Ch. 11

No More Than a Memory

"Mama?" I stood stiff as a board, unable to believe what the Soul Eaters called me, "What do you mean?" "Hika?" Riku came to my side, "What is it?" I backed away, unintentionally bumping into Riku, but still avoiding looking at him directly, "They … they're calling me Mama." Sora tilted his head slightly, "Excuse me?" Vincent approached the crying Soul Eater, which still shook and sobbed, "What's that supposed to mean?" Mama, is that man dumb? one of the other creatures asked innocently. I giggled, and Lea was sent into another laughing spree, "That's great!" "What?" Sora panicked, "What did that thing say about me this time?!" The Soul Eater glared at Sora for a second, I am not a thing! I'm a Soul Eater.

"Ignore him," I whispered, stifling a chuckle, "please, just tell … um … 'Mama' what you mean." Another Soul Eater giggled, it means you're our Mama; what else would it mean, silly? Kiri's laugh rang through my head, they've been calling you that that whole time and you just now noticed? You're not very observant. The other Soul Eater was still crying, and I couldn't take it anymore, not funny! Alright, let's ignore that issue for now, this little one obviously needs me. I put it at the back of my mind with all my other questions as I approached the small Soul Eater, Riku walking beside me.

"Hey, it's alright," I comforted the small, almost human-looking Soul Eater, "uh, Mama's here?" It sounded like I was asking the poor Soul Eater a question as I glanced over my shoulder, almost looking to Riku for help, but stopping myself when I thought of what happened with Lea. Instead, I looked at Mickey, who had been standing next to the crying Soul Eater. The expression on my face probably made it look like I was begging him for help. He simply giggled and gave me a thumbs up. They all have names, Kiri explained, ask him what his is. I nodded, "What's your name?" The Soul Eater gazed up at me with its round, golden eyes, looking as though it would burst into tears again, Y-yui. I smiled at Yui, "That's a very cute name … So, Yui, could you tell Mama what's wrong?" I heard Riku chuckle softly behind me, but, being the coward I am, I still couldn't bring myself to look at him.

Yui made a noise that sounded somewhat like a hiss, Spikey stepped on me! I remembered when we first saw Lea, a.k.a. 'Spikey', and how he'd been stepping on that Soul Eater's head. Lea let out an agitated groan, "So you're the one I stepped on! Blame yourself! No one makes fun of my hair, got it memorized?!" Everyone, except Vincent, who simply let out a small chuckle, laughed at them, as Lea and Yui glared at each other.

Mama, Mama! An excited, toddler sounding Soul Eater called for me. I turned to it, "Yeah?" The Soul Eater shook with what seemed to be excitement, we gots a present for you! I giggled at the Soul Eater's lisp as the others tried to quiet her, saying that it was supposed to be a surprise. "Hold on," I smiled, "first you have to tell me your name." I'm Nel, she proclaimed proudly, can I tell you now? I nodded, but the other Soul Eaters stopped her. One slightly larger one stepped forward, we can't tell her! We have to show her. I shrugged, getting carried away by the feelings of excitement emanating from not only the Soul Eaters, but Kiri as well, "Lead the way."

Everyone else gave me strange looks, excluding Lea, who just groaned. I turned to them, "They said that they have something to show me." They shrugged as they followed Yui and Nel. I stayed behind for a moment, hoping that Riku would go with them. But, no such luck. I kept my eyes on the ground as he approached me. When he was a mere foot away from me he sighed sadly, "There's always something there, isn't there?" I looked up at him for the first time since the incident with Lea, confused by what he said. Riku gave me a bittersweet smile as he stroked my cheek lightly with the back of his finger tips, "There's always something scaring you away from me."

My cheeks heated up, I'm such a coward. It suddenly felt as if Kiri was reaching out and hugging me, trying to console me, I bet you that's not what he thinks. "Yeah right," I said aloud. Riku gave me a weird look, quirking his eyebrow, "What?" Sighing, I shook my head, "I'm sorry. I was talking to Kiri." I smiled, trying to cover up what I was thinking, "Anyways, what do you mean by that?" Of course, he saw right through it, "You're not very good at that, you know." My smile shrank, "I don't-" Oh, stop it, Kiri interrupted, hiding things like this from him won't get you anywhere.

Kiri scorning me only made it worse, so I gave up, "I was scared. I didn't know what you would think after that whole thing with Lea." He wrapped his arms around my waist suddenly, resting his forehead against mine and smiling, "Did you think I'd be mad at you?" I could feel my blush deepen and knew he'd take that as a yes. He shook his head, causing his nose to rub lightly against mine in a small Eskimo kiss, "Silly girl. I'll admit, it hurt to see that, but I knew that that was Kiri holding Lea, not you." I smiled in relief, "Thinking about it now, I guess it was kind of stupid." He chuckled, "Just a little bit. Now, the others are probably waiting for us. Lets go." I nodded and took his hand as we joined them.

When we met with the others they all stared at Riku and me with meaningful looks on their faces. My face heated up again, but Riku didn't seem to notice. I heard the Soul Eaters laughing in the back of my mind. Yui took my free hand in his thin, silver hand, come on, Mama, we still have to show you. You can bring Daddy, too. A giddy feeling spread through me, Daddy, huh? Yui nodded and glanced at Riku as he giggled. My smiled widened as I stared at Riku, and he looked down at me with a quirked eyebrow, "What is it?" I shook my head, "Nothing at all."

Then the Soul Eaters led us as Lea told us how much they had calmed down since we'd arrived. Nel was in front of the pack, leading us through the green hedges and to the bazaar room, where everything was too big for a normal human. But, once we got there, the happiness that had been rolling off the Soul Eaters disappeared.

Hikari was standing in front of a big door with a snoring doorknob. She flashed a wicked smile in my direction, "Long time no see." Around was a swarm of Soul Eaters that had been changed from the human like ones around me to the animal ones that I had fought before. The others stepped in front of me protectively. Vincent drew a gun from a holster that had been hidden by his red cape, "So, this is what you've been doing. That's disgusting." Vincent must have come to the same conclusion I have, Kiri thought to herself. What conclusion? I asked. I could feel waves of anger coming from her, he must have figured out that each one of these Soul Eaters used to be a living person. Hikari … she's twisting them, playing with their souls to change them into monsters for her own selfish purposes.

Yui uttered a small cry, no! She got my brother, Fai! "That's just … why are you doing that to them?!" I shouted, drawing my gun. Her smile turned innocent, "Come now, you know you should be careful with how you speak to me. Now that I've infected Riku with my darkness, I can do what ever I please with him. For example, I could do this." She waved hand through the air and suddenly Riku was pointing his keyblade at my throat. I froze and everyone else turned to look at him, the shock evident on their faces. Riku's eyes were wide, and he stared at his own arm as if it were some sort of alien object, "Hika, I-" I gritted my teeth, "I know, Riku, you can't even control your own hand, can you?"

I turned my attention back to Hikari, "What do you mean, infected? When did you do this to him?" She giggled, "Well, that's a dumb question. You were there. I mean, I practically had to rip his soul from his chest just to reach it." That must have been what she was doing to make Riku scream before, I remembered the first time I'd met her and how much pain she'd put Riku through. "Of course," she continued, "infecting a human is very different than infecting a Soul Eater. Unlike these Soul Eaters, I can't control Riku's thoughts, only his body. And for some reason, you're even more different. I infected you long ago. In fact, I infected you right before I ditched you on Destiny Islands. But, you are different. I can't control your mind, and I can barely control your body at all … I wonder why," she asked sarcastically.

No one dared to move, for fear of Hikari making Riku's blade plunge into my neck, but I was already getting tired of this. I had been jerked around enough that I was finally fed up. Hika, Kiri sounded apprehensive, what are you planning? I took in a deep breath, I have no idea. Before I could think about it too much, I acted purely out of reflex, crouching down to put my hands on the ground and thrusting my leg upward to knock Riku's keyblade out of his hand. He grunted slightly as he fell back. The sword fell to the ground a few feet behind me.

"Nice." Lea complimented. I glared at Hikari as my vision began to glow with a strange light, "Tell me what I want to know." Her eyes widened with something akin to fear, and her hand twitched. I jumped slightly as Riku started to lunge at me, his face horrified. Vincent and Sora ran to him and restrained him, struggling to even do that.

Hikari suddenly bared her teeth, a small animal-like growl rumbling deep inside her chest, "Be careful, I might just get a little bored with your game Kiri." Kiri shrank back slightly, retreating to some distant corner of my mind. Seeing the expression on my face made Hikari laugh, "Well, so long as you don't know the truth, I suppose you could entertain me a little longer."

I couldn't stop myself from shaking, even when she finally stopped forcing Riku to come after me. "A few hints to the solutions of your problems should tantalize you enough," she sniggered, "How about a little game of 'did you know'? Sound fun?" She waved her finger toward the untainted Soul Eaters, who then froze, "Now, that'll stop them from interfering." Facing us again, she began to smile like a child, "Did you know that the Soul Eaters only exist because you do? Did you know that you're the only one that can unlock the queen?" –she pointed to the sleeping doorknob for a second before continuing- "Oh, and did you know that all of the questions you have can be answered by one tiny detail?"

Suddenly she rushed up to me, her face mere inches from mine as she smiled devilishly, and her tone turned cynical, "Did you know that that tiny detail is what you are?" Everyone else jumped away, surprised at how quick she was, but I stood my ground. Hikari raised her hands into the air and brought them down. Everyone suddenly fell to the ground, screaming and writhing. She began to laugh hysterically, "Did you know that, no matter how much you try, you can never beat me!" I still didn't move, despite the fact that every part of me was shaking, "That's not true." She clenched her fists and thrust them in the air like a toddler throwing a temper tantrum, "It is! Look around you! This is just a repeat of last time! But this time, everyone is infected with my darkness!"

She calmed down, her hands returning to her sides, "But, I don't want to hurt you too much. After all, I don't like to break my toys." Everyone's screams stopped, but they were far too weak to move. Riku was the only one that was still standing, though she obviously had him in her control and would not let him move. He was trembling and his expression was angrier than I've ever seen.

She giggled at his expression, "All depending on how much you and your doll can entertain me, I'll leave you intact the next time I see you, Kiri. But, until then, I let you in on a secret … your precious Lea is no more than a memory pulled from your past, a memory that you need to destroy in order to free the queen and stop the Soul Eaters on this world."

Then, Hikari disappeared just like she did last time, only this time, she took the twisted Soul Eaters with her. No, Kiri was shaking inside me, no … I just got him back. Her heartbreak ripped through my chest as well, causing me to fall to my knees, I'm so sorry, Kiri. But, at the moment, she couldn't hear me. Lea was on the ground near by, his brow furrowed and his expression pained, "I … I'm no more than a memory?" Everyone else was still on the ground, barely able to move after nearly having their souls ripped out by Hikari. They were probably still trying to process what had happened. Kiri was still out of it; her mind was so shell shocked from what Hikari had said that she wasn't aware of anything else. I myself wasn't aware of Riku coming to my side until he kneeled next to me and wrapped his arms around me.

He gently kissed the top of my head as I let myself melt into his arms, "We have to find a different way." I nodded, wanting to comfort Kiri, "We can't trust Hikari anyways. Maybe there's something else-" No, she interrupted me, coming out of her daze, there is nothing else to do. Hikari doesn't lie. She's doing this on purpose; telling us the truth, stringing us along until we break. Lea sat up, his expression unchanging, "Kiri's right. Hikari enjoys toying with us."

I sighed and pulled away from Riku, "I have to let Kiri do it, though. Lea … he's her memory, and she needs to be the one to say good bye to him." Of course, I knew exactly what kind of good bye Kiri would want to give Lea, and I knew it would hurt me, but it was going to hurt her more. Riku smiled at me, "I understand, but what about you?" Shaking my head I got up and truned to Lea, who was now standing behind me, "I'm not the one that matters right now."

I could feel Kiri's surprise at my last statement, but I could also feel her gratitude, thank you, Hika. Riku helped all the others get up and led them to the area with the green hedges. When the room was clear, save for me and Lea, I handed control over to Kiri, sinking to the deepest corner of my mind, Alright Kiri, do what you have to do.