A Shade of Time
by Binary Angels
Standard disclaimers apply.
Prologue
Darkness. It was everywhere. In my nose, in my mouth, in my hands--but, thankfully, not in my eyes. I was very grateful for that. Because if I could see, then it meant that I could see Riku. And Riku and his happiness was all that mattered.
Riku swore loudly and slammed a fist onto the invisible ground we had been walking across. "We're not getting anywhere near the exit!"
Obviously, Riku just wanted to get out of here. And if getting out was what made Riku happy, then I had to help him find a way out.
"I can't see anything," I said sheepishly, looking around. All I saw was black. I laughed nervously. "What if we walked past the way out and didn't see it?"
Riku scowled at the thought. "Then we're screwed. We are never getting out of here. Never."
"Aw, c'mon, don't say that. Never say never! Everything's a possibility!" I beamed at him.
But Riku just sighed. He turned to me. "Sora, you need to open your eyes. We're never getting out of here. We'll never be seeing if everything turned out okay. We'll never see Kairi again."
My heart plummeted. Of course. He loved Kairi, and I loved him. It all goes around and around and around and around and around and--
"Hey, who's that?" I said suddenly, pointing. Someone lay far ahead of us. Someone with long hair.
Riku jerked his head around and became very still, like a dog who had seen a rabbit. "...They look familiar."
"You think so?" I squinted. "...Hey, yeah, they do! C'mon, let's go see who it is!" Without thinking, I grabbed Riku's hand and dragged him towards the figure.
When we saw who it was, I almost fainted and Riku looked revolted, horrified, terrified, and very angry all at the same time.
"Ansem!" we cried in unison.
There he was. He just lay there, facedown, his long, dark-silver hair spilling down his back, arms and legs limp. He didn't seem to acknowledge we were there.
"...Er." I cautiously walked closer. "I think he's dead."
"Dead? How could he be dead?" Riku's tone was incredulous.
I poked Ansem in the side. He didn't respond. I poked him again and again and again and again and--he rolled over. I jumped back in surprise. I fell on my butt. "Ow."
"Oh God," Riku said, his eyes widening.
Ansem's vivid-gold eyes were wild, rolling, unfocused. He was thin and starved. His mouth was slightly open. He looked like he had been driven crazy.
"A-Ansem?" I crawled over to him. Poked him again. "Ansem?"
"We shouldn't be here," Riku muttered, glancing around nervously and, obviously, seeing nothing. "What could've done this to him?"
"Ansem?" My voice was trembling now. I had fought him. I had. I nearly died fighting him. Seeing him like that filled me with terror that I had never experienced before. I reached out to poke him again--
And screamed as he suddenly grabbed my wrist. He set his wild gaze on me, and I felt my insides squirm and go numb and cold and hot all at the same time.
"Duh... doe..." he gasped. His voice was ragged.
"He's trying to say something!"
"No shit, Sherlock," Riku snapped.
"Doe...en..."
"Doen," I pronounced.
"Tuh... tuh..."
"Doentuh." I paused. "...Don't?"
Ansem nodded vigorously. "Don't... leh... meh..."
"...Eh?" Riku asked.
"You... don't want us to leave you?" I guessed.
Ansem nodded again.
We stared.
"He's mental," Riku declared.
"Don't... leh... meh... moh..."
"'Don't leave me...'" I shook my head. "I can't figure out the last word."
"Moh... meh..." he murmured. His eyes seemed subdued, desperate, all-too-familiar. He reminded me of a scared little kid.
And then his grip on my wrist went slack and his hand fell. I ran my hand over his face, closing his eyes that just now were filled with so much emotion.
"...He's gone."
Hours had passed since we ran into Ansem. All the while, I had been thinking through why, why, WHY Ansem had transformed from evil sadistic genius to crazy dying man who didn't want his worst enemy to leave him.
And then, I came to a conclusion. To why he became insane, at least.
"His memories," I said suddenly. I stopped walking. Riku turned to me.
"What?"
"His memories were eating him alive. His guilt, too. He was going mad because he kept seeing all the people he'd killed and murdered, all the people that suffered under him. And he was probably wanting us... me... to forgive him for it all."
"Hm." Riku turned away. "So that's what you've been thinking about all this time?"
"Pretty much."
Silence passed between us. And then I blurted,
"Riku, do you love Kairi?"
Riku stopped and turned back to me. He was frowning, though he didn't seem to be doing so at my question. "I... don't know. I couldn't bear it if anything happened to her... but it's the same way with you."
I didn't say anything. What could you say to that?
"I think... I'd give my life for both of you. For our world. Destiny's Island. For everyone else."
I nodded. I felt the same way.
"...I don't know, really." He shrugged and turned away. He began walking again.
"Does she mean more than life itself?" I found myself asking. "Do you find yourself thinking about her more than anything else? Do you find yourself longing to be in her arms?"
Riku stopped again. He turned to me, a funny look on his face.
"...No..." he said slowly, as if he was trying to figure it out still. "...But..."
...But...? I mentally repeated. I felt my heart quicken.
"...I feel that way about you sometimes." Riku's face became expressionless.
A funny explosion occurred in my stomach that jumped up to my heart. "Really?! Great! That's how I feel about you!"
Riku remained expressionless. He didn't reply; he just turned around and kept walking.
-
I was tired. And hungry. And thirsty. And tired. And sleepy. And tired. But I didn't dare to whine. It would make Riku angry, after all.
Somehow, I got back to thinking of Ansem. How he wanted us to forgive him. I thought it was sad, to tell the truth. He just wanted to be forgiven.
Well, I forgive him, I thought fiercely. No one should die like that. Well, yeah, no one should die because their heart was taken from them, but no one should die from grief and guilt and madness and starvation.
I voiced my opinion to Riku, and he shrugged, but didn't turn to look at me.
"Yeah, you've got a point," he replied off-handedly. "He deserved to be punished one way or another, maybe killed painlessly, but he shouldn't have suffered like that."
He didn't say whether or not he forgave Ansem. He probably didn't; I guess it's hard to forgive someone who tried to use you to kill your friends.
But I'm more than a friend to Riku, I realized with a start. He said that he loves me. Well, not directly, but he said that's how he felt for me. ...Wow. He loves me. He really loves me. I sighed. It'd be so wonderful if we had a child of our own to raise. A son. I wish Riku and I had a son. That would be so... Wow. It'd make us officially together. My heart somersaulted at the thought.
Little did I know that Riku was thinking somewhere along those lines.
-
Somewhere, the darkness shifted. It heard the similar thoughts and wishes of not one, not two, but three people. Now, it didn't have to obey a wish from one person, but... Three?
Besides... It might actually be useful in the end.
The darkness laughed silently.