//------------------------------// // CH7: The Caged Bird Sings Freely // Story: Kingdom Hearts F.I.M: Days Long Past // by Spirit Shift //------------------------------// As she exited the workshop and entered the back alleyways, Rachelle summoned her wings and flew up into the air. It only took a second before she found Spike turning a corner and making his way out of the back streets and onto the main path. “Wow he’s fast… when he wants to be,” she muttered before flying off after him. After turning the corner, Rachelle was stunned to see that he had speed walked halfway down the sidewalk already. She wasted no time in catching up. “Woah what’s the rush?” she asked, floating alongside him. Spike gave a small gasp. Realizing how fast he was walking in comparison to the people around him, slowed down slightly. “S-sorry, I guess I’m a bit anxious. I just feel like I need to know where she is,” he said, his eyes locked and determined. Looking into his piercing green eyes, Rachelle found herself averting her’s for a moment. Feet touching the ground, she began walking side by side with Spike. “S-she’ll be fine. Aside from those jerks, this town really isn’t that bad. I… I think we could hang out a bit more. I could show you around…” she nervously glanced back at him, a small blush tinting her cheeks. “If you want?” Spike smiled at her. “Thanks, but I really have to know that Twilight’s alright first before I go exploring. You can show me around while we look for her though.” Rachelle face flushed and she quickly turned her head away. Crossing her arms with an uncontrollable grin, she replied, “O-of course. I mean you don’t know this place like I do. It’d suck if you got lost looking for her and all. So where do you think she is?” Spike stopped dead in the sidewalk, his mouth a thin line. Slowly, he crossed his arms and hummed in thought. “Now that I think about it, the only thing I know about her is that she likes books…” he trailed off. Rachelle nodded and waited for more. When nothing came she rose an eyebrow skeptically. “Really? That's it? You don't know anything else?” Now it was Spike’s turn to avoid eye contact. “We...haven't been together that long alright. Let's go with what we do know.” Spike began looking around. “Is there a book store around here?” Rachelle nodded and pointed down the way they were going. “I think there was this one dusty old place with tons of books. I never go in there though.” Spike just looked at her with a straight face. “Why?” he asked. After a second, he smirked and continued. “Books are useful to have, or so I've heard. Or are you not allowed to go in?” Rachelle flinched. “W-well you're one to talk, you don't even look like you know how to read!” Spike immediately flinched. When when he went quiet, Rachelle stared at him with a straight face. The longer she did the redder Spike’s face seemed to get. The two stood there in awkward silence until Rachelle finally opened her mouth once more. “H-hold on… do you really…?” To Rachelle’s shock, Spike immediately turned and ran in the direction she pointed at earlier. “Wait, hold on!” she yelled, running after him. The more she thought about it the bigger her grin began to grow.” Sp-Spike,” she called, laughing inbetween breaths and racing after him down the street, “do you actually not know how to read?” Spike, with Rachelles laughter slowing her down, stayed in front. “Shut up!” “Spike? Rachelle?” Both the girl and boy skid to a halt at the sound of a familiar voice calling after them from behind. Turning their heads the two of them saw Twilight standing by a turn they had just passed. Spike wasted no time in rushing over to her and checking her over. Twilight,” gasped Spike, looking her over this way and that. Raising her arm, he continued. “Are you alright? Where were you?” Twilight blushed when Spike hopped behind her and rose her shirt up, exposing her bare back. Pushing him away and covering herself with her arms, she glared at him. “I-I-I’m fine I promise. It was your fault for running so fast!” Rachelle scoffed while Spike at least had the decency to mutter an apology. Rolling her eyes, Twilight grabbed both of her friends hands and led them down the sidewalk. “Come on, you guys, let’s go back to Ms. Jade. I think we’ve all calmed down enough to be let back in. Plus I really wanna tell you guys what I learned!” Rachelle, following after her glanced over at Spike who shared her curious look. “What did you learn?” she asked, taking her arm back and walking by herself. At the three continued to walk Twilight, answered her question with almost unintelligible speed. “Did you guys know that there are two other worlds just like this one?” “Yes.” “No.” Stopping in the street, Rachelle and Spike locked eyes once again. “Jeez man,” deadpanned the young girl, “do you know anything?” Ignoring her, Spike resumed following behind his sister. “So what’s so special about that?” Twilight shook her head and glanced back at Rachelle. “It’s not that part, it’s what it means.There are two other worlds just like this one but populated entirely by Mages or Avians.” She stopped and leaned in close to Rachelle, her eyes sparkling with excitement. “Isn’t that amazing!” Rachelle, for her part, simply shrugged and walked past twilight, her arms behind her head in a relaxed position. “Not really. I’m not all that interested in finding more people who can fly.” Spike tilted his head while Twilight let out a horrified gasp. “What? Why?” Jutting a thumb to her chest, Rachelle gave the group a huge grin. “Because, my dream is to be the fastest thing alive! If there are less people who can fly like me, I’ll have the advantage.” Spike gave her a half lidded gaze and his mouth began curling with only the slightest hint of a smirk. “Wow… well alright then,” he muttered, walking past her. She watching him walk, her eyes narrowed in suspicion. “What?” asked Rachelle. “What’s with that face?” Having still been frozen in surprise, Twilight blank and quickly caught up with them. “What about you, Spike? Wouldn’t you like to see more than just this world?” Spike shrugged. “As much as a bad first impression I’ve had with this place, I think I do still wanna look around a bit. I’ll think about other worlds later.” Spike looked at Twilight by his left side, and Rachelle at his other. He couldn’t help but smile. “Plus I’m more happy thinking about the… what the hell?” All three children stopped dead. Eyes wide, the group gave a collective gasp as the sight of Ms. Jade’s ruined shop. Twilight, having covered her mouth in a gasp, couldn’t help but stare at the multiple broken windows, busted down door, and scattered items from the shop on the ground. Rachelle could only seethe in anger, teeth clenched at the sight of the livelihood of her caretaker ruined. Spike, surprisingly calm, couldn’t take his eyes off the various rocks and pieces of large earth precariously scattered among the glass on the ground. It didn’t take a genius to figure out they weren't placed there naturally. “Ahh, children, there you are.” The kids finally tore their eyes away from the destruction and saw Ms. Jade sided by two policemen in blue. While the two policemen continued to talk to one another, one writing on a clipboard as he did, Ms Jade made her way over to the children. “I’m glad you two are alright,” she gasped, leaning down to meet them at eye level. At some point after you left, a couple of thieves broke into the shop while I was in the bathroom. They only stole a few things but they tried to completely break everything.” “Are you alright, though?” asked Twilight, taking hold of her arm. “Who did this?” demanded Spike. It was then that the policemen walked over to the group and leered down at the three. The first policeman was a tall and muscular tanned skinned Earthan who was wearing black gloves in addition to his outfit, making it difficult to see his mark. His nametag said “Officer Grave”. The other man, who was holding the clipboard, was a lean muscled figure. Going by the mark, which was a rock with his badge carved into it, this man was just like Twilight, a magic user. His tag said “Officer Carver.” “That’s what we are here to figure out, son,” said Officer Grave. “And in order to do that we’ll need to take you will us and ask you a few questions.” Jade stood back to full height, just a head under the officers, and tilted her head curiously. “Why question them, they weren’t anywhere in the area when this happened.” Rachelle rose a fist and stomped her feet in protest. “Yeah, what the hell?” Grave glared at her but addressed Jade’s question. “That may be true, but do you have confirmation of where they were exactly?” “Yes, you didn’t see who did it, correct?” added Carver. “So it’s within the realm of possibility that one of these two children may have been the suspects.” “What do you mean ‘two’?” asked Twilight. Officer Grave smiled kindly and leaned down on one knee to talk to her. “We’ve already ruled out the fact that it might have been you. For one thing, judging by your age and stature, you wouldn’t have been able to do much damage. Your magic shouldn’t be mature enough to do so.” He immediately gave a narrowed eyed leer at the other two. “However, the girl has a history of civil disturbance and mayhem while the boy is an unknown factor seeing as how he has only just arrived.” Rachelle ground her teeth further. Summoning her cyan wings, she hovered up to Carver's eye level. “What are you dicks talking about, I live here,” she spat. “Why would I wreck the place I live in.” Carver forced her back by leaning his own face in. “But you don’t live here. According to the town residency, you aren't even a citizen of this town. You’re a drifter, an unsupervised drifter who hasn’t done so much as even try to earn the town's trust. The same goes for you too,” he glanced at Spike. “You’re also of an unidentified race, which makes you a wild card.” Twilight frowned and put a hand on her chest. “That doesn't prove anything. If you think they’re suspects then so am I. It’s only f--” “Not to mention,” Carver interrupted, looking at his clipboard. “When we arrived, we did some investigation on your whereabouts. We have confirmation that multiple people saw you in the local book store. The other two,” he jutted a pen in their direction, “were seen barreling down the street before vanishing into a back alley.” Grave nodded in agreement and sat a palm on Twilight’s head. “So don’t worry you are free to--” His eyes widened in shock when he found his arm forcibly removed from Twilight’s head. Clenching his wrist was Spike, who glared at him through piercing emerald eyes. “Don’t touch her,” he ordered, baring his fangs. Grave’s flinched back but, try as he might, he couldn’t move the arm that Spike was grabbing. A bead of sweat rolled down the side of his head when he replied. “Kid… I suggest you release me before I declare you guilty for assault on a officer!” he hissed. Spike’s grip only tightened and the man flinched, but when Twilight tugged on his shirt, Spike closed his eyes and released his grip. The man immediately took his arm back and distanced himself from the odd boy. Jade shook her head and stepped between the policemen and the children. “Please officers, these children have nothing to gain from doing this, much less coming back afterwards.” Officer Carver clicked his pen and began writing on the paper on his clipboard. Meanwhile, Grave addressed her concern. “We can discern a motive during the questioning. For the moment, I’ll need you three to--” Twilight interrupted, “Excuse me but you sound like you’ve already decided that we’re guilty. Plus we’re minors.” Grave took a step forward, making sure to keep an eye on Spike. “No one here has said you’re guilty. Minors you might be but you’re unsupervised minors with no guardians and little to no known history. Plus,” he gave another narrowed eyed look at Rachelle and Spike, “we have no idea what they are capable of.” “This is bullcrap!” yelled Rachelle. “We’re innocent! I know exactly who did it and I’ll kick their asses for doing it!” Raising into the air, Rachelle turned and braced herself for flight. However, she was unable to take off when Carver reached up and grabbed her leg with his free hand. “H-hey, let go!” Carver steeled his footing and held tight. “N-no way! You’re coming with us to be held accountable for your crime.” Then Spike snapped. Baring his fangs, he jumped into the air in front of Carver. “She hasn’t done a goddamned thing!” he yelled, kicking him in the face and knocking him out. Graves immediately reached for his baton but stumbled when he found himself being magically lifted into the air by Twilight who was wiping tears from her face. “I-I-I’m so sorry!” she yelled, telekinetically throwing him through the window and into the store. Picking Twilight up princess style, Spike wasted no time in bolting down the street. Meanwhile, Rachelle, still high in the air, gave Ms Jade a tearful look. “I swear I didn’t do it...” she muttered. Ms. Jade, who had backed off from the fight frowned and shook her head in disapproval. “I know you didn’t, but there were better ways to have solved this mess.” Rachelle simply turned away, muttering, “I’m sorry,” before zooming off after Spike. When she caught up to him, Spike called up to her. “Where are they?” he asked, his tone nothing but serious. Rachelle took a moment to wipe her eyes before pointing at an upcoming alleyway. “In their usual dump of a hideout. Follow me,” she told them, turning down said alley. Meanwhile, in Spike’s arms, Twilight could only continued to mutter in a daze while holding onto him, “I attacked an officer, I attacked an officer, I attacked an officer…” Down this way,” called the eye in the sky, leading Spike down another, hidden path behind a fence. ~~~ Chilling outside an abandoned shack near the edge of town three Earthen boys engaged in a thick group of laughter. Surrounding the three of them in their folding chairs, were various stuff ranging from T-shirts to junk food to toys, all ill-gotten from the local convenience store. The leader, the oldest boy named Thomson Tale, momentarily paused his laughter and popped an unwrapped piece of candy in his mouth. “This is like, the best day ever. I got all this free stuff and those freaks get arrested for it.” The second oldest, Grey Stone, let his laughter die down naturally. “I know man, but are you sure this is what your dad wanted?” he asked, wiping a tear from his eye. Tale shrugged and chewed on his candy. “Nah, he just wanted me to make her leave, honestly I was already trying to do that since she showed up.” The third boy, the youngest named Jim Breaker leaned back in his seat and looked up at the sky. “I don’t know man I don’t like her as much as you but what if that nice lady from the store gets in trouble too?” Before he could look to his friend for an answer, the rainbow haired girl in question flew into his field of vision and came crashing down with her fist in his gut. Both of his friends immediately jumped out of their seats. Standing up, her foot keeping Jim down, Rachelle glared at the two remaining teens. “You bastards! You were the ones who stole everything!” she yelled, looking at all the stolen items. Stone opened his mouth to respond but found his face slamming into the ground with Spike’s palm on the back of his head. His gaze momentarily on his friend, Tale barely had enough time to react to Rachelle coming at him with a hard right punch. Even with his arms crossed to block it, Tale found himself skidding backwards from the impact. Growling, Tale charged at her, his fist in the air. Being as fast as she was, the girl easily dodged the attack and got in another blow to Tale’s stomach. Tale groaned and backed off. “Damn you. You and your little boyfriend should’ve just been arrested, why the hell are you here?” Shaking his head, Jim staggered to one knee and glared at Spike who had was busy fighting Stone whom had shoved him off. With Spike back turned, Jim snuck up on him and wrapped the half dragon in a tight headlock. However, Spike, strong as he was, gripped the boy's arms and slowly tried to remove them from his neck. Unfortunately, before he could fully free himself, Stone’s fist slammed into his gut, causing Spike to start hacking and the arm to fully tighten. Now trapped, Spike had no choice but to harden his gut and take the punches. While they weren't the worst he’s taken they were by no means pillow soft. At a stunning speed, Rachelle slammed her foot into the side of Jim’s head, knocking him back and releasing Spike. Giving few coughs to catch his breath, he glanced up at Rachelle who was smirking. “There, now we’re even!” she gloated, causing spike to grin. Over in the path that the two used to arrive here, Twilight continued to stare into space, her back pressed up against a wall. “I attacked an officer, I attacked an officer, I attacked an officer… I’m in so much trouble,” Twilight muttered, releasing a very deep sigh and lowering her head in shame. ~~~ By the time a group of police arrived to the shack, the three teens were lying unconscious on top of their stolen goods, broken folding chairs laying in pieces around them. Spike, Rachelle, and especially Twilight, were not keep on facing the police after attacking them and decided that they should leave. However, after realizing that Spike’s pack and Twilight’s book were back in Ms. Jade’s shop. So, reluctantly, the group snuck, out of of sight, back to the woman’s shop but, to their surprise found her waiting for them with their supplies in hand. Hesitantly, Rachelle stepped forward uncertainty in her eyes. “M-Ms. Jade… I’m sorry for what happened,” muttered Rachelle, her gaze stuck to the ground and her hands clenching her shirt. Smiling softly, Ms. Jade lent down to her knees and tilted Rachelle’s head slightly to meet her gaze. “It’s alright, dear. You were right, some of the people in this town are prejudiced. It didn’t used to be this way, I promise, but for whatever reason the people have begun acting differently.” Mouth quivering, Rachelle looked up at the ruined store and her eyes filled with tears. “Yeah I know. But it’s still my fault. I should have left this place sooner. If I did than they wouldn’t have broken your store.” Jade used a thumb to gently wipe her tears away while shaking her own head. “No, I wish you could call this your home but I’m afraid this isn’t the right place. However, I sincerely hope that you find a place where you find people much kinder than the ones here. But right now, I hope you can call those two your family in the meantime,” she whispered, glancing towards Spike, who had his back turned to look out for cops, and Twilight who was tearing up herself from the moment.” After a second, Rachelle nodded and wrapped Ms. Jade in a tight hug. Ms. Jade accepted it and returned it, petting her on her head as she did. “By the way,” she whispered in her ear. “I think you’re hair is very beautiful, and it’ll certainly catch the eye of that boy you keep staring at.” She felt the girl flinch in her embrace as well as the heat rising in her face. “Wh-what? I don’t… what are you talking about?” Rachelle stuttered. Releasing her hug, Jade patted the girl down since both her shirt and hair was covered in dust. “My goodness I wish you could take a bath before leaving. A girl should never be this dirty.” Standing up she called the other two over to her. As Twilight dragged Spike over Ms. Jade continued. “I’ve filled Spike’s bag with food and snacks. After seeing his strength I’m sure he’ll be able to carry it all. I hope that it’ll be enough for you three to use until you make it to the next town to the Northeast. Keep each other safe, alright?” Two of them nodded, especially Twilight at the thought of not having to eat stolen food. As Spike effortlessly lifted the bag, now twice as large as it was originally, onto his back. Twilight stepped forward and bowed her head as low as she could. “I just want to thank you for everything. I’m really really sorry we couldn’t have stayed longer.” Ms. Jade nodded. “It’s no problem really. I’m delighted to have met such a nice girl and a caring and loyal boy.” She leaned over and addressed Spike directly. “Rachelle may be a tough but I hope you’ll keep these girls safe.” Spike nodded, a confident grin on his face. “Don’t worry, I got them covered!” Raising a hand to her ear, Ms. Jade gave a small gasp and gave the group a serious look. “You three should get going before the policemen arrive. They didn’t need to be told twice. Bidding the nice women goodbye for the last time, the three quickly ran into the back alley and towards the edge of town. Looking out of his top floor window, Tall Tale let out a deep sigh at the sight of the three just passing the town limits. Turning away the man stood in front of his desk and placed his hand on an open time. “I’m so… so sorry, children. I never meant for things to take this turn… truly I didn’t. But I just couldn’t risk this town being at the center of what might come.” Sitting in his recliner seat, the man slowly dragged a hand down his face. “And I pray that this myth is wrong.” Just outside the town, Rachelle stopped to look at her former home. Standing beside her was Spike, who had seen this once before, and Twilight, who knew exactly what she must have been going through. Rachelle sighed and gave a lighthearted laugh. “I hate this place, but I guess I do have one regret.” Twilight, who was clueless, could only ask, “What’s that?” Spike, already knowing what she was gonna say, grinned. “You upset that you couldn’t finish your big project?” Rachelle shrugged. “Yeah, but whatever. I got something much better.” Putting an arm around both Twilight’s and Spike’s necks Rachelle gave a big bright smile. “I finally got friends who aren't assholes!” Twilight completely burst out laughing. “P-please come on… you need to watch your language, Rachelle,” she stuttered, giggling madly. “Nah,” Rachelle shrugged. Moving to stand in front of the two, the girl jabbed a thumb to her chest. “I never liked that name. You guys can call me Dash!” she declared proudly. Spike, ever the asshole just let out a low chuckle and walked past her down the path. “Nah, I think I’d rather call you Rainbow…” “Screw you!” yelled the girl, chasing him down the path. Twilight watching the two fight, gave a small giggle before catching up with them. “You know, if we’re giving nicknames I think I have one for your non-existant last name…” she teased. “Hey, shut up!” The small group, now one bigger, cheerfully argued their way down the pathway towards a new adventure.