Hello everyone! I'm so sorry to have taken so long with this - the past *ahem* year and a half (!) kind of got away from me? In any case (and I know I say this every time) I haven't forgotten this, and I have every intention of finishing it and alksdjflaksjdflajs thank you for sticking with me and Natsumi. I'm so excited to have this chapter finished, as it's getting into an arc that is going to be crucial for Natsumi's development. I hope you enjoy!
Chapter 15
"What?"
Natsumi's voice seemed to echo in her ears, her hands frozen over the books that she'd been contemplating, laid out on her desk. Maleficent had visited again that morning to inform Natsumi that she should begin preparing to leave, though she'd stayed tight-lipped about where exactly Natsumi would be going. Natsumi looked up from trying to decide between Khama and Mava, frowning.
"I said, I'm not going with you," Riku repeated. He stood near the doorway to her bedroom, and only met her gaze briefly before looking away again.
It took Natsumi a moment to gather her thoughts. His statement shouldn't have surprised her, considering they hadn't been together longer than a handful of hours since Agrabah, but it did.
"What do you mean you're not going with me?" she asked. The words left a bitter taste in her mouth. All at once her stomach felt heavy and she swallowed thickly as she remembered the last time she had seen him. He'd left her behind, alone, despite her pleas, without even telling her where he was going. She turned away from him abruptly and pushed the books aside.
"I can't go with you. There's—"
"Something you have to do?"
Riku didn't answer right away. Natsumi wasn't sure what had changed between them since leaving the islands and ending up here, but something had. Something vital she couldn't put a name to. The hesitation and secrets, the spiteful way she was keeping her own. They were best friends, so why were they acting like this?
"Yeah," Riku agreed. "I only came back to… see you before you left."
Natsumi whirled on him. "Well, you saw me, so bye, I guess." Her excitement was crumbling like the castle he'd crushed so many years ago, soured by the knowledge of their impending separation.
Riku's eyes widened and narrowed in quick succession.
"What do you think I'm doing out there, Natsu?"
"I don't know," she said, snatching a book from her desk and tossing it roughly towards the bag she was packing on her bed. Diablo squawked indignantly, the sound of his wings flapping filling the room. The teens ignored him. "More errands for Maleficent?"
"I'm looking for Sora and Kairi. Or did you forget about them?"
Natsumi froze, grateful her back was to him. Because the horrible truth of the matter was that she had, however briefly, forgotten that their friends needed them. Diablo stared up at her, eyes baleful. Natsumi shook her head before facing Riku again.
"Of course not!" But she had been silent too long, and Riku's skeptical eyes and crossed arms said they both knew she was lying. Now she was unable to meet his gaze, cheeks burning. Instead of thinking about Sora and Kairi, she'd just been worried about Riku leaving her again. "I just… thought it would be different. Once we left the islands."
After a long pause Riku admitted, "I did too."
"I thought we'd all be together. Not like this."
"That's why we have to find them."
Natsumi's eyes snapped up to meet Riku's. "But what if they're wherever I'm going?"
"Then you'll bring them back here," Riku said matter-of-factly. "And when I come back, you'll all be waiting for me."
She wanted to protest more, but this was something that hadn't changed. She knew Riku had made up his mind, and she knew too that he was right.
"When I come back, you won't be able tell me I can't go with you," she said lowly.
Riku blinked and then smirked, all the anger from moments before forgotten.
"I'll hold you to that."
They smiled at each other briefly before Natsumi turned her attention back to her books. She fanned the pages of Khama between her fingertips. It seemed she would be taking Mava with her to whatever new world she was going to on her own — as that was the book she'd rudely thrown at her bag.
"Riku?" Natsumi flattened the pages beneath her palm. She looked up at him. He still hadn't moved from the door, but his posture had changed. "Promise me you'll be safe?"
He arched an eyebrow at her and said, "Of course I'll be safe."
Natsumi frowned, crossing her room to close the distance between them and look directly into his eyes.
"Yeah, but if there's too many Heartless, or something. Promise me you won't do anything stupid."
Riku rolled his eyes in exasperation before humoring her. "I'm not the one who almost died." Smacking his arm, Natsumi glared at him until he held up his hands in surrender. "Alright, alright. I promise."
Natsumi slumped against him. Now that she had gotten the promise, she wasn't sure why it had been so important in the first place. It wasn't as though she thought he was incapable, or couldn't realize when he might be in over his head. Her stomach still felt heavy though, and not for the first time she wished they didn't have to move.
Placing his hands lightly on her shoulders, he mumbled, "I have to go now."
Natsumi tensed once again before nodding stiffly and pulling back from him.
"I should finish packing, too," she said. She saw his lips part slightly as she turned back to her things.
"I'll see you soon," he said eventually.
"Mhmm." She didn't mean to be so noncommittal, but she couldn't muster any other response. By the time she thought of something else to say the door had already clicked shut behind him. Her fingers wrapped around her bracelet. "Be safe," she whispered.
Diablo cawed softly and she sighed. She finished packing quickly after that — having minimal personal possessions made the task easy — and then sat on her bed waiting for Maleficent.
As she waited, she mulled over the tension between herself and Riku, wondering when things had gotten so difficult and complicated. Life on the islands had been effortless and carefree. Paradise, if she felt like being generous. And yet despite all that, the two of them had wanted to leave so badly they'd concocted a harebrained scheme to do so. It was nothing like she pictured, but she still didn't see what could have affected him so badly since they had left the islands.
Natsumi met Diablo's eyes. "Okay, so maybe I got hurt." The bird made no response. "Okay, so I could have died," she admitted, fiddling with her bracelet. "But he was acting weird even before that, so it's gotta be something else. Right?"
Diablo ruffled his feathers, and she got the sense that he meant it to be a shrug. After a pause, she asked, "Do you know what's going on?" But as usual, the bird's only answer was to stare at her. When he turned his head to groom his feathers she sighed and accepted that she wouldn't learn anything from talking to the bird.
Just as she laid down and threw an arm over her eyes, the sound of the door opening shattered the quiet. She shot up, only realizing that she had disrupted Diablo when he let out a loud caw of indignation and flew from her bed to Maleficent's shoulder.
The woman reached up to pet him, but her eyes were trained on Natsumi. Without any prompting, Natsumi grabbed her bag and her staff. Her heart was racing as she met Maleficent's eyes, prepared to leave. Maleficent raised an eyebrow.
"Eager, aren't we?"
Natsumi blushed, but the slight embarrassment wasn't enough to dampen her excitement.
"I'm ready," she said as if Maleficent had somehow missed that fact.
"Yes, I can see that," Maleficent agreed. "Well, we mustn't waste any time."
With that, she tapped her staff once on the floor. A portal of Darkness opened immediately at her command and Natsumi drew in a deep breath, pulse stuttering in nervousness. She remembered the last time she had entered one of these portals, and the way it had made her feel. Still, she hardly thought Maleficent would accept her nervousness as reason to find another way to travel. Natsumi squared her shoulders and followed Maleficent silently through the portal.
"Where exactly are we going?" Natsumi asked after a long silence.
"One of the old worlds," Maleficent said. "A place home to a great many creatures. There is much to learn there." The woman looked down at her. "It would behoove you to listen closely."
"I'm going to," Natsumi defended. She scowled at the thought of Maleficent implying she wouldn't pay attention to her studies. Of course she would pay attention, she needed to learn to defend herself. She turned her scowl on her feet before looking up at Maleficent. "This person who's supposed to teach me… What is she like?"
Butterflies filled Natsumi's stomach, but this nervousness was different from what she had felt staring into the dark corridor. Diablo met her eyes, but Maleficent didn't look back.
"You needn't be concerned about her skill. She is a powerful witch, and will teach you well."
"I'm not, I'm just curious!" Her immediate response was automatic, until she realized what Maleficent had said.
"Witch" conjured thoughts from the fairytales she read with her friends, leaning over the book with Kairi while Sora playacted the story and Riku pretended to be less interested than he was. The stories where witches were shriveled, evil hags that ate children and cast spells. She was too old now to believe such things, or at least she had been before they left the islands, but now… She bit her lip thoughtfully, unable to keep from asking, "What kind of witch?"
This time Maleficent did look back at her, lips twisted in the subtlest hint of amusement.
"You will find out soon enough." She turned away again, and Natsumi was able to recognize the dark corridor coming to an end. The darkness here was just a bit different than the rest of the corridor, less substantial than the ground they walked on. They stepped through the portal, at once hot and cold and prickling, and then it was just cold.
Natsumi opened her eyes, unsure of when she had closed them, and drew in a breath. The world around her was covered in winter. She and Maleficent stood at what felt like the edge of the world, staring down at a vast tundra. The landscape of blue-white snow was dotted with sparse bushes — though she wasn't sure she could even call them that — and to her left was a single large snow-laden tree she couldn't identify.
Further off in the distance stood a large castle. Natsumi felt her breath catch in her throat. She knew, without thinking about it, that if she stood at the top of either of the two jagged towers, she would be able to see to the end of the world. It rose from the ground like a stalagmite, rippled and sharp, as though its ice had always been part of the earth and always would be. The sun shining off the castle and snow made everything glitter, including the snow capped mountains behind the castle. It was the exact opposite of the desert on Agrabah, and it didn't take long for her feeling of wonder to begin dissipate in the chill.
Her arms snapped up to hold herself in an attempt to ward off the cold, her hands rubbing up and down. It was a futile effort; as soon as her hands had moved, the skin was ice cold again and she began to shiver.
"Maleficent," she said through gritted teeth, looking back at the woman. Without realizing, Natsumi had stepped towards the castle, and now her shoes were filled with quickly melting snow.
Maleficent's eyes were narrowed, watching the castle just as Natsumi had. Though she didn't say anything, Natsumi got the sense that the witch was supposed to be there already. She looked back towards the castle, dreading the thought of having to walk the rest of the way when she heard it. The tinkling of silver bells, and a rhythmic pounding.
It didn't take long to locate the source of the noise — a reindeer led sledge sliced across the frozen earth, drawing nearer with every breath. As it got nearer, the sound of a whip joined the cacophony, lashing out at the reindeer until the sledge had finally reached them and slowed to a stop.
From a distance, Natsumi hadn't been able to see more than a silhouetted figure, but with the sledge now stopped in front of them she could clearly see the woman seated upon it. She was clad all in white, as if she had risen from the snow just as surely as the castle had, her flowing dress leaving her shoulders bare, despite the cold. A fur cloak was draped around her, nearly indistinguishable from her pale skin. It seemed the only spot of color on her was her elegantly wild blonde hair. Her eyes were so dark Natsumi was sure they were black. For a moment, Natsumi's breath caught again, and she entirely forgot she was cold.
"Presenting Her Majesty, Queen Jadis of Narnia!"
Natsumi jolted, looking around for the source of the proclamation. After a few moments, she found a short man, whose beard was long enough to reach his feet. Though his beard covered most of his face, she managed to make out a large nose, and two beady black eyes. He stood atop the snow, and Natsumi was surprised to find that he was indeed shorter than herself.
"My dear, you look so cold."
The words reminded Natsumi of her own bare arms, and she couldn't stifle a shiver, despite how much she wanted to appear strong to this woman. Queen Jadis. Never in her wildest dreams had Natsumi thought that the witch who would be training her would also be a queen. She didn't know what to say. Her cheeks flushed, the warmth feeling at odds with the winter air biting her cheeks.
"You are late," Maleficent said evenly, reminding Natsumi that she was still there. Between the two women, Natsumi felt strangely small and unimportant.
"Something… unexpected came up," was all the queen offered. "Is this the girl?"
Maleficent's eyes were still narrowed, but she didn't say anything more on the subject. "Indeed she is." Natsumi looked up as Maleficent placed her hand on her shoulder. "This is where I leave you, child. Listen well to Jadis' teachings—" Her lips curled into a sneer. "—and do mind your manners."
Natsumi had to bite her tongue to keep from arguing, but nodded. This order somehow felt different from others Maleficent had given her, and, though the queen was a stranger to her, she felt an inexplicable need to please her.
"Yes, Maleficent."
Only the sharp curve of her eyebrow gave any indication that Maleficent was surprised by her compliance.
"I expect," Maleficent started, turning her attention back to Jadis, "her to learn a great many things while here."
"And so she shall." Though she spoke to Maleficent, Jadis' dark eyes never left Natsumi.
Maleficent made a noise of disbelief, though she didn't contradict Jadis as her eyes flicked to Diablo. The bird immediately took flight, the sound of his wings impossibly loud in the open air, and landed on the front of Jadis' sledge. The queen pursed her lips, but didn't say anything as, with nothing more than a tilt of her head, Maleficent summoned a dark corridor and left.
The portal dissipated and Natsumi's attention was drawn back to the sledge when she heard the small man making shooing noises. He flapped his hands at Diablo, but the bird took minimal notice of him, ruffling his feathers and simply shuffling over.
"Hey," Natsumi snapped, taking a step closer to the man. "Leave him alone."
The man looked at her and scowled. "This bird has no business sitting on the queen's sleigh."
"He's not doing anything! He's just sitting there."
"Not for long." He turned back to Diablo and Natsumi began to follow him, opening her mouth to complain again.
"Enough, Ginarrbrik." Though the queen spoke in an even tone, it still commanded obedience. Ginarrbrik, for his part, looked exceedingly unhappy, but only cast a dirty look at the bird as he took his position at the front of the sledge. "Come dear. Sit with me."
Even if Natsumi had anywhere else to go in this barren wasteland, she would have accepted Jadis' invitation. She hiked her bag a little further on her shoulder and climbed up onto the sledge, face warming when Jadis shifted to make room for her and then draped part of her cloak over Natsumi's shoulders. Natsumi tensed a little when their arms touched, pulling away and looking up at Jadis apologetically. The woman only gave her a small smile that Natsumi did her best to return.
"Hyah!" Ginarrbrik snapped the reigns, the sledge jolted, and then they were barreling across the snow and ice towards the towering castle in the distance. Her stomach in knots, Natsumi stared at it wide eyed as they got lost in the great castle's shadow.