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Kingdom Hearts: Heart and Soul, chapter 38

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Chapter 38: High Velocity

    “Oi, watch your left!”
    “Got i—Augh!!!”
    Salem grunted in frustration as he hurled round after round of knives as his target. Metal flashed through the air as fast as Salem could summon them. Unfortunately, no matter how hard he tried, they kept missing their mark.
    “Dammit, stay still you stupid roadrunner!” he shouted angrily. As a result of his anger, the Nobody started unleashing some of his Magic Shot needles as well.
    Next to him, Gray wiped at a spot of blood in the corner of his mouth. The Ice wizard had just taken a vicious, high-speed kick to the face courtesy of one Oracion Seis wizard, Racer.
    “His magic is insane,” he grumbled. “Damn it…”
    “Well, with a codename like ‘Racer’,” Salem pointed out, “You can’t say we weren’t warned about the speed factor. But still…Gah, stop moving so I can skewer you!!!”
    After discovering the Oracion Seis’ hideout, it hadn’t taken long before the group of guild wizards and world travelers were detected. Well, that’s what Salem guessed, anyway. What else could he expect when a pointy-nosed speed freak came barreling out from under a waterfall to try and kick their collective butt? He and Gray had stayed behind to take the guy on, giving the others an opening to “storm the castle”, so to speak.
    It hadn’t been that bad of a plan. Two against one were pretty good odds. The Organization, Heartless, Nobodies, and Dream Eaters had yet to make an appearance. So far, so good, right? The only problem was Racer’s magic. Calling the dude a speed freak wasn’t too far off the mark thanks to that magic of his, so it proved difficult for the boys to land a hit on him. And while they floundered, Racer just went ahead and clobbered them at a moments notice.
    “This is…Augh!”
    Salem bit off an obscene curse when a flash of burning pain raced up his arm. His blood felt like fire inside his veins as he felt the poison progress further into his body. The teen’s chest and lungs felt restricting and tight, making it hard for him to breathe for a few seconds. The muscles in his bicep seized painfully, twitching and spasming all over the place. It was so bad that he actually couldn’t cast any spells for a full two minutes before he got his arm back under control.
    Not good…Guys, hurry up! Erza’s not going to last much longer at this rate!
    While the effects of Cobra’s poison had a halved effect on Salem, it wouldn’t kill him as quickly as it would Fairy Tail’s scarlet-haired knight. His Memory Drop spell made sure of that. The afterimages left inside Erza’s Chain of Memories mitigated the toxins, but it wasn’t a perfect system. Salem could feel her pain as his own, and it hurt like hell. Imagine someone stabbing every inch of your arm with a fork that had been heated up to cattle brand temperatures. Now, multiply that by having a bookshelf fall on said limb (something that actually had happened to Salem once), and that was how he felt.
    To make matter worse, the Memory Drop was actively draining his magic reserves. Those afterimages needed a stable source of magic to feed off of, and if they didn’t have one, they’d just vanish. Salem had been downing as many Elixirs as he could to keep his Mana levels up, but he couldn’t keep that up indefinitely. It was kind of one of those double-edged swords that had a tendency to come back and bite him in the ass every time.
    This was definitely one of those times…
    Long story short, Salem thought as he flexed his hand back to normal, I need Vanni-boy and the others to hurry up with the damsel rescuing. I’m gonna fade at this rate, and I can’t afford to do that!
    Gray took up an offensive position in front of Salem.
    “Hang back and let me handle this,” he ordered. “I don’t think your friends would like me very much if I let you keel over.”
    Salem scoffed. Him, hang back from a fight? “As if, Popsicle. It’s just a little…a little poison. I’m tougher than that.”
    Besides, he wasn’t going to let a little snake poison and a muscle ache keep him from doing this. Salem wasn’t the type to ever back down from something he’d already committed to. He made the decision to hold Racer off until Vanitas and the others could find their missing friends. No matter what kind of pain he was going through, if Salem made a commitment, he followed through with it. No questions asked.
    A faint but recognizable sound reached the young Nobody’s ears, prompting him to look up and grin.
    “Besides, we can keep him busy for a bit longer, right?”
    Gray frowned, not quite understanding the sudden sly tone in Salem’s voice. It wasn’t until he looked up that he understood.
    “Mission accomplished, you guys!”
    Soaring high up above the trees, Tegan—seated on Bahamut—waved. A familiar figure in dressed in white sat behind her, scolding the redhead for giving away their position. Vanitas flew by Tegan’s and Jade’s side on Void Gear’s Glider form, while Happy and Carla held their respective Dragon Slayer partners aloft using their own magic.
    “Well, looks like the little birdies flew the coop, huh?” Salem grinned cockily up at a furious Racer.
    The Dark guild wizard appeared to be considerably shocked by the sudden jailbreak. From the sound of his mutterings, the guild’s master was supposedly inside the hideout, so he couldn’t understand how the gang could have gotten past him and out into the open.
    “Never underestimate the tenacity of teenagers, you hawk-nosed fool!” Jade shouted. “Oi, Salem! Catch, mate!”
    The redhead flung her arm out, a flash of light shooting past her fingertips. Zooming passed Racer (narrowly avoiding the spiky ends of his mohawk), the light changed into a small rectangular object: one of Jade’s cards.
    Salem caught the card as it came near him, twisting on his heel with the momentum to stare at it. A puzzled frown worked its way onto his face as he studied it. Fingers closed around the card while Salem stopped to look questioningly up at Jade.
    “We’re going to help Erza, so you be sure and kick this bloke’s arse thoroughly, understood?!” Jade called. She then made a quick series of gestures with her hands at Salem, staring at him intently.
    Is that…sign language? Salem grinned, recognizing what Jade had just done for him. He was starting to see just how nice it was having someone on the team who knew what exactly was going on. The perks of such knowledge was…fantastic.
    While this had been going on, Racer got it in his head to try and stop the others up in the sky before they could escape. Using his incredible speed, the Oracion Seis member leapt from tree to tree, using them as his own pathway up towards his targets in the air. It was almost impossible to see him as he moved, appearing only as a blur. The group of teens up in the air barely had any time to react before he got into attacking range.
    “Ice-Make: Rampart!”
    There was a sudden and noticeable change in the air, the temperature dropping almost in an instant. A massive wall of ice exploded out of the ground, rising up towards the sky just in time before Racer could land a hit on Bahamut. Instead of hitting the Eidolon, the wizard crashed face-first into the icy wall.
    Next thing anyone knew, the ice branched out; spreading along the trees and ground, freezing everything it touched. Within a matter of moments, it had formed an enormous barrier—a wall separating the group in the sky from the group on the ground. The airborne teens stared, shocked.
    “Salem!” Vanitas shouted, moving his Glider towards the ice.
    “What gives, Gray?!” Natsu demanded angrily.
    “I’ll stop this guy no matter what!” Gray shouted. “No go! Erza’s waiting!”
    “To Hell with you, ya dumb stripper!” the Keyblade wielder scowled. “I couldn’t care less about your miserable hide!”
    “Oh, relaaax, Vanni-boy~!”
    All eyes glanced towards a spot on Gray’s ice structure where the voice came from. Salem sat casually on a small gap in the ice, a sort of ledge that had formed as the rampart had formed. A slow, impish chuckle came out of the sorcerer-in-training as his mouth curved upwards in a dark little grin. Hands stuffed in his pockets and reclining back, the Nobody’s eyes were hidden from view under his bangs.
    “If he’s gonna play fast ball well…Two can play at this game, can’t they?” he snickered.
    “Oi, Salem…” Vanitas frowned.
    “Relax, buddy! I’m fine.” Salem’s lips quirked down slightly as he looked up, revealing icy, dark eyes. “Well, maybe not. This guy did try to put the smack down on my friends, after all…”
    Anger seemed to radiate off of the Nobody. Leaning forward, he perched his arm up on one knee and frowned down at Racer. The wizard hung from another natural ledge in the ice, feet planted firmly on the side while he braced his other hand against his thigh.
    “I don’t take kindly to that, you know,” Salem called down. “Targeting my friends—two of which happen to be ladies—and a twelve-year-old as well. Buddy, if I wasn’t already in a slightly off mood, that’d be enough to tick me off already.”
    Glancing out of the corner of his eyes, Salem tilted his head back in Vanitas’ direction.
    “Go on ahead,” he urged. “Like Gray said, time’s of the essence, Vanni-boy.”
    Flashes of light mixed with swirls of black-and-white thorns twisted around Salem’s body. In seconds, a swarm of throwing knives, needles, and shuriken appeared around him; their razor-sharp points all aimed at Racer.
    “We can handle this.”
    After a few seconds, Salem was rewarded by the sound of Void Gear moving in reverse, backing away from them. Good. With the others going on their way, Erza would get better in no time. Not only that, but now Salem could cut loose and have some fun…
    “Don’t…Don’t get in over your head, Salem!” Tegan shouted. “Otherwise, Angie and me, we’re gonna thrash you!”
    The young mage chuckled. “Heard you loud and clear, Dollface. Loud and clear…”
    Without glancing back, Salem vaulted over the edge of the ice. With his volley of blades following hot on his heels, he plummeted down towards Racer. The Dark guild wizard braced his feet against the ice and pushed off, missing the first few knives Salem picked up and hurled at him and sped towards the tree line. Salem whooped excitedly, throwing himself into the chase as he followed as his target headed back towards the ground.
    “Hey, Gray! Let’s show this speed freak whose boss, eh?!”
    Making use of his Warp spell, Salem jumped from tree to tree, throwing any and every bladed weapon at his disposal.  Most of them missed, but the tactic was just the trick to herd Racer towards Gray. In response, the Ice-Make wizard called up another giant wall of ice to put a halt on the Speed wizard’s game. Racer rebounded off the wall just as Salem leapt at him, sending a well-aimed kick into the man’s back.
    Salem pushed down with his leg, sending Racer head-first to the ground as the Nobody warped back to Gray’s side.
    “Heheh,” he snickered. “I think I’m gonna enjoy this!”
    Gray leaned over and popped the Nobody upside the head, growling, “Cut it out, idiot. This isn’t a game.”
    “Can’t I make it one?”
    “What the hell’s the matter with you?!”
    A wide, idiotic grin broke out on Salem’s face. “Oh, plenty of things. I’m a big old bundle of neuroses, y’know?”
    And I’m not even half as bad as Lexie, too.
    But still, Salem couldn’t help but notice that he had been acting a little more manic than usual. Normally, he wouldn’t be this excited to get into a fight. And while people attacking his friends did piss him off, he was usually better at keeping a leash on himself. It was…odd, to say the least.
    But given the tons of other strange things Salem had dealt with in his life, a little extra mania wasn’t something too hard to handle. It helped with the phantom snake bite pains at any rate.
    “If I felt like it, I could catch up to those brats right now,” Racer snarled, suddenly appearing behind the two teens. “But I won’t be satisfied now until I’ve killed you two punks.”
    Craning his head, Salem looked back and sneered arrogantly at the wizard. “You know, I think you’re the one hundredth person to say that to me. Ding-ding! Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner!!”
    Racer grit his teeth and backed away from them. Lifting his hand in the air, the Dark wizard quickly swiped it down, shouting out, “Dead Grand Prix…Begin!!!”
    A low rumble filled the air and Salem and Gray tensed. As the seconds ticked by, the noise grew louder and louder. Eventually, Salem was able to recognize the din as familiar mechanical sounds.
    What’s with the motorcycle sounds…?
    He didn’t get long to ponder that question, because in less than seconds, the answer hit him like a sack of bricks to the back of the head. Or…It was more like a heavy, rubber tire to the back of the head…
    Salem shouted as he and Gray ate dirt. Literally. Riderless motorcycles came out of nowhere and from all directions, pelting the two boys from all sides. They got knocked back and forth as Racer jumped from vehicle to vehicle. It all happened so fast and so erratically that Salem didn’t even have the time to cast a Reflect spell or put up a proper barrier. All he could do was brace himself with his arms.
    “T-Talk about, guh!...A road show from…OW!...Hell!”
    Salem rolled to the side, ducking under the front wheel of one bike. Manifesting one of his scimitars, he jammed the blade deep inside the gap between the pedal and back axel. There was a harsh metallic screech and a small explosion as the machine’s insides were cleaved in two by Salem’s weapon. He kicked the malfunctioning cycle as far away from him as possible not a second too late. It exploded into a fiery mess of metal an instant later.
    “What the hell is with this?” he shouted angrily. “It’s freaking ridiculous!”
    No doubt about it. He was going to have a ton of tire tread-shaped bruises on him later for this. And scuff marks from the ground…And burn marks from getting to close to the motorcycle exhaust pipes, maybe even a loose tooth from all the hits to the face that he was taking…Oh yeah, and his was still hurting from the “phantom” poison messing up his arm.
    “Dammit!’ Salem roared angrily. “Frozen Despair!”
    Holding his arms out around him, Salem froze all of the surrounding motorcycles, encasing them in thick layers of ice. It stopped them in their tracks, for sure. But the ticked off Nobody wasn’t done quite yet…
“Thundering Soul!!!”
    Bolts of lightning rained down from the sky, striking each giant “ice cube” with alarming precision. Needless to say, after the Nobody’s rage-induced onslaught, the motorcycles were veritable piles of smoking scrap metal.
    “Hey, Salem! Quit playing around and come on!”
    Shooting an ire-filled glare over his shoulder, Salem was just in time to see Gray hop onto one of the few remaining motorcycles. The Ice-wielding teen strapped some sort of cuff onto his wrist and gave the bike’s throttle a turn, revving up the engines a couple of times. It wasn’t long after that that Gray went tearing after Racer, who had gone on ahead using another motorcycle.
    Salem huffed in mock-offense. “They left me in the dust! Well, we’ll just have to fix that, won’t we, Bryn?”
    “It’s about time, child,” a brassy—and quite sassy—voice echoed inside his head. “I thought you’d never ask!”
    In less than a minute, the purple-haired teen was racing after them in Brynhildr’s racecar form. Things were a little tight on space thanks to all of the trees, but if running away from Vanitas during one of his legendary bad moods had taught him anything, it was that all you needed was a few clever tricks up your sleeve and some serious drifting skills. Soon, he was able to catch up to Gray and Racer in no time at all.
    “Need a hand, Gray?” Salem floored Brynhildr’s gas pedal and used the sudden shift in speed to knock a bunch of wayward tires away from the Ice mage before they could hit him.
    “Thanks! Now let’s get him!”
    Thanks to their high-velocity transportation, Salem found himself a part of one of the coolest (yet, quite possibly strangest) fights he’d ever participated in. Together with Gray, he chased Racer all through the Warth. The combatants wove in and around trees, sped through caves, and rushed off of the natural “ramps” littered across the terrain. It was like the coolest race course ever, and Salem actually enjoyed it a lot.
    Racer tried numerous times to knock them off, ranging with everything from ramming into them to using a hidden rocket feature in his motorcycle. Salem’s magic kept most of that stuff from taking them out, but a few hits slipped in between the cracks a few times. Naturally, this prompted some heated (pretty damn literally, thanks to Brynhildr’s help) retaliation.
    Eventually, the boys cleared the forest entirely and moved to a more rocky terrain, even picking up Gray’s old pal, Lyon, along the way.
    “What game are you two playing at?!” the white-haired Lamia Scale wizard demanded as he perched on the back of Gray’s motorcycle. “Where’s Wendy?!”
    Salem jerked hard on the wheel, ramming into Racer with Brynhildr’s Chopper Spin attack.
“The little lady’s safe with my friends, Jack Frost. Just help us ice this guy!”
    “Again with those terrible puns…”
    With Lyon’s help, Racer’s bike was soon put out of commission. Salem had to hand it to those two, they were no slouches when it came to fighting. Their “Ice-Make” magic was some pretty handy stuff. The power to create almost anything out of ice and use it to attack? Incredible. Having two wizards who used that magic together in the same fight? Totally awesome. It put an end to the high-speed chase/fight they were having pretty quick with all three of them working together.
    Racer rolled across the ground, pushing down and launching himself at Gray and Lyon.
    “Playtime’s over!”
    The Dark wizard took out the remaining motorcycle with a move that sent both Ice wizards up in the air, but all it did was give them a chance to strike back in the process. And as Racer dodged, it gave Salem and Brynhildr the chance to act as well.
    “I couldn’t agree more. Bryn!”
    “On it!” the Eidolon shouted.
    Hitting the gas, Nobody and Eidolon charged forward. But instead of ramming into the Oracion Seis wizard, Brynhildr made a swift change from Gestalt mode back into her humanoid form. With Salem perched up on her shoulder, the fire Eidolon swung her bludgeon forward, catching Gray and Lyon as they fell within range while simultaneously launching a massive fireball at Racer. The two wizards landed on the edges of her weapon and hauled themselves up into stable positions.
    “Let’s do this, Lyon!!”
    “Fire on my signal, and don’t hold back!”
    In a flurry of cloth, the two Ice wizards tossed their shirts away and took up their magic casting stances. This action caused Racer to falter, and Salem wasn’t all that surprised. He’d come to recognize pretty quickly—thanks to a little Q&A session with Gray earlier—that when either wizard removed some of their clothes, it was a signal that they were getting serious. But to others, it had to look pretty strange.
    Think about it, how weirded out would you be if you were suddenly confronted by a couple of half-naked guys coming to beat the tar out of you?
    The Nobody chuckled and leaned forward. “Well, when in Rome…”
    “Fifty meters straight ahead!” Lyon shouted.
    Gray nodded and adjusted his foothold in Brynhildr’s bludgeon. “Got him!”
    “Oi, don’t forget me, boys!”
    The heavy melee weapon dipped slightly as more weight was added to it. both wizards turned their heads to look towards the shaft. Standing behind them—sweatshirt and zip-up shirt temporarily discarded—Salem held a hand forward, fingertips glowing and releasing small puffs of frigid ice vapor. His usual goofy grin plastered over his face, he summoned a bunch of thin metal needles behind him; each one emitting the same foggy air.
    “What?” he teased. “I’ve got a beef with this guy too. Like hell I’m letting you two have all the fun…Now fire!”
    “Ice Geyser!”
    “Ice Dragon!”
    “Needle Rain: Ice Shot!”
    A giant spray of ice erupted from the ground underneath the target. Lyon’s spell conjured a massive dragon, who curled around the ice in an attempt to get it’s jaws into Racer. The Oracion Seis wizard made it around these attacks with ease, but had a little more trouble avoiding Salem’s needles.
    “What?!”
    “Is it me, or did he just get faster…?” Salem blinked.
    “Something isn’t quite right, child,” Brynhildr remarked. “Salem, watch yourself…
    Something seemed off about this, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. Salem’d seen speed magic in action before. In fact, one of his first lessons in magic from Yen Sid had been all about speed enhancements and disenchantments. There were tons of different kinds of speed spells and a lot of times they differed depending on their world of origin. Incantations, magical ingredients, energy input and output. There were so many different variables to take into account for such a broad type of spell classification. The list could go on and on.
    But, no matter what kind of spell it was, or what it did, there were always certain traits that helped identify and unify the them, no matter what the category or classification of spell. It was like a kind of magical “signature”, or sometimes even a base component. Racer’s magic here…
    I don’t know what it is, but something just doesn’t seem right…
    “But why…! Reflera!!!” Salem whirled around, throwing his hands out. A bright crystalline barrier appeared in front of him, bouncing Racer away before he could attack Gray and Lyon.
    “Cut it out!!”
    This was really starting to annoy Salem. It seemed like no matter what they tried, they could barely get any damage on Racer. He had Jade’s card, which he could always use. But how to use it was the problem. And what if he needed it later on?
    “Gray, Salem, listen up…” The two aforementioned teens glanced over at Lyon. The Lamia Scale wizard stood tall and confident (something Salem had observed as the guy’s default look), but this time it was slightly different. He looked confident, yes, but a certain light shone in his dark eyes.
    “I’ve found his weakness.”
    Both Nobody and Ice wizard perked up at this. Anything at this point would be a huge help in taking out Racer. And from the look of it, Lyon was the man with a plan.
    Pulling closer together, the three huddled up as Lyon explained his idea. Salem had to say, while the Lamia Scale wizard was an arrogant pain-in-the-ass, he knew what he was doing. One part diversion, one part clever sleight of hand. A perfect recipe for success.
    It was pretty awesome, to say the least.
    Salem looked up and held his hand out. “Alright Bryn, come on back, Hot Mama.”
    “As you wish, Ice-Ice Baby…” Brynhildr's voice dripped with sarcasm as her body started to glow a dull red.
    After recalling Brynhildr back into her crystal form, Lyon put his plan into action. Under the pretense of taking Racer down all by himself, he “froze” Gray and Salem inside a tower of ice, which propelled them up above the tree line. With them “out of the way”, it left Racer preoccupied having to deal with Lyon and Sherry. The pink-haired Animation wizard had followed after the boys after they had snagged her guild mate, but now she finally had a chance to do something other than moon over her precious “Lyon-sama”.
    “That was pretty clever of Jack Frost to pick up on the speed freak’s magic,” Salem remarked, shrugging his shirt and sweatshirt back on. “A Time-based magic. Geez, I should’ve seen that coming from a mile away.”
    He really should have, in all honesty. Time magic was something he was pretty familiar with. It wasn’t something he was particularly good at, but he was familiar with it alright. Heck, how many times had he been beat up by Luxord back during his days as the Organization’s personal punching bag?
    So basically, Racer’s magic wasn’t Speed magic. That explained why Salem couldn’t quite figure it out before. In reality, what the Oracion Seis wizard was doing was slowing down people’s perception of time. By working within a certain radius, Racer could affect the way his opponents perceived the passing of time, effectively slowing down their reaction times compared to his own. The best way to think about it was like putting the victim’s brain on “slow motion”. Racer wasn’t moving fast at all, it just appeared that way to anyone within range of his magic.
    So while Lyon and Sherry were getting their butts kicked down below, Salem and Gray were safe up above, seeing everything play out at a normal rate. Despite being a good ways away from the action, Salem could see the effects of the battle from his icy perch, and followed it with keen interest.
    “Y’know, now I really feel lame knowing that this guy was handing my butt to me on a silver platter…” Salem frowned. “Thank the heavens that Vanitas wasn’t around to see it…” He’d never hear the end of it…
    The purple-haired Nobody looked up. “Think you can hit him from this distance?”
    Gray nodded, drawing his arm back. The dark-haired teen had used his magic to create a bow and arrow of ice and was busying himself with getting his aim right. With Racer distracted and the two Lamias playing the bait, it was time for Salem and Gray to do a little sharpshooting.
    “This is gonna be a piece of cake,” Salem chuckled, springing to his feet. “In fact, time to make use of Harlequin’s gift and show this guy what real speed is like…”
    Lining himself up next to Gray, Salem held his own hand out. A flash of black and white light appeared and Jade’s card fluttered into his palm.
    I’ve gotta remember to thank Jade next time I see her. My magic’s running kind of low and I’m almost out of Elixirs, so this handy little magic card is exactly what the doctor ordered…
    “Aero!”
    The card glowed, dissolving as a powerful wind swirled around Gray and Salem. Lights shimmered around the Nobody as he cast his Skyfall spell. Locking his sights onto Racer, the sorcerer-in-training took a couple deep breaths to steady himself while making sure his aim was good. They were a good ways away, and with a moving target and wind speeds to take into account and all…
    “Ready…”
    “…Set…”
    “…GO!!”
    Gray let his ice arrow fly as Salem released his spell. Flying through the air, the two spells twisted together into one giant attack, its own speed boosted by Jade’s Wind magic card. Thanks to the power of that card—and being out of range—they were finally able to take Racer out.
    How could they tell?
    “Whoa…” Salem let loose a low whistle. “Now that’s how you put someone one ice!”
    Well, if the giant (no exaggerating there, there thing was huge!) hunk of ice suddenly sprouting up and out of the tree line was any indication…
    “Jackpot!” Salem shouted, pounding his fist into the air. “And Vanni-boy said I can’t do long distance sharpshooting. Ha! Come on, Iceman, let’s go!”
    With an understandable skip in his step, Salem snatched Gray by his belt and teleported them back down to the ground. In less than a minute, the two boys were running up to a spent and exhausted Lyon and Sherry. The former of the pair lay on the ground, slumped against a tree root, while the other braced her hands against her knees and sucked in great, heaving breaths.
    “Nice performance, Jack Frost,” Salem congratulated. “You too, Pretty in Pink. Fantastic! You two deserve a prize!”
    “If shutting your big mouth can be the prize,” Lyon wheezed. “I’ll gladly…accept…”
    He was probably driving them nuts, but Salem was riding too much of a victory high to really care. With everything that was happening, he was just plain exhausted. The teen was so tired that he didn’t even consider the fact that it would probably be a good idea to heal everyone while he had the chance.
    “I’m not done yet—!!!”
    Whirling around, Salem resisted the urge to scream his frustrations at the top of his lungs.
Standing behind them—or perhaps “staggering” was the better word—Racer clutched his side as he ripped his track jacket open. Salem’s jaw dropped to the ground when he got a look at the crazy contraption strapped to his torso.
    Multiple rods stuck out against a series of bands strapped around the wizard’s chest and stomach. At first Salem wasn’t quite sure what they were. But when the guy started running at them, and Sherry screamed, he got the idea pretty quick.
    Bomb…? Bomb! Holy crap, a BOMB!!!
    Preparing to summon his scimitars, Salem started to rush forward in order to intercept Racer. He wasn’t sure what kind of timer mechanism got incorporated into the bomb, but Salem knew that he needed to get the wizard as far away from the others as possible. If he could reach him, Salem could teleport Racer away and come back with hopefully enough time to avoid getting caught up in the explosion himself.
    That was the plan, anyhow…
    It all just happened so fast. Something snagged Salem by his hood when he took a sprint forward, causing him to choke on his own collar. The next thing he knew, the young Nobody was flung back. His back slammed into a tree so hard that he swore he saw little flying cats chasing each other around his head. All he could do was watch in a daze as the events in front of him played out.
    Racer made a lunge for Gray, but got tackled by Lyon instead. As Lyon jumped, he pushed his foot off of Gray, sending the wizard stumbling in the opposite direction. Gray and Sherry screamed as both the Lamia Scale wizard and the Oracion Seis wizard went over the edge of a nearby cliff.
    Those screams intermingled with the deafening sound of one, calamitous explosion that rocked the ground with enough force to send trees cashing to the ground around them. A bright flash of light, quickly followed by a mushroom cloud of epic proportions, engulfed the sky.
    Salem sat there, slumped and absolutely stunned.
    Lyon and Racer…There was no way that they could have survived that. The fall from the cliff alone—never mind the blast from the bomb—was enough to kill a person. Those two…How could they have survived that?
    The truth hit Salem like a brick and in one of those incredibly rare moments, he felt as numb as the day he was “born” as Alexsm. He barely knew anything about Lyon Vastia, but Salem knew the chances of surviving an explosion like that were devastatingly slim. Sherry shook, trembling as she tried to stay upright. Small sobs escaped the fingers she kept firmly clamped around her mouth.
    And Gray? Well, he looked just as shocked as Salem, completely numb even. The Nobody wouldn’t be surprised if the Ice wizard was stuck in shock, and Salem dreaded to see what would happen when reality sunk in. He’d lost friends. He knew what that kind of heartbreak felt like, but…
    “I…I could have stopped him…”
    Salem could have stopped Racer. Lyon didn’t need to sacrifice himself. Salem had the power. He was fast enough, even if he was weakened by the poison; even if his body hurt from the beating he just took. So why wasn’t he able to…?
    “Incompetent fool…You were given one objective, and yet you failed so miserably. Pathetic...”
    Awareness, like a tub full of ice, crashed down over Salem. He couldn’t move as he felt a presence make itself known behind him. Thick-soled shoes padded against the dirt with soft, dull thumps. Something heavy was being drug against the ground, scratching into the dirt. Salem heard the swish of leather fabric and the soft jingle of metal mixing with the deep rumble of a male voice.
    All sounds he was very, very familiar with.
    Slowly, almost mechanically, Salem looked up. Dark eyes widened.
    One tall figure swathed in an Organization cloak, towering over him. Facing towards the cliff, he had one massive blue, white, and yellow weapon hefted over his shoulder. Salem recognized the iconic claymore and the snags of red thread clinging to one of its spikes. Of course, the long, vivid blue hair was pretty iconic as well. So where the cold, frigid gold eyes that stared sideways down at Salem.
    Salem’s breath hitched in his throat. “You…”
    The Luna Berserker shifted his blank gaze over towards the edge of the cliff.
    “Pathetic,” he muttered. Ice-cold eyes showed no hint of emotion, and certainly no remorse.
    Gray’s eyes narrowed dangerously, his entire body tensing up. “What did you say, you bastard?!”
    “Pitiful humans, constantly throwing their lives away needlessly,” Isa droned on mercilessly. “So easily swayed by their own emotions that it clouds their minds and causes them to act rashly…Ridiculous.”
    “You…You bastard!” Gray choked with rage. Shaking uncontrollably, he sunk low into his Creation stance, preparing to attack.
    At the same time, Isa shrugged Lunatic off his shoulder. The heavy weapon twirled in a circle as the Berserker spun the handle around between his fingers.
    “Gray, don’t!” Salem shouted, lunging forward. His plan had been to try and grab the claymore and teleport, at least giving them a chance to get away.
    After that fight with Racer, Salem knew they didn’t have a chance at taking on a heavy hitter like Isa. And the Ice wizard certainly didn’t know what the Berserker was capable of. Not like Salem did. They’d get clobbered, and that was no joke.
    However, Salem tripped over his own feet at the last minute. So instead of latching onto one of Lunatic’s spikes, he missed and snagged the edge of Isa’s coat. And the added momentum of the trip-up caused him to fall forward even more. Salem crashed into the Organization member’s leg and suddenly...
    “A-Augh…AHHH!!!”
    It was almost like an electric jolt hit him dead center in the chest, causing him to cry out. If Salem thought those phantom pains from Erza were bad, this was so much worse. A sharp pulling sensation coupled with that vicious shock was like a set of electrical cables were pulling at his sternum, trying to rip his chest open. Salem couldn’t breathe, nor could he move. He was paralyzed, helpless and at the mercy of that agonizing pain. The only thing he could do was scream and gag until his throat was sore.
    After what seemed like an eternity, Isa finally ripped himself away from Salem. The pain gradually faded not long after that, and Salem was able to calm himself down a little. He was still raked with pain, but in that pain came shocking clarity.
    This wasn’t the first time Salem had felt something like that before. In fact, he had felt it only a small handful of times in his short existence. He knew exactly what it was.
    Dark eyes, wide and ghastly, stared up in shock at the Berserker.
    “I can’t believe it…”
    “Salem!!”
    He reacted on a simple little reflex. Gray came running, trying to reach him and help, only to crash into a barrier.
    “Hey!” the Ice wizard shouted, pounding his fists into the barrier as simple brute force like that could destroy it. “Salem, what are you doing?!”
    The Nobody answered with a small, shaking voice. “Get…Get out of here, Gray…”
    “What?!”
    “Get out of here!” Salem screamed. “Go now! Go after Natsu and the others. Take Sherry and try to see if Lyon’s alive, I don’t care! Just get out of here now!!”
    His voice rang shrill through the air, startling Gray. A sudden strong gust of wind, cast by the sorcerer-in-training, caught the Ice wizard completely off guard. That was when Gray caught on to the strange change in Salem’s demeanor. The purple-haired teen was on pins and needles, face filled with anxiety and body tensed. His eyes were wide with a mix of shock and fear. Gray couldn’t tell what the heck was going on with him. But whatever it was, it clearly had Salem on edge.
    Did it have something to do with the strange guy in the black coat? And what had happened to Salem just now, that could have caused him so much pain? Just what exactly was going on here?!
    “Alright,” he said slowly, backing up. “Just…Don’t do anything stupid.”
    Salem watched as the Ice wizard, followed by Sherry, left. It vaguely registered in his mind that they were heading off in the direction of where Lyon and Racer had fallen, but he was too preoccupied with the problem standing in front of him to give it too much thought.
    Isa scoffed lightly. Turning on his heel, the blue-haired man turned and began to walk off. After walking a few feet, he held out his hand, creating a Dark Corridor. He was about to walk through it when a rough croak stopped the Berserker in his tracks.
    “…back…”
    Isa didn’t turn back, or even look back, as Salem shakily pushed himself back onto his feet. The young Nobody was still reeling from all the pain he’d been subjected to, so he was a little unsteady on his feet.
    “Give it back,” Salem repeated quietly. “Isa, seriously…Give it back…”
    “Give what back?” The bored, impatient tone of the Vessel’s voice had been what set him off. Salem started to see red.
    Animosity seeped into Salem, adding a razor-sharp edge to his usually light-hearted and cheerful voice. Small patches of ice started to bloom across the ground around him as his scimitars appeared in the teen’s hands. The lilac-colored blades scrapped against the dirt as he staggered towards Isa.
    The Nobody looked like something possessed. The blood had drained from his face, turning his tawny skin an unhealthy sallow color that made his eyes almost black. His body swayed back and forth with each step, like he was going to fall over. And he kept repeating the same thing over and over again. Give it back.
    “Give it back…Give it back to me…Give it back. Give me that fragment back!”
    Suddenly, Salem disappeared. Isa remained icily calm, not moving in the slightest as his eyes roved around the area. Suddenly, Lunatic came up over his head. Metal screeched against metal as sparks flew.
    Suspended in the air, with his feet braced against a tree, Salem pushed against the claymore with all his might. A wild, furious scream erupted from his throat after dropping to the ground and pounced. The teen came after Isa like a wild animal, swinging randomly while trying to hit anything within range. Teeth gnashed and ground against each other, breaking the skin on his lower lip. A small rivulet of crimson blood dripped down his cheek.
    “Give it back!” he roared, swinging one of his blades at Isa’s head. The Berserker backpedaled out of the way, so only a few strands of his hair faced the Nobody’s wrath. “Give me back that fragment!!!”
    Isa met each of Salem’s wild blows with calculated blocks of his own. He swung Lunatic in wide arcs, slamming it against Salem with enough force to make the normal human hit the ground hard. But in his blind rage, Salem met each swing head-on.
    He had to get it back. The heart fragment that belonged to him, he had to have it back. He needed it. There was no way he was going to let Isa keep it. He had to get it back, no matter what the consequences were.
    It belongs to you…They stole it from you…Get it back. No matter what it takes, even if blood must be shed. Kill anyone in your way…Just get. It. Back!!!
    Evil voices whispered inside of Salem’s mind, feeding the fires of rage inside of him. It fueled him on. Against everything that Salem was—as a Nobody or a Somebody—it pushed his body on to keep fighting.
    Win. He had to win. No matter what the cost, Salem had to win!
    Kill him…Kill…kill…KILL…!!!
    Yes…Why not kill Isa? After all, what they stole from him, the Organization killed Salem for. Why not return the favor? An eye for an eye, an arm for an arm. That’s how the saying went, after all. Besides, it was a piece of his heart. It didn’t belong to anyone else but Salem.
    A strange giggle wormed out if Salem, high and thin like grating nails over a chalkboard. His eyes took on a wild, maddened glint as his swings became more and more erratic. Isa started to show signs of a struggle when trying to blocking them. Salem’s attacks were slowly becoming more brutal by the second.
    “I’m gonna kill you,” he giggled. “If it means getting it back, I’ll just kill anyone who gets in my way! It’s perfect! Now…DIE!!!”
    One second, the crazed young Nobody was in front of Isa. The next instant, he was up above the Organization member’s head. Hands together, he had both scimitars angled down over the crown of his opponent’s head.
    Salem screamed as he dropped down, ready to drive his swords through the Vessel’s skull…
    WHAM!!!
    But suddenly, something flew through the air and collided with the teen’s side. Salem was knocked out of the way and sent crashing into a tree. His head slammed into the wooden trunk with such force that he was unconscious almost instantly.
    Soundlessly, the purple-haired teen dropped to the ground in a heap. Memories of Nobody vanished in a flash, leaving their master looking for all the worlds like a child’s discarded doll; arms spread out, head titled in an uncomfortable angle, his braid trailing over his closed eyes.
    The object that took him out of the air landed on the ground next to him, one of its thin spikes buried deep into the ground. A large metal circle with handles built into the inside and painted with red enamel in some places.
    Isa straightened, Lunatic vanishing from his grip. Cold golden eyes narrowed.
    “Seriously…” a new voice sighed. “Why do I gotta get stuck with all the icky jobs?”
    “Lea…”
*Tegan slowly backs away from Salem while Jade nails him in the forehead with her wrench*
Salem: OW! What the heck, Harlequin?!
Tegan: What the hell was that, Salem?!?
Salem: How should I know?! I never act like that! Psychotic killing sprees are Lexie's thing, not mine!
Jade: *staring pointedly at Light* You just had to have it affect the Nobody, didn't you?
me: Would you rather it be you? Anyway, those of you who know your Fairy Tail should be able to figure out what's going on here, but if not. It should be explained in the next chapter.

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Kingdom Hearts belongs to Tetsuya Nomura and Square Enix. Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima. I just own this story and it's original characters. 
© 2015 - 2024 LightandDarkHeart
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ChaosPhantom444's avatar
Lightning: One less dark wizard to worry about.
Sky: But what happened to Salem?
Phantom: *raising his hand like a kid in school* I think it's the Nirvana acting up that caused the change.
Warp: Who's the redhead?