The Diabolical

Chapter 03 – A Compromise

"Sora? You in there?"

Sora woke up at the rapping on his door. Startled, he leapt off his armchair and looked about the room. He had slept until morning. In that armchair. Was he really that comfortable with chairs?

"Sora?" Lenalee's voice called again. The boy snapped back to reality and opened the door quickly. Sure enough, the green haired girl was there, handing him a set of clothes. Sora took them hesitantly, and looked at her to ask for an explanation. She chuckled at his confusion.

"It's clothes, Sora," She smiled. "You can't go walking around town looking like that. Since you and Allen are the same height, I thought I'd actually let you wear some of his clothes. Please, take them. And I can give you his boots for the time being. Your shoes are very big, you know."

"Oh…" Sora blushed in embarrassment. "Thanks… I didn't think of that…"

She bowed and left for her room, and Sora shut the door behind him and took the small bundle of clothes to lay on the bed. He unfolded a long sleeved blouse with buttons. Sora sighed at the fact that it had buttons and not zippers, which he preferred more. The last big article of clothing black pants that looked like the ones that Leon wore. Then there was this red ribbon he had no idea about, even if he turned it over a few times. Hm… maybe he should ask Lenalee later.

He folded his original clothes together, and looked at himself at the provided mirror. He looked… strange, with buttons and slim pants. He began to wonder how Exorcists wore this stuff to travel and fight those demons. He grabbed the extra ribbon and emerged from his room's door. Lenalee was already outside, in her long black coat.

"Um…" Sora held up the red ribbon. "What's… this for?"

"Oh… you don't have those in the outside world?" Lenalee looked surprised and received a shake of the head. "It's a little tie that goes around your neck. It needs to be tight around your neck, because the collar's loose."

Sora gulped at the thought. Was it for choking purposes?

"I don't think I should wear this…" Sora handed it to her. Lenalee gave him a look of surprise.

"Here, let me put it on you-"

"Eh?" Sora backed away in panic. "No, really, I don't wear stuff like that!"

Lenalee stopped, and after some thought, she nodded and put it away in a pocket.

"Link is staying with Allen this time," She led him down the stairs. "Right now, you and I are supposed to walk around this town and survey the town. We might need to know some escape routes and such, and maybe some Akuma may need to be dealt with."

"Technically," Sora simplified it. "You're going to keep doing your job as an Exorcist?"

"Pretty much," She nodded, she directed him to the stairs. "But… We all need a break anyways…"

Sora smiled and walked down with her, and a strange feeling in the back of his mind wavered and disappeared again.

The town was bustling with many street vendors calling out to passersby and shop owners hanging up welcome signs. Sora was reminded of Hollow Bastion as it was being restored. Come to think of it, how was the place? He hadn't visited it for many months. He was too busy having Riku nag at him to finish his homework at the local library to remember such things. Hm… Hollow Bastion… Could he visit the place once he was done here?

"Sora?" Lenalee's voice nearly sent him crashing into a cartful of flowers.

"W-What?"

"You looked out of place for a moment…" Lenalee sighed. "Honestly, you're quite like Allen, except the formalities."

"Formalities?" Sora asked.

"Yes," The female Exorcist examined some jewelry stand beside the flower vendor. "He's quite the 'gentleman,' unlike his teacher. The only person's he's talked casually with is Kanda. They hated each other from the day they met."

"Care to tell more?" Sora gave a knowing smile. "I'm sure it was something funny."

She brightened. "Yep! And it was. It all started with that Gatekeeper…"

Sora was puzzled by the strange appearance and disappearance of the Roxas look-alike, and he searched the entire platform for the boy, but no one.

"My name… is Ventus." His voice came back, and Sora spun on his feet. The doppelganger was back, and he stood quietly, just like last time.

"Ven… tus…?" Sora mouthed the name, and the boy chuckled, earning a questioning glance from the Keyblade wielder.

"My friends have called me Ven, for short." The boy smiled. "But that's a long time ago."

Sora felt some welcome aura flowing from the boy, not that he had ever sensed auras before, but something his head told him to trust him, because this… Ventus… was an ally. What was this…? Intuition…?

"Well then, Ven," Sora put away his Keyblade. "What brings you here into my dreams? It's not normal for me to see people from the past everyday."

Ven gave a surprised look before thinking carefully. Sora would only believe that he wanted to spin a lie of some sort.

Ven shrugged, "I don't believe we were supposed to meet like this, though. I don't know why I'm here."

"That was my doing." A stranger chuckled, his voice echoing on the lonely platform. Sora and Ven looked around for the source, but to no avail. A large flock of ravens swooped down on them and collected themselves at the middle of the station. The small cloud of dark birds merged itself together, sculpting itself into a body of a man in a top hat. When he was given color, and Sora gasped.

"Dark skin… golden eyes..." He deduced. "Are you a Noah?"

The man laughed quietly at Sora's knowledge of this world, while Ventus looked at Sora with thorough surprise. Sure, he had been able to understand a bit about Lenalee's world, but only in bits and pieces. Poor Ven probably wasn't able to catch the part about Noah…

"My, my…" Neah smiled, tipping his hat. "You are too correct."

Sora summoned his Keyblade again, and Ventus did so as well, knowing whatever Sora thought was danger, was danger to himself.

"Who are you?" Sora asked fiercely. "Why are you speaking with us here?"

Neah turned to Ventus, who also held the same spiteful frown, and he sighed, pulling his hat down so a shadow fell over his eyes, which seemed to glow none too brightly with a shade of gold.

"My name…" the man said. "Is Neah Walker. I'm only here to request for an alliance with you two."

"Alliance?" Sora muttered.

"Both of us…?" Ventus gasped.

Sora clutched his Keyblade harder. Noah were considered enemies, right? From what Lenalee said, Noah have killed countless Exorcists and destroyed numerous Innocence for many centuries. However, there was one possibility…

"What number are you?" Sora inquired.

"Number Fourteen," Neah replied. "I believe you understand Mr. Walker's condition."

"Allen Walker?" Sora verified, and received a curt nod.

"Currently, Allen is in a comatose state."

"From torture?" Ventus popped in.

"From hitting his head on the bottom of a ferry boat," Neah sighed in embarrassment, and palmed his face in shame. "Honestly… and he was supposed to be an Exorcist…"

"Well?" Sora demanded. "What about Allen?"

"He's… slipping…" Neah reported.

Sora recalled something about Allen occasionally losing control of his body when he was gravely injured. The day when the 14th took over temporarily scared the creeps out of the Order, and the boy was imprisoned for a month until now…

"Slipping?" Sora gave sense of doubt. "Wouldn't that be good for you? You were the one who wanted to take over his body."

"Me?" Neah laughed. "Ah, yes… I do want to… very much, so I don't have to keep telling Allen what to do… but I found a better solution, since I feel guilty of killing my little nephew."

"What solution?" Ven spoke up. "I'm betting we have something to do with this."

The Noah smiled. "Correct!"

"Well, what do you want?" Sora glared. The 14th took of his top hat, and began to examine it, much to his frustration. Was this guy really taking his time?

"That weapon you two possess," His gold eyes turned cold "I believe you are one who seeks to purge Darkness, no?"

"Yeah…?" Sora shrugged.

"Indeed," Ven spoke up again. "That is the quest of a Keyblade Wielder."

"Hm… I see…" Neah stroked his chin carefully. "I'm sure that Keyblade of yours can do more than battling dark and bringing back light. And I'll make a request to you."

Sora was at the edge of his feet and was ready to let go and strike away the man. He was betting a threat, just like the last time, just like Organization XIII. Neah was going say something that would hurt someone else…

Ventus was anxious. Would he bring him to his friends, and then do something bad? From what he saw now, Noah weren't a group to be trifled with…

"You will extract my Heart from Allen so I can be in my own entity."

"What?" Ven and Sora were bewildered.

"Do you hear?" Neah sighed. "I just want to get out of a container."

"There's no catch?" Sora asked. A shake of a head.

"I'm not able to do anything against you," The man grumbled. "You are my only ways to avoid trouble, so it's no use forcing you."

Sora was still puzzled. So no threats? That sounds like something he himself would do. But what if this was all an act? Neah could turn around and kill someone, right? That was the nature of Noah…

"So?" Neah leaned to the side. "Yes? Or no?"

Ven and Sora looked at each other, and faced him.

"We will try to help," Sora said. "But if you do anything-"

"You'll kill me?" Neah laughed. "How cliché… Right… so it's a deal, then. Now… I wouldn't want to keep you sleeping would I?"

Sora's vision faded to black as a loud rapping of wood filled his ears.

The hairs on the back of the Keyblade Wielder stood on end, and instinct made his feet break into a run towards an alley. Lenalee was caught of guard, and he had already sped away from her.

"Sora! Wait!"

He heard nothing, but small whispers of curses as he ran down the street. A wagon of more flowers were in his way, and he easily vaulted it, launching himself into the air before landing smoothly onto cobblestone, earning a few shrieks from the women and the chickens that passed by. He dove under another wagon and dodged a chicken that unwittingly attempted to fly at his face. The whispers became louder and louder, and he stopped abruptly in front of an alley. No one was there, but the whispers were very strong. He cautiously walked through, occasionally looking behind him to see if any suspicious villager looked in. The whispers were now more audible.

Kill… Kill… Kill…

"Sora!" Lenalee's faint voice echoed from outside, and the boy was still wary. Immediately, the ground began to cover itself in spots of black and purple, and without delay, he summoned his Keyblade, and attached a Keychain to it. He wasn't sure which one he put, but hopefully it was something that worked.

Black little creatures rose from the ground, first head, then limbs that twitched every so often. Sora swung his Keyblade and sliced one of them into half, and turned around as soon as the pieces faded away into purple smoke. He got rid of most of them as soon as he heard heavy panting from behind. He spun around and pointed his Keyblade, and it nearly hit Lenalee's nose.

"S-Sora!" The startled Exorcist gasped. "Careful where you swing that thing!"

Sora backed away and turned around to get rid of a Heartless. He then turned back to her and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry about that."

Lenalee eyed the blue and white Keyblade with gold filigree. If she examined carefully, the end was adorned with a golden crown. She had never seen such fine handiwork before… For now, all she could think of was her brother's blazing eyes of inspiration and longing to take it apart.

"That… is your Keyblade…?" Lenalee pointed at it. Sora waved it around, its keychain jingling a hollow tune.

"Yep," He grinned. "Pretty cool, huh…?"

"I've never seen anything like it, before…" She got closer to examine. Another puddle of dark erupted between them, and she jumped back in fright. The same dark Heartless appeared, its yellow eyes focused on her. It stayed in place, however.

"This… is a Heartless, Lenalee… It's just a little one, though. It's called a Shadow."

"Shadow?"

"Yes," Sora said in a matter-of-fact tone, swinging his blade across and destroying the enemy. "They're only easy ones, and they don't really do much."

"So there are more powerful ones?" Lenalee added.

"Yeah," Sora smiled. "It's fun to battle those ones, because that's when I do get to go all out."

"Oh… I see…" Lenalee nodded. "So you enjoy fighting Heartless?"

Sora was leading her out of the alley and back into the peace of a bustling market.

"Not really," He answered. "But it's worth it to fight for a good cause. I'm fighting to save millions, just like you Exorcists, right?"

Lenalee was taken aback by his insight, and she nodded again in agreement.

Riku was not the type to be fascinated with ruins. As much as he absorbed every lesson in his History class quite easily, he would never find any way to be found of… old stone palaces and rusting temples. Goofy, on the other hand, did, and that's how the three of them ended up here. This looked like Traverse Town, when he last visited: empty, abandoned, and dusty. Roofs were collapsed, and walls were broken. Some battle must have occurred. Worst of all, he was the unfortunate one to find a field chock full of dead bodies disintegrating into dust. Donald and Goofy were able to pull him away from there, luckily.

They found themselves under a bridge of this ghost town on a hill, and Riku felt wind blowing from underneath his feet. Goofy and Donald felt it, too, and they searched the floor of plastered rock. They found a removable stone that turned into a passage of more stairs that spiraled down to something else. With quick glances at each other for approval, they jumped down, and continued their expedition.

They came across a large room with collapsed marble pillars, and a hole that faced the sky. The moon shone upon the center of a large circle, a stage, they thought. Riku stepped closer and saw a bundle of cloth… and long blonde hair.

"Guys..." He muttered. "There's someone here…"

He rushed over, with Goofy and Donald following. He turned over the body, and his face showed disappointment. It wasn't a person, but merely a mannequin with a movable mouth. A metal cap was placed on her head, and it was probably some device of some sort. Her eyes were left open, blue irises glazed and lifeless. A blue cloak was literally in rags, and her golden hair was frayed. It was merely a dead robot.

"Riku?" Goofy pointed out past them. "Everyone here seems to be… dead…"

Goofy disliked using that word… "dead." It sounded… hollow… and nothing that fit his creed of being happy and smiling. Of course, being the captain of the Royal Guard required him to know that not everything was a cheerful bundle of joy, and sadly, he had not killed anyone in his lifetime. He had only seen aftermaths of death, and had attended a few funerals, but that was all.

Sure enough, there were only dead bodies. Two of them. One was a cloaked man with a pointed hat. His face was obscured by a mask, much to their relief. This man seemed to have been dead for a year. The other, however, was very recent, possibly a few days. Against Donald's protests, Riku and Goofy came closer to look.

A young man, nineteen or twenty, was leaning against a checkered pillar. His long blue hair was still soft, which was quite good in comparison to the other parts of his body. Eyes closed and lips parted. He could be sleeping… but no rise of chest or air from the mouth or nose. His skin was pale and cracked, as if he were stone and was nearly close to shattering. He had no shirt, and he was only wearing black pants. Even more alarming, his arms were wrapped protectively around half a body of someone else. A lover?

"That's disgusting…" Donald muttered. "To hold onto only half of a person's body…"

"Um… Donald…?" Goofy's voice wavered. "I don't think that thing he's holding is even human. Didn't you notice that it's made of some sort of red crystal?"

Riku summoned his Keyblade and poked at the finger of the half-body. It crumbled away into dust. He frowned, and stood up to prepare to leave. Goofy and Donald followed suit, not wishing to see any more horrors.

"Please… young boy…" A feminine voice echoed in the room, and they all stopped, and went into a fighting stance.

"Show yourself," Riku demanded.

"I'm sorry…" She replied. "I cannot move from where I am."

"Who are you?" Donald asked fearfully. He hated enemies that hid in the shadows or were from far away.

"I'm merely a soul that is currently departing to the depths of hell." The voice replied wistfully. "I seem to have caught you three just as I was leaving."

"Hell?" Riku raised an eyebrow. "Did you commit a crime or something?"

"Yes," she said. "I killed millions, and I need to atone for my sins."

Goofy then gave a small gasp. "I think I'm piecing it together. Are you the body of that red crystal creature that dead man is holding?"

Donald and Riku gave sharp glances of "What are you thinking?" to the Shield warrior, who merely shrugged with a sheepish grin.

"Correct." The woman chuckled. "You're quite the smart person."

"I think you have something to ask of us," Riku jumped to the discussion.

"No, I really don't…" the woman sighed. "I just wanted to give final goodbyes to someone's who's living before I depart…"

"I see…" Riku glowered. "Are you sure?"

"I guess…" she affirmed, her voice growing fainter.

"What's your name?" Goofy smiled. "I'm Goofy, and this is Donald and Riku!"

"What nice names!" the woman's voice was very soft. "My name… is Alma… Alma Karma…"

"That's a nice name, Alma!" Goofy smiled.

"Thank you…" She was barely audible. "I'm sorry this conversation is so short…"

A small pop was heard in the silent night, and the three people found nothing more to do except to leave quietly. They had done enough here, and they had seen enough. Now they had to carry on.

Kairi was beyond excited as she watched the eyes of the mysterious boy flutter open. He slowly got up from his bed, and blearily looked about the ward, until he met her face. She wore a warm smile, and looked straight into his dark eyes.

"Hello," She smiled. "You were unconscious when I found you. It's nice to know that you're awake."

The boy's face showed little emotion as he looked at his hands, and stared at the hospital gown. Kairi laughed nervously.

"I didn't know if you'd be okay if I took you to my house, so I decided to take you to the hospital. It seems that you're fine, and you'll be out of here in three days."

The boy nodded, and his head fell back against the headboard of the bed. Kairi believed he was awake, and she cleared her throat.

"So, I'm Kairi. And what's your name?"

"My name…?" The boy mumbled.

"Yeah."

He fell into deep thought before looking up at her and answered in a drawling voice. "My name… is… Yuu…"

"Yuu…?" Kairi repeated the foreign word. "That's quite the strangest name I've ever heard."

The strange boy gave her a questioning look, and she chuckled nervously, not wishing to offend him. At least he had some emotion.

"I… guess it's strange…" Yuu murmured quietly, his voice faltering at each end of a sentence. "I've never really remembered how I got that name anyway…"

"Oh…" Kairi sighed.

The young Princess of Heart began a long round of questions for the boy, which was usually answered with small hesitant replies or silence. Yuu seemed to be very unknowledgeable of many words, much to her surprise. But it was justified. This boy did wash upon the shore and probably bumped his head along the way.

"You know…" Kairi smiled. "Since you are a little kid, I actually brought something for you."

Yuu tilted his head in confusion and watched carefully as the redhead dug into the bottom of her backpack and procured a rather beaten book. He gave her another skeptical look, and she laughed.

"It's a picture book," She said. "My dad used to read it to me when I was ten."

Yuu peered at the cover and saw a strange spherical creature with pink and purple scales and beady eyes with eyelashes, and he noticed full round lips. He cowered at the sight of it, and pulled the sheets of his bed closer to his body.

"It's… not about… girly stuff… is it?" Yuu said quietly. "Like… makeup… and… lipstick?"

Kairi held back the urge to keel over laughing, and she shook her head.

"It's nothing like that. This one's about a fish that lived in the sea."

"Fish…?" Yuu muttered. "What… is… a 'fish…?'"

She placed the book on his lap. She pulled the chair closer so she could see what he was reading. Yuu fiddled with the pages, turning it over and over in his small palms. Kairi then took a hold of one flap, and turned it over. The boy then saw a painting of many strange sea plants and very unique fish swimming about. Then he saw words. They were slightly hard to read, but he could somehow get it.

"Do I… read these…?" He turned to Kairi, who nodded in return.

"I'll read with you if you need help," She pointed at the first sentence. "Shall we begin?"

"K-Krory? You're standing in front of the door…"

Said man nearly jumped in fright, and he stepped aside for a woman with wavy brown hair and dark circles around her eyes. He concluded that she went back to her under-sleeping habits again… Marie wouldn't want to hear that… if he was awake… that is…

"S-Sorry… Miranda…" He muttered and the woman pulled a weak smile before closing the door behind her. Krory hobbled into the bedroom and slouched upon the small bench in front of the dresser.

It had only been two days since he heard the major raid on Headquarters. He and Miranda were able to meet up in this town in Italy, with a few Finders who were frightened to the bone about the recent major battle with Noah and Exorcists. Timothy, the little boy who had recently become Exorcist, had been found, too, and he was recuperating in the room next door.

Krory was able to pick up a few things from Komui: Kanda found Alma, Alma attacked everyone, Kanda stabbed Allen, Allen turned into the 14th for a moment, and then sent Kanda and Alma someplace.

Speaking of which, this city was Turin… And if he remembered correctly… this was quite close to the old city where Allen and Kanda went on their first mission together. It was Allen's first mission as an Exorcist under the Black Order, too. The name of the city… Mater… was it?

He banged his head on the table in frustration. All he could do was think about the past and not think of the future. But with a situation like this, what could he think about? Destruction? Peril? Tragedy? He's heard a lot of the Exorcists have gotten injured, and he had yet to tell Miranda that Marie was comatose and nearly lost another finger. He shouldn't. She'd just go ballistic again.

All of his friends were gone. Kanda was dead. Lavi was probably kidnapped with Bookman by Noah. Lenalee and Link were missing, along with Allen, who was imprisoned by Central's orders, but had gone missing as well. Chaoji was gravely ill with an unknown sickness. All the Generals were unreachable. It's all hopeless, and he'd wish to think less about it all.

Then again, he was one of the fortunate ones to still be in contact with the Order, along with Miranda and Timothy, and that was it. He moped for another hour, when he heard a commotion of footsteps and a surprised shriek from Miranda. Immediately he sprang from his bench and wrenched open the door, only to see Miranda gasping for breath.

"Miranda, what's the matter?" He knelt down to help her up. She had to take several glasses of water before calming down. Her face was as pale as a ghost, not as if she could get any paler than she had originally been.

"I saw… a duck!"

Krory raised an eyebrow. Now she was hallucinating…?

"What duck?"

"A walking and talking duck in a costume!" She cried. "You've got to believe me! There's a walking talking duck outside the hotel with a some strange people!"

A/N: I think this is quite sloppy in some parts... weep..

Poor Kanda is officially dead... well... er, not really. And I thought the idea of Sora not knowing how to put on that bow tie that Allen wears was random, but it was fun while it lasted. Yes, there will be ANGST! and Neah is some strange type of good (every DGM story I write involves Neah being a good guy, what's going on?). And yay! Krory, Miranda, and Tim will get bigger roles! Funny thing that I've forgtten to write about was Timcampy... Probably because he's too... big... to carry around now... ehehehe... And I was thinking of a sequel to this, which involves Sora going to another world, and I have yet to sort out which of the following worlds will he visit. This is the basic list:

- Fullmetal Alchemist

- Reborn!

- Bleach

- Black Rock Shooter (I srsly don't know how that will work)

- Phoenix Wright (don't know about that, either)

- Psyren (haven't read it in a while, so that's debatable)

- The Secret Saturdays (I'll probably age up the main character, so that he'll be around Sora's age)

- Vocaloid (This will be a very original one, I suppose, minus the characters and the singing)

I'll think of more things to list, because I'll be setting up a poll so you decide where he'll go next.