Next chapter! Before we get started, I'd like to promote myself a little.
Nehrut: "Oh, this aughta be good."
Shut up. Anywho, I've had a DeviantArt account for a while now, and have done very little with it. Pretty soon, I'm gonna start posting some of my amateurish stuff on there. So, check it out in the next few days if you feel up for a self-esteem boost on your own artistic skills.
Nehrut: "I'm sure you'll impress everybody. In the meantime though, DarthKingdom doesn't own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Square Enix, or anything else."
!
Chapter 104: The Forty Thieves
Unseen by the guests to the wedding at the palace, several figures were silently sneaking into its back entrance. They couldn't be seen at all, save for a faint shimmering quality in the air around them. It was as though a heat haze was located there, and in Agrabah, this wasn't hard to imagine.
They only became visible when they were sure they were out of sight.
There were no less than forty-two people in the small storage-room like entrance to the palace. For the most part, they were a diverse collection of dirty thugs, cutthroats, bandits, and the like, though four stood out in particular.
The first of these was a tall man. He wore a loose-fitting black tunic and pants, with a violet sash around his waist. He wore a long travelling cloak of midnight blue, held in place by a gold pendant. This expanded into a hood and cloth covering that obscured all of his head, aside from his dark, calculating eyes.
The second man was even taller, and looked ridiculously different from the first. He was heavily muscled, with a shaved head, and skin that was almost grey. He had a thin moustache and stubble on his chin. He wore a black and violet vest, and loose-fitting blue pants. He had brown arm bands and a golden claw-like weapon in his left hand.
The third was a tall man with long brown hair that went down his shoulders. He had sickly yellow eyes, and a long scar running across his face; a memento of some battle long-past. He wore an outer robe of beige, with the Brotherhood's emblem on the back, and a black tunic and pants: Klaxam.
The last was the shortest. He wore the black coat of Organization XIII. His hair was some strange color between grey and black, and one long lock of it hung over the right side of his face. Only one of his blue eyes could be seen. It was Zexion; the Cloaked Schemer, and number VI of the Organization.
"This had better not be another wild goose chase." The large man growled to the one in blue, brandishing his claws threateningly.
"Rest assured, Sa'luk," The man replied, in a voice that suggested the claws didn't scare him, "The oracle is the real thing. This time I'm sure."
"I should hope so, Cassim." Klaxam said. "We're offering you a great deal of resources, here. I'd be very disappointed if I learned that it was all for naught."
"My friend, you needn't worry. Once the oracle leads us to it, you will have our full support."
"Let's hope that you're worth the effort." Zexion added.
!
Sora had only ever been inside the royal palace once, and that had been in the deep basement where they had entombed Jafar's lamp (not that that precaution had done much good, in the end).
As such, he had had no idea just how extravagant the inside was. The pavilion where the wedding was to take place was on the south end of the palace. Colorful banners hung from the ceiling and walls. Three large bronze chandeliers hung from the ceiling, directly over the aisle that had been cleared in the center. An elevated alter sat at the very end of the hall, with a dome-like structure reminiscent of the palace towers built around it.
A mass of people were in the room, standing in rows on either side of the aisle. Aladdin was standing up at the altar, fidgeting slightly in anticipation, but not worry. Sora and the party of off-worlders stood in the front row.
Once again, Sora was having a hard time keeping his eyes off of Kairi in her pink dress. He interlaced his hand with hers, and gave it an affectionate squeeze. She smiled at him, and pressed her lips to his cheek.
"Do you... think we'll get married?" Sora asked.
"What, right now?" Kairi raised one eyebrow. "I think that'd be stealing Aladdin and Jasmine's thunder a bit, don't you?"
Sora smiled, and blushed. "I mean, you know... eventually. When we're both ready."
Kairi's response was to cup his face in her hands, and turn it toward her. She pulled his face to hers, and touched their foreheads together. "Nothing would make me happier. When we're ready."
Sora smiled, and kissed her.
Genie appeared at the altar, next to Aladdin. "Bad news, Al. The boutonnieres clash with the cummerbunds."
"Genie," The groom muttered, "Isn't it a little late for that?"
"What? What're you trying to say? Out with it!" He only now seemed to realize that the eyes of everyone in the room were upon them. "Oh..." He chuckled. "They're here."
He suddenly transformed into a shockingly familiar little white rabbit in a colorful suit and monocle. He clutched a disproportionately large pocket watch in his tiny hands as he hopped quickly down the center aisle.
"I'm late, I'm late! For a very important date…"
A flabbergasted Sora turned quickly to Donald and Goofy, who registered their own surprise to him in the form of nodding and gaping mouths. But no sooner had he turned back around than the White Rabbit look-alike had vanished through the double doors at the other end of the room.
When Genie stepped back into the room, he was himself again, though garbed in an elegant red military-style uniform. Conjuring a bugle from thin air, he blared it a few times, signaling the band to begin playing. The doors opened.
Three flower girls (not children, but somewhere around Jasmine's age) entered the pavilion, each dressed in light pink, and carrying baskets of flower petals. Following right behind them was a ring bearer of about five years old.
Moments later, the Sultan of Agrabah entered. He was being carried in on a throne-like chair, supported by four of the royal guards. Sora had never met the Sultan before (Aladdin had explained that he'd been away on royal duties during his previous visits) but he wasn't quite what he had expected.
He was a small, round man with a kind face. He had a puffy white beard and moustache, and twinkling eyes. He was dressed in gold robes, with a violet-striped sash, and a yellow hat with a violet feather. Sora really couldn't see any resemblance between him and his daughter.
Several people bowed low to him as he passed, but he displayed the kind of character he had, when he waved the bows off. He chuckled lightly when he saw Abu waving enthusiastically to him, and waved back.
The guards lowered his throne to the ground when they reached the head of the aisle. He half-walked, half-skipped off of it, and over to Aladdin, who bowed.
"Oh, don't look so solemn boy! This is a happy day!"
"Aw..." Genie went. He conjured up a camera (which didn't even exist on Agrabah) and took a quick picture.
The doors parted again, and all eyes in the room slowly traveled back to them. Jasmine stood there, just as pretty as always. Her long black hair flowed down her back, in stark contrast to the white and gold dress she wore, and the pink flowers she wore in her hair. She locked eyes with Aladdin from across the room, and beamed.
Her future husband smiled at her as she made her way up the aisle. She barely registered that Sora and the others were there, let alone the rest of the people in the room. She stopped in front of her father.
"I never thought this day would come..." He said, looking a bit teary. "Now, I'm afraid it has come all too soon."
Jasmine bent down to his level, and wrapped him in a tight hug. The Sultan handed her over to Aladdin, who held out his arm for her to take. She did, and they walked up to the altar together.
They had no idea how bad things were about to become.
!
"You distract the guards." Cassim said to his allies.
"Part of your plan, I take it?" Klaxam asked.
"A large part." Cassim patted the trunk of a nearby elephant, which had been resting with several of its fellows in the courtyard by which they were hiding. He beckoned to Zexion. "Await our signal."
The two of them left the forty other men where they were. Zexion restored the illusion they had used to get them onto the palace grounds unnoticed.
Minutes later, they got the signal: A bright flash from the highest tower.
Sa'luk smiled horribly, and turned to the nearest elephant.
!
Aladdin and Jasmine were just moments away from 'I do' when everything went crazy.
"It's all so magical." Genie was saying, tearing up. "But I'm not gonna cry, I'm not-"
He burst into tears. His hand shot out and took ahold of a familiar flying carpet. He brought the poor thing up to his face, and blew his nose into it.
"Uh Genie," Sora muttered quietly. "I don't think he appreciates that."
"Sorry."
That was when the earth started shaking all around them.
"I thought the earth wasn't supposed to move until the honeymoon." Axel said. The shaking grew more and more intense, and in seconds, what must have been a dozen different panicked elephants could be seen rushing toward the pavilion.
"Stampede!" Genie exclaimed, as the guests began to scramble to safety.
The elephants crashed into the pavilion. Some brought down pillars before they entered the room itself, and began to wreak havoc amongst the people. Their constantly trampling feet made it difficult to stand, or even to get away from said trampling feet.
As such, Sora, Kairi, and the rest of their party took it upon themselves to run crowd control. Using a combination of magic and force, they were able to keep the scared animals away from the civilians, though they couldn't stop them from smashing a few more of the structures in the room, including the alter. Aladdin and Jasmine had to leap off of it to avoid being crushed.
The palace guards (most of which hadn't been in attendance at the wedding) burst into the room moments later, attracted by the noise. They arrived just in time for the second wave of the assault.
Several well-armed men sprinted into the pavilion, weapons drawn. Immediately, they began terrorizing the guests who hadn't fled the building, stealing anything of value that they had on them, including jewelry, articles of clothing, purses, and pocketbooks.
Dispersed among them were Nobodies of a sort that Sora hadn't encountered before. The Fencers were around Axel's height, and had lean, silver bodies. Their faces were completely obscured by a grey Nobody emblem. Their shoulders were spiked upward slightly. Each of them had cape-like ornaments hanging down their backs from their right shoulders. Each one carried a single long, grey saber.
Immediately, the off-worlders rushed to meet them. Aladdin shrugged off his outer cloak, 'borrowed' a scimitar from a guard (who never realized it was missing until he stopped running several minutes later), and joined them.
Riku was the first of the group to attack. His blade met that of a Fencer's, and was deflected. It thrust out with its saber, nearly piercing the Keybearer's chest. He was barely able to smack the blade aside at the last moment, and then twist it through the air to take its head off.
Yuffie came up right behind him, and threw her shuriken into the group of attackers. A Nobody fell to the spinning weapon, and one of the human attackers was clipped in the shoulder, but then it collided with something seemingly in midair.
A cloaked man rushed in almost too fast to see. The ninja's shuriken had collided with the weapon he held in his hands. It was a double-bladed pike weapon, which was nearly seven feet long. The two feet on either end were very sharp, gleaming silver blades.
This man made a ridiculously fast beeline toward Riku, one of his blades coming up to his neck. He hurriedly summoned the Guardian to block the shot with its fists. The man stopped for a moment, and twisted his weapon free of the creature's grasp. He leapt completely over it, and landed on Riku's other side.
"Riku, I take it? And Yuffie Kisaragi." He asked casually, rather than striking. Several of the thieves encircled them, but he raised his hand. "Leave these two to me."
"Why the interest in us?" Yuffie asked, twirling her reclaimed shuriken between her fingers.
"More in Riku, actually." He shrugged. "But we could always use another captive. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Klaxam. You would do well to remember me."
"Thanks, we will." Yuffie threw her shuriken again, along with two kunai, in less than a second.
The Nobody deflected each of them with just a few quick flourishes, and advanced toward Riku with his weapon spinning before they had even hit the ground. The Guardian saved him at the last instant by throwing itself in the way of the strike.
Riku leapt over it, intending to bring Way to Dawn crashing down on Klaxam's head. He had enough power in the blow to split him in two, but Klaxam was no longer there when he landed. He'd rushed around to flank him, and delivered a kick to his back that sent him sprawling.
With Yuffie unprotected by the Keybearer or the Guardian, he twisted around, intending to finish the slightly-less-dangerous enemy while the stronger one was out of the picture. But he was met with the sight of the girl's heel rushing toward his face.
He wove aside from the attack, and managed to land a glancing blow on her shin, but this didn't appear to slow her down. She landed on her feet, and nimbly leapt back toward him, a kunai in each hand.
He raised his pike, and caught her twin strikes. She seemed frozen in midair for a moment, before he threw her off, and into the air. She landed directly behind Riku, who had gotten to his feet at last.
On the other end of the room near the remains of the altar, Nehrut and Bariss were holding off a great deal of attackers. The thieves, he was guessing, had been attracted to the glittering armlet Bariss was wearing. It looked arguably more valuable than anything else in the room, including the jewelry worn by some of the royal guests.
They weren't going to get it, though. Nehrut parried a rather clumsy blow from one of them, and sent him flying across the room with a thought, directly into the side of an elephant, which fell over onto a Nobody that Goofy had been fighting.
Bariss used her sai to parry the strikes of two separate men, and leave a narrow gash across the stomach of one of them. She twirled her whip once, and it caught the second one in the hip, flooring him.
Even as he fell, the two were in motion, rushing across to the center of the room to where Axel, Donald, and Goofy were battling Fencers and thieves alike. Gripping one of the humans with his mind, Nehrut threw him to the end of the pavilion, into a trio of thieves who were just now rushing in.
Axel threw one of his chakrams at a Fencer, who swatted it aside with its blade. But it left its guard open just long enough for Donald to fire a Blizzard spell into its chest. Before the icy crystals covering its body stopped hurting it, Goofy's shield collided with it, making a mess of its chest before it could react.
A second Nobody, and two humans rushed up to the group. Another of Donald's Blizzard spells knocked a thief backwards, while Bariss knocked his partner unconscious with the face of her shield. Axel ducked underneath the Fencer's strike, and sent his chakrams slicing vertically up its body.
The pyro shot out his hands, and engulfed a pair of the Nobodies in fire, toasting them before they had any chance of getting close to them. "Xonem!"
The Assassin leader appeared in front of him, and blocked the strike that a thief aimed at him with his bladed arms. He threw his sword off, and swiped at his legs, bringing him to the ground. "Yes, my liege?"
"You and your buddies run crowd control, make sure the guests get to safety."
Nearby, the guard who had guarded the city –named Rasoul- was trying to hold his own against three opponents. He was failing miserably. After he was knocked over for the third time by the same Fencer, it looked like things were about to end.
The Nobody raised its blade, and suddenly found Oblivion protruding from its stomach. As it faded away, Sora ripped the Keyblade out of its vanishing side, and beheaded a second Nobody. A blast of Kairi's Light blew the third one to shreds.
"Hey, Junior?" Sora said, looking down at Rasoul. "No offense, but let the grown-ups handle things here, huh?"
Leaving the shocked guard where he lay, Sora rushed back into the fray, noting Riku and Yuffie locked in combat with a Nobody who matched Klaxam's description. He shot a quick fireball in Klaxam's direction, before turning his attention back to where Kairi, Mickey, and Aladdin were fighting alongside a pair of palace guards.
They were fighting against an assortment of Nobodies and thieves. They were apparently being led by this giant of a man with golden claws. Sora leapt at his exposed back, and would have driven Oblivion in between his shoulder blades if he hadn't ducked.
Sa'luk slashed his claw at the Keyblade Master, but the blow was blocked by Kairi's blade. Mickey leapt over her, and struck the man in the side of the face with the flat side of his blade.
He staggered backwards, and was forced to leap and dodge away from Sora's follow-up blows. Two guards ran past the Keybearer, intent on taking the man down. Sa'luk slashed twice, and their swords flew from their hands. They backed away as Kairi and Mickey ran to engage him.
"They fight like demons!" One said.
"Worse than demons!" The other said. "These are the Forty Thieves!"
Genie was up on the ceiling, apparently trying to keep the roof from collapsing around them. "Really? I count thirty-nine."
Sora didn't know for sure how he could have taken such a quick head-count through all the chaos, but he took his word for it. Next to him, Aladdin deflected a quick strike from a Fencer, leaving it open for Sora to finish off.
The older man then apparently noticed something. Using his scimitar, he pointed through the fray, into a small side chamber. Several guests had retreated through it early on in the battle, and it was being used as a place to keep the incredibly valuable wedding presents.
Inside was a single man dressed in black and blue, rummaging through the valuables.
"Forty." The future prince said.
"Keep these guys busy!" Sora exclaimed to Mickey and Kairi, as he and Aladdin took off toward the side chamber. On the way there, they shot under an elephant's trampling feet, were saved by Yuffie from one of Klaxam's strikes, and beheaded a Fencer.
"It must be here somewhere..." Cassim was muttering, oblivious to their approach. He hadn't expected a golden plate to fly at his head from inside the room. He looked around, and saw Iago, clutching a golden candle stick.
"Meet your match, Zorro!"
He approached slowly. "Good birdie. Polly want a-"
"Say 'cracker' and I'll let you have it on principle!" He swung the candle stick, but Cassim merely caught it, and yanked it from his grasp.
"You have a lot of spirit." He said, sounding almost complimentary, before throwing him into a pot, and putting the lid over it. "And a lot of mouth."
He went back to his search, and had finally seemed to find what he was looking for, when Aladdin and Sora entered the room. He had picked up a short golden rod, topped with a shining, egg-shaped emerald. He held it up to the light as if to better examine it.
That was when he was knocked off his feet by the 'street rat' and dropped it to the ground with a clatter. Sora quickly scooped it up, and threw it to Aladdin, who caught it one-handed.
"Can I see your invitation?" Aladdin said, grinning and pointing his scimitar at him. He tucked the rod into his belt. Sora pointed the Keyblade at the man on the ground.
"Stay out of my way, boys." He said. "And you won't get hurt."
Quicker than the eye could blink, he had scooped up a golden cat statue that had fallen to the ground, and thrown it at Aladdin's chest, knocking him to the ground. He was back on his feet with his sword in hand before Sora could strike.
"You don't stand a chance against the King of Thieves!"
"When we're done, I'll bow to you." Sora rushed in first, aiming low.
Cassim parried the blow, and lunged ahead, aiming at Sora's face, thinking he'd end the fight quickly. He obviously didn't completely comprehend how dangerous his opponent was.
The Keybearer ducked under the sword, and swept the thief's legs out from under him with the Keyblade. He fell gracelessly to the ground, but was back on his feet before Sora could strike again.
He was clever enough to reevaluate his strategy as far as the fight was concerned. He kept farther back from Sora, stabbing at him from a safe distance –just out of reach of the Keyblade.
But then Aladdin darted around to flank him, and slashed at his neck. He ducked under it, and quickly turned to engage his second opponent. With his attention divided between two deadly enemies, he was at a disadvantage, but this didn't mean he was going to surrender.
He leapt nimbly around Sora and Aladdin, keeping just out of reach. The two realized that they were facing a very deadly opponent, and attacked as a team.
Together, they probably could have beaten him, but the conflict remained undecided.
Back in the main room of the pavilion, the wall had mostly crumbled, and Genie realized that his efforts to keep it from collapsing were all for naught. He floated away from it, looking at the Genie-shaped portion of the roof that was almost all that was left. "I guess there's really no point to this now."
He teleported to the ground, his immense form blocking the path of a handful thieves attempting to escape with bags of munny. He grinned down at them as they dropped the bags, and took up fighting stances.
Suddenly, there were ten Genies, each of them garbed in black ninja clothing and carrying a pair of sais. All they had to do was stand there and strike an intimidating pose, and the thieves ran away screaming like small children.
"You are awesome!" Yuffie called to him, still fighting with Riku against Klaxam. Nehrut and Bariss had joined them, and the four warriors now formed a ring around him, denying him space to escape. Even with the added assistance, none of them could seem to land a solid hit against the Nobody, and it was all they could do to avoid his own attacks.
Nehrut tried again to force him backwards with a mental blast, but didn't even have enough time to concentrate on the act before Klaxam had rushed toward him again, sweeping at his neck. Bariss saved him at the last instant by parrying the man's blade with her own.
"I owe you." Nehrut said to her, stabbing forward at Klaxam, and missing yet again as he rushed back to strike at Yuffie.
"Don't mention it." She replied.
All around them, the invading forces were being torn apart by Genie's magical efforts, though Nehrut had time to note that the humans were all still alive. Over all the noise, he heard the large man whose name he had learned was Sa'luk through snippets of conversation. "Cassim said nothing about facing the powers of a genie! Get the others out of here. We'll leave the 'king' to his plans."
"Calling a retreat, Klaxam?" Riku taunted. "Guess your friends aren't as confident as they let on, huh?"
"'Retreat' isn't the same as 'surrender', my friend." He pointed out.
He was suddenly much, much faster. In one fluent movement, he bypassed Riku's guard, and left a gash across both of his legs. Riku cried out, and fell forward. Finally able to escape, he leapt directly over the Keybearer, slashing deep into his left shoulder blade as he passed overhead.
As Riku fell to the ground in pain, Yuffie rushed to his aide, and Nehrut and Bariss sprinted after his attacker, Klaxam cut an elephant on the hind leg.
Spooked and injured, the elephant's panicked run became an all-out rampage. It rushed headlong through the chaos, trampling Nobodies underfoot and injuring men on both sides. Mickey and Kairi were forced to jump out of its path, and away from their fight with Sa'luk, who used the opportunity to bolt away from them.
The elephant rushed into the side room where Sora, Aladdin, and Cassim were still locked in combat. They noted the approach of the elephant, and leapt apart; Sora and Aladdin to one side, and the King of Thieves to the other.
As the massive animal passed, Cassim jumped onto the howdah on its back, making his own escape on top of it. "I'll see you again, boys."
Naturally, the party and the palace guards attempted to follow the escaping thieves and Nobodies. They had nearly caught up with them, when a massive sandstorm blew in seemingly out of nowhere.
While their pursuers were blinded for a few critical moments, the thieves disappeared from sight due to aid that had nothing to do with the sand. The moment it cleared, they were nowhere to be seen. But instead, there was the black-cloaked figure of Zexion.
He half-smiled, and gave a mock salute, before vanishing as well.
!
Zexion, every fangirl's favorite (last time I checked, aside from our favorite pyro). Well, hope you liked this chapter!
Review please!