When Darkness Turns to Light

A Reason to Smile

Recappy From the Last Chappy: In Atlantica, the gang encountered Maleficent. She was banished to another dimension by Konan, but not before Isaribi was made into the third jinchuuriki. Sora was already feeling discouraged after he had a hallucination where Kairi not only berated him, but turned into a Heartless! Now, the gang sets off to the Olympus Coliseum, hoping to regain Sora's confidence.

Chapter Thirty-nine: A Reason to Smile

"Maleficent is dead."

The three words resounded through the occupied space of Villain's Vale. Pain, Konan, Riku, Hades, and what remained of the Akatsuki and Maleficent's allies were gathered; whispers broke among the members of the villainous alliance.

Riku, who stood near Hades, had wide eyes and a frown. Maleficent had taken him in when he appeared in the Rising Falls of Hollow Bastion, and while he did not feel a special connection to her, she was the woman who promised to help him save Kairi; provided, this was in exchange for his helping her, but she could not help him if she was dead.

Next to him, Hades appeared to be crestfallen. Then, he curled his hands into fists.

"She was slain by the Keybearer and his friends, and failed to overcome the darkness. Let us have a moment of silence for our fallen member," Pain continued.

As a moment of quiet commenced, Hades silently fumed. His hands trembled as his skin turned scarlet, and his hair burned bright yellow. Then, suddenly, he roared, and the room filled with a violent burst of flame. In a flash, Hades was gone.

Everyone regarded the space where he had stood, some covered in ash. Konan's face was soft, yet did not yield a discernible emotion.

"The rumors about Hades and Maleficent were true, then," Pain noted quietly.

The female Akatsuki member's face did not change.

[{X♥X}]

Fuel gauge: full. Engine: running smoothly. Wings: top of the line. Rockets boosters: recently replaced. Warp feature: still intact. Water damage: nil, thanks to Donald's magic. Gear: fly. All systems for the Gummi ship should have been ago, yet the ship was resistant and stayed in place.

Hikari drummed her fingers on the dash, reading each gauge over and over, wondering soon whether she would have to physically look inside the vehicle to discern the problem. Then, her eyes fell on the "Smiles" gauge on the far right of the screen. It looked similar to a thermometer, the measuring device being vertical and a smiling face taking the place of the bulb at the bottom. It was nearly empty.

She quirked a brow and whispered, "Since when don't we have enough smiles?"

She turned her chair and saw Donald and Goofy smiling so widely that their mouth muscles were straining. Red XIII was also trying, even wagging his tail a little. Jiminy grinned as well.

Sora, on the other hand, did not.

His negativity radiated through the ship, a dark, invisible aura that drowned out the smiles, so far as the "Smiles" gauge was concerned. He sat slumped in his chair with his cheek in his hand. He stared out the window with a dead gaze. His hair appeared to be just a little less spiky, covered by the hood of his small jacket, and cast a shadow over his little boy blues.

Hikari closed her mouth. All he's missing is a corner. . . . Even after some rest, he still hasn't perked up. "Sora! The Gummi's not going to go anywhere if you don't smile." She crossed her arms and curled her lip, adding lightly, "Whatever happened to 'smiling double' for me?"

He did not answer.

Donald, Goofy, and Red XIII turned to him; the duck spoke. "Sora?" He frowned with his eyes-yet still strained a smile, so as to sustain the gauge if only a smidgen-and put his wings on his hips. He waddled with Goofy to the brunette and the two stood on either side of him.