A.N- Two chapters within a week? (What?) I know! Now that chapter 10 has come and gone, things start to get interesting…or whatever. I'm not gonna hold you guys up, so here's the chapter!
Disclaimer: If you don't know that I don't own anything that has to do with Kingdom Hearts and Square Enix, then I don't know what to say.
Claimer: I do own those one characters, what were they called, OCs!
CH. 11: Back to our Roots
"So next time you feel the need to disagree with me, take it up with me and we can talk about it! Another thing, it's like you're acting like we belong to each other…" Abrin, Aya, and Rayn all sat with dread as Ako lectured Abrin for "testing their love" as she called it.
"She's not stopping anytime soon…" Rayn stated.
"I'll admit it, this plan backfired…" Aya muttered.
Abrin leered at her sideways. "Fix this…" he muttered snidely.
Aya sighed as she stood to her feet. "Hey, Ako, don't you think that three hours of lecturing is enough?" Aya inquired.
Ako shot a look at Aya implying "stay out of this, girlie". "I don't think he understood the message clearly enough! I'd say three more hours would whip him in shape!" she replied.
"No! I mean, that won't be necessary. I understand…" Abrin assured her, much to her delight.
"That's great! Now we can get back to being together!" Ako stated. Abrin sweat-dropped as he turned to Aya and Rayn. 'Help me,' he mouthed. They simply shrugged their shoulders in defeat.
"Well now that that's settled, I wonder what Kaim and Celeste plan on doing with those necklaces," Rayn wondered.
Aya sighed, obviously annoyed with the topic. "Who knows, maybe they really like jewelry," she suggested. "What I want to know is why she didn't summon more Nobodies when she had the chance."
Abrin shook his head. "It's simple. Someone else was controlling the Nobodies. She can't summon them herself, one of the Organization members works behind the scenes and put on a little smoke and mirrors act," Abrin explained.
"That's why you didn't summon anymore Nobodies," Aya realized. Abrin nodded. "I wonder what the Organization is planning; they really are a mysterious bunch. Then there's Kaim and Celeste. I still don't know what their deal is," Aya admitted. Rayn and Abrin glanced at each other briefly. Aya noticed this and sighed. "Oh man, that was the 'we have something serious to talk about' glance. What's up?"
"Have you managed to remember anything yet? It's been a few weeks since I met back up with you, but it seems like nothing's changed," Rayn asked, causing an uncomfortable atmosphere for Aya.
"Yeah, well, I only managed to really remember getting the necklaces from Kaim. Everything else is just little details that don't add up to much."
"But we met up with you after our world was destroyed. You don't remember that either?" Abrin questioned. Aya shook her head, a little tenser. "Do you even remember our world getting destroyed?" Rayn shot a glare at Abrin, even though he knew the subject was going to come up eventually.
"I can't remember anything, get off my back!" Aya said defensively.
"You can't, or won't!" Abrin interrogated. The room fell silent. For the first time in a while, Aya had nothing to say. Abrin crossed his arms. "Fine, if you don't remember, let me tell you what happened."
A thirteen year old Abrin woke up from his three hour nap. School is a lot of work; you need at least a one hour nap from that place.
"Abrin! Take out that trash! It's starting to stink!" a woman yelled from down the hallway of the house.
A vein popped on his head. "Why don't you take it out?" he shouted back.
"Because I'm your babysitter and I said so!" she told him, only managing to irritate him further.
"Why do I have a babysitter at thirteen anyway? I can take care of myself!"
"You're lucky you get a babysitter, I heard talk that they were gonna try to put you in a foster home. I keep telling them that your grandparents are coming from vacation and filing you guardianship papers, but they're getting impatient."
Abrin remained silent. Both of his grandparents died on a cruise two years ago. Both his parents were killed because his dad got into trouble with gang related issues. His little sister moved with their aunt when their parents died. Their aunt wouldn't let him come too because he would "corrupt" his sister's growth.
"Abrin?"
"I'm about to take the trash out," he finally told her.
After placing the garbage into the can, Abrin decided that it was useless to go back to the red-headed sea witch and in turn decided to take a walk. 'Maybe I could go to Aya's house…' he considered. That thought instantly left his mind for two reasons: One, her parents are just as crazy as she is, and two, he never been over her house by his self. He wasn't going to risk it. Abrin continued his walk as the sun was starting to turn from the yellow sun of the day to the orange sun of the evening. The sky then began to turn a putrid purple and black color.
"Night already? No…" Abrin questioned, knowing that something was wrong. He then realized that the same purple mess that covered the sky was accumulating on the trees and ground, practically everywhere. "Wh-What the hell is going on?" he muttered in disbelief. Then, making him even more paranoid, small black creatures began emerging from the ground. "What the hell are these things!" He glanced around and noticed that the ground began to break apart as the creatures started lunging towards him. His instincts kicked in as he reached for a fallen tree branch and began swinging at the creatures. He soon began to run once he noticed that there was too many of them to fend off. "Kaim! Rayn! Celeste! Aya!" he practically shouted without thinking. The ground below him lifted up. He tried to leap down to lower ground to no avail. Abrin was flung into the air to who knows where.
"I'm sorry about your parents and grandparents…" Aya stated, refusing to make eye contact.
Abrin kept a stern look as he sighed. "You don't have to apologize, you didn't do anything…" he muttered. He didn't want to be angry with her.
Rayn glanced at her with unwanted suspicion. "Are you okay? I can't help but feel as if there's something you're not telling us," he inquired.
Aya kept her eyes on the ground. "Yeah, I was just…thinking about that shoe polish. I never did get a chance to teach Gilligan how to bargain…"
"Are you kidding me!" Abrin shouted to everyone's surprise. "Stop running! Everything isn't a joke! What if you never remember, would that be okay with you!"
"Maybe it would! It's not like it's the end of the world! I'm tired of being treated like I'm the problem!" Aya retorted.
"We don't think you're the problem. We just want you to remember the good times we had."
A vein popped on Aya's head. "And you, it's like you're Mr. Perfect! You're never angry; it's like I don't even know who you are!" Aya pointed out.
"You think my life is perfect? You think I don't have problems!" Rayn snapped. "Why don't I let you know what happened to me that day, then you can determine if my life is perfect or not!"
"How could you be so stupid! You're a disgrace to our family!" a man in his early to mid forties shouted towards thirteen year old Rayn. Rayn sat on the couch of the living room, holding back tears. "What? You gonna cry now? I knew I was raising a wuss."
"Honey…" a woman around the same age said as the man started.
"Stay out of this, Linda! You can't understand things like this!" the man shouted towards her, causing her to sulk back into her seat.
"D-Don't talk to my mom like that," Rayn meekly stated.
The man, presumably his father, approached Rayn so closely that their noses were practically touching. "What are you gonna do about it? All you ever do is whine and hide in the corner while those little roaches you call friends stand up for you!"
"They're not roaches! Stop being an ass all the time!" Rayn screeched, a tear streaming down his eye.
His father slammed his fist on a nearby wall. "Get the hell out of my house," he demanded, his voice shaking with rage.
Rayn glanced at his mother who in turn shook her head, signaling him to hurry and leave before his father killed him. Rayn wiped a tear as he stood to his feet. "Fine, I'll leave," he then glared at the man spitefully as he exited the house.
Rayn solemnly traversed the streets. He cleverly sat next to a nearby fountain that sprayed water into the air to hide his tears from the passing by denizens. He also placed his hood on just in case.
"Rayn?" a voice called out. Rayn shot his head up to see Celeste staring at him with concern. "What's wrong?" she questioned.
Rayn shrugged his shoulders as he hung his head back down. "I don't know anymore…" he stated.
Celeste walked up to him, not caring that she was getting soaked, and extended her arm out to him. "Come on, walk with me." Then she glanced at the sky as it began to get darker. "I don't think we should stay here too long…"
Rayn and Celeste walked and talked as the sky became darker and darker. "Wasn't just five o'clock? It looks more like ten," Rayn commented.
Celeste nodded at the revelation. "The sky looks dark purple too. So do the ground, the houses, that bush over there…" Celeste went on.
Rayn sweat-dropped as his face went pale. "Th-That's not normal!" he exclaimed. Then, much to Rayn and Celeste's surprise, black creatures started emerging from the purplish-black mess. "That's really not normal!" he pointed out.
Celeste grabbed his hand and motioned him to follow her. "We have to get out of here," she stressed in her usual calm voice. The two rushed away from the black creatures as they started rising from the ground. More like with the ground.
Rayn panicked. "Wh-What's going on? What's gonna happen to our home?" A thought then crossed his mind. "My home…Mom!" He attempted to maneuver past the flying chunks of ground only to be held back by Celeste. "What are you doing? Let go of me, I have to help my mom!" he insisted.
Celeste shook her head. "It's too dangerous! Hold on!" Celeste stated in a stern voice. Rayn started to debate, yet stopped himself as a single tear streamed down his face. The two were then sucked into the darkness along with their world.
Rayn glared out of the window as the room fell silent.
"I never knew…" Aya muttered, feeling guilty about how she just treated him.
Abrin nodded his head. "Why didn't you say anything?" Abrin questioned.
Rayn continued his silence until he finally mustered the energy to speak again. "Because…I didn't want you all to worry about me. I wanted to be strong and handle it myself…"The tension steadily increased as the room became increasingly quiet.
Aya gritted her teeth. "But…we're your friends. We would've understood if you needed to come to us," Aya told him.
Rayn glanced at her. "I would love to believe that, but how would you know? You don't remember anything," Rayn pointed out.
"That's not true…" she stated under her breath, yet loud enough for Abrin to hear.
"What do you mean 'that's not true'?" Abrin questioned.
Aya almost stared straight through Abrin's soul. "I remember…" Rayn and Abrin glanced at her with question in their eyes. "I remember what life used to be like, the people I knew, when our world was destroyed, everything…"
Rayn almost passed out while Abrin bit his tongue. "You remember? Just now and that fast?" Rayn inquired.
Aya shook her head. "No, I've remembered for a while now. I had lived in another world for about a year before starting this journey. Plenty of time to remember things about my past. The rest came from traveling with Rayn. The only thing I haven't quite figured out is who my family is. I vaguely remember my parents and I think I have a sister, but everything else is fuzzy."
Abrin stared at her with disbelief. "Why would you now bring this up? Did you even lose your memories in the first place? Did you 'forget' that day we came to get you too!" Abrin interrogated.
Aya shot a deadly look at him. "I did lose my memories! I don't even remember you guys coming to get me ever!" Aya shot at him.
"That doesn't make any sense! Why would─"
"Wait a minute, Abrin. It's common for people who suffered memory loss and got their memories back to forget what happened while they were still lost," Rayn explained. Abrin sighed and muttered a few things under his breath. Rayn turned to Aya. "Besides, that's not important now. There's something that has to be cleared up. Aya, what happened the day our world was destroyed?" he asked. Aya knew there was no avoiding this and began to tell her tale.
"What are you doing, you stupid kid!" an older lady yelled. Below her was a splattered cake and frosting that had fallen a few seconds prior. Aya stood beside the lady with a slightly irritated expression.
"I was holding a cake, and now it's on the ground," Aya sardonically mumbled.
The woman glared at her. "What was that?" she provoked.
Aya swallowed her pride like she had eaten a tub of glue. "I'm sorry, ma'am. I wasn't looking where I was going…" Aya told her in a sick sweet voice.
The lady scoffed. "Obviously. Clean this mess up! And I'm deducting this from your pay!" she bellowed as she wobbled out of the delivery hangar. Aya sighed disdainfully as another older girl tapped her shoulder. Aya turned back to see an older teenager with pale skin and long, brown hair and matching eyes. She had a smiled that could warm anyone's heart. 'What does she want? Can't she see I'm brooding?' Aya thought.
"Are you okay? That cake wasn't your fault. If that dog hadn't run in front of your bike, it would've been fine," she told her.
Aya sighed. "I'm fine, thanks." She sneered, "That lady better be lucky that I'm working, I'll sue her for defying child labor laws!"
The girl sweat-dropped. "That reminds me, how's your mom?" she asked.
"She's been better. I'll be heading to my next job soon, so I should get going," Aya stated.
The girl smiled sadly. "You know Aya, if you need help all you have to do is ask. In fact, you should take a break," she reminded.
Aya gave a shadow of a smile. "You know I can't do that. We barely have enough money to make it this week. But thanks Sandra, I'll think about it," Aya said. Sandra nodded as Aya headed out. She knew that Aya wouldn't think about it. She never did.
Aya pedaled vigorously towards her next job. "Damn it, at this rate, I'll be late!" Aya complained. She glanced ahead to see the bridge she usually crosses under construction. A vein popped on Aya's head. "Who keeps doing construction for eight hours straight!" Aya shouted, remembering that they started when she went to her first job. Knowing that the construction men wouldn't allow her to pass, Aya decided to take a…detour.
"Out of my way!" Aya shouted as she rode her bike up a nearby ramp and flew over the construction.
"What are ya' doin', kid?" Many workers shouted as she soared over their heads. Much to Aya's dismay, she knew there was no way she could stick the landing. Her front wheel drifted underneath her, smashing into her ankle, proving her fears. 'Damn…this is gonna hurt!' Aya thought. She closed her eyes as she braced herself for a hard impact with the ground. Of course this never came for when Aya opened her eyes, she was in the arms of a stranger that was wearing black pants and a dark blue t-shirt. He had a black jacket hanging over his shoulder. He gave her a smile.
"Wow. I came to visit this town for one day and I already see angels falling out of the sky," he flirted.
Aya gazed blankly at him. "Chicken Little once thought the sky was falling. It turned out that it was just aliens," she stated. The boy sweat-dropped as he put her down. A throbbing pain rushed to her ankle as she steadied herself. The boy, who seemed about fifteen, noticed this yet chose to ignore it for the time being.
"No word of thanks? I did just save your life," he said.
Aya shrugged as she began to slightly limp away. "I might thank you after work. I'm gonna be late," Aya told him.
The boy walked in front of her. "Work? Are you old enough to work?" he questioned.
Aya smiled slightly at the boy. "Just turned fourteen today," she stated proudly. The boy seemed surprised by the fact.
"Working on your birthday? Isn't that a bit much?" he inquired.
Aya shook her head. This guy was starting to irritate her. "Can't afford to stop working." Then she faced the direction of her job. "Maybe if I run, I can make it on time…" she thought aloud.
The boy grabbed her arm before she had a chance to take off. "You can't run with that ankle," he halfway lectured, that's what Aya heard anyway.
"Aha, you did notice… Well, unless you've figured out the mechanics to make a human fly, how else am I supposed to get to work?" Aya questioned, remembering that if her bike wasn't totaled by the fall, it fell off the bridge.
The boy grinned at her. "I'll carry you," he told her more than suggested.
"Wait, he carried you?" Abrin asked, slightly irritated that this random stranger was flirting with his friend.
A vein popped on Aya's head. "I'm not finished yet!" Aya exclaimed. Abrin crossed his arms and muttered something about the boy being a poser.
Aya shook her head. "Oh yeah, just let a random stranger carry me to who knows where. That's not suspicious at all," Aya retorted to his question.
The boy continued to annoy Aya with his million dollar smile. "I'm sorry, I can't take no for an answer," he lifted Aya up and carried her bridal style.
"He kidnapped you!" Abrin questioned, further irritated.
Aya threw a book at Abrin's head. "Let me finish the damn flashback!" Aya demanded. Abrin rubbed the back of his head as he mumbled something about a damn kidnapper.
After much debate from Aya, the two eventually began having civil conversations as she thought he was walking to her work. He smiled. "Isn't this romantic? The prince saves the princess and carries her off into the sunset."
Aya glanced at the boy with a look that screamed "really?" "You should stop. You sound like a desperate love sick puppy," Aya told him. The boy chuckled as he sweat-dropped. "By the way, what's your name?" she wondered.
He slightly frowned at this, his eyes trailing over to a strange and very large tree in the distance. "My name…? It's been a while since someone asked me that," he stated. "They call me Rin," he introduced.
Aya nodded. "Rin…my name is Aya, but everyone calls me The Great Hokage," she told him. The boy sweat-dropped. 'Wrong series…' he thought.
"I'm aware…" he muttered.
Luckily, Aya didn't catch that and they continued. After about ten minutes of talking, Aya realized that Rin had missed her turn. "Aw crap, turn back around, my turn was two miles back!" Aya directed him.
Rin, however, continued traversing the sidewalk and shook his head. "We can deal with that later. There's something I want you to see..." Rin told her ominously.
Aya did an internal face palm. 'Damn it. I knew he was a creeper.' Aya thought as she attempted to devise a way to escape if necessary. Much to Aya's surprise, the two approached a giant tree that stood tall and strong. "Wait, we aren't allowed to come near this tree. The elders said something about darkness or something," Aya warned him. Rin remained silent. He stopped once he and Aya were face to face with the tree. "Rin?" Aya wondered as a crooked grin covered his face.
He sat Aya down. "Aya…do you know why I came out here?" Rin asked her.
Aya stared at him in confusion. "Because you like nature?" she guessed even though she knew something bad was about to happen. She felt a weird energy overcome her as the sky started to be engulfed in dark purple and the ground formed the same colored gunk.
Rin simply laughed. "Not quite. Those elders of yours have probable reasons to be wary of this tree. This tree has the ability to seal away the darkness in this world. I just simply unlocked it," he explained. Aya was astonished as the darkness was covering most of the ground now, causing Aya to stand up and wince in pain. Rin glanced at her with devilish eyes. "This world will be devoured by darkness and cease to exist. I can save you if you wish," he offered.
Aya glared at him. "Why me? Did you decide that the first person you catch would come with you or something?" Aya interrogated.
Rin looked at her. "Actually, yes." Aya face palmed. 'I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear that,' she thought."But I actually kinda like you," he answered more seriously.
This surprised Aya. It's been a while since someone said they liked her, not since fourth grade anyway. Aya's decision was rushed as black creatures began emerging from the ground and chunks of land began floating to the sky. Seeing this, Aya shook her head. "Nah, I think I'll stick with this sad place until the end. Thanks for the offer though. Tell me what it's like on the dark side sometime," Aya denied.
Rin frowned, not expecting a denial, as darkness consumed him. "Very well. Don't expect me to accept you when your heart is full of darkness and lonely," he stated as he disappeared. Aya was left standing alone on her now sprained ankle. She instinctively sat down in front of the tree as she was thrown out of her home.
Rayn couldn't help but smile at this. "I knew you didn't do it," he stated. Abrin still had his arms crossed, still upset about Rin.
"Of course I didn't. That would've required work, and that would've gone against my morals," Aya told them.
Abrin uncrossed his arms as he calmed down. "I guess you were right, Rayn. Sorry I didn't believe you, Aya," he said and then hung his head. "But were you serious? You know…when you said that maybe you didn't want to remember?" Abrin asked her.
Aya sighed with understanding. "You know I didn't. You guys are my best friends, believe it or not. I never want to forget."
Abrin smiled at this while Rayn seemed to ponder something. "If it was this Rin guy who unlocked our world, where is he now? And a bigger question, what is he doing?" he mused.
Everyone sat and pondered this until Aya finally groaned. "When did this story become a romantic mystery? It's kinda gross," she commented. Abrin and Rayn silently agreed with this.
"Well I'm glad everyone got everything out!" Ako stated.
Aya leered at her. "You're still here? Didn't you leave or something?"
Ako pulled Aya's braid, naturally causing pain. "I didn't leave at all! You guys just interrupted my conversation with Abby!" Aya and Rayn glanced at each other, at Abrin, and then back at each other.
"Please don't tell me…" Abrin muttered. Aya burst out laughing while Rayn himself tried to conceal his laugh to no avail. Abrin glared at the two as Ako hugged his face. Meanwhile, the screen on the ship read, "TENSHI CITY, LAND HERE?" Abrin inadvertently placed his elbow on the conveniently placed "yes" button and sent them to a world they'd be better off forgetting.
A.N- And that's it for this chapter! I have to say, I think I actually kinda like this story a lot better now. If there are any improvements I need to make, please feel free to tell me as long as it's CONSTRUCTIVE CRITISISM. Well, with that out of the way, thanks for reading and review! Bye Mee! ^o^