Café Occult (Finished)

[poseidon]

Jack considered this for a moment. Capture? Heartless? But how? And Why? And who was this guy? Jack looked at the guy. It didn't look as though they were friends, per se, maybe partners?

And what was this lady proposing, exactly? Join her? What, did she have some crack Heartless-busting team of elite soldiers? And Jack join? Sounded good. He jogged to catch up with them.

"Wait! Uh, I have a few questions. First, though, I'm Jack Styx. I need to know- What exactly are you proposing? Let's say I'm interested."

[Rex]

Kanji expected the man to follow, he seemed like the type. The real question is weather or not he's able to join. He didn't think about that much, he found it a bit boring. When the person called jack approached them, Kanji rested his back on a wall, waiting for Saga to deal with the person.

'' Is this guy serious? If he wants something, then why won't he just take it? I don't see the use of asking such questions, It's either your interested..or your not.'' Kanji thought

[raiho]

The man who presented himself as Jack Styx was interested enough to follow her, yet he was still doubting her goals and if there was something she didn't like in people was hesitation and lack of resolve. After all, it was due that bastard who abandoned her at the altar of the church many years ago who taught her to never hesitate and never trust in people with so little commitment like said bastard. Just thinking about the man who changed forever her life was enough to make her slightly lose her cool mind.
"You planned to avenge your sister with this lack of resolve? I don't need people who hesitates when facing the unknown. You're free to follow me quietly if you are still interested, but if not go away, I already had enough experience with men lacking resolve"

She looked at Kanji as if she were showing Jack how should a real man be and looked back at him

"Just a few extra words before you decide what to do: Those who never takes risk will never trump in life"

According to her experience, playing safe never payed off, and only after she risked all or nothing in her pet project was when she become the hot immortal being she was now.

"And don't confuse taking risks with recklessness. What you did until now was pure wild fury while what I do is a a plan with huge risks but even bigger potential rewards"

Said that, she continued guiding Kanji to her home and stopped right in front of her house, the "fortress of ultimate science". If Jack was so determinated to avenge his family, he would realize that fighting alone would lead nowhere and he was better trying to work with her than dying fighting alone against the dark creatures.

[poseidon]

Jack almost spoke again, but thought the better of it. He said only "Okay," and he followed the woman, remembering what she had said about hesitation. He did want to kill the Heartless. And his current method of achieving that would likely get him killed. A well-planned out process would likely get him revenge, even if he died. Everyone else would just carry on.

As he wordlessly followed, Jack considered the side-effects. He silently told himself to go it alone if failure seemed inevitable. Also, to not be ignorant. He still didn't know anything about these people. They could be could be... well, evil. But non-heartless evil. Was that possible? The woman seemed slightly mean. He told himself not to let her get to him.

[Rex]

Kanji followed saga once more. They stopped at her house, and a few seconds later he found himself in her home. It was took dark to see anything, so there wasn't much to see. He walked over to Saga's side then simply stared at the dark room that they were in.

'' I'm expecting something...quite interesting'' he thought

[raiho]

"I see that both guests followed me. Now enter inside my home with me"

She opened the door to her large home and turned the lights on, revealing what was .. a pretty normal house, with many bunny and maid related decorations and furniture. It was a reality that she was obsessed with those objects and a closer look at her face would reveal that she slightly smiled when she looked at her bunny maid related stuff.

"Come with me to the basement"

She guided them through a trapdoor on the floor that led to a stair that ended in a large basement. It had many tables with notes, a few blackboards with many things written over there with obvious signals of having being used too much as the surface looked worn out, some science related materials like vials, flasks, microscopes. And somewhere in the father side of the basement, a few cages imprisoning heartless which were wildly thrashing against them demanding to recover their freedom and some other heartless torn apart and kept in separated devices that restrained them. One of the devices is constantly delivering electric shocks at the upper body part of a shadow heartless split in two.

"This is my personal fortress of ultimate science. I'm working here to find what makes the heartless work and find any weakness that can kill them easily, after all there must be some light somewhere in their incomplete selves. And if you are wondering why it's in the basement, the neighbors reclaimed that my house was noisy when I made my experiments in the upper floor"

She looked at the still being electrocuted upper half of a shadow and wrote something on a notepad.

"Hmm ... this one's still alive. The heartless have quite the tolerance to pain. Anyway, I expect to capture at least one of every kind of heartless and find how to destroy them for good, or at least find a method to evolve humans into a new race that can easily destroy those pests"

Then she touched the face of the shadow heartless. The small jolt of electricity did nothing to her and she simply admired the beauty of slowly killing a useless heartless in the name of science.

"Kanji, Jack. Follow me and together we will bring a new era where those dark defects are no more and us humans and other friendly species can live with no fear . What do you say?"

[poseidon]

Jack nearly smiled at the bunny decorations. They so did not fit the woman's personality. Some kind of past thing, no doubt. As he entered the trap door, the smell of sterilisation hit his nose and he coughed.

Jack nearly recoiled at the gruesome experiments in progress, but the Heartless reminded him about what the did to his sister. He actually started to enjoy watching this torture to these heartless, restraining himself against feeding his own thunder magic to these... things. Considering the fact that he had nothing to lose, it didn't take long for him to decide. He wanted to cause all of the Heartless to feel this horrible pain.

"I'm in."

Jack looked at the man who was apparently called Kanji questioningly.

[Rex]

Kanji looked at the experiments. They did't bother him that much, not that like anything did. Instead of answering he walked around the room examining the odd creatures. Each of them he found interesting..but was there really a need to torture them to this extent?....Hmmm....possibly.

The fighter returned to his original place, then leaned on the wall.

'' Hm, alright'' was all he said.

[raiho]

"Wonderful, as my first disciples you shall begin a special training I prepared for the situation ... or that's what I would like to say, but it's not the time for it yet. Rest for today and energize your bodies. Tomorrow we'll begin with the first step of my wonderful plan."

She made them follow her upstairs, omitting an explanation for the floating human heart inside a a device which is completely irrelevant for the current mission except for the curious, and pointed at a guest room she had just in case she had guests. It had four beds and an almost embarrassing collection of bunny and maid plushes spread around, like silent and cute guards watching everything in the room.

"If you lack a home or you don't have a place where to stay, feel free to use my guest room and sleep here, otherwise return to your homes and rest. We'll start the operation at 6:00 HS of the next day. Any question before I return to my laboratory?"

[poseidon]

Jack considered taking Saga up on her offer, but figured he'd have to deal with the rabbit theme then, too. Being with rabbit plushies and probably blankets all night would be wierd. Bordering on creepy. He decided to go back to the hotel.

"Thanks, but I've already paid for the next two nights at the hotel. And I'll see you tomorrow, then."

Jack waved at Kanji before finding his way out. On the way to the hotel, he resisted the urge to go fight heartless. They'd get theirs in good time...

[Rex]

Kanji watched the Jack leave then turned his head towards the guest room. He didn't have anywhere to stay..so why not? He started making his way towards the room when he stopped suddenly. He was about to walk passed Saga and he made direct eye contact with the woman.

He gave her a look of admiration and approval.

And with that he walked into the room.

[raiho]

"Present yourself in front of the door of my house tomorrow at 6:00 HS. Have a nice rest"

She showed Jack the exit and returned with Kanji, who was staying in the guest's room. She saw in his eyes a reassuring confidence and total belief in her ideals, and so she returned back at him a look of mutual approval. He knew how to act and his silence strengthened that air of intelligence he had, his and Jack's power would be quite valuable for her goals.

Once Kanji went inside the guest room, Saga went back to her basement laboratory and watched at the human heart spinning and sparking inside a crystal container, preventing it from leaving the laboratory. Exactly how and why a heart like that could become a heartless? Why it would manifest a pitch black exoskeleton when its darkness peaked? So many questions and hardly any answer, the universe was full of mysteries and at least for Saga, all the heartless deal was bullcrap and she was going to stop this nonsense.

She attempted to write something in a notepad, but a terrible pain and weakness invaded her entire body, which was supposed to be immortal.

"Rejection symptoms ... the price to pay for my new body"

And so, she fainted and lied on the floor of her laboratory. Playing god with her own body had consequences, and once a while she suffered of violent and powerful pains that remind her she tempered her body with the forbidden dark matter of a heartless and a fatal and unknown virus. She insisted in being a human, yet she was no longer one, at least not one 100%. Eternally young and part human, part heartless and part mutant, she remained unconscious and awakened just at time to receive a new day and 34 minutes before it were 6:00 HS of the next day.

"Mental Note: Try to find a cure to the rejection symptoms once my get enough disciples to work for me and my research about heartless progresses"

She wiped the sweat of her face, product of that fever caused by the rejection of her heartless and virus enhanced side, knocked the door of the guest room to announce to Kanji that a new day arrived and waited for Jack in front of the door of her own house. This new day was going to be the beginning of her master plan.

[poseidon]

As soon as his alarm had gone off, Jack woke and prepared for whatever training Saga had planned. He dressed in his regular clothing plus a mail shirt over his own. You never know.

Jack worked his way across the square in the second district. A couple of Shadows popped up and he smiled, remembering the torture he had seen inflicted upon the Heartless in Saga's lab. Curiously, Jack sent a Thundara at one, and it evaporated... if that's what they did. He'd have to ask Saga about it. He dispatched the other quickly with his sword and jogged the rest of the way, not wanting to be late.

Jack arrived at Saga's home and knocked on the door, ready to train and prove his worth.

[Rex]

Kanji walked outside the guest room, feeling the same as last night. He heard a knock on the door, which signaled Jack's return..but he also felt something weird. Was it tiredness or just a feeling of dread? He couldn't tell either way.

As he stepped towards the door where Saga stood, he couldn't help but wonder what this new day would bring.

He leaned on the door...then after a long moment of Silence he spoke.

'' Morning'' was all he said.

That was probably the last thing he would say for a long time.

[raiho]

Saga greeted Jack and made him and Kanji follow her to the kitchen of her house, where she prepared them a light breakfast.

"A new new day has started, and with it begins the first of many operations I planned to do in the name of humanity ... but first, both of you need to begin the day with all the nutrients needed for an optimal performance"

Today's menu was a glass of cold milk, another one with orange juice and some toasted bread, and the two disciples were going to eat them they like it or not. Regardless of their opinion, they were forced into having that as breakfast and Saga proceeded to give them a short briefing of their first mission.

"Today we'll have an easy mission. All I require is for you to capture one of the heartless with the large shield. I heard that those heartless used to be common back when the great darkness invaded all the worlds and high level heartless appeared everywhere. Alas, nowadays they hardly appear at all and they are quite tough foes."

She paused a little and sipped some orange juice.

"But even if said heartless doesn't appear at all, you will be following a training session I prepared for you. So, let's march towards the third district, my disciples!"

And so, they left the first district and went to the third one, where they were about to initiate a training session that may become a heartless hunt if luck were at their side.

-----------------------------

Continues here:

Click me!