Seth is coming back with me, I know he won't like it but it's the only way to get rid of the Darkness that's keeping him away from me. Gripping the bo staff, I slam the sword away from my face. One leg at a time I bring myself to my feet and frown sadly at him, my tears still trapped in my eyes; I whisper "sorry" as I swing my weapon at him. "It's about time Mia!" he exclaims joyfully as he steps back. Running towards him, I brandish the staff until it meets with his black key sword and I hear a girl's voice scream again.
"Heeeeelp!" I disregard the voice again, it's probably Seth trying to distract me somehow. Our weapons repeatedly clash again except this time I'm attacking him with everything I've got. I hear him grunt a few times as he blocks some of my assaults and I get a clean hit in on his shoulder. Seth I'm sorry that I have to do this to you. An upward thrust at his chin sends him back a few feet and I channel my Light to the bow, coating it in blinding cyan light. The cyan flashes every time it meets Seth's key sword; frustrated, he pushes into me and abruptly flips over me and sends more flames of Darkness towards me. I hit each of them and none of them explode in my face like the other time; I spin the staff with both hands over my head and toss it towards him. Like broken off helicopter blades it rotates towards Seth as he lands from his frontflip, coming in too fast for him to dodge and directly pummels him in the back. I wince at his strained groan as my weapon's Light fades away and returns back to my hand. Seth drops on one knee, supporting himself with the dark key sword that looks like a toy in his big hands. Just watching him suffer makes my heart sink, I can't just let him leave again, that's all. I walk up behind him and he pants profusely. "Now are you going to let me help you?" I ask sternly.
"Do you still think…you can…save me?" asks Seth exasperatedly and exhaustedly.
"Why do you keep thinking you're beyond being saved?" I inquire genuinely and leniently. Whenever I'm near Seth I just can't sound harsh and stern for long, I wonder how Risa does it all the time. Then I realize that there's warm blood dripping from my right cheek-probably from when Seth had me pinned on the ground-and I wipe it off. "Why won't you let me?"
"What if I don't want to be helped?" he lifts his greasy face and turns his head slightly. "What if I like the power that I was given?"
"Given? That means somebody is baiting you!" I realize aloud and bring my attention back to Seth. "Who's giving you this horrible power?" For some reason the question creates a purple aura around his clenched fist and his sword hand. He furiously growls as he gets up and launches an all-out assault on me again except this time his combos are quicker than Deidra's. I have trouble avoiding some of his brandishes but nonetheless I don't get that much hurt until he leaps in the air and plunges the sword in the soundless ground. As if being infected by the black sword, liquid Darkness permeates all of the ground, not leaving a trace of color. My fingers tighten around my bo staff and I bring it closer to my chest as I watch Seth sink into the Darkened ground. I listen for any sound in this blue-grey void besides my huffing and puffing and only hear a girl's soft voice.
"I do." This voice was different from the one I've been hearing during this fight but terrifies me nonetheless. That voice-was my own but I haven't opened my mouth to say a word. How could Seth imitate me so perfectly? "I'm going to make sure you're safe as long as you're with me." My throat tightens as Seth's long-gone gentle tone makes me feel weak in the knees. I remember that day, the day before everything good was taken from me. Something heavy crashes into me and Seth's hands wrap around my neck. He slams my head into the black ground until his last slam has me stuck in the liquid Darkness. While stuck in the muddy, suffocating Darkness, I kick and thrash until he takes his hands off me. I grunt as I yank my head out of the Darkness and whip my head around. "Seth? Where are you?"
"I'm really scared, we can wait until we're older to do this," my scared voice replies from months ago. Everything has changed so much since then. I'm stronger, smarter, a little taller and more mature than before. Something glows under me, making me lower my head.
"Seth-gaah!" I jump out of the Dark fire spout that jutted out beneath my feet. A bright purple shines under my feet again and I run out of the way, fire spouts following my footsteps and getting closer to me with each step. But they won't reach me, I'm too fast for any of them. "Cut it out Seth." In front of me a large spout erupts from the permeated ground like a geyser, shaking everything turbulently. Keeping my balance, I stop just in time and change my running direction. Another eruption stops me in my tracks and almost singes my bangs-it came that close. The next batch of flames comes close enough to kiss my nose. "Seth stop hiding in the shadows and-and face me like a real man you're supposed to be!" That was bold even for me, that Mizuki's rubbing off of me. Then my face meets the black, cold ground and the back of my head aches as badly as the front does.
From the ground I rise up and the void battlefield vanishes like smoke. The newly crafted Keyblade of People's Hearts appears in my hand again as I step behind Mia. She didn't change much from before, Master was right about assumption. You know what you're here for Seth, get the job over with before old frivolous feelings reawaken. The afternoon breeze that smells like Moonlight Beach-not that musty, pungent factory scent-hits me from behind as if trying to protect Mia from her inevitable fate. I raise the Keyblade with both hands on the hilt over her back and shut my eyes. But when I reopen them, my hands are locked in the same position. I growl as I try to force my hands to come down-come on, Nate did it without a problem. But he didn't know Mia like I did, to him she was a toy-what am I to her? No, not her friend, anything but that. Why is this so hard just get it over with! At some point my hands have to come down and the Keyblade will just end up in Mia. After a minute passes and she's still breathing, I drop to my knees and furiously cry out, turning around and throwing the Keyblade on the grass. Of course I can't do it-it's Mia, the same Mia who helped me when nobody else did, the same Mia who was always worried about me, the same Mia who hates violence and hurting anything, the same Mia who believes in myths about kélora fruits. "I can't do this yet," I ultimately decide as I dig my fingers into my hair frantically. It's far too late to take back all the things I said to her-if only I was a Heartless, I wouldn't have to feel this way. I turn around and look for a good spot to hide as I teleport home. Over there, that's a good spot.
Who was the boy that just dashed behind that tree? If it's another Nate I'm going to kill him where he stands. I glance at the blinking red dot on my watch and while walking I almost trip over something. What a surprise, I thought I would catch her alive and well but she looks dead here. I bend down to check her pulse and there's a weak one fortunately; I use my thumb to poke her blood-stained cheek, still wet. Her face is also sweaty beyond belief and her head's swollen too, she must've got into a fight. This was so much easier than I originally thought. My watch vibrates and I lift it to my face. "Did you find her," the Professor spits into the lens as she slurps her ramen noodles obnoxiously.
"Yes Professor."
"Did you smooth talk her into coming with you?"
"She's out cold."
"Jesus, smooth talking her didn't go so nicely did it?"
"I found her like this."
"What luck huh?"
"Yes." Still why do I always end up finding her in terrible states like this? I'm going to keep your promise Luke, but you're not going to like how I do it.
I don't want keep sleeping, the throbbing in my head is getting too much to handle. I bring my knees to my chest and hug them, opening my eyes gradually. The void has disappeared and is replaced with metal walls and-metallic walls and a high ceiling. This isn't the park at all! I turn around to the bars and cautiously wobble towards until I stumble onto them. Prison bars, they're prison bars!
J.G.P.
And there we go, there's the end of that, poor kids. I forgot to mention this before but if you haven't read the updated Mia's Story, you're gonna be all "Da fuq is a kélora fruit" and "wtf is she talking about when Seth brings up stench of Moonlight Town" so I strongly suggest you go back and read it to understand this, that'll be all.