Clean Version (Links to other versions posted at end)

All Kingdom Hearts characters owned by Disney/Square Enix

Chapter 2

Coden and DiZ made their way across the lobby of the apartment building. Coden briefly stopping to look around and try to remember his way to his father. It had been so long... and the set up of the city didn't help much either. He made a right turn and DiZ followed, walking urgently. Coden was surprised by the man, he was so calm when he spoke but everything else he did had a sense of urgency about it. "So... what kinda work did you and my pop do?" Coden said loudly, trying to beat the noise of everyone else around them.

"We fixed things when they were broken." DiZ said.

"My pop? Fix things? You sure you got the right guy?" Coden said, a hint of amazement in his voice. His Dad usually was very good when it came to maintenance, he would tamper with whatever he was trying to fix before getting angry, throwing it, and then giving up. Working with someone else to fix things would only have made it worse.

"It's beyond whatever thoughts you have. It would be difficult to explain." DiZ said very plainly.

"I'll listen, we still got a while before we get there." Coden said. DiZ however, did not respond, he continued to silently follow the youth down the streets. Coden thought about trying to push the subject but decided against it. He took the man's lack of response as a polite "no". The two continued down the city streets, it was the middle of the night and people where moving about, trying to get home. "Wish I could go out tonight." Coden thought. The people weaved in and out between Coden and DiZ, making it hard for the two to stay together. Coden hadn't initially noticed it but all the people they passes seemed to make way for DiZ as if he was some sort of royalty. Either that or the way he dressed had them freaked out. The two turned a corner and Coden saw a familiar face, a face that was too sick to come into work, a face of a certain someone that had made him work a double shift, giving him no afternoon. It was Nathan, and he was leaving a movie theater with a group of his friends. Nathan was dressed in a black shirt with a comical 'thumbs up' sign on it. On top of that, he had a tight black and green striped hoodie and a pair of tight jeans that were slightly tinted green. His hair was something to see, it was mainly short except for a longer part in the front that covered half of his face, dyed blond with streaks of black and green in it. He was taller than Coden at five foot, ten inches. He has a round boyish face with bright blue eyes, the shade of spring water. Nathan was smiling and laughing and making jokes with his friends, they smiled and laughed in response. Then he spotted Coden.

"Oh. Hey Cody." he said regretfully.

"Hundred degree fever right? About to go to the hospital? So, patents get to leave and watch movies with their friends now?" Coden said, a hint of bitterness to it.

"Yeah, well, dude, I got better real quick. They got some kinda miracle pill or..." Nathan said

"Save it. I don't care. If I have to work for you again, I'll beat you up." Coden said. Nathan searched Coden's face for a sign that he was joking but found none and got defensive.

"Easy man, I just..." Before Nathan finished talking, Coden shoved him, knocking him into one of his friends who caught him.

"Whoa, short dude's got some power!" One of Nathan's friends said in amazement.

"What did you just call me?" Coden said, anger in his voice. Nobody said anything, they all just stared. DiZ grab Coden's shoulder, taking him out of his anger.

"I don't have time to waste. We've already wasted too much time here on your nonsense." DiZ said. Coden backed away, still staring at Nathan, who was staring back at Coden with a hint of fear in his eyes. As DiZ and Coden made their way down the street, Nathan stuck his tongue out to their backs.

"If I ever have to work with that short dude, I'll quit." Nathan muttered.

The people on the streets had cleared out as time slowly crept toward one a.m. The two were passing a park, it had rained hours earlier while Coden was sleeping, causing a light fog to hang over the city, slightly dulling the lights.

"What is it you and my dad used to fix?" Coden asked. The two kept moving, an awkward silence between them. Coden hadn't know much about his dad and this man seemed to know he very well, he hoped to get some information out of him but it seemed the stranger didn't want to offer any answers. After another minute, DiZ finally responded.

"Anything we could." DiZ's answer didn't help. It seemed to bring up more questions than it answered. That was fine. Coden hadn't exactly answer all of DiZ's questions either. The two made a right turn and suddenly they were standing in an old cemetery in the middle of the park. The place looked old and uncared for. The metal gates which had once been a stunning black color had deteriorated and started to rust. The ground was covered in leaves, hiding the earth underneath them. Some of the headstones were smashed or had graffiti on them. It looked as if the world had forgotten about this small square of land. The only sign that people still visited this place was the first tombstone on the left. It looked relatively new, as it had been cleaned and well cared for. There were even some old dying daisies laying across the center. This is were Coden's father had been the past four years. A fact that Coden had omitted when speaking with DiZ.

DiZ didn't say anything, he just stared at the grave stone. Coden searched for some emotion, any emotion in the man's reaction but found none. "Why did you not tell me?" he asked quietly.

Coden didn't say anything at first. He just starred the marker, thinking of his father. "It's hard to think about. Hard to talk about. All I ever wanted was to know him, know who he was. He left when I was six and came back when I was twelve. I wanted to know where he had been and what he had been doing. He wouldn't ever talk about it. All he said was 'important work'. Whatever he had been doing, it eventually killed him. He got really sick with a strange disease when I was thirteen. The doctors couldn't figure it out. They said there was nothing wrong with him, even though a giant black spot had appeared on his chest. It was bad to look at. Looked like his flesh was rotting."

"The core..." DiZ mumbled. This had sent a wrench in his plans. After all his planning, he hadn't anticipated one of his colleagues to be deceased. DiZ moved forward sitting down in front of Chris' grave. He reached out and felt the name on the inscription as if trying to convince himself it was really true. Coden watched DiZ carefully. It didn't seem as if he had lost a colleague, it was more like he lost friend and Coden slowly started to feel sorry for the man. Coden moved closer unsure what to do, so he said the only thing he could.

"Sorry." he mumbled. Coden felt the uneasy emotions welling up inside him. He reached into his hoodie pocket and pulled out a zippo lighter. DiZ watched as Coden played with the lighter, the flame seemed to jump to it eagerly, as if excited to burn something. The two sat silently, lost in their own thoughts. Coden thinking about his father, DiZ reworking his plan. Neither said anything or moved until they heard footsteps behind them. Coden was surprised to see his Uncle Red walking toward them. Red was surprised to see Coden, even more surprised to see DiZ.

"Cody..? What are you doing here? And who is he?" Uncle Red asked loudly. Coden moved toward him to try and explain. DiZ looked over Red carefully.

"I just... missed him." Coden said. Uncle Red stared at Coden for a second before moving over to his brother's grave.

"Coden," DiZ whispered to the teen. "How do you know this man?" Coden thought there was something wrong with the way DiZ had asked the question. There was tension in his voice.

"He's my Uncle." Coden whispered back to DiZ. DiZ starred at the boy, at first in disbelief, then he chuckled lightly.

"I miss him too Cody." Uncle Red said before he started cry. He collapsed to his knees clutching the headstone, tears running down his face. "Why did you leave? WHY? We could have had it all... you and me..."

"This is just embarrassing." DiZ mumbled. He reached into his pockets, and retrieved a small red pill. He took four steps until he was standing next to Coden's sobbing Uncle before reaching out and offering the pill to the man. Red stared at the pill before reaching for it and swallowing it as if it were candy.

"What was that? Coden asked.

"It calms the body. There's no sense in behaving like an idiot. It's downright pathetic." DiZ remarked. Red sat up and looked around.

"Welcome back." DiZ said simply. At the sound of his voice, Uncle Red sat up. He starred at DiZ as if he were his savior.

"You... It's you! I remember you! Eleven years ago! You're the one that Chris was working with!" Red exclaimed. Coden looked back up at DiZ.

"You're the reason he left? He was working with you all that time?" Coden asked. DiZ said nothing he only nodded silently. The old man seemed to be lost in deep thought. He had lost one of his most powerful colleagues only to find his son, who seemed to have the same natural abilities... Even though he wasn't supposed to. He may be useful to have around.

"I need assistance with a project of mine." DiZ said suddenly. "Would you be willing to join me?" Coden wasn't sure what to do, he hadn't even realized that DiZ meant him. He only stood still, dumbstruck, trying to make sense of all that was happening around him. He didn't escape from his thoughts until his Uncle grabbed him and pulled him aside.

"Cody, don't listen to that guy. He's the one that killed your dad. Don't go with him." His uncle said urgently.

"Stay out of this, you has-been." DiZ said suddenly. He glared at Uncle Red. Coden oddly, agreed with him. His Uncle needed to leave. Coden hadn't met him until his dad was dying. He didn't even know where the man lived. He may have been family but his gut told him to follow DiZ. His Uncle still at his side, he looked at DiZ.

"I'll do it." Coden said simply. DiZ smiled. Then, something strange happened. Uncle Red grabbed a hold of Coden's arm.

"No! Don't go! You can't go!" Uncle Red said urgently, his breath short as if he was having an asthma attack. "I need you, Cody!"

"You need me?" Coden said, trying not to sound incredibly creeped out even though he was. Red was acting like he was his life support. None of it made much sense, but it needed to stop. "Get off me Red."

"No, you can't go, you can't ever go! I need you, here!" yelled Red.

"I said, GET OFF!" With that, Coden punched his uncle in the face. The skinny man fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Well." said DiZ in an amused voice. "That was not what I would have done." DiZ lightly nudging Red as he spoke. "But it seems to have been effective. Come, before he wakes." DiZ raised his hand and opened a corridor of darkness in front of him. "This is a gateway to another world. We need to meet with another colleague of mine." DiZ stepped into the gateway and disappeared.

"Cool." Coden muttered before stepping into the corridor after DiZ, traveling to another planet, far away from his own.

Larxene sat in her chair in the meeting room. The superior was talking about their "mission" again. 'Blah blah blah. He's so full of himself.' she thought. When her letter reached her, she silently opened and read.

Number XII,

You have been assigned the assassin position. When you haven't been assigned a target, you will guard the castle as a last line of defense.

Larxene smirked. Finally, an assignment she could enjoy. She took out her foudre and sliced the instructions to pieces. She opened a corridor and disappeared into the library. When she arrived, she was pleased to find it quite but surprised to find Demyx searching through books.

"What are you doing here?" Larxene asked out of curiosity. Demyx jumped.

"Oh... I didn't know anyone else but Vexen came here." he said quietly. "I was looking for something that could give me clues about my past."

"Why?" Larxene asked.

"Because... I just need to know." Demyx said quietly.

"Right, see you later." Larxene said, uninterested. She moved a few shelves over and pulls her private journal from her hiding spot in the library. For the past four months, Larxene had been growing increasingly impatient with the superior. The man claimed to be a genius but as far as she could tell, he was far from it. She had been planning on how to overthrow Xemnas and take control of the organization. All written down in her private journal. She pulled the book from the back of the shelf from behind all of the books about feelings. She carried the journal to her favorite spot, a large bay window filled with fluffy white pillows. The windows looked out behind the castle into the undeveloped part of the world. A silver fog filling the air. Larxene always found that it calmed her.

She began writing, In the event of my death/destruction/termination these are my instructions. It doesn't matter who takes over as long as it isn't Xemnas. Should anyone discover this plan, they are to be terminated.

Before she could write anymore, a letter appeared out of a small passage.

We have identified a new target. The information is enclosed. Please terminate the target immediately.

Larxene groaned. "Every time..." She got up from the window and hid her journal back in it's hiding spot. She then opened a corridor and started on her mission.

Unbeknown to Larxene and Demyx, there was someone else in the Library, and he had heard what Demyx said. Lexaeus felt sorry for him and decided to go against his orders and help out his little brother.

Links

Original (Mature) Version: 2010/06/22/

Non-Mature Version: art/Worlds-Chapter-2-168558914