the Behemoth's head, one that curled out across the freezing, damp air, and a dark light flashed from above. For a brief, terrifying moment – during which Falcon let out a sharp gasp and clutched her Keyblade all the more tightly – the thought crossed Char's mind, horribly, horribly, that the power that had amassed within the Behemoth's scythe-rent horn had channeled itself into Riku.
And at point-blank range, well…
Suddenly Copperhead chuckled under his breath and shook his head, blinking rainwater off his lashes. "Look," was all he said, resting the butt of his scythe on the ground so he could point with his free hand.
Char and Falcon traced the line of his finger and beyond with their eyes, the former with budding hope, and the latter with desperate desire. A beat; then obsidian fragments splintered, joining the liquid rain as a solid hail of their own, falling to the ground in front of them.
The Behemoth roared, rearing up onto its hind legs. Its head and torso vanished into the clouds, its fore legs reached up and clutched something above, and then its entire body vanished in a whirl of dark smoke, leaving the heart it held inside a relatively short journey to Kingdom Hearts.
A black-clad form, becoming more human-like as it grew closer, leapt to the ground, and Riku landed with a heavy splash. His wincing at the impact of his fall dulled the effect of the move, but he met all their eyes with a smirk. "You're welcome," was all he said.
Char sighed in relief, making her swords vanish so she could comb shaking fingers back through her bangs. Copperhead let out a jubilant cry and curled his arm so his scythe's handle lay in its crook. "Dang, Riku. Showing off is my job." While a mock-offended slant marked his words, the breath that hissed out of him and became part of the rain wobbled just slightly and belied his immense gratefulness that Riku's stunt hadn't ended badly.
Riku lifted both palms up into the air, Soul Eater dissolving in a spritz of black mist as he did so. "I figured you'd want to share that burden with somebody. And anyway, if you hadn't cracked the horn, I wouldn't have been able to break it in the first place."
"Don't even think about giving him any credit," Char groaned, tremble dying down at the return of Riku's typical cockiness. The quakes that had wracked her body and overtaken her muscles – first out of concern and then out of relief – finally calmed, allowing her to recover some dryness and place it into her voice without it sounding too forced.
"Ouch, Blaze, that's cold." Copperhead's shoulders slumped, and he reached into his pocket to pull out and force down another Potion. Wiping some of the pale blue liquid off the corner of his mouth, he tossed the empty vial away into a puddle, where it landed with a light splash. "I'm just glad we're all okay."
"You and me both," Char muttered, folding her arms and determinedly avoiding Riku's gaze. In the heat of battle, she had forgotten all about the tension that wove shadowy fingers throughout their group; only now that blood replaced adrenaline in her veins did she remember exactly how fiercely she had spat at Riku yesterday and the day before.
He's still your friend, though. And he did save your life from Anxclof.
Which she still had yet to thank him for, she realized with a twinge of guilt.
Thinking of the other two members of their group, Char abruptly noticed Falcon had said nothing this entire time and turned to face her. The rain was letting up now, its disappearance almost uncanny in nature; if Char didn't know any better she would have thought the Behemoth had caused it. As it was, though, the clouds that had promised a downpour earlier in the day were beginning to clear, leaving only a sharp bite to the air.
Falcon's expression of fading desperation showed all too starkly in the wake of how rain had spread a translucent wall across the area. With the part of her mind that was still alert to her surroundings, Char heard people's voices rising and footsteps lancing across puddles as the citizens emerged from their hiding spots. She understood the need to ascertain just how much business the item shop would have in the next few minutes, but paid no true heed to this; the rational part of her screamed to leave this situation be, yet Char ignored it and just watched Falcon's mouth drop open. Her eyes had fixed on Riku, as if by drilling her gaze into him she could make sure he was the one who stood in front of her.
Just when Riku's features were beginning to tighten into an uncomfortable expression, though, Falcon seemed to collapse forward, only catching herself by her fingers coiling into fists and landing, heel first, against his chest.
Amber eyes flew wide, a surprised grunt forcing itself out of him as he stared down at the dark head pushed against the middle of his sternum. Stupidly, inanely, amidst the fog of confusion that had wreathed itself about her thoughts – not once during the admittedly short time Char had known her had Falcon gotten even this close to embracing him – was Xehanort really was tall.
Riku lifted his head almost reluctantly, sweeping his startled pupils across the others to gauge their reactions. Char's was about what he expected – surprise gradually transitioning into amusement, glittering in her narrowed eyes – and he couldn't help wondering if she would ever let this go. Probably not, he mentally answered, but affection filled the thought instead of exasperation.
Dread suffused his body as he glanced to Copperhead: a seemingly unfounded feeling, considering how he had just congratulated Riku heartily not two minutes earlier, and yet the worry oozed past his shock toward Falcon and the warmth he could feel emanating just from her hands. However, he only found a head of blonde hair turned determinedly away from him, as Copperhead was currently staring at the ground. Riku's muscles loosened from their tense positions in guilty relief that he didn't have to see the jealousy that Falcon so often exuded in waves around Char in Copperhead's face.
Because I know it's there.
He stared back down at Falcon, who had not moved even in the slightest during his absorbing his friends' reactions. Gods, but that raw confusion flowed right back into him at remembering what had just happened. "Falcon?" he managed, fingers twitching at his side. He hated the uncertainty that marked the gesture, but it more than fit what he felt at her unexpected closeness, something that only Sora and Kairi had enacted toward him.
Thinking of Kairi, he suddenly remembered the source of his discomfort toward Falcon's all-too-obvious feelings in the first place, and would have pushed her back right then and there had she not suddenly drawn in a breath.
One that sounded very distinctively like the patented rattle of a person fighting back tears.
A hiccup, a muffled sob whose timbre he felt more than heard, and then she spoke, trembling voice lancing through the air. "Don't ever do something that dumb again."
Riku's hands remained at his sides for a moment longer, before his sympathy proved too much for him and told him not to act on his desperate urge to shove her back and make this awkwardness go away. Just when his mind had begun to consider curling one hand around her shoulders, though, Copperhead suddenly said, "Mayor, sir?"
As one, the four of them turned to face Hickory, who had trotted up from the city hall. The stout man looked from redhead to subordinate, then to Keyblade wielder and emissary of darkness, gaze gaining a rather teasing twinkle as he settled upon the last two a moment longer. Falcon seemed to realize she still clung to him, threads of warmth connecting them by the heels of her fists still pressed to Riku's chest, and quickly drew back. Despite his prior indecision at whether or not to break the embrace, he found himself watching her hands as they vanished behind her back. "Sir," she greeted stiffly.
Hickory smiled, face practically bursting with the extent and intensity of his grin. Even Char stepped back at the sight. "You four were magnificent!" he praised, clapping his hands together. "We thought for sure that the town was doomed until you returned."
Riku shrugged one shoulder. "It was nothing," he muttered. Even as the modest declaration escaped him, though, his body seemed to take umbrage at it in the form of sending pinpricks of pain into his wounds. In particular, the old one – the one the Behemoth had almost torn open anew – from yesterday gave a vengeful pang; it was all he could do not to gasp and bring a hand to the afflicted area.
Thankfully, his attempt at self-restraint proved successful, as not even Falcon turned and asked what was wrong. The dark-haired girl just stepped forward, lifting her chin and pushing the Azure Ice Keychain back into her pocket. "We couldn't just let it run around and destroy everything," she said, tone becoming distinctly brusque. It was the mien she always adopted around her clients when they were thanking her profusely for having killed that Heartless or arranged those supplies, and yet now it sounded a bit strained.
"But you all put yourself into danger to save us. Even you two," Hickory added to Char and Riku. "You're not even from here, and yet you put your lives on the line for strangers."
Char shrugged, though not without a shadow flickering over her face. Riku could almost hear her thinking it's something I learned from Sora.
As much as he didn't enjoy admitting it, he had something in common with her there.
"We did it!" Jack crowed. "The mystery is solved!"
Sora watched Dr. Finkelstein's experiment give off a black mist and couldn't hold back a sigh of relief, both at their mechanical adversary's defeat and at the lack of heart flying out from its body. At least this wouldn't help the Organization. "Thank goodness for that," he murmured, falling to the ground and wincing as the snow, while warm, seeped into the shallow scratches along his calves.
"Christmas is on again!" Donald announced, lifting his staff triumphantly.
Goofy had been moving about, pushing the gifts that the experiment had stolen together into a circle, but jolted in surprise as a jingling noise resounded in the air. Sora looked up just in time to see a blur of red as Santa stepped off his sleigh.
He opened his mouth to speak, only to glance down at the burst of color in the white snow and smile. Although they had placed some presents in the middle of the clearing as bait for the gift thief, the increased amount of brightly-wrapped boxes, as well as the nicks and scratches that remained after Donald's rigorous healing, told the story. "I see you caught the thief?" Santa asked.
"You bet, Sandy!" Jack puffed out his skeletal chest and grinned.
Donald had been poking around at the reindeer's harnesses, only to squawk as the one he was pestering stretched its neck downward and glared at him. Quickly, the duck scooted away.
"Uh, Santa, sir?" Goofy began. "What I don't understand is why a robot would go around stealin' Christmas presents."
"A robot?" Santa looked around, only to give a minor start when he saw the experiment's hollow shell on the ground. Its dark eyes stared emptily out at them, and despite the fact that only its main, bell-shaped component remained, Sora couldn't help remembering how those claws had scored down his body and flung bright, fiery beams out at them.
"D-don't get too close," he quickly said. "I think we took it out, but I can't be sure."
Santa nodded a bit nervously, then turned back to the experiment still lying on the ground. "What is this?" he queried. "A sort of moving puppet?"
Jack gave a nod of confirmation, stepping closer to Father Christmas and sweeping his long fingers over the husk. "It was made by Dr. Finkelstein. And I suppose it found its way here. Although I must agree with you, Goofy," he added to the knight, who straightened at being addressed. Skellington brought one hand to his chin and stroked thoughtfully. "Why would a moving puppet want Christmas presents?"
Sora blinked, stared down at the ground with a thoughtful murmur of his own. He hadn't considered the motives behind the robot's actions; when the four of them had poked their heads out from behind the snow-dusted wall lining the clearing and spotted the experiment nudging some presents into its grasp, only the desire to give it just retribution for nearly ruining Christmas had governed every swing of the Guardian Soul. Yet now that Goofy had raised the question of exactly why the experiment had done what it had – why it was the thief, and not the Heartless they had chased down well into the afternoon – it refused to leave him alone.
"Well…" Father Christmas began.
"What is it, Sandy?" Jack asked, lowering his hand back down to his side and listening curiously. Such an interested expression was almost comical for him right now, what with the false woolen beard hanging from his chin and the hat that mirrored Santa's own.
"I can't help but wonder if all this poor creature wanted was a heart," the old man finished.
"A heart?" Donald blinked, now lost. Sora had to admit he felt the same.
"I can't explain it for certain," Santa said, "but…" He trailed off, just looking at Jack. Hesitation and sympathy warred on his face for a moment, then he drew his stout body up and spoke. "Jack, I know you can't deliver presents. It's my job. But –" and this made the formerly wilting skeleton straighten abruptly with a growing smile – "I can give you an idea of what it's like."
Just like that, just with that one promise, Jack's face lit up more brightly than the Christmas lights strung about the houses beyond ever could. "You really mean it?" he gasped, hands pressing against his chin in excitement.
Santa chuckled. "Yes, Jack. I do. Just, ah, do make sure to bring the sleigh back." He spoke teasingly enough, but from the way Jack's hollow eyes were tenderly running over the sleigh, the concern was a valid one.
"Don't worry, we'll make sure he doesn't," Donald said, at the same time taking a few not-so-conspicuous steps away from the reindeer.
Sora grinned for a moment, then felt his amusement fade away to something a little like sympathy as the lone gray shape on the ground drew his gaze. Already, falling snow had begun to cascade down onto the experiment's last remnant and speckled its already-cold metallic exterior with ivory. Despite the difficult battle that had preceded Santa's appearance, the brunette couldn't help wondering what Santa had meant when he had declared the experiment's desire for a heart. It's a machine; how does it want anything? Although the thought was distinctively his own, elements of Char had stamped themselves into the incredulity-fueled question as well.
"Santa," he began, wondering why he was bothering, "would, uh… would it be okay if we went on the sleigh with Jack?"
Donald narrowed his eyes, clearly flashing back to their first time here, when Sora had allowed his enthusiasm at Santa's existence to shine through all too brightly. Before he could speak, though, Sora quickly cut him off, making the duck snap his bill shut with his glare. "I want to take the experiment back to the doctor," he explained. "Maybe ask him why it went looking for a heart here."
"Can we, sir?" Goofy asked, a vaguely pleading whine edging his words as much as it could without compromising his manners.
The red-clad man sighed. "Well, I suppose. You're the ones who would keep Jack in line, after all."
While the skeleton let out a dramatic groan of mock indignation, Sora couldn't help the pleased cry that escaped him as he dashed around the side of the sleigh. He surveyed its bottom edge for a brief moment before spotting a series of small outcrops jutting out; they were spaced closely together, as if to accommodate Santa's smaller legs, but Sora still managed to ascend without tripping too much.
Jack moved over a couple of inches to make room for the Keybearer; now that Sora was closer, he could see Skellington's boot-clad feet tapping in eager anticipation and the way his bone knuckles bulged slightly with his tight grip on the reins. For a moment, the brunette stared out at the view offered at even this small increase in height: the reindeer's harnesses caressing their backs; the white sphere at the top of Santa's hat waving as he shook his head indulgently; the snowfall not intensifying in the slightest, just gently moving down; the Christmas tree reflected in the icy lake along the pathway.
As he watched, he thought, suddenly, desperately, I wish next Christmas, Riku and Kairi and Char would be here to see this with me.
Hopefully this journey would end before another year passed.
"Uh, Sora?" Donald coughed from below, making the brunette lean precariously over the side.
"You forgot the experiment," Goofy pointed out, poking his head out from behind the bell-shaped burden in his arms. The aforementioned husk's claws dragged as the knight walked closer, leaving deep furrows in the newly-fallen snow.
"Oh yeah," Sora laughed sheepishly. Ignoring Donald's eye roll and grumbles, he almost stretched his hands out to take the experiment, only to draw back when he realized how difficult this would be.
"Why don't you use that trick you did to get Lock, Shock, and Barrel?" Jack suggested from Sora's other side.
The Keybearer blinked and gave his friend a grateful look; even with his eagerness to be on his way, he was still trying to give good suggestions. "Good idea!"
Turning back to Goofy, whose legs had started to wobble ever so slightly under the weight of his burden in even his powerful grip, Sora summoned the Guardian Soul to his side and concentrated. The last thing he saw before his eyes slipped closed was falling snow landing on the Keyblade's shaft.
After a few moments, though, his doubt of accomplishing what Goofy couldn't vanished, and he opened his eyes in time to see the experiment levitating in the same spinning diamond from earlier. Slowly, with Donald hissing "careful" repeatedly as he hopped onto the sleigh's steps, the Keybearer lowered the experiment to wedge itself into the back of the vessel. It tucked neatly into the gap between the back's edge and one sack of gifts, and Sora released it, sighing in relief. "Okay, now we can go," he said.
Donald and Goofy joined Sora and Jack in the sleigh, and the very latter looked down at Santa, a twinkle in his eyes. "Thank you so much, Sandy."
"It's the least I can do, Jack. As for you three," Father Christmas craned his neck to Sora, Donald, and Goofy, who straightened in turn at his beady eyes on them, "once you've returned the experiment, feel free to come back to my house for the evening."
Sora's eyes widened at the unexpected hospitality. "I… are you sure?" he managed. "I mean, it'll be nice to not have to sleep in the Gummi ship, but –"
"Sora!" Donald squawked, slapping one wing over Sora's mouth and making him splutter at the taste of feathers. He shoved the duck back and glared at him, which was returned with gusto.
Santa laughed, gloved hands rubbing over his ample belly. "There's no need for concern, Donald. I know what you're after. Remember exactly who I am," he added playfully.
He sees you when you're sleeping; he knows when you're awake. Sora fought a shiver; it seemed the old verses had more than a little truth in them. "Then you know why we have to leave in the morning," he said.
When he earned a nod in response, he looked to Donald and Goofy. "What do you guys think?" As much as he wanted to accept the offer, Sora knew he had to at least ask.
His skepticism proved unfounded when both Disney residents gave sound nods of agreement. "Of course we wanna stay for a while," Goofy said, smiling as best he could with his overgrown fangs.
"And what about –?" Jack began, but Sora quickly copied Donald and pushed his hand over his mouth.
"We should get going," he said.
He turned to look out at the view again, feet shifting as he got comfortable – only for him to still abruptly and frown as his foot grazed something on the floor of the sleigh. Leaning down as best he could with the limited room, he groped about for a couple of seconds; when he felt something smooth beneath his fingers, his eyes widened, and he nearly bumped his head as he straightened back up again.
"A Keychain?" he murmured aloud.
Jack leaned over to look, finger curiously tracing over the charm at the end. "It looks like Zero," he commented.
"Wonder why," Donald mused, the bottom half of his mummified face disappearing into his hand as he thought.
Goofy shrugged helplessly, and Sora glanced down at Santa questioningly, intending to ask why it was in his sleigh. What he found, though, was Father Christmas smiling secretly to himself.
Just like last time, he was tacitly reminding one of them something – only this time, it was Sora, not Char. And the Keybearer felt new resolve course through him at the unspoken message here.
This is for you. Keep going, and do what needs to be done.
Be well.
Pocketing the Keychain, he glanced back at Jack and cried, "Full speed ahead, Mister Claus!"
Santa is kind of a BAMF in this fic. o_O Didn't mean to make him that way, but w/e.
Also, nothing is more awkward than finding out you named two completely different characters Hickory and then having to go back and change one of them to James.
Review, please!