#keys preview

Despite Moving Anxiety and whatnot I am off and on working on the next chapter. Here’s a snippet of it, not focused on the Pooh stuff as I’m not quite there yet, but some soft bonding between Sora and Namine bc everybody can use a little of that in their lives: 

***

“Could… can you do it?” he asks, the one question she’d been dreading most of all. The fact that this is something he actually wants, something he thinks he needs, when it’s just about the last thing that will ever truly help him. “I don’t… I-I can’t keep dealing with all of this.” His tears come quickly, his hands tightly gripping his mug to the point that his claws scratch its surface. “It’s all so much–too much. Even now that Maleficent is finally gone, I-I can’t stop thinking about what she did to me… I can’t stop thinking about what the master might do to get me away from all of you. I’m so sad and scared all of the time, a-and I just… I hate it! I don’t want to be like this anymore! I just… I… please, Naminé… Just… just take it all away… please…”

Naminé is nearly on the verge of tears herself after hearing all of this. She sighs again, her hand trembling as she reaches across the table to place it overtop of Sora’s. She finally meets his gleaming golden gaze, her voice steady as she tells him the truth, knowing he deserves nothing less and wishing she could give him so much more. “I’m sorry, Sora… but… I can’t…”

“B-but… but you said-”

“I know what I said,” Naminé says, ashamed of such a rash mistake. “And… technically, I can do it, but… I shouldn’t. Vanitas was right when he said wiping your memories won’t change what’s happening to your heart. You’d still look the way you do, you’d still be under Xehanort’s power. You just… wouldn’t know why. And neither would anybody else who wants to help you. But… you know who would remember everything? The Organization would. I can’t interfere with their memories like I can for the lights. If I did this… well, it’d be just like the glamor spell Donald cast on you; nothing more than a temporary fix to a much bigger problem.”

“I don’t care!” Sora protests, rising from his seat. A few stray spikes rise with him, a testament to the anguish that Naminé knows she’s painfully ill-equipped to truly heal him from. “I know I should be happy now that I’m back here with everyone, but I’m not, I can’t be as long as I know what’s coming. But… if I’m able to forget about what’s coming, even for just a little while, maybe I finally can be.”

“You won’t be,” Naminé warns earnestly. “Trust me, Sora; messing with memories only leads to trouble. It did the last time I was forced to do this, and it definitely would if I did it again. Think about it: if the others lose their memories about what’s happening to you, then all of the progress they’ve made in trying to help you will be completely undone. We’ll be no closer to saving you than we were from the very start.”

“W-well… can’t you just erase my memories then?” Sora pleads. “The rest of them don’t have to forget, they could-”

“They do,” Naminé shakes her head. “It’s either all or nothing. That’s just how my powers work, Sora. I can’t just impact your memories alone. And even if I could… I wouldn’t. I know you think that erasing your memories would erase all of the pain you’re feeling, but… that pain would come back sooner or later, it always does. And once it does, it’d be even worse because you wouldn’t even know where it’s coming from. I want to help you, Sora, so much, but… I can’t, not like this.” She stands, a few tears finally slipping down her cheeks as she approaches him slowly, wanting to hug him, though of course, her own nerves hold her back, just as they always do. “The only thing I can do is just… be here to offer you a shoulder to cry on…”

Sora takes that shoulder almost immediately, catching Naminé off guard as he suddenly steps forward and pulls her into a tight, desperate embrace. For as surprised as she is, she gently returns it, doing what she can to provide him the comfort he’s so clearly craving right now. “Sometimes… I wish I had power over time instead of just memories,” she says quietly as she continues to let him pour his grief out. “Because if I did, then I’d go back and undo every horrible thing you’ve been through. What’s happened to you, Sora… it isn’t fair and it isn’t right. I know you might think you’ve done something wrong and that you deserve all of this, but you don’t. Someone as kind and brave and good as you should never have to suffer the way you have. But even if none of us can change the past… at least we can all try to give you a better future…”

“I don’t have a future…” Sora almost says, a miserable thought that’s been lingering at the back of his mind for quite some time now. Because by all accounts, his master has already decided his future for him, a future he doesn’t want, but has no choice but to accept. A future that he’s not even sure his friends, for as courageous and hopeful as they all might be, can even do anything to change. 

But instead of telling Naminé any of that, he pulls back, wiping a few of his tears away as he offers her a wavering, largely fake smile. “Thanks…” he says, deciding to accept her final verdict. Realizing that she’s right, in many ways, that taking away his memories wouldn’t do a thing to take away the pain that plagues him inside and out each day. “I… I’m sorry for asking.”

“It’s ok,” Naminé says warmly, patiently. “I shouldn’t have ever suggested it in the first place. I guess that’s something you and I have in common: we both tend to make some… pretty reckless decisions when we’re stressed.”

Oh shit kids I'm on the second Frozen chapter, the final Disney world, my fucking heart aches and I'm writing a scene I've had inscribed in my brain since I started this goddamn hell story. Fuck yeah babies here's a taste, enjoy:

“Anna,” Elsa sighs. “You belong down in Arendelle.”

“So do you.”

“No, Anna, I belong here,” Elsa insists, and yet… there still seems to be the slightest hint of doubt in her tone all the same. “Where I can be who I am… without hurting anybody.”

“Actually… about that…” Anna awkwardly begins, though before she can explain, a bright bout of cheery laughter suddenly echoes through the hall.

“Wait, what is that?” Elsa asks, confused as she looks to the door.

“Hi! I’m Olaf and I like warm hugs!” the snowman excited proclaims as he trots toward the stairs.

“...Olaf?” Elsa repeats, immediately intrigued.

“Yeah, y-you built me,” Olaf’s tone softens as he looks up to the queen. “Remember that?”

“And you’re… alive?”

“Um… I think so?” Olaf guesses, glancing down at himself.

As Elsa looks at her own magical hands with newfound bewilderment, Anna pipes up once more. “He’s just like the one we built as kids,” she smiles nostalgically. “Elsa, we were so close… We can be like that again.”

For a moment, Elsa shares her sister’s smile, her sister’s hope that they can return to the innocent, carefree, happy days of their youth. But all too quickly, that hope is crushed when she remembers that fateful night when it all went wrong. When she remembers just how badly she hurt Anna before… and just how easily she could stand to hurt her again.

“N-no, we can’t,” Elsa says tensely. She wraps her arms tightly around herself, turning on her heel to head back up to the palace’s upper floors. To leave her sister behind once more. “Goodbye, Anna.”

“Elsa, wait!” Anna calls, rushing up the lower stairs. Even so, the queen continues retreating, still trying to hide away from the world, from her sister, from herself, just as she’s always done.

Though Anna continues arguing her case as she follows Elsa as best she can, Kairi cautiously trails after the pair, wanting to do what she can to help. But as she reaches the top of the stairs, her attention is abruptly drawn to the other upper steps opposite of what Elsa just took. Another set of stairs, leading to another room, a room that Kairi’s anxious heart is practically pleading with her to explore.

“Where are you going?” Olaf inquires as he hobbles up the stairs alongside her.

“I need to see more of this place…” Kairi mutters even though she knows she’s out of the sisters’ earshot. “Elsa said Sora isn’t here but… I don’t think she was giving me the full story.”

“Ooo! I wanna meet Sora!” Olaf exclaims, even though he barely knows a single thing about Sora to begin with. “Can I come? Please?”

“I-I don’t know if that’s such a good-”

“Too late! I’ve already made up my mind that I’m coming!” Olaf blithely proclaims as he rushes past her.

“Olaf, wait!” Kairi calls, running after him and trying not to slip on the slick ice all the while. Of course, the snowman beats her to the top, though Kairi isn’t that far behind, albeit a bit out of breath as Olaf belts out a cheerful greeting.

“Oh! Hello there!” he exclaims, skipping forward into the smaller room. Only now has Kairi realized someone is in here, a figure dressed in intricately icey attire similar to Elsa’s. Their back is initially turned to her, a hood drawn over their head, though she does notice them tense up in alarm upon hearing Olaf’s spirited hello.

“I-I’m sorry,” Kairi apologies as she attempts to reign the zealous snowman back in. “I didn’t know someone… was…” She trails off, a soft gasp escaping her as a much more startled one echoes alongside it. It takes a second for what–who she’s seeing to properly register in her mind, the strange clothes, the white hair, the yellow eyes, the claws all throwing her off far more than she had expected them to. But the sound of his voice, the shape of his eyes, discolored as they might be, the way her heart is practically singing with joy at the very sight of him… she has no doubts in the slightest.

Sora is here. And now… so is she.

Uh just realized I havent really been postin a lot of Keys previews around here lately so here’s my concentrated effort to try and fix that. Have some of Larxene being Peak Bitch and Queen of My Whole Ass Heart: 

The woman offers Sora a broad, snide grin as she flashes a set of small knives between her fingers. “Whoops,” she says, an undeniably haughty air to her tone. “Guess I missed. I was actually aiming for that empty head of yours.”

“W-who are you?” Sora asks, though he’s not entirely sure he wants to find out based on his first impression of her. 

“What?” the woman spits, seemingly offended. “Are you serious right now? Do you really not remember me after–Ohhhhh, that’s right.” She huffs, tucking a stray piece of her short golden hair behind her ear. “Marluxia mentioned you’ve gotten even stupider after what happened at the castle. And from what else I’ve been hearing, more submissive too.” She takes a step closer, walking past the anxious boy as she flicks him hard on the forehead, an action he can’t even retaliate against for the rank she so obviously holds over him. “How’s it feel to be part of the winning team, number thirteen?”

“I-I…. I’m proud to be a member of the Organization,” Sora answers, despite desperately not wanting to. He shakes this bout of forced control off as quick as he can as he fixes her with a distrustful glare, his tone shifting from false loyalty into earnest annoyance. “So, are you are gonna actually introduce yourself or not?”

“Ugh, fine,” the woman rolls her eyes, equally irritated. “The name’s Larxene. Don’t forget it this time.”

“I won’t…” Sora mumbles, unable to refuse a direct order from any of his fellow members. As much as he wants to ask how this wicked woman seems to apparently already know him, Larxene doesn’t give him the chance. 

“Yeesh, and I thought you were a mess the last time I saw you,” she sneers, circling him and “inspecting” him all the while. “What’s the matter, Sora? Too dumb to figure out how to survive on your own? It’s not even that hard; all you gotta do is steal what you need, and the rest is easy.”

“I… I don’t steal,” Sora says quietly, his shameful sights trained on the ground. “Not anymore.”

“Oh, what, are you too ‘good’ for that?” Larxene mocks, ruffling his already messy hair. “Maybe you oughta stop acting like you’re so much better than everyone else. Because news flash, kiddo, you’re not. Not anymore. In fact, after what you just did to that poor, innocent friend of yours, I’d say you’re just about as bad as they come.”

“Don’t talk about him!” Sora suddenly snaps, unable to contain his rising frustration. Especially not after hearing anyone refer to Riku, to what he did to Riku, to how he hurt Riku, so cruelly and callously. Like it doesn’t even matter at all when it’s something that’s shattered every aspect of Sora’s life so thoroughly. 

Larxene barely even flinches as several spikes shoot up out of the already snow-dusted ground around Sora. Instead, vicious anger permeates her wry, cunning smirk as she suddenly grabs the boy by the collar of his shirt, pulling him up and wiping the resistant scowl clean off his face. “Let’s get a few things straight, you little brat,” she hisses, her voice dangerously low as her golden eyes glare into his. “I don’t want to be here any more than you do. But since you’ve been doing so badly at the one job we gave you to do, the old man thinks someone needs to keep an eye on you to make sure you don’t mess up any more than you already have. And unfortunately for us both that someone is me. Thing is, I’m not a babysitter; I don’t do kids, especially not whiny, starving, stupid kids who won’t stop crying about how “sad” they are or how “bad” their life is. So if you know what’s good for you, then you’ll suck it up, shut up, and maybe if you’re lucky, this’ll all go smoothly for us both, k?”

Sora doesn’t answer, instead bitterly averting her gaze when she shoves him away from her. Larxene seems to take offense with his silence though, because out of nowhere, he fist suddenly slams into his stomach, all but sending him to the already snow-covered ground. “Are you deaf or something? I asked you a question,” she snarls, standing over him with a fierce scowl. 

“I-I thought you wanted me to shut up,” Sora replies rather curtly between pained coughs. He does his best not to flinch when Larxene reels her fist back for another strike. 

“Oh, so you’re still a smart aleck, huh?” she huffs crossly. “And here I thought you’d be too busy being depressed to mouth off. But you’ll learn real quick now that you’re one of us that absolutely no one cares about what you have to say.”

“I already figured that much…” Sora mutters tiredly. Because if there’s one thing his masters, his superiors, even his fellow members all have in common, it's a mutual hatred for him. So why would any of them ever want to listen to him, to care about how he thinks and feels? He doesn’t live for himself anymore, he hasn’t for a long time. He knows he should be used to that by now, should expect this kind of harsh treatment, and yet… some small, stubborn part of him still wants to resist it all the same. 

“Now come on, you little mutant,” Larxene turns, already pressing onward through the steady snow. “We’ve got a Key to find. And for your sake, we better find it soon, or else you won’t like me very much.”

“Too late for that,” Sora deadpans before he can stop himself. “I already don’t.”

Hey wow I’m finally working on the Lilo and Stitch chapters, surprise! Already we got Riku being Angsty, what else is new, anyway I missed the duck and the dog dads, enjoy!

***

“What–Donald? Goofy?” Riku starts, bewildered as he looks between the pair. They both flinch from their spot on the ground, tangled into a messy pile from having just fallen over top of each other, knocking the trash can over in the process. “What are you two doing here?”

“Uhhh…” Goofy frowns, apprehensively exchanging an uncertain glance with Donald. “We were just, uh….”

“L-looking for Keys!” Donald quickly interjects with what he hopes will be a believable excuse. 

“Er, uh… y-yep! That’s right!” Goofy nods in forced agreement. “Just like ya told all of us to.”

“You’re looking for a Key… in an alley,” Riku notes, crossing his arms. 

The pair look at each other once more, clearly nervous as they continue to keep their unstable ruse going. “Well, ya know, back when we were still with Sora, we’d find ‘em in all sorts of strange places,” Goofy explains. “Like, um…”

“Like the one he found while we were in a toy store!” Donald presses as he and Goofy finally scramble to their feet. 

“Or the one we got in the Land of the Dead,” the captain adds, nodding. 

“Then there was that one he got when he fell off that blimp.”

“And the one he-”

“Ok, I’ve heard enough,” Riku interjects, clearly not buying either of their anxious excuses. “What are you both really doing here?”

The pair hesitates, still initially trying to withhold the truth, even under the scrutinizing scowl Riku offers them both. At least, until Goofy ends up inevitably caving under the pressure. “T-the king told us to follow ya to make sure you stayed safe while lookin’ for Sora!” he exclaims, immediately slapping his hands over his mouth as soon as he does. 

“Goofy!” Donald scolds, though his frustration pales in comparison to Riku’s when he hears this. 

“Mickey told you to… are you serious?!” he scoffs, indignant and offended. “What, does he really think I can’t take care of myself out here?”

“Aw, Riku, it’s not that…” Donald sighs in an attempt to smooth things over. “It’s just… he’s worried about you.”

“He just wants to know that you’re doin’ alright,” Goofy adds just as earnestly. “He wants to see you come home safe n’ sound, and so do the rest of us, just as much as we want to find Sora too.”

“So you two have just been following me around from world to world then?” Riku asks, hardly calmed as he glares between the pair. “How long has this been going on for?”

“Uh, a few months now, I reckon,” Goofy shrugs, scratching his nose. 

“To be honest, we thought you would’ve found us out a long time ago,” Donald admits. “But you were so focused on looking for Sora that I guess you just… didn’t notice?”

Riku lets out an irritated huff, both over being tailed like this against his will and for how he’d managed to go this long without even picking up on that fact. But he can’t deny Donald does have a point. With his focus resting solely on his ongoing search, he’s had little time or energy to pay anything else much mind. Including all of the small signs and hints that he hadn’t been as alone as he thought all that time. Admittedly, he feels a little foolish for accidentally discovering the truth now, but even so, he makes sure to stand his ground, just as he did at the tower before. He makes sure to make it incredibly clear that this is a mission he has to, a mission he needs to undertake alone. 

“Well, I’ve noticed now,” he says tersely, turning his back to the pair. “Go back to the tower and tell Mickey I don’t need to be babysat.” His hands tighten into fists at his sides as he echoes something Sora had said to him so long ago now, something he only wishes he’d taken as the clue that something had been seriously wrong that it had been. “ I’m doing just fine on my own.”

“B-but what if ya run into the Organization!?” Goofy implores, he and Donald trailing after Riku as he begins making his way back down the straight. 

“Or Maleficent?” the magician pipes up.

“I can handle them,” Riku rigidly replies, not even sparing a single glance over his shoulder. 

“What if ya do find Sora but he won’t come back with you?” the captain asks fretfully. 

“If he won’t listen to us about getting help, what makes you think he’ll listen to you?” Donald adds, an edge of annoyance in his tone. Leave it to someone like Riku to be every bit as stubborn as Sora, a trait obviously shared between the two of them after all the time they’ve spent together. 

Ahahahaha oh boy I'm already having fun with this one and so far the Triangle is the only GF character that's actually shown up yet. Either way, he's just as much of a tricky bastard here as he is in UF, it's like nothing's changed at all. Enjoy him manipulating Sora bc that's of course what Sora needs more of :3

***

He stops himself when he sees a shadow suddenly rising over him, its shape large and looming. His entire body tenses up, a sharp chill running down his spine as he prepares to call upon his Keyblade, his powers, or anything else he can use to ward off what he assumes must be an approaching threat. Part of him fears it's someone from the Organization, come to stalk and harass him even far before the next Key has even been found, simply for the sake of their own sadistic entertainment. But when he settles on summoning the Kingdom Key and spins around as swiftly as he can, he’s met with just about the last thing he could have ever been expecting. And by far the most bizarre.

“Whoa there, kid! Careful where you’re pointing that thing! You’ll poke someone’s eye out. Get it? EYE?!”

Sora nearly drops his Keyblade completely as he takes in the sight of the strange being hovering before him. Simply put, it's a triangle, a golden, glowing triangle with only a large, single eye and a small bowtie adoring its flat “face”. A thin, black set of arms and legs hang from its sides, and one of those arms reaches up to tip the tall top hat hanging over its utmost tip in some sort of casual greeting.

“Ease up a little there, Keyblade!” the triangle somehow “speaks”, his voice high and pitchy as it echoes through the colorless woods. “You don’t have to get all panicky on me, I’m not one of your buddies in the black coats, ya know.”

“W-what? How do you-” Sora stops himself, knowing that’s far from the first question he should be asking here. Even though he has plenty more right off the bat about this being that’s quite unlike anything he’s really seen before. “Who… what are you…?”

“I’m so glad you asked!” the triangle cheerfully exclaims, gliding up a bit higher. “I’m the answer to all your prayers, Keyblade. But if you want, you can call me Bill. Rolls off the tongue much easier--not that I would know. I don’t have a tongue!”

“Um… ok?” Sora frowns, still absolutely lost by this peculiar stranger and his oddly chipper demeanor. “That answers the ‘who’, but not really the ‘what’, so…”

“Boy, you sure do ask a lot of questions, dontcha, Keyblade?” Bill remarks, reclining back in his spot midair. “Unfortunately, getting nitty-gritty with the details of what I really am might be just a bit too much for your mortal mind to handle, so let’s keep things simple. I’m an interdimensional, all-powerful, all-knowing being who likes to hang out in this neck of the woods every now and then. But to tell ya the truth, I guess you could say I’m sort of an ‘out of worlder’, which hey! Looks like that’s something you and I have in common, huh, Keyblade?”

“Out-of--wait. You know I’m not… from here?” Sora drops his voice down to a whisper, just in case there are any prying eyes or ears.

“‘Course you’re not!” Bill says, as though it's obvious. “But that’s not a problem. In fact, let me be the first to welcome you to a world that’s a personal favorite of mine: Gravity Falls!”

“Uh, yeah, I sure hope it does here just like in every other world,” Sora raises an eyebrow, only to be even more confused when Bill breaks out into a sudden, hearty laugh.

“Oh, good one, Keyblade!” he chuckles mirthfully. “You just about split all three of my sides there with that one!”

“Oh, uh, y-yeah, that was… definitely a joke,” Sora plays off his embarrassing misunderstanding with as much of a smile as he can possibly manage. Which, by all accounts, isn’t much of one anymore.

“You know, kid, ever since I spotted you wandering around here, you piqued my interest,” Bill informs, conjuring a cane out of thin air to lean against. “But now that I’ve had a chance to chat it out with you, I gotta admit, I like ya! Why don’t you and I be friends?”

Sora sighs, his unsteady smile fading as he loosely wraps his arms around himself and glances away. “Trust me, you don’t want to be friends with me…” he mutters, shaking his head.

“Aw, why not?” Bill asks, seemingly disappointed. “Lemme guess: it's the same reason you ran off from the rest of your friends, right? Because some bald old creep and his crew of cronies are dead set on trying to ‘recruit’ you into that darkness-loving cult of theirs?”

Sora draws in a sharp gasp at this, his eyes wide as he stares at Bill incredulously. “How did you know that?” he asks apprehensively, taking just the slightest step back.

“Oh, I know LOTS of things, Keyblade.” Bill’s bright yellow form suddenly changes as countless images flash across it far too quickly for Sora to make aunty of them out. “For example, I know you’ve been out on your own for, oh, roughly two weeks or so, and that you’ve been having one heck of a time living the ‘hobo’ lifestyle you’ve taken up. I also know you can’t go back to any of your friends because the minute you do, they’ll be fitting you for a nice set of shiny new chains inside a cozy prison cell. AND I know that it won’t be long now before the old man finally finishes the job in forcing you into his big happy ‘family’ and-”

“S-stop,” Sora cuts him off, unable to bear listening to anymore. Of receiving yet another reminder of the ultimately inescapable, undeniably awful fate that awaits him. “Please, I… I already know all of that too…”

“Well, here’s something you DON’T know, kid,” Bill counters brightly. “Contrary to what you might’ve heard from some… less than reliable sources, it’s not too late to keep your sob story from turning into a full on tragedy!”

“...What do you mean?” Sora asks, unable to keep his curiosity quelled. Even then though, there’s an edge of wariness to that curiosity, a bit of doubt in the idea that he isn’t already a lost cause, that his life and freedom aren’t already fully forfeit.

“What I mean is I’d like to help you, Keyblade!” Bill proclaims, his flat form flashing brightly. “Life’s turned you into its own personal punching bag lately, even after all of the good you’ve done, all the folks you’ve helped. And if you ask me, I think that’s just about the most unfair thing I’ve ever seen; and I’ve been around for a LONG time, so believe me, kid, that’s saying something. Which is why I wanna do something about it.”

Ah fuck almost forgot to mention I’m working on the next chapter lol. Anyway warning for this one if you aren’t ok with descriptions of vomiting then ya might wanna skip this one for that reason I’m putting it under the cut ok byeeeeee :3

Hhhhh here, have a bunch of angst mingled with some Cute Shit. That's kind of the vibe for this chapter in general ahahah you shouldn't expect anything else from me at this point:

***

A bitter shout tears from his throat as he brutally tosses his Keyblade away. The weapon disappears mere seconds after it hits the ground, leaving Sora alone to his anguished, angry sobs. He wraps his arms tightly around himself, his chest heaving with broken coughs that come out between woeful whimpers. “W-why…?” he mutters first, his stomach churning both from sickness and from disgust for the miserably mockery his life has become. “Why?!” he shouts at the twilit sky, at whatever force of fate has so cruelly decided to curse him like this. At whatever force has left him to aimlessly wander the worlds, tainted and twisted into a monster, both inside and out, whatever force has sapped him of his strength, his magic, even his swiftly slipping sanity. At whatever force decided the only company he should have is the very person he despises most, the same force that decided he should be alone.

It isn’t long before it all starts to overwhelm him. Unable to do anything else, he lets his ruined voice pitch into a powerful, painful scream, his claws digging into his arms as he unleashes his fury in the only way he can. Though the rest of his magic has been stripped from him, there is one power that he still has on his side, a power he still can’t control. That power erupts all around him, blackened spikes bursting from the ground in a violent storm of sheer devastation. They tear through the trees, rip away at the soil, scare off any animals for miles around as shadows continue to bloom from his distressed body, sucking the life straight out of every living thing within his range. By the time his voice finally breaks and he collapses to the ground out of sheer exhaustion, he doesn’t even notice as his maddened outburst reaches a surprisingly quiet crescendo. As he unknowingly calls something into existence amidst the destruction that he’s wrought.

He can barely stand the sight that awaits him when he starts to finally calm down. The forest, once alive with the colors of fall, has now been all but decimated, riddled with the same loathsome spikes he’d sent surging across the village days ago. While he’d once taken pride and pleasure in practicing this strange strain of new magic, now he can only look upon it with the deepest of disdain. He knows all too well what he’s capable of, what happened in that village was more than enough to show that and then some. And if he can’t get this dangerous magic--if he can’t get himself under control somehow… then maybe he might as well be alone after all.

But as he soon finds, he isn’t quite as alone as he’d like to be.

Sora slowly and shakily pulls himself to his feet, his throat burning to the point that every breath brings a fresh burst of pain. Night’s just fallen, but the faint glow of his own spikes is enough to illuminate the clearing he’d just inadvertently created. He figures this is as good a place as any to set up camp, as much as he’s not keen on being reminded of his vile abilities any time he looks in literally any direction. With a weary sigh, he turns around to try and salvage what little firewood he can find… only to be met with a startling sigh standing just behind him.

A single Heartless, a tiny, simple Shadow, to be precise, stares up at him with its large, bright, unblinking eyes. Sora flinches in alarm when he sees it, his Keyblade flashing into his hand on instinct alone. He raises his weapon with the intent on taking the creature out, just like he’s done to so many of its kind in the past, and yet… the Heartless barely reacts to its apparent demise. Instead, it simply stays put, tilting its head as it seems to regard Sora with what almost seems to be an air of curiosity. Sora stills his hand, though his Keyblade stays in it, as he glances around the area for any other such creatures, only to realize this Heartless is suspiciously alone. Much like himself, he thinks in a bout of bitter irony.

“Where did you come from…?” he asks the creature, his frayed voice barely able to rise above a whisper. Of course, the Heartless doesn’t answer, but its awkwardly bent antennes flicker and twitch in apparent interest as soon as it hears his voice. It takes a clumsy step forward, and in response, Sora takes a large step back, his Keyblade still trained on it as it continues to approach him. “S-stay back!” he warns hoarsely. And, in perhaps the strangest twist yet, the Heartless not only listens to him; it actually does exactly as he says.

It stops short just a few feet away, his yellow gaze still set solely on Sora and nothing else. He grips his Keyblade a bit tighter as he returns its stare distrustfully, unsettled by how oddly its acting. Every Heartless he’s ever seen before has attacked him on sight, simply because of the weapon he holds and the heart they crave to take from him. But this one… this one either doesn’t seem to know how Heartless are supposed to behave… or it thinks that Sora is one of its own. Which, given how little he resembles a human, and how much he looks like a Heartless anymore, very well might be the case.

As such a dreadful thought passes through his mind, he ultimately lets his Keyblade disappear. Whatever this Heartless’ intent is, at the very least, it doesn’t appear to be violent. The thought of killing it simply for standing there doesn’t sit well with him, not after how he’s been attacked and nearly killed for his own frightening appearance himself. So instead, he decides to spare it; but even then, he’s not fond of the idea of letting it stick around where he hopes to spend the night.

So I'm having... a fucking week. Between the Smash reveal and a number of other IRL things, focusing on this chapter has been a bit... tricky. But here's a bit of what I've managed to write so far, enjoy more of Sora interacting with the Mystery Twins idk why but these interactions are really easy and really fun to write ahahah ^_^

***

“Ok,” he says, much to the twins’ shared relief. “I… guess I can make some time to stick with you guys a little while longer.” A little while longer before he can give the heirloom back to Bill, before he can get the reward he so desperately craves. Before he can finally be free.

And really, after waiting this long for that freedom, certainly he can afford to wait just a little bit more.

“Thanks, Sora!” Mabel exclaims warmly, bounding ahead to join her brother. “See, Dipper?” she whispers to him, aside. “I told you we could trust him!”

“Seeing as how he’s the only person we know who can actually get rid of those monsters, it's not like we really have too much of a choice…” Dipper says, though he wears a smile all the same. “But… I guess you weren’t wrong. This time, anyway.”

Sora swallows hard when he happens to overhear this, the sizable knot of guilt already settled in his stomach tightening to an almost oppressive degree. Whatever trust either of the twins might have for something is something he knows he hasn’t earned, something he definitely doesn’t deserve after what he’s just done. As he trails a few paces behind them, his hand drifts down to his pocket, to the heirloom, to reveal his crimes and come clean like he knows he should. And yet… at the same time, he knows he can’t. Not when this is perhaps the last and only chance he has at turning the tide, at undoing what’s been done, at saving his own life. Certainly, if Dipper and Mabel knew just what he’s up against, if they knew everything he’s already lost and still stands to lose, then they’d understand the lengths he’s taking to finally stop it all… wouldn’t they?

“Hey, Sora?” Mabel pipes up, pulling out of his fretful thoughts as they venture back into the woods. The dark path ahead is only sparsely illuminated by the flashlight Dipper had grabbed back at the shack, though that light does little to chase away the oddly ominous aura the forest carries at night. Or at least, an aura that’s even more ominous than the one that had filled it during the day. “I’ve been wanting to ask you for awhile now: what’s that Key thing that Xamnams guy wants you to get so badly?”

“Oh yeah, I was wondering about that too,” Dipper glances back at the older boy. “Is it the same key you fought those monsters with, or is it something different?”

“Oh, um, yeah, it’s different,” Sora nods, more than happy for the distraction this kind of conversation can serve his troubled mind. “It’s a special kind of Key that’s one out of thirteen that my--I-I mean his master has been looking for. And if they get their hands on it first… let’s just say something really… bad could happen.”

“Wait, so that guy isn’t actually your boss?” Mabel asks.

No, of course he’s not, Sora thinks, though the words refuse to leave his mouth. A small burst of pain constricts around his heart, one that feels far too familiar to the point that he doesn’t even think twice about where it could be coming from. That same pain bars him from saying what he really wants to, though this time, it doesn’t force him to say something else against his will. What he’s able to get out instead is still far from anything substantial though. “Uh… w-well, he’s my… I-I, uh… It’s-”

“Let me guess,” Dipper cuts in knowingly. “It’s something else that’s ‘complicated’, isn’t it?”

The most Sora can do is nod, rubbing his arm as he apprehensively glances away from the twins. Mabel’s quick to fill in the newfound silence, however, with a small coo of curious fascination. “Ooo, Sora, you’re such a complex guy!” she grins, a smile that turns a touch coy as she twirls a lock of her hair playfully. “Ya know I’ve always had a thing for men of mystery.”

Naturally, Sora still isn’t quite sure of how to respond to the younger girl’s persistent brand of “unique” flirting. Fortunately, he doesn’t have to as Dipper dryly interrupts. “What, you mean like that ‘mysterious’ guy you dated who turned out to be a bunch of gnomes stacked on top of each other?” he asks, flashing his sister a bit of a teasing smirk.

“Yeesh, I accidentally go out with some creepy gnomes one time and suddenly I never hear the end of it,” Mabel huffs, rolling her eyes. “At least I didn’t spend the entire summer desperately crushing on someone who’s waaaay too old for me.”

“Says the girl who’s literally doing that right now,” Dipper retorts, catching Mabel in the middle of the affectionate wave she’s sending Sora’s way.

“...And your point is?”

As the twins’ next round of insincere bickering kicks off, Sora does his best to try and focus on it, only for his thoughts to drift internally once more. As far as he knows, Xemnas, or any other Organization member for that matter, isn’t anywhere in the immediate vicinity, so how does their power still have such a restrictive hold on him, to the point that he can’t even speak freely? Has he really fallen so far under their sway that he can be forced to do their bidding from a distance? Does he really have so little freedom left that he’s bound to obey them even when not a single one of them is around?

It’s a grim, downright horrifying thought, a reality he knows he ultimately can’t escape from, at least not on his own. He draws in a steadying breath as he gently pats the pocket the glass globe is resting in, shuddering as he feels another wave of its palpable power wash over him. Regardless of whatever it is that globe actually holds, right now, it also holds all of his once-faded hopes, his nearly-dead dreams, his last chance at living the life he longs to lead instead of the life that’s fallen apart all around him. And all it’ll take for him to finally get that life is to take that globe back to its rightful owner, to give it back to Bill so that Bill can give him back everything he’s lost in return.