Shadows of Reality
Chapter Thirty-Five – Deception's Face
Riku sat on one of the walls around the castle, staring out at the brilliant sunset that shone over Twilight's Destiny. His arms were folded across his chest and his startling-green eyes started blankly in front of him. He wasn't admiring the sunset, because he had seen a billion like it before. No, he was going over some rather disturbing thoughts.
Sora was starting to calm down, and that was good. He wasn't at the point where he would freak out or almost start having a panic attack anymore, but he was still incredibly angry. Not that Riku could blame him. He himself wanted to take Xehanort and rip him limb from limb, and he wasn't even Kairi's husband!
Those thoughts had led to the thoughts of how they had let this happen. He went over different possible scenarios and came to one rather disturbing one: someone sabotaged the ship. That meant one of two things: either someone on the ship did it, or someone teleported onto the ship and did it.
He glanced down as he saw a pink haired woman walk from the town to the castle. He still didn't trust any of the former Organization members. True, they had all helped a lot around the castle, but that didn't mean anything. He knew that Axel could still jump from place to place and was starting to wonder if Roxas' word for the pyro was good enough anymore.
Riku glanced over as he heard someone climb up next to him. He stared at Midori as she sat down and stared at the sky and a pang of guilt shot through him at the sight of her. He had been spending so much time with Emiliana that he hadn't really taken much time to talk to her anymore, and he felt terrible about it. He didn't even really like Emiliana that much! He thought she had a terrible personality and she was rather annoying, but she was good looking and willing to get close to him.
He eyed Midori, for the first time realizing that she had yet to replace her green t-shirt that he had accidentally ripped (he knew she thought Emiliana did it, but he wasn't going to correct her). It was odd for him to recognize such a small detail, and it made him feel even worse because it reinforced the thought of how much he had been ignoring her.
"You know," Midori said suddenly, snapping him out of his thoughts. "I miss life on the islands. We used to do nothing and everything at the same time."
"This coming from the one who complained about how small the islands were when she got there." Riku sighed then said, "I wish we could go back too. I know they're technically here, but it's not the same." He wasn't going to mention that he used to think the islands were too small before too.
"What would be the first change you would make, if you could?" she asked curiously.
"I would trust you more," he said after a moment. This startled her, and he noticed this so he decided to explain a little more. "I would trust you more when you say that you were just waiting until you knew more about me. I wouldn't have dated all those other girls either."
"You would have waiting for Emi to show up, right?" Midori asked, a tone of defeat to her voice.
"No," he replied. "As terrible as this makes me out to be, I'm just…well I guess I'm just using her."
This caused Midori to raise an eyebrow as she asked, "You're using her for sex? I don't know whether to laugh or be disgusted."
"Well—no—not just that…I'm using her to attempt to fill a gap here," he said while placing a hand over his heart.
"You said attempt to fill the gap," she said after a moment. "It's not working?"
"No Midi, it's not," he admitted. "I know I did absolutely nothing to gain your trust over the past few months, but I want you to know…" He looked down at the ground.
"You want me to know what?"
"I'm not Sora and I'm not Roxas. I don't trust my instincts as much as they do. My better judgment and instincts usually lead me to do dark things. So I'm not quite sure, but I'm nearly positive that…well…I trust you more then any other girl here and I…"
Midori giggled a bit and he glanced at her. She held her tanned hand over her mouth, trying to muffle her laughter but to no avail.
Riku glared at her and said, "You don't need to be bitchy about it." He was about to get up when she grabbed his hand and dragged him back down.
"Riku you idiot, I wasn't making fun of you," Midori said. "I was laughing because I was happy. I thought you really liked Emiliana." She spat out the girl's name with hatred in her eyes. That faded quickly though. "But since I know you have your pride to think about (she winked at that), and since I know your mind is a jumbled mess right now, I think I can wait a little while longer before hearing what you have to say. But Riku?"
"Yeah?"
"Don't make me wait much longer, ok?" Midori asked while giving him a small peck on the lips. She smiled warmly at him before jumping off of the large wall and to the ground, heading back towards the castle. "See ya later Silver!"
Riku sat there with a stunned look on his face. It stuck him how much he actually missed hearing the name 'Silver' come from her, even though he had complained about it at first. After a moment his stunned look changed into a grin and he looked up at the sky, which seemed a little bit more beautiful than before.
VVVVVVVVVVVV
Midori yawned a bit as she happily walked through the hallway. She knew that things between she and Riku would work out, now that she knew he didn't have actual feelings for Emiliana.
God, how she loathed that girl. She was a waste of a Keyblade if Midori had ever seen one.
She hummed a bit and waved to Larxene, who appeared in the hallway. Midori seemed to be the only other person aside from the other former Nobodies that she could stand. Mind you, Larxene spent most of her time threatening Zexion, Axel and especially Demyx, but that wasn't the point!
"So," Larxene said as she examined her nails. "I saw that little episode with emo-boy outside."
Midori shrugged and said, "I'm just happy he doesn't like her."
"Oh yes, the little brown-haired whore," Larxene replied. "You know, I can stand most of the Keybearers here. Some of them, like that perky Ariel one or the fluff-ball Stitch annoy me, and others like Jack Sparrow or Jack Skellington fascinate me, but her…I really don't like her. There's just something familiar about her."
"I know what you mean," Midori said darkly. "And I know how she's familiar."
"Hmm?"
"Shhhh," Midori whispered suddenly, having heard a voice come from behind a door. She opened it only slightly and started listening to the conversation. She glanced at Larxene and asked, "Which room is this?"
"One of the communications rooms, but this one doesn't work very well due to…water damage," she replied rolling her eyes at the memory of Demyx letting loose.
"No! We trusted you!" a blurry voice said, distorted slightly from the speakers in the room. Still, Midori knew that voice anywhere.
"Kairi," she whispered in shock.
"You were always too trusting and that led to your downfall. Got it memorized?"
An angry look passed over Larxene's face at that. She glanced at Midori and said, "Looks like we found our spy. Go get some help, I'll keep tabs on 'em."
Midori nodded and quickly started running the other direction.
VVVVVVVVVVVV
Donald yelled in anger at not only his nephews but Daisy's nieces as well. They were all driving him up the wall! In some cases, he meant that literally.
Stitch laughed crazily, enjoying Donald's mental pain. He quite liked these strange little ducklings. They, in turn, found Stitch fascinating.
"DONALD!"
He turned around and saw Midori panting at the door. He glanced at her oddly as she said, "Where—Sora? Or Roxas? Riku! Never mind!" Then she was off again.
There was a long pause in the room until Simba (who had been observing the madness in silence) asked, "What was that?"
All six ducklings as well as Stitch started talking at once, and Donald really wanted to throw himself into an oven at that moment.
VVVVVVVVVVVV
"RIKU!"
He turned around and then found himself on the ground as Midori slid across the floor and slammed into him.
Quickly she untangled herself from him and jumped to her feet while saying, "We know who the traitor is, but we need help!"
"What? Who?"
Midori grabbed his arm and started running back down the hall with him in toe.
VVVVVVVVVVVV
Larxene was thrown limply across the room. She landed on the ground, her pink hair covering her face.
Her attacker leaned over and grinned slightly while nudging her lightly. When she didn't move the person shrugged a bit and turned around, grabbing Larxene's ankle and starting to drag her out when they heard footsteps rushing down the hall.
The person quickly moved Larxene's body back into the room and closed the door. They turned slightly and stared at the corridor, watching as people approached from all directions.
Axel looked up and stared at Riku and Midori as they stared at him from one direction and Emiliana looked around from the other. All four of them seemed to pause and stare at one another for a moment before Midori took a step forward.
"Where's Larxene?" she asked, a dangerous tone to her voice. "And where's Kairi?"
"What?" Axel asked, confusion passing over his face.
Twilight appeared in Midori's hand as she took a step forward. Both Axel and Emiliana took a step backward as she raised it into the air, but what happened next made all three of them shocked.
Riku leapt over Midori with Way to Dawn outstretched, he brought it down as it clashed with the Way to Dusk, but Emiliana wasn't strong enough to take the pressure that he applied on the Keyblades.
She stumbled back and fell to the ground as Riku forced his Keyblade to her throat and said, "Where is Kairi you goddamn traitor?"
"What's going on?" Axel asked, his eyes wide with confusion.
"This one here was the one who has been giving away our locations to Xehanort," Midori growled angrily. "She's the one that sabotaged our ship and the reason Kairi is gone. Oh, and she attempted to steal your catch phrase."
Fire shot out of Axel's hands as he said, "No one, and I mean that, steals my catch phrase! And no one hurts my friends!" He stormed over to her, flames in hand, but Riku stopped him.
"Wait," Riku said. "We can't kill her, we need information." He yanked her up off of the floor and said, "So talk."
"What's the matter Riku?" Emiliana spat back. "You sound bitter. Maybe because I fooled you over everyone else? Or is it because I remind you so much of what you should be? We're the same type of person Riku, our Keyblades say so."
Riku slammed her into the wall and said, "Shut up you stupid bitch. You're going to tell us where Kairi is, what we're dealing with and whatever else we want to know. Got it?"
"Or what?" she asked, almost smugly.
"Well, we could just let Sora loose on you," Axel suggested. "He's been dying to take his anger out on something."
Midori took a step towards her and asked, "What did you do to Larxene?"
Emiliana said nothing, but her purple eyes flickered towards a door to their left. Quickly, Axel threw the door open and Midori gasped when she saw an unconscious Larxene.
Axel bent down next to her and checked her breathing and pulse before saying, "She's alive, but she'll be out of it for awhile."
"Can you take her to the medical wing?" Midori asked, her eyes gazing from her friend back to the girl she despised.
"Yeah, I'll catch up on how this turns out later from the security cameras," Axel said as he hoisted Larxene up. He glanced over at Emiliana and sneered while saying, "I hope Sora drives his Keyblade through your heart." Then he was off.
"What do we do with her now?" Midori asked, staring at her with distaste.
"We get answers," Riku said as he jerked Emiliana around, twisting her arms behind her. "And we're going to let Sora have the honors of asking her the questions."
A little bit of fear flittered across Emiliana's eyes as Midori snickered and said, "You are so screwed."
VVVVVVVVVVVV
Author's Note
-smiling insanely- You have NO idea HOW much I was giggling as I read the reviews. They made me smile SO much. I'll thank Shire Folk for pointing out that I'm a demon! It's so true! And I'll give props to chasingfireflies, Iaveina and Holly Skyla Hart for figuring out my thinking!
I find it funny that by adding those three words, everyone seemed to forget that I was already portraying Emiliana as a bad person. I dropped several hints, aside from her rotten attitude, that Emiliana was one of the bad guys.
Lets go through the less obvious ones. Midori, even though I never said it out right, was always reminded of Crysita every time she saw Emiliana. Why? Because Crysita had purple hair and brown eyes while Emiliana had brown hair and purple eyes. This was done on purpose. Then there was the big hint that I'm surprised NOBODY picked up on. Then again, it did come from Shadows of a Dream. Sora mentioned having a dream about every Keyblade Bearer (except for Kairi, Riku, Roxas and Naminé, but he did, I just didn't mention it). Emiliana wasn't mentioned until this fic though. And one of the meanings of Emiliana is rival, that's why I choose that name.
Oh, and one final tidbit that I haven't gotten to yet. Syrena Li can back me up on this, because I already told her, but I figured I'd let all your imaginations get the better of you for now. Emiliana and Midori knew each other before they met in this fic.
I leave you all on that note.
simplyjennxD – Again, I didn't mean to make you upset. Yeah, I was offended, but it's ok. Not like I was mad. Oh! I know the answer to why Namine doesn't mess with other people's memories! Because she can't. She only has the ability to manipulate the memories in Sora's (and Roxas') heart. Everyone else forgot because Sora forgot. I don't think you're a dumbass 15-year-old.
Trainalf – There are a lot of things wrong with me. That's why I decided to make you all think Axel was bad.
Khfan forlife – it never really occurred to me until I looked at the review count exactly how many people DID read this. I'm over 400!! Woot! Yay, another person I tricked into thinking it was Axel.
Chiglet663 – I haven't had a math class for about 2 years now. Gonna suck when I have to take accounting next year. Thank you, I am evil and twisted. And thanks for the comment! Now I'll think teacher=flamer for the rest of the year!
Taeniaea – Thank you
Kingdommad – Axel doesn't have a reason to run. And Emiliana can't go anywhere. I wouldn't write a chapter about someone getting killed!
Shire Folk – I'm pretty sure this was one of the reviews that mused me the most. Yay, I'm up to demon status! How's that for hooking you in, reeling you out, and repeat! Sure you'll like Axel in this story. He hasn't done anything wrong. Poor Axel, everything everyone's been saying about him is horrible.
Penetration light – Thank you. Don't worry, the writer's block won't affect this fic. But as for writing things later…that's different
DAN88 – You're right. It can't be Axel.
xLeaf-Angel – yeah, it didn't make much sense to have Axel as the bad guy. That's why I made him seem like it.
DearlyBeloved-13 – LOL! Another person! This is great!
The Key of Hope – Do I need to say it? Ahh the thing with fire and ice is that yes, fire melts the ice, but then the ice turns to water, and what fights fire but water. It's a vicious circle of doom! The first time I got a DS was Christmas last year. Before then I used my sisters.
chasingfireflies – Yes, this a review of epic proportions. Hope your friend gets better. I won't go to jail for not going to college around here! LMAO. Yeah, I have no school next week. My last day was Friday, but that was a snow day! Freaking awesome! Wow, I wish I could go to a pool on Christmas vaca, but ya know, our weather is a messed as it can be right now. One day it snows and is ok out, the next it's sunny but freezing, the next it's raining and about 20 degrees warmer! It's so confusing! Damn climate change. Yes, that is a good aim at life. If you were counting Kingdom Hearts in that you should have added Riku! Ew, all I've had this week is pizza. If I see it again I'm puke. No, I didn't realize until I read this review that I had over 400 reviews. I feel special! It wasn't even an English teacher that said it! It was one of my design teachers! You should update soon. Or let me see what you wrote and no one else because I'm dying to know. Seriously. Haha the best thing ever is when a bitch starts picking on your friend (who is sitting down), then your friend stands up, towers over the bitch by a good foot and tells her to "fly the fuck down the hall" and then the bitch runs. Yeah, that's what we say around here. Fly the fuck down the hall. Lol. You SHOULD write something for me, because I wrote you something! Something that isn't angsty! I mean, come on, I'll be 20. That's over the hill! I'm pretty sure my obsession with Disney will always make me seem more like I kid than many others my age. You were the first person to guess right about Axel! I'm pretty sure this is the longest reply I've ever written!
catharsis25 – I'm pretty sure I'm going to laugh whenever I see your reviews now, because I've never had a person ask me, 'Can I pimp my story on your review boards?'. Ahh, you can outwardly control your emotions, but you still feel them inside of you, and that's the kicker. You should have stuck with your earlier thoughts! The Final Mixes have the English voice actors? What the hell?
Iaveina – Your thoughts would be right. It's almost scary, because you got into my thinking almost word or word. I should have made Roxas the bad guy! That would have thrown EVERYONE for a loop. LMAO ok, for now on I shall not call my flashbacks flashbacks. They shall be known as memorial inserts! We all have to suffer through school, but I'd go back and go through high school again in a heartbeat. But still, have fun with The Great Gatsby!
Holly Skyla Hart – He does look like a chimp! Besides, he didn't take offense to it and you shouldn't either. Yes, I know that teacher slams everyone's work. It's all my classmates and I whine about regularly. …an axolotl is an animal dumbass! The Mexican walking fish that smiles at you! They're cute, but to not portray Axel in any way, shape or form. And again, you were one of the few who cracked open my thinking. Yes I'm a horrible person. LIVE WITH IT. And he DOES TOO look like a chimp!
The Shadows of Twilight – I did a double take, because your screen name fits in with my story titles! You picked out some things that no one else considered when I wrote in 'got it memorized?'. Like A Metaphor of Destiny trusting them. Unless destiny just wanted to mess everyone over!
Thanks for all the reviews!!!
Krystal Lily Potter