Disclaimer: Nope...I don't own Kingdom Hearts. You know, this is getting useless. I might as well never write one of these again. I don't think I will. This is a FAN FICTION site! As in, FAN FICTION! Who started doing these disclaimers anyway? What a horrible fad...
Well, please read and review. I hope you all like this, my interest in this story is slowly wearing down...but I'll try, for anyone who is still reading this!
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Yuffie leaned a little bit closer to the wolf.
"What...what are you?" she asked in a whisper.
A part of you...somewhere hidden deep within that you never felt you had before. You called upon me without knowing it.
"But...how did I save you?"
The wolf sat down on his haunches and stared at her.
When a person is born, they are a whole. Every part of them is innocent and pure and true. As they grow older, their beliefs are shaped to conform to society and what they think is the right thing, what they think is acceptable. As a person goes through this transformation, slowly but surely, they lose a part of themselves, their real selves. You never lost me...you stayed true to yourself and kept me intact by believing. Not many people can do that.
"Oh. I think I get it, now. But what is this place? Why am I here?"
You have forgotten so quickly. This place...you don't remember, do you?
Yuffie shook her head as a no.
You were so little when you first came here. You fell in love with it. It was stored in your memories as a good place to be; a peaceful place away from danger.
"And?"
What Yvonne is doing is the highest, truest form of fear and pain you have ever, and will ever, go through. She calls her power from darkness...it is not her own, nor is it real. Yours, however, is from within, and from your friends. The darkness colliding with your light and spirit was too much, and you were thrust into a happy, childhood place to keep you safe. Like an unconscious counterattack.
"I see. What is Yvonne planning?"
Yvonne is a vengeful, evil woman, you must realize that. She has no rational thinking, she is so beyond repair. Her mind is set on two things: destruction and revenge. She will do anything to right what she thinks was taken away from her.
"But what's that?"
You haven't fully realized who she is, have you?
"No...it's true. I just...saw her hideousness...and I....it was too much for me to bear."
Think hard of whom it is. It cannot be kept secret much longer.
"Uh..."
Think...
"It has to be...well, who do we know who is tall, dark, and evil? A woman with pure white skin?"
Maleficent.
"No! That's freakin' impossible! Sora and his friends defeated her a long time ago!"
Darkness can never be destroyed.
"No! It can't be true!"
Yuffie buried her face into the couch and felt hot tears trickle down her cheeks.
"I can't do this! I'm not strong enough! Why me? What does she want with me?"
When Maleficent was killed, she called upon the most supreme powers of evil known to mankind. It is almost impossible to handle...as you can see, it swallowed Ansem and everyone who followed the path of darkness. The impact of the force on her body and Sora's hits killed her, but she never fully died. A part of her self was still sacrificed to the darkness; she entrusted her soul to it in return for power. Meaning, only her body was destroyed. She remained in the midst of darkness. In order to be able to move around, she had to possess a human, a weaker human, and then suck the power out of the human. That was you. Your thoughts of your friends turning against you brought dark thoughts to the corner of your mind, allowing a portal from Maleficent, or Yvonne, to you.
"I didn't mean to think those thoughts! How was I supposed to know that I would make a portal?"
You did not know.
The wolf stood up and started pacing the floor.
"So what's your name?"
Arcanine.
"What does it mean?"
Well...arcane means mysterious, and canine means dog, so together, it means mysterious dog.
"Oh. I like it! But...what are we going to do now? I mean...we have to wait two weeks for the doors of Third District to open. Right? And she's going to do something to me, if she can get me, and keep me somewhere in Third District..."
Yes. She will probably hold you hostage as bait for Leon, Cloud, Aerith, and Sora. She will try to defeat your friends and then use you for something...she might need to possess you again, or might sacrifice you to darkness.
"Sacrifice...m-me?"
Do not worry. Your friends are strong individually as well as united. They will save you...with my help.
Yuffie smiled and got up off the couch and ran a hand through her short black hair. "I'm so nervous...I can't stand this..."
Tears sprang up to her eyes. She wiped them away. Arcanine stared at her with his big golden eyes.
She walked to the door of the cabin and stared out. "It's so pretty here...but it's fake. Just a creation of my mind."
Not entirely. It is partially real.
Yuffie looked surprised. "Really? Well...don't bother wasting your breath on me; I won't understand it, anyway."
~~~
Yuffie hit Arcanine with another shuriken and quickly did a back-flip away from him to hit him again.
For the past couple of days, Arcanine had been letting Yuffie practice on him. The shurikens didn't hurt him or damage him in any way, so he provided an ideal moving target.
She threw another one and it nicked him straight in between his nose.
"Bull's eye!" she shouted gleefully.
Arcanine threw his head. His white fur was ruffled and he was panting hard.
Lucky shot.
"Admit it! I got you, this time!"
....
She rolled her eyes and put a hand on Arcanine's back.
"You just can't take the heat," she said with a giggle.
....
"Oh come on! You can't be perfect every time!"
....
She plopped down onto the grass and stared up at the sky, clutching her knees to her chest. Arcanine settled down next to her and let his tongue hang out of his mouth.
"I really got you this time, huh?"
No...
"Oh GOD! Don't go all Squall on me, now!" she shouted. Arcanine stared up at the sky.
She sighed and followed Arcanine's gaze without really seeing anything. She missed Squall...and Arcanine reminded her of him so much. She missed Aerith, and she missed Cloud. Damn it! Why was this happening to her?
Yuffie! Leave, now!
She snapped out of her trance and stared at Arcanine. "What?"
He growled and snapped his jaws at her fiercely.
"I'm going, I'm going!"
She stood up and wiped off the back of her jean shorts and made a dash for the cabin. What was up with him?
She opened up the door and slammed it behind her. She looked outside to where Arcanine was and saw something floating toward him. So that was what he was looking at...
She narrowed her eyes and tried to see better. It was black...a woman shaped, black figure...
Yuffie jumped back from the door. Was it Yvonne—Maleficent, again?
She ran out the back door and ran into the woods, gasping for breath. Her arms and legs were pumping hard, trying to gain speed, powered by fear and adrenaline. This really was happening...it was not a dream...a reality. A cruel reality.
She stumbled over a fallen tree trunk and toppled onto the ground. She emitted a soft 'oof' and quickly stood up again.
What would Aerith do if she saw me like this, Yuffie thought. Or Cloud, or Cid, or Squall, or even Sora and his friends? They would think I was weak...horrible, even...I should have known.
Tears stung her eyes and blurred her vision. Her mind was hazy. How were her legs moving? It was as if they had a life of their own.
So this is where The Great Ninja Yuffie ends up...she thought.
She wiped the tears out of her eyes as she was running and stumbled again. This time, though, she held herself up and kept on running. She didn't know where she was going, but she knew she had to go somewhere far away from Yvonne.
She whipped her head behind her to see if Yvonne was following her. Her foot's next step landed on air. She felt her stomach drop out.
She looked back and screamed as she plummeted over the edge of the cliff. Her hands tried to grab onto something but only closed around air.
Her arms flailed around, trying to grab onto something. Something solid came into contact with her groping hand and stopped her fall almost immediately.
She gripped onto the branch that stuck itself out of the side of the cliff and moved her feet around slowly, feeling for a place to put them. She whimpered.
Don't look down...don't look down...she told herself continuously.
She couldn't help it. It was one of those things. You tell yourself not to think of purple, and you can't get it off of your mind. You tell yourself not to look down, you have to.
So she looked down.
Her mind spun and she felt a dangerous dizzy spell coming on. Her feet dangled into the air. The drop was so far down; the forest of trees underneath it looked like Lego's.
She whimpered and looked up. She had only fallen about ten feet. Could she climb herself up?
Her palms grew sweaty and it was becoming harder to keep a good grip on the branch. Sweat beads dropped off of her forehead and down to the trees below. Such a long drop...
Yuffie's mouth tasted like acid and she felt something come up her throat. She swallowed it down and felt nauseous.
This is the end...you'll never see Squall or Aerith or Cloud or Cid or Sora or anyone. Say good-bye to ice-cream, sunshine, Traverse Town, friends, oceans, ribbons, kittens, and your headband. Say good-bye to life.
Tears fell down her cheeks in a cascade, on after another, after another. It was only a matter of time before she slipped, or until she decided to let go and end it all quicker.
The sun stung her eyes and beat down onto her back. Her skin crawled and she had goose bumps. Goose bumps in the sun...go figure.
"Help..." she whispered in a shaky voice. There was no one there to hear her. She was sick of that...so sick of it. If she ever got out of this...
Keep dreaming, Yuffie...she told herself.
Where was Arcanine? Did Yvonne kill him? Or did he escape? Maybe that wasn't Yvonne. Maybe it was all a false alarm. It could have been something else...but then running away would have been a waste, and now her life would end.
Carefully and ever so slowly, she released one hand holding her up. Her hand shook like an electric toothbrush. She grasped onto a ledge and let go of her other hand and grabbed onto another ledge.
Shakily, she grasped onto a ledge higher than that and pulled herself up. It took all the strength she had. She kept grabbing and pulling, grabbing and pulling.
She stopped and breathed in a few gasps of air. Her muscles were aching and groaning, and now she was certain she wouldn't make it. She was two ledges away, but she couldn't find the strength to do it.
Just two more...come on...I can do this...
She lifted another hand like it weighed one-hundred pounds and grabbed onto the ledge and pulled herself up. She waited a few seconds and grabbed onto the other one.
Just one more shove...
She pulled herself up onto solid ground and stumbled as far away as she could from the death ledge and fell into a cool stream. Sobs shook her body and tears filled up her eyes and flowed onto her cheeks.
After five minutes, she stood up, her clothes sopping wet and her face tear-stained.
But I still made it.
She traced her steps back through the forest. Where were Yvonne and Arcanine? It seemed like they hadn't come for her.
She stopped and peered through the trees when the cabin was visible. There was no movement at all. She didn't see anything.
She came through the trees and approached the cabin cautiously. Yvonne might have captured Arcanine, or she might have killed him. She could be waiting in the cabin for her.
She opened the back door of the cabin and stepped inside. She crept as swiftly and quietly as she could.
A whooshing sound filled the air and something cool and misty rolled onto her skin.
"Do not look, darling, you know who it is," the voice hissed into her ear.
Yuffie shrieked and felt her body droop towards the floor. The mist held her up.
"Ah, ah, ah, you're coming with me," Yvonne said smoothly.
"W-where is Arcanine? What ar-are you going to do with me?" Yuffie whispered.
"Only time will tell, foolish girl."
"Little, little girl, how sad and pitiful she looks," whispered an airy voice. It sounded like many different people—things—whispering the same thing at once. It was coming from the icy black mist that held her with an iron grip.
"Yes. Weak and naïve. Oh, how easy it was to fool her. Her friends care nothing about her, or that dog."
"No, you're wrong!" Yuffie said uncertainly. "And Arcanine is a wolf!"
A whoosh-like, shaky noise came from the mist. She took it as laughing. She groaned and tried to shake herself out of its grip. How could mist hold her in place, anyway.
She shook her head. That wasn't important. What was important is her friends. Is what she said true? Maybe Yvonne was right...they didn't care about her...
Yuffie's head dropped.
"Yes, that's right, they have not one ounce of care for you. You must come with me...with us...we will welcome you with open arms."
"Yes..." Yuffie squeaked weakly. "You are right..."
...wasn't she?
Yvonne smiled. Her white skin was still as visible as ever.
The mist released her. She fell to the floor in a crumpled pile. A used, worthless piece of human.
"Follow me..." Yvonne whispered into her ear huskily. She drifted out the open door.
Yuffie stood up, tears of pain and anger in her eyes. She was right. And now there was nothing her friends could do about it.
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I know, I know, this is extremely short, but I liked the way this ended. Please review! I'm started to get interested in this story again, mainly because of the enthusiastic reviewers. Thanks guys!
And all of you who guessed Maleficent was right. Maleficent had to be a normal person at one point, so I named her Yvonne. Just a little disguise there.