Fic: Nobody Fades, Chapter 5
Jul. 12th, 2009 07:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stellawindCo-written with the ever-lovely![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
urplesquirrel . Posted on LJ by me due to her RL obligations.
Title: Nobody Fades
Spoilers: All the way through KH2.
Characters/Pairing: Sora, Roxas. Will be Sora/Riku/Kairi, with others later on.
Summary: When you’ve saved the worlds (twice!), what’s left to do? Well, if you’re Sora, then you decide to give your Nobody a separate body.
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
NOTE ON WORLDS VISITED:
This is our only non-Disney world.
We talked about others, but we wanted to make sure that all the worlds used were well-known, and the source material could be compacted into a world logically. Also, there were certain plot requirements to be met.
If you don't know anything about the Cats musical, you can look it up on Wikipedia, though we did try to keep that from being necessary.
OoO
They got an early start, even with Sora dragging out his goodbyes to Donald and Goofy, but Riku was in a much better mood stepping on to the gummi ship than he'd been leaving Destiny Islands. Getting a chance to talk to Mickey again helped, immensely.
The first world on their list was farther out than Sora had ever been, so they didn't really know what to expect. Sora said that how far out the worlds were had nothing to do with how weird they were, though. After all, look at how close Wonderland had been.
This world didn't look like much from space, only a few giant buildings that that rose up, with smaller ones crowded around. It was dark, but some of the buildings and streets looked lit.
"Ready?" asked Sora. His hand was resting on a lever which he said should activate the landing sequence. Riku was pretty sure it was too, as the only thing Sora had been wrong about so far had been reading the map that Mickey had given them.
"Let's go," Kairi said.
Sora pulled the lever.
The world went sideways, and Riku was thrown off balance. For a moment, he wondered if Sora had been wrong about the lever after all, but when everything stopped spinning, he was definitely lying on the ground, not the floor of the ship. He tried to get to his feet.
...And promptly fell over, given that he was completely the wrong shape.
"Riku? Kairi?" Sora called. Riku looked around to see a little brown cat, and a spotted gold one.
"We're fine," answered the gold cat -- oh, it was Kairi. "We just... seem to have too many feet."
The Sora-cat looked at Riku and started to laugh.
"What?" Riku asked, irritably, carefully working out how to stand on four paws rather than two feet.
"Is there a mirror around here somewhere?" Sora laughed. "You're a fluffy white cat!"
Riku looked down at his paws, and then twisted over to look at his back. His tail swished in annoyance. “Shut up, Sora.”
Sora made one last snicker, before bounding over to Kairi in two perfect leaps.
"You figure it out yet?" he asked, peering at her face.
"I think so," Kairi said slowly, and then bumped her nose with Sora's. "You kinda have to not think about it, I guess. I mean, my body knows what to do, but I don't."
Riku thought about that for a second. It made sense. What was probably a matter of muscle memory in this body --like moving his tail-- were things that he'd never thought about doing as a human. With that in mind, he thought about walking to where Kairi and Sora were, but didn't concentrate on the way he needed to redistribute his weight or in what order he had to move his paws.
"It's actually a little easier," he said when he reached them. "At least it's my own body --it's just a different shape."
Sora snickered again.
Riku hissed, and pounced on him, to a loudly meowed protest. "Stop laughing at me!"
"All you need is the crazy old cat lady!" Sora laughed. "You just look so ridiculous!"
"Shut up," Riku said, hitting Sora with a paw.
"Knock it off, both of you!" Kairi said, jumping up and pushing Riku off of Sora. "We need to get going and find whoever it is we're looking for."
"You'll able to find them at the Jellicle Ball tonight," yawned someone. A moment later, Riku saw him, leaping down from a car. A black body and a patched ruff almost let him blend into the darkness.
Riku looked up, and saw a bright moon shining down. It gave him an odd feeling.
"Is that here?" asked Kairi.
"And there," answered the cat, sniffing.
"Sorry, we really aren't from around here," apologized Sora.
The cat looked at them. "Strange kittens, that's what you are." He stretched, and then stood up on his hind legs. "Welcome, I suppose. New cats are always worth a sniff."
He walked toward them, still on his hind legs. "I'm Rum Tum Tugger. Who are you, kitten?" The last was aimed at Kairi. Riku got the distinct impression he was flirting.
"I'm Sora," Sora said, apparently completely missing this. He was trying to stand on his hind legs like Rum Tum Tugger, but it was a bit wobbly.
"My name is Kairi," she said, waving a paw.
"Riku," Riku answered shortly. For some reason, he didn't like Rum Tum Tugger very much.
"Strange names," said Rum Tum Tugger. "Who was it you were looking for? I might --oh no!" His ears flattened and his mouth opened in a hiss. "Not them again!"
Black shadows moved as shadows shouldn't. Glowing amber eyes was all that Riku needed to see. Way to the Dawn materialized in his paws, and he leaped, slashing. Sora was to his left, and he knew that Kairi was only a half leap behind.
These Heartless looked almost like black cats, but moved differently. The fluidness they held themselves with was different from most, but they still leaped at them like Heartless.
In a few heartbeats, only they and Tugger were left in streetlight. Riku wasn't certain if they had destroyed all of them and thought he saw one or two still watching them from the darkness.
"What kind of cats are you?" asked Rum Tum Tugger, sounding amazed. “You killed those things like they were baby mice!"
Riku winced at that.
"We've fought Heartless before," Sora said, waving the Keyblade casually.
"Heartless?" he echoed. "Is that what they're called? And what are those things?" he sniffed the Keyblade. "I've never known a cat who needed anything other than his claws!"
"It's a Keyblade," Sora answered.
"Well, if it can kill the shadow-cats, then you definitely need to speak to Old Deuteronomy." Rum Tum Tugger looked thoughtful and then jumped onto the car. "This way!"
Riku's ears pricked at the name, but he didn't spare a thought to his body doing weird things around him. When he'd gotten the list from Mickey, Deuteronomy had been a name on it. It must've been a long time since Mickey had been here for him to have become Old Deuteronomy.
He truly hoped they would find the answer here, as the third world on their list was one he did not want to go to. Just the thought of visiting Maleficent's original world was enough to scare him stupid.
"This way," Rum Tum Tugger called, jumping back on the car. "It will twist Munkustrap's whiskers to no end that I found the answer before he did!"
It took a few tries, but they all got up onto the car. Rum Tum Tugger looked disapproving. "You'd think you'd never jumped before. How can you be such good fighters when you're all kittens?"
"We're not that young," Sora protested. "We just haven't gotten the hang of it yet."
"Jumping is jumping," Tugger replied. "You're very strange cats. I don't think you're Jellicles at all."
"What makes a Jellicle a Jellicle then?" asked Kairi.
Rum Tum Tugger sneezed. "There's a whole section of the ball devoted to that question. But if you can't jump, you have no chance of dancing."
Riku wondered if they were going to have to dance. He wasn't too bad at it --he knew some very basic dances, but he'd always felt very self-conscious whenever he'd tried. And he didn't have the first idea how cats danced.
Tugger led them down the other side of the car and then past what looked to be a broken washer. At first, the area seemed empty, but as Riku looked around, he saw that there were other cats everywhere, skirting around the edges of the cleared space.
"Munkustrap!" Tugger yelled to a gray-striped cat. "We've got visitors."
"New kittens," said the striped cat, looking very harried. "Yes, very exciting. Why do you feel the need to point them out to me?"
"They're special," Tugger answered. "Has Old Deuteronomy arrived yet?"
"Of course not, the ball hasn't even started yet!" Munkustrap snapped. "Go away, all of you! I am very busy."
Riku obediently backed away from the angry cat. Kairi also took the hint, but she had to get Sora's ear between her teeth to get him to move.
"He's usually nicer," said Tugger. "But the ball ruffles his fur like nothing else." He shrugged. "Well, Old Deuteronomy will get here when he gets here. You're new, so why don't you go talk to the other kittens?"
Riku was quickly getting sick of being called a 'kitten'.
"What are you going to do?" asked Sora.
Tugger stretched. "I will do what I do. Now scamper off with the other kittens. Old Deuteronomy comes even later than me."
Riku suspected that they were more or less being told to go to the kiddy table. "What's going to happen next?"
"I'm going to ask why Quaxo is opening the ball." With that, Tugger left them.
"Contrary and unreliable," purred a cat, slinking to Kairi's side. "Rum Tum Tugger is a curious cat." Her moon-lit eyes flickered over them. "But not curious enough to see. Why are you both two cats?"
Riku felt his ears prick.
"You can see them?" asked Sora.
"I'm a Jellicle. Have you figured out what that means yet?"
"Not really," Sora sighed.
She looked at them, slit-eyes cool and distant.
"Hmm... Allegorical cats, metaphorical cats, statistical cats and mystical cats." She sounded like she was reciting something well known. "You aren't Jellicles. You aren't even really cats, are you?"
"Um..." Sora said. "Well, we are when we're here, but... not when we're anywhere else."
"Ah, you're from another world." She rolled on her back and stretched. "But why are there three cats when there should be five?"
"We were kind of hoping that we could find someone here who could help us with that," Kairi said. "There are a lot of magicians on this world, right?"
The cat rolled back onto her stomach. "You're looking at one," she said. "But I've never even heard of two cats sharing one body before. Perhaps if you could find Mistoffelees..."
"Mistoffelees?" Riku asked.
"The most magical cat of all," she said. "But we never know when he'll appear."
"Have you ever met him?" Riku asked.
"We all have," she said. "He's just unrecognizable unless he wants to be."
Riku was going to press further, but Kairi licked his cheek and completely distracted him. He looked at her, and the 'let it go' was clearly written on her face.
"So, are you the cats that have made Rum Tum Tugger fake reliability?" asked another tom-cat, stalking over.
"Hello, Quaxo," purred the cat they had been talking to. "Don't tell me Munkustrap is letting him open?"
"Yes, and what a terrible bore Rum Tum Tugger will be," Quaxo replied, but there was heat missing in his words. Instead, he was looking at them closely, sniffing carefully. "You aren't cats."
"Um..." Sora said.
"It's a long story," Riku jumped in, as he saw Sora founder. "And very complicated."
"Of course. Good stories always are," Quaxo said. "We have the whole opening of the ball, and probably more, if he indulges in his grandstanding. But first, your names, as those are quite a particular matter."
"Oh, I'm Sora," Sora said. "And these are my friends, Riku and Kairi."
"Strange names," the little tom said. He smiled. "I like them. This your first ball?"
"Yes," Kairi answered. "Um... do you know when Old Deuteronomy will arrive? Rum Tum Tugger said we should talk to him."
"It's hard to say," said Quaxo. "He's quite old, you see. His legs are tottery, so he must go slow. But he will be here. And then we'll have the performance."
"Performance?" Riku asked.
"Of the Aweful Battle of the Pekes and the Pollicles," he answered, and Riku could hear the capitalization, "and Growltiger's Last Stand, but only if Gus is up to it. Between you and me." He lowered his head conspiratorially. "I don't think he will be. He's even older than Old Deuteronomy. He's almost certain to be the Choice this year."
"Choice?" Sora asked.
"The cat who can be reborn, going to the Heavyside Layer. Old Deuteronomy announces the Choice just before the dawn."
"Will we be able to talk to him after that?" Kairi asked.
"There should be plenty of time, once the performance is over. Unless you've heard about any other performances, Cassandra?"
Cassandra yawned. "There's been yowling about Jennyanydots, but I think that may be Munkustrap campaigning for her to be the Choice."
"Jennyanydots?" asked Quaxo, sniffing. "Really?"
"Disappointed, Quaxo?"
“She has plenty of life left in her. Just look at what she does when the family is asleep. ...Although I must say that teaching mice isn't a sign of the best mental health."
"I wonder how Mickey fared on this world," Riku commented in an undertone.
Kairi winced.
"I think that's why he sent us," whispered Sora.
"Oh, dear," Quaxo said, looking out at the dancing, which had suddenly ceased. "She's back."
Cassandra hissed in distaste, and bounded away.
A very tattered old cat had entered the area. She walked slowly and ponderously, as though every movement caused her to ache. Some of the cats approached her nervously, but then scurried away or were ushered away by other cats. For the most part, they all stayed out of her way, refusing to make eye-contact, but staring at her with clear distaste.
It was one of the saddest sights Riku had ever seen. He wanted to look away, but wasn't sure if that would be kinder.
"Who is that?" asked Kairi.
Quaxo shook his head sadly. "Would you have ever supposed that cat was once known as Grizabella, the glamour cat?"
"What happened?" Sora demanded.
Quaxo licked at a paw. "Once," he said finally, as Grizabella haunted the edges of the ball again. "The moon smiled upon her, and she was a beautiful. She took much comfort in it, and the moon became her favored companion. Now all she has is memory."
"But why is everyone turning away from her?" Kairi asked, "Just because she's old and not beautiful anymore?"
"No. She fought and then left us. Traveled and flitted about the no-man's land. By the time that she came back, she looked she'd ought to be dead. Most think that it was only what she deserved."
Riku shuffled uncomfortably, and watched a new remarkably fat cat be greeted, trying his best to not listen to Quaxo explain the reasoning of the other cats to Sora and Kairi. He could understand, almost. He'd thought of most of them, after he had gone through the door into darkness.
He'd been lucky, he knew. He deserved to be shunned the way Grizabella was (or even worse -- she hadn't made a deal with evil and abused the powers of darkness), but instead Sora and Kairi had forgiven him, and accepted him back like he'd done nothing wrong. And it had been so simple for them that they couldn't quite get why he was so grateful. But, of course, not everyone could be so lucky.
Grizabella slunk out of sight completely as the fat cat sang about the restaurants at which he liked to eat. The cats had forgotten her as soon as she'd gotten out of their sight.
"That doesn't seem fair," Sora said. "I mean, she may have made some mistakes, but everyone deserves a second chance."
Riku sighed. "Even if they do, not everyone gets one."
"She should get one," Sora stated, looking at him. It was interesting that his eyes were still the same as ever, resolution shining clearly. Sora rubbed his cheek against his, and Riku knew without a doubt getting Grizabella a second chance had just become a crusade for Sora.
And probably for more reasons than just Grizabella herself.
The idea sparked a sense of warmth in him, but Riku shook it off. "Remember, Mickey's counting on us to find out if anyone knows about who's summoning the Heartless."
"We'll get that," Kairi assured. "But I think that we should at the very least try to talk to Old Deuteronomy about it too."
Rum Tum Tugger bounded over to them. Riku found his back arching a bit involuntarily, and he sat down quickly.
"There you are!" he said. "You haven't been dancing at all. Don't you like me, kitten?" he asked, sidling up to Kairi.
Kairi leaned away from him. "We've just been watching."
"Well, stop watching!" Tugger said. "Join the party! Do you want to dance with me?" he asked.
"Maybe later," Kairi said politely.
Tugger shrugged, sitting down between Kairi and Riku, and Riku was suddenly ready to chew his ears off. He was being impossible! Why didn't Kairi tell him off? She clearly wasn't interested in the flirting.
Riku was about ready to tell the tom off himself when Tugger's ears pricked up.
"Oh!" he said. "Old Deuteronomy is here!"
Riku followed his gaze to an old cat, larger than the rest. His coat was grey, long, and a bit shabby. He walked slowly, but his pace was steady enough. Cats crowded around him, smiling and greeting him as if he was father to all.
Even Tugger swept him a bow when he glanced over.
Riku felt the weight of Old Deuteronomy's gaze for a moment, before he returned to greeting the other cats.
Kairi was the first to find her voice again. "He's the one we need to see alright. When can we talk to him?"
Tugger's tail rose proudly. "I could take you to him now. It would cause such a tangle in performances," he added with glee.
"Well," Sora said. "This is important, and it shouldn't take too long to ask him some questions. Okay, let's go!"
Rum Tum Tugger grinned at them, and leapt into the crowd of cats. They followed as well as they could, although Riku could tell a lot of cats were really annoyed at them. Apparently Tugger was very good at that.
They ran into the gray striped cat again just before reaching Old Deuteronomy. Tugger tried to pass, but Munkustrap blocked his way.
"Oh, no, you don't," he said, teeth ever-so-slightly bared. "You derive all of your amusement from annoying as many cats as you possibly can, and I won't let Old Deuteronomy be one of them."
"But I told you already," Tugger protested. "These kittens are special."
"We really do need to see him," Sora interjected earnestly.
"No. If you absolutely insist, talk to him after the Choice." He fixed Tugger with a long, unblinking stare. "And don't you dare try to make this into a worse mess."
"But there's nothing that I enjoy more than a horrible muddle," Tugger said, unrepentant.
Munkustrap hissed. "Go pounce on some other cat right now. I'm sure you can cause one there."
Discreetly, Riku batted at one of Sora's paws, and then jerked his head away. Tugger's antagonization of the other cat was probably something they wanted to stay out of.
"But..." Sora started to protest. "We really need..."
"I know," Riku replied in a hissing undertone. "But we also don't need to start a fight here."
"Let me," Kairi said, sliding between them. She stopped in front of Munkustrap. "We really aren't trying to cause trouble," she said. "But we need to speak to Old Deuteronomy. It's important. It's about the Heartless."
Munkustrap regarded her coldly. "The what?"
"The shadow-cats Macavity's been sending to attack us!" Tugger said.
"You know about them?" Munkustrap asked.
"Yes," Kairi answered.
"How do I know you aren't working with Macavity?" he asked suspiciously. "He's been known to be in league with most troublemakers." he shot a nasty glance at Tugger.
"Munkustrap."
The striped cat froze.
Old Deuteronomy had spoken.
"Let them come."
With a proud swish of his tail, Tugger pushed past Munkustrap, and escorted Kairi to Old Deuteronomy, leaving Riku and Sora to follow.
He regarded calmly them for a long moment. "And who are your companions, Rum Tum Tugger?"
"Strange kittens, but yet they kill Macavity's shadow-cats as easily as I can catch a string."
"Strange cats indeed. You're from a different world, aren't you?" Old Deuteronomy smiled, and looked to the moon, eyes growing distant for a brief second. "At least you aren't mice, then."
Riku's ears swiveled. "But we were sent by Mickey."
"Oh, you know him?" The old cat smiled. "Bravest mouse I've ever met, to walk into the middle of us the way he did. He must also be wise, to not come back here himself. Why did he send you?"
"It's the the Heartless, those shadow-cats," Kairi said. "They're everywhere and it's getting worse."
"The king thinks that someone might be summoning them on purpose," Sora cut in. "But we think it would have to be a powerful magic user to do it. We don't know more than that, so we're investigating different worlds until we find out more."
"Hmm..." Old Deuteronomy looked ponderous, slowly and laboriously cleaning his claws. "Usually we can assign blame for any wicked deed done here to Macavity, but his magic is not that strong. All he can do is disappear without a trace."
"Maybe someone else is doing it without realizing the consequences?" Riku asked. "You'd be surprised what horrible things people will do if they have honest intentions."
Like me, he thought. And were his friends starting to learn to read minds? Kairi leaned against him and Sora licked his ear reassuringly. Maybe they just knew him well.
"You ought to ask Mr. Mistoffelees," interrupted Tugger. "There is no such cat in all the metropolis who is better at magic."
"Another cat said that," Kairi said slowly. "But she said that she didn't know where he was. Do you know if he's here?"
Old Deuteronomy whiskers twitched. "I'm sure that Mistoffelees will be here soon enough. He does love to make an entrance."
"But..." Sora started.
"Enjoy the ball," said Old Deuteronomy. "We will talk again, after I've made the Choice."
"Who will it be?" Tugger asked.
"Whoever I decide it will be," he answered. "Go! Munkustrap, you may start the performance."
Riku was pretty sure he heard the gray cat mutter "Finally!" as he stalked out to the middle of the area. Sora and Kairi hopped off the old tire and Riku followed them. They found a comfortable place to perch and watched as a number of the cats began to dance.
It was actually pretty fun to watch, and he found himself nodding in time to the music. Sometime toward the end, Kairi started to dance in place a bit.
"You know," she said. "We really should join the dancing. It looks like so much fun."
"Pollicles!" called Sora, already bounding over. "You can be a Peke!"
Kairi's snort alerted him to the danger of agreeing. "All the other toms are Pollicles."
Riku looked, trying to see under the boxes, bags, and even shoes. "I think you're right..." He trailed off as all the cats exploded in yowls imitating barks.
A cat appeared in a great leap into the ball, black and muscled, eyes glowing. For a second, Riku wondered if it was another Heartless, before the cats began to sing again, announcing that the Great Rumpuscat, de-vesting themselves of the make-shift costumes.
"Come on," cried Sora, returning. "It was lots of fun, just too short."
"Of course!" Kairi said.
They both looked at Riku.
"Fine," he agreed, not quite sure if he was going to end up embarrassing himself to the point Sora would be reminding him for the week. As if being a fluffy white cat wasn't enough.
There was a lull, as Old Deuteronomy was speaking, but after a few minutes the cats began dancing again. As Tugger had promised, they did indeed seem to be arguing about what made a Jellicle Cat. The dancing was simple, mostly following the other with improvisations, and no one was really watching him. Kairi and Sora both seemed to be really enjoying themselves, so he kept at it.
As the music continued and more cats got up to introduce themselves, he found dancing getting easier and easier. He wasn't messing up too badly, and it was a lot of fun. The songs were catchy, even if he didn't really know them. By the time a cat was done singing about his job on the railway trains, they were all ready to fall over, but he couldn't remember the last time he'd simply had fun like this.
"Who next?" Sora asked a white kitten who'd been dancing near them.
She shrugged. "I don't know, it's --oh no!" she yowled.
Riku turned to see where she was looking. Heartless. Why now? He summoned Way to Dawn and lunged at them.
They were more clever than usual Heartless -- which meant that somebody was directing them. They'd quickly separated him from Sora and Kairi. He hissed. He wasn't going to be herded by them! He fought his way over to Kairi and by unspoken agreement, they stood back to back to fight.
"What took you so long?" he asked as Sora finally cut his way over to them.
"Well, you know... things to do, places to see..." He grinned at Riku.
Riku grinned back.
Kairi laughed. "Well, as long as you always come back to us!"
Sora's reply was lost as all the light --even moonlight-- disappeared, and the area was filled with darkness. A moment later, there was light again, flickering.
In the dimness, he could see Old Deuteronomy struggling against several Heartless. With a yell, he leaped to them--
There was a resounding rumble.
--And when Riku landed, Old Deuteronomy was gone.
urplesquirrel . Posted on LJ by me due to her RL obligations.Title: Nobody Fades
Spoilers: All the way through KH2.
Characters/Pairing: Sora, Roxas. Will be Sora/Riku/Kairi, with others later on.
Summary: When you’ve saved the worlds (twice!), what’s left to do? Well, if you’re Sora, then you decide to give your Nobody a separate body.
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
NOTE ON WORLDS VISITED:
This is our only non-Disney world.
We talked about others, but we wanted to make sure that all the worlds used were well-known, and the source material could be compacted into a world logically. Also, there were certain plot requirements to be met.
If you don't know anything about the Cats musical, you can look it up on Wikipedia, though we did try to keep that from being necessary.
OoO
They got an early start, even with Sora dragging out his goodbyes to Donald and Goofy, but Riku was in a much better mood stepping on to the gummi ship than he'd been leaving Destiny Islands. Getting a chance to talk to Mickey again helped, immensely.
The first world on their list was farther out than Sora had ever been, so they didn't really know what to expect. Sora said that how far out the worlds were had nothing to do with how weird they were, though. After all, look at how close Wonderland had been.
This world didn't look like much from space, only a few giant buildings that that rose up, with smaller ones crowded around. It was dark, but some of the buildings and streets looked lit.
"Ready?" asked Sora. His hand was resting on a lever which he said should activate the landing sequence. Riku was pretty sure it was too, as the only thing Sora had been wrong about so far had been reading the map that Mickey had given them.
"Let's go," Kairi said.
Sora pulled the lever.
The world went sideways, and Riku was thrown off balance. For a moment, he wondered if Sora had been wrong about the lever after all, but when everything stopped spinning, he was definitely lying on the ground, not the floor of the ship. He tried to get to his feet.
...And promptly fell over, given that he was completely the wrong shape.
"Riku? Kairi?" Sora called. Riku looked around to see a little brown cat, and a spotted gold one.
"We're fine," answered the gold cat -- oh, it was Kairi. "We just... seem to have too many feet."
The Sora-cat looked at Riku and started to laugh.
"What?" Riku asked, irritably, carefully working out how to stand on four paws rather than two feet.
"Is there a mirror around here somewhere?" Sora laughed. "You're a fluffy white cat!"
Riku looked down at his paws, and then twisted over to look at his back. His tail swished in annoyance. “Shut up, Sora.”
Sora made one last snicker, before bounding over to Kairi in two perfect leaps.
"You figure it out yet?" he asked, peering at her face.
"I think so," Kairi said slowly, and then bumped her nose with Sora's. "You kinda have to not think about it, I guess. I mean, my body knows what to do, but I don't."
Riku thought about that for a second. It made sense. What was probably a matter of muscle memory in this body --like moving his tail-- were things that he'd never thought about doing as a human. With that in mind, he thought about walking to where Kairi and Sora were, but didn't concentrate on the way he needed to redistribute his weight or in what order he had to move his paws.
"It's actually a little easier," he said when he reached them. "At least it's my own body --it's just a different shape."
Sora snickered again.
Riku hissed, and pounced on him, to a loudly meowed protest. "Stop laughing at me!"
"All you need is the crazy old cat lady!" Sora laughed. "You just look so ridiculous!"
"Shut up," Riku said, hitting Sora with a paw.
"Knock it off, both of you!" Kairi said, jumping up and pushing Riku off of Sora. "We need to get going and find whoever it is we're looking for."
"You'll able to find them at the Jellicle Ball tonight," yawned someone. A moment later, Riku saw him, leaping down from a car. A black body and a patched ruff almost let him blend into the darkness.
Riku looked up, and saw a bright moon shining down. It gave him an odd feeling.
"Is that here?" asked Kairi.
"And there," answered the cat, sniffing.
"Sorry, we really aren't from around here," apologized Sora.
The cat looked at them. "Strange kittens, that's what you are." He stretched, and then stood up on his hind legs. "Welcome, I suppose. New cats are always worth a sniff."
He walked toward them, still on his hind legs. "I'm Rum Tum Tugger. Who are you, kitten?" The last was aimed at Kairi. Riku got the distinct impression he was flirting.
"I'm Sora," Sora said, apparently completely missing this. He was trying to stand on his hind legs like Rum Tum Tugger, but it was a bit wobbly.
"My name is Kairi," she said, waving a paw.
"Riku," Riku answered shortly. For some reason, he didn't like Rum Tum Tugger very much.
"Strange names," said Rum Tum Tugger. "Who was it you were looking for? I might --oh no!" His ears flattened and his mouth opened in a hiss. "Not them again!"
Black shadows moved as shadows shouldn't. Glowing amber eyes was all that Riku needed to see. Way to the Dawn materialized in his paws, and he leaped, slashing. Sora was to his left, and he knew that Kairi was only a half leap behind.
These Heartless looked almost like black cats, but moved differently. The fluidness they held themselves with was different from most, but they still leaped at them like Heartless.
In a few heartbeats, only they and Tugger were left in streetlight. Riku wasn't certain if they had destroyed all of them and thought he saw one or two still watching them from the darkness.
"What kind of cats are you?" asked Rum Tum Tugger, sounding amazed. “You killed those things like they were baby mice!"
Riku winced at that.
"We've fought Heartless before," Sora said, waving the Keyblade casually.
"Heartless?" he echoed. "Is that what they're called? And what are those things?" he sniffed the Keyblade. "I've never known a cat who needed anything other than his claws!"
"It's a Keyblade," Sora answered.
"Well, if it can kill the shadow-cats, then you definitely need to speak to Old Deuteronomy." Rum Tum Tugger looked thoughtful and then jumped onto the car. "This way!"
Riku's ears pricked at the name, but he didn't spare a thought to his body doing weird things around him. When he'd gotten the list from Mickey, Deuteronomy had been a name on it. It must've been a long time since Mickey had been here for him to have become Old Deuteronomy.
He truly hoped they would find the answer here, as the third world on their list was one he did not want to go to. Just the thought of visiting Maleficent's original world was enough to scare him stupid.
"This way," Rum Tum Tugger called, jumping back on the car. "It will twist Munkustrap's whiskers to no end that I found the answer before he did!"
It took a few tries, but they all got up onto the car. Rum Tum Tugger looked disapproving. "You'd think you'd never jumped before. How can you be such good fighters when you're all kittens?"
"We're not that young," Sora protested. "We just haven't gotten the hang of it yet."
"Jumping is jumping," Tugger replied. "You're very strange cats. I don't think you're Jellicles at all."
"What makes a Jellicle a Jellicle then?" asked Kairi.
Rum Tum Tugger sneezed. "There's a whole section of the ball devoted to that question. But if you can't jump, you have no chance of dancing."
Riku wondered if they were going to have to dance. He wasn't too bad at it --he knew some very basic dances, but he'd always felt very self-conscious whenever he'd tried. And he didn't have the first idea how cats danced.
Tugger led them down the other side of the car and then past what looked to be a broken washer. At first, the area seemed empty, but as Riku looked around, he saw that there were other cats everywhere, skirting around the edges of the cleared space.
"Munkustrap!" Tugger yelled to a gray-striped cat. "We've got visitors."
"New kittens," said the striped cat, looking very harried. "Yes, very exciting. Why do you feel the need to point them out to me?"
"They're special," Tugger answered. "Has Old Deuteronomy arrived yet?"
"Of course not, the ball hasn't even started yet!" Munkustrap snapped. "Go away, all of you! I am very busy."
Riku obediently backed away from the angry cat. Kairi also took the hint, but she had to get Sora's ear between her teeth to get him to move.
"He's usually nicer," said Tugger. "But the ball ruffles his fur like nothing else." He shrugged. "Well, Old Deuteronomy will get here when he gets here. You're new, so why don't you go talk to the other kittens?"
Riku was quickly getting sick of being called a 'kitten'.
"What are you going to do?" asked Sora.
Tugger stretched. "I will do what I do. Now scamper off with the other kittens. Old Deuteronomy comes even later than me."
Riku suspected that they were more or less being told to go to the kiddy table. "What's going to happen next?"
"I'm going to ask why Quaxo is opening the ball." With that, Tugger left them.
"Contrary and unreliable," purred a cat, slinking to Kairi's side. "Rum Tum Tugger is a curious cat." Her moon-lit eyes flickered over them. "But not curious enough to see. Why are you both two cats?"
Riku felt his ears prick.
"You can see them?" asked Sora.
"I'm a Jellicle. Have you figured out what that means yet?"
"Not really," Sora sighed.
She looked at them, slit-eyes cool and distant.
"Hmm... Allegorical cats, metaphorical cats, statistical cats and mystical cats." She sounded like she was reciting something well known. "You aren't Jellicles. You aren't even really cats, are you?"
"Um..." Sora said. "Well, we are when we're here, but... not when we're anywhere else."
"Ah, you're from another world." She rolled on her back and stretched. "But why are there three cats when there should be five?"
"We were kind of hoping that we could find someone here who could help us with that," Kairi said. "There are a lot of magicians on this world, right?"
The cat rolled back onto her stomach. "You're looking at one," she said. "But I've never even heard of two cats sharing one body before. Perhaps if you could find Mistoffelees..."
"Mistoffelees?" Riku asked.
"The most magical cat of all," she said. "But we never know when he'll appear."
"Have you ever met him?" Riku asked.
"We all have," she said. "He's just unrecognizable unless he wants to be."
Riku was going to press further, but Kairi licked his cheek and completely distracted him. He looked at her, and the 'let it go' was clearly written on her face.
"So, are you the cats that have made Rum Tum Tugger fake reliability?" asked another tom-cat, stalking over.
"Hello, Quaxo," purred the cat they had been talking to. "Don't tell me Munkustrap is letting him open?"
"Yes, and what a terrible bore Rum Tum Tugger will be," Quaxo replied, but there was heat missing in his words. Instead, he was looking at them closely, sniffing carefully. "You aren't cats."
"Um..." Sora said.
"It's a long story," Riku jumped in, as he saw Sora founder. "And very complicated."
"Of course. Good stories always are," Quaxo said. "We have the whole opening of the ball, and probably more, if he indulges in his grandstanding. But first, your names, as those are quite a particular matter."
"Oh, I'm Sora," Sora said. "And these are my friends, Riku and Kairi."
"Strange names," the little tom said. He smiled. "I like them. This your first ball?"
"Yes," Kairi answered. "Um... do you know when Old Deuteronomy will arrive? Rum Tum Tugger said we should talk to him."
"It's hard to say," said Quaxo. "He's quite old, you see. His legs are tottery, so he must go slow. But he will be here. And then we'll have the performance."
"Performance?" Riku asked.
"Of the Aweful Battle of the Pekes and the Pollicles," he answered, and Riku could hear the capitalization, "and Growltiger's Last Stand, but only if Gus is up to it. Between you and me." He lowered his head conspiratorially. "I don't think he will be. He's even older than Old Deuteronomy. He's almost certain to be the Choice this year."
"Choice?" Sora asked.
"The cat who can be reborn, going to the Heavyside Layer. Old Deuteronomy announces the Choice just before the dawn."
"Will we be able to talk to him after that?" Kairi asked.
"There should be plenty of time, once the performance is over. Unless you've heard about any other performances, Cassandra?"
Cassandra yawned. "There's been yowling about Jennyanydots, but I think that may be Munkustrap campaigning for her to be the Choice."
"Jennyanydots?" asked Quaxo, sniffing. "Really?"
"Disappointed, Quaxo?"
“She has plenty of life left in her. Just look at what she does when the family is asleep. ...Although I must say that teaching mice isn't a sign of the best mental health."
"I wonder how Mickey fared on this world," Riku commented in an undertone.
Kairi winced.
"I think that's why he sent us," whispered Sora.
"Oh, dear," Quaxo said, looking out at the dancing, which had suddenly ceased. "She's back."
Cassandra hissed in distaste, and bounded away.
A very tattered old cat had entered the area. She walked slowly and ponderously, as though every movement caused her to ache. Some of the cats approached her nervously, but then scurried away or were ushered away by other cats. For the most part, they all stayed out of her way, refusing to make eye-contact, but staring at her with clear distaste.
It was one of the saddest sights Riku had ever seen. He wanted to look away, but wasn't sure if that would be kinder.
"Who is that?" asked Kairi.
Quaxo shook his head sadly. "Would you have ever supposed that cat was once known as Grizabella, the glamour cat?"
"What happened?" Sora demanded.
Quaxo licked at a paw. "Once," he said finally, as Grizabella haunted the edges of the ball again. "The moon smiled upon her, and she was a beautiful. She took much comfort in it, and the moon became her favored companion. Now all she has is memory."
"But why is everyone turning away from her?" Kairi asked, "Just because she's old and not beautiful anymore?"
"No. She fought and then left us. Traveled and flitted about the no-man's land. By the time that she came back, she looked she'd ought to be dead. Most think that it was only what she deserved."
Riku shuffled uncomfortably, and watched a new remarkably fat cat be greeted, trying his best to not listen to Quaxo explain the reasoning of the other cats to Sora and Kairi. He could understand, almost. He'd thought of most of them, after he had gone through the door into darkness.
He'd been lucky, he knew. He deserved to be shunned the way Grizabella was (or even worse -- she hadn't made a deal with evil and abused the powers of darkness), but instead Sora and Kairi had forgiven him, and accepted him back like he'd done nothing wrong. And it had been so simple for them that they couldn't quite get why he was so grateful. But, of course, not everyone could be so lucky.
Grizabella slunk out of sight completely as the fat cat sang about the restaurants at which he liked to eat. The cats had forgotten her as soon as she'd gotten out of their sight.
"That doesn't seem fair," Sora said. "I mean, she may have made some mistakes, but everyone deserves a second chance."
Riku sighed. "Even if they do, not everyone gets one."
"She should get one," Sora stated, looking at him. It was interesting that his eyes were still the same as ever, resolution shining clearly. Sora rubbed his cheek against his, and Riku knew without a doubt getting Grizabella a second chance had just become a crusade for Sora.
And probably for more reasons than just Grizabella herself.
The idea sparked a sense of warmth in him, but Riku shook it off. "Remember, Mickey's counting on us to find out if anyone knows about who's summoning the Heartless."
"We'll get that," Kairi assured. "But I think that we should at the very least try to talk to Old Deuteronomy about it too."
Rum Tum Tugger bounded over to them. Riku found his back arching a bit involuntarily, and he sat down quickly.
"There you are!" he said. "You haven't been dancing at all. Don't you like me, kitten?" he asked, sidling up to Kairi.
Kairi leaned away from him. "We've just been watching."
"Well, stop watching!" Tugger said. "Join the party! Do you want to dance with me?" he asked.
"Maybe later," Kairi said politely.
Tugger shrugged, sitting down between Kairi and Riku, and Riku was suddenly ready to chew his ears off. He was being impossible! Why didn't Kairi tell him off? She clearly wasn't interested in the flirting.
Riku was about ready to tell the tom off himself when Tugger's ears pricked up.
"Oh!" he said. "Old Deuteronomy is here!"
Riku followed his gaze to an old cat, larger than the rest. His coat was grey, long, and a bit shabby. He walked slowly, but his pace was steady enough. Cats crowded around him, smiling and greeting him as if he was father to all.
Even Tugger swept him a bow when he glanced over.
Riku felt the weight of Old Deuteronomy's gaze for a moment, before he returned to greeting the other cats.
Kairi was the first to find her voice again. "He's the one we need to see alright. When can we talk to him?"
Tugger's tail rose proudly. "I could take you to him now. It would cause such a tangle in performances," he added with glee.
"Well," Sora said. "This is important, and it shouldn't take too long to ask him some questions. Okay, let's go!"
Rum Tum Tugger grinned at them, and leapt into the crowd of cats. They followed as well as they could, although Riku could tell a lot of cats were really annoyed at them. Apparently Tugger was very good at that.
They ran into the gray striped cat again just before reaching Old Deuteronomy. Tugger tried to pass, but Munkustrap blocked his way.
"Oh, no, you don't," he said, teeth ever-so-slightly bared. "You derive all of your amusement from annoying as many cats as you possibly can, and I won't let Old Deuteronomy be one of them."
"But I told you already," Tugger protested. "These kittens are special."
"We really do need to see him," Sora interjected earnestly.
"No. If you absolutely insist, talk to him after the Choice." He fixed Tugger with a long, unblinking stare. "And don't you dare try to make this into a worse mess."
"But there's nothing that I enjoy more than a horrible muddle," Tugger said, unrepentant.
Munkustrap hissed. "Go pounce on some other cat right now. I'm sure you can cause one there."
Discreetly, Riku batted at one of Sora's paws, and then jerked his head away. Tugger's antagonization of the other cat was probably something they wanted to stay out of.
"But..." Sora started to protest. "We really need..."
"I know," Riku replied in a hissing undertone. "But we also don't need to start a fight here."
"Let me," Kairi said, sliding between them. She stopped in front of Munkustrap. "We really aren't trying to cause trouble," she said. "But we need to speak to Old Deuteronomy. It's important. It's about the Heartless."
Munkustrap regarded her coldly. "The what?"
"The shadow-cats Macavity's been sending to attack us!" Tugger said.
"You know about them?" Munkustrap asked.
"Yes," Kairi answered.
"How do I know you aren't working with Macavity?" he asked suspiciously. "He's been known to be in league with most troublemakers." he shot a nasty glance at Tugger.
"Munkustrap."
The striped cat froze.
Old Deuteronomy had spoken.
"Let them come."
With a proud swish of his tail, Tugger pushed past Munkustrap, and escorted Kairi to Old Deuteronomy, leaving Riku and Sora to follow.
He regarded calmly them for a long moment. "And who are your companions, Rum Tum Tugger?"
"Strange kittens, but yet they kill Macavity's shadow-cats as easily as I can catch a string."
"Strange cats indeed. You're from a different world, aren't you?" Old Deuteronomy smiled, and looked to the moon, eyes growing distant for a brief second. "At least you aren't mice, then."
Riku's ears swiveled. "But we were sent by Mickey."
"Oh, you know him?" The old cat smiled. "Bravest mouse I've ever met, to walk into the middle of us the way he did. He must also be wise, to not come back here himself. Why did he send you?"
"It's the the Heartless, those shadow-cats," Kairi said. "They're everywhere and it's getting worse."
"The king thinks that someone might be summoning them on purpose," Sora cut in. "But we think it would have to be a powerful magic user to do it. We don't know more than that, so we're investigating different worlds until we find out more."
"Hmm..." Old Deuteronomy looked ponderous, slowly and laboriously cleaning his claws. "Usually we can assign blame for any wicked deed done here to Macavity, but his magic is not that strong. All he can do is disappear without a trace."
"Maybe someone else is doing it without realizing the consequences?" Riku asked. "You'd be surprised what horrible things people will do if they have honest intentions."
Like me, he thought. And were his friends starting to learn to read minds? Kairi leaned against him and Sora licked his ear reassuringly. Maybe they just knew him well.
"You ought to ask Mr. Mistoffelees," interrupted Tugger. "There is no such cat in all the metropolis who is better at magic."
"Another cat said that," Kairi said slowly. "But she said that she didn't know where he was. Do you know if he's here?"
Old Deuteronomy whiskers twitched. "I'm sure that Mistoffelees will be here soon enough. He does love to make an entrance."
"But..." Sora started.
"Enjoy the ball," said Old Deuteronomy. "We will talk again, after I've made the Choice."
"Who will it be?" Tugger asked.
"Whoever I decide it will be," he answered. "Go! Munkustrap, you may start the performance."
Riku was pretty sure he heard the gray cat mutter "Finally!" as he stalked out to the middle of the area. Sora and Kairi hopped off the old tire and Riku followed them. They found a comfortable place to perch and watched as a number of the cats began to dance.
It was actually pretty fun to watch, and he found himself nodding in time to the music. Sometime toward the end, Kairi started to dance in place a bit.
"You know," she said. "We really should join the dancing. It looks like so much fun."
"Pollicles!" called Sora, already bounding over. "You can be a Peke!"
Kairi's snort alerted him to the danger of agreeing. "All the other toms are Pollicles."
Riku looked, trying to see under the boxes, bags, and even shoes. "I think you're right..." He trailed off as all the cats exploded in yowls imitating barks.
A cat appeared in a great leap into the ball, black and muscled, eyes glowing. For a second, Riku wondered if it was another Heartless, before the cats began to sing again, announcing that the Great Rumpuscat, de-vesting themselves of the make-shift costumes.
"Come on," cried Sora, returning. "It was lots of fun, just too short."
"Of course!" Kairi said.
They both looked at Riku.
"Fine," he agreed, not quite sure if he was going to end up embarrassing himself to the point Sora would be reminding him for the week. As if being a fluffy white cat wasn't enough.
There was a lull, as Old Deuteronomy was speaking, but after a few minutes the cats began dancing again. As Tugger had promised, they did indeed seem to be arguing about what made a Jellicle Cat. The dancing was simple, mostly following the other with improvisations, and no one was really watching him. Kairi and Sora both seemed to be really enjoying themselves, so he kept at it.
As the music continued and more cats got up to introduce themselves, he found dancing getting easier and easier. He wasn't messing up too badly, and it was a lot of fun. The songs were catchy, even if he didn't really know them. By the time a cat was done singing about his job on the railway trains, they were all ready to fall over, but he couldn't remember the last time he'd simply had fun like this.
"Who next?" Sora asked a white kitten who'd been dancing near them.
She shrugged. "I don't know, it's --oh no!" she yowled.
Riku turned to see where she was looking. Heartless. Why now? He summoned Way to Dawn and lunged at them.
They were more clever than usual Heartless -- which meant that somebody was directing them. They'd quickly separated him from Sora and Kairi. He hissed. He wasn't going to be herded by them! He fought his way over to Kairi and by unspoken agreement, they stood back to back to fight.
"What took you so long?" he asked as Sora finally cut his way over to them.
"Well, you know... things to do, places to see..." He grinned at Riku.
Riku grinned back.
Kairi laughed. "Well, as long as you always come back to us!"
Sora's reply was lost as all the light --even moonlight-- disappeared, and the area was filled with darkness. A moment later, there was light again, flickering.
In the dimness, he could see Old Deuteronomy struggling against several Heartless. With a yell, he leaped to them--
There was a resounding rumble.
--And when Riku landed, Old Deuteronomy was gone.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-14 02:55 pm (UTC)Still wondering where this is going next! (also Riku should claw Tugger on the nose a bit. >_____> For his own good. Yeah.)
(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-18 06:31 pm (UTC)I love you. Amazing. Please update soon!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-19 09:43 pm (UTC)