Okage Hearts

Chapter 3

I still don't own either game. I suppose that I will just have to learn to live with that clear fact. You'll now get to see what I meant when I said "I will be having Julia less… Well, you'll see".

Ari woke up the next morning. He felt rather refreshed. Noticing a lack of Evil Kings in his shadow, he headed out, planning on forgetting that rather odd dream he had.

So, a voice from nowhere said, you think it was just a dream?

Ari was suddenly thrown back and turned to see his shadow turn into Evil King Stan.

"Oh," Ari said flatly, "I guess my parents really did basically sell me to you."

"Quit griping slave," Stan commanded, "We have a lot of work ahead of us. We need to strike fear into the hearts of the populace."

"Of course," Ari quipped, "So, what'll we do first? Will you be blocking out the sun from touching the heads of people who get close enough to me, or do I swing the Keyblade around like an idiot with a giant key?"

"…Enough chatter, slave!" Stan said, made unsure of what to do next, "Let's go to your village and begin spreading my reign of terror there."

"Sure, your flatness," Ari responded, smirking slightly at the shadow, "Let's go."

And so, the boy and his shadow began their sojourn to the village of Tenel. But, they were stopped by some children who were upset about something.

"What are you mortals crying for?" Stan asked, annoyed by the mild inconvenience.

"Hi, Ari," one of the kids said, "Nice shadow trick, but Mr. Tinkles is up in the tree."

Ari looked up. A cat was stuck up a tree. This was interesting. He had never believed that such a thing was possible before this moment. He would have to make a note of this later. At the moment, Stan was blabbering.

"Pathetic children!" Stan shouted, "That is a ridiculous reason to cry! I can get that infernal thing down. This is too simple a task."

As the Evil King said this, he stretched himself taller, until he was able to reach the cat. He then brought it down and handed it to the children, who cheered happily at the return of Mr. Tinkles.

"Thank you, Ari!" they shouted as they rushed back to town, clearly pleased with the change in situation.

'Well, that was interesting,' Ari thought as Stan babbled on about how he was the one who saved them. The other kids seemed to think he was controlling Stan and throwing his voice. This could provide amusement.

"Look at those fools fleeing in terror!" Stan cheered.

"Yeah, congratulations on the good deed," Ari said, "Very evil. I'm going to go talk to the Ringmaster of the Circus where I got the Keyblade, now."

"No, we will not, Slave," Stan said authoritatively. Ari then began to think. Traveling to the village would possibly put Stan in a good mood. If Stan was in a good mood, he might be quiet. If Stan was quiet, Ari would be able to ignore him better. Deciding to take the path of least resistance and most silence, he began to walk to the village. At the very least, he could complain to Julia about how his parents showed that Annie was their favorite.

"…AND THEY SOLD YOU?" Julia screamed in shock.

"Yep, just so Annie wouldn't be forced to speak Pig Latin for the rest of her life," he responded simply. Julia was angry enough for the both of them as it was, so he didn't want his rage fueling hers further.

"But, Pig Latin is easy to understand," Julia commented, "You'd think that it wouldn't be a problem.

"I tried to tell them that, but they wouldn't listen," he vented, "So, now, on top of having some sort of magic key that seems to open any door and supposedly serves 'the Light' I have an Evil King in my shadow."

"It could be worse?" Julia said trying to make him feel better.

"How so?" Ari asked, curious.

"…." she responded, "I'll get back to you on that."

"Julia, it's horrible!" a scared man shouted, Something terrible has happened! "

"Yes, people are afraid of me again!" Stan shouted, rising from the ground.

"What?" the scared man asked, turning to see Ari with Stan behind him.

"Oh, Ari, I didn't see you," he said, "Nice shadow trick, but now isn't the time for games. There's a ghost in the church! The church is locked up, but the water has stopped flowing."

"Oh, no!" Julia exclaimed, "I'll go tell everyone!"

"A ghost? Bah!" Stan sneered, "A lesser creature, nowhere near my might. But, if it is hogging the terror that they should be bestowing upon me, I will destroy it! Slave, come! We go now to fight for my honor! "

"One, problem, Your Majesty," Ari said mockingly polite, twirling the Keyblade by its chain, "The church is locked and…"

He paused, noticing that Stan was smiling at him. Ari thought for a moment, trying to think of why Stan would be smiling at him. He was only playing with his giant magic key. Wait. Looking at the Keyblade, he said, "I think I hate this thing at the moment."

"Well," Ari said as he and Stan entered the church's basement, "This is one of the more interesting ways I've spent my mornings."

Ignoring him, Stan said, "Now, Slave, let's go into the basement."

With that, the pair headed into the basement and came across a ghost. Ari raised the Keyblade.

"Let me talk to it, Slave," Stan said, "Hello, ghost. You will leave here! I am the true terror in this world, and you are just a mere ghost."

"Boo boo boo boo boo!" the ghost shouted. (The Keyblade! A shadow is working with the wielder of the Keyblade? I must destroy!)

With that, the ghost began to lunge for the pair.

"Well, that went well" Ari said sarcastically as he struck the ghost back, smacking it around as the fight continued.

"Be silent, Slave!" Stan shouted, "I will deal with this pathetic excuse of a creature of darkness."

With that, Stan unleashed a powerful blast upon the hapless ghost, killing it instantly.

"That didn't go too badly," Stan mumbled, a slight smirk on his face as they explored the basement.

"Hey," Ari said, looking inside a chest, "A gear."

"That thing over there is more interesting," Stan commented, pointing at a giant wheel in the middle of the room.

"Yeah, it is…" Ari said, getting closer to it, "How did we miss it as we walked into here? It must be the reason the water stopped. I'm going to open it back up."

Ari turned the wheel and was rewarded with a rumbling under the ground. He walked out, deciding that he must have fixed the problem.

When he and Stan got outside, they were blinded by the bright lights outside for a moment before their eyes adapted to the sunlight. There was a large crowd gathered outside the church cheering over the return of the water and the disposal of the ghost.

"Great job, Ari!" one person shouted, much to Stan's annoyance. It continued like that for a while.

When the crowd had dispersed, Ari saw Julia looking at him, concern evident on her face.

"What were you thinking?" she shouted, "You could have gotten yourself killed or had your heart stolen!"

"I…" he began before she cut him off again.

"I'll answer for you! You didn't think!"

"Julia, I'm…" he tried to apologize.

"Save it," she said softly, "If you want to go be a hero and die, I…I won't stop you. Just don't expect me to watch you get killed. I couldn't handle that. I'm sorry Ari. I…I'm just going to go."

She turned and fled, tears in her eyes as she headed home. As she left, Ari quietly muttered "Julia…"

He'd never been loud before, but he felt like shouting. He was screaming inside, but he remained as quiet as ever. Silence was too much a part of who he was.

"Come, Slave, we've lingered too long," Stan said simply, "We have more people to terrorize."