Fan Fiction ❯ Black Orchid ❯ A Glimpse of a Dar('c)k Past ( Chapter 22 )

Nehehe: Now, to introduce the mysterious man Elias is after. And touch Arc's past. And fight. And have Genie charades. I got this out faster than I thought I would, and there's all this great stuff. Aren't I a nice guy? Also included is your regular reminder that Riku and Leon aren't having a fun time. Yeah, that's all I can think of, so R&R!

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"Are you sure they went there?" asked Orchid worriedly, holding on as the carpet flew across the desert sands.
"I'm sure they took her to the Cave of Wonders," said Aladdin grimly, now decked out in his thieving clothes and a scimitar, his faithful monkey Abu on his shoulder. "That's where the Heartless were centered before…"

"And if anyone kidnapped Jasmine, then I'm sure it was them, sir!" said Genie, flying next to them and now costumed as a commando, helmet, camouflage-gear and all, and also managing to march through the air. "No one else is sneaky enough to get past my Genie brigade super defenses, sir! Why, I even-"

"Genie," interrupted Aladdin, "you were in the room with me when it happened, remember?"

"Oh. Yeah…" trailed off Genie, his clothes back to normal, his head sagging.

"Don't worry, we'll catch them!" declared Orchid confidently, looking ahead across the dunes.

Aladdin smiled weakly at this, but the worried look on his face hadn't left him.

Arc also looked troubled, but in a different way. He kept looking to their right, as if something was bugging him.

"Turn that way," he said, pointing off into the distance in that direction.

"That's not where we're going," Aladdin brushed his request off.

"We need to go that way," said Arc more urgently.

"No. We. Don't," replied Aladdin, his voice heavy with annoyance.

"There's someone who needs our help."

"Jasmine needs our help!"

"Someone who might die if we don't help!"

Aladdin was silent at this. It wasn't likely that someone would kidnap Jasmine just to kill her. "Fine."

The carpet turned and Genie followed silently as the grim crew on the flying carpet scanned the horizon for what Arc had been talking about. Then they saw it.

A black speck grew into a figure surrounded by Heartless as they drew closer. The shadows were circling around the man, slowly closing in on him. The man himself was dressed in a black trench coat and had long black hair, some of which covered the right side of his face. He looked ragged and beaten, and held two wooden-handled katana in his hands, their tips dragging in the sand. Even from their distance, the people on the carpet could see he was breathing hard and wouldn't last long.

"Who is that?" wondered Orchid aloud.

"Why are they all the way out here in the desert?" asked Aladdin, turning to Arc. He got no response, as Arc was too busy staring at the figure.

Arcanis…

Arc's eyes went wide. He hadn't heard that voice in two years.

"Fly in closer," he said quickly, still staring at the figure as it pitifully tried to fight back the swarms of Heartless. As the carpet circled in lower, he watched as the shadows leaped onto the man. If they were only closer, he would be able to tell if it was him.

Help me…

By now, the man was covered in darkness up to his shoulders, and only had one hand free. Soon, the katana held by it was swallowed by the darkness.

At this point, Arc jumped from the carpet, despite the thirty-foot drop to the sand, and he could hear his friends' shocked cries behind him. As he fell, he kept his eyes intent on the man he was plummeting towards. The man was reaching his hand up to Arc, his face almost covered by the Heartless. A face that Arc never thought he would see again.

"Dar'ck!" shouted Arc in surprise, willing himself to fall faster. But it was too late. The shadows had consumed the man up to the raised wrist by the time Arc was within ten feet of the ground. He could just barely hear his voice in his mind.

Help me, Arcanis…

There was a flash of pure white light, blinding Arc and even those still on the flying carpet. When he opened his eyes, Arc was alone. The Heartless were gone. And so was his brother.

-!-!-!-

"We have him, my lord," said the white haired man, pivoting elegantly on one foot to face Elias.

"Good. The master will be pleased," said the half-masked man. "We may now start to create the Gray One…"

"You called for me?" asked a high, slightly wheedling voice. Its owner, the skinny man with the sabers, quickly walked out of the gloom to stand before Elias.

"Yes," he replied, turning to face him. "The Heartless have brought the Princess to the Cave of Wonders, Gali. I need you to take her from them and bring her here before the keyblade master catches up with them."

"As you wish, my lord," said the man, bowing, and backing off until he disappeared into the shadows. Elias turned back to the white haired man and the two chained figures he was attending to. Both hung side by side on the wall, their heads sunken to their chests and their eyes staring blankly. Their bodies were there, but there minds were worlds away.

"Start working on the new one soon. These two are coming along nicely," said Elias. He turned, then walked off into the gloom, leaving Riku and Leon behind him.

-!-!-!-

"Who was that?" asked Orchid as they continued their flight to the Cave of Wonders.

"A… friend that I hadn't seen in a while," said Arc quietly.

Orchid opened her mouth to ask for details, but was quickly shushed by Montblanc, who saw that Arc wasn't in the mood to share. Apparently, Arc's past wasn't an entirely happy memory.

"There it is!" pointed out Aladdin, his hand extended forwards at a large dune, shaped like the head of a tiger. Genie flew down to it and they hopped of the carpet when it came to the ground and they all ran to the cave, only to find Heartless shadows already there, carrying an unconscious body.

"Jasmine!" shouted Aladdin, running forwards. He was stopped as he brought up his sword to block a saber that came flying at him. To his surprise, the saber whirled like a boomerang back to its master instead of flying into the dunes. The thrower grabbed it easily in one hand.

"Ah, ah, ah!" came the taunting voice. Its owner was a tall, gaunt man, wrapped in a ragged red cape that covered all of his body except for the arm holding the saber. His mouth was covered by the cape, and the top of his head was wrapped in a bandana, also red. All that was exposed of his face was his eyes and his pointed nose. "I don't like you, so you can't have her."

"Who are you?" demanded Aladdin as his friends caught up with him.

"Gali," replied the man, his eyes slightly wild as he stared at the people before him. "And I'll be taking the princess with me. Have fun!"

With this, the man sheathed his saber under his cape, grabbed the Princess Jasmine from the shadows with his exposed arm, then disappeared in a quick puff of smoke, like a magician's trick.

"Damn it!" cursed Aladdin, running forwards, scimitar drawn. When he got to the shadows though, they had disappeared. He looked around in confusion at the sudden lack of enemies as the others cautiously crept forwards to join him.

"Do we just go in?" asked Orchid, relaxing as she saw there were no enemies.

"Something doesn't feel right…" muttered Arc, pushing up his shades.

Suddenly, wicked, curved swords shot up from the sand, followed by the arms holding them. Shocked and surprised, the group could only stare as bandits sprung out of the sand like maggots from a carcass. Soon, they were surrounded by nearly a score of bandits and several fat bandits had also climbed out of their hiding places in the sand.

"You got that right, kid!" shouted Genie, looking around at the Heartless that had surrounded them.

"We can take them, right, Montblanc?" grinned Orchid, Nearbloom appearing in her hand. The moogle just nodded as he began waving his rod around for his spells.

As if by some unanimous decision, all of the bandits lunged at the same time. They all found a nasty welcome awaiting them. A few were destroyed immediately by Aladdin's vengeful blade, while even more were knocked back by Arc's swinging fist. Orchid took on her fair share, while Montblanc helped blast them back with barriers of wind. Soon, they had cleared a circle around the tight group and the Heartless had reverted to swaying menacingly from a safe distance.

"Let's take it to 'em, Genie!" said Aladdin, grinning.

"Sure thing, Al!" exclaimed the genie, giving his former master the thumbs up. He spun in a circle, his index fingers extended. As he did, floating blue symbols, resembling Genie's face, appeared on or in front of the Heartless surrounding them, until every single one was marked. "SHOWTIME!"

The trio stared in awe as the Heartless ranks were shredded and decimated by a magical assault unlike any they'd ever seen. Thunder, ice, fire, water, wind, gravity and poison blasted all of the bandits relentlessly, destroying many of them, and also getting rid of some of the fat bandits. Recovering from their amazement, the trio and Aladdin charged the remaining Heartless, and finished them off.

"Now do we go?" asked Orchid, walking towards the cave entrance.

"I think so-" started Arc. He let out a startled noise as a hand popped out of the sand and grabbed his ankle. As he hopped away, it was followed by a body, and many other bandits began coming out of the sand all around them.

"Again, kupo?" sighed Montblanc.

"Bring it," grinned Arc manically.

"Out of my way," said Aladdin grimly.

"Encore?" asked Genie.

"Let's dance," said Orchid, getting ready to Rave.