Coolmegan123: Yep, you're right, she definitely needs to build some self confidence, and the Keyblade could be just what she needs...though of course you'll have to wait to find out for sure if it works! ;) Thanks for the review!


DiZ didn't have much to say as we told him all about our little adventure in the woods and how I was, apparently, now a Keyblade wielder. Mostly he just nodded, hummed a little in thought or agreement, and occasionally threw in an, "Interesting."

Finally Riku had me summon the Keyblade to show him. I got it right on the first try this time, and was pretty proud of myself. DiZ just nodded and hummed again, never showing any emotion on the small part of his face that I could see.

"Well, congratulations, child." His comment sounded insincere, like most everything else he said. I got the feeling that he didn't care all that much about anything that wasn't directly related to him and whatever the heck he was doing in this gloomy basement of his. "Now," he began again, rising from his seat. "I assume you would like to know the name of this new blade of yours?"

"The name?" I repeated, confused.

"Yes, every good weapon has a name." We followed him out of the room and up the stairs into the library.

"My sword is called Soul Eater," Riku offered.

"Hmm. Cheery," I quipped.

Ignoring my comment, DiZ ran his index finger along the spines of the books until he came to a particular deep blue one. This book he pulled out and began to thumb through carefully, leaving us waiting in silence for several minutes. "Aha," he declared at last. "This is the one, I believe."

He held out the book, and I stepped in closer to look at the drawing on the page. "Yeah, that looks like it," I agreed.

"Sorrow's Promise," DiZ read from the top of the page. "That is its name."

I scrunched my nose up. "Just as cheery. Well, at least it's pretty." Turning to Riku, I motioned towards the door. "If we're done here, I'd like to go shower. Assuming there is one of those in this old place." My arms and face were still streaked with blood, and I felt like I was coated in dried-up sweat.

"No shower, sorry," Riku answered. "Just the tub in the bathroom that's right across the hall from our bedrooms."

Thanking him, I exited the room, but stopped just outside when I heard the murmur of voices start back up inside. I stepped back towards the door and gently pressed my ear up against it, wondering if they were talking about me.

"...dark Keyblade?" I heard Riku say. "That's what I don't understand."

"You yourself carry a weapon born of darkness," DiZ replied. "Why is it so astounding that she would, too?"

"Because she's Kairi's doppelganger!" Riku exclaimed.

"Ah, yes, and Kairi is a Princess of Heart," DiZ responded.

"Exactly," said Riku. "She has a heart of pure light. So if Meli is essentially the same person, why does her heart have darkness in it?"

"There are many ways for darkness to enter a heart," DiZ explained. "From what I've been told, the two girls' lives differed quite greatly past the age of eight. Meli may have, at one point, had a heart of pure light, but her life circumstances caused darkness to be born in it somewhere along the way."

Their voices began to fade as, I assumed, they went down the stairs to the basement. Frowning, I took a step back away from the door. This whole light versus dark thing had me quite confused. Was darkness bad? It certainly was if you took Star Wars as any kind of example. Also, the Heartless came from the same black smoke that my Keyblade did, so that probably meant that they were from the darkness, too. Another point for darkness being bad.

On the other hand, Riku used a dark weapon and dark corridors, so he had to have darkness in his heart, too, right? He didn't seem all that bad. He had even been really kind and caring to me on more than one occasion. There was Roxas' use of dark corridors to consider, too, and surely someone as nice as Roxas wasn't on the bad side. I heaved a sigh, realizing that I wasn't going to get any answers just standing here in the hall puzzling over it. I would just have to see if I could pry an explanation out of Riku at some point.

After a nice, long, relaxing soak in the tub, I went to my room and checked my hair in the mirror. The side that was trimmed close to my head was already dry, and I was running my fingers through the long side to style it when I heard a knock on the door.

"It's Riku," his muffled voice called. "I brought food."

Opening the door, I stepped to the side to let him in. "Three of my favorite words," I smiled. I peered out into the empty hallway. "What about Naminé? Does she not want to eat with us?"

"Oh, uh..." Riku frowned as if the idea had never crossed his mind. "I don't know. She's pretty busy."

I shrugged and took the take-out box from his hands. "Okay. What does she do exactly, anyway?" When Riku scrunched his face up uncertainly again, I waved my free hand in defeat and plopped onto the bed. "Never mind, never mind. Secret stuff, I get it. I'm just trying to figure the three of you out. Why you're here, what the connections are. It's all very mysterious." I tapped my fork on my chin in thought. "There are just the three of you here, right? You don't have any other kids hiding anywhere?"

"No," Riku answered, almost a little too quickly. "Just us." He took a seat in the chair next to the bed and opened his box of food.

"Because if there were, I would almost have to think there was some weird X-Men stuff going on here," I joked. "With the old mansion, and all this magic crap that's been happening, and with DiZ being a way creepier version of Professor X, of course."

Riku finished chewing his bite of food slowly and swallowed. "I have no idea what you're talking about. Is that someone you know?"

"No, it's a movie." I shook my head. "Never mind."

We ate for a few minutes in silence after that. My mind had returned to the subject of darkness and light, and I was wondering if I should ask him about it. Finally I decided to give it a try. "So, tell me more about my Keyblade. What does it mean that it's from the darkness?"

Riku seemed to consider this for a moment before answering. "Well, there are Keyblades – and other weapons – of both light and darkness. Those of darkness originate from the Realm of Darkness."

"Which I'm assuming is not where we are right now," I broke in.

"No, we live in the Realm of Light," Riku agreed. "Each kind of Keyblade carries certain powers with it that the other kind can't necessarily use. So, as a bearer of a dark Keyblade, you will have access to dark powers."

"But what does that mean?" I pressed. "Having 'dark powers' sounds so ominous. Do I have to like, join the dark side or something? Am I going to be the next Darth Vader?"

Riku's expression changed to one of confusion, and I waved my fork in the air in exasperation before he could speak. "Forget it. Clearly you don't have the same movies here that we do." I drew in a deep breath and reworded my question. "What I'm asking is...is the darkness bad? Does having a dark Keyblade mean there's some kind of...evil in me?"

I half expected Riku to immediately dismiss the thought, but instead he sighed and didn't speak for a long moment. "That's exactly what I've been trying to find out for myself," he finally admitted. "It's true that having a dark weapon does mean that there is darkness in your heart. But whether or not the darkness is bad...that's a question that I don't know the answer to yet." He looked down at the food in his lap, stabbing at it with his fork without picking anything up. "I have darkness in my heart, too. It's caused a lot of problems...a lot of pain for the people I care about. But that was because I gave into it, and let it control me."

It was surprising, hearing him actually open up and be this vulnerable. I might not have known him for long, but it wasn't hard to tell that he didn't share personal things easily. I opened my mouth to speak, but wasn't really sure what to say in reply.

"I'm trying my best now to find the balance between light and dark," Riku continued, looking back up at me. "The darkness is powerful, and will take over if given much of a chance. But I think that if used correctly, it can be an asset instead of the enemy." He gave a half-smile. "I certainly don't have it all figured out. But...I'm trying."

Now it was my turn to stare at my food and push it around with my fork. After a moment I nodded. "Thanks."

"For what?"

"Being honest," I replied. "There has been a lot happening the last couple of days that doesn't make any sense to me. And I know there are things that you can't tell me yet, for whatever reason. But whenever you have the chance to be honest, it seems like you do, and I appreciate it."

"Oh. Yeah, sure." Riku nodded and took another bite of food. "I wouldn't worry too much about being secretly evil or anything," he added with a smile when he finished chewing. "You seem way too nice for that."

I laughed awkwardly. "Oh, uh, thanks."

After we finished eating and he had gone, I tried the mirror one more time and climbed into bed. It took me a while to go to sleep, though. I had a lot to think about.