Chapter 20: When It Rains…
"Hey, I've been meaning to ask you. What's your name?" Sora was asking the soul of his keyblade in the recesses of his mind. The white-haired, Sora-double shook is head.
"I do not have one…"
"Oh, well we gotta give you one then!" Sora laughed and sat down in the expansion of endless white to think.
"This really isn't necessary," the being pointed out. "Shouldn't we be focusing on more important matters?"
Sora frowned. "What could be more important than having your first name…? He wondered aloud.
"How about the darkness your friend is facing?" the being replied. "Or the darkness we have been sensing all around us."
"How about…Lance?" Sora mused, completely ignoring the spirit of the keyblade.
The being sighed and said, "I used to be called…Drakkan, but that was a long time ago."
Sora grinned and lay back, putting his hands behind his head. "Well, that's that then, Drakkan."
"I suppose…"
"Hey, Drakkan?" Sora's cheerful look had been replaced by a thoughtful one.
The being, sensing the mood change, replied, "What is it?"
"What exactly happened that day when you took over to fight Seryl?"
"I took control briefly to engage with that fiend in your place," Drakkan responded. "Why do you ask?"
"What happened before that?"
"Before the fight?"
"Yeah it felt like something was controlling me, but it wasn't Seryl…"
Drakkan sighed once more and looked up, thinking. "It must have been…her…"
"Who?" Sora asked.
Drakkan shook his head. "I actually do not know her name," the being replied. "It has long since been lost…"
"She can…control me whenever she feels like it?" Sora looked worried and sat up.
Drakkan shook his head. "Only when you let your emotions control you…and me."
Sora thought back to that day and realized that it was his own fault that they were taken control of by this…unknown force. "When I got mad at Seryl because he attacked her…"
"Yes," Drakkan agreed. "That's exactly the kind of thing you cannot do."
"But…how can this being control me…us?"
"That I do not know…" Drakkan said quietly. "I only know that whenever you are consumed with anger, jealousy, sadness, happiness, or even love," Sora's eyes lowered at this, "we will be controlled by her once again."
"Why can this…woman take control of us?" Sora asked. "Why does someone always have to be behind the scenes, pulling strings?"
"You all are guardians, persons who were born with or given the gift," Drakkan answered.
"What's the gift?"
"Having a part of her inside of you…"
Sora's eyes widened. "She's inside of me?"
"Only her blood and cells," Drakkan said, trying to calm the teenager. "They give you extraordinary strength, speed, and abilities."
"But…? But…" Sora struggled to speak, to ask the burning question in his mind. "How did I get this gift?"
"You were born with it, but others haven't been so lucky…"
"What do you mean?"
"Some of the others were born with it, but some were given the gift forcefully…"
Sora shook his head. "Who are the others?"
"I only know of one and that is your friend, Riku."
Sora sighed. Riku… It seemed that he was destined to be controlled, to be manipulated and never have control over his own destiny. And I'm going right down that path also, he thought with a grimace.
"You will not go down that path, because your heart is stronger and more pure than his."
"But, Riku hasn't shown any signs of being controlled by her…"
Drakkan smiled, a rarity. "That is because she controls many and her control on one boy is being suppressed by another being…"
"Ansem…"
Drakkan shook his head. "She will not like this and it will only be a matter of time before she destroys him…"
"But how do you know I really have this woman inside of me?"
"When you were younger, do you remember being stronger than the other kids?" Drakkan asked, already knowing the answer.
"Did you always beat the other kids at racing, swimming, and other competitive activities?
"Yeah…" Sora grew quiet, thinking of his home and all of his other friends there. "But Riku was always stronger than me…"
"He was born first, therefore he had the gift longer than you…"
"How about calling it the curse, because that's what it is…" Sora looked down. "All it'll do is turn me into an emotionless robot…"
"That is probably an accurate prediction, but you must keep hope…"
"There is no hope!!" Sora exploded. Instantly, he calmed down, frightened by the fact that he could be controlled again. "The only way to break free of the curse is to destroy this being and we don't even know a thing about her…"
"The only thing I know is that she is extremely jealous. If someone has control or can influence her puppets, she will destroy that person out of spite." Drakkan folded his arms. "She is also extremely dangerous…" he added as an afterthought.
"It just doesn't make any sense," Sora sighed.
"What?"
"All this time, everyone who has wanted us to win, to destroy the darkness, has told us to fight with our hearts. To trust in our hearts and we will never be lead into darkness."
"Yes, and this is not true any more?"
"You said it yourself, we can't let our emotions get the best of us…"
Drakkan nodded. "I did say that, and yet you don't have to completely turn yourself off as a human. You can show emotion as long as you like, as long as it doesn't consume you…"
Sora laid back and put his arms around his head again. "So once again the heroes fight the darkness…"
Drakkan shook his head. "No, this time the leaders fight the light."
Sora looked at the spirit. "The light?"
"This being is born of light. She is pure…"
"Yeah pure evil," Sora finished for him.
"Remember what I said before, young one. "Light and darkness are neither good nor evil. It is the person wielding them that is."
Kairi smiled as she looked at Sora. He looked so cute snuggled up with his keyblade, asleep. Everyone was either asleep or training, since they got two days to rest and relax. Phil had called for an emergency break in tournament, probably because of the threat of Riku, but maybe something else also. He seemed more afraid about something else than about her silver-haired friend.
Kairi went into Riku's room, about to ask him and Fayne if they wanted to accompany her into the outside town. She found them asleep, Riku's arms wrapped protectively around her. Kairi smiled and walked into the hall. She leaned against the wall, thinking about whom to ask to accompany her outside. Finally, she shook her head and began walking. She could go by herself, she was a big girl.
As she stepped outside, she shielded her eyes against the bright sun. Squinting, she looked around, taking in all of the shops and people. She began to walk, looking all around so she wouldn't miss anything. Her eye caught a black and white outfit and she went to it. The top was white and had black lining with a high collar that probably came up to the bottom of her ears. It also had long sleeves and the bottom of the jacket stopped at what looked like the belly button. She looked at the bottom which were tight black pants with white lining. She decided to buy it, since the white robe was starting to bore her.
"How much for this outfit?" she asked the merchant, taking out her purse.
The merchant's eyes flickered to the outfit, to Kairi, and back to the outfit. He rubbed his hands quickly and gave an oily smile. "For you, I'll give it to you for a thousand gil."
Kairi gaped. A thousand gil? She had that much money and more from her adventures, but she couldn't help but be surprised as such an obvious rip-off. "Thank you for your time," she said, turning around to walk away.
"Wait!" The merchant grabbed her arm and Kairi smiled. She already knew she had won. He couldn't gyp a seasoned shopper like her. "How about…seven-hundred?"
"Five-hundred," Kairi suggested. "That's all I am willing to pay, so take it or leave it."
The merchant muttered darkly for a good minute, while Kairi stood there, tapping her foot. "Do you want to put it on now, or should I rap it?" he finally asked, sulking.
"You have a place I can put it on?" Kairi asked.
"Yes, in my house," he said, pointing to the house that the little shop was leaning against. Kairi nodded and saw a small black shirt with a white heart on it. She smiled and pointed to it. "Throw that in to will you?"
"That'll be six-hundred gil altogether," the merchant said. Kairi handed over the gil and took her clothes into the house. She changed and looked at herself in a big mirror that was hanging on the wall. Satisfied she walked out with the robe in her hand.
"How much would you take for that robe?" the merchant asked, eyeing it.
"Well…" Kairi thought about it and looked around. She frowned as she saw a burly guy pulling a blonde girl into an alley. "You can keep it," she said, running toward the alley. She walked in slowly.
"Leave me alone," the girl whispered. "Please…"
The guy just grabbed her arm harder. "We finally got you."
"Please stop…"
"We're finally gonna put an end to you and your meddling."
"Please…"
Kairi walked up to the two. "Excuse me?"
The burly man, dressed in black and red, asked, "What the hell do you want?"
"I just want to ask you to leave this poor girl alone."
He smiled. "And if I don't?"
Kairi sighed and grabbed the arm that was holding the girl and squeezed. The bone crunched together and the man screamed, letting go. Kairi then pulled him toward her and threw her elbow out, catching him in the jaw. He fell to the ground and crawled away, trying to nurse his two injuries. Kairi turned to the girl, smiling. However it dropped when she saw the look on the girl's face.
"Why did you do that, you fool?!" the girl screamed, angry and afraid. "Do you know what you've done?!"
Kairi shook her head. "Obviously not…"
"They have my brother, and now they're gonna kill him!!"
Kairi's eyes widened. "I…I'm sorry, I didn't know…"
"I have to go after him…" The girl began to run out of the alley, but Kairi grabbed her. The girl struggled, wildly swinging at Kairi. "Let me go!!" she cried out.
"I'll go…" Kairi whispered to the girl.
She stopped struggling and wiped her blue eyes, looking at Kairi as if she were crazy. "Who are you?"
"Don't worry about that," Kairi said. "I'll get your brother back, you go hide." She walked out of the alley without looking back, not noticing the smirk that had appeared on the girl's face, and inhaled softly. The once populated town, bustling with people, was now empty and barren. A warm breeze blew through as Kairi walked down the empty road. She stopped when she saw a man standing in her path. He was wearing black and red, like the burly man from before. He pulled out a huge broadsword and began running toward her. She summoned the Promise Keeper and met the attack head-on. The man stumbled back from the power of Kairi's attack and swung his sword at her neck, hoping to end the fight quickly. Kairi easily dodged the swing by ducking and tripped her foe. She kicked his sword away from him and held the keyblade to his neck.
"Where is the girl's brother?" she asked softly.
"I…I don't know, I'm only a peon…" The man looked afraid. "Please don't kill me…"
"Please stop, Secan," a voice came from the top of one of the houses. Kairi looked up to see a blond teen standing on the roof. "A Twilight Dragon doesn't beg for mercy." He hopped down easily and walked over to the man, while Kairi was still on guard.
"Get up," he said. Looking even more afraid than before, the man got up with his head bowed. The blond teen backhanded him, sending the man flying into one of the wooden shops, where he lay unmoving.
"Was that really necessary?" Kairi looked in the direction of the new voice and saw another teen with dark blue hair, done in a ponytail, leaning against a house. He pushed himself off the wall and walked up until he was a few yards behind Kairi. With the blond one a few yards in front of her, Kairi knew she was trapped and that she might have to fight her way out of this.
"He was about to give up priceless information, Ryu. I had to show him what the consequences of his actions were." The blond brushed dust off of his dark-blue jacket. The collar was high on it and it had black lining. The same went for his pants in terms of color and they went down into his brown boots. Kairi looked at they one named Ryu and saw that he was wearing the exact same thing except that the lining on his clothes was orange.
Ryu sighed and shook his head. "Maybe we need stronger people in our organization?"
The blond nodded. "Yeah, definitely."
"Um excuse me?" Kairi interrupted. The two looked at her as if it were the first time they saw her. "Where are you holding the girl's brother?"
Ryu frowned. "I don't know anything about any girl's brother…" He looked at the blond. "Bosch?"
Bosch shook his head. "Kidnapping kids is definitely not our department."
"Then what was that girl talking about?" Kairi didn't believe the two and was still on her guard.
"She was probably just some weirdo," Bosch suggested, shrugging.
"Hey I resent that." Kairi turned around looking for the source of yet another unknown voice. An ebony-haired girl walked out of the shadows. Her black hair had gold streaks in it and matched the color of her amber eyes. Kairi thought she recognized the girl and realized that it was the same innocent girl from the alley. Clad in all black, the girl's appearance was about as innocent as a jackal. She grinned and turned to Kairi.
"They really did take my brother, you know," she said.
Bosch stepped forward, gently pushing Kairi behind him. "This is Shard, a dark sorceress."
Ryu also stepped forward. "We've been looking for you, Ms. Shard. There's a bounty on your head."
"That doesn't mean you had to steal my brother from me!!" she cried.
Bosch sneered. "You weren't this compassionate when you killed the king of Irvania."
"But he was going to kill us!"
"And why would he do something like that?" Ryu asked quietly.
Shard also grew quiet at this. "Because he wanted to use us…"
"For what?" Bosch asked.
"We belong to an ancient race that can change into…dragons."
Bosch and Ryu glanced at each other. "You two can change into dragons?" Ryu asked.
Shard shook her head. "My brother, Sevir, cannot change yet and I have yet to realize my abilities, but I am learning."
"So the king felt as if he could train you two to be his personal guards?" Bosch asked.
Shard shook her head. "We were going to be assassins…"
Kairi, finally fed up with everything, yelled, "What is going on here?!"
Seryl smiled as Reeper walked in. I guess its time to hear a little complaining, he thought. I'm sure he has something to say about the way I left him when he need me the most. Reeper, however, just collapsed into his bed and went to sleep. Surprised, Seryl got up from his bed and walked out of the room, wondering where to go. He decided to go walk through the town surrounding the coliseum. He walked into the light that was bathing the town and blinked. He had always despised bright light, favoring cool nights to sunny days.
"Sir! Sir!" A merchant was waving at Seryl. "Would you like to buy some fresh fruit?" he asked, pointing at the plump, juicy fruit hanging from his store.
Seryl looked at the merchant coldly and felt the unprovoked need to kill him. He wanted to destroy all of the weak humans on this world, but it seemed impossible. They multiplied like filthy rats and it seemed as if when he killed one, another was born. Seryl continued walking down the street, wondering what the consequences would be of just killing decimating the whole town. Absorbed in his thoughts, he bumped into a woman and looked up. The first thing he noticed were her icy-blue eyes, the color a lake. Smooth skin, lightly tanned, and thick black hair completed the beautiful woman, but Seryl just saw her as another rat, feeding off of the world and not giving anything in return except destruction.
She smiled. "I'm sorry, I guess I wasn't paying attention to where I was going," she laughed. Her eyes searched his face. "I haven't seen you around here before. What's your name?"
The key, Seryl knew, was not to draw attention to himself, not now anyway. He decided to play the part of the idiotic human. "My name is Seryl, what is yours?"
"I'm Danielle, nice to meetcha!" She grabbed his hand and shook it, still smiling. "Well, I gotta go, but if you want, you can meet me for dinner?" Her eyes never left his face as he thought of what to do.
Do it my child, it may have surprising results…
"Where should I meet you?" Seryl asked. Danielle's face brightened and she pointed at a building.
"The Full Stomach has the best stew! You'll love it! Meet me at about 8 okay?" She walked away and turned around to wave. Seryl raised his hand as well and turned around to continue his walk.
Yuyami took off his raincoat, preparing to train even harder with Cloud. He had never really fought with someone who was as strong as him, but Cloud was that and more. His silver hair was already sweaty from the training they had just spar they had just finished and he wiped it out of his gray eyes. Likewise, Cloud had taken off his cloak and was on the other side of the arena, one of the training grounds outside of the coliseum.
"Are you ready to go again, Yuyami?" Cloud asked of his partner. He shouldered the Buster Sword and put a hand on his hip, waiting for the youth to respond.
"Yeah," Yuyami summoned his keyblades and stood waiting. Cloud brandished his sword and stood, thinking of how to attack. He didn't have the chance to, however, because Yuyami rushed at him, faking a swing to Cloud's legs. Taking the bait, the blonde brought his sword down to block and Yuyami sent a fist into his face. Unfazed, Cloud took a swing at his partner with the Buster Sword. Yuyami used both of his Keyblades to block the sword, the blow sending pain up his arms. Now it was a battle of strength and they both pushed as hard as they could, trying to force the other back. Cloud gritted his teeth, sweat pouring down his face. Suddenly, something else flashed in his blue eyes. Yuyami saw it and lowered his keyblades.
"What's wrong?" he asked the ex-solder.
Cloud didn't answer. He felt something, no someone, coming. He also knew who it was. It could only be one person. The person who had helped brought the Heartless into Hollow Bastion. The one who was constantly haunting his dreams. He turned around, toward the entrance and saw the platinum-colored hair, the black and beautiful wing, the cold smirk, and the emotionless, green eyes. Sephiroth.
Dariel marveled at Heyral's sudden mood change. Just seconds before, his arm was wrapped around her and he was making jokes and being a complete idiot, a loveable one but an idiot nonetheless. When he had seen Sephiroth walking into the training arena, however, he had completely froze up. Dariel was trying to talk to him, but he was miles away. Cold sweat had broken out on his forehead and his hands were shaking.
"What's wrong?" Dariel was waving her hand in front of his eyes, but to no avail. She grabbed his hand. "Please…you're scaring me…"
"Jen…o…v…" he mumbled. He began walking toward the entrance with Dariel following closely behind.
Jessed was eating a huge meal, feeling that he deserved it after his victory. People kept walking up to him, congratulation him for his victory. A few kids had even asked for his autograph, and yet Jessed's ego wasn't full yet. He wanted to hear some more praise and he turned around smiling when he felt someone tap him on the shoulder. It was wiped off when he saw that he was in the presence of three hooded figures. The one in the front, the leader Jessed guessed, had a glowing eye. The other two had no distinguishing features so Jessed assumed they were lackeys.
"Um, can I help you guys?" Jessed noticed they were wearing the exact same cloak as him, but he chose not to say anything.
"You do not remember…" the one with the glowing eye spoke. "You have forgotten…"
"Forgotten what?" Jessed asked, confused.
"Your origin…"
Nighttime. Riku had climbed up one of the huge statues in front of the coliseum. Staring at the pale moon, he realized that he wasn't in control of his life. He never had been. When he was a child, his mother and father, although well meaning, had dominated his life. That was one of the main reasons why he wanted to leave the island behind. He loved his parents dearly, but he also wanted to lead a life where he controlled his own destiny. A life where he wasn't being manipulated and could do nothing about it.
He laughed without mirth. Looks like I left my parents and got someone even worse. Even now, he could feel the former king in the back of his mind. It seemed as if he was destined to always be someone's pawn. A weak puppet that had no control over his life and could do nothing to protect the lives of those he cared about.
That can change…
Riku shook his head. He thought he had heard something for a second. He guessed that it was someone yelling outside of the coliseum or something, because it was empty save for him.
My child, you can control your own destiny…
Who are you, Riku thought. Am I a beacon for head cases these days?
No my child, you have been chosen as one of the few…
The few?
The few…the elite…the ones that can control their futures, unlike the humans that surround you…
Riku didn't know what to say. The voice he was hearing was one of the most beautiful he had ever experienced. It was like rare music and yet something was wrong. It seemed as if the voice was almost too beautiful, as if the person speaking was trying to hard.
Don't fight it, my child. I am your mother and the mother of all things…
The mother of…all?
Yes… Welcome me… Open your arms…
Barret was dead asleep, snoring in his bed. Vincent wished he could do the same, but his mind wouldn't let him sleep. It kept going back over the fight with Seryl. Memories of it kept flashing in his head, but they went too fast for him to dissect them. He lay wide-awake, wondering what power he had awakened inside of him. He tried to ask Chaos, but the demon hadn't responded to anything since the transformation. The only thing Vincent knew, was that he had somehow single-handedly won the match for Barret and him.
What triggered the transformation, he asked himself. The demon inside usually takes over when I am too weak to carry on and am in mortal danger. But we can't die in there… Unless…
Awaken, before it's too late!
Sora woke up, but was too late to stop the sword from plunging into his chest. He gasped as he felt the cool, white blade exit through his back. Nothing he had ever felt compared to this. Not the time he had broken his arm, not the time he fell from the highest tree, not even the time he had fought Ansem.
"Who…are…you…?" he sputtered, squinting to see who was responsible. The figure, however, disappeared into darkness, as did the room, as Sora began to lose consciousness. As he spiraled into the abyss, his only concern was that Kairi never find out. She'll found out, he thought weakly. She…always…
