Hello again! For for those of you who are wondering, this will not be a daily-updated story. I want to have a chance to properly write all of my chapters, and updating daily not only rushes me, but severely affects the plot, etc. As usual, if you could spare any time at all to leave me a review, I would be very greatful. I just realized that I forgot my disclaimer in the last chapter! :\ Oopsies! Hope they don't sue me...
Disclaimer: Me is not owning KH. T.T
Chapter 2
My eyes were dull as I surveyed the Rising Falls. This wasn't even a real mission, I just had to find some kid who was wandering around getting beaten up by Dark Balls, Defenders, and such. I sighed. Problem was, he wasn't here like Maleficent had said he would be. I hopped back on the flying pedestal-like thing and rode back to the main castle. Next, I decided to check the waterways. Nothing. But maybe... An idea having struck me, I made my way to the dungeon, slowly opening the rusty, barred door. I peeked inside to see a boy around my age with silvery hair finish off a Dark Ball with the bat-wing sword I had stashed down here a while ago, just in case. He was welcome to it; Cathal was all I'd ever need. Leaning against the door I had just propped open, I began to clap slowly, making the boy whip around, not easing out of his battle stance at all.
"Impressive," I said, voice laced with faux enthusiasm; I wasn't in the mood for anymore diva battle boys like Leon, who he reminded me of, "no less that fifteen heartless, I see."
"Who are you? Have you been standing here the whole time?" he asked suspiciously. Something about the boy tugged at some memory in the back of my head, but I shrugged it off. Because now, all of my previous dullness had worn off; I was genuinely interested.
"Nope," I said, actually cheery, this time. I hopped up onto the altar-like table with candles on it, swinging my legs and looking at him playfully. Curiously, he tilted his head, seeming genuinely interested in me, and I noticed that he stepped out of his battle stance.
"Then how did you know how many I killed? And you still haven't answered my first question yet," he said, walking up to the altar and standing in front of me, blocking escape unintentionally. I noticed he was a couple of inches taller than me, which made me pout. I liked being taller than most people, but this guy had me beat.
"I was the one who locked those little critters down here in the first place because they kept on bugging me when I was on patrol," I sighed, stifling a yawn. My lack of sleep was getting to me, now, and everything was slightly blurry. I frowned. I might not have been able to beat the guy in this shape, so I decided I would have to play nice.
"Patrol? Do you live here? Are you ever going to tell me who you are?" he asked, now looking a little confused and peeved. Drats. I thought that I could avoid the question forever, but it was making the boy awfully irritable.
"Relax," I drawled, snapping my fingers and lighting the torches around the room, making it easier to see him. Better. Now I wasn't as sleepy.
"Why should I relax?" he said, bitterly, "I've just lost my world to darkness, and I don't know where either of my two best friends are. Does that seem very relaxing to you?"
My eyes flashed with anger, and I glared at him. He was beginning to get on my nerves.
"Listen up, bud," I said, matching his tone, except with extra bitter sauce, "if you wanna complain about your life, start talking to someone who has control over whatever happens in theirs. 'Cuz, as far as I can tell, you actually have a chance of getting your best friends and your world back. I don't have that luxury. Now, I suggest you follow me, unless you want to stay down here an rot in this dank little slice of heaven and wait for the heartless to come eat you. I didn't lock them all up, you know."
The boy's eyes widened, and I could swear there was a flash of guilt in them before they switched back to their usual peevy-ness. I noticed how blue they were, and I felt that tugging sensation again. For some reason, I'd always liked blue eyes on boys... The boy huffed, breaking me out of my reverie.
"Can I at least get your name?" he asked, defeatedly, "I'd like to know who could be luring me off to my doom beforehand."
"Enya," I said, smiling at him. I felt a little warm while he stared at me intently, making one of my patented awkward faces. Even that didn't work...
"Enya..." the boy trailed off again for a moment, then gradually came back to earth. His eyes locked back onto mine and I felt a shiver go down my spine. There was something odd and determined in them. I coughed awkwardly.
"W-what's yours, then?" I asked, my voice cracking. Suddenly, he grinned, as though he'd remembered something.
"Riku," he said, confidently, "but, Enya...I do believe we've already met."
My eyes widened. It was possible, considering some of my memories were lost to me when the locket swallowed up my heart. But I wasn't about to let Riku know. I shrugged, hopping off the altar and walking past him towards the door.
"C'mon, we can talk later, but first you've got to 'come back to see Maleficent'," I said, miming her extremely dulcet tones and waving my arms around in an overacted imitation. I heard confused chuckles from behind me, and turned around at the door to see Riku shaking his head.
"You really haven't changed a bit," he said, then stepped forwards, pushing the door closed behind him. He turned and smiled.
"Shall we?" he said, crooking his elbow out for me to take it. My eyes widened, and I blushed slightly, taking his arm slowly. We left the dungeons echoing uncharacteristically with the sound of Riku's laughter.
~0o0~
I blew at the voluminous, dark brown hair bouncing in my eyes irritably. That boy...Riku...he confused me. Even though he was a very serious person, he seemed to get a kick out of teasing me. He also never stopped bothering me to see if I remembered him, too. I always dodged his questions until he finally just ended up labeling me as a "forgetful moose." I shit you not. When I tried to point this out to him, he simply took it as even more of a confirmation, waving my questions away. By that time we had reached Maleficent's Throne Room-like thing, and I was forced to wait outside.
It had only been around an hour since he'd gone in, but it still felt like centuries, so I decided to go grab a sandwich from the enchanted kitchen that had everything you could ever want (literally), courtesy of yours truly, instead of waiting around like some lost puppy. It was one of the few things that I had enjoyed doing under Maleficent's direction. Then again, I reasoned, turning corners and sweeping down hallways in my Cloak of All Things Good and Epic, anything to do with sandwiches was good. Especially ones with swiss cheese and fresh lettuce and-
Thump!
I whipped around, drawing Cathal fluidly while instantly crouching into a battle stance. Instead of some masked murderer come to kill me, or, less serverely, some heartless, I saw Riku, on his knees after having tripped over the trick step at the end of my special little hallway. I laughed at him and decided that the newbie might actually need light to see. Seasoned inhabitants of the castle had strangely acurate night vision. I snapped my fingers and torches all along the hallway sprang to life as I re-sheathed Cathal and helped Riku up. He grinned nervously back at me, and we fell into step beside each other.
"That was quick," I noted, scrutinizing his carefully controlled expression, "Maleficent usually enjoys hearing herself talk a bit more than that."
Riku snorted darkly, and I could tell something was eating him. But, as I guessed right now, whatever it was that was eating him wouldn't like the taste. Too emotional and salty, kinda like a bi-polar pretzel.
"Hey," I said, hopping in front of him and walking backwards, synchronizing our steps together, "lighten up. Did she say anything about your friends or your world?"
Riku shook his head darkly, continuing on without missing a step. I hopped back into my place, pouting, and we continued our silent march down the corridors of our own little personal hell. At least, I assumed Riku didn't like it here, and was only staying for convenience. But what if he liked darkness, and wasn't just stuck in it like me? Then, who would I talk to? Would I be alone again? Would he even like talking to me? Had we really met already? What was our connection? Why were his eyes so blue? ...Why had I just thought that?
My mind was fighting a loosing battle trying to figure out everything, or at least put it in order, and I was getting a massive headache concentrating. I even went cross-eyed for a few seconds. Still, the Walk of Silence and Doom continued on its weary way.
"Where are we going, anyways? Maleficent said that you knew the way to where I would be staying..." Riku stopped when I didn't answer, as I was too engrossed in all of the questions raging around in my head.
"Hello? Enya?" he asked, waited, then tried again, "Yo, cloak girl!"
I was startled out of my reverie, backing up against the wall with my arms flung wide, eyes wide with surprise. My head whipped around, looking for the said "cloak girl." It was probably Maleficent. Yeah, who else wore a cloa-... I turned back to Riku, unamused. It didn't bother him, though, because he was too busy laughing at me. I rolled my eyes and continued walking, not waiting for him to get over himself.
"Wait! You still haven't answered my question!" Riku called, running to catch up while still laughing. I turned back, surprised, but never stopped my fast pace. I really wanted that damn sandwich.
"I already told you what my name was a long time ago, nitwit," I said, rolling my eyes for the second time in a minute. It was really getting to be a habit again...Leon wouldn't be pleased. My expression must've clouded over because Riku, who'd just reached me looked concerned.
"No, the one about where we're going, and are you alright?" he asked, placing a hand on my left shoulder. I flinched back, clutching it in pain. Riku backed up, apologizing immediately. Apparently the darkness from the locket hadn't completely fixed my burns.
"You're not scared of me...you're injured, right?" Riku asked, something indeciferable hiding behind his cool mask. I nodded, not letting the pain make its way into my expression.
"Here, can you stand?" he asked, not waiting for an answer, "Let's take off your cloak to assess the damage," he said, calmly unlacing the crossed ties in the front, then helping me shrug the cloak off gently. A light blush tinted my cheeks, I'm sure; I wasn't used to people being this close anymore.
"By the way, how did your cloak survive whatever burned you?" he asked, beginning to look at my shoulder, gently brushing some of the charred remains of that side of my T-shirt off.
"Maleficent made it for me out of darkness itself. She enchanted it so that it would stop dark attacks from getting through, but since it's not really tangible, everything else passes through," I recited, wincing a bit. Riku nodded (after quickly apologizing), but by now he was completely absorbed in my shoulder.
"Looks like you've got a slight burn on your shoulder, but a little salve and you should be fine," he said, calmly taking charge of the situation. I giggled slightly at the thought while I got crush butterflies. I mentally cursed myself out; I hated hormones.
"What?" he asked, confused as he looked up from his concentration on my shoulder. I smiled and shook my head, giving him directions to my other awesome, pimped-out haven; the cupboard I kept stocked full of potions, ingredients, bandages, and all sorts of small weapons.
I reached up to take the key to the said cupboard off my neck, having to angle my head just right to get it off. When I gave the key to Riku, I saw his worried expression.
"I'll be fine, Riku," I sighed, shaking my head. He nodded solemnly, a determined look in his eyes, and jogged off, muttering my directions to himself under his breath. I smiled and lay my head back, quickly falling into a sort of daze-like dream world.
WOOT! This is kinda fluffy... But we'll live. Right? Because it's not like every day I stuff my fics full with this much plot. And, believe me, there's a shitload of plot to be had. And a lot of shockers at the end. Mwahahahaha. How I love them so. Anyways, how'd you like it? You'd better have, since I'm not gonna update for another few days. I'm using up precious, long chapters quickly, so I need more time to write. Until then!
-Miriflowers