I'm back! Trust me: I've got this story figured out. You won't believe the pages of ORGANIZED crap I've got on it! Don't worry: it will not just take place in "the darkness."
Disclaimer: I don't own KH…never have and never will! Hides blueprints to breach Disney's vaults and steal the originals
"The door between light and dark…"
I never knew a mouse could walk so fast and far; I swear that we've covered over twenty miles in a day. All I see are two ears bobbing up and down and the sheen of the king's keyblade as he examines it for any nicks or scratches. All I hear is darkness, for we haven't talked in that day.
"Where's your keyblade?"
Well, at least it won't be another day of silence.
"On the keychain."
"And that is where?"
"Er, I put it on with the heart charm."
Mickey stopped, nearly causing me to run into his short, fat form. He turned his hooded head to me and narrowed his black eyes.
"What made you do that?"
"Well, it seems that someone might want to keep their most valuable possession close to their heart," I explained with a shrug, "and these two items–the keychain and the locket–are my most valuable and dearest possessions, so I am."
Chuckling with amusement, the king began walking again. "We will stop in a mile."
I had started to miss the sound of my voice and the bizarre occurrences it wrought from the darkness, but I could see no way to talk to myself without my companion hearing me. I tried to remember what I talked to myself about: friends, home, the sun, the darkness…
Everything.
I realized that the darkness had softened around me. It was no longer a clawed and rampant animal, but a proud protector. It protected the life inside it.
It protected me.
"Yes, it did protect you and it still does," said the king matter-of-factly. "Think of the words that caused something to happen and tell them to me."
I took a moment to gather my thoughts. "Hope, destiny, coward, why…there's a million of them."
"Which ones cause something good to happen?"
"Words like lie…"
"And bad?"
"Hope, destiny, love, friends…"
Once again the king stopped, but this time he sat down. "Riku," he said with a sigh, "here things are different. Here, good is bad and bad is good."
"I know."
"Here you are presumed a once-human that sold their soul to the darkness and it's true, no?"
"I guess it is."
"This is where your body is stripped away from your heart and your heart is left unsheltered and alone. It is left to think about what it's done, like the small kid you were not too many years ago. This place is also meant to strip your memories away, too, but some are too strong to lose. Some memories are apart of the heart itself. Tell me these memories if you can."
"The necklace," I said immediately. "When that girl gave me the necklace."
"That bonded to your heart immediately, didn't it? Why?"
My ears were suddenly filled with the screams of a thousand dying animals and a thousand blackboards being scraped by nails, begging me not to speak. "Because," I started with a shiver.
"Because?"
"Because she had never acknowledged me before. No one's done that before."
The noise stopped as if to listen.
"Is that all?"
I opened my mouth, but immediately closed it; no, I couldn't say that.
"Say it."
Mind reader, I mentally spat.
"Yes, I am."
"Because she was another mystery to solve, another challenge to meet and something got through to her. She astounded me…"
"Very good, Riku. One of the keys to life is understanding your mind and I think that you unlocked that door a long time ago. We have wasted too much time pondering; let us walk."
As I hoisted myself up, I let my hand wander to the blindfold that covered my eyes. The fabric flowed like water under my hands and it seemed almost nonexistent. I went to find the knot that rested within the folds of my hair, but something stopped me.
The darkness stopped me.
A white streak bolted towards me the second I was about to touch the bundle of fabric. The streak had a ghastly horse-like with a gnarled horn sprouting from its forehead and a mangled body flowing smoothly from its neck. To a normal person it would have been the essence of fear, but in this place it seemed…
Right.
It was like looking at a flat surface just tilted enough to catch your interest; yet the minute you noticed you couldn't point out why.
"Don't touch it," snapped Mickey, his voice holding a deadly tone to it. "You're soul is not ready to face the light; in fact, I don't know if it'll ever be. If you take it off you will be blinded past seeing, deafened past hearing, muted past talking. You're soul will become shriveled and unfeeling, just like the rest of your body."
"What am I now?"
"You are blind, Riku," the king said grimly. "You're blind through and through."
"How can I see you?"
"Through memory."
I pondered for a moment: I had never seen the king before the darkness, so how could my memories hold him? I thought my memories had been stripped from my heart?
"You've seen me before, boy, but you didn't know it and I didn't know it either."
"What about that girl?"
Silence swept through the darkness and I waited as the king thought.
"There's something special about everyone," he said at last, "and she has something special to say about you, I'm sure."
"What?" I asked impulsively.
"I will tell you this: it's a legend."
So here it would be true, I added mentally and, despite the bizarreness of everything, felt at home.
Home…
How long has it been since I uttered that word?
Oh god, don't cry…not now…
I fumbled with the locket to distract my sorrow.
"Don't open it."
The silver heart fell back to my chest. "What about her eyes?" I whispered.
"She, like you, is supposed to wear a blindfold, but if she doesn't look at anyone she doesn't have to. Explain much? Ha, I know it explained everything to the two back at the beach."
"But their color…"
"You're not like Cloud," Mickey muttered. "You talk too much. Quiet."
"But Cloud isn't even from around here!"
"He's still from a world and he has succumbed to himself, so he came with me and found his way out. He said two words the entire time he was here."
"What?"
"Good-bye."
I felt my eyes widen behind the cool fabric. Cloud was already too quiet, but he must've been in here for weeks! I mean, sure, I don't talk that much, but when I'm the only person in nothing for a while…
Well, it gets to you.
"What's so important about this necklace?" I asked, completely disregarding the king's order.
He seemed ready to reply. "In it lies the essence of a legend lost long ago."
"The legend that girl is going to tell me?"
"Yes, that's the one. If you opened it that legend would be lost forever; plus, that girl pulled a lot of strings to get that necklace and losing it would make her very mad. You don't want to see her mad."
"What's an essence?"
"A memory. Everything is memory. You yourself are an essence of your mother and father–more him than her. You are wallowing in millions of essences this very second."
"But it's–"
"Darkness, I know. Yes, the darkness hides the essences, but it is the key to them all." He stopped and pointed to the edge of the road. "Bend down and examine the side of the road."
I did so and saw nothing but darkness.
"Closer," he ordered."
I bent down until my nose nearly touched the sand-like road. I felt my hair be brushed by some invisible–
"Grass."
Yes, there it was: dark green grass spreading into a field…. When I looked up it was all around.
"Darkness is the only truth for it is the only thing that can handle truth's unpleasant face. Now, look inside yourself and see if this news is new or old."
Taking a deep breath, I did as I was told and found a familiar bubble grow inside my chest. This was remembrance. I nodded and the king returned my nod.
Suddenly, the darkness isn't as dark anymore. In the grass sit barely-there animals, their yellow eyes glinting in the nonexistent moon. They watch me and I watch them, our gazes meeting and reflecting off of each other like two swords in combat. There are two small eyes gazing at me from a bed of leaves and the bubble of remembrance grows.
It is a cat.
"Not everything here is myth. Now, is it new or old?"
"I've heard that before. Many people have told me in some way that darkness is truth."
"No, not truth; darkness is the Creator."
"Then what is truth?"
"Truth is a part of humans, as is love, hate, denial, and other such feelings. Darkness feels nothing, but it is something."
I suddenly realized that a mouse was saying all of this.
A mouse.
Aren't mice supposed to be stupid?
I closed my eyes and pictured my friends to take my mind off of mice. I hated mice. When I opened them, my friends all slept in separate beds…
Wait, why isn't Sora in his bed?
I close my blindfolded eyes again and picture Sora. Auburn hair, cobalt eyes, pale skin…and there he was.
Right in front of me.
Looking at me.
"You'll get out soon, Riku," he was saying. "And when you do, I'm taking you out for a big lunch at the mall. We can get hamburgers, hot dogs, those weird chicken fingers you like...anything."
Anything?
I mentally add to his list, the subject of food reminding me of how much I missed it. In Kingdom Hearts you didn't eat and Sora must've known that. But wait…
Why could I hear him?
"When you share a deep bond with somebody so does the Kingdom."
"The Kingdom?"
The mouse king's hand gestured to the field that surrounded the road. "The Kingdom," he said simply. "Yes, you and Sora share a strong bond and it has passed over to the Kingdom, allowing you to be able to hear his thoughts and words at any given time. It is a very special thing to possess."
"Do the others have this bond?" I asked timidly.
"Guess."
Well, the others never talked of anything but a place called Midnight and the Heartless, but one of them never talked period…
I decided to voice my hypothesis. "The girl?"
"She used to," I heard the mouse sigh, "but since the bond is composed of hope, it is very breakable."
"She lost hope?"
"No, the other lost it."
"Do you know who it was?"
"Questions," the king muttered. "Yes. They were very special to her; in fact, they were to be wed. Then he found someone else and forgot…. Riku, promise me this: never forget."
I nodded and realized that this must be the reason…
The promise.
"Is this why she never talks?"
"What do you mean?"
"Does she not talk to prevent herself from forgetting?"
"No, it's the complete opposite: she doesn't talk because she doesn't want to remember. The same reason goes for why she doesn't look at you. You–"
"–remind her," I finished. "Only bastards break hearts."
"Then everyone's a bastard."
Silence.
I'm never going to be quiet again…
Lights will always be on and heavy metal rock music will always be playing…
"Look up, Riku. We have reached the door between light and dark."
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