Nursing a potion while Donald huffed in the corner, and Goofy tried in vain to un-burn the floor, Sora exchanged a few curt, if informative, words with the shopkeeper.
"Ahh, so that's why…" he nodded. "If you don't get many visitors, it only makes sense that you guys want to keep to yourselves."
"That's right, incomer." The shopkeep muttered, replacing the one unbroken ether back onto a wobbly shelf. "After all, if nothing happens, nothing goes wrong."
"Ahaa, wouldn't that be nice?" Sora forced a grin. "But what about those Heartless? Something must've brought them here?"
The shopkeeper met his gaze, but where steely stare met sociable smile, the silence stayed strong.
"Y'know, the little shadowy guys?" Sora tried again. "They don't just spring up outta nowhere. Has there been any…" he leant in close, "deaths recently?"
The shopkeeper took a long, heavy glance out of the window, where the lumpy silhouette of a cemetery interrupted the horizon.
"We are a small village, full of old people, child." He muttered. "I don't know where you three came from, and frankly, your ability to conjure lightning from nowhere frightens me. Perhaps you should seek an audience with the village elder, north of here. That way you won't burn my shop down."
The pair of them looked over to Goofy, who caught their eye and grinned bashfully.
"Nothin' doin' here, Sora!" He gave a thumbs up. Sora's eyebrow bounced; it wouldn't be the first time…
"O-okay, village elder, got it." He nodded to the shopkeeper. "Here's, uhh… 831 munny. Should help fix the place up a bit. Thanks for the help!"
The shopkeeper gave his munny a grim stare, but nodded him away regardless. It seemed like both of them wanted him out of there.
Outside, the place was just as welcoming as ever. People were few in number, but would immediately stare at Sora and his companions as they passed. Those on their own would say nothing, but the telltale muttering between groups said everything.
Was he less welcome here now than before? Had the news of them setting the shop on fire travelled that fast? Smoke signals spoke louder than words, after all…
"Welp, we've got a lead, if you can call it that." Sora itched his head. The stares felt like they were tunnelling into his very skull, but what could he do? Announce his good guy status to the town like some loon?
That would only make it worse, no doubt.
"But Sora, how're we gonna know where the village elder lives?" Goofy raised a good point.
"Well the shopkeeper said north, right?" Sora said. "That's uhh… that way. So we just look for a big house, because why would the village elder live in a tiny house?"
"Maybe he's also tiny?" Goofy shrugged.
"That would make sense…" Sora grimaced. The tension was really starting to get to him, now. Stares were nothing; there were plenty of places that weren't accustomed to talking animals. But now it felt like something was actively targeting him. He barely even noticed the stares any more. It was almost as if.
"Whoa!" His body reacted before he could even process it. Keyblade materialising out of nowhere, he swung into a defensive stance, and something ricocheted off it with a metallic chink.
An arrow embedded itself in the house nearby, and Sora tightened his grip on the keyblade. Someone knew he was here? That only meant one thing…
"Someone's as sharp as ever."
A mass of dark energy surged forward, and out of it stepped a tall, cloaked figure. Throwing the hood back and shaking out his ponytail, Xigbar was as smug as always.
"…which one are you again?" Sora frowned.
"Not so sharp where it counts, huh?" Xigbar didn't miss a beat. "Ehh, don't worry about it kid. Remembering the names of thirteen whole people can be tough."
"Pff," Sora folded his arms. "You call yourself a whole person?"
Xigbar stepped back. "Ooh, cheap shot kid! Where'd you learn such sass?"
"From me!" Donald announced. "What're you doing here anyway, ya big palookah?!"
"Palookah. Hmm," Xigbar grimaced. "…as if you guys need to ask. The higher ups got some intel. Apparently there's someone here who's even smaller, even more annoying than you, kid. And I'm gonna go find 'em. Stamp out that little ray of light."
"Well we're not about to let that happen, are we guys?" Sora changed to an attacking stance.
"Relax kid, you know confrontation's not my style." Xigbar put his hands up. "So if you don't mind, I'll just be keeping my distance."
Another portal appeared at the snap of his fingers. "You gotta love tiny villages, huh? Everyone knows everyone, and there's only so many hiding places. You can feel the magic in the air…"
He smirked. "Wonder how long it'll take to smoke 'em out. Wanna race me, sport?"
Sora jumped at him with the keyblade, but struck only air. Disappearing into his portal, Xigbar's cackle rang through the air, carried away on the wind.
And of course, the villagers picked now to carry on staring. Not when he was interrogating the obvious bad guy, but when he was yelling at nothing, and then attacking the same nothing.
Sora groaned. This wasn't helping his appeal to sanity. "Guess we'd better start knocking on doors, huh guys?"
"I thought you knew where to look?" Donald cried.
"Well now we're being watched, so we can't just charge in." Sora massaged his forehead. "Xigbar'll be in one of those trees, just letting us do the work for him."
"So what do we do?" Goofy shrugged.
"Split up and search. He can't follow all three of us at once… probably." Sora's voice softened to a whisper. "I think this is one of those 'when it happens you'll know' things anyway, so he's stuck too."
The trio nodded to each other, and walked off in different directions. Bushes across town rustled impatiently.
Thus the door knocking began. The village seemed to multiply in size with every polished knocker, every splintered doorframe, and every ancient, rippled window, but like a pebble dropped into the ocean, the source of this magic was out there, and despite everything, he had to find it before Xigbar. Even if they were doing all the work.
The locals were watching his every move, and of course the flora crinkled suspiciously in response to his presence, but it was only so long until he found the right house. Even if no one was going to tell him.
"Uhh, hey there," he scuffed his feet against pavement. "I dunno if you can t-"
"Well hi there! We're lookin' fer someone w-"
"Do you-"
The door clattered shut, and Donald was immediately red with rage.
"They didn't even let me finish the question!" He seethed, stamping across their flower patch. "Hey, Sora! This is dumb!"
A few doors down, Sora wrenched a hand outwards. "Wanna keep it down?! I know it's dumb, but we have to-"
"You have to what, child?"
Sora was stopped mid-rant by someone opening their front door and confronting him for a change.
Notably tiny, even Sora felt massive in this old man's presence. With a wispy beard sparing his ancient face from the elements, and a positively grandiose cape all but engulfing him, he nevertheless commanded a presence.
"O-oh, hello there… sir!" Sora remembered himself just in time. Goofy and Donald joined him from either side, and he rolled his eyes. Whatever happened to splitting up? Divide and conquer?
Either way, an answer was a miracle. "We um… we've been tasked with finding-"
"-speak English, Sora!" Donald chided. "He's the elder, not the king!"
"And elders don't deserve respect?" Sora threw a hand in the old man's direction. "Pretty sure there's a saying about that, Donald."
"If you don't mind," the old man cleared his throat. "You're being fairly disrespectful right now, kiddo. Please state your business, else I'll ask you to leave."
"…right!" Sora smiled brightly, before snatching another glare at Donald. "We've been told there's a powerful source of magic in the… area? Vicinity? E-either way. You wouldn't happen to know of any magical people, would you s-sir?"
The old man's bushy eyebrows travelled up his forehead, revealing beady blue eyes.
"It doesn't have to be a person," Goofy chipped in. "It could be a thing, like a vase or a painting! D'ya have anything like that?"
The old man took his time studying the three of them. His gaze withered further with every passing moment. "I've heard stories of you three. Appearing from nowhere and then setting the shop alight. The shopkeeper sent you to me, yes? That way you're my problem instead of his? Well I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint you. Magic? Yes, I vaguely remember a 'magic' from my youth. But as you can no doubt see, I'm an old man now, and magic has since gone extinct. I don't know where you've come from, but your sources are woefully incorrect, so I suggest you-"
"-hey Gramps!" Another voice barged into the situation, and Sora caught the glimpse of some blonde young thing coming down a staircase. With a stray curl poking out from a bright red turban, enormous puffy yellow sleeves, and blue dungarees splotched with an entire rainbow of paint, she was just as colourful as her voice.
"What's taking so long?!" The girl cried animatedly. "You were only answering the-"
She stopped dead in her tracks the moment her eyes fell upon Sora.
"YOU!"
