Stretching as she opened "her" eyes once again, the first thing that Sarah noticed was that she seemed to be alone in the lab, and right after that she noticed that she'd just knocked down a dusty gray blanket that'd been draped over her while she'd rested.
"Ah, so you're awake."
Not so alone after all, she mused, turning her attention to the small form of Dr. Finklestine, who seemed to be just as busy at his project as he'd been the last time she'd seen him.
"What'd I miss?" she asked.
"I sent them to obtain Surprise, as the Heartless at present are rather more docile than Jack was expecting."
"That makes sense," she said, then paused for a moment to consider just what else it was that she wanted to say; really, she'd have few better chances to find out. "Why did you choose the jack 'o' lantern to represent happiness, if you don't mind my asking?"
"Not at all, young man," Dr. Finklestine said, actually sounding pleased. "You must never hesitate to seek out knowledge," he paused for a moment, a thoughtful expression on his face. "Provided you can't find the information on your own, of course," he continued, and Sarah nodded, smiling slightly. "Now, I'm given to understand that your group are hunters, of a sort, so I suppose it would make sense none of you would have heard that happiness is a well-carved jack 'o' lantern," he said, patting the item in question with a definite sense of satisfaction. "And this jack 'o' lantern is very well-carved, I can assure you."
Chuckling deep in "her" throat, Sarah leaned back in her chair as she tucked the blankets in more snugly around "herself". Looking around with amusement as Kuromaru hopped up into "her" lap, she thanked the little Shadow as it handed her one of the thermoses of milk that she'd packed back when this long journey of hers had begun. Looking up as she noticed that Dr. Finklestine was staring at her curiously, Sarah raised an eyebrow in response.
"Would you mind if I-"
The sound of the others returning to the laboratory distracted the doctor's attention from whatever he'd been about to say, and Dr. Finklestine quickly turned his wheelchair and drove himself over to the counter where all the parts of his current project had been set out. Folding up the blanket that'd been draped over her as she'd napped, she set it down on the seat of the chair, then stood up and made her way over to where her traveling companions, Jack, and Dr. Finklestine had all gathered at the counter where the rest of the parts of the doctor's current project had been laid out. As Riku and the others came more clearly into view, Sarah noticed that Riku not only had that bat-wing sword of his out, but his currently-white hair looked more than a bit disheveled.
"You guys get into a scuffle while I was staying here?" she asked, leaning in so she could take a closer look at their group.
"Something happened to the Heartless," Riku said, glancing briefly at the group gathered around the counter, before turning his attention back to her. "They all started attacking us, so I don't think your plan is really going to work out."
Sarah hummed thoughtfully, right hand on "her" hip as she considered everything that had happened thus far. "Well, I guess it was just a thought."
The sound of light, rapid footfalls coming up the stairs drew her attention to the door, just as what looked like a trio of kids in what seemed to be some of the most generic of Halloween costumes came bursting in through the door, throwing themselves at the counter, with the kid in the skeleton costume actually throwing himself under the wheels of Dr. Finklestine's motorized chair. Which, of course, caused the doctor and the construct he'd been transporting to go rolling and tumbling across the floor.
Sarah moved almost before the kid in the skeleton costume had dove to intercept the doctor, and she saw Riku running along beside her as the pair of them pursued the trio of kids who'd tried to attack Dr. Finklestine for whatever reason. Sweeping the legs out from under the kid in the skeleton costume, she managed to keep him from making a break for the rest of his group, as well as scooping up the "heart" that Dr. Finklestine had been working on. Shifting her weight off of "her" right leg, Sarah kicked the kid in the skeleton costume back among the pair he'd clearly come in with.
"Here, take this," she said, pressing the construct that Dr. Finklestine had been working on into Jack's skeletal hands for a moment, before heading for the door to slam it closed again.
However, before she or Riku could slam the door and block off those three from getting back into the laboratory again, the trio started throwing a bunch of smoke bombs. Actual smoke bombs, which she hadn't been given any reason to expect would be a thing, which burst and obscured the room around them in a thick, sickly gray haze.
"The hell?"
"Sora!" the rest of her traveling companions called, with Riku's voice the loudest by a good margin.
Feeling a hand on "her" left arm, too small to belong to any of her traveling companions, Sarah whipped around and sunk "her" front teeth into it. A childish yelp answered her efforts, as Sarah threw herself sideways, away from anything else those kids might have had planned for the people in the laboratory. With "her" eyes closed against the stinging smoke still lingering in the room, Sarah could only try to listen as hard as she could in order to determine just where her current opponents were, something that was made all the more difficult by the loud shouting and scuffling in the laboratory itself.
The feel of heavy and smothering being thrown over her caused Sarah to all but snap "her" eyes open, causing them to sting from the lingering smoke in the air. The three kids who'd invaded the lab for whatever reason all pretty much dive-tackled her after that, slamming "her" head into the ground hard enough to stun for long enough for them to press- whatever the heavy thing was that they'd dropped over her in the first place. The feel of heavy ropes being tightened around her was the last thing Sarah was fully conscious of…
~KH1~
Coughing, trying not to sneeze from all the smoke in the air, Riku narrowed his eyes and gathered the Darkness to him, forming his sword again. Whatever those three had been doing, he'd make sure they didn't get away with it.
"Sora! Sora!" the duck that had come with them shouted, even as Riku rubbed his stinging eyes.
"What's going on?" he demanded, turning to look at the duck and the tall dog-man; he still didn't know why that kid was still keeping them around, really.
"Sora's gone!"
"What?!"
~KH1~
Coming to, strapped to what felt like some kind of crossbeam or other, Sarah's first thought was annoyance. If that bastard crucified me, I'm going to turn him inside out, she groused, opening "her" eyes to take in her current surroundings. She'd played good little unconscious prisoner, listening to what those around her were planning. She'd recognized this place, after getting a good look at it, since the movie these people came from was one of her eldest brother's favorites.
But, that only gave her a basis for what she could reasonably expect these people to do, and even then not much of one, since that had been scripted and life didn't have a script unless you were an actor; still, she'd use what she had.
Oogie Boogie, in his seemingly infinite capacity to be a pain in her ass, had mentioned his intention to trade her for that construct that she, Jack, and the doctor had been working on. He'd apparently had some kind of idiotic idea that he'd be able to use it to command the Heartless. She doubted that was going to work out for him, since she'd already seen how willful Kuromaru could be, and she only asked or gave suggestions when she wanted the little Shadow to do something.
Well, he's an idiot, but that doesn't actually help me get out of here, shaking "her" head, Sarah huffed determinedly as she turned to study the bindings on "her" wrists. She'd already checked for anyone else in the room, first listening and then opening "her" eyes once she'd determined she was clear. The kind of carelessness on display here did fit with Oogie Boogie's personality from the movie she and Dean had watched together, so that made things simpler.
Finding that her binds were just loose enough to work with, albeit with some effort, brought a feeling of relief. Of course, the process was hardly going to be painless, since even at his most negligent Oogie Boogie was hardly stupid, but the ropes were at least old and fraying, even if they were more than a bit scratchy.
"Fuck me," she hissed, yanking "her" right hand free from the loop of rope holding it fast.
Once she'd managed to get Sora's left arm free, and found to her pleasure that "her" legs hadn't actually been bound by anything, left to dangle off the base of the structure. Sarah climbed up on top of the slat that "her" left arm had once been bound to, since she wasn't going to take chances with a floor that looked like some kind of macabre roulette wheel.
She crouched for a moment on top of the slat, and then quickly leaped up into the rafters. Staying high and out of sight as she made her way back across the length of the circular room, Sarah raised an eyebrow at the sight of the large double-doors at the front of the room opening. Continuing on her way, Sarah paused for a long moment to see just who was going to show up looking for her.
Or, at least check on the place they still thought she was.
She'd been wondering how she was going to go about getting the doors open, now that she'd drawn so close, so this made things quite a bit easier.
"Yoo hoo!" Oogie Boogie called cheerfully, stepping through the double doors as Sarah hurried across the ceiling to make it to the opening. "I certainly hope you're comfortable- what?!"
Smirking, Sarah dropped back to the ground, dashing out through the still-open doors as Oogie shrieked in utter, frustrated fury. The scent of fresh rain on warm concrete prompted her to raise a curious eyebrow, and then to smile as Kuromaru appeared in front of her. The little Shadow met her in mid-stride, even as she dashed across the wooden walkway leading away from the double-doors.
Kuromaru grabbed "her" right arm, pulling her forward and into one of those black-fire looking portals that Riku, False-Ansem, and all the Heartless that she'd seen used, guiding her through the tunnel. The scent inside the tunnels, fresh rain on warm concrete, was almost overpowering enough to make her sneeze, but fortunately the pair of them made it out of the tunnel and Sarah was soon able to breathe freely again.
"Sora!"
"Hey," she greeted, smiling slightly as she made her way over to where Donald, Goofy, Riku, and Jack were all standing.
"Glad you managed to make it out," Riku said, grinning. "These guys were starting to get worried."
"Aw, and you weren't?" she asked, making her way over to the currently white-haired boy in the ghost costume. "I don't know how I should take that," she continued, a cheerfully mocking grin on her face as she mussed Riku's hair.
"Hey, hey!" Riku exclaimed, both hands up to defend his hair as he pulled away from her, grinning. "I knew you'd be able to get out of there," he continued, a tone of unassailable confidence in his voice.
Before anyone could say anything else, however, Oogie Boogie came storming out through the double-doors – which were green, Sarah noticed, now that she wasn't so completely focused on escaping – that had an image of his face painted on them. Turning to face the oversized sack of bugs with the rest of her group, Sarah grinned in response to the look of slow-burning rage that spread across what passed for his face.
"What are you doing out here?!" Oogie Boogie demanded, pointing at her with his thin, handless arms.
"It was boring in there, so I left," she said, folding "her" arms behind "her" head and stretching with an air of affected disinterest.
"Oh, you want fun?!" the sack-man demanded, and Sarah got the feeling that if he'd been remotely capable of the action, Oogie Boogie would have been grinding his teeth in frustration. "I'll give you fun! Heartless!"
The familiar scent of fresh rain on warm concrete filled the space around all of them as ghosts, skeletal mummies, and a new type of batlike Heartless all descended on their group from a multitude of directions. Recalling the Keyblade, Sarah caught a glimpse of Riku's bat-wing blade appearing in the white-haired boy's left hand, before she turned her attention to Donald and Goofy.
"Can you two deal with the ones out here?" she asked, looking them over as the pair of them readied their respective weapons. "Riku and I can head him off, if you guys think you can manage without us."
"We'll be all right!" Donald shouted back, brandishing his staff at the mob of varied Heartless closing in from all sides. "You and Riku go get him!"
"Come on," Riku called, grinning as he clapped "her" right shoulder and the pair of them dashed after the retreating form of Oogie Boogie.
For a moment, Sarah was surprised to note that they were headed back into the room that she'd been tied up in, but then she put those thoughts out of her mind. Curious as she was about Oogie's plans, this was hardly the time to go asking about them. Besides, she rather doubted that he would have answered her in any case.
"Still after me, huh?!" Oogie demanded, a snarl twisting his few features as he positioned himself atop what looked like some kind of macabre roulette wheel ringed with eerie-looking slot machines. "I guess you just weren't having enough fun out there, huh?" Oogie Boogie demanded, throwing down a pair of red dice. "Well, let's see how you like playing this game!"
A giant pair of red dice, looking like massively scaled-up versions of the dice he'd been juggling while he'd been bragging at them, came flying out toward her and Riku. A gate of what looked like twisted, blackened, wrought-iron spikes sprung up in front of him, sealing Oogie Boogie off in his own corner of the room. Narrowing "her" eyes in thought, Sarah considered just how she and Riku were going to be able to deal with this latest twist.
"You think you can jump that?" she asked, bracing herself against Riku as the platform they were standing on slowly began to spin.
"Whoa!" Riku exclaimed, flailing a bit, before she reached out to steady him. "Thanks," he said, turning to smile at her before returning his own attention to the fence now separating them from Oogie Boogie. "I don't know," he said, looking more than a little dubious.
"You think you could manage with a bit of help, maybe?"
"I think that might work," he said, after the pair of them had looked back to see some kind of crane-arm coming down from the ceiling and beginning to sweep across the spinning wheel the pair of them were standing on.
"All right," she said, nodding sharply as she recalled the Keyblade and crouched. "Up you get."
"Thanks," Riku said, climbing atop the Keyblade, then bracing himself while she launched him over the fence.
Leaping lightly over the crane-arm as it came sweeping around again, Sarah grabbed onto the support strut and let the crane itself lift her up high enough to jump over the fence Oogie Boogie had raised to separate them. Crouching as she landed on the other side, Sarah chucked softly.
"And she aces the dismount," Sarah muttered, hurrying over to Riku's side.
Sharing a brief smirk with Riku, the pair of them turned to confront a rather surprised Oogie Boogie. The ensuing battle was over more quickly than she'd been expecting, but honestly between her variety of destructive spells, Riku's batwing sword and seemingly enhanced acrobatic abilities, and Oogie Boogie's clear inexperience with personal combat, she shouldn't have been.
"The hell?" she muttered, as purple-black smoke began to rise like steam from Oogie's beaten form, as well as the nigh-overpowering scent of fresh rain on warm concrete that blasted out at them.
"It's Darkness," Riku said, right hand clenching briefly around the hilt of his sword. "We should leave."
"Right," she said, turning to fall into step with Riku as the pair of them de-assed the area with quickness.
Once they'd made it back out through the green door, with the terrain around them beginning to take on that same, smoky appearance that she'd seen from Oogie Boogie when they'd beaten him, Sarah dug into Sora's left pocket for the summon gem that had swiftly become her favorite out of the ones she'd collected thus far. A flare of her personal stores of Mana brought Marahute back out into the world again. Helping Riku climb up onto the giant eagle's back as the three of them were launched into the air with a powerful down-stroke of her massive wings.
Guiding the summon over to where she could see Donald and Goofy, along with Jack himself, making their own stand against the Heartless that had been drawn to this place – either by Oogie's efforts, or the presence of the Keyblade – Sarah signaled for Marahute to pick the pair of them up in her huge, graceful talons. Leaning over Marahute's side, she helped the pair of them to climb up onto the eagle's back. Jack, for his part, cleared the distance with an easy leap, settling down at the back of their group.
"Oh my, I've never seen a raven with such brightly colored feathers before!" Jack exclaimed, leaning forward to stroke Marahute's white-feathered neck.
First a Roc, now a raven, Sarah reflected, with some amusement.
The sound of Oogie Boogie's screaming precluded any further attempts at conversation, however, and Sarah raised an eyebrow at the sight that now lay before them.
"Since when can he turn himself into a colossus?" she demanded, as the towering form of what had once been Oogie Boogie – now fused with his house and what seemed to be a few surrounding buildings, with that same, smoky purple steam just about pouring out of his new form - rose up before them.
"He's infected with the powers of Darkness!" Donald exclaimed, prompting Sarah to remember a rather amusing bit from the Hellfire Commentaries playthrough she'd watched; back when these events had played out as a game.
"Oh, is that what all those zits are supposed to be?" she asked, smirking. "I thought we were just going to need an extra-large jar of pimple cream."
Riku made that sound people made when they tried and failed not to laugh. "No, you weirdo, we have to destroy the Dark Orbs that have emerged all over him. That's how we'll be able to defeat him."
"So, we're going to be up here popping a bunch of pimples?" she asked, smirk widening into a grin. "Oh goodie."
"Weirdo," Riku muttered, smirking as he shook his head.
Sarah chuckled softly, then turned her attention to the colossus that had once been Oogie Boogie. "It looks like they're spread evenly around his body," she said, narrowing "her" eyes as she studied the writhing form of the colossus below them. "It might be best if we split up to deal with them."
"That does sound like a good idea," Donald said, brandishing his staff. "C'mon, Goofy!"
As she directed Marahute to make a wide circle around the towering, writhing colossus, Sarah signaled the giant eagle tilt her huge wings so that Donald, Goofy, and Jack could all jump off.
"All right," Riku said, sounding as though he was grinning widely.
Patting Marahute's left shoulder, Sarah sent the eagle into a tight loop around the colossal, pitiful form of Oogie Boogie. With her and Riku working in tandem, between her Thunder Lances and the pale purple fireballs that Riku was using, the pair of them had seen managed to clear out all of the weird, Dark pimples that had emerged all over Oogie's colossus form.
It seemed that Donald, Goofy, and Jack had managed to clean things up on their end, too, since the next thing Sarah saw was the colossus form of Oogie Boogie exploding into that same, smoky black steam that she'd seen before.
Gently guiding Marahute to pick up Donald, Goofy, and Jack from the ground, Sarah patted the huge eagle's back, directing her to land so that the five of them could climb back down to the ground before the magic that sustained her wore off and they all dropped back to the ground. Reaching out to gently ruffle Marahute's soft, white feathers, Sarah caught sight of Riku's smile out of the corner of "her" left eye, hearing him mutter a soft "thanks", just before Marahute vanished back into the gem that Cody had given her awhile ago.
After sealing the Keyhole – a rather amusing process, that actually involved firing magic lasers at the Moon – Riku chuckled.
"Well, that was interesting," he said. "I've never seen anyone have to shoot the moon before."
"These Keyholes, I tell ya," she said, turning to Riku with an elegant shrug. "You seal them the weirdest ways."
"You're one to talk about being weird," Riku smirked, elbowing "her" left arm as he passed.
Sarah returned the gesture, smirking right back in the face of Riku's obvious surprise. Jack looked pensive, which she supposed fit, considering the fact that he had been the main motive force behind the project that had resulted – in that strange, roundabout way – in the colossus that the five of them had just faced. Still, it wasn't as though any of them could have actually known that Oogie Boogie would try to steal the prototype, eat it, and then end up fusing with his own house to become some kind of colossus.
Still, it was a fact that guilt followed no logic but its own, and at times like this, it was always better to have someone to talk to; or even just to vent at, really.
"Jack," she called, drawing the skeleton's attention as she fell into step beside him on their way back into the town proper. "Something wrong?" she prompted, wondering if he was going to answer her straightaway, or if she was going to end up having to push him a bit, the way she sometimes had to do with Riku.
"I just can't believe that everything could have gone so wrong," the skeleton sighed, a dejected slump to his shoulders, even as he kept up the brisk pace that their group had set for their journey back to town.
"Sometimes these things happen," she said, trying to be reassuring and hoping she was getting through to him. "You can't really predict them, you can just do your best to adapt to them."
Hell, that'd been what she'd been doing herself, ever since she'd been sucked into this place through… whatever cosmic fluke had ultimately dropped her here: adapt, survive, and try to get as many people through this crisis as she possibly could.
"I suppose," Jack said, though he didn't sound entirely convinced.
Patting the skeleton's left arm as she closed briefly with him, she smiled in response to the curious expression he turned on her.
The five of them arrived back in the town proper not long after that, the strange residents crowding in all around them to fuss at Jack like a bunch of mother hens. It was more than a little amusing, more than a little cute, and Sarah tried to focus on those two facts so she wouldn't cringe. She'd never been particularly fond of being crowded.
As soon as she could manage, Sarah begged off from what seemed to be swiftly becoming some kind of a celebration. She'd never been one for large parties, not for anything but her business requirements, and even then, Sarah would always find somewhere quiet to take a nap after the first hour or so. It wasn't something that most people seemed to understand, but dealing with large amounts of people had always seemed to tire her out faster than most other things.
She caught sight of Riku, tagging along with her for whatever reason, but since he hadn't done anything more troublesome than being a bit of a cheese head after she'd thumped some sense into him, Sarah paid him little mind. When she was finally able to find a quiet place to sit – a park bench in a cemetery, which really did seem to encompass the cheerfully macabre air about the town and the surrounding environs – Sarah curled up on the left side of the seat, leaned against the arm-rest on that side, tucked "her" left knee up under "her" chin, and finally closed "her" eyes so that she could get some rest.
The sound of a rather distinct pair of footsteps, and then the feel of something entirely too light for its apparent size climbing into "her" lap, prompted Sarah to open "her" left eye to take a look. Sure enough, Kuromaru had made itself comfortable as well as it could have, considering the way she was currently seated. Both of the little Shadow's thin arms were wrapped around "her" right arm.
And, Riku had also apparently decided to follow her to this place.
There was an amused expression on his face, and Sarah felt that she could hazard at least a guess at where the conversation he seemed to be interested was ultimately going to go.
"You're not starting to pick up on Sora's laziness, are you?" Riku asked, a teasingly amused grin on his face as he stood, looking down at the boy her traveling companions still thought she was.
She chuckled. "I doubt that," she said, reaching over to scruffle Kuromaru's antennae as the little Shadow curled up closer to her.
"You sure?" Riku prodded, grinning as he leaned in closer. "You're starting to look as lazy as he did."
"Kuromaru," she called softly, turning to the little Shadow, even as Riku continued to smirk amusedly down at them.
Nodding in response to the light shove she'd given it, Kuromaru uncurled itself from "her" lap, hopped down to the bench, and kicked Riku in the right shin just hard enough for the boy to feel it.
"Hey!" Riku yelped, as Kuromaru hopped back onto the bench, and then back into "her" lap.
The little Shadow didn't seem entirely content to stay where it was, however, a fact that was made all the more obvious when Kuromaru began tugging at "her" right arm in a rather impatient manner.
Sarah sighed, wrapping Kuromaru's left antenna around "her" right pointer-finger so that she could give it a light tug.
"So that's why you were being so cuddly," she muttered, giving the antenna around "her" finger another tug. "Brat."
Riku didn't quite seem to know quite what to make of the conversation that she and Kuromaru were having, the confusion on his face deepening as she took a deep breath and started to sing:
"Bonfires dot the rolling hillsides, figures dance around and around; to drums that pulse out echoes of darkness, moving to the Pagan sound."
Sarah had taken brief note of the other people who seemed to be trickling slowly into the graveyard alongside her, Riku, and Kuromaru. But since they hadn't actually done anything – and since she recognized more than a few of them – she paid them little mind. Just enough to know where they were, really.
The sound of bony hands clapping did manage to draw her attention, but by then she was basically finished with the song that Kuromaru had been so interested in, anyway.
"That was wonderful, Sora!" the skeleton exclaimed, a wide, enthusiastic smile on his face. "That was exactly what I had in mind for this year's Halloween!" Jack continued, clasping his hands in front of hid breastbone as he made his way over to where she and Riku were sitting together with Kuromaru. "Would you mind terribly if I asked you to sing that song again?"
"No, that's fine," she said, smiling slightly.
Donald and Goofy seemed particularly interested in what she was doing, with Goofy even trying to sing along even though he clearly didn't know the words. Jack clapped along, keeping time as she and Goofy sang and Kuromaru danced along with her. Once she'd finished for the second time, she and Kuromaru settled down on the bench again.
"That was a wonderful song, Sora," Jack said, having taken out what looked like a small notebook to scribble something down in it; she hardly needed to guess what that was, in this particular case.
Jack invited them to stay with him, which seemed to be becoming something of a trend, and Donald quickly found himself outvoted about whether they should stay or not. She and Kuromaru abstained, and Riku seemed to be in favor of anything that annoyed Donald, so the five of them ended staying for what turned out to be a feast. And then something like one of the many Halloween parties she'd been to.
She wondered what kind of holidays Riku was familiar with, or if they had anything like the kind of celebrations she was familiar with.
Once the feast and attendant celebration was over and done with, they teleported back to Fere, on their way back to Traverse Town once more.
Riku chuckled, running a hand through his once-more silver hair. "Well, that was weird," he said, then turned to grin at her. "I can see why you liked it so much."
"You should have seen how we looked on the last world we came to," she said, smirking at Riku as he settled himself into the chair that Sarah had had installed for passengers like him. "We all ended up half some kind of water-dwelling creature or other."
"What?" Riku asked, laughing in a way that, combined with the look on his face, told Sarah that he wasn't sure whether he believed her or not.
And so, as their ship made her way back to Traverse Town, and she kept "her" hands on the triggers of Fere's various weapons, she told Riku what had happened foray out of Traverse Town. Donald and Goofy added their own contributions, naturally, and by the time they made it back to friendly airspace, Riku knew at least the high-points concerning their journey on that strange, underwater planet.
"Wow, you guys really do end up in the weirdest places," Riku said, laughing as Fere was pulled back into the hangar by a pair of what looked very much like a pair of oversized, gloved hands.
That had always been one of the more amusing parts of leaving or returning to the hangar, and it had never failed to draw at least an amused smirk from her when she saw it.