When Darkness Turns to Light

Friend or Foe?

Recap: Hikari, Sora, and the gang arrive in a town obsessed with Halloween and assist in the creation of a device-referred to as the heart-which will allow Jack Skellington to control the heartless. But, the device was stolen by Lock, Shock, and Barrel to be used by Oogie Boogie!

Meanwhile, Hikari sees signs of Orochimaru's possible residence in this world, and is reminded of the time she shared with him-but not every memory is bad.

Chapter Forty-three: Friend or Foe?

Why do these memories keep coming to me? These "happy" times with Orochimaru that seem to constantly play in my head since I saw those notes. Am I defending him? Am I looking at the "bright side of things, trying to get over the bad memories?

Do those mean the same thing?

No, I think there's a difference. If it's the first one, I'm being pathetic, I'm holding onto him even though he cast me aside. But the other, I'm accepting what happened, the good and the bad. If I can look at the happy times without angsting over the bad times . . . then it'll mean I've put my past behind me.

I don't know which one describes my feelings for my former master better. My chest still tightens when I think about him. The bruise over my heart is a constant reminder of the day he tainted me, and I'm still not sure what I had when he chose me that I didn't have later.

So many things I want to say to him . . . but if I try to practice them out loud, they're always stuck in my throat.

[{X♥X}]

Zero led the gang to the outskirts of Halloween Town, where a large manor stood alone. It was elevated to great heights within a small canyon whose rock appeared to be blue under the moonlight. A small river of the same green liquid found in the Guillotine Square's fountain flowed through the valley.

A wooden bridge connected the canyon's edge to the foot of the manor. Lock, Shock, and Barrel were inside an animate bathtub that carried them up the manor's side.

"I knew Oogie Boogie was behind this!" Jack exclaimed, recognizing the location. "I don't know what he'd want with the heart, but it can't be good."

"Then let's make haste," Red XIII said.

With the cyborg in the lead, the group of six followed Halloween Town's best Trick-or-Treaters high up the estate to a part of the manor called the Evil Playroom. Right in front of the door, the kids jumped out of the tub and crossed the threshold, giggling.

"Don't let them get away!" Sora shouted, crossing through the doorway shortly after the three.

Lock, who headed the pack, reached the other side of the room and threw the heart down a pipe that ran up the side of the wall. The heart clanged as it fell down the chute; the party was too late to stop it.

In a snap, the kids were almost literally bouncing off the walls. Lock procured his slingshot and fired a myriad of small rocks at his adversaries. Shock picked up a small bucket shaped like a Jack-o-Lantern and full of candy and used it as a weapon while she swiftly spun around the room. Barrel, who was quite round anyway, tucked himself into a ball and rolled, rebounding off obstacles similarly to a pinball.

Most of Team Sora and Jack had some reservations about combatting small children, so they tried to capture and restrain the impish individuals; yet despite that some of the party was professionally trained in some form of combat, the kids proved too slippery.

Donald tried to inflict Stop on Barrel first, but he instead hit Sora; the boy paused with his arms poised to catch the faux skeleton child. Jack appeared to be dancing, his height a disadvantage as he stepped over the children and clumsily tried to grab any one of them.