Chapter 15
Xehanort walked out of the nursery and saw a neatly dressed man standing by the help desk. He looked eerily familiar, yet Xehanort shook it off.
"Mr. Geef I assume. I'm afraid you are going to make an appointment with me for a later date. I'm busy helping a student with medical needs." said Xehanort, trying to sound like a normal and hospitable man.
"Gwarsh, I mean… Oh dear. Okay, I'll make an appointment. But this is a real emergency! A real one that you need to look into!" cried this Mr. "George Geef."
Xehanort rolled his eyes. "What emergency? And what are you here for? In fact, why do I have the feeling I've seen you before? Have we met?" asked Xehanort, looking at George Geef closely.
"It's in my folder." said Mr. Geef. He pulled out what appeared to be a pen, and then something popped up. A small device came out and started spraying something.
Xehanort inhaled whatever was being sprayed and he began to cough violently.
Mr. Geef quickly ran into the nursery and took off his hat.
"Goofy?" asked Sora in disbelief.
"We have not time! We need to get outta here!" cried Goofy.
"What the hell?" asked Braig.
"Oh! Hi Braig. Bye Braig." said Goofy. He pulled out the pen and aimed it at Braig's face. However, the device stopped spraying. Braig and Goofy stood still for a comically long moment.
"Is something supposed to happen?" asked Braig, his one good eye widening with uncertainty.
"Gwarsh. Must have run out." said Goofy.
Braig started to laugh. "You seriously think that was going to work? You really are a kid's cartoon character. And guess what? You aren't that relevant anymore Goofy! On Earth, kids hardly know your name! Only 90s kids know you because of your movie! There, I said it!" said Braig.
"Earth? I thought we were on Earth." said Goofy, scratching his head with a finger.
"So you know about the dimensions too." said Sora with a scowl at Braig.
"Oh! Hush hush. Wouldn't want to upset the world order now do we?" said Braig.
"I'm not sure what stuff you're saying, but if there's one thing a cartoon character like me knows, it's that we are good at pulling off accidents." said Goofy. He pulled out his hand and made his fingers like scissors.
"What is this? You're trying to make a piano fall on my…." Braig was saying until all of a sudden, a piano… yes, an actual piano, crashed into the nursery and lands on Braig! Goofy quickly carried Sora into his arms and Vanitas woke up.
"What's going on!?" cried Vanitas.
Goofy left and Vanitas screamed angrily. "Don't take him away!" he cried.
"Vanitas! It's okay! He's a friend!" cried Sora.
"No he isn't! He's a danger to us all!" cried Vanitas. He pulled out two daggers and threw them at Goofy. In that instant, Goofy quickly rolled on the ground, while still carrying Sora and he put him close to a chair in the office.
"You might want to hide here and cover your ears. Don't worry Sora. I won't hurt your brother. He's just lost." said Goofy. He got up and turned around. A dagger was able to stab Goofy on the hip.
"Goofy, you're hurt." said Sora in disbelief.
Goofy pulled out the dagger from his hip, and blood came out. "Gwarsh, that smarts," he said. The image stayed in Sora's head forever. He never imagined seeing his beloved friend bleed. He was hurt many times in his dreams, but he always got on top like a champ.
Braig got out of the nursery, bruised from the piano and met with Vanitas.
"Pull them! Shoot him down." said Braig.
Vanitas pulled out a gun and Braig pulled out two rifles. Xehanort slowly got up from the ground and crawled to them both.
"KILL GOOFY!" cried Xehanort.
Goofy then let out a friendly "Ahuck." In that instant, within quick seconds, Goofy jumped high into the air and kicked a chair towards the group.
Braig and Vanitas hit the chair out of the way while Xehanort crawled to a corner. With that quick distraction happening, bullets rained down on both Braig and Vanitas. They quickly hid behind the nursery and examined where the bullets were coming from. Xehanort cursed under his breath.
"He's got guns! He's got guns! KILL HIM!" cried Xehanort, with his breath coming out of him.
"Who'se got guns?!" cried Vanitas.
"Him!" cried Xehanort in disbelief.
"Who you old bastard!?" cried Vanitas.
Xehanort roared out the name. "Goofy! He's got two guns in his hands!" cried Xehanort.
Sora's eyes widened in surprise to see Goofy pull out two guns from his pockets. And he began to fire, like a professional gunman in a shooting sport.
The silly looking and slim Goofy, the friendliest one of Mickey's friends, knew all too well how to use guns. This totally bothered Sora deeply. He never imagined Goofy to wield such weapons. In his dreams, Goofy used a Shield and sometimes, a sword, depending where Goofy was. Perhaps in this reality, this Goofy was a total badass. He was many things. A friend, a lover, a dancer, a father, and a true fighter.
Goofy kept on firing and hid under the desk. Braig and Vanitas started shooting. Vanitas was very clumsy with a gun, Goofy observed. But Braig, was the pro. He noticed his bullets were accurate. Not a problem. Goofy crawled to the floor and shot against a metal tray that happend to be on the ground. He shot there and a bullet hit Braig on the face.
"Braig?!" cried Vanitas. Braig fell lifeless on the floor and Vanitas put down his gun. He was shocked and in total disbelief. Goofy actually did it. He got Braig!
"You will pay for this Goofy!" cried Xehanort. He quickly rolled to the ground and quickly got out of the nursery. Goofy stood up and pressed a button underneath the desk.
An alarm began to ring and Goofy put away his guns. "Can't be seen with those." said Goofy, not sounding like himself. The way he spoke was so… different. So out of character. In fact, all of him was out of character. It was like seeing a total stranger. Sora felt sick to his stomach as Goofy stretched his neck and spoke again, with that weird George Geef voice of his.
"Well, time to get going." he said to himself. He turned around and in that instant, he went back to being Goofy.
"Sora. Ahuck! I'm so sorry you had to see that! It was pretty loud in here! And things are about to get worse from here on in. Let's get out of here!" Goofy carried Sora and he ran out of the nursery.
Vanitas on the other hand was left behind, with a whole lot of anger, and hatred rising inside him.
As Goofy was running in the hallway, metal doors were beginning to close certain rooms and hallways. Goofy then ran into Donald, who was wearing his traditional blue outfit.
"You did it Goofy! You saved Sora!" he cried.
"At a big cost." said Goofy, rather sadly.
Donald looked at Sora, who was in utter shock and he looked at Goofy .
"What do you mean big cost? You didn't… no. You didn't!" cried Donald.
"I had no choice! Braig was there and so was Xehanort! He was going to hurt Sora." said Goofy.
"Oh boy. Mickey is not going to like this. You know our creed. We don't ever take a life!" said Donald.
"I know." said Goofy.
"No matter. I'll be with you when Mickey speaks with us. We both got this. We need to get Sora out of here. He's no longer safe in Oblivion." said Donald.
"Right you are Donald! Right you are!" cried an unimpressed and tough sounding voice.
Donald and Goofy turned around to see Pete and Mortimer Mouse in the hallway.
"Looks like somebody has been doing very inappropriate stuff." said Mortimer, with a mocking tone.
"So Goofy finally killed somebody. I never thought I'd live to see this day. How did you do it?" asked Pete, rather excited.
Goofy scowled at Pete, refusing to answer. But Donald stood in the way.
"Goofy shot him with his guns. Guns made by my friend, Professor Von Drake! He quit working at this trash school a few weeks ago. And he gave us weapons to defend ourselves. We've been training for years." said Donald with a smile.
"You've been hanging out with Looney Tunes! Only they carry guns whenever they can." said Mortimer. He then pulled out a hammer. A very big hammer with his own mouse ears decorated to the sides. Pete on the other hand pulled out an enormous shield with his face plastered all over it. Totally kid friendly weapons, but used for awful purposes.
Donald started to laugh. He pulled out his weapon. Two small little silver sticks were on his hands. They were small and very stupid looking.
Mortimer and Pete started to laugh. "What are those supposed to be? Broken maracas?" cried Mortimer.
"I can picture it now. Donald using broken maracas to destroy us! This is so rich!" cried Pete, laughing so hard. He closed his eyes and the open them. It was just one blink. One blink was enough to get distracted and see his precious shield get cut in half.
Mortimer gasped. It took a moment for Pete to figure out what had just happened. He looked down and indeed, his shield was cut in half. Luckily, Pete himself was not cut or hurt in any way. But he did feel some heat aiming at his face. It was a very hot heat like when you got close to a neon sign. Donald Duck was pointing a blue laser light at Pete's face.
"Lightsabers…" said Sora softly, looking at Donald point his now activated weapons at Pete.
"If you don't want me to slice your big belly that you're so proud of, then I strongly suggest you turn around and run back to the bald headed slave driver." said Donald angrily.
Pete started to sweat and ran away. Mortimer also did the same and ran. Donald deactivated his lightsabers and put them in the pockets of his blue sailor outfit.
"Gwarsh, they sure were scared." said Goofy.
"Let's go before I change my mind and I run after those two losers." said Donald.
Goofy and Donald nodded and ran, with Sora still in Goofy's arms.
"This can't be real. This has to be another nightmare." said Sora.
Goofy and Donald exchanged looks and didn't know what to say. Sora unfortunately saw them at their worst. Goofy finished off Braig and Donald was about to split Pete apart. They both suddenly felt guilt over it.
Meanwhile, Xehanort went back to his office and Vanitas walked in.
"I'll have Braig's body sent away. You are in charge now." said Xehanort.
"You didn't have to kick me in front of Sora like that." said Vanitas angrily.
"This is what you signed up for Vanitas! You work for me and you will have to endure MY ways of torture!" screamed Xehanort.
"What now? The people you are against have Sora. The one person I didn't want to have involved in any of this." said Vanitas.
"In war, things happen. In war, you have no time to pity who you do away with. Foolish Goofy knew what he was doing. He knew that by getting Braig out of the picture, he was willing to save Sora's life. He may look stupid, but the fool was smart. This was something I didn't expect. Now that our enemies are much stronger, you will be trained to destroy. I will teach you to become heartless." said Xehanort.
Vanitas didn't say a word and then, a tall forbidding figure walked out of the shadows of the room. He put his hands on Vanitas's shoulders and smiled. His eyes were blue and cat-like.
"Vanitas. I have a feeling you will be of some use to me." said Sephiroth.
"Who are you? What is this?" asked Vanitas.
"Sephiroth?! How dare you walk into my office unannounced!" cried Xehanort.
"Please. You invited me last night with your ranting over the phone. Now, where is this weapon you spoke so fondly about?" asked Sephiroth.
Xehanort didn't answer. But Sephiroth pressed on.
"Tell me. Where is it? What is it? I traveled all the way from Midgar just to be here." said Sephiroth.
"Come. I'll show you." said Xehanort.
He pressed a button and a door opened. The three of them walked in.
"Braig knew about this. I showed him. Blast that Goofy." said Xehanort.
"Goofy? Who is that?" asked Sephiroth.
"Nevermind." said Xehanort.
"Was that an actual person's name?" asked Sephiroth looking at Vanitas.
"I said nevermind! Behold my weapon!" cried Xehanort. He pulled out a large capsule that was locked onto a large machine and he showed it to Vanitas and Sephiroth.
"A bomb I assume?" asked Sephiroth.
"Nothing of the sort." said Xehanort in a whisper. He opened the hatch slowly. And something crawled out of there. It landed on the floor, in an oozing black liquid. Eventually, the liquid formed into something solid. It then materialized two yellow eyeballs and two large antennas. It then had feet. It looked like an ant, standing there, shaking its body in jerky movements.
"I call this creature Heartless." said Xehanort.
"What does it do?" asked Vanitas.
"I'll perform a demonstration. Heartless…. Sick em!." said Xehanort, pointing his spiderleg-like finger at Vanitas.
The shadow jumped on Vanitas and put its claws to his chest. Vanitas began to scream until the creature pulled out a glowing and beautiful light on its hands. It was none other than Vanitas's own heart. Vanitas stopped screaming. His eyes went pitch black and he rose up normally while the Heartless crawled next to Xehanort, holding the heart in his hands.
"Vanitas is now under my total control Sephiroth! Look! Feast your eyes on this shadow and my latest creation! Vanitas will be the arc that will sustain me!" cried Xehanort.
"I see. So you are planning to transfer your soul into Vanitas's body. You are dying, aren't you?" asked Sephiroth.
"Yes. I'm in my 90s. I know I'll kick the bucket one of these days. I'll do it when the time is right. For now, Vanitas will have to undergo tremendous training for me to control him." said Xehanort.
"You never cease to amaze me Lord Xehanort. But I wonder… How long will it be when you totally control the whole dimension? You do realize I'll soon destroy this realm and turn it into a vessel for me." said Sephiroth.
"In good time. And remember our deal Sephi…. You will spare me and make me a God!" declared Xehanort.
Sephiroth grinned a toothy smile. "Yes. All in good time." he whispered back.