Riku was able to limp his way along through the forest, aided by this girl - Erin.
Until he wasn't able to anymore. He asked her to stop, and he just...went and tried to cast a Cure spell on himself. It wasn't much, but it helped him breathe better.
Then they were off again.
It was a slow journey, to wherever they were even going. And Erin didn't exactly make it easier, with her questions.
"That green light..." she started slowly, eyeing him strangely.
"Healing magic," Riku told her.
"Healing magic...? That didn't look like any healing magic I've ever seen."
"Well, how much have you seen?" Riku retorted.
The girl paused. To Riku's surprise, her face fell. Her shoulders, too. "Not as much as I'd like..."
"There you go, then," Riku muttered, trudging on, hand pressed to his side. "How much further, anyways?"
"Don't like to waste time, do you?" said the girl, again with a strange look on her face.
"Nope," Riku admitted freely.
Erin nodded seriously. "It's not much further. It'll be- all right."
"Uh...thanks. I've got a question of my own, though," Riku went on.
"What's that?"
"Why are we heading away from the city?"
Erin stopped. Her head fell, and her hands were shoved into the pockets of her jacket. All Riku could see was that - her backside. But he heard a sigh from her. "If you want to go back, you can go back. But I can't. I won't. So...feel free to turn around now."
"Huh?"
The girl shook her head, shifting her stance. Still keeping her back to him completely. "If I'd known my parents, I'm sure they would have told me not to bring home strange boys I found in the woods."
Riku's mouth worked silently. This girl was just so weird. What was even going on with her...? "Look, just - let's keep going. Fine. Let's...go away from civilization. Awesome. Yeah..."
Erin's head turned. She looked at him over a shoulder. "You're sort of a weird one."
"Me?" Riku said in disbelief. "I'm weird? What about you? Nothing you say makes sense!"
The girl frowned at him. Her head tilted to one side. Then, that frown twisted into a small smile. "Alright, I'm definitely taking this one home with me. Come on!" She faced forward and resumed her march through the woods.
Riku stared after her, sucking in a pained gasp. Then he followed after her.
They moved through thick bushes and around clusters of trees, marched up steep dirt paths, and came to a stop at the base of a great big mountain. Or, more specifically - they stopped before a crumbling, stone doorway set into the side of the mountain.
"This...is your home?" Riku commented.
Erin shook her head, laughing. Riku thought it was a nice laugh. A rich, deep one. "No - just a local base."
"A base?"
What was Riku getting himself into here?
"Look, I don't- I'm not here for all of this," Riku tried to say. "I just need to find out what happened to my- uh- guy named...Terra. He wears golden armor?"
Erin looked at him, pondering. Then she gave a shrug. "Sorry - I don't think there was anyone else out there like that today. But, if there were, he'd have been brought here, just like you. We couldn't afford not to, either way..."
What. Was Riku. Getting himself into?
Well...there was only one way to ever find out. And one possible way to find Terra. So Riku grabbed that lifeline, and continued on.
They proceeded through the doorway, going down old, crumbling stone steps into a narrow hallway with a low ceiling. Erin moved through confidently. At the end of the hall, she pushed open a thick, rusting metal door that shrieked in protest. Riku stepped through, and she closed it behind them - then, she went on ahead quickly.
They moved down many halls of flaking, busted and burned stone. Till they emerged out the end of one hall...into a huge, open room. It had two upper levels, of stone and metal walkways. There were stacks of crates everywhere, piles of strange orbs of swirling blue in a corner. Doorways to other places. And, of course, it was full of people. All sorts of people. Adults, kids, partners and groups and...
"All of us here...are people who have made the choice to live in the now. To be here, in this moment. To cherish every day we have - with one another, and...to ourselves," Erin spoke, eyeing him sidelong.
Riku gazed around himself (avoided her gaze, more like). "Huh..." He crossed his arms, bowing his head. "So that's why you're all so nice and helpful, is it?"
Erin shook her head. She gave a smile. "No. We're nice and helpful because we want to be. Even to guys like you."
"Guys like me...?"
"Yeah."
Riku chose not to comment. "Alright...so could you be more helpful and help me find my lost- guy named Terra?"
"Of course. If he's already been picked up, he'll be in the medical ward. Come on." Erin grabbed his hand, tugging at him with that strength of hers, stalking across the dirty ground.
Riku stumbled, then got his feet going and caught up to her. He yanked his hand back from her with some effort, flushing for some reason. She glanced back at him, apology on her face, but then she was hurrying on ahead. Looking ahead, always.
They went through a door on the right, about half way across the whole, great big area, and then Erin was leading Riku through more and more of those confusing, old hallways. Some doorways they passed didn't even have doors - and some walls had holes in them, or were even complete, crumbling messes.
It was like...some kind of battle had taken place here. A while ago, from the looks of things...
Riku wasn't sure what to make of that.
He was distracted from his observations when they rounded a corner, and he heard a familiar voice echoing from inside a room on his left.
"...I appreciate all the concern - but I'll be all right here. My armor is powerfully magical; it's self-regenerating. See? I just need time to...walk it off."
"But you are the armor. And I'm still not convinced you're not some kind of enchanted spying asset anyways..." came a woman's concerned tones. And wary tones.
"I'm not teyrsei, no - but I can assure you that I'm also not a katani. I'm just a man who's paying the price for his mistakes, and who is looking to do some good in the world now."
"The price for your mistakes...? The lack of a body?!" the woman exclaimed.
"That's right. I fought an incredibly dangerous enemy before - and I lost. This is the outcome of that battle."
"And those damned katani call us the ones to be afraid of... Their magicks can rip Hearts from their very-!"
"It wasn't a katani who did this to me. It was just...an evil man. He had no affiliation with your enemies - to my knowledge, anyways."
"Hmm...Well, if you're certain..."
Riku reached the doorway, looking in to see a remarkably clean looking room compared to...all the others. There was a big table, some metal chairs, and a pristine bed in a corner. Upon which sat Terra.
The woman turned, spotting Riku and Erin. "Ah, is this the boy you were so worried over?" she spoke, glancing at Terra. Riku noticed that the woman had...the exact same, strange pink eyes as Erin did.
"That's him," Terra said, relief in his voice. Happiness. It was a weird...weird thing for Riku to realize. That somebody was just so...concerned about him like that, happy to see him again. Terra turned his head to look at the woman. "Am I free to leave now? I promise you, there's nothing you can do for me."
"Alright. Go on. But we'll be watching you - of course."
"Of course," Terra repeated, bowing his head. "Thank you so much, for everything."
Terra stood from the bed and strode over to Riku and Erin. He passed them by completely, striding out into the hallway.
"What was all that back there?" Riku said, hurrying after him, with Erin in tow. "Teyrsei and katani, and- spies and-"
"What do you mean, 'what was all that back there?' You guys aren't from around here, are you?" Erin spoke up, making Riku realize she was still tailing them.
Terra abruptly stopped, turning to gaze down on her.
Riku turned too.
Erin looked from one to the other, then shoved her hands into her jacket pockets.
"Uh - that's right," Riku spoke again, glancing at Terra. Terra gave him no cues, so he went on with, "We're from somewhere...really far away. Another- land, you could say."
"Hm..." Erin hummed out, eyeing him in that critical way again.
"Listen, could we have a moment alone?" Riku told her.
She gazed at them, then nodded and stalked off down the hall. She disappeared around a corner - but Riku doubted she was actually gone. She was probably lingering, listening still, from her vantage point.
"I'm sorry..." Terra said immediately to Riku.
Riku gazed up at him, confused. "What for?"
"I made another mistake back there. It could have cost you your life. I thought that separating myself and that- Saix character from you was the smartest choice. I thought I could keep him far away from you, and defeat him there. But...I didn't expect him to be able to use the darkness to travel like that. I'd only ever seen one other person do something like that before, and I...I never even considered that anyone else might be able to do it. Not that fast, not- on the fly, in a battle, anyways. But he did, and...you could have died, Riku. Because I messed up. I underestimated the capabilities of my enemy, and I made a wrong call."
"Hey, come on, how were you supposed to know the guy could just make dark portals as easy as snapping his fingers - seriously?" Riku refuted, laughing. "If it's anyone's fault, it's mine. I knew darkness could do that - I've done it myself, a few times before. And you know...I made another huge mistake too. I reached for the darkness again. I let it fill me up, I let it grow, feed, and consume me again. Just like you said. It was all those awful feelings inside me. Saix...he goaded me, he brought it all back, yeah, and the darkness took it from there - but if I could have just...like you said: inner peace and tranquility. If I hadn't let myself be goaded into it, if I'd given the darkness nothing to work with in my Heart...but I did, and it did, and it swept me away."
"You're all right," Terra said quietly. "It's like I also said to you: this isn't something you're going to achieve in a few days. Do you think I gained the level of patience and clear-mindedness that I have in a couple of days?"
"No - but let me guess, it took you ten years to manage it," Riku said, grinning.
"More or less, yes. But if you truly dedicate yourself to it, if you practice, if you train...I know you can do it, Riku."
"So, what, do you want me to start...meditating or something? Scented candles?"
"That's generally the optimal way to start that kind of self-discipline, yes," Terra said seriously. "We should look into that for you."
"Seriously?"
"Yes. Seriously. Or are you not serious?"
"No - I'm serious," Riku said firmly. "I...I want to...learn to be- how you are, okay?" he mumbled out, flushing. "And- like Kairi, and Sora, too. I want to be how they are. I don't want to be...this." He gestured to himself.
"Humility is a good start, too," Terra remarked seriously.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."
Riku smiled. "Okay."
Maybe, just maybe, he could really work at this - and really do it.
He turned his gaze back to the end of the hall, then winced as pain flared in his side.
"Are you alright? I'm sorry - Curaga!" Terra exclaimed, holding a hand out to Riku. "Sorry. I'm so sorry. That should have been the first thing I did, I-"
Riku laughed, relieved to be able to draw in a full breath again, no problem. "Hey, what about that tranquility and inner peace stuff? Don't worry about it. And - thanks for the heal. And...for protecting me like that. That was pretty cool, you know, how you just...took that guy with you, right into the open air like that."
Terra somehow visibly relaxed. His own laughter began to echo throughout the hallway. "Cool, huh?"
Riku grinned, putting a hand on his hip. "Yeah. It was."
"Hmm. I wasn't at all trying to be."
"Yeah? Well somehow you pull it off effortlessly then," Riku replied in earnest.
"Well...thank you, Riku. That means a lot to me."
Riku wandered the compound, passing groups, crowds, moving past crates and old rickety chairs in the main area.
He gave a small wave to Terra, who was speaking with two older women who seemed to be pretty important to the whole running of this place. Terra gave a bit of an exaggerated wave back before returning to his conversations.
As Riku walked, he somehow found himself seated on a crumbling, low wall that used to separate a room in the corner from the rest of the place. It honestly looked like it had been blasted away by a cannon or something. More remnants of some great, old battle.
And as Riku's eyes roamed around the area, from person to person, it struck him then that everyone had the same eyes as Erin. Pink, glowing. Mystical? Magical? Was that what it was?
After a few minutes of pondering, Erin herself suddenly appeared out of nowhere, striding up to him. She came and sat down beside him on the broken wall, looking him over like he was the most interesting thing in the world.
But there was something in her eyes, something there that...
Almost reminded Riku of how Kairi had been, back in Traverse Town...
She sighed, hands in her lap. She leaned forward, then back again. She kicked her feet beneath her. "Must be nice..."
"Huh?"
"All that time you've got."
"What?"
Erin laughed, shaking her head. "You really aren't from around here, are you?"
"You didn't believe me?"
"I guess I didn't; it's rare for anyone from the other continents to want to travel all the way over here. Usually, it's the other way around - people here do anything to get away." Erin smiled, then she leaned in toward him and reached up to pull the collar of her top away. "Take a look here for me."
Riku flushed, glancing at her - doing as she said. He stared at what he had seen before - that strange, maybe magical tattoo. "Y-yeah...? It's- nice, sure? Some kind of tattoo..."
"Some kind of tattoo." She laughed again, but it didn't sound like her heart was in it. "I never thought I could meet someone so clueless."
"Hey - I am not clueless. I just-"
"Don't know what you're looking at?"
"Yeah, fine, I'm clueless," Riku muttered.
"Let me clear things up for you, then. This is a Mark of Ethesi. It's not a tattoo - it's a brand. And it's magic. And this...is the rest of it." Erin pulled back the sleeve on her left arm, and held her forearm out to him.
"W-what...is all that?"
They were...numbers. Thick, green numbers. Seven sets of them, divided by two dots. It currently read out: 00:00:00:07:02:02:47.
As Riku eyed it, that last number changed - forty-six, forty-five, forty-four...
"Some kind of timer...?" Riku said quietly. "What is it- counting down to?"
"To the exact moment that I...that I'll fade from this world."
"WHAT?"
Erin raised her other hand, pointing to the numbers. The timer. The... "From left to right, see, the seven sets - it goes years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes, and seconds. So you always know exactly how long you've got left..."
"Is it- a curse?"
"You could call it that," Erin nodded. "It's given to all of us here - people born teyrsei - from the moment we're born. It's not a choice, it just happens, automatically."
"Teyrsei?"
"You said you wanted to just go back to the city, before? I suppose a foreigner wouldn't have to worry about anything in a city like Munine. But we teyrsei have everything to worry about. We're different from the people who live there - who inhabit this whole continent. The katani people. We're different, and they hate us for that. No, they're scared of us for that. So scared that they don't want to risk any one of us ever..."
"What?"
Erin shook her head again. "The numbers are always on your left arm - but, the Mark of Ethesi itself isn't always in the same spot, from person to person. Sometimes it can end up in some pretty embarrassing places!"
Riku flushed, glancing away from her. "That's- uh- good to...know?"
"It should be - or I might not have had the courage to show you mine at all. Especially a guy like you..."
"A guy like me? What does that mean now?"
"It's like a contract, almost - without the choice to sign on for it, like I said before," Erin went on, as if he hadn't spoken. As if she hadn't even stopped. "They give you a few years at a time - one to five, usually - and if you keep up the good work, they'll renew you for another few years. Refresh your clock. But some people are more generous, or more strict, than others about it. The person I worked for up till recently, they were more on the stingier side with my time; they only refreshed mine every couple of weeks. Sometimes by a month or two, if they were in a good mood. And I kept up with it, I kept going, and I worked so hard...until I got sick. I guess it was at a really inconvenient time for them, because they were so mad, and they didn't take it as an excuse. And they cut me loose, tossed me out and left me to...try to find a way to live with the time I have left. At the time, I had just over three weeks left."
"Three weeks left...but you have...one week now? So that was just-"
"'Just' two weeks ago, right?" Erin gave him another smile. But this one had something to it. Something like humor, almost. A dry humor. "I can see how that wouldn't mean much to a guy like you."
"A guy like me..." There was that again. But now, Riku thought he understood her on it. He clenched his jaw, staring down at his own hands. "Has anybody- ever tried to get rid of it? You have magic here, right? So...couldn't somebody remove it, or- or-"
"You don't think anyone's tried? We've had a few centuries to work at the problem, and nobody's ever managed to do it," Erin said. "Besides, if you even try and tamper with it, you get shocked half to death as it is - and that's not an exaggeration."
Riku glanced over at her arm again...at those ticking numbers... "But..."
"Well, there might be a way to free us all of this - but not from all the way out here," Erin spoke quietly. "The Ethesi Hourglass itself - it's in the capital, underneath the royal castle. It's what keeps all of this going for us. If we were to somehow manage to reach it, and destroy it...then, maybe. But we don't know whether or not destroying it would free us of our clocks, or...if it would just kill us all the moment it breaks."
"Has anyone ever tried getting to that thing, then? Destroying it - before?" Riku questioned.
"Oh, plenty of people - plenty of times," Erin nodded. "Only a few have ever made it into the castle itself. And even then, they never got very far in before they were killed. There's an entire royal guard within those walls, powerful magical warriors, whose sole purpose is to make sure no one can get in and cause problems. Forget reaching the lower levels - and definitely forget ever dreaming of getting close to the chamber where the Hourglass is protected."
Riku continued staring at the girl's arm, lost in deep thought. Something in his Heart, something...
Erin noticed his gaze. She moved her arm back to the other side of her body, tugging her sleeve down again. "Anyways - you get it now? I have a week. But...the worst part is...I can't even do anything with it."
"What...do you mean you can't do anything with it?"
"The things I want to do - the things I want the time to do!" Erin suddenly exclaimed, emotion filling her voice now. Flooding it. She turned to him, and her eyes were swimming now. "What I'd do if I had all those years ahead of me that you do! The years to just- do nothing at all! To spend a few laying around, sitting on my ass while the world moves around me still and not having to worry! Learning everything I could, doing anything I could! Hobbies and jobs and- putting a good bunch of those years towards starting a family - having children of my own! Getting to get hurt and heal again because I know I've got time for it to be okay again, to grow out my hair and cut it, then grow it again! To get old! To be able to be one of those people who says, 'Back in my day, we did this, we did that!' To wake up to- to wrinkles on my face and white streaks in my hair and not give a damn because they're all signs of just how far I made it in life! That I made a life at all, that I HAD a life!"
Riku stared into her harsh face, streaked with tears. The way her lips were quivering... And he looked away again. Bowed his head to stare hard at his own lap. He curled his fists there, then let them go. His chest...his Heart...it was aching now. Aching for- for her...
"I- I'm sorry..." Erin whispered, bowing her head too. "That was wrong of me. You don't deserve me offloading all my feelings onto you like that..."
"N-no, no, uh - speak your mind," Riku said quickly, glancing at her.
"Well then...even just this week I've got left for me..." Erin continued slowly. "I can't do anything I want to with it. We're like trash, once we've been tossed out like this. They only tolerate us going anywhere or doing anything when it's on orders from our...masters. But now? If I was caught walking the streets, trying to buy anything in some shop - and I would be; they have sensory orbs everywhere - I'd be thrown right into prison and be left to waste away my time in chains and a little cell. Nothing to do about it for sure, then..."
She sucked in a long breath, releasing it in a big woosh. "I don't want to sound ungrateful," she went on. "I am here, I am alive, I am free - I'm living like everyone else, in the now. Or, well...I suppose I'm trying to. But the things I want to do, I can't do here with everybody else. I guess I'm just different that way. And so - so I'll never get to do them..."
Riku closed his eyes, raising a hand to his chest. Curling it into a fist once more. A shaking fist. And then he breathed, and he opened his eyes and looked to her again. "So what would you want to do with the week you've got left? If you could do it all, do anything, no fear, no worries?"
Erin gave a hollow laugh. "I'd seen this nice dress in a shop window I was always dreaming of - and I wanted to get into this art gallery, but even that one was only for the really rich people. And...I wanted to go to this nice restaurant, with a little garden on the rooftops. And- I would have liked to have just spent the rest of my time walking around the city - like any other person. Being free to see everything, to stop and take my time with whatever caught my eye. So many things did, over the course of my life. And if I could have...I would like to have..."
"What?"
"Doesn't matter. Especially not that one. You couldn't do it in a week, either."
"Do what?"
"A baby."
"W-what?"
Erin pushed her hair back, gazing down at herself. She placed her hands together over her abdomen. "I just would have liked...at least...to have left something behind. A lot of us are lucky enough to be able to do that, with the time they've got left. But me? Not enough time... If I just had a few more months...that's all I'd need...to be sure I was... But I guess being remembered just isn't for me, is it?"
Riku eyed her, and he felt his Heart pulse. And suddenly...he knew. He stood. He gazed at her, his face set, and he held out his hand to her, palm up. "Come with me, and we'll get that week in."
"What...?" she said, staring up at him. Then she smiled softly. "That's sweet and all, but even if I were with a non-teyrsei guy, I'd still catch way too much grief. I don't want to spend my last days putting myself through that kind of abuse. And I'd still be denied entry to most of the places I want to go. And if we somehow snuck our way inside, well, sensory orbs, like I said - they'd detect me and they'd know I-"
"Erin," he said softly. "I don't mean here. I told you I came from some other land - a place far away. But I didn't mean another continent. What I meant...is that I'm from a whole other world. One of- countless worlds out there. And a lot of them, most of them...they're better than here. And they're all places where NO ONE would even bat an eye at you. They wouldn't even understand what you are or where you come from. All you'd be...is a girl named Erin. Just like, here, for me...I'm just a guy named Riku. Where no one knows I...where no one knows me. If you want your week, if you want a place to do everything you want to do, every day you have left, then I'll make sure you can do it. We'll go to a place where you can!"
Erin stared at him for a long minute, searching his face. His body - body language, maybe... "You...you're being serious?"
Riku nodded. He smiled. "Yeah. But if you want proof...come with me. I'll show you."
Erin stood, and she grasped his hand tight and strong. Almost like she was trying to crush Riku's hand, break all his bones (seriously). She held his gaze, stepping in close. Really close. "You look like you believe it. I'd like to believe it, too. Imagining a world like that...but it's too good to be true."
Riku tried to return her grip - but she was way stronger than him. He doubted she felt much of a change. He laughed internally at himself, at the thought! He could see in her eyes, those pink, glowing eyes of hers, she wasn't going to believe him. She couldn't. So he let her go, stepping back. With a hand to his Heart, he slowly raised his other hand. He pulled a miniscule amount of darkness out from his Heart, forming...a purple crystal in his grasp. Pure darkness, made real. Shaped like a diamond, and about as big as his palm itself.
"W-what..." Erin's eyes widened. "What is that? What kind of...magic is that?"
"Magic from another world," Riku said quietly. He crushed the crystal in his hand, watching it disintegrate into particles of glowing purple. "I can show you more, Erin. I can show you...that you can have that week of yours."
The girl met his gaze, and he saw it. She nodded, smiling again. "Alright, then."
When Riku approached Terra with the situation...
Terra just gazed at him a long moment, nodded, and said "Alright", and beckoned them to follow him out of the old base. No questions, no wasting...time.
They left the old compound, marching off into the trees together. Then, they flew right up into the sky, entering the Lanes Between.
When they emerged again, it was before the image of a new world: a city on green hills, with a big clock tower most prominent in the image. Terra flew down for it, entering its atmosphere. They soared down from a striking sky of twilight, over green hills and scatterings of flowery fields and houses. They landed on the outside of the sprawling city, in front of an archway with letters on it reading: Twilight Town.
After getting off the hover craft, Terra reached into his armor and withdrew his hefty munny pouch. He turned it over and poured out about a third of it, then offered the pouch to Riku. "The two of you go - I'll wait for you."
"You're not-" Riku began, suddenly nervous.
Terra shook his head. "On our left, a few streets in, I spied a big hotel building, crammed next to a few buildings near one of the train overpasses. I'll get us a stay there...for as long as we need. You two just don't worry about it. Go."
Riku took the bag, turning to Erin. He held it out for her to take instead. He tried to give her a grin. The best he had. "Whatever you want...I'll follow you."
Erin was too distracted - overwhelmed - by all that was around her. She was looking everywhere, still, across those green hills, the houses, the sky - and then she turned to look upon the city itself. She shook her head and held out a shaky hand to take the pouch; Riku dropped it into her palm, and she pocketed it.
"So...this is really another world?" she said, a quaver to her voice. "It's not a big illusion, or- or a dream? And- and you guys can just- fly off and bam, you're there? You do that all the time?"
"More or less. But, uh, this one's not one I've ever been to," Riku admitted.
"You've never been here before?" Erin said, surprised.
"Nah. Never. But...my Heart says it's the perfect place to be right now," Riku said quietly, certain.
A huge smile broke over the girl's face. Suddenly Erin seized his hand, pulling him close to her. Way too close. He almost fell over, windmilling like an idiot. "We'd better get started, then! I have a long list!"
Riku smiled back for her as he regained his footing. "Y-yeah..."
Fighting her way through Noctis's world was a chore - and so was fighting the giant, armored Heartless with its huge blade weapon at the end of it all.
But Kairi had persisted, and she had won, reemerging into a hall of white after maybe...half an hour? Who knew? Time slipped away when you were going from room to room, battle to battle!
She raced up the steps with Sora and Xion at her side again - grateful to be back with them for real!
Kairi was confident now that she could deal with pretty much anything these memory worlds wanted to throw at her.
Whatever these "Organization XIII" people wanted to throw at her!
And if they wanted to throw themselves at her - well - she'd already beaten one of them! She could clobber any more members they wanted to send to "test her"!
Almost on cue, darkness swirled out in front of Kairi, and a hooded figure stood before her.
A slender, but curvy figure that was definitely a woman's.
"Oh, are you here to give me a new world card?" Kairi said, stepping up and drawing her Keyblade. "Axel was a piece of cake - and you're not going to be any...different..." She trailed off as the woman's gloved hands raised to throw back her hood.
Revealing sharp features, green eyes that glinted, and yellow hair.
Yellow hair!
So this was...one of the two people Xikira had told her not to kill? One of her- friends?
The woman let out a sigh, jutting a full hip and placing a hand on it. She turned her head aside, gazing at Kairi sidelong. Her lips curved into a sharp grin. Her free hand raised, flourishing - and then, with crackling lightning, deadly knives of yellow appeared between her fingers. "You sure about that, princess?" she said, in a low, dangerous kind of voice. "Because I think...that a good trashing will have you reevaluating things! Ooooh yes, having your face under my boot after everything you've done is going to be wonderful!"
Okay...add an extra question mark to "friend," Kairi thought to herself. Maybe two or three...
In a round, white room full of impossibly high thrones positioned at various heights in relation to one another, many cloaked figures gathered out of darkness.
"Saix," Xemnas spoke, from the highest throne of them all. "While I am pleased to see you've returned - and so doubtlessly fulfilled the task assigned to you - I fail to understand why this necessitated a full and quite...impromptu meeting."
Saix gazed up at the imposing, silver-haired man, then dropped his head. His hands came together in his lap. "Yes, well, there...was a complication, Lord Xemnas..."
"What kind of complication?" Xemnas said slowly. "Surely the Riku boy was not that much of a nuisance for you to battle against?"
"The boy himself? No - he required no effort whatsoever," Saix said swiftly. "However, before I managed to gain from him what was requested, I..."
"Go on," Xemnas ordered.
"There was someone else with him - someone...unknown to me." Saix hesitated, then went on. "A very powerful...Keyblade wielder, in a suit of armor. Protecting the boy."
The entire round room fell silent.
Xemnas gripped his throne, leaning forward. "Describe this...armored wielder," he spoke, each word taking a nigh eternity to get out.
Saix nodded into his lap. "Golden armor, with hints of red. Twin prongs on the helmet. A cape. It was a male, and from the voice I would estimate them to be...around my own age."
When Saix risked a glance up at last, it was to the sight of Xemnas...frozen.
"Lord Xemnas...?" Saix risked speaking, confused. More than that. Almost shocked, if he'd had the Heart to feel that way. For Xemnas appeared to be almost...but that was even more absurd!
Xemnas closed his eyes, leaning back in his seat. "Do you have...what you were sent for?"
"Yes." Was it Saix's imagination, or was there a...quaver to the man's voice?
"Then that is all that matters," Xemnas spoke on, opening his eyes again. "Riku and his protector are never to be approached by any member of our Organization again. To do so would be to invite death."
Stares. From everyone.
"Are you...certain?" Saix said quietly.
"Yes." Xemnas's voice held an actual, harsh edge to it now. "This order is final and permanent. Unless they force themselves into our path, they are to be avoided at all costs."
"As...you say..." Saix murmured, looking away again swiftly.
Suddenly, Xemnas vanished away instantly, leaving them all sitting there alone to stare at each other.
After a minute of this, the high, ringing laughter of Xigbar echoed through the chamber. "Haha! Woah! Never seen the boss-man actually SCARED before!"
"Hey, man, don't say that out loud - he could come back any second now!" Demyx said, panicking.
"What?! Just saying what we were aaaall thinking!" Xigbar wheezed out, clutching his sides.
"Enough out of you!" Saix snarled, glaring at the man. "The notion that our leader has anything to fear is ridiculous!"
Xigbar's laughter died down. He leaned forward in his seat, putting his chin in his hand. He flashed Saix a wicked grin.
"Is it now?"
AN: And so we have multiple new developments here! On almost all fronts except Ven's lol. Which will be a part of next chapter. :D Muhahaha... :( Hah. :'( Hah... :'( Omg I hate next chapter...