//------------------------------// // CH6: Mechanical Solitude // Story: Kingdom Hearts F.I.M: Days Long Past // by Spirit Shift //------------------------------// Tall Tale sighed and sat his head on top of steepled hands. “You see girl, the existence of other worlds has been known for many centuries. I think, deep down everyone knew. However, it only became commonly accepted knowledge around 100 or so years ago. It’s still recent so you wouldn’t see it in many text books. Right now it’s a story passed on from old people like me to young ones like you.” Twilight giggled. “You’re not old.” Tale raised an eyebrow. “Am I?” he asked a small teasing smile growing on his face. Twilight let out a small giggle. “So do you think we could ever visit other worlds?!” “Do you want to?” he asked leaning forward with a wide smile. Twilight opened her mouth to respond but, to her surprise, found that she wasn’t completely sure. “I… I don’t know.” Tall Tale rubbed his chin. “Well then, personally, I think the possibility of going to other worlds sounds intriguing.” Twilight nervously glanced to the side, a forced smile on her face. “I-it does sound fun, but It also sounds scary. What if you end up on a dangerous one?” Tale shrugged and got up from his chair. “You’re young, you can still run away. It’d be just like a story, the things one would see.” As both he and Twilight shared a chuckle, Tale glanced outside. “But anyway, you don’t have think about other worlds right now. You’ve still got this one to explore.” “What do you mean?” she asked, head tilted curiously. He too looked back at her with a similar expression. “I can tell that you aren't from around here. I surmised you are in a situation similar to the Avian girl?” Twilight nodded and Tale adjusted his glasses. “Indeed, I saw her and the Earthen boy racing through the town. They were both… quite loud. I had assumed you two were passing through on a sort of journey.” Twilight’s eyes widened at the remark and she let out a small giggle, much to the man’s confusion. “Spike’s not an Earthan! He’s a dragon.” The man’s eyes widened and, without realizing it, he took a step back. “A-a dragon?” “Wait, no! I mean half dragon!” she quickly corrected, waving her hands. “From what little I read, he is a half dragon.” Tall Tale frowned and turned away from Twilight. Holding his chin, he began muttering to himself. “First an Avian girl then a dragon? And a halfling of all things.” Hearing the word Avian, another question sparked into Twilight’s mind. “Umm, I meant to ask her, but how long has Rachelle been living here?” asked Twilight, also standing up. Tall Tale glanced back at her before looking upward at the ceiling. “About... half a month, give or take, she showed up on day, disturbing the peace and, to my knowledge, has been living with the shop owner since.” Tall Tale moved over to one of the bookcases and began fingering through the various titles. Twilight moved to follow him further into the library. “Disturbing the peace?” asked Twilight. The man gave a deep frowned and continued to move down the row of covers. “The first thing she did was crash into my library and ruin a few of my prized tomes.” Twilight flinched back, as if hurt physically. As one who had watched her whole collection go up in flames, she knew what that might have felt like. Taking a few steps back, she immediately bowed to him. “I am so sorry! I’ll make apologize as soon as I see her.” “Oh… d-don’t worry about it,” he muttered, looking down at her. “I feel better knowing that at least somebody understands the extent of the damage.” Standing tall once again, Twilight gave him a bright smile. “Oh that’s right! I should probably go find them,” she said, gasping. Turning around she proceeded to run to the door. Before leaving, Twilight turned and bowed her head one more time. “Thank you for all of the information. I hope I see you again.” “Oh, Twilight hold one a—” by the time he finished, the girl had ran out of the door. In his hand was the book he was looking for. Seeing that she was long gone, Tale shrugged and turned to look at the book's cover. “I was sure I heard a myth about a half dragon before,” he muttered, opening the book. Carefully, the man’s eyes scanned the pages, his expression flat and stoic. Soon enough, he turned the page. The instant he read the first paragraph his eyes shrank and his head snapped to the door that Twilight left out of. Walking back over to the table, Tall Tale sat down, removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes in frustration. Sighing, he put them back on. “Son! he called out, turning towards the back of the shop. After a minute, a familiar brown headed boy came through the door at the back of the shop. He had an ice pack situated on his head, covering both a bruise and a headache. “Sup?” the boy asked. Tall Tale once again nervously looked out of his window, his thoughts directed towards the nice girl he had just met. “Can you and your friends do something for me?” he said reluctantly. ~~~ “Where… am I?” asked Spike, looking around the massive looking garage. From right to left the only thing he could see were large men and even larger looking machines. He felt a rather burly hand sit itself on his head, causing him to flinch and look up. One of the large men, the one who grabbed and brought him here, smirked down at him. He wore a grey leather jacket and had a shaved head. “Welcome to The Workshop, little man,” he said, his voice fairly deep. Rachelle, who was on his other side, smiled over at him and ran ahead. “Yep! Welcome to the most awesome place in this boring town.” As the man next to him moved forward. Now that his hand was off his head, Spike could see the black wrench mark on the back of his hand. Spike, now curious, followed. “What are they doing?” he asked, examining the unfamiliar machinery. Rachelle hopped over to one of the smaller machines with a man underneath it. “Jack just told you, stupid. It’s a workshop. We work on things.” “Umm no, kiddo,” said the man under the machine next to her, his voice echoing out. “We work on things. You hang around and play with the tools.” Blushing, Rachelle looked between him and a perplexed looking Spike. Eventually she waved it off. “Don’t listen to him, he’s been under there too long. I totally help these guys out.” Spike looked around as more than a few of the guys let out stifled chuckles. The big guy who brought Spike in  walked over to her and led her away from the car. “So I see you finally made a friend your own age ‘ay, Dashie?” Spike’s head snapped up at the big guy then down towards the girl in question. “Dashie?!” Spike smirked. Rachelle flipped him off. “Don’t call me that. And yeah, I guess he’s cool. Still not as fast as me.” Spike rolled his eyes. “Anyway I was just showing him around town.” The big guy named Jack, smirked. “Oh really? You show him anywhere else?” Rachelle scoffed and waved her hand. “Nah, cuz this is the only place worth going to.” “Hell yeah!” cheered Jack, bumping fists with the small girl. Spike couldn’t help but smile. Moving around he took his time looking at the various pieces of metal and machinery. “So what do they work on in here? I’ve never seen anything like these before.” Jack turned to him with a raised brow. “You’ve never seen a car before? Where’ve you been living at?” “The slums,” he said nonchalantly, still looking over the odd creations. Jack nodded knowingly. “Well ya see here, boy. I’ll tell ya the same thing we told the kid. We here at the Workshop solve practical problems. Machines, gizmos, and the like. If you need something fixed, you come to us. We don’t really do babysitting. Spike simply stared at him for a time before pointing over at Rachelle who had begun playing with a wrench. “Then why is she here?” Her ears burning, Rachelle stopped what she was doing and rejoined the conversation. “Hey, shut up. I help out! I’m practically a member here anyway,” she proclaimed, poking her chest with the wrench. "I've even got my own little project!" Spike let out a snort of laughter. “Right.” Now fuming, she grabbed his hand and led him to one side of the building and away from where everyone was working. “Check this out!” she said, holding her arms out and presenting a large amalgamation of parts. To Spike it looked like a large junk pile. Things were connected to other, unrelated things. Screws were screwed and bolts were tightened in seemingly random spots on it. There were pipes sticking out of the side and an engine seemed haphazardly placed at the very top. Spike imagined that if machines could be tied into a ball of knots, that this would be what it looked like. Needless to say, his brow was raised and his head, cocked. “What… am I looking at?” he asked. “I have no idea!” Spike’s jaw fell open, stunned by the complete look of confidence and pride this girl appeared to have for something even she didn’t recognize. “But someday, it’ll become something.” This took Spike by surprise. Where excitement and pride once were, sincerity had taken its place. “What do you mean?” Turning around, Rachelle leaned down and used the wrench, still in her hand, and began tightening a loose bolt. “Well these guys told me that those cool car things were made when a dude made a plan put some stuff together. Well, I don’t really have a plan, but I know that if I keep putting stuff together something cool will come out of it.” Spike looked at the ball of metal again before leaning down next to her. “Yeah but why don’t you have one of the guys who actually know what they’re doing help you out.” Rachelle waved the wrench and pointed over her shoulder. Spike looked back to once again see all of the dudes working on different projects. “Nah, they’re all busy. Plus, I don’t need them to help me. I’ll figure it out all on my own. I don’t need their help” “Yeah, I know that feeling,” he said, nodding. “I’d rather go it alone anyway. It’s easier that way.” Rachelle reached to the side of the heap and grabbed a screwdriver. “Yeah but aren't you with your sister?” Spike scratched his head some, nervously looking around. “Y-yeah. I guess so. Though she’s not really… Well she kinda just… Anyway, what about you. You don’t want to talk about your parents, but aren't you related to Ms. Jade?” Rachelle’s hand stopped mid twist. “Nah… She just lets me crash with her. I don’t really care about having a family. I might decide to leave again anyway. Plus, while I’m here, I got these guys,” she muttered, resuming her screw twisting. Spike just stared at her. When the topic of family came up her once smiling face became a near unreadable straight line. When the girl went silent, Spike, struggling to keep the conversation going, he thought of something else. “What about the rest of the town? Do you like it here?” Rachelle glanced up in thought then sighed. “I don’t know. Sometimes I think that half the place likes me and the other half just ignores me. It was cool until I showed them I could fly. The guys who didn’t think it was awesome just didn't talk to me after that. Plus there’re those jerks I keep running  into.” Spike frowned, that scenario sounding all too familiar to him. “Yeah, I get what you mean. I got some dead eyes when I walked into town too.” “See! So I’m not crazy!” she exclaimed, looking over at him. “Jeez, what’s up with people?” Spike shrugged. He opened his mouth to respond when the girl pointed past him. “Hey can you hand me that thing?” she asked. Spike followed her arm to a bent looking large pipe sitting a ways away. Standing up he went to retrieve it. “What is it?” he muttered, picking up the S pipe. Rachelle shrugged and grinned. “I dunno, but it looks cool. Gimmie!” Spike walked back over and sat the pipe in her hand. She struggled under the weight and let out a grunt of effort as she tried to hold it in place on the side of the heap. Seeing her having trouble, Spike reached out and held the pipe in place effortlessly. Her cheeks glowing a pink tint she muttered, “Thanks.” With him holding it in place she was easily able to screw it on to the other pipe sticking out. “You… wanna help? I’ll be sure to give you some of the credit when we make something awesome!” Rachelle proudly grinned and once again poked herself in the chest with the screwdriver, this time wincing as she did so. The boy shook his head. “Nah, I’m not interested.” Taking his hand off of the pipe he recoiled at the now slimy substance now covering it. “Too… greasy.” Rachelle shrugged. “Fine, suit yourself.” After wiping the grease off of his hand and onto the floor, Spike stood up and turned around. “Alright then. I gotta go find Twilight. She might’ve passed out from trying to catch up with us,” he snarked, walking away. Rachelle quickly dropped what she was doing and caught up with him. “Wait, hold on!” As the wrench hit the ground, the two said their goodbyes to Jack and the other mechanics and left the Workshop.