When Darkness Turns to Light

Of Bones and Marionettes

Recappy From the Last Chappy: "Then we'll split up and search both," Aladdin suggested. "Since Gaara and I are the only ones with transportation, we'll be on different teams. I'll go down this passageway with Carpet. Who's with me?"

Donald and Goofy exchanged looks and nodded. The former volunteered the both of them. "We are!" He turned to the brunette. "Sora?"

"I have to follow the Keyblade," he replied, lowering the Key. "I'll go with Hiki and Gaara to the Cave."

Gaara stood coolly with his arms crossed, wondering fleetingly whether or not he should entrust his faith to a boy carrying an oversized key. . . . "We don't have time to waste. We must rescue Princess Jasmine. Let's move."

Everyone nodded. "Right!"

Chapter Eighteen: Of Bones and Marionettes

Dusk quickly fell in Agrabah, turning the sky into a dull, dark cyan. Since it was not quite night time, the colors lightened toward the horizon. The moon was partly shadowed by a few thin clouds; aside from that, the light-between the stars and moon-was indeed sufficient for travel by foot, caravan, or magic carpet.

By means of the first listed, the pair donned in black robes decorated with red clouds created tracks in the desert sands heading back toward the city. Under the shade of his pointed straw hat, Sasori was scowling into the abyss of petulance as he reached the summit of his patience.

"That 'secret' passageway yielded no results; the temple, or whatever place that was, is so archaic it doesn't seem to have seen human occupation or use for some time. Only Heartless," the redhead puppet master remarked with unmistakable irritation. "We've been on this world too long; the Shukaku should've been found by now. I don't like keeping others waiting."

Less annoyed than his partner, Deidara responded, "They're not holding their breath, hmm. We've still plenty of other jinchuuriki to find before we can proceed with our plans. Relax, my man. It'll be found soon enough. That snaky vizier seemed to recognize the name, at least, so it's here somewhere, hmm. That's what that bird-brained spy of yours said, anyway. No pun intended, hmm."

"In order to find it, we may have to commence destruction of the city; draw it out."

The blonde smirked. "Hmm. Maybe I should've brought more clay."

[{X♥X}]

Gaara, Hikari, and Sora flew through the desert sky toward the Cave of Wonders at a quick, but not too strenuous, pace. The jinchuuriki directed his sand from the front, the girls sans heart looked over the side, and the Keybearer brought up the rear.

Hikari was on her hands and knees on the edge, looking around. Her forelocks flitted about the diminutive furrow in her brow-spawned from concern and speculation-and her eyes. She pulled her hair behind her ear to stop the larger portion from whipping her face. "Does twilight always pass so quickly, here? Seems like it became dark awfully fast. . . ." She glanced toward Gaara's back side-long. "Some worlds . . . well, fall apart within twenty-four hours of Heartless invasion."

Sora came up on her side and looked at the sky with her. "The islands where I came from were gone within an hour or two, I think, of when the Heartless showed up. There was this big, dark storm too."

"He's right. Don't worry about that," Gaara responded, though not with reassurance. Notwithstanding, he did appear calm, but she could definitely detect an extremely minuscule apprehension. She could not see many points of expression, or study body language, because his gourd guarded him and he faced the other way. "There's no storm. When a world is nearing its end, there's a great storm, and it's swallowed in black." His head was lowered. "At least, that's the last thing I remember from when our world was destroyed. "Heartless, storm . . . black."