Title: In The Darkness We Meet
Written By: Astaldothôlwen
Point Of View: Kairi
Chapter Six: Prisoner of Darkness
Disclaimer: I do not declare or even assume the responsibility of owning any material in this fic that is owned by either SquareSoft or Disney Interactive. However, if it ever comes down to it, and you guys (Sqaure or Disney) need someone to look after Riku, I'll be more than willing to adopt him as my very own. Thankyou.
Cold. I feel so very cold. A numbing; and chilling cold.
I can't see.
I can't hear.
I think I'm lucky I can think seemingly coherent thoughts.
I don't understand. I don't understand how this happened. How the darkness happened. The cold, it is all I can feel. I can't feel my body. And you know what? I like it. I like not being able to feel, to think, to speak, and to act. I like this numbing. So I suppose I should thank Ansem for transforming me into a lifeless clone. Cracking my heavy eyelids open, and I see my room in place and in order.
The sun is forever shining, and forever sunny. I have chosen myself to endure such a life. Something catches my gaze on the floor.
'The golden mirror?'
I thought it was gone, lost forever in the sea of Darkness. However, fate has brought this tiny trinket into my grasp. Walking over towards my precious trinket, I gaze into the mirror.
Nothing could prepare me with what I saw.
The girl staring back at me was not my regular reflection. Her eyes looked hollow. Her hair as black as the darkest night, without a star twinkling in the sky. Her skin was the colour of snow, the colour of untainted ivory. Lifting my hand towards my face, the girl also raised her hand touching her face.
'This girl . . . is me?' I thought, not truly comprehending the occurrence I was experiencing.
I don't understand. It terrifies me that I'm not very bothered by this transformation. It bothers me even more that I'm not in shock. Although the transformation of my former self is different, I'm not sure I care. The old Kairi wasn't good enough for his love. Why should this one be any different?
"What were you expecting my dear? The Darkness will do that to someone as you should now know."
Turning around, there was Ansem, staring back at me with concerned amber eyes. I still don't know how this happened, switching my gaze downwards I notice for the first time my attire is also black. Confused, I decided I should question this further.
"What happened to my clothes, where is my skirt and other items?" I'm not particularly sure I expected my words to waver in such a worried state. I'm not scared, nothing can happen to me now; the worst is over. I hope.
"Why Kairi, do you not like this new clothing? I thought the dress looked particularly beautiful on one as frail and beautiful as yourself."
'Frail?' Is that all people see me as, a frail, weak girl who can't take care of herself?
'You know the answer to that Kairi, I know you do.' The Inner Voice. What else was I expecting? It always tells me nothing but the truth. Of course, I'm weak. Again interrupting me from my most secret thoughts, Ansem continued his speech regarding my clothing,
"Kairi, would you like to see the clothing in a mirror, that one in your grasp; that golden mirror cannot do your superior beauty nearly enough justice," Nodding my agreement, he snapped his fingers, and in a burst of golden sparkles a large mirror that was as tall as I am had appeared in the room, "there you are now able to see your immense beauty, my dear."
Fixing my eyes into the mirror, a tiny gasp left my lips. The girl looking back at me both shocked and frigid, stared back at me. I'm surprised, her eyes, my eyes, they look so empty. I don't believe I have ever seen a darker, more icy brown colour in my entire life.
'I noticed their emptiness before, however it is still chilling.' The girl just continued to stare back at me as a fury of questions rushed to me.
Continuing my gaze, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. My dress was made out of fine velvet. Black fabric cascaded down my tiny frame beautifully. I lifted my arms and marveled how the fabric caught the light. In some positions, the fabric looked slightly maroon and in others, a dark midnight blue. Placing my arm back down towards my side, I continued to cast my gaze downwards, looking at the bottom half of the dress. The dress was long, and flowed down to the floor like a silent waterfall crashing in the nighttime sky.
"I, I don't understand, where did this dress come from? Its so beautiful, its magnificent, it almost looks like it was made for me." I muttered to myself, touching the fabric with my fingers, it felt soft and delicate to the touch.
"Well, Kairi, my dear, it was made for you. You see; you created this dress, with your heart, and with the Darkness. I must leave you however, there are matters that need tending." As quickly as he had appeared, Ansem disappeared with the snap of his left hand, leaving me to think some more. Sighing, I walked towards my chair slumping heavily down into it.
'What am I going to do? I don't understand this, the numbing in my soul and body, it won't go away, I hate this.'
Raising myself to my feet was a daunting task, the dress was large and a lot heavier than I had imagined. Once I managed to get up off my chair, I paced around the room muttering curses and other rude words.
I am not a person that swears often, however, I was unbelievably frustrated. Realizing I was doing nothing by swearing and causing an uproar, I decided to take a walk, despite the difficulties I was experiencing due to this gown.
Walking out of the corridor, I experienced a wave of nausea and dizziness. Unsure of what was happening, I grabbed the door frame; averting my gaze towards the ground waiting for the sickness to finish. As the black dots that plagued my vision slowly faded away and my laboured breathing ceased, I continued down the halls, looking for places I haven't yet discovered.
'This castle, its so large, I don't know if I could ever find every room and every stair case' I thought to myself silently. Walking down the opposite way that I normally would to find Ansem, I realized that everything was disturbingly similar. In spite of all the corners I turned, I only found more hallways. 'I'm beginning to think I'm going in circles…' I thought bitterly to myself.
I found a flight of stairs and found myself walking down it, where I landed upon a door, a door being guarded by two large gargoyles, one was shaped as a ferocious looking lion, whereas the other was a bulky wild looking boar appearing as though it wanted to strike me with it's large fangs. Inwardly shuddering, I continued closer to the door's not knowing what to expect.
What I found was something I could have never anticipated in my entire life. What I found, was a large room, larger than all of Destiny Islands I assumed. It had marvelous marble pillars stretching to the ceiling. Refurbished marble floors gave the room an exquisite feel. The ebony black floors seemed to be the same colour as my hair. As I craned my neck, the ceiling had a large stained glass window with the Seven Princesses of Heart. Light filtered in the room as though it had been a spotlight for something very special. In the middle of the room was a fountain. Walking over to it, I realized the wonderful work that had been put into it. There were two solitary angels reaching towards the stained glass window, which was directly over top of the fountain. Its position had explained a lot.
Tiny ceramic pieces had been plastered onto to angels giving them a coloured visage on the white fountain.
The angels, they reached for the heavens as if it was only a mere millimeter away from their grasp. Their left feet were pointed in an angle that gave them an almost agonized, yet, determined appearance. Their two left legs were wrapped in a sort of green, ivory. The ivy spanned to the tips of their fingers. They looked so pained; it broke my heart. I wished to know their story, however I knew I could not.
'They truly look saddened, almost, restricted from their freedom. How very depressing.'
Looking down into the pool itself was numerous more tiny ceramic pieces. Thousands symmetrically placed pieces to create a wondrous picture. It took me a while to figure out what it was. When I made out the shape, I nearly began to cry.
It was the shape of a paopu fruit.
Its leaves surrounded the entire pool of the fountain. It was one of the most marvelous things I have ever seen. Deciding to no longer dwell here, I continued my trek to an unperceived location. Walking around the fountain, I found a new set of doors, however there was something incredibly strange about them.
They were made of rough looking, knotted wood. Turning the doorknob the door creaked and moaned in obvious amounts of displeasure. The hinges squeaked and it was very apparent this area was rarely used. Entering the new hall, I realized it was very dark, and I had no light accessible to me.
'What am I going to do? I'm too far away to go back to my room to look for a torch or any other source of light.'
Slumping my shoulders I decided there was nothing I could do. It was an impossible attempt to walk all the way back to my room, then all the way back here. Sighing, I leaned against the door. Dejected and completely out of ideas I realized one thing: this was the story of my life.
'I'm a pathetic, pathetic being. I'm useless, you hear me?! I admit it!' Tears falling down my pale face, I could no longer take it. Bottled emotions were freely being let out in the open air.
Scolding myself for being stupid, I continued muttering, 'how could I have been so dim-witted?! Leaving the sanctuary of my room for some exploration theory I had'.
Extending my arm outwards, I admired my gloved arms, not realizing them before. As my tears were falling slower, I realized they were beginning to dry. Although my tears were stopping, I still felt horrible, useless and in the need to talk to anyone who was willing to put up with my fractured soul and broken emotions.
Continuing to stretch my arm out the length, I thought silently 'if only I had fire, oh, what am I doing? I sound like some overly hopeful sap.' Suddenly, I heard a tiny whooshing noise. Looking at my hand, there was a tiny flame, as though there had been a wick lighted. The flame was tiny, and strangely enough, black.
'A black flame?' I thought silently to myself.
This made no sense. By wishing it, I had made fire. I, Kairi, had just sprouted fire, black fire nevertheless, out of my very own hand. Walking slowly as to not extinguish the flame, I soon realized it would not blow out. I don't understand. How could this happen? Its not possible, its not probable!
Walking forward, I noticed these hallways were covered in cobwebs and had very little room to move. The solitary flame on my hand supported the only light. The ceilings were low, obviously intended for one traveler at a time. The tunnels were not very wide, not much wider than my shoulders. It was a very claustrophobic and eerie experience.
Walking for what felt like hours, I finally seemed to get somewhere when the low ceilings of the hallway widened dramatically. I was in a new room. It was cold, and very damp. I felt a lump in my throat as though something had been following me. Turning around, all I could see was darkness. Darkness was everywhere. Dismissing the thought, I continued to look in the new room I had discovered.
Walking slowly, I could not believe for the second time what I had found.
It was a jail. And not a regular jail either. Walking up to one of the cells, there was bones.
'Carcasses to a body.' I shuddered very outwardly at the image in front of me.
I continued to go on I realized there were bodies, or rather, prisoners in the following cell. Walking onwards, I realized that they were not corpses like the previous cell. There were two of them. My heart was pounding in my chest, as though it was going to explode.
One of the prisoners had chestnut hair and the other had silvery-white locks. I couldn't believe it. The lump in my throat was growing and it was hard to swallow.
Gaining all my courage I decided to see if these people were conscious, praying to anything that they were.
"Sor – " However, I was rather rudely cut off by none other than the one man I regretted to see the most,
"Oh I'm sorry Kairi, these prisoners are not for your eyes. I suppose we did not infuse enough Darkness into your veins. You have realized how to use the Darkness to your advantage, creating a flame. Whether it was by mistake or not, it does not matter. Now you must pay!" The vindictive and powerful voice roused one of the two young men to consciousness.
"Kairi? Kairi, No!"
Then, there was Darkness. It didn't hurt. It didn't constrict my heart. There was just Darkness.
Authors Notes: Wow that was quite the cliffy eh? I am so cruel! The chapter was pretty short, I like having them about 3000 words now. This one was a little over 2000. 2193 words to be exact (not including the authors notes). . Oh yes, before I forget, although I think all my reviewers are American,
Happy May Two-Four!!!!!!!!!!!! Woohoo! It's a long weekend filled with fireworks, bonfires and a lot of snacking!
NOTE: This is a repost of the chapter I posted last night. I had a dream I didn't add a disclaimer, and it turns out I didn't. Nor did I add one for my poem, so I don't claim to owning anything in the poem [I'm Alone In The Darkness] either. Its annoying because the large spaces I put between the story, the chapter information and the author notes, never work, so everything is squished together and looks horrid. I apologize for that, so now I have to use symbols ( ) which is particularly annoying for me because I hate them (insert InuYasha-style growling here).
Because it is the long weekend, I think I might make the next chapter and have it posted. I would like to do that at least….
I'm not really sure if this chapter felt rushed. The original version was a lot better! However, unfortunately it was deleted. I really don't like this new version, but I had promised it would get up for this weekend, and I knew I had to rewrite it. I'm sorry if it was rushed. And I know I shouldn't put up chapters I dislike, its unfair to you guy's, but it had to be done I suppose…..
Thank you, as always for your wonderful reviews;
Liquidgirl: Or maybe I should say Lyphe? (grins). I love your story, thank you for reviewing, its very sweet of you to stick with me this long, I truly from the bottom of my heart appreciate it. As well, thank you very much for even reviewing my poem!! I really didn't think it was that great, but once again, you have supported me, I'm really not sure how to thank you!
Kahlia: Thank you again for one of your wonderful reviews. Don't worry, I won't die, not before I finish this story at least lol!
Lvkishugs: Wow, what a sweet review, thank you very, very much! New reviewers are always so much fun! I really think its sweet of you to put on your favorite list. It truly means a lot! It also means a lot that you said my stories are good, and you wish yours is as "good" as my own. I only dream these idea's up from my noggin' but it's an incredibly sweet comment, possible one of the nicest I have had to date. .
HisLight: I know you reviewed my poem, but if you ever read this, thank you from the bottom of my over imaginative heart for your review!
Abigail Marie: I'm glad you liked the title of my poem. I thought it kind of fit as well, but I'm glad you commented on something as subtle as that, because I had also liked it heh heh!