Crowned Hearts Chapter
Sixteen
By
Blue Dragon
Sora and Zidane hacked their way through the
crystals with Ultima Weapons, double-blade and keyblade. Old man's
gun was basically useless in getting through the deep thicket of
crystals they were in so he just followed them.
"I had
asked Riku a series of questions . . . " Old man muttered from
behind them.
Sora turned to face him as he hacked.
"What
do you mean?"
"Before Riku, there were eight others.
After the first three I noticed they had more than several things in
common, so I began asking them all sorts of questions. And even Riku
has the exact same things in common with them"
"What
kind of things?" Zidane asked without turning away from his
work.
"Like, they all had friends with certain
attributes, girls that they lost in a sense, stuff like that. Anyway,
when I went here, I also noticed that they were all keyblade
bearers"
"I was wondering about keyblade bearers.
What were they like?" Sora asked another question.
"Well,
the ones I took here all had the dark keyblade. Oblivion. While their
close friends would have an Ultima Weapon keyblade."
"That
would be me, right?"
"Precisely. But my worry is,
the same thing always happened to them. . ."
"What?"
"You
see, the dark bearer would come close to finding his disappeared love
somewhere here. And then they would disappear and become one with
this place, never again to return to their world."
"Does
that mean Riku will . . . ?"
"Probably so. And it
also means that you'll become a part of this place as
well."
"!?"
"Their friend would
always get stuck here. The final question for you, Sora. If Riku was
stuck here with the threat of remaining here forever, then would you
try to save him?"
Sora paused, and then nodded his
head.
"Just like all the others"
"Well,
he's my best friend!"
Old man laughed.
"I'm
not criticizing your decision. It is a very loyal one. I'm just
wondering if the result will be the same"
Old man looked
at Sora with a sense of understanding.
Riku contemplated how
he could get Lisa out of her "prison". He decided to try
talking.
"Lisa? Lisa can you hear me? I want to see you
again, to talk to you, hear your voice or something. . . "
She
remained motionless in the crystal.
"Please? I don't know
what else to do. Talk to me!"
Her body didn't move, but
Riku heard Lisa's voice in his head.
WHY DID YOU COME
HERE?
Riku jumped. Her voice was loud in his head, but not at
all angry. Just neutral, basically.
RIKU, PLEASE LEAVE.
"I'll
never leave you!"
THIS IS A TRAP. I CAN'T COM OUT OR
YOU'LL BE IN DANGER. PLEASE, FORGET ABOUT ME.
Riku
laughed.
"How could I ever forget about you? I friggin'
love you."
She laughed happily in his head.
REALLY?
WOW. . . THAT MAKES ME FEEL GREAT, RIKU. BUT I WANT YOU TO
LIVE.
"What will happen if I stay?"
HORRIBLE
THINGS, RIKU. THIS IS ONLY A TRAP. DON'T BE LIKE THE MANY OTHERS. I
KNOW YOU DON'T WANT TO LOSE ME, BUT SOON YOU MIGHT BE WITH ME FOR
ETERNITY. . . THAT WON'T BE COOL.
"For eternity?
Lisa?"
She said no more, and left Riku looking at her
seemingly slumbering crystallized body.
"Lisa . . ."
Old
man started to smile. But it wasn't a good smile. It was an evil one.
Sora and Zidane stopped to stare.
"What the hell YOU
smiling like that for?" Zidane asked.
"Heh. Just
like all the others!"
"What do you mean?" Sora
asked desperately.
"You haven't figured it out yet? What
happened to what I told you."
"You didn't tell me
anything!"
"Look!" Zidane pointed. They could
see Riku in the distance, but a well of dark energy began to pool
near him.
"Riku! NO!" Sora yelled, rushing at him
with Zidane following.
"Your not going anywhere" Old
man's voice had changed into a different one, a scary one in fact. He
slowly lost age and began to look younger, muscled bulged out, his
glasses disappeared, and his hair lost its grayness. His eyes glowed
purple as he floated above Sora and Zidane that now faced him.
Lisa
flew into Riku's arms, back into her normal
clothing.
"Lisa!"
"Riku. We're in
trouble! You have to get out of here!"
"I'll NEVER
leave you! Why can't you understand that?"
"Riku.
You have to listen. He won't let me leave"
"Who's
'he'?"
"You'll wish you never knew. Your friends are
in danger. Come on!" she ran leaving Riku panting behind,
wondering why she ignored him.
'What could it be that's making
her so nervous'? he thought.
Sora and Zidane had their weapons
drawn at 'Old man'.
"O-old man?" Sora asked, making
sure he was an enemy.
"Ha. I'm not so old anymore. You
will all stay here forever like those before you! Except for
monkey-boy over here"
Zidane decided it was pointless to
get a temper over his tail.
Riku and another girl rushed up
with Sora and Zidane.
"Who's that?" Sora asked
hurriedly.
"Lisa. I told you she existed!"
"Hey,
I'm--"
"Pleased to meet you, but I've seen you
before. This isn't any time for introductions." Lisa said
cutting him off.
"You ALl hOLd On, MY TranSFORMATION iS
ALMOst COMPLETE!"
"I have no weapon!" Lisa
panicked.
"Take this" Zidane handed her the
discarded Kalashnikov.
"What? How do I use this?"
"Take
these, too" Zidane handed her three clips that he found on the
ground.
"Look, this is an automatic weapon. Just pull the
trigger and take out the empty clips from the bottom. Replace 'em
with these"
"I don't know how to reload or
fire"
"Well I'm from a world with no guns. Can't
help ya, good luck"
"Are you done talking down
there?" Old man who wasn't really old anymore asked as he
floated above the crystal with familiar purple darkness spewing out
behind him.
The four stood before the unexpected.
"You
see, I'm not really a scientist of any kind. I camp around worlds
looking for fools such as you. You act as friends, but one of you
takes the girl. The other is lonely . . . but you remain friends.
Well it has been these two with the hearts worthy of keyblades.
Surely many have hearts just as strong and even stronger in a lot of
cases, but the blades choose you simply because they know that the
bond you share is unbreakable. It is this very 'strength' that is
actually a weakness. You trap yourselves here trying to save each
other."
"Just who are you!" asked Riku
forcefully.
"Who am I? I don't think we've met before.
Let me introduce myself. I am a wanderer that studied the heartless,
and found the power of darkness inside them. . . wait a minute. I
know you, don't I!?"
"Ansem" Sora and Riku
sneered at the same time.
