"Rosarium Relics"
(¯·.¸.•´¯•.¸ The Face in the Mirror ¸.•´¯•. ,.:¯)
There was no going back. The hand locked around hers was a chain, binding her to all he had done, all he would do. His grip tightened as the group rushed down the snow colored halls. It felt like the world was rushing around her while she stood still. The feeling caught up with her and she stumbled, but he caught her before she could fall.
"Don't worry." he said. "I won't let anything happen to you, Naminé."
But he was too late. Everything had already happened to her. Everything she had ever dreamed of and everything she had ever feared. It had all already happened.
"What now Marluxia?" Larxene asked, her voice thick with some twisted anticipation.
"Now we leave. Thanks to Naminé, we'll have a new home soon and a few new friends." He smiled pleasantly at her, then at the two boys by her side. "Or should I say old friends?"
She felt it before she saw it. Marluxia raised his arm and spread his fingers against the marble wall. It bled to darkness as the room filled with a familiar icy air. "Right this way." He said with a smile.
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How long he had been walking, he did not know. It might as well had been forever.
'Such a punishment is less than I deserve', Riku thought dismissively as he approached another set of stairs.
Across these empty floors he had been wandering for what seem liked hours. Miles and miles of hallways. Floor after floor. Stair after stair. Still nothing changed. He still didn't know why he was here or what he was suppose to do. Maybe that was the point.
"Haven't found what you've been looking for?" an unfamiliar voice asked. Riku looked up. At the top of the stairs under the archway was one of those black cloaked figures, this one short with pale blue spiky hair that hung in his face like a curtain.
"Who are you?" Riku asked the other. He couldn't have been much older than Riku from the look of him, although his voice seemed to tell a different tale.
"Don't you mean, 'Where is the Keyblade Master?' " the figured asked.
"Sora?" Riku tightened his fist, ready to summon his weapon. "What do you know about Sora?" he demanded.
"Only that he's here in the castle." The man said vaguely, nothing on his face to show that he cared one way or the other.
"He's here? WHERE?" Riku was losing patience. Was this all a game to whoever these people were? What did they want with him? And more importantly, what did they want with Sora?
"Does it matter? It's not like you can face him after what you've done."
The silver-haired boy clenched his teeth. "What do you know about what I've done?" Riku snarled.
"I know everything you've done. How you destroyed your home, betrayed everyone you loved; all for the sake of darkness. Tell me Riku, do you really think you can face him again? That you deserve to? Especially with Ansem's shadow still nesting within your heart…" Riku fist shook from the force of his restraint. He wanted to run, he wanted to strike but he couldn't bring himself to move; this stranger's words had him frozen in guilt.
"Sora is destined to battle the darkness, which includes you. How can you still hope to be his friend? And who would know better than you? What Sora wants and what you want are two very different things, aren't they Riku?"
Riku hated this man, this stranger that was seeing right through to him. Right through to the ugly truth. "Shut up!" Riku screamed. "What do you know? You don't know anything!"
"Well then, see for yourself." The blue haired man reached into his cloak and pulled out a card. He threw it at Riku. "There you'll find the truth."
Riku looked at the thin card. It's front was cartoonish, but Riku knew what it was. "This card… this is our..."
"Yes. It is your home." Riku looked up just as the man vanished in a cloud of darkness. Suddenly, the room was spinning. It grew darker and colder, then there were shapes, something from his memory… He was back on their island. He looked around in a panic as the sky churned angrily in a violent mix of purple and black clouds. Across the sand the shoreline had vanished; it was now a cliff that hung over a vast dark ocean with no end in sight. Then he heard their familiar voices. The Heartless…
"This is….that night!" he realized.
The cloaked man appeared before him and pointed out to the empty horizon. "All of the islands you grew up on were sundered, scattered, many hearts were forever lost to the darkness. All because of you."
Riku watched as a version of himself materialized along the cliff of what use to be the shore of the beach, now waterless and dark. He continued to listen to the stranger's cruel words.
"You hated being an islander, so you opened the door to darkness and destroyed the islands. It was you that caused this!" Riku stared out at the ruin he created. Debris was littered across the darkened sky, coloring it like an ugly rain. He wanted to look away, but he couldn't.
"You were pulled to the darkness then, and now you belong in it. You should look…" the cloaked man continued. "Look at what you truly are…"
Then the darkness came, swallowing Riku before his very eyes, devouring him until there was nothing left. Then out of the darkness came a gargatuan Heartless, it's eyes yellow and hungry, the same eyes that haunted his dreams.
Instinct took over as Riku summoned Soul Eater to his hand, ready to fight. The Heartless lunged forward, its skeletonal-like hand reaching longingly for his heart. Riku braced himself for the attack, but it never came. He looked around confused as the scene before him faded and died. Riku was back in the white room again with the cloaked figure, only something was wrong. The man's eyes were bulging, his face transfixed in obvious pain as he gripped at his chest, blood pouring from his black cloak.
Then he understood. The illusion ended because the illusionist was attacked. But by whom? The only other people Riku had seen in this castle were others like the blue haired guy and false images out of his memory. There was no one else. Except…
The illusionist's eyes rolled into the back of his head and he fell forward, a blood-stained blade had been impaled into the unidentified man from his back, it's owner becoming visible as his victim collapsed, sprawled out on the pale floor in front of him. Riku froze, his eyes widening impossibly as he stared at the assailant, completely forgetting about the body that lay crumpled on the floor and fading into nothingness.
"What's the matter?" the boy attacker teased darkly, "See someone you know?"
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"What is this place?" Naminé asked. It felt familiar, but she didn't know why. The scent of it filled her nose, bringing unexplained tears to her eyes and a hollow feeling to her stomach, a strange feeling she neither understood, nor wanted.
"This is our new home." Marluxia explained. "A once radiant place called Hollow Bastion." They walked past some windows and she could see the castle's courtyard. It looked like it had been splendid at one point, but now it was filled with forgotten flower beds, broken stones and huge dingy pipes that seemed to lead to nowhere. Marluxia scoffed as his cerulean eyes glanced the derelict momentarily. "The gardens could use some work don't you think? Perhaps that's something you and the boy could help me do, hmmm?"
Her thoughts drifted to Sora and where he was now. Already, she missed him. As soon as they arrived at this castle Marluxia sent him away on some mission. It worried her, the things Marluxia would ask him to do - the orders he would carry out without hesitation.
For her.
"Naminé? Did you hear me?"
She jerked herself out of her thoughts as he eyed her with great interest. "Yes. I think I'd like that." She replied softly. It wasn't entirely a lie. She did need something to distract her from all the deeds to be carried out in her name. She just wasn't sure gardening would be enough.
"Good." he said with a passing nod. Fleeting images of flower designs quickly slippped out of her head as the two continued to walk the corridors. She had more important things to worry about. "When can I see Sora?" she asked.
"Patience, Naminé. You've both had quite a long day, don't you think? I want you to get some rest first, then you can see him. I promise." He came to a halt at a large wood door. He twisted the knob and stuck his head inside, then opened the door widely for her. "What about this room?" he asked. "It looks like there's plenty of room to hang those wonderful drawings of yours."
Naminé stepped across the threshold. The room was dark and smelled a bit dank. Marluxia quietly struck a match and lit a couple of lanterns. Flickering light cast the room into an eerie orange glow as she surveyed the room. It was in rather good shape considering the age of the castle. Several bookcases lined one wall and the bed looked rather comfortable albeit a bit dusty. "What do you think?" the pink-haired man asked.
"It's fine. Thank you." She said in a small voice. He turned and smiled softly as she brushed off the covers and took a seat on the edge. "Get some rest Naminé. When you wake up, you'll be ready to see Sora." She smiled faintly in return as he quietly closed the door behind him. There was a small click, telling her he had just locked her in. Her smile quickly faded as she slowly laid down on the velvet bed coverings.
'A prisoner once again, huh?' she thought sadly, 'At least this time I have him…'
With that one happy thought she drifted off to sleep, unaware of the terror she left behind.
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"Who are you?" Riku demanded.
"I would have thought the answer to that question was obvious." Said the other with a sneer, placing his foot down upon vanishing figure. He harshly pulled his blade from the illusionist, a sickening and unidentifiable sound following its removal.
It was like looking into a mirror. The boy before him looked just like him. Short, spiky silver hair, bright aqua eyes, and drenched in the scent of darkness. Was this some kind of trick? Another illusion meant to test him? Riku decided he didn't care. "Tell me! Where is Sora?"
The other him laughed. "Sora?" it wondered. "Sora doesn't want to see you."
"I'll be the judge of that!" Riku told him, Soul Eater disappating from its forgotten place on the floor and reappearing in his hand with a flourish of dark energy. "Take me to him, NOW!"
"I already told you; Sora doesn't want you. He never wanted you…"
Riku felt his blood run hot as the doppelganger continued to taunt him. The boy chucked, turning his back to Riku. "Don't feel sad. There is someone who does want you. Wouldn't you like to see him?" the boy mused.
Before the boy's words finished running past his lips Riku fell to the ground, clenching his chest as he watched his mirror image walk away. He could feel the darkness seething inside his heart, heavy and hollow. He wanted to tear this boy apart, rip him to pieces…
'Yes. That's it.'
Riku gasped at the unwelcomed voice, body trembling in fear. "No…" he rasped. "Not you."
He looked up. The boy was gone, leaving him behind with his demon. Hatred raced through his veins as he got to his knees to face the man before him, the object of his hatred staring at him with smoldering amber eyes.
"Ansem." He snarled.
.•*´¯`*•.¸ (¯`*·.¸(¯`*·.¸¸.•*´¯`*•. ,.:~*`¯.•*´¯`*•.¸ (¯`*·.¸(¯`*·.¸ ¸.•*´¯`*•.
A lot of rewatching of Re:Chain of Memories preceeded us writing this. We took the best wording from both the manga and the game and threw it in with a little of our own if we didn't like either, but the effect is the same. One or two more chapters and we'll be away from canon entirely. Slow updating is still slow. Life happens.
Feedback is greatly appreciated~ So please review!
