Chapter 12

Shadow and Laura discuss the prophecy and their history, while new girl Aoibhin joins Tom, Molly and Anna in their battle against Mortalitas leader Marcel and his followers.

Chapter 12

 

The previous evening...

 

A small pop from the flames in front of them caused Laura to flinch with a start, eyes widening slightly.  Shadow looked up from the sword he was sharpening, smirking slightly.  The boy’s hood was down again, and Laura could still not get over how... normal he looked now.  Well, besides the silver hair, he’d look rather out of place back on Earth with that.  But... he just looked like a typical, albeit rather grumpy, teenager wearing fancy clothes... and holding a massive sword.  He’d probably get arrested on sight.   

 

The constant grating of the strange stone in his hands against the metal of the sword was irritating to Laura’s ears, and she shuddered after a particularly cringeworthy one.  Shadow’s eyes swivelled up at the slight action, grey ears now staring intently into Laura’s brown.  “...Problem?”  The boy spoke suddenly, deep voice cutting through the air sharply, and Laura blinked with surprise.  Shadow paused a few seconds, looking down to the weapon upon his lap, before taking the hilt of it and directing it towards her.  Laura squeaked slightly, cowering away, before realizing he was pointing the hilt towards her, rather than the blade.  Shadow laughed rather cruelly, “I have no intention to kill you, girl, so take it.”

 

“...Me?” Laura asked, fear evident in her voice and eyes wide.  Shadow rolled his eyes, staring up to the sky and mouthing something.

 

“Do you see anyone else around?!” He snapped, looking back to her, before then to the wolf lay by the fire, “Hey, wolf, take this sword!” The animal looked up at him with intelligent eyes, then to the sword now outstretched towards him.  The wolf seemed to consider, before suddenly swatting at Shadow’s hand, causing him to curse and drop the blade to the earth beside the warm flames.  Shadow swore a second time, “Stupid wolf!” He nursed his hand, seeing quite a sore cut, before frowning as he heard giggling.  He slowly looked up, seeing the dark-haired girl opposite him trying to hide her giggling behind her hand.  She quickly looked away, now seeming afraid rather than amused.  “...You think this is funny?  You think your wolf’s... lack of discipline is funny?”

 

“...N-No.” The girl mumbled weakly, still looking away, thus unable to see Shadow smirking.

 

“I should kill you for your rudeness.” The boy hissed, no hint of humour escaping his lips.  He heard a gulp come from her, and she hugged her knees closer, “Look at me.”  Laura slowly turned her head back to him, only to cry out to see the blade of the sword right between her eyes.  Shadow drew back the blade, and swung before Laura even had a chance to scream... and a few strands of hair from her fringe fell to the floor, before Shadow sent the weapon point down into the ground.  “You really aren’t fun to be around, you know that? I can’t have any conversation with you that isn’t serious.”

 

Laura stared at him incredulously, “...That was a joke?  That?!”  She now seemed angry, and Shadow perked an eyebrow.  She looked to the sword stuck into the ground, and then to Shadow, who followed her eye movements with his own.  She got to her feet, approaching the hilt and tugging at it.  Her hands immediately slipped, and she stumbled backwards, falling over the relaxing wolf and nearly landing dead in the middle of the fire.  There was a moment’s silence, before Shadow burst out laughing.  “Th-This isn’t funny!” Laura snapped with a huff, climbing back to her feet, hair in disarray, “You’re so... mean!”  She lunged at the sword hilt again, this time managing to pull it free from the ground.  She gasped from the weight, immediately dropping it to the ground with a clang, causing Shadow to stop laughing.

 

“Jesus, don’t just... drop it!” He snapped, hurrying over to the weapon and picking it up almost lovingly, “You could bend the sword!”  He sheathed it, before glaring back at the angry girl, whose cheeks were puffed out slightly.

 

“...Bend the sword...” She muttered, dropping the angry act, “I can bend something else if you don’t stop pissing me off, I have a strong kick.” She turned away from him, resuming her cuddled up position by the fire. 

 

“What are you doing?” Shadow questioned, folding his arms and staring down at her.  Laura simply looked up at him with confusion, “You’ve just displayed an incredible... display... of weakness.  We need to train you.”

 

“You’re joking, right?” The girl asked, almost in despair, before shaking her head, “No.  Exercise and me don’t get on.  Sitting down and playing video games do.  I’m good at fighting things on that, does that count?”  Shadow considered her small frame, before fumbling around the dark insides of his cloak, and drawing out a rather long knife and handing it to her, handle first.  Laura took the sharp weapon tentatively, staring at the needle-thin point at the end, “...You want me to swing this around?”  She demonstrated such, and it wasn’t long before the knife flew out of her hands, forcing Shadow to dive to the side as it bounced hilt-first off a tree.  The wolf looked up from his nap, staring at the weapon, before making a snort noise and going back to sleep.  “...Whoops.”

 

Shadow picked himself up from the ground, brushing himself off, looking to her warily, “If that hadn’t spun around mid-throw, that’d have been a very good shot.” He approached the tree, bending down to pick up the knife again, “You dented the hilt.  Fantastic.  But you’re still using it.  Now get up, you’re learning to stab things.”

 

*             *             *

 

“Keep close!” Tom shouted, immediately backing away from the group to stand protectively in front of Lolly, who was now on the brink of unconsciousness.  Anna and Molly quickly joined him, so they formed a small semi-circular barrier between the four Mortalitas grunts and their friend.  “Anna, take the bear, I’ll try and handle the crocodile and dog, Molly go for the gorilla.”  The three continued to back away until they were literally inches away from Lolly’s body, before stopping.  The four opponents stopped a short distance away, seeming to wait for the children to make the first move.  Anna crouched down beside her currently quacking duck, whispering excited actions to her with enthusiastic hand actions.

 

Marcel’s emerald eyes glinted slightly, a devilish smile appearing between his thin lips.  The huge rhino at his side pawed the ground impatiently, bowing his head slightly.  The point of his horn was aimed perfectly at Tom’s chest, but the Praestia restrained himself from charging.  The bear, crocodile, dog and gorilla continued to advance, however, taking their time.  Tom gritted his teeth anxiously, before looking to Marcel and saying with a slight stutter, “A-And what’s wrong with you, huh?  Too scared to fight yourself that you have to send your cronies to do it...?”

 

“Tom, stop it!” Anna stage-whispered from next to him, tugging at his arm, “You’ll just make our fight harder!”

 

Marcel, meanwhile, simply laughed with delight, “You wish to face me as well?!  This shall be more fun than I thought.  Very well, then... if you want this to become more challenging, then behold... the might of Petrino... Char-“

 

“Hold it!”  Eight heads whipped around to the back of the clearing, in time to see a short girl marching angrily out of the trees.  Her hair was a mousey blonde colour, straightened to past her shoulders, and her eyes were a dark blue.  She wore a dull yellow t-shirt, and a pale blue jacket with the hood up over her head, meaning only her fairly long fringe was visible.  Scuttling along at her feet was a meerkat, who every now and then, stood up on her hind-legs to look around attentively.  The young girl eventually stopped level with Molly, folding her arms and glaring at the green-haired thug, “You... are a dick.”

 

Marcel’s eyes narrowed and he shook his head slightly, “...Excuse you?”

 

“Shut up.” She snapped, before turning, now with a bright smile to Molly and high-fiving her, “Hi.  I’m Aoibhin, nice to meet you, yadi yada.  This is my meerkat, who I call Terra... stands for Terrakat.  Anyway, I can be a b***h pretty often, I’m totally gorgeous and easily bored.  You’ll love me.” She turned on her heel back to facing Marcel, “Anyway... yes, you’re a dick.  You’re a coward, and you’re ganging up on these people.  Why don’t you pick on someone your own size?!” She forced herself to look as tall as possible, putting on an attempt at a scary face.

 

Marcel examined her small stature, before shaking his head properly this time, “My dear girl... you are what, twelve...?”

 

“Thirteen!” Aoibhin snapped, eyes flashing dangerously.

 

Marcel gave a bow, “My apologies, Miss Aoibhin... Thirteen.  You are thirteen, barely a teenager, and not even in high school yet.  This situation is unrelated to you, so I suggest you run along home before... something bad happens to you.”  Aoibhin marched forward to meet him, causing the rhino to growl menacingly.  The girl simply stuck her tongue out at it, before standing mere inches away from Marcel, staring up at him.  A couple of the grunts laughed, because the girl only came up to his chest.  Marcel gave a sigh of despair, “Dear girl... you are no threat to me, and are simply annoying.  Please, for everyone here’s sake, stay out of this and go and play with your friends.  I beg you.  Please.”

 

“I AM NOT A CHILD!” Aoibhin suddenly shouted loudly, causing Marcel to stumble back, almost falling over in shock.  A puff of hot air came from the rhino’s nostrils, disturbing Aoibhin’s straight hair.  She wrinkled her nose in disgust, glaring at the Praestia.  “Ew.  Listen here, creep, just f**k off before things get nasty, alright?”

 

Marcel now glared at her with irritation, “Such language...  I have no time for this, and you are annoying me, child. So-  OUCH!” Marcel continued to swear loudly as Aoibhin kicked him hard in the shins.  He drew his hand back, clenching it into a fist, and punching her, sending her sprawling back to the ground.  Aoibhin moaned in pain, covering her left eye with both her hands and crawling back, where Tom helped her to her feet.  Marcel hastily calmed himself down, staring at them, “Ah, children... How I hate them.” There was a slight twitch below his left eye as he said this, smile becoming all the more forced as he looked at them all, “Arrogant, cocky... think they are so... important to the world...” He lapsed into silence, and no-one dared to respond.  “...Enough!  The build-up is done.  Mortalitas, attack!”

 

There was a brief second for the children to take this in before the great dane leapt forward at an incredible speed, landing on Aoibhin and sending the two of them sprawling backwards after a series of flips and rolls.  Aoibhin screamed in terror, forcing the dog’s powerful jaws back as it tried to bite her.  Terrakat leapt to her mistress’ aid, and soon a boulder that looked far too heavy for the small Praestia to lift, flew towards the dog, sending it flying sidewards off of the young girl.  Aoibhin scrambled back to her feet, turning to face the dog as he got back up.  She drew a small knife from the belt around her shorts, squinting as she aimed, and throwing it towards the dog as it pounced.  The dog yelped as the knife buried itself in his shoulder, falling back to the ground.

 

“Alright!” Aoibhin shouted with triumph, petting the meerkat on the head.  But all of a sudden, the large dog became to glow, and Aoibhin gasped in pain, clutching her shoulder.  Blood began to stream through her fingers, and she looked down in shock to see the hilt of the knife now jammed in her shoulder.  “Ah... Ahhh!” She creamed in pain, clutching the wound and cringing.  She fell to her knees, before forcing the blade out, her entire body shuddering.  She remained on the ground, gasping for breath with her head bowed, feeling faint.  “...Nice try...” She whispered too soft for anyone to hear, before grabbing hold of a bracelet on her wrist, “...I stored this energy for exactly this.”  She scrunched up her face and the bracelet glowed, before the pouring blood seemed to be sucked back into her shoulder, and the wound resealed.

 

“Hmph. So you know how to heal.” The owner of the dog snapped at her, “Big deal...  One in three Praedux can do that!”

 

“Can you?” Aoibhin smiled arrogantly.

 

“Well... no.”

 

“Then I’m better than you. F**k you.”

 

*             *             *

 

“So... tell me about yourself.” Shadow said calmly, watching the girl in front of him continuing to fight imaginary enemies with the knife.  She was quite a natural.   At least, when she kept a grip on the weapon, she was a natural.  Shadow had learned to keep a reasonable distance from the armed girl; he’d already received quite a large gash on his left arm when she accidentally launched the dagger in his direction.  He’d sworn quite a bit, and had caused Laura to cower behind her wolf, who seemed more interested in licking himself.  It had been an eventful evening.  He was willing to accept the possibility of it being a fun evening, too.  As long as the dagger remained in the girl’s hands, there was a chance of Shadow being satisfied with the current situation.

 

Shadow nodded to himself, as if to convince his brain that what he just thought was the truth. 

“I did it!” Laura suddenly shouted, causing Shadow to flinch.  The girl bounced a bit, doing a small twirl, “I did it!”

 

“...Did... what?” Shadow questioned warily as the girl approached him.

 

She suddenly frowned, looking back to the thin air she’d just murdered.  “Wait... I wasn’t attacking anything real... Damn it... I was in my mind...” Shadow remained silent, watching her.  She stared back, before frowning. “Oh... you asked me a question. Erm.  Well, I’m Laura, otherwise known as Puddle... I’m sixteen, I love Kingdom Hearts and the older guy of that group that went by is my boyfriend.” She broke off, looking to Shadow and his blank face, “Oh, I’m sorry, is my life not interesting enough for you?”

 

Shadow scratched his head awkwardly, sitting back down by the fire, “I was more expecting a story of your past... or your family...  What is Kingdom Hearts?”  He leant back as Laura suddenly marched towards him, glaring down, “I’m... sorry? Please forgive me?”

 

“How could Josh not give this world Kingdom Hearts?!” Laura snapped, eyes nearly doubling in size, before she falls to the ground, shoulders slumping, “Why would he do that to me...? Oh. Great. Now I’m stuck in a world without it, with a creepy hooded guy who sorta reminds me of... wait.” She suddenly straightens up, looking at Shadow with new admiration.  Shadow pulls his hood down further over his eyes to avoid the stare, “You remind me of Riku! This isn’t so bad after all.”  Shadow puts a hand to his temples, head bowed as he tried to make sense of this, “Look, nevermind.  Kingdom Hearts is just my obsession...  But you have silver hair and a cloak, so everything’s fine.”

 

“I just... wanted to know your past...” Shadow whispered in a pained voice.

 

Laura rolled her eyes, before shrugging slightly, turning quiet, “Alright... um.  My parents are divorced, my dad vanished, I have four sisters... well, half-sisters. I only live with one of them though, the other three left with my dad.  He was kinda... well... he went weird.”

 

“In what way?” Laura frowned, realizing for the first time that Shadow was cooking food over the fire.   He now passed a plate to her, and she poked the food curiously.  “It’s just chicken... doesn’t look that bad does it?”

 

“...Some deformed chicken...” The girl muttered, before biting into it, raising her eyebrows, “Hm, pretty good... er... anyway, he was a scientist. He kept rambling on about some strange portal and tried taking me there.  It scared�"“ She was interrupted by a piece of chicken flying from Shadow’s plate and landing in her hair, “What the--?!  Shadow, what the hell was that for?”  Shadow, meanwhile, was choking on the meat.  The wolf trotted over, as if to help, before deciding to just devour the rest of the chicken instead while Shadow was distracted.

 

Shadow eventually dislodged the meat from his throat, gasping for breath, staring at Laura with wide eyes, “...W-What? Portal?  Tell me everything!”

 

Laura stared at him with worry, “O-Okay, but first... get rid of that chicken hanging from your mouth... please...”  Shadow frowned, but before he could do anything, Luatru, the wolf, trotted over again and ran his tongue down his entire face, causing him to splutter and flail slightly in protest.  “...Thank you, Luatru.”

 

“Get off me, you stupid wolf...” Shadow growled, and the Praestia returned to Laura’s side.  Shadow considered the situation, before sighing, “Please. Explain.”

 

Laura shrugged a single shoulder, before saying, “Sure, why not?” She broke off, suddenly seeming uncomfortable.  She forced a smile, “When I was... eleven, I think, he told me to come with him.  He was talking really excitedly, about finally finding the portal.  I dunno where to, or what the hell he was on about... but he took me to this cliff near the beach... but there was nothing there.  He started ranting angrily... saying how he’d definitely seen it.  He kept me there for hours, promising me it’ll come... that... that we could go and live a happier life there... I think he was insane.  Eventually, mum came and picked me up...  and I never saw my dad again... or my sisters... he came back in the night and took them, and... er... that was it...” She shifted uncomfortably, looking away.

 

Shadow stared at her anxiously, leaning forward towards her, “But... that’s not it... I can tell...”

 

Laura stared up at him with watery eyes, saying in a whisper, “No... I went back to that cliff place... right after he left.” The fire flickered briefly, and Laura’s face glowed yellow as she stared into the dancing flames.  “He wasn’t there, which surprised me... but... everything was purple... It... didn’t click until now why coming to this world was so familiar... And the weird thing is, that was the day...”Her eyes suddenly glazed, and she broke off, frowning in confusion, “...What?  Um...” She brushed her fringe from her eyes, seeming to be thinking hard, “I... That’s what happened, right, Shadow?  He... came to this world?”

 

The cloaked boy remained silent, considering this, before eventually saying, “...Erm... Probably, yes.”

 

“It doesn’t make sense...” She hugged her knees close to her chest, resting her chin upon them, looking to him, “How could he come here...?”

 

“The same way you did, probably.” Shadow shrugged slightly, “This portal he found... close to you?”

 

“Not really, no...” Laura frowned, “None of this makes any sense.  Otellus was made...” Her eyes glazed again, and the entire area flashed purple briefly, “Urgh...”

 

Some things are best left unsaid... I brought you to this world, Laura, to fulfil a purpose... Keep it secret...