6H: Okay, story so far-Cedeile loses all her memories, Agent 427 of the Trinity Soliders shows up and now has to 'babysit' our amenisic heartblade master, and now the both of them are trying to catch up to Sora, who Leon said could help get her memories back. Meanwhile, Ryu and Aru get into fights with two of Castle Chocobo's guardians-Mint and Cerulean, while Cloud and Rose search the castle for Cedeile. Back with the origanization, Vixen has just made his Riku replica, Namine is erasing Sora's memories, Vixen's genderless half angel-demon has vowed to kill everyone inside Castle Oblivion, Lakchine and Axel have made a plan to bring Cedeile to their side, and in the basements, Riku is slowly progressing on his own.
Anaretsu: Cause we really need a recap...(eye roll)
6H: Who was 427's promise to? What does she have to tell Cedeile? Will Axel and Lakchine capture Cedeile? What of Ryu and Aru? What's really going on in Castle Chocobo? What will the angel-demon do? Find out by reading, of course!
Kingdom Hearts-Adventures at Castle Chocobo
Floor 08-Angel-demon vs. Riku Replica! The Pain of Imitation
"Your majesty..." Rose said softly, appearng behind Cloud's throne where his sat, leaning on his hand and dozing slightly.
"Yes?" he asked, almost in a whisper. Rose came around the throne.
"I have searched all the floors. The heartblade master is no where to be found." Cloud sighed as he sat upright and tried to shake off sleep. Rose looked down at the floor, disapointed.
"It can't be helped. She must've forgotton my warning. It doesn't matter-I'll just go have a talk with him." He said, standing. Rose's head shot up.
"No! It's too-"
"He can't touch me, Rose. You know that." Cloud replied to her plea.
"I know you can get there...but can you get back?" she asked as he walked towards a black framed mirror. He stopped, his back to her, and stood very still.
"Of course." he said, almost cocky. "Watch over things while I'm gone, alright? You're in charge." He began to step through the mirror.
"But your majesty--!" it was too late-he was already on the other side. Rose sighed and sat down in the throne in the dark room. She picked up the small oracle that held the memories of their guests inside. Also through it, she could see the mage and the fragment hunter. The mage seemed much different in her appreance than before, and the boy was simply lying in the snow. Rose scowled. "They were too hard on them. I should've told them to be more careful."
"What is it, Sora?" Donald suddenly asked. Sora looked back at him, surprised. Then he realized he had stopped dead in the middle of Wonderland.
"I just thought I felt something...an aura I recognized." he said, unsurly.
"Come to think of it, I've forgotton all about auras since we started going through the castle!" Donald said. "I have no idea what's around us! It's like I shut off my senses...stupid me..."
"Y'know, I noticed you weren't sayin' stuff like 'someone with power in near,' and stuff like you used to say when we were with Miss Aru and Ryu." Goofy said. "You were always talkin' about Miss Aru's aura, ayuk!"
"Yeah..."Sora said wistfully, remembering the end of his last journey. His neck didn't feel the same without his crown chain, but he knew that it was more important for Cedeile to have it. He wanted her to have a part of him, so she wouldn't forget...
"I sense Cedeile!" Donald yelled out suddenly. "She's a few floors behind us, but she's progressing!"
"Cedeile is here? We have to go to her!" Sora yelled. He began to sprint back the way they came.
"No Sora, wait! Cedeile's aura is different from usual. I'm afraid that it might be a trap!" Donald called after him. Sora stopped in his tracks. He didn't want to lead his friends-and himself-into a trap, but still, if it was Cedeile, then he wanted to see her. He hadn't seen her since the last...
"Sora?" Goofy asked. Sora turned and walked back to them.
"Let's go onward. If it's really Cedeile, then we'll meet her later." Sora replied.
"So, you're looking for your memories?" The boy asked Cedeile. She and 427 had met him on the streets in a hard battle, which he helped them win, and then took them to his secret home. His name was Aladdin, and currently, the three of them were sitting in a circle, talking about the heartless and such.
"Yup. I have no idea what happened to them." Cedeile replied. "I just woke up in some dark place."
"I see. That's rough."
"Tell me about it. I had one hell of a headache."
"Either way..."427 inserted, "we need to get your memories back as soon as possible." She looked at Aladdin. "Do you know how we might do that?"
"I have no idea. I've never seen such strange looking people around here though. You with your pale hair and skin, and Cedeile, I thought you were a guy at first, till I saw your long hair and your chest." Cedeile's viens burst in her head.
"DO I LOOK LIKE A GUY? Good god!" she yelled.
"I'm sorry! I didn't mean it that way!" Aladdin quickly added. "It's just..."
"You know, one of my friends used to say I looked like a guy alot when I was little." 427's eyes went wide.
"What?"
"You heard me! I said, someone used to-"
"I know! But Cedeile! You just remembered something!" 427 told her forcefully. Cedeile took a while to comprehend what had been said to her.
"Oh...OH! I just remembered a memory!" Cedeile yelled, springing up to stand on her feet.
"Go figure." 427 said sarcasticly.
"Well that's good. Your search just got a little shorter." Aladdin said, grinning.
"Yeah, that's true. But still..." She walked towards a large gap in the wall that served as a window pulled the curtains aside. She now had a clear view of the entire city. "...I've got a long way to go." 427 seemed to be thinking intensly, and then turned her head slightly.
"There has to be another way for you to remember." she said. "At this rate, someone will kill us or it'll be too late by the time you do remember everything." Cedeile turned to look back at Agent 427.
"You're right." Cedeile said.
"If I hadn't sent the genie with Sora, than he could've helped you remember." Aladdin said, slightly sad.
"SORA?" Cedeile gawked. "Sora was HERE?"
"Yeah. A little while ago. He left before you came, though. Why?" Aladdin asked, confused and surprised by her sudden outburst.
"Because he's the keyblade master! And Leon told me that Sora could help me get my memories back!" Cedeile explained excitedly. "But we haven't met up with him yet." Now she was frustrated as she frowned and crossed her arms, sinking into deep thought about how to get up through the castle faster, or get her memories back quicker.
"Yeah. He's long gone, so you won't find him here. He said something about a castle." Aladdin's forehead crinkled in thought, as he tried to recall the exact words of the keyblade master. "I don't remember the rest of what he told me. Something about a guy named...Riku?"
"That name's not famillar either." Cedeile said sadly. 'Why can't I remember what's important?' she thought angrily.
"We're wasting time standing around here, anyway. Either we come up with something, or move on." 427 said seriously.
"Well, there is...another genie..."Aladdin told them, seeming to regret every word he said. "...but..."
"WHERE?" Cedeile yelled out, running back over to him, but tripping over a table and landing on the floor face first. She lifted her head, shook it from side to side, and looked back up at him. "Where is this genie? I'll wish for my memories back!"she demanded, determined to find this new way at any cost.
"He's an...evil genie...and Sora just sealed him away...so..."He rolled his eyes to the ceiling to avoid looking at her, but then his pupils wandered back to the floor where she lay. Suddenly, her hands darted up and grabbed his shirt around the collar.
"You tell me where that genie is!" she growled through clenched teeth.
"I don't know if it's such a good idea!" he responded quickly, hopeing to get off the subject. Cedeile tugged harder on his shirt, making it leave a nice burn mark in the back of his neck.
"I SAID TELL ME!" she screamed at him.
"But-"
"TELL ME!"
"I can't! It's way too dangerous! This genie used to be an evil sorceror!"
"I don't care! Bring me to the genie!" 427 rolled her eyes at their argument.
"I'm not going to! It took all we had to seal him away! And you want me to bring him back?"
"HELL YES I want you to bring him back! That way I can remember!"
"But what if you remember the wrong things?"
"DON'T TRY AND CHANGE MY MIND!" she yelled, loud enough to make the birds sitting on the ledge outside the window to scatter, like they saw the biggest cat ever, a cat who happened to be starved in the desert for 40 days.
"Would the two of you stop it. It's getting annoying." 427 demanded fiercely. Grudgingly, Cedeile let go of him and sat upright, while Aladdin rubbed the back of his neck.
"I'm telling you, it's not a good idea." he said, trying one last time to stop her.
"And I'm tellin' you-I'm ready for anything. Any danger, any peril- you name it, I'll do it for my memories." She replied confidently, putting on a cocky smirk.
When Ryu opened his eyes again, he felt a rush of pain hit him like a tsunami. Then it slightly resided, easing up enough for him to get up and move. He sat upright, and ran his hands over his face and through his hair, wiping the cold wetness off of him. He looked down at the ground and found blood everywhere. He slowly stood again and brushed the snow off his cloak and pants. Looking around, he found no one else in sight again.
'Well, at least Cerulean isn't here. I don't think I could fight her again anyway.' he thought. He began walking, taking pained steps and leaning on the tree for support. As he staggered away from the tree and further down the path, he noticed the sunlight streaking low across the ground, as if it had just rose.
'How long was I out for? Whatever. I'll just keep following this path.' he thought as he swayed down the path through the silent woods.
The Riku replica was sitting, waiting for his chance. Vixen had said not to do anything yet, but this real Riku person sounded like a pushover. He couldn't wait to toy with him. It would be delightful to mess with his mind. A ruffle of feathers took him out of his thoughts. He looked around him, up to the ceiling, all along the walls-but there was nothing else alive in this room but him. He stood, looking around the room, his ice eyes scanning everything. Nothing was there but cold, white marble.
There it was again. It was unnerving to him. Was someone watching him? He hated that. He wasn't just some scientific wonder to behold like an animal.
Wait a minute. He was. He shrugged off the feeling that there was another presence with him and turned to sit back down again. In a mere second, the figure watching him was on him-clutching his left arm, it's blade like nails streched out two feet from normal and rested as his throat. The wind from all the movement at last blew past him, as if it had been delayed beacuse the assualter was so fast.
"Who might you be?" The replica asked the figure behind him. The figure pressed it's nails closer to his throat.
"I'm Vixen's little experiment with fate." it replied. It was the angel-demon, fury resonating in its voice. Riku smirked.
"I see. I haven't heard about you yet." he replied.
"You won't remember me long. I was Vixen's best experiment-a half angel-demon is quite a feat. Then he abandoneed me for you. You're just a copy of a human. Why are you so great?" it asked.
"I don't know." he replied honestly. "Do you have a name?"
"No. No name, no identity. I'm not a man or a woman-I just am." it replied.
"I see. That is hard. But I'm more perfect in that way." Riku replied cockily.
"Don't mock me..." it told him.
"So, what are you going to do now?" he asked it, closing his eyes with confidence. "Do you think you can kill me?"
"Perhaps I can." she hissed. "Aren't you afraid? Or is it that you are unable to fear." it asked, pressing its nails closer to his skin. "Did Vixen forget to give you feelings? Or did he just want to see how interesting you would be without them?" The replica's face turned into a shocked filled one first, then an angry glare.
"Hardly." he huffed, trying to laugh it off. "At least I can call myself 'he.'" That was the end of talk. It went to slit his throat with a swift move of its hand, but he flew downwards, only losing a few strands of silver hair as he did so, and swung his leg around to knock the angel-demon of its feet. It, however, had different plans, and did a backflip when both feet had been forced off the ground. They landed on oppisite sides of the room, crouched low to the floor and glareing at each other. The whole exchange had only taken about 2 seconds in reality, but it had seemed like much longer to them. Both looked at each other. Riku's eyes thristed for a challenge, a battle. But his enemy's eyes held only relenting hatred. The two charged at each other, Riku drawing his sword and the angel-demon releashing its claws. The claws met the edge of the wing-like blade with trememdous force that blew both weapons back. They tried again with the same results, and kept going at each other-each blocking each other perfectly. When the angel-demon grew bored of this exchange, it flipped back and retracted its nails. It brought out its hidden weapons instead. It stood, holding out both of its hands, and wind currents began to flow upwards from the palms. Magic swords materilized, shaped from the wind, and floated above its hands, ready to kill. Riku replica smirked. This would make the battle more worth while.
"He gave you magic, but no gender." he stated.
"Indeed he did. And with magic, I'll kill you." it stated. The two charged once again, this time Riku was ready for both swords. They both came down, and he went to defend, but the swords went through his blade. Both hit him square in the shoulders, cauing him to cry out and go flying from the extra blast of wind that formed after them. He flew into the wall with great enough force to crack the marble into pieces. He lay on the floor as it came closer to him. "You talk big, but you lack the strength of which you boast. But if I kill you now, then that'll be one person off my list."
"Sh...shut it. You are nothing compared to me. I'm the perfect experiment here. I've got magic too...DARK AURA!" The room around them became pure black, and Riku replica floated into the air by magic. Then in a flash he was gone but not for long. It felt him cut across its diaphram, releasing black liquid that was not quite blood, then again across the back, again going up the the right shoulder, then down the other one, and the last time went for the finishing move-right through the heart. But it was quicker than that and turned, thrusting both sword and reextending its nails. All twleve forces ran through him-not enough to kill him, but enough to severly wound him. The darkness faded away to the blank white room-but the floor was not quite white anymore. It had red and black strewn over it now-a sinsiter lake. They stayed frozen for a few more seconds, and then the swords disappeared and the claws were retracted, and he fell to the ground. The angel-demon looked over him.
"I don't know why I don't finish you now." it said, and went to walk past him. A hand grabbed its ankle, causing the angel-demon stop in its tracks.
"You said...you w-were half..." he strained to say. "what's...y-y-your...o-oth-ther side?" The angel demon glared at him and then turned away.
"I don't know. It doesn't matter at this point." And it pulled out of the weaken grasped and walked away.
"What the hell happened?" Vixen demanded as he burst into the dark room. Zexion and Lexaus were standing there as well. They both raised and eyebrow.
"What are you asking about?" Zexion asked.
"Where is my replica?" Vixen demanded again.
"I haven't seen it down here. Riku is almost through with the 8th basement."
"Exactly! That's why I wan to know where he is!" Vixen yelled. "He should've been in the hall by now, ready to intercept him!" Vixen's viens were bursting out of his head, and his eyes were crazy with anger. Zexion and Lexaus looked at each other sideways with an expression that read "this guy's a moron."
"Well, where did you see him last, Vexen? That's the most logical way to approach it." Lexaus said.
"I don't know. All I said was for him to wait for Riku." Vixen replied, slightly calmer. Lexaus rolled his eyes while Zexion made a stab at it.
"We'll search the castle-all of us. Lexaus and I will do the basements, and you and the others can cover above, alright?" he said. Vixen glared at first, but then nodded slowly.
"That's all we can do. In the meantime, keep the real Riku stalled for as long as possible. Send wave after wave of heartless, if you have to. They're stalling Sora up above. Our plan will not fail! It mustn't!" Vixen cried. He stormed out of the room angrily. Zexion and Lexaus looked after him and then at each other.
"Now what do we do?" Lexaus asked.
"Do what we said we would. Search for his little pet." Zexion replied.
"Do we have to?" his fellow asked.
"Come on." Zexion said to him, annoyed. The two walked out of the room silently, and down the stairs to begin their search. When the room was empty, a black hole opened in the shadowed ceiling, and out came the angel-demon. It looked around for more of its victims, and then sailed back through the portal, not realizing the prey that had left just moments before.
6H: Close call for Zexion and Lexaus. Yes, I know that's not his name in the english, but I'm trying to use the Jap. names. Besides, I like Lakchine so much better than Larxene.
Anaretsu: Why don't I have a cool name that strikes fear into the hearts of my enemies?
6H: You do, stupid.
Anaretsu:...oh...right.
6H: How is Zexion's name pronouced anyway?
Anaretsu: Who knows?
6H: That's a great question for the veiwers to answer!Okay, my readers, tell me how Zexion's name is pronouced in your reviews! That would require you to review. And flames will be used to burn stupid preps alive!
Anaretsu: Oh yes! That's better than ice cream cake!
6H: Indeed it is...mwuha ha ha...
