--Chapter Seven: a stubborn soul—
"Articulate, aren't you?" she snapped. He did not respond. She could see his eyes boring into her own, and wondered exactly what he thought he was going to find there. She was empty, void, a vacuum. Surely he could see that?
"..What happened to you?" There was sadness there as the silver-haired boy let his mouth slide into a frown.
As if she knew. She had only just discovered her name. Analise could sense his flitting thoughts, feel them as if they were her own. He was upset, overjoyed, full of despair, then fury..what the hell was he? Even he could not make up his mind. After she did not offer him a response, he stepped forward. The glare from before had melted away into a veil of unreadable blankness. Unreadable from the outside, but she could see right through it with relative ease.
The girl raised an eyebrow, watching him cringe at the sight of her vibrantly yellow eyes, "You should know. It was your fault."
Bingo. That was exactly what he had been thinking. She could almost hear the thundering crash of broken glass as his heart sank. It was intriguing to her to watch the stages of his inner demise. His soul writhing with guilt..so it was no wonder that his actions were puzzling. They did not meet up at all with the state his heart was in.
She felt his fingers close around her arms, watched his eyes fall, downcast. He was hanging on for dear life, practically. The cavernous shell of a nobody found herself pulled forward, feet half-buried in the sand as she was enveloped in his embrace. His arms were shaking. She could sense fear. However, the most over-powering sensation of all was the flaming thrum of determination boiling in the pit of his being. Even after she had tried to break him—and had successfully penetrated his defenses with her venomous words—he was ready to fight. It was an abnormal response…
His hands were shaking, and soon she felt his shoulders follow as the boy let his head hang low. Her own eyes snapped open, wide to attention as one drop..then two of water hit her shoulder. He was crying now? What a strange creature, this Riku..
"I'm sorry," he finally spoke, voice barely above a whisper, "I am so sorry, Berri. I should have gotten there sooner—"
"Let go."
She'd had enough of his antics. This world was new, and strange, but the dragging voice that had led her there..well, it was gone. She had no reason to linger and muse over his bumbling words and shattered heart. There was nothing more she could to do toy with him. No motivation to try and mend him, either.
He obeyed her, as if in shock. With his hands still gently gripping her shoulders Riku took a step back, and she watched the wind catch his hair, sunbeams dancing against the silver radiance. Why did she, all of a sudden, want to remember him..? The burning pull that had drawn her there had returned, urging her forward. Analise refused to oblige. She knew now what was happening. It was the same feeling that had reacted to hearing her old nickname; to hearing 'Berri.' That creature she had once been in the presence of others Ro and Constance had spoken of. Her old self—the one with the heart—was trying to return to this boy. The missing fragments of that heart were crying out, trying to piece themselves together with little success. She was not going to have it. That old being could not, would not be allowed to control her. Her eyes hardened, and she gazed up into the glossy, tearful pools of aquamarine eyes before her.
"Berri…?"
She smiled, innocently, and felt the springing whir of hope build in his chest. It was there—faint, but present—and about to be destroyed. The nobody lifted one hand to rest it gently against his chest before answering in a perfectly sing-song voice, "I am not Berri anymore."
A flash of dark light erupted from her fingertips as a blast of the purely devastating energy cascaded forward, down along her arm. It crashed into the boy's chest, and sent him flying backward into the sand with a pained grunt of confusion. Excess darkness rolled off of his body in coiling tendrils of blackened violet.
"Hm."
She watched as his chest heaved with coughing, limbs weak, arms shaking. It had been a very successful hit. Despite knowing he was in pain, the weakening connections to her former heart had not reacted. The real Berri, the lost soul drifting in the darkness was in utter shock, and Analise could tell. She walked slowly towards the silver-haired boy in the sand, sensing the presence of others running to find the source of the sound her surprise attack had caused. He looked so pitiful there..helpless..doomed.
"Berri.." he coughed again, trying to force himself up into a sitting position when she kicked him back down.
"I told you," her voice slipped out from between her lips like icicles falling from the topmost branches of a tree. Quick, slick, and sharp. "I am not Berri anymore."
The girl with purple-tipped hair crouched down beside him, brushing strands of that feathery veil behind her shoulder before she continued her verbal assault, "And I will never be Berri again. Face it, Riku; you failed. You could not save her then, and you cannot save her now. In fact, I can tell you honestly this very second that she does not even want you to try. She knows you'll fail again."
That had sealed the deal. She could feel the pained despair seeping out of his very aura to crash into her own. He was broken; well..close enough to it for her to be satisfied. At the very least, she was confident nobody would try to restore Berri's heart. That way, she would not have to disappear. Analise gave his cheek a gentle pat, and stood up before walking away down the beachfront. The sound of a sob reached her ears at about the same time a young boy shouted at her to stop.
A portal of darkness rose from the floor at her command, and just before passing through the nobody smirked over her shoulder at a blue-eyed boy with spikey brown hair as he fell to his knees next to Riku. That was Sora; she could feel his name in the air..and judging by the look on his face, he would have attacked her if Riku had not needed his help. She blew them both a kiss, and stepped into the welcoming vibrance of the darkness to begin her trek around in search of..interesting fun. But even as she felt herself sighing with the relief of Berri's demise, she could feel that pulsating warmth of a heart screaming furiously at her for what she had done.
"Such a stubborn little soul..aren't you, Berri?"
"Damn straight, you witch."
