6H:Are you reveiwing?
Anaretsu: No.
6H:I wasn't asking you!
Jack: Sugar! WHEEE!
6H:Jack of Spades! Watch where you're going!
Jack: (BAM) (crashes into wall)
6H:Here's chapter 28. FLUFF!
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Kingdom Hearts-Shattered Fragments
Fragment 28-Up All Night
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Ryu threw his brown cloak on the floor and then proceeded to remove the huge scabbard for his sword off his back. He threw his black gloves on the floor as well.
"This is all stupid." he complained.
"Like I want to sit in freezing cold water all night with you." Cedeile retorted. She threw off her red jacket and took off her own gloves.
"Whatever." he said, taking off the belts around his knees. He walked out into the pool of water until it was waist deep. He turned and looked back at the shore. "What's taking you so long?" he asked as she unzipped her shoes and kicked them off. She peeled off her black knee-high socks and then glared at him with her hands on her hips.
"Why are you being so grumpy, Ryosuke?" she asked, using his full name. Ryu twitched a little at her tone.
"You know even though I can kind of move now, I'm still in alot of pain. And I still could kick the bucket." he told her.
"I know. But you've been so mean to me ever since we left Traverse Town." she said, walking slowly into the water to join him. "What is it? What do you have against Sora?" Ryu turned away.
"It's nothing to concern yourself with." he told her.
"It is too! Sora's my best friend, and you're my friend too!" she yelled at him. He shrugged. "Come on Ryu. Look at me. Please." he refused, turning his back to her. She grabbed his shoulder and tried to pull him back to her. "Ryu! Tell me what's going on!" She felt a sudden wamrth come over her hand. Ryu held it tightly on his shoulder.
"You think you know me, but you really don't." he said softly.
"What does that mean?" he sighed at her question and turned to face her, still holding her hand.
"If you really knew me, you would know that I made a vow to never let anyone die on me again." he told her simply.
"I don't get what you're trying to say to me, Ryu. You're talking in circles, so spit it out straight, got it! I'm not smart, remember?" she yelled, yanking her hand free. Ryu walked over to one of the massive piles of driftwood and sat against it. Cedeile followed him, sitting next to him. "Okay Ryu, let's just call a truce. I'm sorry I didn't care that you were worried about me, okay?"
"Cedeile, you really are dense. That's not what this is about anymore." he told her, his oak hair covering his eyes as he looked down at the water.
"Would you like to enlighten me on what this is about, then?" she asked. He was silent. "Come on, Ryu. We have to stay up the whole night, so we might as well talk, right?" there was nothing for a long while. Only the sound of Monstro breathing all around them and the ocasional movement of water was keeping the moment from total silence. Cedeile sighed as she watched her black hair float around in the water.
'This is weird...I'm alone with Ryu and were sitting together. It seems like we're a couple or something, except we're not and we're mad at each other. But it seems like right now, we're the only two people in all the worlds...' she thought to herself. She looked over to Ryu, who was sitting very still. 'Did he fall alseep?' she thought, worried. She decided to shake him a little.
"Hey Ryu! Are you awake?" she asked.
"Of course I'm awake." he anwsered back harshly.
"You don't have to be so mean. I was worried." she said. "We have to stay up for the whole night. Or else we'll die of hypo-whatever you call it." Ryu said nothing. He turned his gaze to the ceiling. 'His eyes are so dark and full of secrets. They're so unlike Sora's. Sora's eyes betray his emotions, but Ryu's eyes can mask whatever he's feeling.' she thought, looking at the dark navy mirrors. 'I wish Ryu would say something. He's making me nervous.' She shifed nervously, the water rippleing around her movements. She stiffled a yawn. Had it been an hour even? How much longer did she have to keep this up?
-
Aru walked along the chambers of the huge's monster's insides. She thought she would've found Cedeile and Ryu by now. The short magicain pushed her glasses up further on her face. She looked around. It looked like this whale had swallowed a few too many gallons of paint, and the colors made her dizzy.
'I wonder if they're both alright. Even if they aren't dead, they might just kill each other with their tempers.' she thought, laughing to herself. She continued forward a few steps but heartless jumped out in front of her. The were ghosts with lights coming out of their eyes.
"A new type of heartless!" she exclaimed, jumping back, and kneeling on the ground. She held her one hand up, as if praying, and then drew a cricle around herself on the ground with her other hand. "Aqua PILLAR!" she yelled, as water erupted from the outlined circle. The tower of water rushed towards them and destroyed a good number of them. Some shadows and amoured heartless appeared as well. "Fine, call all the friends you want, but I will still defeat you! EARTHA!" The powerful force of the shockwave destroyed the heartless. She watched as they all faded away, her robe blowing lightly in the wind as it hung on her small frame. She sighed, pushing a lose strand of her purple hair behind her ear and heard applause behind her. She turned.
"Good work, short one." a figure told her. She glared at the person, who was still hiding behind shadow.
"I'm not short! Why don't you come down here and say it to my face!" she taunted. The person stepped out of the shadows. He had long silver hair and ice blue eyes. He jumped with the greatest of ease and landed in front of Aru. She stepped back, afraid.
"Don't take it so hard. I was just teasing you."
"Are you here to fight me?" she asked, shaking.
"Isn't that robe a little big for you? It doens't even hang on your shoulders." he teased
"Mind your own buisness. These are the proper robes of a magician, such as myself." she said, turning her back to him and shoving her hands in her ridiculously oversized sleeves.
"Hey, isn't Cedeile with you?" he asked.
"What would you know about her?" she asked, spinning to face him, but he was mysteriously gone. She sighed, looking at the place where she had last seen him. 'How did he know her? Who was he? I better find Cedeile and Ryu fast. They could be in trouble.'
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Cedeile was getting restless from sitting still, so she stood up and streched, walking into the water as she went. It was very cold, but she said nothing. She and Ryu weren't on speaking terms at this moment. She turned and looked back at him. He was looking at the water to his side, not really doing much else. Cedeile rested her hands on her hips. She was getting no where with him.
"Ryosuke, are you going to sulk the whole night?" she asked him. His head darted up at hearing his real name.
"Don't use that name. When you say it like that, it sounds so sharp and angry." he said, looking straight at her.
"Well at least you're talking to me."
"Don't get smart with me, Cedeile."
"I'm not smart, remember?" she retorted playfully, sticking out her tounge. Ryu rolled his eyes.
"I'm not in the mood right now."
"I don't know what's gotton over you lately. It's like suddenly you changed into another person. A cold hard person that dosen't need anyone."
"I don't need anyone, Cedeile. That's how a fragment hunter lives. They can't depend on anyone because then it holds them up and puts others in danger." Cedeile frowned.
"But then how come you've been letting Aru and me come along? If you don't need me anymore, then I guess after you get cured and all you can go off on your own. Aru and I will finish what we started and I'll go fight the heartless. Is that what you want? To just be alone and look for fragments all by yourself? You said it yourself to Leon-One of the fragments would've been unabtainable without my help! So why are you talking like you want to ditch me and Aru?" she yelled at him.
"Shut up, Cedeile."
"Don't give me that hell, Ryu! You're being a hypercritic!" she yelled louder, her voice echoing off the ceiling.
"Hypocrite, you idoit! You wouldn't last one second by yourself out in the worlds!" he yelled back, standing up.
"I've gotton along fine without you!" she retorted, crossing her arms. "If you thought I was so annoying and stupid, then you should've let me die a long time ago." Ryu looked at her, shocked.
"I guess..." he started slowly, "that you're right. I am a hypocrite. I've been saying that you and Aru are my friends and are important to me and all this time you guys have been helping me out, but now I'm saying that you two don't mean a thing." He put his hand against his forehead in realization. "I've been a fool this whole time."
"Why are you mad at me?" she asked him.
"Forget it. You wouldn't get it if I told you." he said.
"Why not?" she grumbled frustrated. He pushed a finger to her forehead and looked down at her.
"Because you're too young and stupid to understand." he teased. She pouted and Ryu smiled for the first time that night.
"I'm glad to see you're back to normal. But..."
"But?" he asked, looking right in her eyes. She felt nervous under his stare, his face with a smart looking expresion on it.
"But what did you mean when you said you made a vow to never let anyone die on you again?" she asked. His face fell and he moved away from her, turning to the side. Cedeile walked around him to face him. "Well?"
"When I was eight, I was still in training to be a fragment hunter. There was a raid and my dad said I could join him and my brother and the rest of the team. It was my first real battle..." he began. Cedeile listened intently. Ryu walked back to the driftwood tower and sat down in the water, leaning against it, and lifting his head up to the ceiling. He heaved a deep sigh. "It was really bad. I was having trouble fighting all of them off. It wasn't the heartless we were fighting, but it was some kind of demon force...I don't know. I don't remember. I was losing and was injured bad. I was scared out of my stupid mind and I couldn't move anymore. That's when...my brother came in and saved me, but..." his voice shook and he buried his face in his hands. Cedeile walked over and sat next to him. "...my brother was killed in front of my eyes. He made me promise to become a great fragment hunter and to find all the fragments. I told him I would...and then that was it, he was gone..." his body shook-Cedeile figured he was trying not to cry.
"So, whenever you see me in danger...you see your brother dieing again. And it haunts you at night because you know there is something you could of done to change things." she said, drawing her knees to her chest and resting her head on them. Ryu looked up at looked at her shocked.
"Cedeile..." he said softly.
"I would know. I mean, after all, I killed my own little brother nine years ago." she said, voice shaking, a nostalgic look on her face.
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Back in Traverse Town, Leon and Yuffie were training in the upstairs room at Merlin's house. They faced each other, Yuffie using her martial arts skills and Leon with his gunbalde. Aerith and Merlin sat watching them, sitting in floating chairs and sipping tea.
"So, how do you think Cedeile and Sora are holding up on their seperate paths, Merlin?" Aerith asked. The old wizard thought for a moment before anwsering.
"I know that this is fate-Cedeile was right when she said that she had her own path to take. I've been trying to consult the stars for anwsers about this 'final purification' that Cedeile told you about, but I know no more than you do." he replied thouthfully. Aerith nodded her head.
"Take this, Leon!" Yuffie shouted. Leon blocked with his sword. Aerith looked up at the ceiling in thought.
"Do you know anything about the person she can save either?"
"No, nothing about that. But I was looking through my books about the fragments. I found an interesting story about them. Long ago, when the worlds were conneceted, beams of light shot across the sky. Everyone that night saw them and watched as the flew onward towards the horizon. They thought it was a blessing of gods or stars traveling somewhere."
"What does that have to do with the fragments?" Aerith asked, confused.
"The story was dated to happen five hundred years ago. That was when the keybalde is thought to have been created. And if I'm correct, that hunter Ryu said that no one knows what the fragments are or what happens when they are all gathered."
"So they are fallen stars?"
"Stars are really worlds that are far away. So the fragments, I believe, are worlds..."
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Ryu looked at her, shocked.
"What are you saying?"
"I didn't mean to, it just happened. We were playing in the front yard, he was just a little kid, like three or something. Well, we got into a fight, like all brothers and sisters do, and I threw the ball we were playing with out in the road. He got really angry and went out to get it. He never saw that car come...so ever since then, I pinned the blame on myself. My mom and dad said that it wasn't my fault-I didn't make the car come and hit him, and I didn't purposely aim to throw that damn ball in the road. But still...I killed him...so I don't have a pure heart at all..." she explained softly with a sad voice.
"Cedeile, your mom and dad were right! It wasn't your fault." he told her, taking her shoulder and turning her to look at him.
"But you feel like you killed your brother." she told him. Ryu was taken back but what she said. He sighed.
"I do feel like that. I think it's just natural." he admitted. He leaned back against the wood pile. He wasn't in as much pain as before-maybe the cold water made him numb, but his sides ached and he could still feel sharp pain when he breathed. Suddenly, he felt a weight on his shoulder. He looked down. Cedeile was leaning against him, sitting very still. He sighed.
'I guess since I met up with Cedeile, I've changed a bit. I've let my true self come out in front of other people. I want Cedeile to stay with me.' he thought to himself, putting an arm around her shoulders and holding her close to him. He allowed himself to smile a little.'Even though the water is cold, I still feel warm. It's you Cedeile, isn't it? You've been changing me this whole time...'
Cedeile sighed, but it was hard to tell if it was a content sigh or a tired sigh, or some other totally different sigh. They would never again utter a word that happened to night, each told themselves, because it confused them both as to why,on this night, they found comfort in each other. The battle with the heartless, their quest to find the fragments, and their own seperate goals, had fled their minds now.
Ryu pulled Cedeile into a tight embrace. She faced away from him, grabbing his arms, a little surprised and a small pout on her face. Ryu buried his face in her long hair. Cedeile laughed softly.
"Ryu..."she whispered, still laughing.
"Oh, shut up, Cedeile. You'll ruin the moment." he murmered tiredly, holding her tighter.
"Yeah, whatever." she responded playfully. Ryu sighed and shook his head.
"You really can be dense."
"Thank you. I take that as a compliment." she giggled. He laughed softly.
"Sure. But you're not dense all the time. Sometimes, you can be smart."
"Are you feeling okay, Ryu?"she asked.
"Come to think of it, I think I have to hurl."he said.
"Gross! Then get your face outta my hair!" she yelled, trying to push him off of her, but not in a too frantic way. He laughed again, still holding on tight. She attempted to stand to get him off her, but her plan failed and she ended up failing backwards and into the freezing cold pool. Ryu laughed-he had let go at the right moment so that she fell. She floated by, glaring at him. "You suck, Ryu." she pouted.
"That's what I take as a compliment." he said, grinning slyly. She crossed her arms, still floating in the water on her back.
"You better stop that grinning if you want to keep your teeth." she taunted.
"Like you would hurt me. I'd like to see you try."
"I won't for now. I'll wait for when you least expect it, in the darkness of night and then BAM! I'll hit you so hard that your mother won't recognize you with DNA testing." she jokingly threatened.
"Big words for such a little girl."
"LITTLE GIRL? THAT'S IT RYU! Injured or not, I'm gonna beat you down so hard that your injury will the least of your problems!" she yelled, stading up.
"Oh damn!" he breathed and got up, running across the water. Cedeile followed in hot pursuit, eventually tackling him into the deeper water. The two crashed beneath the surface and then a short time later came up for air. "That's it? You're not gonna beat me up?" he asked her.
"I feel bad. It's not my style to strike people when they're down." she said. The two friends laughed. It had turned out to be not too bad of night after all. As Monstro flew through space, he couldn't help but feel the disturbance within him and their laughter echoing off his sides. He still continued onward, ignoring the two friends he had swallowed.
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6H:By the way, this chapter was for my friend, the Jack of Spades, because she told me I never gave the color of Ryu's cloak, so now she knows it's brown.
Jack: So now I can do an accurate picture!
6H:What will happen in chapter 29? Well...I haven't figured that out quite yet...heh heh.
Anaretsu: Maybe there'll be no chapter 29.
6H:Oh shut it!
Jack: Hey Six! Let's go steal Ace's jap. YGO box sets and watch them!
6H: Sounds like a plan! Later evryone!
