Kingdom Hearts fic: All Strange Wonders - Chapter 3

[mistressofmuses]

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“And who are you?”

Sora didn’t recognize the voice, and he squinted his eyes more tightly shut without opening them. If he could just get a few more minutes of sleep…

The voice didn’t repeat the question, but Sora heard a throat clear impatiently. And then he remembered a girl made of fire, and the castle, and the night in the hills, and the curse…

He sat bolt upright in the chair, and looked up into a familiar face he hadn’t expected to see. Eerily pale aqua-blue eyes set in a very pretty face, framed by long silver hair: the man he’d run into in the town square at the spring equinox, back before everything had gone wrong.

Sora had dodged the man’s offer to buy him a drink, but hadn’t realized just how lucky he’d apparently been to escape.

There was no corresponding look of recognition on the Heartless Sorcerer’s face, but of course there wouldn’t be. They’d barely met, and no one would know Sora now.

“I’m-” Sora stopped before the words could strangle him. “I’m your new assistant!” he blurted.

A silver eyebrow arched.

Sora glanced at the wide stone hearth. Kairi was sitting upright still, almost perched on top of the pile of logs one would usually expect to see in a fireplace. The lighter flames of her arms and hands shifted in a way that made it look like she was giving him two thumbs up.

“Uh… I was supposed to start today,” Sora continued, digging himself into a far deeper hole, probably.

“I don’t recall that I hired an assistant.”

Sora gestured toward the clutter he’d glimpsed the night before. “Clearly you need one. Someone to clean up your, uh… workspace. Mix… ingredients…” Sora was rapidly running out of any idea what a sorcerer actually did. Besides eat hearts and steal souls.

“I’ll work for room and board,” he added, hoping that didn’t sound like the desperate ploy it was.

The sorcerer—‘Riku’, according to Kairi—still looked skeptical. After a pause that stretched into eternity, he asked, “And what’s your name?”

Sora licked his lips. “It doesn’t matter. You can call me whatever you want.”

Riku’s eyes narrowed a little, and Sora had the most uncomfortable feeling of being looked through. He tried very hard not to let his shoulders hunch under the scrutiny.

“I see.” Then the sorcerer shrugged. “Come on then, Assistant. Assist.”

Sora glanced at Kairi one more time for moral support—and what did that say about his life right now, really—and she gave as encouraging a smile as a fire was probably capable of. Sora scrambled up out of the chair to follow.

Riku swept across the room toward the kitchen, which was really only differentiated by a counter that separated it from the rest. Sora realized he’d been more correct than he’d realized the previous night when he’d thought the dim light had done the room a favor.

With bright morning sunlight streaming in, it was obvious that everything was absolutely filthy. The piles of stuff looked even more precarious by day, like maybe it was only the dust and spider webs keeping it all from collapsing. It also revealed that plenty of the things piled up did look a bit esoteric in nature. Enormous crystals propped up leather-bound tomes. Rolls of parchment rested against glass bottles half-filled with vibrant liquids or strange-colored powders. Sora didn’t see any hearts with bites taken out, or blood splatters, or other terrible things he’d pictured. Though for all he knew, the glass jars held souls, or all that was left of Riku’s victims.

Even the kitchen counters looked cluttered with the sorts of things no one should be eating. Sora half-suspected that any bit of it could turn him into a toad.

He glanced to the window that was the source of the sunlight, expecting to see the hills of the valley drifting by. Instead, there was a perfectly stationary town outside. Not Twilight Town. These buildings were taller, the smooth flagstone streets a warmer red-brown, rather than the pale yellow of his home. Sora almost wondered if it was some kind of astoundingly realistic painting, but then he saw someone walking some distance away.

Riku glanced at him out of the corner of his eye and noticed him staring. “I take it you aren’t from Traverse Town, then.”

Traverse Town? Sora had heard of it, but never been there. It was a larger town, at the crossroads of several major roads through the country. If he’d actually gone through the valley, and then turned south, he might have made it to Traverse Town in a week or two. Maybe.

Riku sighed, sounding exasperated. “Which door did you come through?”

Sora snapped himself away from the window. Then pointed back at the single door that led into the room, opposite the hearth and the stairs.

Riku rolled his eyes. “Of course, that one. But what was on the other side?”

When Sora didn’t answer, Riku walked past him toward the door. “Come here.”

Sora meekly followed, making sure not to knock anything over. Riku navigated the piles with no trouble.

Next to the door was a round dial of sorts, with each quarter of the circle painted a different color—green, black, gold, and blue. Riku spun the dial around so that the blue section lined up with the edge of the door. Then he opened the door, and instead of the rolling hills, the same town as Sora had glimpsed outside the window was through the door. The flagstones paved a small square, and then led away along a narrow street.

Sora fought down a moment of panic that the hills were just gone. He didn’t want to be trapped here.

Riku closed the door, then rotated the dial so that the green segment pointed toward the door. This time when he opened the door, green hills with patches of small white and yellow flowers drifted gently by.

Sora sighed with relief.

He didn’t realize that the sigh had been audible until Riku glanced at him. “Came in from the hills, then?”

Sora nodded vaguely. Riku pulled the door closed and walked back to the kitchen.

“Where do the gold and black sections go?” Sora asked, stumbling after him.

“Gold goes to Radiant Garden. Black is private and none of your business.”

Radiant Garden? The capital? And what could he mean, ‘private’? Sora shook off the questions and focused on the sorcerer. If he was going to pose as his assistant, he had to act like it.

Riku opened one of the cabinets in the kitchen, and pulled out a basket full of eggs. He added a shaker of salt and one of pepper, plus a wooden spoon, and handed the basket and a heavy cast-iron pan to Sora. “Here, Florian. Go cook these.”

Sora stared blankly.

“Not Florian then? Worth a guess. Still, take them.”

I guess I did say he could call me whatever he wanted. Sora took the basket and the pan, but he didn’t see a stove.

Riku pointed across the counter and gave a tight smile. “Kairi can help you.”

Sora wondered if he was expected to pretend not to know who Kairi was, but didn’t see the point. So he returned to the chair in front of the hearth, and sort of held out the pan toward her.

Kairi gave a long-suffering sigh, which sounded like paper singeing. “Do you see what heartless Riku makes me do? You’ll have to hold the pan up, though.” As if to demonstrate, she swept her fingers over it, but was clearly not able to hold onto it.

She held her hands—flickering flames that truly did look like fingers—out flat, “palms” up, and he held the pan over them. Before long it had heated through, and he cracked the eggs one-handed into it. He’d never cooked eggs on a magical, sentient fire, but it seemed like it was probably similar to the normal way.

“Thank you, Kairi,” Sora said, pulling the pan away once the eggs were done.

He expected Riku to be doing something sorcerous, but instead, he was just watching Sora. If he hadn’t known better, he’d think the look on Riku’s face was surprise. Sora pretended not to notice.

After that, they ate. Riku had some bread that he’d pulled from somewhere, and along with the eggs, it was quite good. Riku left some of everything on his plate, and took it over to Kairi. The bits of egg and bread were almost immediately ash as he tossed them to her, but she seemed to enjoy it.

“All right, Xavier.” Riku paused and studied Sora’s face a moment. “Not Xavier. All right, Assistant. I do happen to have a spell to deliver today, so you can help me with it.”

“Does that mean it’s all right for me to stay?” Sora could have kicked himself as soon as the words were out of his mouth; he didn’t need to give Riku an opportunity to directly say no.

But Riku didn’t give an answer either way, just started pulling various jars and papers out of the piles stacked on the counters and on the floor. Somehow, nothing collapsed.

Riku gestured for Sora to come closer. “This is a speed spell. Have you made one before?”

“No,” Sora had to admit. Much as he’d love to seem like a totally capable magical assistant, he wasn’t going to try to fake that. This had been a terrible attempt at a cover story.

“Fine. This jar”—he held up a jar about halfway full of a pale yellow-green powder—“is powdered wind.”

Riku used a small spoon, solid silver by the look of it, and put two scoops of the powder into a bowl.

“And this”—he held out a small bottle of a dark purple liquid—“is displacement oil. Do not use too much of it. Or drink it.”

Sora wanted to ask what would happen if he did, but figured it was best not to.

Riku carefully opened the bottle. The lid had a small pipette attached, and he slowly allowed a single drop to fall into the little bowl along with the powdered wind.

The mixture immediately fizzed and turned white. Even that single drop seemed to have transformed the whole thing into a kind of paste. After resealing the bottle, Riku grabbed a pestle from out of one of the nearby piles, and started to grind it into the mix, which immediately started to thicken and turn silver.

Riku shoved it at Sora. “Keep working it. It’s ready once it’s back to powder.”

As Sora gingerly started to grind it, he was relieved it didn’t immediately explode. He tried to pretend this was just like grinding up herbs from the garden at home.

Riku spread out a square of thin paper.

The mix in the bowl was beginning to crunch a bit under the pestle, like slightly damp sand instead of the sticky paste it had been just a moment ago. The color was still sparkling silver.

“Now you can pour it out onto the paper.”

Sora tipped the bowl sideways, almost afraid to breathe in case he somehow messed it up, but the powder slid out perfectly into a little pile.

Riku took it and through a series of complicated folds turned it into a self-contained packet. He then drew a little glyph on the outside, a complex swirling symbol.

“And that’s a speed spell. When someone is ready to use it, they can tear it open, and sprinkle the powder onto their shoes, or onto the wheels of a cart, whatever is going to be touching the ground. It makes traveling far faster. You can cross miles in minutes.” He placed the packet into a small satchel, and then crossed purposefully toward the door. He fixed his hair in a mirror perched awkwardly on top of a pile of books. “And now I’m off to deliver it. I’m sure I’ll be back eventually.”

Riku spun the dial next to the door to the gold color, the one Sora remembered he’d said led to Radiant Garden. He tried to get a glimpse out the door without being too obvious, but Riku closed it behind him almost immediately.

“How about that?” Kairi called from her spot on the hearth. “A successful assistant already. I think this is going to work out perfectly.”

Sora sat back in the chair. “I don’t know. Why did I even say that I was going to be his assistant? I don’t know anything about spells.”

Another of those crackling sighs. “Because you can’t break my contract, and I can’t break your curse without you being here. You had to have some reason. Riku or I can walk you through the bits you don’t know how to do.”

Personally, Sora thought a magician’s assistant should probably have some magical ability to start with, but if Kairi thought he could fake it…

Sora mentally shook himself. He would fake it if he had to, because he wanted his curse broken. But he couldn’t let himself forget that this was dangerous. This was the Heartless Sorcerer. Just because Sora hadn’t yet seen any evidence of his crimes didn’t mean they hadn’t happened.

Suddenly he had the creeping certainty there was proof somewhere. Things were such a mess it would be easy to hide, but what if there were boxes of bones, or withered hearts, or souls trapped in jars…

“I’m going to clean,” Sora said. That would be the best way to find any damning evidence. Not that he had a plan for what he’d do when he found it. “I have to do something to make myself useful,” he instead told Kairi. “So that Riku will let me stay.”

“Maybe you should ask him about that before you just go for it…” Kairi said doubtfully.

“Obviously he isn’t going to do it himself.” Sora gestured toward the whole room. “And anyway, maybe I’ll find a clue to your contract if I take a look around.”

“I gave you a clue last night. And this morning.”

“What were they?”

“I can’t just tell you when I’m giving you a clue! That’d be like you trying to… spell your name in order to get around your curse.”

Unfortunately, that made sense. He hadn’t actually tried to write his name down or spell it aloud, but if that would let him get around the curse, it wouldn’t be nearly so terrible. Not that the inability to give his name was the worst part of the curse.

“Well, I’m sorry I didn’t catch your hints.”

“I’m sure you’ll get another,” she said. “There might be something down here about it, but please be careful. Riku likes to be in control of his environment.”

Sora doubted that pretty strongly. This was the epitome of chaos. He stood and actually looked around the room, instead of just balking at the mess.

“Where’s the rest of it?” he asked.

“The rest of what?”

“The castle.” It had loomed large when he saw it moving across the hills, but this room was fairly small, maybe about the size of the shop.

It was roughly a square, with the magic door along one wall, the hearth opposite that, and the kitchen along the wall to the right of the door. The wall to the left just appeared to contain more piles of stuff, much like the middle of the room. Next to the hearth there was a set of stairs going up, and the only other door was in the wall just past the kitchen. “Is it through there?”

“That just leads to the bathroom. And Riku’s bedroom is upstairs, but that’s all there is.”

Sora frowned at that, but supposed this room would give him plenty of work to start with. He didn’t need to worry about more yet. Even if there was some hidden dungeon of imprisoned souls.

“What about through the black door? The magic door when the dial is set to black, I mean.”

“No idea,” she answered. “I can’t see much out the door from here. Riku doesn’t go through that one very often.”

If anything, that made the curiosity worse. He crossed the room, careful not to trip over anything.

“I don’t think Riku wants anyone going through there!” Kairi called behind him.

He had said it was ‘private’, but… “Just a look won’t hurt.”

Carefully, Sora rotated the dial until the black segment was closest to the door, then he turned the handle.

There was nothing on the other side. Not nothing like an empty room, or a blank wall, just… nothing. It was sort of dark, but not completely. It also wasn’t light. It wasn’t any particular color.

Tentatively, he reached a finger toward that nothingness. There was no resistance when his hand touched it. It wasn’t cold or hot. It was just, stubbornly, nothing he could identify at all.

He yanked his hand back, suddenly worried it would trap him, but there was no resistance against him that direction either. Still, he shook his fingers, as if something might have clung to his skin.

It turned out he didn’t feel quite brave enough to step through after all. He carefully turned the dial back around to gold.

“And?” Kairi asked, craning forward along the hearth. Apparently she’d been as curious as he was, despite her protest.

“Nothing,” Sora answered honestly.

“No fun…” If a fire was capable of pouting, that was what she was doing.

“No time to explore,” he corrected, clearing his throat. “Cleaning, remember?”

He hardly knew where to start. He could just picture the fit his mother would have had if any of their rooms had ever been a fraction this bad.

Finally, he just picked a pile at random and started to sort. Jars all went to one side, where they wouldn’t fall and break. Books were piled in another. Everything else he did his best to group in like piles.

The door past the kitchen did prove to be a bathroom, which had both cold and hot water out of the taps, which was rather amazing. Sora assumed there had to be a spell behind that. Unfortunately, it was just as filthy as the other room, with jars and tubes of mystery substances that had leaked all over every available surface. He did manage to find a bucket hidden in the bottom of a cabinet, and a stained rag along with it. That and some of the miraculously hot water meant that he could start making inroads on the dust in the main room.

To his surprise, after clearing one of the piles next to the wall, he found a low bookshelf that had been mostly hidden from view. Half its shelves were empty, providing somewhere to stash some of the freshly wiped-down books.

He did take the time to flip through the books, which ranged from weighty leather-bound volumes with tooled covers and gilt pages to thin pamphlets made of strangely smooth, nearly shiny paper. Nothing looked like a contract, though. He also didn’t find any desiccated hearts buried in the piles.

Probably keeps those hidden up in his bedroom, he thought waspishly. That would be a project for another day, as would be the bathroom.

By the time Riku returned from his delivery, Sora had worked through three of the piles, and started on a fourth. He’d lost count of how many buckets of water he’d gone through.

“I see you were busy.” It was hard to read much into Riku’s tone, though it mostly sounded dry.

“I promised to help clean up your workspace,” Sora replied cheerfully. “No time like the present.”

“You realize that I knew exactly where everything was, and now I have no hope of finding anything I might need?”

“The books are all on the shelves, the jars are organized on top of the shelf by color, and the rest is in the crates against the wall.”

The rough wooden crates, like the kind used for produce, had been a lucky find, and helped to contain some of the rest of what made up the stacks. With the books and jars out of the way, unused fabric and clothing neatly folded, and the dishes moved to the kitchen, it was astounding how much less space it all took up.

“I see. I suppose now that I have you here, it will be your job to find the things I’m looking for, won’t it, Kell?”

Sora sighed.

“Not Kell. The point stands.”

“Right, of course.” Sora answered. That was fair to expect of an assistant.

“Where was the delivery to?” Kairi asked. “I don’t think I caught the client’s name.”

“Ugh.” Riku gave a long-suffering sigh and headed toward her, landing heavily in the chair, and leaning back with his eyes closed. “To the royal palace. I’ve been assured it was only the one spell they needed, and I certainly hope that’s the case.”

“The royal palace?” Sora squeaked. Why would someone at the palace commission an evil sorcerer for anything?

Riku cracked open one eye and looked at him. “Yes, the royal palace, my skeptical assistant. And I have no interest in being their next pet magician.”

After a few moments of silence, Riku stood up and went to the kitchen, rattling around in there for a bit. When he returned, he handed another cast-iron pan to Sora, with some strips of bacon already laid out.

He didn’t say anything, but Sora assumed it was a request for him to cook again, so he took it and sat down by Kairi. She heated the pan, and soon the bacon was frying.

Riku was doing something a few feet away in the alcove under the stairs, but Sora didn’t want to stare. Last he’d looked, it was crowded just as much as the rest of the room. Probably trying to hide something.

Once the bacon was fried, Riku assembled sandwiches for them for dinner, including one for Kairi. Sora still thought that was a bit odd, but if it made everyone happy it wasn’t really his business.

After they’d eaten, Riku pointed to the alcove. The boxes and who-knew-what-else had been moved out, and a small cot set up in the space. “You can sleep there, if you’d like. I assume it would be more comfortable than the chair.”

Sora was completely at a loss for what to say, and he felt guilty for his unkind thought about it before. “Thank you,” he finally managed. This certainly seemed like an indication that Riku was at least letting him stay for the time being, and was more than he’d expected.

“The space wasn’t being used for anything. Sleep well, Haley.”

Sora tilted his head a bit.

“Not Haley.” Riku headed toward the stairs. “Though if you do decide to continue your cleaning crusade, confine it to down here. I do not want anything in my room moved around.”

Sora nodded. “Sure.”

“Good. Goodnight Kairi. Assistant.”

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