Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction ❯ Unfulfilled Prophecy ❯ Chapter 7 ( Chapter 7 )

Chapter 7

 

Morgana Maeve

 

So it's around 10:30 at night, and I'm bored, so I dig out my shoebox full of make-up and decide to paint my nails blood red. Yeah, blood red.

 

It looks so horrible. I feel like an old lady trying desperately to be Goth.

 

On another note, I finally broke my mouse. Apparently, the clicky things have some sort of thingy on them that makes them click, and collisions with walls knock these thingies out of place. So now my mouse has no cover on it, and I have a permanent indent on my index finger from pressing the thingy-less clicky thing.

 

And no, I won't use the one from the big computer because it has no right-click. I scoff thee Apple mouses! You suck!

 

Disclaimer - I own only the trio of OC's and any other OC that may pop up. Sora and the Kingdom Hearts series belongs to Square and Disney. (Speaking of which, the trailer for KH:FM plus has been released. Fangirls, be prepared to drool, for the trailer is the sex.)

 

*~[--]----------_--_-

 

Xenos, Hotaru, and Winter had not fared well after their encounter with the perplexing vortex. Cuts, bruises, and other such injuries that are acquired after falling a rather large distance onto hard desert sand and Chasers sat heavily on the trio's tempers, and even the slightest of grievances set said tempers flaring. Xenos and Winter found themselves in one such flare, started by the subtle insinuation by Winter that the group should take a rest. Xenos did not believe something so trivial was necessary.

 

“But I'm tired! Can't we just rest for a little while?” Winter begged, her voice taking on that wheedling quality that irked Xenos to the point of slightly homicidal rage.

 

“You can take a break if you want to,” he said though clenched teeth, “and the rest of us will just leave you here. And then we'll come back to get you, if we remember.”

 

“You're not being fair!” Winter accused, after a moment of affronted silence. “You're such a jerk!” she added, sticking out her tongue at him emphatically.

 

“You know what?” Xenos asked, his voice dangerously quiet. “I may be a jerk, but you're ugly. And being ugly is worse than being a jerk, because I can work at not being a jerk, but you'll never be able to fix you terrifying ugliness.”

 

Winter began to cry then, sitting splayed-legged on the sand, her head in her hands, face red, sobbing loudly. Xenos fretted next to her, torn between acting justified and falling into a complete and total panic.

 

“Are you finished?” Hotaru asked, finally joining the conversation.

 

“She started it!” Xenos yelled righteously. “She started complaining first!” Winter chose this time to interrupt with several choice words for Xenos, none of which were appropriate for anybody who had been brought up civilly.

 

“Watch your mouth,” Hotaru snapped, jerking Winter's cape so that she fell flat on her back.

 

“Jeez, way to break someone's neck, Hotaru,” Xenos muttered reproachfully, and he was rewarded with a cape-snap of his own, his head jerking backwards. “Damn it, Hotaru!”

 

“Don't say you didn't deserve that,” she answered, flicking her hair back. He opened his mouth, probably to deliver a scathing retort, but Hotaru advanced at him, her arm outstretched, and he wisely changed his tirade to a different topic.

 

“Why did Kallisto add these stupid things on, anyway?” he grumbled, pulling irritably in the fabric. “What's the point to them?”

 

“I like them,” Winter interjected. “I think they look nice.” Judging by Xenos's face, this harmless comment was about to snowball into another, possibly violent, argument, and Hotaru stepped forward, eager to derail any further altercations.

 

As it turned out, she needn't to do or say anything, for, at that moment, an eerily iridescent circle sprouted from the ground, its shimmering light creating a halo in the air above it. It was quite effective in stopping the bickering of the three friends, who all jumped back, Keyblades out and readied for battle. They circled the mysterious object, keeping a safe distance away from it.

 

“What is it?” Winter whispered, though she didn't have to; the dry air carried every sound and amplified it as well.

 

“I don't know,” Hotaru answered, edging closer to it.

 

“Is it a Chaser?” Winter whispered again.

 

“I just said I didn't know!” was the reply.

 

“It doesn't look like it's about to attack,” Xenos observed, inching closer as well.

 

“Maybe it's sleeping.”

 

“Maybe you should shut up.”

 

“I don't think it's dangerous in the sense of it attacking us,” Hotaru stated, the only rational statement made so far.

 

“Well, there's only one way to find out,” Xenos declared decisively. He stood straight at full height, and before anyone could point out that his method was probably not the best action to take, he threw his Keyblade with all his might at the glowing circle. It hit true to its mark, piercing the heart of the object squarely. It stayed there for a few seconds, and then, with a rather interesting slurping sound, the Keyblade disappeared through the iridescent core.

 

Hotaru, Xenos, and Winter all stared open mouthed at the spot where Xenos's proud Keyblade had once stood before panic set in.

 

“Did you see that!” Winter cried to the agape Hotaru, while Xenos stared, horrified at the thing, saying, “It ate my Keyblade!”

 

“I think we should calm down and think this through,” Hotaru said, but no one paid her any mind.

 

“It ate my Keyblade!”

 

“Xenos, I really think you should stay calm.”

 

“It ate my Keyblade!”

 

“Xenos, your eyes are popping out.”

 

“It ate my Keyblade!”

 

“Grab him before he does something stupid!” Unfortunately, Hotaru and Winter only managed to painfully bang heads as they both dove to stop Xenos, who took a running leap straight into the mysterious, glowing thing and disappeared just like his Keyblade with another, louder, slurp.

 

“It just ate Xenos!” Winter yelped, wavering on the brink of hysteria. Hotaru cursed, and, grabbing Winter by her cape and dragging the unresisting teen, too jumped in after Xenos.

 

Flashing lights.

 

That's all any of the three could remember. Flashing lights and a slight pulling at their legs, as if something was trying to stretch them out lengthwise. Hotaru managed to catch a glimpse of a few mammoth blocks, all colorful and glowing, with something navigating around them…“Good heavens above, what was that shooting out from it?” she thought, gasping at the small explosions erupting around the flying thing. But the gasp wouldn't come, and she realized quite unexpectedly that she couldn't breathe. She panicked, trying to thrash her limbs, but she couldn't move, and just when she thought she was going to die, she found herself writhing on the ground, covered in sweat, taking in air with great gulps. A shadow fell over her, and she looked up to see Xenos, standing over her with big eyes.

 

“Where's Winter?” she croaked, her voice hoarse. Xenos shook his head, his eyes growing more worried. There was a small burst of light, and then there was Winter, scrambling across the ground on all fours, leaping up and taking three wobbling steps, only to crash back to the floor, chest heaving.

 

“What,” she panted, “was that?”

 

“I have no idea,” Xenos answered, the first to be recovered. “But I think we have bigger things to worry about.” Hotaru was going to ask him what he meant by that, but after a few minutes of lying on the ground, she became aware that it didn't feel like sand. It wasn't even close to the hot, grainy texture of Kingdom Hearts. And she was feeling something she hadn't in years, something she hadn't thought she would ever feel again. She felt cold on her helmet-less face. The air here was cold.

 

“Xenos,” she murmured, “what have you done?”

 

“Um, guys?” Winter had recovered enough as well to look about at her surroundings. “Do you guys recognize any of this?”

 

“Where the sun?” Xenos asked at the same time, looking up at the gray sky. “There's no sun! I didn't do that!”

 

“Those are clouds,” Hotaru said, standing up next to Xenos, examining the gray expanse above them.

 

“Clouds?” Xenos echoed. He had a right to be confused; Kingdom Hearts had no cloud cover. It was always sunny, with no change in the weather. There were no seasons, no cold, no weather, no nothing except blistering heat all year `round. Underneath the hard crust of sand was the only source of water, and that was how the people of Kingdom Hearts survived, as did a few strong, long-rooted plants.

 

“They're blocking the sun,” Hotaru explained further. “In a few days, maybe even hours, the sun will come out again.”

 

“My face hurts,” Winter said, and sure enough, when Xenos and Hotaru turned to look at her, her nose was red, and her lips were beginning to chap. Their faces hurt as well, they realized, and after a moment's panic by Xenos, Hotaru was able to explain why, though all she had to offer were very vague memories.

 

“We're just not used to the cold, that's all,” she said, trying to discreetly rub her nose and rid it of the embarrassing line of mucus that was beginning to stream down from the offending appendage. She gave up when she realized Winter and Xenos were doing it too, and for a minute, they all sniffled and rubbed, but to no avail.

 

“You know,” Xenos said stuffily, “when I get cold, my nose does not do this.”

 

“That's because this is a different kind of cold,” Hotaru snapped, more upset about her loss of dignity then with him.

 

“What do you mean, different kind of cold?” This came from Winter, who had placed her hands to her face in an attempt to warm it. It didn't help much; her metal and leather armor had already lost all its heat gained from Kingdom Hearts, and it was colder than her face was.

 

Hotaru grabbed for words for a minute and then shrugged and decided it would be best to just come out and say, “I don't think we're still in Kingdom Hearts.” There was silence for a minute while that statement was processed.

 

“Not in Kingdom Hearts!”

 

“How?”

 

“Are we dead!”

 

“Then where the hell are we?”

 

“We're dead, aren't we? That's why it's so cold!”

 

“Can you panic somewhere else?”

 

“Everybody shut up!” Hotaru finally yelled, successfully catching the two younger ones' attention. She exhaled loudly. “We're not dead. That much I know. And no, I do not know what world we're on,” she said, correctly predicting Xenos's next question. “But we're definitely in a different world.”

 

“Yeah, one very screwed up world where its `different kind of cold' makes your lips itch,” Xenos snapped. “Oh, damn it all, my lip cracked!”

 

“Stop picking on it,” Hotaru admonished. “And this is probably very normal for this world anyway. It seems like it's winter here.” Confused stares greeted this statement, and Xenos pointed to Winter with a questioning look.

 

“She's causing it to be cold?” he asked in amazement, staring at her. Winter put her hands up and shook her head.

 

“I'm not doing anything.”

 

“You're both being ridiculous,” Hotaru said, rubbing the bridge of her nose in exasperation. “Winter gets her namesake from the season of winter. We don't have that season in Kingdom Hearts.”

 

“Wait, wait,” Xenos said, shaking his head. “Let me get this straight. You're saying that she,” he pointed to Winter, “is named for a season, whatever that is, that we don't have.” Hotaru nodded. “And this season of winter is cold?” She nodded again. “It suits her. Perfectly, in fact.”

 

“You're a jerk,” Winter told him. “It's too bad your mother didn't name you Annoying Jerk-Face.”

 

“That was lame, Winter,” Xenos laughed. “Is the cold affecting you brain? Or do you even have one to affect?”

 

“If there was anybody brainless here, it would be you, Xenos.”

 

“Between the two of you, I'd say you both have less then a quarter of a brain,” Hotaru broke in, pulling off one leather glove to rub her numbed face, and feeling came back to it in prickles of pain. She scuffed the ground with her boot, feeling the way the texture grabbed at it. “Concrete,” she thought. She wondered fleetingly, as Winter and Xenos bickered good-naturedly, if she had once been to this world before…but no, time worked differently in Kingdom Hearts, and what had been ten years there may have been hundreds elsewhere. These memories of pinpricks of cold - “Snow,” her mind procured -were from some other place. She sighed, her breath condensing in front of her, a miniature cloud in a gray expanse, and Hotaru was struck with how evanescent it was. “Am I,” she wondered, “like that?”

 

Her reverie and wonderings were cut short, however, when Xenos suddenly flopped onto his back, holding his nose, and shaking his head.

 

“Did you hit him?” Hotaru asked Winter, slightly amazed that their argument had escalated into blows.

 

“No!” Winter protested, shaking her head emphatically. “We were just messing around, and then he fell!”

 

“Is anybody going to ask me if I'm okay?” Xenos asked from his position on the ground. He stood, rubbing his nose, which was swelling at an alarming rate.

 

“If you can stand up and complain, then you're fine,” Hotaru answered back. “What happened?”

 

“Hell if I know,” Xenos grumbled. “I was talking to Winter, and then all of a sudden, something smashed me in the nose and I'm down on the ground.”

 

“Did you see what hit you?”

 

“I think it was blue,” Xenos said, after a moment's pause. “And round.” He glared at Winter. “If I find out you had anything to do with it, so help me…”

 

“Incoming!” Winter yelled, and Xenos turned around just in time to receive another blow to the face. He went down again with an oath.

 

“Damn it!”

 

“Did you see what it was?” Winter asked Hotaru, who had her Keyblade summoned and poised for action.

 

“No,” she answered, carefully watching the nearest fringe of leafless trees, their trunks a muted brown in the gloom, for any movement.

 

“Something moved from behind that tree,” Winter whispered, ruining the secrecy by pointing.

 

“I think it was an animal,” Hotaru whispered back, but she turned out to be wrong as something came flashing at her face, like it had done to Xenos. Hotaru had quicker reflexes than he did, however, and she managed to bat the thing away with her Keyblade, whatever it was clattering to the ground.

 

“What is it?” Xenos asked from his protective to himself position behind Hotaru. His nose was more swollen than before, and Winter snickered quietly at him. “Shut up.”

 

“I don't know,” Hotaru said, walking over to where the thing had fallen, stopping to pick it up. Xenos grabbed her by her cape and dragged her back.

 

“It could be dangerous!” he yelled to the surprised Hotaru, who was looking at him as if he had grown two heads. “You don't know what it is!”

 

“Actually,” she snapped, “I do. And it's not that dangerous.”

 

“Then what is it?”

 

“It's a yo-yo.” Xenos frowned.

 

“A yo-yo…”

 

“Yes, a yo-yo.”

 

“And what exactly is a yo-yo?” Xenos asked, frowning harder, his eyebrows knitting together.

 

“It's a toy,” Hotaru explained.

 

“A toy?” echoed Winter, who had scurried over to the `yo-yo' and had picked it up, bringing it back to the other two. “What does it do?”

 

“Besides hitting people in the face?” Xenos muttered, but no one paid any attention to him.

 

“They usually have string attached to them, and you just pull them up and down,” Hotaru said, largely making up what she was telling them, for she really didn't have any particular memories pertaining to actually playing with a yo-yo. She just remembered what the word was associated with.

 

“And I suppose hitting people in the face is just an added plus?” Xenos asked sarcastically, more to the yo-yo than to Hotaru.

 

“Will you let it go already?” Winter snapped, annoyed. “Jeez, you're not dying.”

 

“How do you know? The thing could be poisoned!”

 

“Ha ha! But it's not!” a new voice piped up, coming from the general direction of the trees nearest to the trio. All three jumped. “Take that!” Another yo-yo flew out at them, and Hotaru once again batted it away. “Aw, you're not supposed to do that! Stand still!”

 

“Is he serious?” Xenos asked in indignation. “Tell me, is he serious?”

 

“I am always serious!” came the answer, and something…somebody…slipped out of the tree, making a desperate attempt to land on its feet, but failing miserably. “Ow!” The person stood up, dusting himself, as it was now possible to identify the person as a `he,' and adopted a rather ridiculous pose, one leg far behind the other, and his hands up in front of him. Messy black bangs fell into his eyes, and he shook his head for a few seconds, trying to get them into a more favorable position. He made it worse.

 

“What is this?” Xenos asked, his indignation growing. “What the hell is this?” Winter shrugged, just as confused as everyone else.

 

“Come,” the boy - he couldn't have been much older than Winter - said, “fight me if you dare, for I am Gavin, the great yo-yo ninja!”

 

“Yo-yo ninja,” Hotaru repeated, sounding faintly amused.

 

“He can't be serious,” Xenos said again, shaking his head. “He cannot be serious. You are not serious,” he said to Gavin.

 

“I am serious,” Gavin answered, grinning widely. He held out his hand. “But can I have my yo-yos back, please?” Xenos stopped in bewilderment, and Gavin took that time to whip out two more yo-yos from his pockets. “Ha! I have multiple yo-yo's!” He began to swing them around in a complicated pattern, advancing towards Xenos, who was backing away in total bemusement, throwing helpless looks over his shoulder to Hotaru and Winter, the latter bent over double in silent laughter. “Ha ha! What will you do now?” Gavin asked, but before Xenos could reply, his yo-yo strings tangled together, and both yo-yos made a spectacular drop straight between his legs, complete with a loud slap. “Oh, not good, not good,” he mumbled, rolling onto his side. Xenos merely stared at him in horrified wonderment, while Winter brayed with laughter behind him. Even Hotaru was amused, if the suspicious coughs hidden beneath her hand were any indication.

 

“I give up,” announced Xenos. “I give up, I don't care anymore, I just want to go back to Kingdom Hearts.”

 

“What about your Keyblade?” Hotaru asked, trying to suppress a smile.

 

“I forgot about that. Hey, you!” He grabbed Gavin by his shoulder. “Snap out of it!” Gavin groaned a little in response. “Did you see my Keyblade?”

 

“What's a Keyblade,” Gavin asked, more or less unharmed, sitting down cross-legged on the cold ground. “You can sit; I was only messing with you.” Xenos rolled his eyes, and beckoned for the two girls to come over.

 

“Just answer the question: Did you or did you not see my Keyblade?” Xenos asked again.

 

“How can he answer that if he doesn't know what one is?” Winter whispered to Hotaru, who shrugged.

 

“I don't know, but don't bring yours out. We don't know who he is.”

 

“Can you tell me what it looks like?” Gavin asked, trying to be helpful.

 

“It looks like a giant key,” Winter supplied.

 

“Oh, you mean like this?” Gavin pulled out a key ring covered in keys. “Are any of these what you're looking for?” Xenos growled and knocked him in the head for good measure. “Hey! What was that for!”

 

“For being an ass,” Xenos snapped. “Don't be stupid! A Keyblade is a weapon. Don't listen to what Winter tells you. She lies.”

 

“Thank you, Xenos,” Winter answered.

 

“Oh, you mean like the one she had?” Gavin asked, pointing to Hotaru. Xenos nodded while Winter glared at Hotaru.

 

“Oh sure, it's fine for your Keyblade to be seen but not mine.”

 

“Stop acting your age.” Winter raised an eyebrow at Hotaru, and she shrugged, half smiling.

 

“I haven't seen anything like that,” Gavin was saying, wringing his hands at Xenos. “But I can help you look for it! I'm useful!”

 

“Really…” Hotaru said dryly. Gavin pulled another pose, arms pumping the air.

 

“I am the great yo-yo ninja! Of course I'm useful! Follow me!” He jumped up quickly, spry as a weed, and ran off, stopping only once to call out, “You're going too slow!”

 

“He's deluded,” Xenos said in passing, resigning himself to following what he thought was a complete mental case.

 

As it turned out, Xenos may have had a point, since all the `Great Yo-Yo Ninja Gavin' did was lead them to a scraggly bunch of trees where a small bonfire crackled in the cold. An equally small tent was propped up against two sagging tree trunks, obviously made impromptu from what appeared to be a large sheet draped over string. A large patch of burned grass testified to a time when the small fire must of burned out of control, and suddenly, Winter looked away, embarrassed by something she couldn't quite name.

 

Gavin didn't seem to mind showing off his makeshift home to the trio though. He immediately sat down in front of the fire, beckoning for his newly found acquaintances to sit as well.

 

“Want one?” he asked, offering a bag at Xenos. He peered in at the flaky contents, and gingerly picked up one with two fingers.

 

“What is it?” Xenos asked, eyeing the thing in distaste.

 

“It's a potato chip,” Gavin answered around the several already in his mouth. Crumbs sprayed in front of him, and Hotaru inched sideways, away from him. Xenos looked to her for help, but Hotaru could not recall any memory of `potato chips,' and so she shrugged, leaving Xenos to his own devices. He waited until Gavin tipped the entire bag into his mouth and then threw the chip into the fire.

 

“So,” Winter said, trying to make conversation. “Do you live here?” Gavin snorted.

 

“Yeah, right,” he snickered. “I've only been here for a few days. Can't you tell?”

 

“Not really.” It was Xenos who had answered him. “What are you doing here then?”

 

“Camping out.” Gavin grinned and gave him thumbs up, which Xenos warily returned, his facial expression betraying his consternation. “You see,” Gavin continued, “there's this town at the edge of the forest, and that's were I used to live, but this giant monster-thing suddenly showed up about two days ago and started destroying everything. I mean it totally demolished everything in sight. So, me and practically everyone else got out of there, and I came here.” He said that last part to the fire its merry brightness reflecting in Gavin's dark eyes, and he just looked so sad and alone that Winter couldn't help but reach over to him and pat him on the arm. Something in her heart told her they were akin in some ways.

 

“We'll take care of it,” she said, her own brown eyes deadly serious.

 

“You will?” Such unwarranted hope in his voice. He was too trustworthy; too willing play his cards too soon. So out of place in the gloomy cold that wasn't perturbed by the fire.

 

“We will?” Xenos asked, peering over the tips of the flames at Winter. “You can't just volunteer us into random acts of charity, you know. Besides, how am I to fight without my Keyblade? And how do you know this giant monster thing is what you think it is, for another matter?”

 

“I didn't say I thought it was Chaser,” Winter snapped. “And you don't have to fight. I'm sure Hotaru and I can take it, whatever it is.”

 

“You were thinking it,” Xenos retorted.

 

“And what makes you think I'm going to help?” Hotaru asked.

 

“Because you always end up helping.”

 

“Who are you guys, anyway?” It seemed as if Gavin had finally realized he had never once laid eyes on his guests before. “You're not from around here, are you?”

 

“I…er…um…uh…we…erm…R 21; Winter looked to Xenos for help, but he was floundering for words as well.

 

“You guys are warriors, aren't you?” Gavin suddenly spouted, with so much enthusiasm, he nearly fell over into the fire. “And you've come here to battle the giant monster thing! Awesome!” The three friends looked at each other.

 

“Whatever he wants to believe,” Xenos said. “I'm not going to fight with him.”

 

“But you're going to fight the monster thing, aren't you?” Winter asked, grinning. Xenos gave her a blank look, and when she grinned harder at him, he sighed and got up.

 

“Come on, show me where this `monster thing' is at.” Gavin looked up at him in surprise.

 

“You're gonna fight it now?”

 

“The sooner I fight the damned thing, the sooner I can find my Keyblade. Winter, give me yours.”

 

“I'm not allowed to fight?”

 

“Just give me the damn Keyblade.” Winter shrugged, semi-hurt, and summoned her Keyblade, tossing it to Xenos.

 

“Whoa, how did you do that?” Nobody paid Gavin any attention.

 

“This thing is light! You're puny, Winter.”

 

“Take Hotaru's if you're going to complain.”

 

“He will do no such thing.”

 

Xenos snickered. “Looks like I'm stuck with this one!” He turned to Gavin. “Lead the way, oh great yo-yo ninja.” Winter rolled her eyes.

 

*~[--]----------_--_-

 

A short trek through the rather dull forest (not even the trio, who had never seen a forest before save Hotaru, found it noteworthy) led the four to the desolate outskirts that marked the entryway to the town. Surrounded by gray sky, it barely even existed, dilapidated buildings sagging on crumbling foundations. All around, the ominous sounds of creaking boards filled the air, and the wind whispered melancholy secrets to the four, who all stood shivering at the cusp of the town, shaking not from cold, but from the ghostly silence emitted from the destroyed town.

 

That silence was shattered, however, as a long, unearthly shriek rose from behind the closest row of houses to the four. Like metal scrapping against metal, the shriek rose to a clamor, a cacophony of piercing noise that caused window glass to shudder in its frames. It ended abruptly, and then started again, this time low and hoarse, steadily moving from one house to another. And then it stopped again.

 

The silence was deafening.

 

Hotaru, Xenos, and Winter said no words, but communicated through quick hand gestures accentuated by vigorous head movements. Xenos stepped forward first, followed by Hotaru, who had placed her helmet on to better locate the source of the shrieking. Winter stayed behind, protection for Gavin, the weakest of those present.

 

It was awkward for Xenos to be carrying such a light weapon; years of wielding his own Keyblade had made him accustomed its heavy reassurance, its weight comforting against his shoulders or in his hands. Winter's seemed flimsy in comparison, and not at all comforting. Not to mention that the Keyblade knows who is to wield it. These weapons had of mind of their own, and they were perfectly aware of who they had entrusted themselves to. The slight buzzing of the Keyblade in his hand testified to that. It was rejecting him earlier than wonted, but Xenos hoped it would stay subjected to him long enough to slay whatever it was producing the shrieking.

 

He really ought to just give the Keyblade back to Winter, and hope that the two girls would be strong enough to take down the creature, but Xenos was loathe to do so. He hated to see either one get hurt, and he knew from painful experience that Winter, when left to her own devices, was very self-destructive, whether or not she intended to be so. Hotaru was smart, and she could take after herself, but Winter was more fragile than she was, both physically and mentally, and it was rare that Winter ever escaped a battle unscathed.

 

“We're right in front of it,” whispered Hotaru, breaking him out of his thoughts.

 

“Do you know what it is?” he whispered back, trying to instill some confidence back into himself. The buzzing of the Keyblade was becoming more intense, his entire hand vibrating along with it. He tried to still it, but failed miserably.

 

“It's a Cri Perçant. Very powerful. Attacks are mostly physical, and - oh, you'll love this - can heal itself with its shriek. Sounds lovely.”

 

“How much Health does it have?”

 

“More than enough to shame most Chasers.”

 

“So it is a Chaser.”

 

“My readings are getting stronger. It's going to attack.”

 

No sooner had Hotaru said this did the Cri Perçant fly out from behind a burned house, the entire frame collapsing from the force of the attack. With long talons and even longer white hair, wisps of it floating freely in the air, it made a frightful sight; its slanted, yellow eyes open wide, studying Hotaru and Xenos with cunning intelligence. It opened its mouth, jawbones cracking and popping, revealing sharp teeth, and from its open maw, that otherworldly sound came forth, making the two cringe back, their ears ringing. It shot towards them, arms outstretched.

 

Hotaru was ready for it though, and before it could react, she flicked her Keyblade at it, sending a small ball of flame directly in line for its open mouth.

 

“If you got it, use it,” she thought, though the idea of her using magic still scared her greatly.

 

The fireball hit the Cri Perçant head on, and there was a muffled scream as smoke filled the air. Cold wind batted it away, and there stood the Cri Perçant, shaking its head, not a mark on it. Hotaru's eyes widened in fear. It was immune to magic.

 

Irritated, the Cri Perçant launched itself at Hotaru again, and she dove for the ground, yelling, “Xenos, use physical attacks! Magic's no good!” though it truly made no difference. Xenos couldn't use magic. He readied himself, and just when the Cri Perçant was in striking range, he raised Winter's Keyblade, bringing it down with deadly force, the descent faster than what it would have been with his true Keyblade.

 

The swing never connected.

 

Xenos gasped as the Keyblade disappeared in an explosion of light, heard Winter's startled scream as the Keyblade reappeared in the hands of its rightful owner, and saw the Cri Perçant's sharp talons spread further, ready to encompass his head.

 

Time slowed. Seconds ticked by as the Cri Perçant closed in on him, and, as the first talon closed over his helmet, time stopped. But not even Hotaru's strange brand of magic, magic completely unrelated to her use of Fire, could stop the Cri Perçant. Its hand closed over Xenos's helmet, and with a sharp crack, it crumpled, crushed in the deadly grip of the Cri Perçant. Faintly, over the sharp sound of splintering metal, Xenos heard the steady pounding of his heart.

 

*~[--]----------_--_-

 

Yays, done with a new chapter.

 

So I finally saw Silent Hill last night, and while it wasn't as scary as I had been led to believe, it was still quite an enjoyable way to waste two hours. Loved Pyramid Head, he was hot. And the thing in the restroom stall, that was awesome too. The ending was bloody as hell though, and that was where I started yelling, “EW! EW!! GROSS!!!” Now, to see Dead Silence. That'll be fun. Always have hated dolls, especially the one hiding out in my closet, creepy little bugger it is.

 

On a totally different note, MARRY ME, QUINTON FLYNN! Okay, it's out of system now. I'll return to normalcy…eventually. (Total Quinton Flynn fangirl.)

 

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