Tears Of Angels

Prologue: Awakening

When I close my eyes to this paradox place…
I'll fly away, far away from here…

"I can't believe it. Their connection is so strong that they woke up at almost the exact same time. The idea that someone could feel another's heart in such a way, when they weren't connected at birth, it's incredible."

"If research is correct, it's how all born in her world are. They're hearts are strong and their emotions are stronger. Their ability to love and their trust in that love, it's the strongest thing I've ever seen. The strongest emotional bond we've ever studied. It's amazing though, that their connection has become this strong…"

"She's growing weaker every passing moment, the longer she's away from his side."

"She is. It is her fate. You see, her heart is too strong for her body. It is stronger than anyone else who is from her world. This is why she can't remember me or anything from her past."

"But she remembers them…and you said every time her heart takes her to a new world she forgets."

"As I said, their connection is strong. Unfortunately, there are more…troublesome matters on our hands. She's being targeted by the Organization."

"What should we do then? We have to keep her safe."

"Call her here while there's still a chance to save her."

"But I thought that only he could!"

"Only he can, but he'll come. He will come."

I get away and dream, dream of you…
When it's all said and done and the night has come…

Riku stared around the area after having passed through the door. It was a familiar place, one that he'd been in so many times before and yet it seemed so strange to him. It was almost as if he'd never been there before and yet he knew he'd lived there for almost a year. "This is…"

Yes, it's Hollow Bastion. It's the room that Maleficent gave you, to be exact. It must be nice to be back in your old bedroom, am I correct?

"Not really. Sorry, but these memories I could do without." Riku sighed as he looked around the room once again and tried his hardest to force back the thought of the room and everything that happened there. He found it to be a much harder task than he thought it would be originally.

To reach the outside world, you passed through the door to darkness. Here you lived, tempted by the darkness she offered you. You left everything behind you, all in pursuit of darkness. You had but one final chance, and you eventually let her fade away as well.

"But I cast the darkness aside too! I've given everything up again to make it right! I'm not who I was back then…" Riku turned and left the room. "What are you trying to do, bringing me here of all places?"

This place was created from your memories. Go and see what's in your heart. If you do, you'll be able to reunite with the ones you really wish to see.

"I will!" Riku shouted at the voice, starting to feel his temper boiling over. He didn't take being played lightly, especially when the person who was messing with his mind had no physical form that he could see. The boy began to storm through the castle, finding nothing but Heartless in every room he entered. It was like being trapped in the past, and the more he fought the more he began to doubt. He would never see them again. As he finally reached the entrance hall, having all but given up, he finally saw someone.

It wasn't who he thought he'd be seeing.

"Did you think you'd see your friends? Too bad!"

It was Maleficent.

"You."

"Who else? Your heart is steeped in darkness. You, like me, are one of the dark. You want me here. Who else but I can give you the darkness you long for."

The battled that followed was long and hard and took a much bigger toll on Riku's heart than he thought it would. All the while his mind remained stuck on the thought of Maleficent's words. If he never could see his friends, what would he do? Would he be stuck in this memory world forever? No. No he couldn't let that happen.

"Never again!" He shouted as she fell before him, defeated. "You and your darkness have nothing to offer." His voice was proud, but in the back of his mind the thought remained clear. He'd never see them again.

"Then I'll disappear…
Take flight on the wind of wishing you were here…"

A smooth song echoed out behind Riku, a song that was like everything else in this strange memory world. It was something so beautifully familiar and yet so echoingly distant and strange. He turned around slowly, eyes landing on what was finally a familiar face. A girl with deep red hair and sparkling green eyes. A girl that he'd known from his past. She smiled softly, "Riku."

"You're alive!" He yelled in excitement, jumping forward and throwing his arms around her. "And you're here! I can see you! You're actually here…"

"No…" The girl said quietly, "I'm not the girl you're looking for, Riku. She is alive though and I know if you keep pushing forward, you'll find the real Aiko." Another bright smile, "She can hear you and feel you, Riku, wherever you are because of this pendant." Her hand touched the heart-shaped pendant that Riku had wrapped around his wrist. "She loves you…"

The last words struck him harder than any of the others.

"After everything I've done?"

"Yes." She grinned and took his hand as her body began to fade into the darkness around him. "If you have to tell her anything, all you have to do is say the name…Aiko…she'll hear you. I promise."

"You're fading away."

"Of course. After all, I'm just a memory."

She vanished, leaving Riku alone in the silence. He stared at the black walls around him before finally looking up at the ceiling, towards where the sky and sun would be. "Aiko, if you can hear me…I'll make it up to you. I'm coming! I promise…I…" The rest of the sentence faded into the darkness.

"Fading light…
Like a star whose life has been gone for years…"

"And what about her? Do you think she'll even want to come?"

"We'll tell her we can take her to her precious Riku. It's our only choice, you know."

"That's a lie though…"

"Not fully. As I told you, Riku will come. She won't be able to see him right away, but he will come. That's the only problem."

"Do you think she knows about everything that's happened?"

"I'm sure those who found her in Hollow Bastion have told her everything she needs to know. All she needs now is to be told she's in danger. Terrible, terrible danger."

"Right…"

"And I'll fly, fly across the sky
And I'll leave, leave it all behind…"

Leon walked slowly around the castle in Hollow Bastion, where he and the others had been staying since Sora defeated Ansem and left to find Riku and the King. It was a task that he found himself doing often, wandering the halls rather aimlessly as he defeated the few Heartless that he did happen to stumble across. Though this time he found that he wasn't quite as alone in the castle as he thought. As the stopped in one of the halls near a room where the grounds were covered in shattered glass, a soft voice reached his ears.

"If you'll be here, here with me tonight…
I'll be fine, I'll be fine…"

He hurried after the voice, following the voice down the hallways and through the corridors until he found himself in the entrance hall. A young girl stood there with long red hair, staring up towards the ceiling. As he exhaled, she turned to look at him and smiled. "Hello…"

"Aiko."

"No. My name is Ailey, silly."

"Yes." The girl continued smiling before a sudden and rather upset look came across her face. "No…" She muttered and started coughing weakly. "You can't take me!" She staggered forward, "I have to find him. Riku…" The words had hardly passed her lips out onto the ground.

Leon ran forward and swept the girl up. Little did he know, the girl in his arms was the answer to questions beyond his wildest dreams. Little did he know that as he held her, her life was fading from her body and she was beginning her decent towards death.

I'll be...


Hey everyone! Now some of you may be wondering: Dawn, what the hell are you doing? We've already read this fic and you already have a different copy of it up, why are you putting up another one? The answer to your question is rather simple actually: I got Birth by Sleep and the game has encouraged me to keep writting this series of fics that I'm working on. Not only has it encouraged me to continue the series, but it has encouraged me to go back and fix the damn inconsistancies that now exist because of the new game, add some things, and fix the typos. So as a result, you all get a rewrite of Tears of Angels! Are you excited? Cause I sure as hell am! I'm so excited I think that I may end up falling over and dying! So I hope that you enjoy this rewrite in all of it's glory. Thank you everyone!