Next few days, you spent guarding Sora with all your might. Whenever you felt like he would show up, you would bark as loudly as you could, even if the suspicious movement came from his own shadow. It was truly amazing how well Sephiroth managed to avoid being seen by the other Smashers while he harassed Sora. Whenever Sora was accompanied by someone who was not you, Sephiroth made sure to not show up. However, when Sephiroth was not around, his non presence seemed to only make Sora's paranoia grow even stronger and there was only so much that you could do to calm him down.
There was barely any time to bring out the gun, it was truly frustrating.
The worst part was that that was only creating more tension between him and the residents of your little villa. Thanks to Nana's terrible suggestion that Sephiroth might be as real as the one that troubled Cloud's mind back in his world, it was very clear that, as the days passed by and Sora grew to be more afraid, the less they took him seriously. At best, there were the Inklings, who still believed that he was being followed by something and would hear him out, despite not finding any concrete evidence of Sephiroth existence. At worst, there was Ness, who would always speak to him like he was going through another psychotic episode.
"I swear that he was there," Sora would pathetically say.
"And is Sephiroth with us right now?" Ness would reply.
"Well, obviously not or you would be seeing him!"
"Right, of course. Why don't we go back inside?"
There was no way that Ness or Lucas, of all people, wouldn't at least suspect that Sephiroth was real. After all, you saw him every time he would show up when it was just you and Sora. They could always ask you if you saw anything. Yet, they did no such thing. It was as if they were also ignoring you. Ness could be kind of a jerk sometimes, but to see Lucas taking his side so readily was odd to say the least. Wasn't he the one who encouraged Ness to get to know Sora better? Why was he being such a hypocrite? All of that because of Nana's half told gossip that probably had nothing to do with Sora.
Useless. They were all useless. It really was up to you to keep him safe. You and your duck friend, but mostly you. Whenever you felt Sephiroth near, you would bark and alert Sora of his presence. If you ever suspected that Sephiroth was about to ambush him, you and Duck would fiercely attack the source of whatever strange movement happened.
Unfortunately, sometimes you just attacked one of the kids by accident, but that was a small price to pay for being the only actual, useful companion. Thankfully none of them grounded you whenever that happened, at least they recognized that you needed to be on the lookout for Sora at every possible moment and you wouldn't be able to do your job if you were grounded.
Little by little, Sora's constant cries for help whenever Sephiroth came began to fall into deaf ears. Even the Inklings were starting to become fed up and would half heartedly search for his stalker before giving up and telling Sora to go back inside. Ness and Lucas treated him like he had gone mad, Nana and Popo listened with fascination whenever Sora warned them that the highly dangerous man was around, but did very little to pretend that they believed him. Sora did not even dare tell Rosie what was going on, for he was too afraid of the consequences of getting in the way of her chores. The Inklings started to doubt him and treated him like he was a fragile object, ready to break.
Sephiroth's constant stalking had broken any bond that Sora had developed with that group, except the one he had with you, a dog. Despite living with them, he became more and more isolated until his cries for help would only be heard by you. It was truly heartbreaking.
One night, when everybody else had gone to sleep, Sora, sitting on the bench outside his house, turned to you and said: "Hunter, I'm tired. I'm so, so tired of all of this."
You looked up from where you lay down, floppy ears perked. Duck tilted his head, also confused.
"He's not gonna leave me alone until he gets what he wants," he said.
What was he implying?
"Maybe I should hear him out and follow him," Sora said, his voice growing louder, "after all, it's not like anyone here trusts that I am sane anyway!"
Sora got up from the bench and looked up at the sky. He cried out, "I know you're watching, Sephiroth! Fine, you win! Take me away to the heart of this world or whatever the heck!"
Almost as if those magical summoning words, Sephiroth descended upon you and Sora, like an angel who bore terrible news. The terrible news in that case being the visit from Lucifer himself.
"Took you long enough to see reason," he simply said.
This time you did not bark. Sure, you and Duck stared daggers at him, but it was as if you finally understood the futility of trying to scare him away for real. Still, you and your friend bravely stood in front of Sora, your will unwavering.
"Can't you live without these animals for five minutes?"
"No, he and Duck were the only ones who stood by me this entire time," he said as he got on his knees and hugged you both. "I'll go with you, but you gotta let them come with me."
Sephiroth sighed.
"Sir, they're my emotional support dog and duck," Sora said.
"And if I don't allow it?" Sephiroth raised an eyebrow.
"Come on, they're harmless and you know it!"
His stalker must have been in a good mood, because he agreed on letting you follow Sora. That couldn't be right, though. There was no way Sora could have given up so easily. Why, why, why was nobody else keeping an eye out for him? Why weren't you biting Sephiroth in the ankle?
You watched Sora open the heavy gate and motion for Sephiroth to go ahead of him. You then followed Sora close behind. No bark, no bite, you simply followed victim and stalker behind as if you didn't have any power to stop him.
Useless! You were so useless! As useless as the duck on your back! What kind of guard dog were you, if you allowed the human you were supposed to protect to walk into danger? You should have been alerting the sleeping residents of the villa, not quietly following them around! Sora would not be following Sephiroth to whatever hell he had prepared for him, that was not right!
I had seen enough.
I refused to be compliant in whatever tragedy was about to take place!
I raised my zapper and aimed it directly at Sephiroth's head. One shot would be more than enough to stop him. You stopped walking and looked at me with wide, scared eyes. You fervently shook your head, almost as if telling me to not do anything hasty, not at all different from the signals you sent me on the battlefield.
Well, too little too late.
I pulled the trigger. The clicking sound must have alerted my target, because he managed to raise his shield right on time. Sora, startled by the sudden sound of a zapper shot, summoned his Keyblade and pointed it at anywhere and everywhere, all at once, trying to find the source, but not at Sephiroth himself.
"A… a surprise attack?!" Sora exclaimed. "Was this part of the-"
Sephiroth unsheathed his blade and lunged at Sora, who just barely managed to block his attack. In response to that, you and Duck finally decided to be useful by sliding forward and propelling Duck to peck at him. He managed to avoid your attack by jumping backwards, giving Sora enough space to recompose himself and for you to get closer to him.
Sephiroth was furious. He raised his sword at you and Sora, but his eyes tried to find the source of the first shot. Try as he might, he would not be able to find me, even on the brightest of days. I aimed at him once more, this time less confident that I would get a clean shot, thanks to you being so far away from Sephiroth, but I was sure that I could at least damage him a little bit. Enough for Sora to run away, at least.
My concentration was interrupted by a sudden, familiar cry from afar.
"PK Thunder!"
A bolt of electricity came down from the skies and hit Sephiroth. The one winged man grunted in pain, paralyzed by the guided current of electricity. To my surprise, Lucas and Ness showed up, their hands sparking with PSI power. They were followed close by the Ice Climbers with their hammers ready for battle. Silvio and Mariamar also showed up by jumping out from ink splattered all over the gate to the villa, both also carrying out their splattershots and splat bombs.
I kind of expected Rosie to also show up, but she did not. She was probably stuck at home with another migraine. Poor girl.
"Dammit, Hunter!" Ness groaned. "You just ruined a perfectly good plan!"
What perfectly good plan?
You and Duck looked at me once again with the corner of your eyes. You obviously knew something that I didn't. Or maybe you didn't. You were just a dog and had no concept of tactical plans, after all. Regardless, I didn't need that kind of judgment at that moment, misters.
Ness pointed his index finger at Sora's tormentor, PSI magic flowing through his body and violet eyes glowing. He waited for Sephiroth to recover from the painful shock and said, "Alright, game's up, Sephiroth. You had your fun terrorizing the new guy, but now it's time you explain what you really want out of him."
"What's so special about Sora that you had to go through all of this process of isolating him from his friends?" Popo asked, holding his hammer close to him.
Sephiroth was about to answer with a lunge, but he seemed to think better than to needlessly pick a fight against a bunch of super powered teenagers and a dog who could summon zapper shots against his will, because he regained his composure and withdrew his sword. Even after being embarrassingly busted by people he assumed were clueless, even if he was (most probably) at a disadvantage, he still looked intimidating under the moonlight. You also seemed to think the same as me, after all, you would not lower your guard near Sora.
"To think that I would fall for such a simple trap," Sephiroth said. "How utterly bewildering."
"A-answer his question," Lucas demanded. "And… and don't even try to fly away! We have you surrounded."
"You were never truly doubted, were you?" He asked, looking directly at Sora.
"I was at first, but we talked things out," Sora said, giving him a cheeky grin. "Good thing Hunter was there to back my claims up. You shouldn't have underestimated him, Sephiroth."
My jaw dropped at the revelation. If anyone else could see me, they would probably point out that I looked more shocked about that revelation than the guy who was just flagrantly caught trying to kidnap Sora.
"Hunter and Duck may not be able to talk to humans, but I can talk to Hunter and Duck," Lucas said. "And they confirmed that you had been hounding him the entire time."
"Answwer Popo's question before I splat you!" Mariamar exclaimed, which prompted Silvio to elbow her. She elbowed him back and said, "Stop it, Silvio! He tried to take our friend awaway! He has luck that I haven't shot him wyet!"
"Don't do anything hasty, Mariamar," Ness said, still staring daggers at the man in front of him. "We don't need to get into a fight."
"We do not," Sephiroth agreed. "To pick a fight with children would be a waste of time."
"That is not what you told me when you almost killed me in Hollow Bastion," Sora grumbled.
Sephiroth paused for a brief moment, as if considering if he should respond to Sora's provocation. He pointed at his Keyblade and said, "The Keyblade has the power to close or lock any door or lock. There is something that I need unlocked, so I needed that power for myself. However, the Keyblade only works when used by its chosen wielder, who in this case, is Sora."
"So you tried to isolate and manipulate Sora into doing your bidding," Nana said, disgusted. "What is it that you wanted him to unlock?"
"It must be a really big deal if it warranted all of… this," Popo commented.
Sephiroth crossed his arms and looked to his right, towards the road ahead. "There is a temple at the heart of the forest near the town. It appears to be largely unexplored due to a complex security system that leaves it inaccessible to regular people. I simply wished to bring Sora along so he could neutralize that system for me," he explained. "That is all."
"What temple?" Silvio asked, understandably skeptical. He had never been to Mist Forest, the place where you, Duck and I were first freed from Galeem's control, and so had never seen or heard about the temple that lay deep within the forest before.
The Mist Forest was a miserable place. It was a vast forest that was crawling with wandering spirits and constantly plagued by a thick mist that it made it hard to navigate. I never liked when you were assigned missions that took place inside the forest, I never liked how you were the best option for them, since you never got lost in the forest. It made it harder for me to say "choose someone else to go, I don't like being there".
Not that anyone would be able to hear me anyway.
Usually those missions involved meeting up with the Toadette master spirit that was responsible for guarding said temple and bringing back whatever treasure she discovered inside, but sometimes it was just to check if a puppet fighter had shown up nearby. You had never entered the temple, you never wanted to know what was inside of it. Neither did I and I was pretty content with not being assigned missions to go there as of late. The thought of Sephiroth bringing Sora to that place in the middle of the night made my skin crawl.
"It's a place inside Mist Forest that neither you nor Sora will ever need to visit, as far as I'm concerned," Ness said. "What do you seek inside the temple, Sephiroth?"
"I believe that Sora already knows the answer."
Everyone turned their attention to Sora.
"This world's sleeping heart," he said.
His answer made Lucas gasp, while Ness only exchanged a few knowing glances with the Ice Climbers.
"I don't get it," Silvio said, confused.
Silvio may not have understood what Sora meant with that, but the sudden tension among the older Smashers clearly showed that they did. Popo opened his mouth to say something, but whatever he wanted to say was silenced by Nana squeezing his hand. Lucas's mouth tightened in a hard line and he nervously looked at Ness, who surprisingly retained his composure.
You didn't get it either, but that was to be expected.
"Well, dang, I don't know how you know all of this, but you're right," Ness said, to the surprise of everyone, including Sephiroth. "The temple really is housing something that could be described as the heart of the world."
"Ness…" Lucas said. "Are you sure about this?"
Ness nodded at him and Lucas took this as a signal for him to step back. He said, "But you are wrong about Sora having the power to open the locks that keep it sealed away. He doesn't have that power, so leave him alone already."
"You underestimate the power of the Keyblade."
"I'm not underestimating anything, I'm telling you how things are," Ness said with a shrug. "Maybe an actual Keyblade could open those locks. Maybe the original Sora could easily break all the seals guarding the core. All twelve of them."
"But I'm not the original Sora and this is not an original Keyblade," Sora bitterly said. "Is that it?"
"Exactly," he nodded. "The guy who created you… who created us, he would not give this kind of power to you and then let you out in the wild to be discovered by ill intentioned people who know only half truths."
"He has made some mistakes in the process of creating some of us, but he would never let this slip," Popo said. "I agree with Ness here, I'm pretty sure Sora's Keyblade was scaled down in power."
Sephiroth's face darkened. He withdrew his blade and pointed it at Ness, who did not flinch. The rest of the Smashers got ready to attack, but hesitated to attack when Ness pointed his bat back at him.
"You could drag Sora by the hair and beat him up into submission until he did whatever you told him to, he still wouldn't be able to give you what you want," he said. "And I know I'm right. I was there when those stupid seals were created and I know the guy who created them. He would never give Sora this kind of power."
There was a brief, agonizing silence, before Sephiroth said, "I have no reason to trust you."
"Well, I really hope you do," he said, tightening his grip on his bat. "Because it's either this or we fight. You're not taking Sora away and, like I said, I don't want to fight. At least not now. It's a waste of time and energy."
Sephiroth's brows furrowed as he stared intensively into Ness's glowing violet eyes. His eyes then fell upon Popo and Nana, holding hands and hammers ready for a fight. He then looked at the Inklings. Silvio had already a splat bomb prepared to be thrown and Mariamar was shaking nervously like a rabid dog, her finger on the trigger. I myself was ready to pull the trigger, but Sephiroth would never be able to notice that. He looked at you and Duck, a clear disdain in his face for realizing that he would have gotten away with his plans, had it not been for your meddling ways.
You snickered at him. He was not amused. It was almost enough for him to accept the challenge, starting by turning you into a kebab.
It was then when his eyes fell on Lucas, staring at him with glowing green eyes, and for some reason that was enough for his posture to relax and for him to sheath his blade. Sephiroth said, "I will not rest until I manage to reach this world's core."
Sora tightened his grip on the Keyblade.
"I'd invite you to stay with us and help us free the ones responsible for locking away what you search for," Lucas shook his head, "but I'd rather you just left us alone."
Sephiroth answered him with a curt nod and leapt through the air. I pointed my zapper at him, more as a force of habit than anything else. You watched him fly away and then turned around to face me. You laughed at me for letting him escape, but I did not let that get into my head. Victory was already achieved, they didn't need this kind of help from me.
Somehow, against all odds, Ness and company had convinced the devil to not take Sora away.
A/N: Who could this mysterious first person POV be? Well, if you watched the Duck Hunt trailer, you might already know.
A few notes about some of the stuff explained in this chapter:
-The temple referenced here are the ruins that you can send your spirits to explore with Todette. In this story's universe, those ruins are definitely a lot more important than what is shown in the game.
-The mysterious narrator was correct about Rosie not showing up to confront Sephiroth because she was stuck at home with a migraine. She trusted that they were more than capable of saving Sora without her help.
-Ness was also correct about Sora's Keyblade not having the power to access what's locked away at the temple ruins. Master Hand has a history of oversights when creating Smashers, but this was one that he would not let pass. Sora can open or close any kind of lock or door, except for this very especific case.
-Sephiroth knew of the Keyblade through the same mysteryous force that told him about what was inside the ruined temple. He has no prior knowledge of anything that happens in Kingdom Hearts.
