The Blinding Truth_
DISCLAMER: I own nothing of Kingdom Hearts. –Well that's a lie, I own all the games and basically anything you can buy KH related. What I'm trying to say here is that I do not own the characters or anything of that type.
Author Note: This chapter was really hard for me for some reason. I just couldn't seem to get it where I wanted it to go. I'm still not happy with it. I may edit it later, because I'm angry with it, but enjoy.
Chapter Twelve_
~Improvement
He was dreaming. He knew he was dreaming, but it was just so blissful. It was in that moment when you knew that you were about to dream, but it was blissfully black and silent. It was like a stage before a play, the curtain closed and the anticipation to come for said play to start. He suddenly felt blinded and he lifted a hand to his eyes, and found himself starting up at the hot sun, not looking directly of course, but admiring the too blue sky and feeling the warm sea breeze and the hot sand at his back. He could feel himself laying down and completely relaxed and as he looked over to his side he found himself alone.
He used to lay out like this with Sora. These were his best memories of the god forsaken island he couldn't wait to get off of. He heard his name being called and he sat up slowly and glanced over his shoulder. There was Sora, running towards him and smiling. He returned the smile and sat himself up.
"Your late." He accused, without really knowing why he was saying it, was Sora late?
"Kiarri held me up." Sora apologized as he bent over on his knees to catch his breath, he was now in reaching distance, but Riku found he couldn't even look at his friend. In his opinion, Sora was spending way too much time with Kiarri. "Riku." Sora whined, pulling Riku out of his thoughts. "She's really not so bad." He continued as he sat down beside his friend and brushed sweaty bangs from his brow.
"I know, I know." Riku grumbled and lay back down with a bit of a yawn. He was about to say something else but Sora was suddenly blocking the sun and leaning over him with a bright smile.
"You know you have the nicest hair Riku." Sora said suddenly and reached out to card his fingers through it.
Riku closed his eyes and allowed the pleasure before it ran through his mind that Sora wouldn't do something like that. Why was he- oh yeah, it's a dream. He thought to himself and sadly watched as the dream started to slip away, blurring and seeming less and less real. He was waking, from a damn good dream too.
He felt like he was waking up in this room with no memory of how he got there more and more often than not. He shifted on the bed uncomfortably, but made no move to get up. He was still embarrassed by his reaction the night before and he didn't want to see anyone just yet, or at all. He just wanted to curl up and die, which would happen he realized, if he didn't learn to control the darkness, and soon.
He looked out the window judging the time based on the sun and found it to be around noon-ish, according to his best guess. While it was nice to sleep in, he realized it wasn't good news at all and that he should probably get up and figure out what the hell was going on. His heart was pounding against his ribs in panic. If no one was there to wake him, maybe they had stopped babying him for real. They had stopped forcing him up and to the lessons he was so reluctant to go to in the beginning or worse, they had given up on him entirely.
This thought scared him enough to throw the covers off his body and hurriedly get dressed in a somewhat panicked daze. He wasn't going to sit back and get killed off and replaced, and he was damn determined to prove that fact. This was his dream. He wanted to be stronger, he wanted to prove himself, and he was going to. He hardly even glanced at himself after getting dressed, and just left his room taking off down the halls at a run. After all he was already late, judging by how he was always awoken by seven-ish in the morning.
He had no idea where anyone was so he tried the most obvious places first. It was deafly silent in the castle and that made his heart clench uncomfortably and his breathing became shallower and more panicked with each empty corridor. Eventually he made his way to the heart chamber, where Ansem seemed to always be found in his down time. He almost ran straight in, but unknown voices made him pause and hang back. He'd apparently stumbled upon some kind of meeting and he pressed himself flat against the wall and listened in, trying to desperately keep his breathing soft as he tried to reclaim it.
"Come now Lord Ansem, the boy shows potential, but is hardly suitable." A cold voice said in a somewhat pleading tone, Riku placed it easily as Maleficent.
He pushed himself flatter against the wall out of reflex, he knew he wanted to go in there and correct that bitch, but he just pressed flatter to calm himself. It really was no wonder that she was trying to get rid of him he figured, but it bothered him that they were having a meeting about him. It bothered him deeply. Was he really in that much trouble?
"Your only angry the boy replaced you." Another women's voice echoed in the room and it was followed by a dark amused sort of chuckle.
"It's really not up for debate." Ansem's voice rang out in a tone that demanded no argument and had the air of finality.
"What if he continues to be unproductive?" A smooth dark voice asked and the man had what seemed to be an English accent.
"I'll kill him. He knows what's at stake and I expect improvement soon." Ansem replied as if bored by the answer.
"Then we'll await your results. They better come soon. I can't guarantee I'll keep my gun on the shelf." The man replied in a gruff tone as if he was the one in control.
"Have I ever disappointed?" Ansem replied smoothly in a cruel tone and it seemed somehow threatening.
There was a long silence and Riku took the chance to peek into the room and see that it was empty and Ansem sat in his thrown like chair muttering to himself. Something about 'that one needs to go' and 'he's far too cocky'. Cautiously Riku stepped out into the room, allowing his footsteps to be heard and suppressing the wince he wanted to give at Ansem's cold glare. He wasn't use to that look and knew that it wasn't meant for him to see as the expression softened and Ansem waved Riku closer, tiredly.
He hesitantly stepped forward until he was standing just before Ansem's chair but just out of reach. The silence continued however, and Ansem simply continued to stare in a way that was unnerving.
"No one woke me." Riku finally said softly.
"You weren't needed." Was the cold reply and Riku hoped that didn't hold a double meaning. There was another deafening silence and Riku held himself rigidly straight. The words hurt, but it was nothing, he was ready to prove his worth.
"Teach me." Riku firmly said, but it was not stated, it was a calm demand.
"Just enjoy your day off and leave me." Ansem replied in that tired tone again.
"Watch." Riku demanded this time and refused to be sent away.
Surprisingly he gained Ansem's undivided attention and he focused solely on what he was doing, trying not to let the fact that he was being watched get to him. He gathered pure darkness in the palm of his hand and held it outward for Ansem to observe. It felt like ice, and then the cold turned into a burning sensation, burning as in a fire kind of burn. As Ansem leaned forward to inspect it, Riku held perfectly still even though it felt as if he was being scorched and he grit his teeth to distract himself from the pain. Ansem reached out slowly, and Riku could literally feel Ansem morphing the sphere and shaping it, and more importantly he could feel the emotion behind the action. Ansem looked bored and distracted, but Riku's eyes widened in shock as he felt the process, understanding it as it happened. He stared disbelieving at the product twitching at his feet. Heartless.
His eyes flicked to Ansem's who seemed bored, but something about the urgency in Riku's dilated eyes caught his attention. He cocked his head to the side and wondered if he could take advantage of the boys shocked state. Dismissing the idea he flicked his wrist away and sent it to attack Riku. Riku seemed to bat the thing away effortlessly, Ansem hadn't even seen him draw his blade. Their eyes locked again and then slowly Riku's expression changed into a cheeky smirk. That was the last thing he expected from the boy and he rose a brow at it, but Riku spoke before he could.
"I get it." He said slowly and allowed that fact to settle into the echoing room.
Ansem slowly let a grin cross his own features.
Author Note: Thank you for being so very patient.
Kaxnr: Yes, difficult to write too. You were first to review thanks! ^^
Repliku: Thank you so much. It took me a bit and unfortunately this chapter was a bit dry, but necessary.
Yunie Tatlin: Sometimes FanFiction does that. ^^ He is a creeper. I can't believe I wrote that. It will get creepier.
UnknownAlien: Yes! My chapter wasn't confusing! Oh my God! I totally pictured it that way too, followed by the Mortal Combat music! (Yay Psychology, though it is so much writing!)
NinjaTheTeam: The way I see it, the Heartless kinda takes on the summoners emotions, if said summoner is skilled enough. I love that I said that. It's times like these, that I'm glad I'm the one writing it.
Xendrassk: I was as well. Heh, that's why this is so late. A fan base would be so way amazing!
~Thanks Otaku Knight 333~
Chidoriorbs: It should be the next chapter or the one after that Riku meets Sora. I added the first bit with Riku and Sora just for you though. ^^ I'm sorry I'm taking so long to update. I'm starting a new story too! (I haven't titled it yet, but look for it. I think I will post it tomorrow night!)
Kitchan: Your freaking crazy! But the good kind of crazy! Thank you so much! I'm starting another story that I'm posting tomorrow night (I think) if you want to keep an eye out. It's a FF7. Seriously, sometimes I update just for your insanely awesome reviews! ^^
Thank you again everyone. Look out for my next story coming out soon if you'd like!
