Thank you, neloangelo! I'm really glad you enjoy it ^.^
Next chapter! Chapter 10, where we find out the Chasers' names =D
Chapter 10
“T-Terra?” Sora repeated.
The massive character turned to Sora, his intricate helmet staring straight at the keyblader.
“Yes, my name is Terra.” He said again, with an annoyed tone in his voice.
“And my name is Sparda.”
Everyone turned to where the voice came from. It was another male soldier, standing in the beam of sunlight which rose over the horizon. His tall, slender shape was outlined in the sunshine, and his thick armour gleamed prettily.
The person who stood behind Sparda walked forward. By the tone of her voice and shape of her body, Sora could tell she was a female. “And I am Ezra.”
Turning her helmet to Sora and Riku in turn, she added, “And don’t you forget it.”
Sora spoke up, confused. “Why are you telling us your names?”
For a moment, there was silence. The birds that had been hiding in their nests during the storm were now soaring high over head, cawing gleefully.
Then, Terra spoke. “We figure there’d be no harm in it, as you’ll be dead soon anyway.”
“What?” Sora shouted furiously. “Whadda’ you mean, dead?”
He was just about to withdraw his keyblade when a familiar shape stumbled in front of Terra.
It was Fernando.
Dirt and muck covered his body, and he looked as if he were a homeless person begging for money. He frantically grabbed a hold of the armoured man’s arm and praised him, saying, “Oh, master, you reached her safely. How glorious is this day-“
But Fernando was cut off, as Terra shoved him back using his unoccupied arm.
Staggering backwards, the soldier shouted, “What are you doing?”
Fernando quickly raised his head to Terra. “Forgive me… I have not introduced myself.”
“Neither have you told us why we’re here,” Sparda shot, stepping forward, his armour creaking.
Fernando looked at Sparda, and then returned his vision to Terra. “I-I, I hope you like where we chose to warp you three to. It is a pleasant location, is it not?”
"Be quiet! I don’t care about this place,” Terra shouted. He continued, “All I care about is why we’re here and where we are.”
Terra stepped up to Fernando and clenched his metallic fist around the man’s throat. Shaking the man violently, he added, “And you’re going to tell us. Right now.”
Just barely could Sora see Fernando nod his head. His eyes looked as if they would pop out of his sockets. Disgusted, Terra released Fernando and let him plop to the ground.
Rubbing his neck, Fernando glanced at Sora and Riku despicably. “I feel I should not have to tell you holy ones of things such as this in front of brats like these.”
Terra’s helmet turned to Sora. Sora held the invisible man’s gaze; he felt like a brick of ice being melted by a ray of sunlight. But then the soldier turned back to Fernando.
“Just say it already,” he moaned.
Fernando, disappointed, nodded his head. “Very well…”
Clearing his throat, he continued, “A long time ago, there was an organization. The organization was known as Organization XV, for there were fifteen faithful members. Each member stuck loyally to the plans and restrictions of the organization; as a result, every little thing was the same. It was becoming boring, and it seemed as if we were not progressing anywhere.”
Fernando coughed again, dusting some dirt off his shoulder. Sparda folded his arms impatiently.
“Well, there were two organization members who recognized this problem; who were smart enough to try and fix it. Those two organization members were Xin, my apprentice, and I. With the help of our two great minds, we came up with thrilling ideas as to how to accomplish certain tasks or objectives. But when we were finally brave enough to present these ideas to our leader, we were shunned and spat upon for our ‘foolishness.’ They said that our ideas strayed too far off the borderline of Organization XV standards, so we were then exiled to an unknown world. There, we-“
Fernando was cut off by Sparda, who walked forward saying, “Okay old man, we get the picture. Could you just tell us why we’re here?”
“I was getting to that,” Fernando snarled, lowering his brow. “Ahem! As I was saying, we were exiled to a certain world. On that world, we discovered many marvels and found awesome new powers. Xin and I devised a plan to get revenge on our fellow organization members. We planned for many years, carefully making sure there would be no mistakes.”
“And what was that plan?” Terra questioned, intrigued.
All of a sudden, a new voice cut in. “That plan was to bring you guys here, to take down the rest of organization; to destroy them; to make them suffer!”
It was Xin who had spoken.
“Xin, I was speaking; never interrupt your master,” Fernando mumbled angrily.
“I don’t care who speaks, I just want to know…” Terra lowered his head. Continuing, he said, “So you brought us here, to this world, to destroy a bunch of worthless imbeciles?”
“You are correct,” Fernando answered, smiling.
“And what’s in it for us?” Ezra asked.
“Oh, there are many things in it for you three,” Fernando said, raising his voice for the soldiers’ attention. “One would be complete dominance over the organization, free to do as you wish. The other would be the ruling of the world I spoke of – the one Xin and I had been exiled to. I think that you should like it there, because-“
Sora cut in, flustered by Fernando’s persistent words. “You guys, don’t listen to him! He’s wrong; Organization XIII is dead! Every member is dead!”
Terra looked up at Sora, interested. “What do you mean?”
Xin stared at the earth worriedly as Sora continued, “I know that they’re all dead because I took down most of them!”
“You liar,” spat back Fernando, “this is all part of your ruse to get the Chasers back to their homeland. Well it’s not going to work!”
“He’s not lying, you idiot,” shot back Riku, “you’re the one in denial here!”
“Silence!” Terra shouted.
Everyone kept still, eyeing wet soil.
“You do know,” he said, directing his conversation at Fernando, “that if we find that all these organization members dead, we will come to you, and we will slay you. There won’t be a spot on this planet or this universe where you can hide from us.”
“I am certain that they are still alive,” cried Fernando desperately. “I mean, look at the boy; could someone like him take down such powerful people like them?”
Terra’s helmet whipped to Sora. “Show me your weapon, boy.”
Sora held Terra’s gaze proudly, extending his arm out in front of him.
“Watch and learn,” the keyblade master said.
The kingdom key warped into Sora’s hand, his arm lowering from the weight of the weapon.
“A keyblade!” Terra shouted. Walking toward Sora, he asked, “Where did you find such a lovely weapon?”
Sora held back the kingdom key from Terra’s reach. “It chose me as its master.”
Terra stopped dead in his tracks. “You mean to say, you have a keychain as well?”
Sora made his keyblade visible. Its sparkling chain gleamed in the sunlight, the crown of King Mickey swaying back and forth.
“There’s your answer,” he replied.
The three chasers’ eyes were burning into Sora’s skin.
Sora rose his brow. “What’s wrong with you? You have your own keyblade too, you know.”
“But without keychains,” Terra replied, mystified.
“I’d be interested to see that weapon of yours,” Sparda said, stepping forward.
“No way,” Sora shouted, “there’s no way you’re getting this!”
Déjà vu occurred. Sora remembered when he had first visited Traverse Town, where he had first met Squall. Squall wanted to see Sora’s keyblade, but Sora refused, ready to fight the powerful man. They fought intensely, but in the end, Sora fainted from the tiredness of the battle.
“We never asked your opinion, boy,” Sparda shot back, raising his weapon.
But Riku cut in, dashing in front of Sora for protection. “If you want to get to him, you’ll have to get through me!”
“R-Riku!”
“Sora,” he said, turning his head to Sora, “I need you to go back and warn Kairi of what’s going on.”
Sora understood what Riku said, but shook his head, saying, “But what about you?”
“I’ll be fine, now go!”
Sora backed away and turned toward the direction he had come from. He knew what he had to do, but he wanted to stay and help Riku.
“Go, Sora!”
Sora made a decision to run for it. As his leathery shoes hit the wet sand of the beach, he could hear the Chasers’ crying in anger.
“You fool,” he could hear Terra shout, “You will die by my blade!”
Sora fought back the tears that were coming to him. His legs urged him to turn back and help his friend, but he had to find Kairi. He had to run on, knowing that what he was doing was Riku's will.
I'll come back to you, Riku, Sora thought to himself, his mind set confidently.
Would Riku die in the heat of battle?