Whew. Sorry to have waited so long to post. Spring is super busy (and I get super lazy, what with all this warm weather...) anyways, I finally got chapter 12 done! Yay for me! But now I have to do 13, and boy is that a doozy. Lots of crazy stuff coming up, with only two chapters left (not including the epilogue.) Run over to my profile to see the character maps for Mehla and Sholhis that I finally got done. Those were a major time suck, and part of the reason why I didn't update for so long. Yes...two weeks is a long time...for me.
As always, enjoy the chapter, send me any questions, leave a comment if you like, and I'll see ya soon.
12
Worthwhile
Rhen gasped as the tremendous weight was suddenly lifted off his chest. His own groan of relief was drowned by the painful howling of the heartless, and the shouts of its attacker as the two clashed above him.
A massive paw clobbered the ground by his head, tossing up rocks and dirt into his eyes. It dawned on Rhen that he was still in danger, only now he was sore and weaponless. Forcing himself to ignore the protest of his muscles, he sat back and then rolled onto his feet. It was hard to stand up to full height, so Rhen surveyed the conflict around him with his back bent and one arm pressed close to his aching stomach as a pitiful shield.
It seemed that help had arrived. Their faces were somehow familiar, but Rhen knew that he had never met the two young warriors who were fighting off the heartless now. One was a tall silver haired boy brandishing a sinister black sword, and the other was a young woman, her long brown hair flowing behind her as she skillfully danced around one of the giant wolfs. Rhen would have assumed that she was the kind of girl who was sweet, patient and who kept herself as neat as a pin had he met her on the street, but here it was obvious that she could be as fierce as her male companion. Even her hands seemed to burn as she fought.
Wait, her hands are burning! Rhen's eyes went wide. She fights with fire! She must be Kari, Roren's friend from Halvi's stories!
Rhen could have spent hours watching the battle rage, studying the fantastic combinations that his new allies unleashed. But he was all too quickly brought back to the knowledge of where he stood, and what was going on only a few yards away. Rhen shook himself and switched into defense mode again.
I've got no weapon, I need to find cover, he instructed himself and whipped his head around, looking for a place to hide.
His eyes stopped on Sora, who was struggling to stand after being crushed by the other heartless. He seemed alright, if not a little stiff, but unlike Rhen he still held his keyblade. Behind him was a fat long surrounded by thick bushes. Rhen headed for it.
"Riku!" Sora called as Rhen drew closer. "When did you get here?"
Rhen looked over his shoulder and saw the boy with silver hair straddling the head of one of the heartless, pounding it with orbs of dark magic. He grunted in response to his friend's question, unable to concentrate on words while the monster rampaged around the forest.
That's Riku. Rhen couldn't help grinning. How many of his heroes was he going to meet today?
"Get down!"
Rhen had barley registered the words when something huge and heavy slammed into him from behind. One of the wolf-heartless had stumbled back into him, knocking him of his feet before it charged forward again. Rhen pushed himself up and watched as Kari drove a flaming kick across the monster's mouth, drawing a howl from the wolf's throat. She wound back and punched the nose of the creature, sending its head straight down to the dirt.
His blood roaring in his ears, Rhen scrambled to his feet and dove behind the log. He tumbled over into the brush, and then tucked his arms and legs in close to himself, making a tight ball out of his body. He peeked over the lumpy back of the log, silently spying on the battle that still ran on. Rhen was relieved to see that Sora was fighting now too. He wished that he could help, but he knew that he would only be in the way if he had no way to defend himself.
He sighed and silently cheered the others on.
Rhen's shoulders tingled. He shuddered with dark anticipation, suddenly knowing that something was coming up behind him. He whirled around, but too late. He was lifted off the ground, pulled up by whatever had a hold on the nape of his jacket.
Rhen kicked and twisted, and managed to turn enough to see what had taken hold of him. He saw white paws, claws and teeth. He moaned. Heartless.
The giant wolf clenched its jaws, gripping Rhen's jacket tighter. Rhen knew what was coming, but he knew no way to prepare himself for it. He sucked in a breath and held it, wrapping his arms around his knees to make himself smaller.
The monster shook its head savagely, whipping Rhen around like a favorite chew toy. For awhile the fabric held, but soon enough it ripped and Rhen was hurtled out into the forest. He flew for several long seconds before he smacked into the ground and rolled to a stop only a few yards away from where Kari was finishing her heartless.
Spitting dirt, he watched as a shadow fell over him, steadily growing larger. He jerked his eyes up, and time seemed pause.
No less than four of the giant wolves were descending on him, all of them with their fangs bared and their claws flashing. Some part of Rhen's mind snapped in that moment. He was sure that he was about to die; surely this time would be it. He didn't wonder if there would be pain, or what lay in wait for his loosed soul, or even if he would be remembered.
Rhen cursed himself as the monsters fell on him. Derided the stupid, pathetic, worthless fool that he was, the fool who had only one thing that he was supposed to do with his life, and who had screwed it up only seconds after he had started.
I've gone and doomed him now. I've gone and lost Roren for good.
His mind filled with shame, and there was no room for fear. He closed his eyes, and promised himself that, if he could, he would fly his spirit to Roren when he died.
Sora was the only one who was watching when Rhen's hands changed. Riku had his back turned, and Kari was gaping at the four heartless that had just charged out of nowhere, but Sora saw it happen. He saw Rhen's hands light up like the moon on a clear night, his skin brimming light like white fire. Even Rhen himself wasn't paying attention as his arms were wrapped in pure light, but kept his eyes closed and his head back, oblivious.
It wasn't until the light manifested, until it all swirled together and ran through him that Rhen finally became aware of it. A sword appeared in his hand, white as snow from pummel to tip, and a scale-shaped shield of the same color weighted on his arm. He opened his eyes and gazed numbly at the shining tools, but then time seemed to catch up with itself.
All four heartless dove to the ground, landing on and around Rhen in a storm of white fur and vicious yellow eyes. Sora cried out, ran a few steps forward, dreading what he would be breaking into. Then he stopped.
The growling wolves, the shifting of the leaves, the shouts around the battlefield: all absolutely hushed. His ears ringing, held his breath.
One wolf suddenly flew away from the others as if it had been blasted by a stray gust of wind from a hurricane. The monster fell to pieces even as it soared through the air, a trail of dark mist following it until it disappeared. There was still no sound, no other motion, like the wolf had never been destroyed, or never been at all.
Sora gaped, staring at the remaining three wolves, but more so at Rhen. The boy stood with his head ducked, protected in the curve of the shield. The shield itself was wedged between the jaws of one of the heartless, holding it back. His other arm was bent, locking the sword behind the teeth of a second monster. As for the third, it was backing away from Rhen as if he radiated a foul stench.
But it was not a smell that flowed from Rhen's feet, but swirling, glowing mist. The fog that spread out from the boy reminded Sora of clouds when the sun was behind them; it shone in a radiant and heavenly way, and it seemed to terrify the heartless.
Rhen's eyes darted from one monster to the other, baffled by their trembling. He seemed as confused as Sora was, but even as he looked at the keyblade master for some explanation, Sora realized what power the boy had somehow found.
Tears flowed down Rhen's face like twin rivers. The streams were endless, pouring forth from his vacant, milk-white eyes.
Just like Roren. It's the Noble Heart; somehow Rhen has that power too. Sora didn't know if he felt surprised, angry, or just deaden. Frozen. Bewildered.
"What do I do?" Rhen asked, his voice like a high-pitched bell.
Sora turned his head to the heartless, stared at them, then nodded. For a long while it didn't seem like Rhen would do anything, but then he lowered his head again and took a deep breath. His arms tensed, and in one motion he yanked his sword free from the wolf's teeth, drove it into the heartless that was biting his shield, pulled it out again, and then hurtled it at the last monster. The sword cut through the heartless like an arrow through a sheet of paper, and the creature burst apart and vanished. Next Rhen threw his weight back, jerking his shield out of the other wolf's mouth. He swiveled and smashed the wide end of the shield into the monster's jaw, then pivoted around to drive the tapered end into the last remaining heartless.
A heartbeat passed, and then both of the monsters exploded at once, creating a huge dark cloud that drifted up through the tree branches an into the dark canopy above.
Even after several moments the silence that had fallen did not lift. Everyone stared at Rhen as he stared at the ground, his hands shaking and his face pale. He looked like he had just been pulled out of a lake in the middle of winter, but no one stepped up to ask him if he were alright, or to wrap a blanket around him to still the shivering.
Slowly, slowly, Rhen's tears stopped falling and his eyes darkened back to their original brown shade. He lifted his gaze and looked around.
"What just happened?" he whispered.
Dumbfounded silence reigned for a while more, but then Sora spoke up. "You…just used the Noble Heart. Or…something like it. I think…"
Rhen's mouth hung open, words hesitating on his lips when he heard a clink by his side. He looked down and saw that the white sword had returned to his hand. He swallowed his words.
"Who is this guy?" Riku demanded. "What's going on here?"
Sora turned to the others, leaving Rhen to his own thoughts. "I was going to ask you guys what you were doing, showing up all of a sudden. I didn't think you were coming."
"We changed our minds," Kari responded. "We were worried about you, and it seems like we had a good reason to."
"I would've been fine. I can take on any heartless, anytime, anywhere." Sora crossed his arms in a playful show of pride. "They don't call me the keyblade master for no reason, you know."
"What about him?" Riku jumped in.
Rhen was looking at them, waiting to be noticed. He smiled weakly when the three legends-made-real turned to him.
"That's Rhen," Sora explained. "I met him on the way here. He says he's Roren's nobody or something."
"I'm not his nobody, Solhis is."
"Who's Solhis?"
"He's no good, that's what Rhen says."
Riku scowled. "Why should we trust what he says? He's a nobody."
"I'm not a nobody," Rhen repeated. "Solhis is Roren's nobody, and I'm…well Halvi says I'm something else, but we don't know what."
Riku's eyebrows lifted. "You know Halvi?"
"Yeah, I lived with her for a few weeks, and she told me all about you guys."
"Oh, so that's it," Riku rolled his eyes. "That's why The King didn't want us going to see Halvi. She's been keeping a secret boyfriend in her house all this time."
Rhen felt his face flush with heat. "I-I'm not Halvi's b-boyfriend!"
"So what are you then?" Riku snapped. Rhen blinked at his angry tone. "You do realize that you just whipped out four monster heartless in a few seconds, don't you? Where did you, some kid who was hiding in the bushes, get that kind of skill? Nothing about you fits. I don't like it. Hurry up. Explain yourself already!"
Rhen was stunned. "I-…I'm…I don't know. I-" he trailed off, but Riku was still glaring at him. It made Rhen angry to have to sit under such a harsh stare while everyone else stood around and waited for an answer. He sighed. "I'm just trying to find Roren, okay? If you three even want to see him again you going to need my help. It's hard enough coming out here, knowing what I'll have to do without some snotty punk giving me the third degree for no reason."
Even though this was not the answer that Riku was looking for, it still shut him up. Kari stepped up and said the first kind words Rhen had heard all day.
"You sure are amazing with that sword," she smiled and he relaxed a little. "Where'd you learn to fight like that?"
Rhen shrugged and said that he didn't know.
"I don't think we should hang around here like this," Sora said. "There could be more heartless around, and I don't know about you but I'd rather not have to run into them."
"What happened to any heartless, anytime, anywhere?" Kari joked.
Sora laughed but didn't argue. "Let's just figure out where we are, then we'll talk everything out, okay?"
He laced his fingers together behind his head and started walking through the forest; the others followed without comment. Kari walked next to Sora, with Riku just behind, and Rhen ambling along last, his footsteps falling in the long shadows of the other three ahead of him.
"So your not a nobody?"
Rhen nodded slowly, encouragingly, though his patience was wearing thin at last. He hadn't known that it was much harder to get two people to understand a complicated concept than just one, not until he had tried explaining his existence to Riku and Kari. He was grateful that Sora was there to help him.
"Solhis is Roren's nobody," The keyblade master volunteered. Rhen had heard that phrase so many times, it was starting to make his ears ring. "Rhen is some other part of Roren…I think…"
"We just don't know what part," Riku finished.
Kari tilted her head, shuffling her thoughts into order. "But, we do know that whatever Rhen is, he's good. Solhis has Roren's darkness, Rhen has his light."
I hope it's that simple, Rhen thought, sighing inwardly. I just wish I knew what I'm supposed to do.
Frustrated, Riku got to his feet and stretched. "I'm tired of this. I'm going to go take a look around, anybody want to tag along?"
"I'll go," Sora said and jumped up.
"What are you going to do Rhen?" Kari asked.
Rhen was caught off guard by this question, and he swallowed his answer like a piece of un-chewed meat. "I-I think I'm going to stay here," he murmured once he had gotten himself under control.
Kari smiled and turning to Riku said, "I'll stay too. You guys'll be fine without me, I hope?"
Sora snorted as he and Riku drifted away from the temporary camp, calling playful taunts back over his shoulder until he was far in the distance.
"He's so silly," Kari chuckled lightly. Then she sighed heavily and pulled her knees in close. "I remember when Roren used to be like him."
Rhen swallowed, his tongue like a rock wrapped in sandpaper in his mouth. He didn't offer a response, guessing that Kari wasn't looking for one. She went on despite his hesitation.
"Don't you think it's strange," she said, "we willingly entered the dark pool to get here, but when Roren fell in he lost his heart. I never would have thought a place like this existed, not inside a puddle of darkness…"
She looked at Rhen, and he quickly dropped his gaze to the grass. Kari's smile spread into a wide grin, and then, even as she tried to quell it, wild laughter erupted from her mouth. Rhen stared at her with a bemused smile of his own playing on his lips.
"What?" he asked, his voice trembling.
"Oh, it just…" Kari turned away for a second, giggling while Rhen's cheeks burned. Finally she heaved a deep breath and whipped her eyes, her fit ended. "I'm sorry, it's just when you looked all shy like that just then, it reminded me of Roren."
She lifted her wet eyes to Rhen's face. "I laughed at him then too, if that makes you feel any better. I don't know why it looks so funny. I guess I just never pictured shy on a face like his, like yours."
Rhen felt subtle delight swell inside him. "I look like Roren?"
"Sure do."
Feeling another powerful blush rush to his face, Rhen looked away again. He remembered Kari's previous reaction at the last second and forced himself to look nonchalant, but this time Kari didn't laugh. When he looked at her again he found that her eyes had aged dramatically.
She stared at the tip of Rhen's shoe distantly, her expression sad. He shifted uncomfortably in the grass, recalling the times when Halvi took on the same look. He never knew what to say.
Kari closed her eyes and said, "There are people out there, people who just have this way about them. No matter what's happened that day, talk to one of them for a while and everything seems lighter."
Rhen watched her open her eyes again, his fingers growing cold. She continued when he didn't speak. "When he was younger, Roren was one of those people. And he knew it, too. After a long march, or a long time on the battle field, he would go all around the camp and talk to people. It would take him hours. Sometimes he wouldn't even take his armor off first. But I swear, whenever he did that you could feel the moral rise."
"Everyone felt…better when he was around." Kari balanced her chin in her hand and shook her head. "There were so many times when we all needed that support, but there came a time when Roren just couldn't give it. He couldn't give what he needed himself."
"What…um," Rhen squeezed his hands together nervously. "Was Roren…was he a good friend of yours?"
Kari nodded, her eyes still far away. "He was my friend in more ways than one."
Rhen bit his tongue to keep his jaw from dropping. Did Kari love Roren? Like, really love him?
Seeing Rhen's wide eyes, Kari's gaze softened and she smirked. "Silly, it wasn't like that. Roren may have been close to a lot of people, but he was never in love with anyone."
"Not even you?" Rhen couldn't believe the words had come out of his mouth.
Kari didn't seem to mind. "No. He wasn't…he didn't think of me, of anyone, that way. Sure, if you asked him he would say that he…loved me, but he'd say he loved Elijah too, and that he loved Jonah. We were his family in some ways, but his relationships were ones of love and fear. For all his talk, I know Roren was always afraid for us, and for himself. Because of that, there was this distance that he kept between us, and he never once, never once let anyone get beyond it."
"I didn't know that," Rhen whispered, rubbing his arm as if it hurt him. "That's kind of sad. He must have been lonely."
"Well, I was sort of exaggerating," Kari said. "There was one person that got through that thick head of his. Our captain was probably the only person Roren really loved."
Rhen knew exactly who she was talking about. He'd heard about Roren's captain from Halvi's stories many times; he was a big part of Roren's early adventures. "Captain Henry Adams, right?"
"The very same," she nodded. "He was closer to Roren than any of us. Like a brother."
Captain Henry was another one of Rhen's favorite characters, and when he wasn't asking Halvi for stories about Sora or Roren, he ask to hear about the young officer. Sadly, Halvi only knew a handful of the Captain's adventures, and none of them were very recent.
"What ever happened to him, anyway?" Rhen pressed.
Kari's normal, gentle features turned dark in an instant. Rhen felt his stomach drop with her gaze, right to the ground.
"Three years ago Captain Henry was killed," she mumbled, stumbling through the words. "That was really when Roren lost it, too. I think whatever hope Roren had in him died that night, or he buried it with Henry."
Now Rhen greatly wished he hadn't asked. Kari was already pushing the emotional thoughts away, before they could open old scars. "You know," she said, though Rhen wouldn't look at her, "For the longest time I've thought it would be great if Roren could meet someone like himself. Or someone like he was."
"Someone with that way about them?" Rhen ventured.
"Exactly," Kari shrugged and her characteristic smile appeared once more. "Maybe that's what you're really here for? Maybe…maybe that's what bringing Roren back really means?"
"I don't really know what it means."
A shout sounded off to their side. Sora and Riku were on their way back.
"Rhen," Kari said quietly and he turned to her, leaning in to hear her words. "All Roren needed to be happy was to let go of his fear. If you could do that for him, even for a little while, that would be saving him more than anything else you could do."
She pulled away as the other two came up to them, and in a few minutes they were all setting out once again. Rhen traveled at the back like before, but as Sora and Riku led the group down the road they had found, he spent the monotonous miles digging farther in, and higher up into his own mind, looking for an ever elusive answer.
"Oh, boy. Here they come now," Solhis sneered, smacking his lips.
Malhock stood by him, his arms crossed over his chest in an almost protective way. "What are you going to do?"
"Whatever I want to."
"What about that kid?" Malhock wondered, frowning at the wild gleam in Solhis's eye.
The tall nobody scowled. "Which kid, idiot? They're all kids."
Malhock bit back a sharp comment of his own, rolling his eyes in a small circle instead. "I mean, what are you going to do to Rhen?"
"Glad you asked," Solhis said with a grin. "I promised Mehla that she could be the one to take him out, but that doesn't mean that I don't get to have a little fun first. Besides, the other three are fair game."
Psycho, Malhock thought, but he didn't speak. Not wanting to be close by when Solhis was about to go rampaging, he carefully excused himself and made to leave.
"Just try not to get too crazy," he reminded his superior. "Without Rhen we lose Roren, and you're not ready for that to happen yet."
Solhis did not answer, so Malhock shrugged and left without another word.
Farther up the road a small band of travelers was approaching. Solhis eyed them hungrily, his eyes straining to see which one was his most desired target. There you are, hiding at the back. He laughed.
"You always did like to hide, didn't you Rhen?"
He waited a few more minutes, until the distance was just right. He wanted them to see him, to wonder who he was, and when they realized, then he would move. Solhis bent his knees, saw the pause in the stride of the group's leader, and then he jumped.
He rocketed up into the sky so fast that it was like he had never been standing by the road at all. Once in the air he did not fall, he floated, showing his absolute control over the elements of his world. The figures below him turned their heads back and forth, searching for what they could not see. Rhen was the only one of the three who seemed to understand, but even then, he was far too weak to act against Solhis's plan.
With a kick of his legs, the nobody swooped back down toward the travelers, reached out his hand, and at the last second snatched Rhen up off the ground. The boy's shout ended in an abrupt gurgle as his collar cinched tightly around his neck. Solhis lifted him, and then tossed him up into the air with ease.
Rhen spread his arms and legs as he flew up, the shield that was still attached to his arm catching the wind and sending his whole body into a spiral. The whole world spun with him, until he was so dizzy that the trees seemed to have their roots in the clouds, and the sun shone up from under the ground. A second later he landed back on the earth with a painful thud, and everything slowed.
His whole body ached the same way he had when he had fallen through the trees earlier that day. He wondered how many times he would be dropped on his back from up high. Then he looked up, expecting to be tossed around again, but all he saw was a pair of stylish shoes sliding over the dirt toward him. Rhen was in no position to raise his head very high, so he could only see Solhis's knees as the nobody stood over him.
Sora and the others had finally stopped looking in circles, having spotted Solhis after he had thrown Rhen into the air. Now they stood like statues as the tall man stooped down and grabbed a handful of Rhen's hair, speechless as he yanked the boy to his knees, and numb as he kicked him hard in the stomach.
The sound of Rhen gasping and retching seemed to awaken them at last. Sora was the first to shout.
"Stop that!" He hollered, and Solhis turned to him.
"You got a problem, kid?"
Sora found that his mouth had gone dry. Why did he always feel so weak when this man looked at him? The sensation made him angry, so when he demanded that Solhis let Rhen go, his voice was surprisingly fierce.
Solhis grinned. "Didn't I tell you to stay off my property? Didn't I tell you that you couldn't rescue your useless friend?"
"Shut up! Roren's a better guy than you'll ever be!"
"I don't care about being a better guy," Solhis hissed. He spat to the side, and his spit smacked Rhen's cheek. "Roren was so useless most of the time anyway. Why is he better? He was better when he listened to me!"
Riku narrowed his eyes, his nose wrinkled. "What do you know about Roren?"
"Oh, more than you'll ever care to know," the tall nobody sneered. "I've been with him since the day he was born, though we may not have found each other right away." Suddenly his face darkened and he looked down at Rhen. The boy kneeled helplessly on the ground, struggling to breathe, only hearing parts of what was being said. Solhis bared his teeth in disgust. "Roren spent way too much time fooling around with this piece…of…trash." He emphasized each of his last words with a swift kick to Rhen's body, one of them landing on his face. Rhen ground his teeth and didn't make a sound.
"Knock it off," Kari said, her voice steady and threatening. Her eyes were even more fearsome than her tone, but once again Solhis ignored the command.
He pulled Rhen's head closer and whispered, "Don't you remember those days? Back when I was finally taking the lead, when he pushed you down over and over? I remember how sweet it was, and I just wanted to see the look on your face."
Rhen glared at Solhis out of the corner of his eye. "I remember…" he wheezed, "I remember you…all you did…was drag us down. You had…us all headed…for death."
"So what, you were the savior? You never got us anywhere. I'm the one who accomplished the important things, while all you wanted to do was sit around!" Solhis stood up, pulling Rhen with him. They kept their eyes locked together, a silent battle raging, until one of the others spoke up.
"What's going on here?" Riku demanded. "Did both of you know Roren a long time ago?"
"We are Roren, you moron," Solhis grumbled. "At least I am. I thought I had that loser on my side, I thought we had gotten rid of this wretch for good. But Roren sure was a tricky one. He never really let you go, kept you locked up until you could just take over completely."
"But I still got him to listen to me again, for a while." The nobody looked at Kari, and she stiffened. "She did a lot to help me then. Do you know what I'm talking about, sweetheart? Back in Rossick City?"
Kari's eyes widened. Solhis nodded. "I've been working my way up ever since then. I even got him to yell at you, pretty boy! That was really fantastic!"
Sora's face went pale when he realized what Solhis was talking about. "You…are you saying that you made Roren tell me to go home? That was you?!"
"Man, you guys are all so slow! Me and Rhen, we're closer than you think." He pressed Rhen's face in next to his own, as if they were posing for a picture. "Roren was one messed up kid, you know? His personality was completely divided. Most of the time he was the funny guy that everybody loved, and other times he would get so raving mad that he was like a different person. When he made decisions, he always argued both sides inside his head. The devil and angel on his shoulders, that's us."
Sora's mouth hung open just a little, confusion clear on his face. Sohlis rolled his eyes and went on. "Roren had a split personality. Duh. I guess you never knew, because it wasn't as dramatic when he younger. But crap happened, his head got really screwed up, and the next thing you know, he's got another person inside his mind. That was me. I didn't like being cooped up, so I worked my magic and finally got the idiot to follow my lead."
He looked at Rhen once more. "But Roren got a little depressed in the process. He didn't trust my methods, he didn't want to listen to me anymore. Just because I got him banished for murder…anyway, he wanted to go backwards. He wanted to be his old stupid self again, so he went and made up another character to occupy his head. Called him some silly name, gave him all of his old characteristics, and pretty much let him take over."
"I remember that," Kari interrupted. "We went to find Roren after he had been exiled, but when we did he acted like he didn't remember us. He looked the same on the outside, but he didn't know anything about his own life. He didn't know me, or his own family, or anything. He told us some story about growing up in Rossick Town, working in the bakery, and planning to move to the west sometime, but…that whole world of his was just his imagination. The person we were talking to wasn't even real."
Solhis wagged his head. "Yes he was. He's standing right here, see. Isn't he cute?" Here he shook his hand, making Rhen's head move with it. "By the time Roren was 19, he had three different personalities. Old Roren, the one who was a depressed, worn out, soldier; me, the ambitious one; and Rhen, the cheerful little fake. So guess what happened when he lost his heart? I became the nobody, because I've always been a part of him. And Rhen showed up too, because he was created by Roren. As for our host, he's still hanging around too. But like I told pretty boy, Roren belongs to me. You lot can have him when I'm done taking the Noble Heart."
Sora strode forward, his keyblade appearing with a flash in his hand. He raised his weapon. "So that's what you meant by empty. You're stealing Roren's power from him, and once you have all of it, then what?"
"Well," Solhis snorted. "I have to destroy Rhen first. If he gives his spirit up to Roren then we're all finished. Old depressed Roren becomes the guy you all remember, but without the split personality. There'll only be him, he'll just be happier. Me and Rhen disappear…you know, poof! So naturally, I'm not going to let that happen. I like being my own man. It's nice to have a body of my own for once."
Solhis opened his palm and suddenly a long sword appeared in his hand. It was thin, but hooked in the middle, designed to tear flesh in the most painful way. "I made this whole world. Everything you see on this side of the pool was my idea. So yes, this is my property. And I want you punks out!"
He brandished the sword, Sora, Riku and Kari all poised for combat, all waiting for him to make the first move. But it was Rhen who acted before everyone.
He pulled his own sword free from where he had hidden it inside his shield. The pure white blade sang as he released it, slicing it in a clean arch through the air to cut at Solhis's neck. The nobody saw the attack at the last second and dipped his blade to deflect the strike. He pushed Rhen away from him, their weapons clanging together, and Solhis's finger tearing out pieces of Rhen's blonde hair as the two leapt apart.
As if on que the other three jumped into the fight. The four of them struck out at Solhis with weapons, magic and fists, but all of their attacks fell short. Solhis moved around them, dodging and blocking with inhuman skill. The battle was more like a dance, every step carefully planned and complex, and incredibly intricate.
Rhen and Sora both swung at Solhis's feet, but their blades whooshed through empty air as their foe jumped up over them. He continued to rise, still swinging his massive sword at those below him. Soon he was too high to reach, and he hovered over them and laughed.
Then he sucked in a huge breath, his chest swelling like a frog. The next moment he roared at the travelers, his breath a massive hammer and his voice a wave.
"GET OFF MY PROPERTY!!!!!!"
Rhen and the others were all knocked to their feet, the ground shaking, the world melting and the colors around them blending. Their bones rattled, their blood froze and their skin trembled as if under a mighty wind. Everything seemed to be screaming those words. They pummeled the bodies of the helpless victims, endlessly, for hours and days, months and years, until the world seemed to run out of energy. Then everything fell.
By the time Sora, Rhen, Riku and Kari woke up again, the illusion of the moon was high in the fabricated sky. All of them felt drained, and their faces appeared yellow in the moonlight. Even so, none of them looked as bad as Rhen.
His eyes were grey, sunken into his face and rimmed in red. His clothes were torn, and his arms and legs shook uncontrollably. But worst of all were the cuts that covered his skin. Most were small, some were long enough to be truly painful, but it was what the cuts revealed that was most troubling. Rhen stared at his hands, at the torn flesh that did not bleed. Under his skin was nothing but a black stuffing. There were no tendons, no muscles, no blood.; just a fleshy black substance.
Slowly Rhen began to understand what he was seeing. This was all he was. A form with a layer of skin and hair wrapped around it like a well fitted suit. He didn't have a heart, he didn't even have lungs. He saw that he really was an illusion. A fake. Not even a real person. A shadow. The shadow of someone who never existed in the first place.
He wanted to cry, but he didn't think he even had tears to shed. He sat with his hands laying in his lap and a terrified expression on his darkened face. After a while it occurred to him that even the pain he felt could not be real. It was just a memory, just the idea that cuts in his skin should hurt. Even as these thoughts wandered through Rhen's mind, the stinging, burning and aching all over his body died.
Rhen found the disappearance of the pain more horrible than its presence. Pain was something for real people to feel, and the lack of it only affirmed his discovery that he was farther from being real than he had ever known.
He felt a hand on his shoulder and he jumped. It was Riku, standing over him with his hand held out.
"You want to come over to the fire?" He asked. "You've been sitting there for hours."
Rhen folded his hands over each other, then stood and followed Riku to the small fireplace that the others had made. He wondered how long he had been sitting in the dirt, staring at himself. He wondered also why no one had spoken to him until now. They probably think I'm disgusting.
Sora and Kari were not around the fire, but resting under a small rock outcropping. Riku explained that he had taken the first watch.
Rhen held up his hands. "Did you see?"
"Yes." Riku looked up. "The others didn't know what to do with you. So, they let you sit."
"What about you?"
The other boy seemed to grow sadder when Rhen said this, but he answered, "I think we need to talk. Sit down."
Rhen obeyed, though he fell to the dirt rather than sat. For a while the two were quiet, the crackling of the fire the only sound between them.
"Is what Solhis said true?" Riku's eyes reflected the dimming firelight.
Rhen nodded. "I didn't even know it before he showed up, but while he was talking I started to remember."
"So, you really are just one of Roren's multiple personalities?"
"Yeah…that's all."
"But," Riku sighed as the words evaded him. "You're so…complicated. You have thoughts and feelings, you act like a regular person."
Now it was Rhen's face that drooped. "I guess Roren was really creative."
Riku laughed softly, but it was a sad sound. He nudged the coals with a stick and looked at Rhen. "So, what are you going to do now?"
"I'm sticking with the old plan," Rhen said. "Nothing's changed."
"Are you crazy?!" The other boy almost shouted, but quieted his voice a moment later, mindful of his sleeping friends. "Rhen, you heard Solhis say it; this is his world. He won't let you get anywhere near Roren, you don't have a chance. He's going to kill you."
Rhen closed his eyes and rubbed the back of his hand thoughtfully. He felt the cuts along his knuckles, like great scars torn in the ground. "I've talked to Sora, and to Kari, and now I'm talking to you. All three of you know where I stand. I'm going through with this. If I turned around now, I know that I would never come back."
"Oh, Rhen…"Riku shook his head. "This doesn't make any sense. You've never even really met Roren. Think about what you're doing!"
"I have thought about it! I've never stopped thinking about it," he whispered. He crossed his legs, hoping to stop his knees from shaking. "I could go back, give up all together, but…I don't know what would be worse; dying at the hands of Solhis, or living on, knowing that I turned my back on the purpose I was created for."
"Roren may have made me up in his head, but…I was made to save him from Solhis. And if I can do that…"
Riku broke in, saying, "But what's in it for you? You can't be doing this for no reason. Tell me that. Why are you doing this?"
"Because…" Rhen looked up at the sky, full of strange stars, "Because Roren is loved by so many people. I can just imagine how happy, how relieved they would feel if he would just smile and laugh like he used to. And…If I could give him a second chance, or a third, or a fourth, or even a thousand more chances to figure his life out, to find the way to be really free and happy, that would make all this," he held out his torn up arms, "worthwhile. It would make…me…worthwhile."
Riku swallowed. "So that's it."
"Oh,' Rhen laughed, "I have to convince myself every few minutes that it's really worth it. I just hope I'll have the strength to finish this when the time comes. I may not have a heart, but, I still feel like running the other way. But, somehow I've gotten this far."
"Alright then," Riku stood up and held out his hand once more. "I promise to help you do what is right in the end. I'll do what I can to get you there, and if I have to, get you out in once piece."
This time Rhen solidly clasped Riku's hand and shook it. The other boy felt the strange cuts along Rhen's hand and it made him shiver.
"I've got a feeling," Rhen said, sitting back and staring into the fire. "Tomorrow we sink or swim. You should get some sleep. Trust me, I don't actually need it."