Author's Notes: See chapter one for disclaimer and explanation.
Separate Destinies By Annie-chan Chapter Five: A Whole New World"Well, what do you think?" Sephiroth asked. Riku had been very quiet since they had arrived in the One World.
"It's…overwhelming," Riku replied. "A couple weeks ago, I didn't even have a father. Now, I have a whole new world."
His father chuckled. "I'm sure it is. Oh, I never told you that you have siblings, did I?"
"I do?" Riku asked.
"Yes," Sephiroth nodded. "A brother and a sister, Darius and Samara. Darius is older."
"What about us?" a voice said, making them look over at the front door. Two people had just entered, a man and a woman. They looked strikingly like Sephiroth in form, yet their hair was blond and their eyes bluish-green. The man's wing was just like Sephiroth's, and the woman's was medium blue all over.
"Oh!" the woman exclaimed. "Is this Riku?"
"Yes, this is Riku," Sephiroth replied. "Riku, meet your brother and sister, Darius and Samara."
Riku stood, and was just about to say a greeting when Samara came forward and clasped his hand in a welcome gesture, her face bright and smiling.
"It's so great to finally meet you, Riku!" she beamed. "Welcome to our home! Oh, you look exactly like Father! I knew you looked like him, but I didn't think so closely! If you need anything, just let me know, okay?"
"O-okay," Riku replied, a little taken aback. First, it was strange to think of the existence of siblings, as he had been an only child for most of his life; second, Samara had a very forward and bubbly attitude, similar to Kairi, actually.
"Hmm…" Darius muttered, taking hold of Riku's chin and looking him over. His eyes were not cold or unfeeling, but he was obviously much calmer a character than his sister. "She's right. You're a carbon copy." Darius apparently took after his father in behavior and temperament.
"Well, you three get to know each other," Sephiroth said. "I should go to the Court of Reason to announce that you're here and see if they have time to see you today, Riku."
"See me?" Riku asked. "Why?"
"I told you that they wanted to see you to determine if you had what it takes to live among us, didn't I?" Sephiroth asked.
"Oh," Riku responded, "yeah."
"I'll be back soon," Sephiroth said, going for the door. "Darius, Samara, don't give him too much trouble, okay?"
He was gone.
"Well, sit down," Samara said, indicating the chair Riku had been in a moment before. "I'm sure you have questions."
Riku sat down. She was right. He had always been curious, and his curiosity was burning very brightly right now.
"I wonder if you have a wing," Samara said before he could say anything.
"A wing?" Riku asked, surprised. "I don't."
"You may," Darius countered. "Has Father explained to you about ylfe wings?"
Riku nodded.
"Then, you know that they were not present in the earliest generations of ylfen," Darius explained. "Wings have been present so long that babies are now born with them, but because of your human blood, you were not. Father will probably have to probe your inner power to see, but you may have one 'inside' of you, waiting to be extended. I suppose that there's a fifty-fifty chance that you have one. It could look like anything, really. Our family is Heinz-57 when it comes to wings. Our family tree has both feathers and leathers, as well as a rainbow of different color combinations."
Riku nodded. "Inner power…" he muttered. "When I was fifteen, Maleficent said something about untapped power within me, and she encouraged me to seek it out and use it for the purposes she wished me to pursue. Then, Ansem said much the same thing to me, but he offered to unseal it and give me better access to it. Before I knew what he really wanted, he possessed my body and cut off all control I had over it, as well as any inner power I may have."
"They were right in saying you had inner power," Samara said, "but I don't think they knew what kind. They were both very powerful beings, Maleficent a dark fairy and Ansem a human unusually strong in magic, so they could sense that you held hidden strength, but because they were not ylfen, they probably didn't recognize it's nature or even sense its true depth. It is not sealed, but undeveloped. You're not denied access to it; you just don't know how to use it yet. The majority of ylfe children are like that. We all go through a training period when we're very young, then we learn and grow in our power as we live and gain experience."
"When do you enter training?" Riku asked. "Come to think of it, how old am I in this world?"
"Well, let's see," Darius said. "We'll have to figure this out from scratch. Samara, can you get me a pen and paper?"
Samara did as she was asked.
"Thanks," her brother said. "Oh, there're a couple things you should probably know about this world's time measurements right off, Riku. First of all, everything is in derivatives of five and ten, kinda like the metric system you're probably familiar with. There are fifty seconds in each minute—I'll just use the terms you're used to for now, and you can learn ours later—fifty minutes in each hour, and twenty hours in each day. Oh, by the way, our days are as long as three days in your world."
"Three days?!" Riku exclaimed, then stopped to think. It did make sense. No wonder he seemed to need so much less sleep than the other kids.
"Yes, three days," Darius responded. "There are ten days in each week, five weeks in each month, and ten months in each year. Now, let me figure this out here. You're nineteen, right? How many days past your birthday?"
Riku thought a moment. "I'm nineteen years, three months, and fourteen days old, so…that's nineteen years and one hundred five days."
"How many days in your year?" Darius asked.
"Three hundred sixty-five," Riku answered.
"Okay, so that's…seven thousand, forty days old. Divide that by three, and you have about two thousand, three hundred forty-seven of our days. Our years are five hundred days long, so divide the number of days by five hundred, and…you're just over four-and-a-half years old."
"Four-and-a-half?!" Riku gasped.
"Yep," Samara grinned, amused by his reaction. "You're still a child."
"My God…" Riku muttered. "I've been an adult for over a year where I come from." He looked up at the other two. "Father said that he was just about seven thousand years old. Which scale was he using…?"
"Ylfe scale," Samara said. "He's six thousand, eight hundred thirty-eight years old. By human scale, that would be…"
"Twenty-eight thousand, one hundred four human years," Darius answered for her, scribbling equations on paper.
Riku was stunned. "H-holy…!"
"He's the oldest alive today," Darius explained. "The oldest on record died at the age of seven thousand, three hundred two. That's…thirty thousand, eleven human years. Father is approaching that."
Riku blinked. Almost two thousand years off was hardly "approaching" in his mind.
"Children enter training when they are five years old," Samara said, "and they finish when they're fifteen. They become adults when they turn twenty."
"That's over eighty human years!" Riku exclaimed, having figured the rough conversion number from the numbers he had heard so far. It was just over four human years to each ylfe year. "Many humans don't even live that long!"
Darius sighed. "Yes. They live such short lives, don't they? It's almost appalling. Not their fault, of course, but very unfortunate."
Riku ran his hand through his hair. "I don't know if you guys can tell, but I'm…I'm scared inside. I mean…I haven't even lived for five of your years so far, and it's seems like a long time to me. Living for as long as an ylfe…it's daunting. Terrifying, even. I feel like I'm going to have some delayed panic attack, or something." His voice was shaking a little bit.
"Well, I hope you come to view time the same as we do soon," Samara smiled, a little sadly.
Riku nodded slowly, then looked up at them. "How old are you two?"
"I'm two thousand, seventy-six," Samara said.
"Two thousand, nine hundred ten," Darius answered.
"Where's your mother?" Riku ventured after a short hesitation.
Darius' eyes darkened. "She died six hundred sixty-two years ago."
"Oh," Riku said lamely, feeling shame for asking. "I'm sorry."
Darius shook his head. "Don't be. We've gone through mourning and moved on. It's what she would have wanted. Father, on the other hand…"
"What?" Riku asked. He could tell that he was about to hear something terrible.
His brother and sister were silent for a long time, not looking at him. Finally, Samara spoke up.
"Well, before I say anything, that's her picture over there on the wall," she said, pointing behind Riku.
Riku turned and looked, his eyes landing on a portrait of a radiant, smiling woman. Darius and Samara had their mother's coloring, except that her eyes were crystal-blue. Samara, with her happy countenance and open attitude, seemed to take after her mother.
"She's very beautiful," Riku said, turning back around.
"Yes, she was," Samara nodded. "Her name was Wenna, and she and Father loved each other very much."
"What happened to her?" Riku asked softly.
Samara sighed. "Well…ylfen have much stronger emotions than humans. The common explanation is that we're much more in connection with our souls. Humans have tales of soulmates and predestined love, but the occurrence among humans is very, very rare. Every ylfe has a soulmate, and nearly everyone meets theirs sometime in their life. It could happen any time. Females have a very low fertility rate, so before meeting their soulmates, ylfen are usually quite sexually active. Sexual relations are much more casual than among humans, generally. When your soulmate is met, however, you immediately or almost immediately recognize them as your soulmate. Although, there are rare occurrences where a pair that have known each other for a long time, even if they're only acquainted or even hostile toward each other, suddenly looking at each other one day and realizing that they're soulmates. Couples go through a joining ceremony, usually quite soon after finding each other, and they have eyes for no one else from then on."
"Why did Father hook up with my mother, then?" Riku interrupted.
"I'll get to that," Samara answered. "Just be quiet, and I'll tell you."
Riku nodded and fell silent, letting her speak.
"Father had a rocky romantic past before he met Mother," Samara continued. "Though you can never truly romantically love anyone but your soulmate, ylfen do fall in love often. It's like the dating scene among humans. A pair meets, develops affection for one another, dates for a while, then loses interest in each other and move on. There are rare instances where an ylfe believes they've found their soulmate, but it's a false alarm. The other does not feel the same way, and the afflicted one is usually left jilted and very lonely. They recover after a while, of course, but it hurts very much as it's happening. That happened to Father, and for some reason, he never recovered as much as most others that experience that do. As a result, when he met Mother, he quickly latched onto her tightly, even considering that they were soulmates. She felt the same for him, but he was always the more—how should I say this?—ardent one. They were very passionate, and I don't just mean sexually. They were passionate for each other in every sense of the word. They were joined, humans would say married, for five thousand, one hundred ninety-six years…"
"She died suddenly?" Riku asked.
"Yes," Samara nodded, her voice soft. "She died so horribly…I-I don't like talking about it."
"I will continue, if you wish," Darius said quietly. When Samara nodded, he picked up the story. "Ylfe settlements are scattered over all the world, but everywhere that they aren't is untamed wilderness. We call it the Wilds, and it's populated by a menagerie of beasts and a species of half-intelligent creatures that live in primitive settlements or as nomads. The beasts can be anywhere from friendly to vicious, but the half-intelligent creatures, which we call kitschen, are extremely hostile toward us. It's believed that they were rivals with us in the early days, and while we evolved to what we are today, the kitschen stayed pretty much how they were. Now, since we live in separate places, ylfen are perfectly happy to just leave the kitschen be, but the kitschen still hate us with a passion. No one knows why, since we don't compete with them for space or food anymore. Now, the ylfe settlements are pretty much cut off from each other, so we have to travel through the Wilds, kitschen territory, to get from city to city and town to town. You would think that we could just teleport between destinations, but it's not that simple. Even though they are much weaker and less organized than us, we have to make sure kitschen attacks on our settlements, especially the small towns, are foiled before they can even go off. So, there are invisible barriers around every settlement. Since kitschen intelligence is somewhere between an ylfe's and a wild beast's, the barrier will not let anything with a sentience above that of a wild beast through. That includes ylfen. We can only enter and exit the barriers through closely guarded gates. You remember coming through the gate to Aerie when you got here, I suppose. To travel between settlements, we must cross through the Wilds. Our routes are through areas that are least inhabited by kitschen, but there is still a chance of coming across them."
"Well, can't you just teleport from just outside one gate to just outside another gate?" Riku asked.
"That's easier said than done," Darius explained. "It sounds simple, disappearing from one spot and reappearing in another, but it's not. We have to learn how to rip through the fabric of space first, then we have to learn how to control where that hole leads. It's very difficult, and roughly half of us never learn it well enough, if at all, to risk long-distance teleportation. And, only the most powerful can teleport between the One World and the Many Worlds, as well as between individual worlds in the Many Worlds. If one who doesn't know how to teleport wishes to go between planes or worlds, they have to ask the help of one who does know. Now, ylfen, as a whole, don't like to use level of power or skill as an identifying trait, so even those who do know how to teleport often do not when traveling from one settlement to another. It's like saying that no one is better than anyone else just because they are capable of doing more. We usually fly as we are crossing the Wilds, but the kitschen, quasi-intelligent though they are, have devised ways to knock us out of the air, should they see us. They didn't like the idea of us flying over their heads where they can't reach us or harm us."
"When Ansem had a hold of me," Riku said, "he often teleported, and it was like he was ripping a hole through space."
"That, I believe, was due to his alliance with the darkness," Darius shrugged. "He was given powers that no human has ever had before."
"I see," Riku nodded. "So…you're saying your mother died as a result of that hatred the kitschen hold for the ylfen?"
"Yes," Darius said. "It's not law, but it's an unspoken rule to travel through the Wilds with at least one other, just to be safe. They can defend each other, if need be. Mother always, always went with others when crossing the Wilds, especially since she didn't know teleportation. If it wasn't Father, it was with someone else she trusted, usually part of her own family. That one time, however, that one time, she did not. She had visited the city of Titra to see her parents, and Father couldn't accompany her due to business he had here at home. Her traveling partner, a family friend, could not come back with her, as he had been unexpectedly held up in Titra. Mother had promised that she'd come home that day, though, so she didn't wait until he was able to go with her. She risked it alone, and the kitschen saw a lone female ylfe flying through the air…she was a prime target, and…"
"They took her down with a well-aimed stone," Samara cut in when her brother trailed off. "It hit her square in the right temple, and she didn't regain her bearings until she had hit the ground and they were upon her. It was…it was the kitschen mating season, and the males were in rut…they…th-they violated her so cruelly, so brazenly…she couldn't even begin to fight back…"
"It was several hours after she was supposed to be home that Father found her," Darius said. "He had become worried and had gone looking for her. He found her with the kitschen that had attacked her not far off from the route she had been taking. She was still living, but even so, they had begun to…" he shuddered with revulsion, "…feed off of her body. Father totally lost control and slaughtered them all. He meant to heal her, but she lived only long enough to tell him one last time that she loved him. She…died in his arms."
"I'm…I'm so sorry…" Riku whispered tightly. Though he had never known her and had only first heard of her a little while ago, a feeling of deep rage and sorrow beat in his breast. She was his siblings' mother, his stepmother. She should never have died like that.
"Because the bond between soulmates is so close," Darius continued softly, "most ylfe die at most a few years after their soulmate dies, if they are not the first to go. They die of sorrow, so to say, unable to live normally without their love beside them. Because of his higher than normal susceptibleness to lasting consequences due to trauma, it was expected that Father die very soon after Mother died. However, he recovered and survived. He has so far lived over six-and-a-half centuries past her death." He paused, then continued cautiously. "But, he didn't recover before he went mad with his grief."
Riku's eyes widened. "He's mad?!"
"He is, for the most part, no different than the common ylfe in terms of mental health," Darius said. "But, he has periods of madness, and they all have differing durations, intensities, and natures. No one can ever predict when one will come or what will happen when it does. I guess living with him could be considered hazardous, as he has gone through some psychotic episodes, but Samara and I can't leave him. He raised us so well and so lovingly, we could never leave him alone just because there's the possibility he may get unruly."
The room fell silent for a while.
"What about my mother?" Riku spoke up.
Samara sighed. "Father was exploring the Many Worlds, and he happened to come to your world. The climate and environment there was different than what he was used to, so he decided to stay awhile. Unfortunately, one of his fits came over him, and he totally forgot who he was. All he knew was an incredibly intense loneliness and desperation for companionship. In his heart, he knew that she only wanted him for a bed partner, but his conscious mind just didn't care. Sometimes, his fits can last for months, but this one lasted for a few weeks. Her attacking him and threatening you is what brought him to his senses, and he only then realized what he had done. He was so ashamed of betraying Mother that he was seriously suicidal for a while after he came back, but we managed to talk him out of it. He had told us what had happened, and we reasoned with him to stay alive for your sake. He was the only real chance you would have to come to your rightful home."
Riku was very quiet. Nothing his father had told him—granted, he hadn't said much—about what happened between his parents suggested anything like this. Now, he was beginning to understand where the deep sorrow, anger, and loneliness he had seen in his father's eyes had came from.
"I believe I survived because of Riku," Sephiroth suddenly spoke up from the doorway.
All three of them jumped.
"Father!" Darius cried. "How long have you been there?!"
"Oh, no!" Samara squeaked, covering her mouth. "You're not angry we told him all that, did you?"
Sephiroth came forward, shaking his head. "No. He would have found out someday, I imagine, so it's just as well that he finds out now."
"What do you mean that you think you survived because of me?" Riku asked.
"You were the true Keyblade Master, correct?" Sephiroth inquired.
"Yes," Riku nodded. "It went over to Sora when I chose darkness over light."
"I think I survived so you would be born," Sephiroth said. "If I had died, you would never have come along, Riku. The Keyblade appears very rarely, and to a very select few. Every time it appears is a high point in a very long road that one of fate's many branches is taking. I survived because you were to be my son, and the Keyblade was supposed to go to you when it appeared this time. If I had died, you would never have been born, and the most qualified candidate to wield the Keyblade would have never existed. It would have gone to Sora automatically. Yes, that's what happened anyway, but that was the unfortunate result of your own free will. Do you understand what I'm trying to say?"
Riku nodded slowly. "I suppose that's also the reason you and my mother…um…"
"Yes, I think so," Sephiroth agreed. "Now, to change the subject, I've talked to the Court of Reason. They said that they have time to see you before they're adjourned for the day. After that, it will be getting late, so you'll probably want to go to bed. I imagine you're becoming tired."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Riku rubbed his wrist. He didn't think that the Court's assessment of his ability to live in the One World would include a physical test. Now, he was starting to feel sore.
"Hey, is this Riku?" a voice suddenly said behind him, and before any response could be made, a hand came down on Riku's shoulder, making him jump and whirl around, startled.
"Yes, this is Riku," Sephiroth chuckled.
Riku blinked at the newcomer. He was several inches shorter than his father, but outlandishly spiked blond hair made up for that. A black batlike wing was folded against his left back.
"Hey, Riku," the man said. "I'm Cloud, a cousin of your father's. Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you, too, Cloud," Riku responded.
"Back from the Many Worlds, I see," Sephiroth said. "For how long?"
"I'm not planning on going back anytime soon," Cloud shrugged. "I've spent years there, and I may as well come home."
"Are you the same Cloud that Sora met in the Coliseum?" Riku asked. "He said you had lost your world."
"I lived on Hollow Bastion when Ansem destroyed it," Cloud said. "It was my world while I lived there, so it wasn't a lie. I was just keeping my cover that I was human." He looked Riku up and down. "Man, you look even more like your father than the last time I saw you."
Riku's brows furrowed. "But, we've never met."
"Not in person," Cloud said. "I've seen you before, though. I helped Sephiroth when he aided you in returning to your islands. I kept an eye on what was going on with you as he concentrated on helping you."
"I see," Riku said.
"If you're staying home for a while," Sephiroth asked, "what did you say to that girl?"
"Aerith?" Cloud asked, naming her. "Oh…we were never serious. We dated some, but we were more friends than anything else. She called me a 'mixed-up kid', because I acted naïve about love. The reason for that was that I wasn't sure how humans went about relationships. She was sorry to see me go, but she wasn't begging me to stay, or anything. I told her I had to leave the central castle and go to some other region of the world. She's unaware that I left that plane entirely."
"Well, at least she let you go without any guilt," Sephiroth said. "Anyway, Cloud, I ought to get Riku home. He's had a long day."
"Okay," Cloud nodded. "Welcome to our world, Riku, and good luck with your training."
"Thank you," Riku said. "I'll be seeing you around?"
"Yeah," Cloud said. "My home isn't too far away from yours. I'll see you later."
As they headed back home, Riku turned to his father. "He looked like a blond Sora."
"That happens sometimes," Sephiroth shrugged. "It's either coincidence or doppelgangers. Take your pick."
To be continued…Author's Notes: Man, I hope that didn't get too wordy and bore you. I also hope the explanations of things didn't sound too contrived. I wanted them to make sense, but I don't know if they do. I really drew time out for the ylfe. I made Sephiroth old, didn't I? ^_^;; And, if you figure it out, being in training from age five to fifteen is a little over forty human years. Eep. Now, I may not have gotten this written as I planned, as I'm writing another KH fic, "Heart of Darkness", that centers on Ansem. But, since I'm going away this weekend, and won't have access to a computer, I thought I'd not make you guys wait for the next chapter. "Heart of Darkness" is a one-shot (unless it gets way too long and makes me split it into chapters) and will be posted all at once, so people won't have to wait for the next part like with this one. So, I wrote this chapter all in one night so I wouldn't leave you guys waiting. I hope you guys like it! I hope I didn't turn you off with all the wordy explanations! Let me know what you think in a review or an email to mangareader@hotmail.com, onegai shimasu!
