Sell you a Bridge chapter 334

July 2nd 2016 Traverse Town, 6:00 PM EDT

Naturally,  the second district didn't have any clues. We searched the whole place  and found nothing specific. It was clear that the Devastator wasn't here  in the first place, since there were people all over. To my surprise  though, as we followed the path around behind the block to the third  district, literally no one was there. It was like some sort of field was  driving them all away, but whatever was doing it, even my aura sight  couldn't pick it up.

"So." Rana said casually. "This is  pretty obviously a trap right?" At my nod she chuckled. "But we're still  going to go in there right?"

"Obviously." I responded  with a grin. "A trap means they have something in there that can  actually hurt us, which means one of the things we're looking for." I  let my armor roll over my skin, coating me and protecting me passively  as I reached out to snag my keyblade. "Protection spells up sweetie.  Don't want you getting blindsided."

Of course, I still had  the voo-don't dolls, so that was unlikely, but at the very least I  wanted her as protected as possible. One less fatal blow getting through  meant she'd have that layer of protection for longer. With a nod, Rana  pulled Oblivion out thin air and whirled it around, casting a silent  Aero and covering herself with a powerful wind barrier before we entered  the third district.

I kept my eyes out for any sign of an  attack as we stepped in, making sure to focus my aura sight so I'd see  any attempts coming as early as possible. It wasn't hard to scan  everything here, the third district was a huge open space. Aside from  the ramps to get down into the plaza, there was nothing hidden anywhere.  In face, it was so open, I didn't have to look for more than a few  seconds to notice the spiky brown head of hair on the cheerful looking  guy standing in the middle of the plaza with a pair of anthropomorphic  animal people, one duck and one dog.

That was kind of  weird, but I'd heard about the animal kingdoms of the magiclands  already, so I wasn't shocked there were humanoid animal people. I  briefly imagine what Zee would look like with cat ears, but decided that  with her elven features it was overkill, maybe I could get a pair for  Drea. Shaking off that thought though, I eased forward slowly. This was  Sora, the keyblade wielder, I knew that even without asking. I could see  the telltale shine of a light keyblade in his aura.

Still,  just because I knew Sora was on my side (and his aura made that  incredibly clear, seriously the guy had zero negativity in him at all,  it was like looking at the emotional makeup of a carebear) that didn't  make this any less of a trap. It just meant we'd found the bait.

Sora  himself, of course, was currently surrounded by the pink things from  before, meaning Luxord was probably here. A fact that was confirmed as I  stepped into the plaza and, with a flash of light, a series of cards  appeared to create a wall preventing anyone from leaving. That would be  the trap portion of the evening then. Fantastic.

As the  sound of our footsteps rang out on the stone, Sora spun to face me,  raising a gold hilted keyblade with a silver haft that struck me as  fairly plain. When he noticed my keyblade, and Rana's, he froze, eyes  going wide in shock. "Wha-" He began, confused, but was cut off by a  burst of magic as the duck person threw up a shield.

"Sora!" Shouted the duck, in possibly the most irritating voice I had ever heard. "Watch what you're doing!"

Sora  flashed the duck a sheepish smile, scratching the back of his  head."Hah. Sorry. My bad." He turned back to face the mob of...nobodies I  supposed. But shouted over his shoulder. "Hey, who are you guys? You  seen pretty strong, and you have keyblade. Are you here to help?"

Despite  the danger, I sensed practically no worry about that last bit in his  aura. Sora was genuinely just curious. I kind of liked the kid. It was  hard not to think of him as a kid after talking to him, despite him  being maybe a year or two younger than me tops. I'd have put him at  fifteen, tops.

"I'm Morgan." I said with a laugh, stepping  up next to him as Rana took a position at our back. "This is my  daughter Morana. We wanted to talk to you about some stuff. But this  doesn't seem like the best time. What are these things? I ran into them  before but they don't seen like normal heartless."

Aside  from being curious about what he knew, I also didn't want Luxord to be  aware I knew what he was. Roxas was with us, but there was no telling  how much he'd said, and it would be a benefit for them to think we had  less info than we did.

The dog person chuckled, saying in a  cheerful voice. "They're nobodies! They're what's left over when a  heartless forms." Ok, so Sora and crew knew what was going on. That was  nice.

"What are they doing here?" That was actually a  legitimate question. I knew they were probably after Sora, but bringing  the Devastator to the main multiverse had to have been taxing. Unless  they knew I would be here (admittedly possible given they had a diviner)  it seemed weird to focus so much power in one place.

Sora  scowled, the first time I'd seen him look upset. "They're here for  Merlin. Hes always been a problem for the darkness. The Nobodies want  him out of the way."

That actually made a ton of sense.  Though given he'd known this was coming and I was pretty sure came here  to wait for us it kind of made my head hurt. Time travel aside though, I  imagined Merlin wasn't going to be the easiest enemy to take care of,  and stacking the deck, so to speak, would probably help. Hell, Luxord  was a time magic user. He was probably the perfect counter to Merlin as  far as the Organization was concerned.

I  suspected that wasn't the whole plan though. Sora clearly knew Merlin,  based on how he'd reacted to the idea. I didn't think he'd have stood by  while the old man got snatched or killed, which meant the Merlin thing  could have easily been bait to lure him here. It didn't really matter at  the moment though. This little encounter was just beginning, and my  reaction would come after the trap was fully sprung.

"I'm  afraid that's where you're wrong." Came a smarmy british voice I  recognized. I rolled my eyes. So predictable, wait until the good guy  says something and then cut them off for a dramatic reveal. Sure  enough,all of the cards flipped face out, and Luxord stepped from the  surface of one grandly. The nobodies fled immediately, all darting into  the surface of the others and vanishing like stones into a pond.  "Greetings, gentlemen." Said Luxord with a smug smirk. "So glad you  could make it."

Yup.  Totally a trap. I reached into my bond with Zee, poking her. She'd had  hours to learn the haste spell, and I was pretty sure she would manage  at least something. I wanted her ready to cast when this started. I had a  feeling Luxord wasn't here to stall me this time. I kept my eyes on the  cards, looking for any sign of the Devastator, but unfortunately the  damn things still glowed far too brightly for me to have any clue which  one might be holding a threat. Based on what Roxas said, I didn't think  that was an accident. Master of misdirection, he'd called Luxord.

But  at the very least, he was also a smug prick, and smug pricks loved  doing one thing more than anything else. Talking. I pointed at him  dramatically. "Damn you Luxord!" I said in my most heroic voice. "You  can't hold us here. We know all about your evil plan to kill Merlin now,  and you won't get away with it while we're around." I tried my best to  channel my inner Nightwang, sounding as heroically pompous as possible.

Sure  enough, Luxord's face twisted with glee at the pronouncement. "Oh  really?" He all but purred. I sighed internally. Bad guy monologue in  five, four, three. "You know it all do you? How...impressive. So you  know that the virus was only a trial run? That we were testing a method  to turn the more dangerous enemies we had into allies to turn against  you and your little friends. Sora alone is more than enough of a thorn  in our side. We can't have the rest of you helping him out."

He  snapped his fingers, and three of the cards rippled. A series of forms  stepped out. One was huge and powerfully built, with a telltale bone  cowl that I'd seen before. The other two though, they were different.  One was extremely tall and thin, though still grey and covered in bone.  Unlike the first, this one had hair. Long silver hair that reached to  the back of its knees. The third one had hair too, but it was black and  spiky. Unlike the Devastator, the other two had weapons, the dark haired  one holding a massive broadsword and the other an incredibly long  katana.

Sora  was ignoring the Devastator, staring at the other two hulking forms in  horror. I could see the remains of a tattered black coat on one, and red  clothes on the other. The blue eyed keyblade wielder was nearly shaking  in terror, which didn't really strike me as on brand. "What?" I asked  quietly. "What is it?" I didn't like how smug Luxord looked. Not at all.  The Devastator had been what I'd been planning for, not...this.  Whatever this was.

"Sephiroth."  Sora whispered. "That's...that's Sephiroth. I've fought him before. But  beating him last time was almost impossible. I barely managed it. The  other one is Auron. I went up against him a few times in the hades  arena. Morgan, I don't think I can beat him again. Especially not if  he's like this." I thought it was nice how quickly he put me on his  side, but then again, seeing existentially terrifying shit would do that  to people.

To  my surprise, Rana was the one who answered, showing a bit of that  Dreamer inherited compassion. She placed a small hand on Sora's  shoulder, giving it a light squeeze. He jumped and spun to look at her,  and she gave him that soft smile Drea used to make everything seem like  it was going to be ok. "Hey." She said gently. "You're not alone here.  You have us. You might not know this, but my dad and I are kind of  badass." She winked at him. "And you and your friends seem pretty tough  too."

His  eyes slid over to the animal people, and he let out a long breath, his  blue eyes hardening. "You're right. My friends are pretty great." He  gave her a wide, silly grin. "And it seems like I might get two new ones  out of this, so I'm not complaining." I was mildly horrified to see my  daughter actually blush at that comment, and made a note to deal with  that shit later. Now wasn't the time, as the kid turned and took up a  frankly terrible stance to prepare for the attack.

Luxord  was standing to the side, looking bored as he waited for us to finish  talking, clearly letting us panan so he could enjoy the show. When he  realized we WEREN'T panicking. He snorted and rolled his eyes. "Gods, no  sense between the lot of you. Oh fine, spoil my fun. Kill them." He  waved his hand, and the three hulking forms blurred toward us. Rana  stepped up next to me, and we prepared to meet them. I had a feeling  this wasn't going to be easy.