By: Naela
Summary: A being tied to Sora is awakening and now more than ever the Keyblade Master is needed. Only, no one seems to know where he is. How are Riku and Kairi tied into all of this and who are the Non-Existent Ones?
Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or any of its characters. They're all property of Squaresoft and Disney.
Chapter Twelve: Reflections
Neither Riku nor Enigma had made a peep when they had strolled onto the balcony. They'd spent most of the trip in silence with Kairi wedged in between them. The awkward atmosphere that had lingered in the library trailed after them to the balcony. Kairi tried striking up a conversation, but shewas only met with rough grunts from both warriors. Eventually she gave up, deciding that she'd have a better conversation with a wall than with either of the two.
They stopped when they came across the railing, and Kairi released their hands, opting to lean against the bar and gaze over the edge. A cold wind swept up her hair, causing her to shiver. She wrapped her arms around herself. Below her was supposed to be a view of the watery landscape of Hollow Bastion, but at the moment it was too dark to really see anything Night had fallen a while ago. The sky wasn't as starry as she remembered, but Enigma had said something about the worlds being in danger again. She lost the smile on her face as the thought of both Enigma and Riku putting themselves in danger again to save the worlds entered her mind. Her hands tightened into fists. She wasn't going to let another five years pass before she would see her friends again.
Pushing a stray lock of hair behind her ear, she stared up at Enigma. His lips were pressed together tightly, his eyes half-lidded--the look of someone lost in thought. Turning her gaze away from him, she stared back up at the night sky.
"What now?" she asked.
Enigma pushed himself away from the railing and turned to face her. "We continue the search for Sora," he stated.
He was still in denial of course. Kairi folded her hands together and brought her eyes up to him. She didn't want to push what she believed into his face. Only a day ago he'd been believing that he was Sora, and now he was quick to deny any evidence. She could only assume that his about face was due to having so many people pressuring him.
"Do you even know what you're doing?"
Both Kairi and Enigma stared at Riku, who was draped against the railing, his head resting in his arms. "What?" Enigma asked.
"Why should I waste my time going with you and hunting down someone who could be dead for all we know?" Riku gave Kairi a significant look.
"Don't say that!" Kairi exclaimed. She shook her head, not wanting to hear any more about the one she loved being dead. The thought had crossed her mind during the darker moments of her life, and at the moment she didn't want to contemplate the possibility of Sora being dead.
Riku's covered the lower half of his face, but he was obviously smirking at her. "How do you know he's not dead then?"
Slowly bringing her gaze towards Enigma, she smiled. "I just know," she replied. She brought a hand to her heart. "I would know if he had died."
Riku slammed a fist against the railing, making her jump. "I don't want to waste five years of my life searching across the entire universe for him like he did," the boy spat, glaring at Enigma.
"What then?" Enigma waved dramatically at the landscape below. "Stay here and waste away until this pathetic world gets destroyed as well? Without Sora we're all doomed."
The silver haired boy rolled his eyes. "I'm not saying that we do nothing."
"Then what?"
"Well how about we figure out why this is happening for one?" Riku said. "We find what's behind this and then destroy it."
A corner of Enigma's mouth curled into a sneer. "Yes, of course. It's that simple. Why couldn't I have thought of it before?"
"Stop it," Kairi spoke up. "That's enough!"
She pushed herself away from the railing until she was several feet from them and then straightened. "Let's just get some sleep," she suggested. "We'll call it a day and figure out what to do tomorrow."
Riku stood up and tugged on the sleeves of his jacket. "Fine," he replied, walking past them without a glance back. "See you tomorrow then."
She watched him until he disappeared from sight before turning back to Enigma. He was still leaning against the balcony, ignoring the wind that was starting to make a mess of his hair.
"What about you?" she asked.
"I'm not tired," he replied, his back still facing her.
Kairi tilted her head and joined him at the railing. "You still need to get some sleep," she chided. "You're really pushing yourself too hard."
"This is how I've survived for the last five years," Enigma said. He closed his eyes and ran a hand through his tangled hair since the wind had died down. "It's not an option to just let myself relax when I want to. Back there in the library… what I did, it was a mistake."
Kairi closed her eyes, struggling to hold back the torrent of emotions that threatened to overwhelm her. Clearing her throat, she nodded. "Oh," Kairi managed. She cursed herself as tears suddenly started welling in her eyes. She looked the other way and furiously swiped at the tears. "If that's how you feel…" she said slowly, "Then, let's just forget that it even happened."
She refused to look at him, knowing that her eyes probably still held traces of her tears. He would probably notice, and just like before, he wouldn't be able to understand.
"I'm going to bed," she declared, moving away from the railing.
"No," he spoke up, stopping her in mid-stride. "Don't go."
"It's late," she argued.
"You've been up later," he countered.
She felt his arm encircle her waist, pulling her back. Falling against Enigma's chest, she trembled in his hold. Taking in a shuddering breath, she broke away from him, shaking her head furiously. "Don't," she told him. "You don't have the right to do this to me. You can't even make up your mind about me, and I can't stand being toyed with like this."
She expected him to give some poor excuse, a few words in his defence. She didn't expect him to laugh. "You don't get it," Enigma said. He was smiling at her, looking boyish and young. He looked so much like Sora when he stared at her like that.
"What?" she asked. "What don't I get?"
He looked away, focusing on the sky instead. "It was a mistake for me to kiss you when I know that you have feelings for Sora," Enigma replied. Kairi opened her mouth to protest when Enigma glanced sharply at her. "I know you're going to tell me that I am Sora, but what if I'm not? What then? You love him. You've waited five years for him after all, and then I kissed you knowing that you love him. It shouldn't have happened. Now things are complicated. Look at what that kiss led to with Riku and me? What will happen when we finally meet Sora?"
"I…" Kairi shook her head. "I don't know, but isn't it wrong to ignore your feelings simply to keep things less complicated?"
"Well, I really don't know about that," Enigma admitted. "I can't understand my own feelings, much less try to comprehend the feelings of others."
"Did you mean it when you said you wanted me to stay close to you?" Kairi asked softly.
His expression softened, and he smiled at her again. "Yes. I really do want you to be close to me. That much I can understand."
Leaning forward, he placed a gentle kiss on her lips.
Kairi smiled. "I promise to stay close to you."
Riku screamed as he hurled the chair across the room. It smashed against the wall, cracking loudly as the wood splintered. Picking up another chair, he smashed it against the ground. The bottom two legs broke off easily.
The walls were dented, the floor was covered in shattered pieces of glass and wooden chips and every piece of furniture that was too heavy to pick up had been upturned and kicked about the room. He was still fuming, but he was running out of objects to break. He gave the chair a final smash before throwing it against the far wall.
His eyes scanned the room before they landed on a vase resting on its side on the ground. It'd miraculously survived when Riku had tipped a bookshelf over and sent its contents scattering about the room. Leaping forward, he took the vase and hurled it at the door and watched as it was intercepted by a clawed hand.
The golden tips of Cloud's left hand scratched the glossy surface of the vase. The spiky haired warrior stared at him over the red collar of his cape. "Room not messy enough for you?" he questioned.
Riku scowled at him. "Why are you here?"
Cloud tossed a plastic bag towards Riku. The boy caught it and opened the bag, glancing inside before giving the warrior a confused look. "Clothes?"
"Aerith wanted me to give them to you," he explained. "She thought you might want to wear something cleaner."
"Oh…" Riku said dully. "Thanks."
"She really likes you," Cloud stated. Walking over towards the armchair lying on its side, he righted it and sat. "She has a bad habit of being nice to those who don't deserve her kindness."
Riku glared at him, watching as Cloud tapped a clawed finger against the vase. "Is that supposed to mean something?"
Cloud "It's just in her nature. Take me for example. I never understood what she saw in me… but she's the most forgiving person I've ever met."
Riku found himself silently agreeing with Cloud's words and even nodded. "Yeah… she is."
"I met her when I was young, in the chapel. I ran in there when I was playing a game with my friends, and there she was at the altar, praying, bathed in light. She was… an angel." His clawed hands stilled as he slowly lowered the vase, resting it against the arm of his seat. "I wanted to know her. So I went up to her and pulled her hair. She didn't cry or scream or shout like other girls did whenever I pulled their hair. She just questioned why I had done it and I told her my reasoning because I couldn't lie to her. After that, she told me that I could have just talked to her. So I did. We talked, and we grew closer and I visited her at the chapel every day afterwards. Sometimes I would buy flowers from her because she loved flowers. She had her own garden and grew them there. The flowers were beautiful, like her…"
Riku was silent as he saw Cloud's story in his mind. He could imagine it, him as Cloud and Kairi as Aerith and buying flowers from her. He frowned at the fantasy and focused his gaze on Cloud, who was staring back at him. His blue eyes seemed to glow in the room's dim lighting. "Nice story," he muttered. "But why am I hearing it?
Cloud stood, his cape falling about his body. "Because when you're dead you remember things more vividly. I remembered every moment I had spent with Aerith when I was down there, and that was my hell. It wasn't the pain they tried inflicting on me, it was the memories and the knowledge that Aerith and I would never be together again, that I would be cursed to relive those memories for the rest of eternity with that knowledge." He walked over towards Riku, roughly taking his hand and giving him the vase. "I'm grateful."
Stepping back, he studied Riku, his eyebrows lowering into a frown. "Take this from someone who's experienced it before," he said. "Don't let that darkness in your heart get to you."
Riku felt his stomach tighten, wondering if the blonde warrior could somehow tell that Ansem was nestling inside his mind. Moving away from Cloud, he nodded. "Right…" he said.
"Not too long ago in Hollow Bastion, there was a boy. This boy was an outsider, and he was usually violent toward what little friends he had. This boy, however, had two people very close to his heart. One was his best friend, and the other was a woman. They both loved her, but the boy's love escalated into an obsession that led to the downfall of this citadel," Cloud told him.
"Why are you telling me this?" Riku asked.
Cloud turned, heading for the door. "Think about your feelings carefully," he replied. He paused, his hand on the knob. "You can keep the clothes. I have no use for them and… clean up the mess."
He slammed the door, causing the pieces of glass to rattle. Riku looked down at the vase and plastic bag. He set the vase aside and headed for the adjoining lavatory. He changed into Cloud's old clothing, a simple black short-sleeved shirt and a dark green pair of shorts. They were a little loose, but they were good enough. Walking out of the lavatory, he surveyed the mess he'd caused and kicked aside a few pieces of glass.
He'd clean it later. Now that he'd calmed and expended most of his energy at causing the mess, he no longer felt like doing anything else but sleep. He flicked off the lights and crawled into bed, throwing the covers over him. His exhaustion got the better of him, and he was asleep in minutes.
There was a gentle wind that felt nice against her bare skin. Kairi opened her eyes, taking in the night sky. There was sand beneath her bare feet, and in the distance there was the familiar roar of the sea she'd grown accustomed to hearing when she had lived on Destiny Islands. It was an almost comforting sound that made her feel at home. She glanced around, hoping to find the familiar buildings and landmarks of the island, but everything around her was unfamiliar.
She heard sand being crushed by light footfalls behind her and turned, gasping as she saw Sora, silhouetted in the moonlight. He stood on a sandy path, surrounded by a grassy field. Ahead of him were three different paths. He stopped as he came across the junction and glanced from one path to the other.
Slowly, she approached him. Holding one trembling hand forward, she tried to touch him, but her hand passed through his body. Sora didn't seem to notice her presence. He was staring up at the sky. The cloudy horizon suddenly began to part to reveal the stars it'd once hidden. Moving around him, Kairi stood in front of Sora, frowning as she tried to catch his attention. She waved a hand in front of his face, but Sora just stared past her.
"Sora?" she whispered his name.
He didn't answer, but moved forward, straight through her. He stopped as he came close to one of the paths, unable to make his decision as to which road to take. Kairi stared down the road she'd just come from and saw the bright sands of Destiny Islands and its blue sky. She heard faint voices from down that path. They were children's voices, her voice in fact, mixed with Sora and Riku's laughter.
She turned abruptly and glanced down the other paths. All three of them were completely and utterly dark.
"What will you choose?" A voice asked from behind. She stared over her shoulder and saw Enigma. She frowned and shook her head. No, that wasn't Enigma. The person standing behind her was dressed like Enigma, but he was older, his features sharper, and underneath his hood were glowing yellow eyes that contrasted sharply against the dark backdrop of the night. She frowned. Even though she was certain that she'd never met him before, there was something about him that gave her the impression that she should know him.
The hooded figure stepped past her. Just as Sora had done, this man had gone through her. She stepped around his tall frame and saw Sora had noticed the person as well.
"What is your decision?" the man asked, approaching the boy.
Sora stepped back, glaring at the hooded figure as he made his slow retreat. They both stopped before the middle path, and Sora glanced warily behind him. He barely had time to react when the hands of the hooded figure shot forward. The man held Sora by the neck, lifting him off the ground. The boy gasped and wheezed as his supply of oxygen was cut off. His face began to grow red, and he kicked at the air, clawing at the man's arms.
Kairi watched all of this, frozen in horror. This couldn't be real! She screamed, but neither Sora nor the man noticed her. She ran forward, trying to tear the man's hold from Sora's throat, but only found to her frustration that her hands always passed through him. She watched helplessly as Sora's face began growing black. His eyes rolled into the back of his head, his struggling stopped and his hands relaxed, falling to his side s. She backed away, hand held over her mouth as tears streamed down her cheeks. Sobs wracked her body, and she turned away. Her body shook as she fell to her knees.
A silence fell over the path, and Kairi turned. It was gone. Everything was gone, leaving her alone in a black void.
The door creaked loudly enough to stir Enigma from his dream. He blinked, shaking his head as the last remnants of it melted away. It was a disturbing one, but not much worse than his dreams usually were normal. Taking in a shuddering breath, he brought his eyes towards the door. Kairi's lithe form was leaning against the frame, shaking visibly.
He frowned and sat up. "Kairi?" he said softly.
She tried taking a few more steps and ended up falling forward. She let out a sob as her knees collided painfully against the floor. Enigma scrambled out of bed, running towards her side. "Kairi!" he exclaimed, taking her into his arms and scooping her off the floor. He brought her to the bed and gently laid her down on the mattress.
In the pale light of the moon, he could see that she'd been crying. Her eyes were red, and the trail her tears had taken on her face was all too visible. He got up to switch on a light, but Kairi grabbed his hand, shaking her head. "No!" she whimpered. "Please don't go!"
He nodded and went back to sit beside her on the bed. Taking her hand into his, he leaned forward until his head was resting on top of her chin. "I'm here," he reassured her.
Slowly, her trembling stopped and she leaned closer to him. "I… had… a dream," she managed to say.
"It was only a dream," he told her. "Dreams don't mean anything."
"It was so real…" she protested. "I could… feel everything. The wind, the sand, and it was so clear. I could hear the ocean."
"But it was still a dream," he reminded her. "That's all it was."
She stared up at him, her large blue eyes glinting in the light. "I saw Sora die," she whispered.
Enigma fell silent. He smiled, patting her on the shoulder and holding her closer to him. He listened as she took in deep, laboured breaths. Eventually they became the rhythmic breaths associated with sleep. He couldn't sleep of course, not with her spooned against his side.
He lay awake as the hours ticked past. Sora was alive, he knew that much, but it was what she had said. Her description matched what he'd experienced in his dream.
He too had seen Sora die.
He was the one who'd killed him after all.
So if Enigma has a dreams about murdering our favourite hero, then what does that say about him? I don't really have much to say right now, just that I'm fairly depressed and very stressed out and FFN wouldn't let me update this earlier, but that's life.
Things begin to pick up again in the next chapter, mainly involving the trio's next destination and how Enigma and Riku are going to interact now that we've had a few eye openers.
SPECIAL THANKS TO:
Victorious Light: Hehehe!! That's me being evil again aint it? Ah, well at least I'm glad that the Ansem still being inside Riku thing came as a surprise. ^_^
darkkitty: Telling you who Enigma is would ruin the entire plot for you!! Oh and don't stress over what Riku was saying, it's only hint, but I'll be sure to point it out again somewhere down the road.
Cynthia Chen: Yeah, I totally understand what you mean about being tired from school. Oh and about the pairings... well I admit that I have no problem with yaoi at all, in fact it's nice when it's written properly, but the storyline was plotted this way and Enigma/Kairi's romance will obviously have a huge impact later on in the story.
VIvi: Hopefully soon. ^_^ Just have patience!!
Meiko: Oh!! Thank you!! Wow, I feel much happier now, that's a lotta compliments! I don't wanna touch on Enigma/Kairi kiss right now as it'll be elaborated on later, but I'm glad the message I was hoping to convey with it was picked up. Believe me, I'll try to make each chapter better than the one before!
Koorino Megumi: You caught me on the Albedo one... wait... didn't I tell you that? And you're giving me waaaaay too much credit about the "on stage" metaphor, that actually came from Xenogears... which I seriously recommend you to play now that you've had your fill of Xenosaga. ^_^
Ari Powwel: I like that.. "AnsemControlled!Riku" heh!! Oh well, I didn't realize that I made that revelation so obvious, but glad that you were able to pick up on that! Kairi+Riku shipping hmm? I'm gonna have to refrain from talking about that until a different chapter. Just remember to bring it up again. Oh! And I'll be sure to read the update!
Shinji Ikari: Oh! Sorry, I didn't mean any sort of offence when I made that comment about original characters. I was really just stating my opinion about OC/Established Character pairings. I have rarely come across a fanfic where there was an original character that wasn't a Mary Sue that had a romantic subplot with another main character. I suppose you could say I'm biased in that sort of way, but I've been reading fanfiction for five years and in that five years, I've definitely read quite a few hundred fanfics and I've definitely come across quite a few badly written OC/EC fanfics and I've grown rather sceptical and cynical about original characters. It doesn't mean I hate all fanfics that has original characters as the main characters, take Megumi's fanfic for example, I absolutely adore how she's written Kiru and Iraki and even Aros is a nice rounded character.
Xenogears/Xenosaga influence:
-Riku walking into Enigma and Kairi's moment=Krelian listening to Sophia and Lacan
-Riku's laughing=Albedo's insane laughter
-Ansem and Riku is similar to a certain character in Xenogears
-The biggest influence of all: Xenosaga/gears music... try rereading some of the parts with the soundtrack playing. I wrote the first scene between Ansem and Riku while listening to Id's theme (The one who is torn apart or something similar), Kairi and Enigma's scene was written to Elly's theme and then Riku walking in on them would be written to Albedo's theme.
Oh and about Xenosaga, well I see your point about KOS-MOS, but I'm still not very impressed by her character... yet. I'll have to wait for the next episodes, but for now, that's how I view her. Oh and have you seen the new episode II screens? Wow, KOS-MOS looks more and more like a certain purple haired character in Xenogears everytime I see them.
I'll eventually get around to rewriting that scene involving Hades and Riku, but until I get an idea as to how to rewrite and to not affect the future chapters, it'll have to remain as it is now.