A/N: I got my 100th review, this calls for a celebration! Thank you so much readers and reviewers, you guys keep my going and going like that battery commercial!
Sorasheart281: Aw don't worry I won't make you cry so much, but you're going to love this chapter, I guarantee you, well only the middle part of it.
Rozen: It is my lucky day, and yours too, this one is lengthy so enjoy it as much as I did typing this little piece of work! Thank you for being my 100th review/ poster person.
My love goes out to all the people who made the 4000+ hits possible, and my loyal reviewers mentioned up above, I love you guys!
Now on with the story!
Chapter 38 A Vado of Affectus quod the Atrum Vinco mos Suscitatio (A Rush of Emotion and the Dark Master will Awaken)
"I'm going to try and find a way into the 'Room of Sleep'." Amaterasu said looking up at the several streets signs that they walked by. Lightning looked back down at the girl and tried to think of a way to talk her out of it, but it didn't seem likely.
"All by yourself?" Lightning asked tilting her head for a moment. She knew that Amaterasu was strong, but to be that strong to get past the King, Sora, and Riku all by herself it seemed like a suicide mission. "I understand why you want to do that, but maybe there is another way…"
"As long as darkness continues to exist this cycle will never end, it'll keep going and going, generations and generations to come." Amaterasu said firmly pausing in her walk for a moment. "Maybe in the 'Room of Sleep' I can figure out a way to take the darkness out of my heart, and his…" she was referring to the boy she came to care for.
"Are you even sure that possible? How do you know if that's what he wants?" the Heartless asked looking back at the younger girl for a moment. Amaterasu shrugged for a moment and puffed her cheeks for a bit.
"That's what my heart thinks… And for some reason I think that's what he wants to. No one wants darkness in their heart, because darkness will expand over a period of time, the greater the light becomes…"
"The greater the shadow will be…" Lightning said finishing the sentence for her 'client'. "How do you plan on getting the password?"
"I'll think of something…" Amaterasu said pulling out the sphere from the coat's pocket. Lightning gasped in surprise for a moment.
"How'd you…?"
"I can't tell you," Amaterasu said waving a finger at the Heartless. "Just hope the witch doesn't find out…" somehow the two of them hoped that nothing bad would happen, because of the stunt Amaterasu decided to pull.
"All right but you have to go and find Riku," Lightning said in an almost scolding voice. It sounded for like a moment that Lightning was instructing a child. "And no whining." She said to Amaterasu who opened her mouth to protest. "That's final."
"Ok…" she said thinking about if for a moment. "Yeah, but listen I don't think that's it's a good idea that I go into the 'Room of Sleep' I have a feeling something might happen if I do go down there." Amaterasu said thinking about it for a moment. "It's better if I just give it to him, and then later I'll figure out another way to get rid of this darkness," the girl pointed to her heart…
Sora looked around for a moment, trying to find the guy with silver hair, but he couldn't find his friend at the moment. Naminé was trying to catch her breath for a moment as they took a break from sparring. Sora's other half looked around trying to find Riku as well, but they couldn't find him. Roxas sighed for a moment looking back at Naminé as she fell to the ground. Kairi's Keyblade withdrew to its keychain form and securely fastened itself on a little chain that Naminé had on her new outfit. The blonde female wore a black shirt, with baggy khaki pants.
The three of them just sat down on the plain colored ground of Radiant Garden. In the distance the chapel was noticeable due to the cleared remains of the attack on the residential area. Roxas looked up at the sky, noticing that the way the sun held itself in the sky must have meant it was around 2 o'clock already. He looked back at the others for a moment and spoke.
"So then we're leaving tomorrow?" the Nobody asked looking at Naminé and at Sora. The two of them nodded and Roxas threw his hands in back of his head sighing in content. "Just two more worlds to go…" the boy said stretching for a moment and then he yawned. Sora held a more determined look in his eyes. 'Soon Kairi, soon… Just please don't give up on me,' Sora kept himself going because he was fighting to save the girl he loved. "Where do you think Riku's at?" Roxas asked tilting his head to the side of a moment, his neck ached.
"I have no clue," Sora said thinking about it for a moment. Riku had left a while after Yomigami had told Leon the password for the 'Room of Sleep'. "But I'm sure he's all right." Sora said optimistically as was his nature for things like that. Naminé worried for the teen with the turquoise eyes, he didn't seem like himself after they left Twilight Town, which seemed like ages ago. "I have feeling his off somewhere eating sea salt ice-cream…" Sora said looking back at the two Nobodies. "Speaking of which let's get some ice-cream!" he said placing his arms around both of the Nobodies, with that trademark grin of his. "Whadda ya say?"
"Are you buying?" Roxas asked his other half.
"Sure," Sora said happily. The other two nodded and accepted the offer for the free ice-cream. Naminé stated that she never tried it, and Sora and Roxas felt their eyes twitch in surprise. "You're going to love it!" the two said pulling Naminé up to her feet to find the nearest ice-cream parlor.
As they walked past the people walking safely along the sidewalk, Sora couldn't help but stare a bit at Naminé and Roxas. They reminded Sora of him and Kairi, which of course was normal, if not obvious, since they were after all their Nobodies. The brunette teenager sighed for a moment and looked up at the area ahead, the ice-cream parlor was just up ahead. Naminé blushed slightly feeling Roxas take a hold of her hand, and he whispered something into her ear.
Sora shook his head and laughed at the two. He decided to cut in, and placed his arms around their shoulder. "You guys weren't planning on having a rendezvous now, were you?" he asked jokingly noticing the embarrassed blushes on the two Nobodies.
With Amaterasu and Riku
The girl blocked an almost successful attack laid out by the boy before her. Her Keyblade boasted its power towards the Keyblade it was modeled after. Dawn and night clashed in a most uncommon way, with each hit the Keyblades dealt to the opponents the hearts of the wielders were crying out to cease the attacks. Amaterasu panted for a moment rolling away from an oncoming attack from the air. Riku jumped back after executing his attack and panted for a moment, his turquoise eyes didn't move away from her gaze. 'Darkness breeds hatred…' the girl thought dashing forward, her Keyblade ready in hand.
A blast of darkness was sent out from the hand of the girl and Riku dodged it as quickly as he could, but Amaterasu was able to squeeze in another attack and Riku felt the wind knock out of him as he fell backwards. He caught him himself, doing a one handed flip, and used the left over energy to move forward, he was going in for the kill. Amaterasu pushed the attack back and she and Riku moved back. The girl could feel her inner Heartless scream for release. The girl felt her body go out of control, and Riku inner darkness felt affected by it.
Two humanoid Heartless stood before the other, hisses and growled emitted from the throats of the two. The female Heartless moved forward in a quick motion knocking the other to the ground. The more masculine looking one kicked the opponent into the air, and the fight took its moment up in the sky. Amaterasu was able to knock Riku off of his momentum and the boy was sent falling back to the hard ground. Riku could feel her breath dangerously close to his and that's when he felt his sharp fangs sink deeper into the flesh of the other Heartless.
Amaterasu pulled back and the two of them were feeling out of breath, but the darkness within them continued the fight to almost no end. Before long they charged towards one another with their claws drawn, and a little shockwave erupted as their attacks collided with one another. Turquoise eyes met with yellow Heartless eyes and quickly the girl withdrew her Heartless form. Riku still didn't give up on withdrawing his form and so the girl blocked another attack with her Keyblade. 'He has every right to be mad,' she thought pushing him back an inch.
Riku's body went back to normal, and soon he was able to knock Amaterasu onto her back. He pinned her from moving as his Keyblade touched the exposed piece of flesh from her neck. Amaterasu had her weapon drawn close to his neck as well. 'It's a draw…' Riku thought panting heavily. "Are you ready to answer me now?" Riku asked harshly leaning forward towards the girl.
"Get the hell away from me…" she said coldly pushing the boy off of her. She scrambled up and held pointed the weapon towards Riku. "For your own good, just leave now."
"You're the one who wanted to see me!" Riku yelled back angrily holding his Keyblade in a defensive stance. The girl shook her head. "You followed the portal!" the girl said fighting back with the boy.
Riku felt a force tackle him down and he tried to get up but it felt impossible. The girl placed her whole weight into the action of it all. She hugged the boy with all her might trying her best not to let him go. The silver haired teen heard the dark haired girl cry. It was something that was foreign to his ears. 'I don't want to fight with you…' Riku thought as he found himself respond back to the cry. He stroked the back of her head, trying to gently cease the crying.
"I'm sorry… I'm sorry…" she repeated over and over again. "I am so sorry, Riku for everything." Amaterasu said feeling more tears run down the side of her cheeks. "For so many things… I'm sorry I caused you so much pain." She said meaning every word of it. Her heart was still torn apart by what she wanted, and what she knew. "I thought that us being apart for a couple of months would make you forget about…" she muttered the last word, and Riku flinched slightly.
"I can't…" Riku said softly feeling the previous emotion leave him. "I would never forget about you…" he said the girl allowed him to sit up. "What kind of person do you think I am?" he asked and the girl looked down. The dark strands of her hair prevented him from seeing the expression etched out on her face.
"It's funny… before…" she began to speak looking down at the green grass at the edge of the boy's foot. "We would be able to fix our problems… You would go and look for me, and I would listen and vice versa." She felt herself laugh for a moment. The darkness was starting to lock itself away back into the depths of her heart. "I didn't want anything to happen to you, so I left and tried to find a way to maybe try and change our fate, but it's inevitable, no matter how hard we try. There's no knowledge in the world that can change our fate." She looked up at Riku, catching a glimpse of his turquoise eyes; she had missed the sight of those green bluish eyes. "And now here we are, after a real fight. I never thought I'd fight like that with you, but I guess I thought wrong."
Riku noticed the Keyblade that was in her possession. 'It looks just like the one "Way to Dawn".' He thought sighing for a moment. Riku looked back up at Amaterasu noticing the tears running down the side of her face once again. She flinched, feeling blood drip down the side of her arm. Several small puncture wounds were by her shoulder. 'Bite marks,' the silver haired teen thought back to the fight. He gritted his teeth feeling the pain that ran down his arms. Wound re-opened and new ones formed around them. Their fight was intense, and Amaterasu was bleeding slightly as a result of it all. She had cuts on her legs, and on her arms, not to mention a bite mark by her shoulder.
"I'm sorry…" Riku said looking at the bit mark that was bleeding. Amaterasu looked away rather embarrassed for a moment. 'Curaga,' the girl thought holding her Keyblade tightly for a moment. The wounds seemed to heal fast, the skin quickly overlapping the fresh wounds and closing completely, with no scars as a result. Riku looked at his wounds as they healed and he looked back at Amaterasu. "You didn't have to do that…"
"Yeah well the spell has a wide radius so whether I wanted you to be healed or not…" she didn't continue her sentence and kept her mouth shut. She withdrew her weapon and the keychain went back into the pocket of the dark hooded coat. The two of them just sat there on the grass, the filed didn't seem to be affected by the fight the two had, and Amaterasu was glad nothing had happened. She did like this field a lot and just sitting here made her calm down a bit.
There was nothing the two of them could say, they had said everything they needed to say through their actions. Silence was all that was left with them now, and it seemed to settle in to the whole frame of the matter. "Say something…" the girl said looking at the silver haired teen. "You just said something," Riku said looking back at her. Everything seemed worse now, no communication whatsoever. 'I want to talk to you,' Riku thought looking back down at his feet for a while. 'It's hard,' Amaterasu thought looking away at the green grass that ran off into the distance of the field.
"What still gets to me," Amaterasu began to speak to him now. "It's that I still love you." She said not caring what the boy thought now. "Despite everything that I've done to up until this point I still love you. While I was going to the different worlds and doing my 'business', I still held on to that small piece of hope your words gave me… But I'm not so sure about that now." She said hugging her knees now. Riku listened to her attentively and she continued in a low voice. "I'm scared, Riku. I'm scared of everything… I'm scared of what I've become, of what is happening, of love…" she said softly. "But I want love… I want to be with you. I want to wake up not having to feel so shitty, to be able to laugh genuinely and joke around with a smile on my face," she felt a sad smile form on her lips.
Amaterasu paused, feeling Riku take her into a hug, and she felt more tears stream down the side of her face. Actions spoke louder than words this time, and nothing could've made her feel better than feeling this connection with Riku. She just wanted comfort from him and nothing more. 'What am I doing here?' she asked herself closing her eyes holding on to Riku as tight as she could. 'I should've left when I saw him sitting on top of the hill,' she thought feeling a light kiss on her cheek. 'I could've left when I saw him fighting the Heartless from above the rooftop,' she thought finally opening her eyes. She looked into the distance and noticed that the sun was halfway to reaching the time when it would set.
"All we need is a little bit of momentum /Breakdown these walls that we've built around ourselves…" the girl heard his voice carry out the melody. Somehow he knew how to make her smile, when he would sing songs to her from her playlist. She loved the thought he put into the whole thing, and for a moment the lyrics proved true. "That's from 'The Hush Sound'," she said pulling away from his embrace. Things seemed to be mending for the most part, but still the two of them felt a bit uncomfortable to speak of anything else. The girl wanted more than anything to tell him again how much he meant to her, but she felt confused now, with the darkness starting to eat at her heart. 'What I want, to what I know… I know darkness and I know him, but I want to BE with him more than anything in the world,' the girl's brain was starting to give her a headache as all these thoughts rushed in and out of her mind.
"I can't get away from you, can't I?" he asked softly as Amaterasu raised her head to look at him for a moment. She felt a grin play across her lips and she shook her head for a moment.
"You don't want me to find you?" she asked tilting her head as the boy shook her head. Riku looked up at the sky for a moment and sighed heavily. He felt like he was conversing with a stranger. 'A stranger that I find cute,' he thought about it for a moment and looked at the view from the hill.
"I want you to keep finding me," he said looking back at her. She placed her attention on him as he began to speak. "These past couple of months…" she interrupted him. "Okay, these seven months have been like total nothingness. I can't remember what I've done or what I ate for breakfast yesterday… Without you I can't…" he didn't want to continue with his little speech. Amaterasu told him to continue. "Amaterasu, you're my light…"
"Darkness can't be light, Riku," Amaterasu said sadly looking down at her hands for a moment. She closed her hands and sighed shaking her head. "Why am I your light? Why do you think I'm your light?"
"Why am I your light?" Riku asked crossing his arms over his chest. Amaterasu opened her mouth but closed her mouth since she couldn't really answer the question herself. "It's hard to answer that. I just… It's what my heart says, that's what yours says too, right?" he asked her.
"Yeah…" she said feeling a split second of uncertainty for a moment, and Riku could tell by the way she answered. Amaterasu scratched the back of her head and felt her heart beat just a bit faster. She laughed nervously and looked up at the sky for a moment streaks of white and sky blue decorated the sky of Radiant Garden. "Back when things were at harmony, when darkness didn't touch our home, this place use to have little flakes of light rain down from the sky… I'd give anything to see them again." She said having a little stroll down memory lane.
Riku looked back at her for a moment and smiled. There was something about his smile that made her look at him. It was sincere, something she hadn't seen in almost a year. 'That smile…' she thought feeling emotions rise up within her heart. 'The first time I got him to smile like that for me… Do you remember that day, Riku?' she felt a smile of her own creep up, and tears began to form around her eyes. "Kairi…" she said softly thinking back to Sora's light. "She told me that she forgave me…" Riku felt his eyes widen at the mention of what Amaterasu was going to describe.
She finished telling her story, trying her best not to cry, or stammer and say that the tears prohibited her from concluding her account. Amaterasu completed her narrative, but she could only gaze upon blurry objects, her vision was obscured since every single one of the tears streamed down, and more formed around her eyes. 'I don't like getting all worked up like this,' the girl thought wiping away her tears, using the sleeve of her coat. Riku looked down at the grass that was beneath and thought about the event for a while. 'So then, she did… And she's in Sunset Horizon now. That's one of places we're going to have to restore as well,' the teen thought about it for a moment.
"At least she's not dead," Riku said sighing in relief for a moment Amaterasu forced herself to laugh, and the boy felt something punch his arm. "What I'm just saying, Sora will be glad to hear that she's in Sunset Hor-" Amaterasu covered his mouth quickly, and in the situation of it all she ended up bringing herself down with him to the ground. She put a finger to her mouth to indicate that it was suppose to be a secret of some sort. Riku tried to speak but Amaterasu still had her hand on his mouth.
"You better promise to keep your voice down when you say it?" the girl asked him fearing that somehow Maleficent had sent some Heartless to spy on their actions. Riku nodded and took in a big breath as Amaterasu let her hand fall down to her side. He didn't bother to sit up, to be honest he enjoyed being like. 'That and because I want to see how long it takes her to realize she's…' Amaterasu blinked slightly noticing how close she was to Riku's face and blushed slightly. "Sorry!" she said getting off of him. 'That's the Ammi I know and love!' he found himself smiling at her gesture.
"It took you long enough," he said jokingly. Amaterasu felt a light blush run across her face, and Riku laughed at her for a moment. He felt an idea formulate in his head. Riku sat up and looked back at Amaterasu and an embarrassed smile both etched onto their faces. Within moments Amaterasu was staring up at the sky, and as she looked at the face hovering over hers she made contact with those distant turquoise eyes. "Whatever happens, Amaterasu…" he said speaking softly towards her. His hand pushed away some of the strands of hair from her face. "I'm always going to love you, please understand that. I don't love you because of your looks. I love you because of the person you presented yourself as…" he said with such softness that Amaterasu thought she was going to melt. "I love you for you and you alone. That's what makes you my light… Understand?" he asked.
Amaterasu blinked for a moment and nodded. A song popped into her head from a bad called 'From Autumn to Ashes'. "Here I'm in between darkness and light /bleached and blinded by these nights…" she paused as Riku leaned in. The contact was something that she wasn't prepared for, and felt her body grow hot with embarrassment. He placed a gentle hand under her chin and gave her a soft kiss. For once in his life this moment had been prefect, no interruptions of any sort followed.
Riku stayed like that for a while till the point where air was needed. She breathed heavily looking at Riku for a moment trying to figure out why in the world he kissed her, but the girl couldn't find a valid explanation. Instead he kissed her again with the same tenderness as the first one. She sat up and broke the kiss touching her lips for a moment. Amaterasu blushed and turned around covering her face with her hood. "Amaterasu…" Riku called out to her softly looking at the back of her hood. "Come on don't be like…" She didn't respond and he saw that calling her was getting him no where. 'Bad idea then…' he thought penetrating the back of his mind for something else that would make it up to her.
R i k u
Hopefully when I turn old and grey, I don't forget this. It's been almost a year since I've known her and for once, I was able to kiss her twice. I'm actually excited that I was able to kiss her. My lips are tingling and my heart is racing as fast as it can. This is what it's like to find your light, and show how you much care for your light. She still hasn't moved from her spot, and I think it's just the embarrassment that got to her, and for some reason I feel bad for doing that to her. The only thing I can do right now is just sit next to her, but I can't see the expression in her face because of the hood. She's fidgeting with something that's on her neck, it's a necklace. 'I gave her that,' I finally remembered what it was.
"I hope you're taking good care of my flower," she said letting the necklace rest in her other hand.
"Yeah, Donald and I have been taking good care of that flower." I said still looking at the item in her hand. I felt my hand grip the amulet from the necklace I had. She finally looked at me, but I still couldn't see her face because of the hood, I'm not even sure that she was looking at me, but I felt eyes on me.
"It's still alive?" she asked tilting her head for a moment. "I was expecting you to say that it had died a week after you got it for me." I shook my head in triumph and I could hear her sigh in relief.
"So you gonna take the hood off, or do…?" she shook her head and I grinned slightly for a moment. She placed a hand on the hood and slid it off of the top of her head.
"I'm glad the flower is still alive, it's a beautiful rose anyway." She said pushing back her hair for a moment. It was about three o'clock now and the sun was still in the sky, hiding behind some clouds from time to time. Amaterasu looked back at me for a moment and to the item she had in her hand, she placed it in one of the coat pockets. "I have something for you…" she said her gloved hand searched for something in another pocket.
"Is that…?" I couldn't speak. I looked at the small sphere and felt my eyes get bigger. I tried to speak, but I ended up stuttering on the first words of the sentence. I felt her hand rest against my lips, and she pulled back her hand to tell me to keep quiet.
"I'm risking my whole life doing this for you guys," she said softly placing the sphere next to me. She wanted me to take the sphere, and I did. "Don't tell anyone where you got it from, okay?" I nodded in response to the question. "Good," Amaterasu said softly sighing in peace.
"But how…?" she just looked at me with these eyes that said 'you ask and I'm still not going to answer you', and I stopped asking my question. Amaterasu sighed for a moment and flopped against the grass underneath her body. She sighed heavily this time, and curled up slightly like a cat that sunbathed. 'She's still the same as ever,' I thought smiling through it all. Amaterasu turned over and I was able to see a faint trace of a dark brown hue in her eyes. "I feel really confused now." She said sounding sincere about it for the most part.
"Why?" I asked her.
A m a t e r a s u
"I don't know why, but I just do." I said softly looking up at to catch another glimpse of his turquoise eyes. I loved his eyes, his smile; for the most part I just love him. Riku laid himself against the grass and looked up at the sky.
I looked up at the sky noticing that the wind was moving the white fluffy clouds against the blue canvas called the 'sky'. I haven't felt this happy, and confused since I was with Xehanort, and that was a long time ago.
I maneuvered my hand so that I could interlace my fingers with his, and he looked back at me for a moment, smiling at me. 'And now here I am, just with him,' my mind felt at peace now, but soon the inner darkness would creep back in, asking me if this is what I really wanted. 'Stuck between what I want and what I know…' I thought to myself stretching for a moment. I found myself side to side with him now, and the two of us just looked up at the sky. 'I hope Yomigami's okay,' I looked at Riku for a moment, and I could feel myself blush when I thought back to what had happened a while ago.
A lot of things were running in my head and I didn't know where to even begin, heck I don't even know where my thoughts end as well. I could feel the darkness come back from its slumber, and it was probably better if I just left now, but I don't want to. I want to stay here just a bit longer. 'Why can't you just let me be happy for once?' I asked myself hoping that my inner darkness could provide answer for me. 'I gave you chance a long time ago, but you wanted to continue your path. Remember your second awakening? Your journey will begin in the dead of night…'
'That doesn't mean that I'm going to be with the darkness for forever.' I answered simply hoping that the darkness would go away for a little while. 'Just please let me stay here a while longer,' I could hear a voice sigh within my mind. 'Maleficent might catch on to you. Do you want to risk the consequence, just for the sake of love?'
'Love… That one word, do you want to risk your life for that word, that emotion?' it asked another time this time sounding harsh. 'Emotions are for the weak, things like that have no place for a soldier, remember?' it asked with so much disinterest in the emotion. I just sighed for a moment trying to push the voice out from my thoughts, but I couldn't do it.
"What's wrong?" I could hear Riku break through the noisy thoughts plaguing my head. I looked at him for a moment and shook my head. "You sure?" he asked once again, and I nodded. I don't want him to worry about me.
"I'm just thinking…" I said softly trying to keep my darkness at bay. I don't want to make him worry, he's had enough to deal with already and the last thing I don't want to end up doing is just give him more of a reason to worry. 'You can't shelter him from all of this, I hope you know that,' the darkness was hissing in the back of my mind. 'I do know that,' I answered back. For a moment I felt like I was just really weird for arguing with myself, but I have a Heartless like entity in me, so it's an excuse.
"Something's bugging you," he spoke out breaking my thoughts. "I can feel it. Something's up with you," I could feel his eyes on me, and I turned my head away from his gaze. "Amaterasu," he said softly, I felt a reassuring squeeze on my hand. The next thing I knew I was already standing up, and my feet were moving to a path that was down the hill. "Come on, walk faster," he said pulling me gently.
"Hey…" I said, pouting as he began to lead me down the dirt pathway. He let my hand go and I walked alongside him. He walked next to me, occasionally we'd bump into each other just for the hell of it. I took the gloves off of my hands and stuffed them hastily into one of the pockets that the coat had. "You came to me/in seamless sleep…" I began to sing a song that popped into my head. 'The Hush Sound' was a good band to sing to, and I liked them a lot.
Riku grinned at my little performance and I felt a hand mess with my hair. I pushed the hand away and growled trying to fix my hair. 'I'll get him,' I thought catching up with him as he ran forward. He stopped suddenly and I wasn't paying attention. "Ouch…" I mumbled colliding with Riku's back. "Sorry," I whispered to him and he just looked out towards the rest of the town. This place was untouched by the darkness because there were no people, or anything that held hearts within the field, just nature.
"You think when this is all over…" he began to speak and his eyes were gazing out to the roofs of several homes, "we'll be able to stay together?" I wrapped my arms around Riku and he relaxed. His hands rested against mines and I sighed for a moment looking at the view. "I don't want things like this to keep us apart."
"We'll stay together forever, Riku. I promise you that." I said nuzzling my head against his back I could hear him breathe and it made me relax knowing that this was all real. He let out a little chuckle that made my heart melt. This moment, if I could give up my life just to make time stand still for this moment, to feel this for all of my life, I would be more than happy; I'd be more than complete. This was my own little piece of heaven, and no one could take it away from me, and not even the darkness. Even if I forgot this, Riku would do the remembering for me, and it'd awaken my heart.
Standing next to him and grabbing his hand, I know I'm not afraid, but still there's that small voice that says otherwise. 'I don't care now,' I thought to myself letting whatever it was come my way now. Still between what I want, and what I know, it's something that's a bit out of my comfort zone. Riku's arm went around my shoulder and I felt him place a kiss on the top of my head.
"You're still as short as ever," he said jokingly and I smiled. We were standing to close to one another that I had to place my arm around his waist. 'And again he knows how to get me,' my head rested against his chest.
"I'm not short, I grew… You grew too," I said looking up at him. He laughed at the nature of things, and nodded. "So see I'm not as short as ever," I said laughing.
"Yeah I guess you're right," he said placing another kiss on the top of my head.
"Riku…" I said softly, he looked at me, and I took in a deep breath.
'You may never know what results come of your action, but if you do nothing there will be no result.' the words of a well known peace figure. Though I don't think this was how he wanted the phrase to have been used, for this sort of action 'Here goes nothing…' I thought, almost freaking out because of what I was going to do. I felt my hands make their way towards his face, cupping his cheeks as gently as I could. I breathed in the scent of sea salt ice-cream that lingered on his lips, and I felt like I was melting with each second that passed. He felt so warm, so gentle, something I don't deserve. I've done so many terrible things in my past that I never thought something like this would be awaiting me in the near future.
'Sea salt,' that was the only thing running in my head to describe this kiss. 'Taste just like sea salt ice-cream,' his hand lightly touched my cheek and I pulled away. Riku's lips lightly brushed up against my lips, and I felt dizzy now. 'This is what it's like to be in love and to receive love in return… This is what it's like to be living in the light…' I thought to myself letting my lips press up against his. 'This is what it's like to be someone's light…'
A month later
"Well she didn't choose this role…" Riku's voice could be heard screaming out the lyrics happily. Roxas, Naminé, Sora, Donald, King Mickey, Goofy, and a lot of the other people from the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee just gave out one big sigh. It had been a whole entire month since Riku's personality changed for the better one could say. Still it would've been nice if his little makeover didn't include the songs from the group 'Panic! At the Disco', but it was something that they could live with. Riku had taken choir lessons when he was a kid, and it was something that Sora would make fun of him for two years, until he was forced to wear the white little singing gown.
Naminé along with Yuffie, and Rinoa were on a search to figure out why he was happy, rather to put it simply who was the lucky girl. "My money's on that girl from the ice-cream parlor," Yuffie said thinking back to when he had bought some sea salt ice-cream.
"Dream on it's not her," Rinoa said looking down at the little ninja. Roxas and Sora just sighed. They already had a good idea of who that lucky girl was. 'It's Amaterasu… I mean who else could make Riku that happy?' the two of them thought shaking their heads.
"When I say shotgun you say wedding…!" He was as happy as he could be. Riku called it a natural high of sorts, but the girls knew that he was in love with someone, but not once did they think of the girl with the title of being the Dark Princess.
Riku sighed pausing for a moment and strolled along the hallways of the house. They had arrived in Radiant Garden two weeks ago, and were still in Radiant Garden awaiting the result of the sphere, and so far the damn thing wasn't opening, or even reacting to the 'Room of Sleep' something was still missing, but what? Again, that deceased figure made his way into his mind, Xehanort. What his Heartless had said got him thinking about that man again. 'You have his darkness, so don't be fooled by her emotions,' the boy tried not to let his darkness get the best of him but for a moment it seemed true. 'She did love him once, but…' the silver haired teen knew it was true, but he was no longer living and she had moved on. 'But can memory really affect a relationship?' he asked himself.
Whatever the case may have been to cause her to carry out that small action of love, those simple but loving kisses, Riku didn't care. 'I love her and she loves me,' he thought proudly. 'But if you'd listen to her heart once in a while you'd figure out what's bugging her. Not to pry into the matter, boy, but she probably only craves the darkness left within you, his darkness…' again the thought made its way into Riku's head. 'That's a straight out lie and you know it, Xehanort…' he finally addressed him but for some reason he didn't sound all that hostile towards the Heartless named Xehanort, he sounded concerned for a moment or two. 'That's the same thing HE said when he still had his heart and body,' the Heartless chuckled. 'But enough with that boy, we've got work to do now. Remember the 'Room of Sleep'?'
"Something's missing in that room, but we don't know what it is." Riku said reminding the Heartless of the predicament that everyone was in. 'You ever stopped to think that maybe it's someone and not something?' the Heartless couldn't help but just laugh. "Wait, why the hell are you even helping me, I mean us?" he asked looking up at the ceiling for a moment. 'A debt of some sort towards the girl and him… I have no place to go because I'm stuck in the body of a seventeen year old brat,' Riku shook his head and walked along the hallway. "No one asked you to stay in there." He said softly. 'Yes I know that you fool, but you caused this, and until you find a way to get rid of me, or I find a way to get rid of you, I'm always going to be right in here,' it was something that made Riku shiver. He knew that the Heartless meant by that, Xehanort wanted to get rid of his heart.
"Hey, Riku!" Naminé called out from the other side of the hallway. "Come on, we're going to go and check out the sphere again!" she said waving to him. "Let's go!" Riku snapped out of his daze, feeling his vision give away. Everything went black quickly but color flooded his gaze soon enough, something was going to happen but he just didn't know what.
Ansem's Computer
"Still nothing," Cloud said walking through the area of the super computer. He was on watch duty while Leon went to rest for a moment. Aerith was seen appearing from another side of the room. She sighed, not really expecting anything new. 'Still a month of examination and nothing,' the flower maiden thought, looking back at the spiky blonde fellow. His eyes snapped back to the screen of the computer, for a moment he could've sworn the reading rise about a millimeter or so. 'My mind's probably just playing tricks on me,' he thought shaking his head. "How do you think he got the sphere?" Cloud asked noticing Aerith's emerald eyes watch the screen tentatively.
The flower maiden snapped back into reality, trying to ignore the whispers coming through her mind. 'There's noise downstairs… someone's talking,' Aerith knew that something was trying to communicate with her. Back when she was a child she learned from her mother how to 'hear' the planet, and it was something that Professor Hojo and Ansem the Wise took into great consideration along with the whole SOLDIER development and 'Project Blitz.'
"Aerith?" Cloud asked watching the flower maiden in some sort of trance. He waited patiently for her conscience to 'wake up'. He had dealt with this for some time now, and knew that the best thing to do was to now panic. Aerith blinked and emerald eyes stared back at the blue eyes that were waiting. She shook her head and said she didn't find anything interesting within the planet's cry.
"It just said to not let him get in to the room," she said trying to think of what the planet meant by him. "Him… Who?" she asked hoping that maybe the planet would speak again, but it only gave it's warning once. "Oh wait, I'm sorry, you asked me another question before didn't you?" Cloud rubbed the back of his head and Aerith bowed apologetically.
"I asked you 'how do you think he got the sphere'?" he repeated again softly. Aerith made a slightly confused sound and muttered something. "What?" he asked trying to figure out what she said.
"The planet said he got it from the Night… Whatever the Night is." she said trying to figure out why the planet would only give her small bits of information. 'What? That's not making since Gaia speak clearly,' she pleaded with the planet. 'Night, yes I know Night gave him the sphere, but who is Night? Love… Love? Wait, what? How can Night be Love, Gaia please…' the planet's cry left her mind now. "The planet can really be ornery sometimes you know… But anway I should get Sq-… I mean Leon," she said starting to head out.
"You know if I didn't know any better I would've guessed the two of you had something going on while Rinoa and I were away." Cloud said watching the flower maiden stop in her tracks. He was joking of course, he knew she had waited for him to come back home. 'Still I wonder sometimes, would she have kept waiting for me?'
"Cloud Strife…" Aerith said turning around putting her hands on her hips. She leaned forward with this look of annoyance. "We never had anything… Now Squall and Y-" she covered her mouth, eyes were widening because of what almost slipped out. Cloud raised an eyebrow in confusion, and asked her to continue you. "No, no, no, no!" she said shaking her head. "Forget what I told you!" she said waving her hands. "You didn't hear anything from me!"
"Hear what from you?" a familiar voice asked in back of Aerith. Cloud snickered slightly noticing who the voice belonged to. Emerald eyes stared in shock, finally connecting with brown eyes, for a moment the appeared to give off a tinge of violet. 'Oh boy,' the flower maiden thought putting on her trademark smile.
"Hey Yuffie, didn't hear you come in…" Aerith said laughing nervously. 'When did the door open, or did I forget to close it?' she tried to remember but nothing came to mind. Yuffie leaned over to look at Aerith and Cloud in the same frame.
"So this is where the two of you have been," she said looking back to Cloud and then to Aerith. The two of them blinked looking back at the young ninja. "Well I won't tell anyone."
"Eh?" the ex-SOLDIER and flower maiden asked perplexed. "Wait, no. It's not like that Yuffie!" Aerith said quickly waving her hands.
In the distance all three of them heard the door open from the main entrance, and Aerith heard something again. 'Him, yeah but who is HE?' she asked the planet. For some reason the planet was speaking to quickly, something was going to happen. 'But what?' she thought looking at the figures that were coming through the entrance. She noted Sora's spiky brown hair, Naminé blue eyes in the distance, Roxas' outfit, and Riku's turquoise eyes, and then again the planet spoke out loudly.
Beast's Castle
"Belle's gone, Beast…" Amaterasu said placing her Keyblade in a defensive stance. She noted the human appearance of the once cursed prince. His castle returned to normal once again, but the touch of darkness did remain when Amaterasu stepped into that world. The Neo Shadows appeared from the ground creating a pool of black liquid, their bodies forming from the ground up. Belle had been gone for more than half of the journey, just when everything seemed to be perfect for the prince and the beauty. The Prince felt rage set in his heart, and for a moment he kept his emotion leveled fearing that the girl would want to turn him into a Heartless.
He fought with her demanding to know why she stole Belle's heart. 'He fights for her…' the girl thought evading an attack from Beast. Amaterasu narrowly missed an attack from a saber that Beast willfully used to strike her down. 'He fights to protect her…' she blocked his attack, pushing the weapon back with her Keyblade.
Beast asked her why she did it, and she responded that her reasons were only because she followed orders. Beast was out of breath, and his right arm was bleeding, a gash on the upper part of his arm was created from her Keyblade. Amaterasu looked at her weapon and noticed that there was a crimson stain on the edge of the blade. 'I should leave now…' Amaterasu thought to herself.
Amaterasu sighed looking at the castle once again. It had been a little less than a year when she had taken Belle's heart, and when she fought with Beast. He had proven to be a worth opponent, he fought for love, while she had dismissed it. The case was different now, but still the words that Beast said got her thinking. 'The strong fight for love, the weak shun it…' the girl thought giving a big moan of dissatisfaction. 'Am I weak? Or rather was I weak that I didn't want love… But now that I have love am I still weak because I do this?' she looked at her hands and closed them quickly. She jumped slightly hearing an automatic ring tone echoing from her blue jean pocket.
"Hello?" she answered the cell phone and a concerned voice responded. "Lightning… I'm sorry I didn't tell you." She said meaning every word of it.
"Don't do that again, Amaterasu." Lightning's voice held apprehension as her voice was carried through the piece of technology. "We're in Sunset Horizon, and then the next thing I know you're out at Beast's Castle. I can't keep covering for you forever you know. Maleficent still doesn't know about you-know-what, but…"
"I know…" Amaterasu said feeling cantankerous now. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry… I'm coming back right now," the girl said heading out of the gate, away from the darkened castle. Amaterasu clicked on Lightning, noticing that she had hung up on her. She forced a portal to appear within the very fabric of the area and stepped into it. 'Man this is going to take a toll on your heart when you get back to Sunset Horizon,' the inner voice said warning the girl about the toll of her fashion of traveling.
Riku, no!
Amaterasu could hear voices yelling across in the dimension of where she was walking. She couldn't understand why the voice entered her mind, but for some reason she felt her heart sink for an unexplainable reason. 'Riku…' she thought stopping within the pathway of darkness stretched before her very eyes.
Sora, get him out of there!
'Whose voice is that?' she asked herself hearing more yells and cries entering her ears, and troubling her mind now. 'What's going on?' Amaterasu felt her heart cry out in pain, everything in her mind went berserk. 'Riku what's wrong!?' her mind screamed, and her breathing quickened.
Help me…
'Something's wrong with you…' she thought in the back of her mind, she recognized his voice, and it broke her fragile crystal like heart, to hear him call out so weakly. 'Tell me what's wrong,' she asked the voice, she asked the voice within the boy's heart, but she got nothing, she could no longer connect with him. 'He's gone…'
"Riku…?" she asked the dark abyss around her. "Riku?" she asked again feeling alone now. "RIKU?!" Amaterasu cried out loudly, the halls echoed his name through the space and time the darkness held within its frame. Something broke off in her heart, and a chain wrapped around her neck feel to the floor. She looked down and noticed the necklace he had given her. 'No…' her heart began to panic. 'I told you about your emotions…' the inner voice said letting its voice be heard. 'Now he has awakened, and you've lost your…' the pathway in back of her started to break off, and Amaterasu started to run towards the light at the end of the road.
The same setting in each world
Darkness loomed quickly, shadowing each corner of the whole frame of the world. Shadows rose from the ground becoming clearly visible, yellow eyes staring that the unsuspecting people. The soles of their feet darkness everything they touched. True darkness befell the worlds for the preparation of a long awaited terror. People ran in different direction, shadows dispersed knocking individuals down for the count, people screamed in terror and in pain as the creatures let their true nature shine brightly from the shadows.
Claws rose to the occasion and crimson stains splattered on the ground, on the body of the fallen, and decorated the flesh of the dark creatures, flashing a hint of heart lust to them. Their senses went out of synch with their own type and attacked those with hearts, nothing was sparred from the assault on the innocent. This was a perfect welcoming to usher in a reign of darkness, just like the Dark Master would've wanted it. Children ran to try and evade the monsters springing out from the ground, men and women grabbed whatever they could to fight off the creatures, and many others ran. Christened heroes stood before the creatures and engaged in a fight to hold them off.
The skies began to weep giving cry all of their own. The planet cried for its people and for their heart, as it could feel the darkness slowly take away the very thing it needed to give light and life. In a distant world a child paused looking through the crack of a floorboard, surely the child would be safe within the floor. Their mother and father tried to fight off the creatures that invaded the sanctuary of their abode, and the child's eyes widened when a sight caught their attention. At that point the child wanted to scream, but the child feared for their heart and life. 'Help…' the child pleaded feeling a warm substance hit the side of their face. 'Blood?' the child asked horrified, but it felt strange, and not like the crimson substance at all, and the child could hear the raspy panting of the Heartless. Similar scenes were scattered throughout the whole universe none were sparred, not even a glimmer of light was left within a person's heart. Worlds died that day, but only two were left in the wreckage of it all.
The Room of Sleep
Riku opened his eyes and found himself in a void of nothingness, everything was blank. 'Where am I?' he looked around trying to figure out where the wall was at. He found no such thing as a wall. He could hear various shouts and battle cries, someone was laughing menacingly at the attempts of whatever was happening. 'Who is that?' he looked around again but found no other person there with him. 'I remember sitting on the chair, and the sphere was placed in the middle of it all…' that was the only thing he could remember.
Thanks to you, he's awakened. That voice sounded oddly familiar, and soon a figure with tanned skin and amber hair appeared before the teenaged boy with turquoise eyes. There never was a way to prevent someone from becoming the host of the Dark Master, it was just a simple thing called 'hoping'. Xehanort's voice was loud, and clear this time and the Heartless moved around freely staring the nothingness before them. Can you feel it? This power, the power of true darkness…
"Shut up!" the boy closing his fists tightly. "What the hell are you talking about, Xehanort!?" the teen demanded to know. The Heartless chuckled and continued to walk around, reappearing in one corner, and then disappearing into the next.
The Dark Master of the Keyblades, he's woken up, thanks to you, little vessel.
An older man appeared from the 'Room of Sleep', walking slowly up the steps, his body ached to breathe in the darkness created outside. He had been imprisoned for so long within that sphere. Within the chamber of the 'Room of Sleep' three figures were knocked out, and somehow they did not stir from their slumber. The force of the attack was too much for them. The one wearing black moved his gloved hand 'my whole body aches…' he thought wincing as he could feel his arm move. Sora opened his eyes, his vision around him was slightly off point, everything was hazy. He moved his arm again, trying to pick himself up. He noticed that Riku was no where to be found, and that the sphere in the middle of the room was broken in half.
A/N: You know that to do one review please!