The warm glow of the Master Emerald is replaced with the hot flames of the stranger. I step out of the flame and merely get a glimpse of my surroundings before pointing the just-summoned Keyblade at the stranger about to step out of the flame. "This is not my home, you deceived me." The Angel Island intruder raises their hands and the flame that brought me to this dark, damp place vanishes-the only link between getting back to Angel Island has dissipated into violet gas. I should have been more careful to follow the flames, I can be such a frivolous girl sometimes, easily driven by my suppressed emotions. Do I not know better from my father that women have emotions that bring them to do stupid things? "Where is my village?" I demand, disallowing the Keyblade to drop to my side. The Angel Island intruder holds their hand out, gesturing for me to stop, and points in the direction of a faint purple light in the mouth of the damp cavern. It has to be there, I miss home despite how sullen and bland it looks-how long has it been since I have been home, almost a year? When I start to hurry in front of them, the stranger raises a hand for me to pause and then walks out of the mouth of the cavern, stepping into the puddles. I follow them out, eager to be back home but instead of there being willow trees, there is a vista of a vast, pale landscape.
Fragments of rocks float carelessly above the light violet abyss below. The ground we walk on is broken off also; this place lacks a breeze, a sun, and real water-even though there are puddles here, some sort of liquid splashes. What kind of place does not even have a real sun? Is this the true form of my village now? The stranger leaps over to a mountain floating in mid-air and watches me. I jump after them without a problem, surprised that my descent from gravity is slower than usual. Does the pyro master think I am a fool and that they will deceive me a second time? "This is not my village, where are we?" Not surprising, the stranger stares at me and then turns to head up the cracked mountain. Abruptly, it splits in two pieces and the two of us swiftly leap to the second half of the split mountain. When my left hand brushes against the Angel Island intruder's helmet, the words in the fire burn into my mind: Darkness is coming for you. Since the person who issued the warning is here, why not ask? But this silent person most likely will not answer, it is like talking to me. Instead of asking, I keep my mouth shut and follow them down the mountain. The silent intruder hops off, landing on a sturdy, fragmented rock piece and then jumping rock to rock towards a spiral violet light far away from both of us. The Village of Willow must be in that spiral, that is what the Angel Island intruder wants to show me.
Skipping along these rocks reminds me of that time when I was hopping along the rocks at home with that beautiful, surreal woman. I wished that she could have stayed with me forever-but that is a childish wish. I have fourteen rings on me and at home that is the nuptial age and Father would have me tuck away the sword permanently and he would send me off before the year ended-I am an adult now. "How far is it, my home?" I inquire as he stops on the former mountain formation ten feet away from the spiral. The intruder nods and the faint purple light make the person's armor look almost surreal. I look down at my turquoise kimono, noticing that the dim-violet light makes it shimmer. "You did not answer my question."
The intruder nods again and points to the huge spiral. When I walk straight for it, I bump into an invisible barrier, stopping me from going any further. I face the Angel Island intruder and watch them steer off course, heading east and leaping in a random, inconsistent pattern. For some reason, it is relieving to be around this person but only because he or she does not bark orders at me and tell me what to do, it makes me feel free. That man Don made me feel the same way when I told him about the curse but I should not get used to it. It is only a matter of time before someone uses me to do their bidding.
I can't spend another afternoon crying about something I can't control. I have to be a "big girl and stop the waterworks" as my sister would complain habitually. Master tells me almost the same thing, but I can't stop when the tears well up in my eyes. "Mia," a weak whisper comes from Seth, eyes wide open. "Stop, stop."
"Seth, can you hear me?" I ask gently, hovering over his bed. He hasn't spoken since I found him in his room laying cold. I wasn't sure if he was dead but now I realize that he was dead for a while because Master is trying to strengthen him. It's pure torture for Seth to see the girl he hates for a while but it'll only make him stronger. He won't wake up for a while but when he does, I'm going to be the first person he sees. This will bring us that much closer and then he'll focus solely on Mia's demise. "Pupil," the Master opens my bedroom door with a cold, uncaring gaze. "Change into your proper attire and prepare yourself for entering World 75. I'm putting you in charge."
"Master I'm pleased," I quickly wipe the tears away and hide my face with my tangled, unkempt hair. "Seth should have been-"
"Seth shouldn't have raised his tone," he interrupts brusquely. "Gineam is waiting on you, look your best. The tears will probably work in your favor."
"Yes Master." When he closes the door, I sigh, trying to stroke through my knotted hair but I get stuck along the way. It used to be so soft but Darkness has changed it-when I once said that to Master, he replied, "That's because you're wearing the Darkness like a tight belt, suffocating yourself. Wear the Darkness like the dress you have on now."
"Like the dress I have now," I whisper to myself as I grab the bottom of the black, dress and pull it over my head. Tossing it carelessly on the floor, I walk over to the dresser and pull out two shirts and a pair of shorts. I don't even know what the weather is like there, how should I dress? Time stands still and goes over our heads here. Well let's see, Seth left Mia when it was almost winter and I've been here since the past summer, in my world's time, so it's really been awhile. Was it all worth it? Leaving home, coming here about a year ago, I can't believe that I was that bold and courageous that I wanted to go to a new world. I look down on my fingertips and see the black streaks I'm forming shining weakly. As if holding shampoo, I soak the concentrated streaks through my jet black hair and feel the cold, tantalizing Darkness permeate my scalp.
' ' '
"Are you ready to bring down your first world?"
"I'm ready."
"Gineam should almost be done with the second guardian of the Master Emerald. You just need to-"
"Master, I understand what I have to do and I am ready for it. I've run out of real tears."
I knew she shouldn't have gone with that shady guy, I knew it. It just pisses me off thinking about what she said to me, talking down to me like I'm some loser. She shouldn't have left, she really shouldn't have. "Who needs her? I don't," I grumble to myself. It's better this way, the way it was before Risa came and brought her trouble here. Too bad I never saw her face 'cause she was wearing that stupid hood the entire time. I'll admit, having her here made things pretty exciting but the boredom always comes back at some point. I bet she's livin' it up back at home; she didn't even let me say goodbye to her, she must have been too happy to stay for another second. Whatever. "Hey, who's there?" I yell at the black blob running from the trees, storming down the steps to meet it. Could that be Risa? She's back from her own planet and came to visit me? No, it's some other girl that looks nothing like her. "What're you doing here?" I confront the teenage stranger.
The last time a stranger was here he took off with Risa but this girl is different from that stranger. "Why are you yelling?" whines the girl with her cracking voice. "I just came to find my friend Risa...and you're yelling at me." She breaks down and shields her eyes from my glare, sinking down to my level and sobbing loudly.
"You're friends with Risa?" I ask guiltily when I reach her.
"Y-yes! She's one of my dear friends and I've searched everywhere for her," she exclaims tearfully. "I need her, where is she? I heard she was on this island."
"Sorry, sorry, how did you get-" her wails cover the rest of my question and I scratch my head embarrassingly. This isn't the first time I've made someone cry and I can't help but freeze up when I'm next to someone who's sobbing. "Sorry," I feel my face heating up as if it got 100 degrees hotter on the island. The green light from the Master Emerald flickers behind me-I turn to see someone touching it, making the light dim out. "Hey you!" The masked guy from yesterday! What's he doing here without Risa-did he really bring her home? Ugh, I don't time to think about that, what's he doing with the Master Emerald? "Cut it out!"
As I run towards the intruder, I stand petrified when I'm at the bottom step in awe of the new purple light gleaming from the Master Emerald-my worst fear coming true. The Master Emerald turns bitter black and before I can reach the masked guy, it shatters, scattering its burning fragments off the floating island. Watching each piece fall adds a sickening feeling in the pit of my stomach. My rage takes over as I lunge for the masked guy with my fist aimed for his face. He avoids the hit and jumps far enough to drop off the island. Looking back at the sobbing girl, she's no longer on the ground crying but standing with dry, bloodshot eyes and a half-smile plastered on her face. "You-tricked me!" An earthquake rocks the floating island to my horror and I grab the pillar down below to hang on to. Unsteadily, she bends her knees, inching slowly towards the edge of the island.
"You're not a very good guardian," says the dark-haired girl in the weird outfit. Furiously, I charge towards her and she uses the punch to the stomach to fall off the falling island. I better brace for impact and then beat myself up later for letting them trick me and destroy the Master Emerald-I won't let them get away with this, I swear it.
J.G.P.
And I leave you with that cliffhanger for a while, I hope you enjoyed the story.
