And the midnight delirium goes on and on! I can't help but wonder why all my good ideas come after 8 o clock, let alone the really late hours. Aw well, it's still fun!
Disclaimer: Who owns Kingdom Hearts? Oh, oh yeah, NOT ME.
Chapter 9: Jen
Fox's PoV
Remind me to never to go into a suspicious looking vent without more than my boyfriend for backup again. EVER.
It was absolutely horrible getting through the opening of the vent. Sure, it was big enough for us to get through, but the yellow was coming out with such intensity that it began eating away my indigo shield about halfway down the pipe, the way saliva eats away at food in your mouth. Disgusting, I know, but believe me when I say that it looked twice as disgusting as it sounds. If we could just get to the base of the vent…
"Riku, help me out here, willya? I can't keep this up much longer."
"How am I supposed to help?"
"Just use whatever color you can get! Indigo, green, I don't care, just do it!"
As we kept moving forward, Riku brought his hands together, trying to make the indigo come out, but all that he could do was make a slight haze around his fingers. No matter how much I had tried to help him since I arrived, he couldn't do anymore than see. "I…I'm trying, Fox, I just—"
"If you can't use the indigo, go for the green! Or the violet even, I've seen you do it!" We weren't going to make it, at this rate; we were about three-quarters of the way to the base of the vent, but I barely had any indigo left in me. The yellow was going to rip through and tear us to shreds.
"What do you mean? I've never used either of those, you know that, why can't you—"
"Argh!" The yellow finally broke through the bubble, striking me in the shoulder. It was cold, horribly cold, and it was enough to break my concentration, causing the indigo to completely collapse around us.
Good God, it hurt so much! The yellow came down on us, wave after wave, sinking into our very beings. Every new blast was like a dagger going straight though my skin and into my heart. I could feel it hurting in my bones, my heart, my very soul! It was a pain so indescribable mind-shattering, I could barely keep from screaming.
We couldn't stay here; we would die if this kept up. I dug deep into myself, trying to find the slightest shred of color left uncontaminated by the yellow, and found a slight amount of green, deep in my subconscious where the yellow couldn't get to it. I dredged it up and shot it out of my hand, propelling us the rest of the way, to the end of the vent. Here, the vent made a sharp turn, moving down into the base of the castle. And so we fell, down into the depths of the castle, leaving the horrible yellow far behind us.
Riku's PoV
It was a long time before either of us woke up. At least, I think it was; we were deep enough in the pipes that, even if I tried, I couldn't begin to guess what time it was, or even if it was day or night outside. All I know is that when I woke up, the only light in the room was coming from the sides of the pipes.
The pipes were like the halls in the basement; long, twisting, without ending. Great, just what I need, to be trapped indoors again. Of course, there were differences; the walls were rounded, so that there was no clear division between the walls, ceilings, or floors. And then there was the lighting; instead of the bright lights they had in the basement, there were small…tubes filled with what looked like the yellow moving along the top of the pipe. It made sense, I suppose; the yellow traveled out toward the front of the vent, and then was safely released in one of those gas clouds. Their light was faint, but it was enough to see, and against the green, rust-stained pipes, it gave the place an eerie, unpleasant feeling, as if we were in a sewer.
"That hurt, you know."
I turned around. Fox was sitting against the side of the pipe, his legs brought up to his chest. He didn't have any colors anywhere, and his eyes revealed nothing but that same vacant stare. "That hurt a lot."
I wanted to go to him, see what was wrong, but I'd be damned if I was going to let him have the satisfaction. Hurt or no, he asked too much of me this time. "What did you expect me to do?"
He looked up at me, his eyes no longer vacant. Instead, they showed me an expression I had never seen from Fox before: accusation. "Oh, I don't know, maybe help me out? I mean, what the hell, Riku? I needed you back there, and you weren't there for me."
"Of course I was there for you! You know I always am! Just because you couldn't get the job done—"
"I was doing all that I could!" He brought his arms away from his legs, spraying flames of red towards me in the process. "I'm not some sort of god, or a superman, you know that! I needed you, to help me do what I couldn't, and you left me hanging to dry!"
The red raised him from the ground, suspending him in midair in front of me. "Why? Why would you do that? Why would you leave me, me, all alone when you promised me we'd be there for each other?"
"I didn't—"
"Then why didn't you help me? Why didn't you use your colors?"
"BECAUSE I'M SCARED, OKAY?" I backed away, scared to death of what was going to happen next. Fox's red flames faded away, leaving him in front of me, a look of confusion on his face. "I'm scared…"
He reached out to me, trying so hard to understand. The color was completely gone from his pupils now; he was drained, no color at all. Just him and me.
"What are you afraid of, Riku?"
I turned away from him, trying to hide the tears in my eyes. This was something I never wanted Fox to know, but had no choice but to tell him. "I…I'm scared of using the colors. I'm scared…that if I use them…and they take control of me too…"
"…then you won't be able to make it back down to earth, like me?" I nodded. He was right. Fox knew how to deal with all of this stuff, but I couldn't even begin to imagine what it must actually feel like to have the power running through me. What if I couldn't handle it?
"Oh, Riku…" Fox put his left hand on my right shoulder and turned me around to face him. "I know. It scares me too."
"No it doesn't. You use it all the time."
"I use the green and indigo all the time, the safe colors." Tears started moving down his face too, as he saw that my supposed betrayal was by no means a method of hurting him. "The harsh colors…I don't think anyone can really get used to that. No one good. No one like you." A violet glow grew from his hands, entwining them with mine. "But when I overdose on color, when I start losing control, who's always there to help me through it?"
I smiled. "You."
"That's right. You're there for me, and I'm here for you. That's how this works, remember?" We rose slightly, floating in the middle of the pipe. "The next time you feel afraid of using the colors, don't worry about losing control; just let it come, and I'll help you through whatever happens afterwards."
"Thank you, Fox."
"Awww, how sweet."
Before I could figure out who it was, one of the tubes of yellow burst, shooting yellow sparks out on the both of us. We were thrown apart by the blast, both of us screaming from the impact.
"Now this is more like it! All that lovey-dovey stuff, that won't do at all. Better if you give me more FEAR!"
Another shot came at us, this time from up ahead, but I was ready this time. I held up my blade, and I hit the blast back with all of the force I had. "Who's there? Who are you?"
"Well it depends who you ask, doesn't it? You all seem to be doing well calling me a Prism. Which I'm perfectly fine with, actually." Whoever it was, they were anything but nice; a sort of disgust and sarcasm was laced in with whatever color was in they're voice. "I've been called all sorts of names over the years, some of them nastier than others. Haven't I, Fox?"
"Fox? What're they talking about?" I looked over at him, only to find that his colors, green in reaction to the threat, were slowly changing to a sickly shade of yellow-green as a full yellow crept into his eyes.
"N-no…not you. Not here, now…"
"Yep. Believe it or not, Ripley, I'm here." And then a flash of yellow blinded me, filling my eyes with an unbelievable amount of color. Once the color finally subsided, I looked back up, and she was there.
She was my height, but she couldn't possibly look more intimidating. Her hair was long, black, and wild; she looked like she had lived in these pipes her whole life. I looked at her hands, and they were crackling with the yellow energy, which wrapped its way around her like a cocoon of electricity.
"Like I said, I've been called a lot of things. But as Fox can tell you, I prefer the name Jen."
"Fox, how do you know her?"
He looked up at me, obviously in pain. "She…she's someone I knew before…She…" A tear ran down his cheek. "She's one of the ones I hurt."
Well, there you have it. The villain revealed. Or is it? For those of you who have been following so far, you know quite well things are never that simple around here!
As always, I ask that you review, and let me know what you think!
