Parallel Binds [Kingdom Hearts Watty Awards--Parallel Universe/Canon]

:9: On Your Own

He opened his eyes to darkness, almost assuming that he was in hell now. But out of the corner, he saw light, and was surprised to find it in the shape of a long rectangle. It was a crack in a doorway. He was in a room. Sighing, Dark slowly rolled to his side, finding it more difficult than first anticipated; he was as sore as hell. Looking down to his body, he saw it covered in bandages, like he had broken every bone in his body or something. Rolling his eyes, he knew what all this care meant, but he didn’t want to think about it.

He swung his legs over the side of the little cot he was on, gently peering at the doorway to look for a sign of where he might have been taken. Instead of the place, he saw who he was with out of the crack in the door. Donald and Goofy sat at a control panel, it’s buttons spanning an entire wall. Both were pushing buttons like there was no tomorrow, and their eyes were glued to the florescent screens in front of them. Their pupils shot back and forth at the many maps that popped up over the screens, though Dark couldn’t make out exactly what they were doing. It took Dark a few moments to take in the rest of his surroundings, as well as a Pluto lying on the floor. And it took him another moment to realize something. “Where’s Mickey?”

The two stopped, both feeling twinges in their hearts from Dark’s voice. Goofy only sighed, looking down sadly and shaking his head. Donald frowned, shivering with frustration. “He’s not here!” He continued scrolling through the maps, looking for a trace of his king. “Apparently he couldn’t catch up with us quick enough and he sent us off with you!” Donald now focused furiously on the screens.

Goofy shook his head, still bowed in sorrow. “We came back for him, but we can’t seem to find ‘im anywhere…” Goofy looked down to Pluto. “Gawrsh. Hope he’s okay.”

Pluto only cowered sadly on the floor, also unable to find his master. And also melancholy.

The mood of the three, especially the dog, made Dark sigh. These guys gave up too easily. “Come on,” he called, trying to sound as bright as he could. “We can’t give up on him now.”

The three looked at him like he had said something miraculous. He, in fact, knew that they recognized his voice. He’d use that to his advantage for now. “He wouldn’t give up on us. And he won’t give up against those guys; they’re not good trackers… and I think I know where he’s gone.” He smiled a bit too dark. “I bet we could go down there and snatch him before they even know he’s gone.”

The three watched him for a while, but felt a bit comforted by his courageous words. They smiled, nodding and turning back to the screen. Dark hobbled over to them, leaning over their chairs and quietly pointing to where they should go.

Far out in the woods, trees of incredible height sat, all obviously dead, but none with broken branches or arms, for they had no resistance to wind or snow. In these enormous trees sat incredible wooden structures, strange and lopsided as they were built in strange and lopsided trees. “Tree-house” was the known term, but people liked to call it the Abandoned Village. Not because it was abandoned, but because those who were abandoned went here to die. Here, the three approached the knot of wood and nails that were suspended thirty feet above them, both admiring and cowering beneath the shambled nets of poverty. It was easy to see who got the short stick in this realm; the weak ones.

The three trekked up the trees while Pluto stayed on the ground as protection. Keeping their eyes peeled, they finally got to a wooden board where they could stand. From there, Donald and Goofy watched dumbfounded as Dark bounded from tree to tree like a monkey, nimbly landing on the first step of the base stair case and starting up them, not even bothering to look back. Donald and Goofy exchanged dumbfounded looks and began looking for another way up.

Dark, far ahead and knowing the other two klutzes wouldn’t get two more steps without killing themselves, went on ahead. As always the road was rigorous an unstable, often threatening to give way beneath his feet. But this only kept him on his toes and did nothing to keep him from continuing. Dark knew he had to be somewhere around here; unknown to the others, he saw unnatural scuff marks on the ground leading to the houses.

But there was nothing up in the tree houses, save a small scrap of paper with that three circle emblem on it. Dark popped it open, reading it casually as he walked back to the other two. They saw the note in his hands and both nearly fell off their branches.

“Give it!” Donald yelled, slipping again.

“What does it say?” Goofy inquired, peering over Donald’s head.

Dark tilted his head with slight confusion, reading quietly for a moment and then looking back at the top. “Um… 'Hey guys. Sorry I can’t be here right now, but I’m kinda busy. I want you to get Dark outta here, bring him to the ship and stick with ‘im. He might be the only one who can find Sora. I dunno how long I’ll be gone, so start the search with him without me. I’ll be back as soon as I get these creeps off my tail. See ya.' And then there are the weird little circles that look like his head.” Dark seemed to finally grasp the meaning of that sign, realizing that it must be a representation of Mickey. Then why was it on everything? Dark shrugged to himself, tossing the paper over to the other two.

They lunged; catching it like it was fragile and reading it over again to see if it was true. Every word was there, on that dreaded fragile paper. Their king was gone.