By the way, Beta means like a proofreader, right? Well, I'm in need of a Beta or a proofreader or whatever for the last 20 chapters. I have two ready right now but…they might be real bad spoilers or you might just not understand at all. But if any brave soul volunteers to beta the last 20 chapters, I will be very thankful.
Read on!
Secrets of Memories Chapter 48: Hope or Something Like It
There was a very long silence. A very long silence. Perhaps too long a silence. Iago shifted his feet in the sand. This was unnerving. A prophecy that did not make sense, made no sense whatsoever. He could not see how the prophecy could connect what he knew to what Kairi, the strongest of the Princesses of Heart, knew. They came from two different spectrums, could even be still considered as enemies as of now, yet here they were, standing side by side, overwhelmed by the task the Guardian of the Cave of Wonders has given them – solve a damn prophecy.
And he himself speaks in rhyme! Iago thought with bitterness as he watched the teenage girl mull over her thoughts. Perfect, just perfect! Where's Aladdin, Jasmine, and the Genie when you need them!
Kairi was lost, deep in thought. This was hard, she knew, yet, strangely, she knew the answer was there, at the tip of her fingers. If only she could reach out and grasp it.
What did the Guardian mean by the old stories? She only knew of the story an elderly woman told her long ago, a story about how the children used the light within their hearts to recreate the Universe after destruction, a story of how the true light slept in the deepest darkness, a story of why the worlds were as they were…
…but small fragments of light survived…in the hearts of children…the true lights sleep, deep within the darkness…a door to the innermost darkness will open…true light will return…there will always be a light to guide you…
The words of the grandmother was coming back to her, deep within the library of Hollow Bastion…back when Hollow Bastion had a different name…
" You mean the story that a grandmother told me once," Kairi whispered, her mind back in the memories of the past. " The story about how the darkness was born and how the light came back."
There is more you seek. Why take just a peek?
There was more to the story, more to it than she knew. It was there, a subtle message, something that would teach her something, if she could only find it.
Iago shifted on his feet as usual, wondering what would happen if he mentioned the truth of the true Darkness. After all, Kairi only knew of the Heartless and that was not the only Darkness roaming the Universe.
I know what's out there, Iago thought. Not just the Dusk, not just the Society…I know the driving force behind them, I know the evil behind this.
Perhaps spending many years with Jafar did prove helpful now; he knew more about evil than Kairi did, since the parrot was once an accomplice of that same evil he now fights against.
" The great evil…" Iago said slowly, looking up at Kairi. " ' Can you recall the tale of the great foe…' I know the answer to that line. It is of the greatest evil ever born, ever to walk upon the lands of the Universe. How great was this evil? He is evil."
" He's evil?" Kairi didn't understand his emphasis on 'is'. " So he's evil. What about the other evil creatures out there? What's so special about this one guy?"
" You misunderstood me," Iago corrected. " He is the evil. Maybe that makes more sense, does it?"
Kairi stared at him. " This thing is the evil?"
" He is the true evil, the force behind everything black in the Universe. Bad luck is bad luck but the true darkness, the force behind the Heartless, behind the white creatures, behind whatever is trying to keep Sora from finding the door of light, is this one guy. Well, he isn't a guy exactly. He's some sort of a fire fox."
Kairi was stupefied. What!
" You think that's what the riddle's talking about?"
" I'm sure. It seems to make sense, the tale of this great and mighty foe…he is the greatest of foes and a true match for any of the Keyblade Masters," Iago confirmed.
" What's his name?" Kairi asked. She was surprised when Iago declined to answer.
Cross all fear and the truth shall draw near.
" Speaks well enough for me," Kairi cast a glance at the sand.
" His name breeds fear," Iago warned, in a soft voice. " It is…Shadowrenis."
There was only one thing Kairi could do. She stared at the red parrot as if he really did lose his mind. It was not that this all seemed a bit ridiculous; she had heard of the name before, in the ages past, a name that did bring fear to the hearts of those who heard it.
Answers still unanswered, questions still in air/There still is doubt, anger, fear, terror, hate/That drives us away from the answer's lair/And leaves empty the echoes of dying Fate.
" We still don't know all the answers," Kairi started seeing the web that connected everything. " Like the story a grandmother told me long ago about how the light was preserved in children's hearts and how the children used the light to restore what had been destroyed by the Darkness. Like your tale of Shadowrenis. Is he even real?"
Kairi had come to realize that this strange beast was referred to by ' the tale of', meaning he must be a story.
Iago's shuffling feet told all. " Well…nobody's really proven his existence. They say he vanished thousands, if not millions, of years ago."
A story of light and a tale of the darkest evil. A story of what the children did…and a tale with an unnamed evil, Kairi thought. Not enough, not enough, there's not enough. We need to know more.
" Do we look to the skies?" she whispered, looking to the gray-tinged skies, " or to the earth?"
She looked to the gray sand. Some of the sand crystals sparkled in the dim light of the Universe In Between. Then she looked back to the skies. There were stars, stars that were brought down with Agrabah when the world collapsed into In Between. She could barely see in the twilit firmament but they were there.
From us alls of darkness bars/ And promises us dirt's bones.
This the Guardian spoke. He was pushing the prophecy to them, he wanted them to solve the prophecy, to bring the world back to where it belonged.
" I know the last part," Iago looked up to Kairi. " The Darkness promises us death. They will kill. We come from the dirt, the earth of the worlds. The bones of the people, of the earth, the dirt, this the eternity, that is what the Darkness promises to give us. Jafar was very wordy. There's a lot of words you can pick up if you're with him long enough."
" The darkness will kill," Kairi began to list. " There is a story of children that saved the Universe and a great evil with a name you won't speak of."
" 'Luminosity is what we seek/ In dark and troubled times.' Focus on 'luminosity'." Iago was well versed in vocabulary and grammar. " Luminosity…that means things glowing."
" Light," Kairi said, slow and with solemn confidence. " We seek the light."
In times of darkness…the weapon against hopelessness…
" The light is what we seek…and the brave and the submissive seek it," Iago was surprising her more and more. " We look for the light, even if we're scared, even if we're strong. We look for it when we're scared, when we are surrounded by the darkest night."
Closer you come, the closer you go. Bid your time wisely and follow your Soul's flow.
But one line puzzled her. It made no sense whatsoever.
But what do we hold on to/ Once feathers fall with sorrowful grace?
" What feathers?" Kairi looked at Iago. " Why the feathers?"
Iago was at a loss for words. " I…don't rightly know."
" Skip that," Kairi decided. " Go to the next one."
" Makes less sense, Prin – Kairi," Iago shook his red head. " I mean, what do we see? What were we supposed to see? What were we supposed to know?"
Much you must uncover for there is much you do not know. If you knew, your journey would've never come, you would not suffer such woe.
" Skip that one," Kairi said.
" Now comes the riddle part," Iago warned, sounding depressed. " There's a light when we lose everything. There's something we have to do with all that we know. And the answer is something that must be kept, no matter what."
" A story of children who saved the Universe with what light they had," Kairi went through what they knew again. " This Shadowrenis thing-" Iago squawked and bowed his head "- of some story you don't know, the evil guy with some evil name. The Darkness will kill. But that…that means war."
And war will come. The Old Order must be undone. So the ancients foretold. A new beginning must unfold.
" We seek light in the darkest of days." Iago spoke in precise prose. " The bold people, and the meek people seek this light, the light we look for."
" A light we must hold on to, at all costs," Kairi felt the answer was there, at the tip of her tongue. " The light the children held, the light against the darkness, the light…"
In the stars on the night sky, she added silently. And the crystals of the earth.
" A light so beautiful," Iago seemed to be dreaming; his eyes were closed and he rocked on his feet. " The light of the moon…when the nights are so dark. I always dreamed of it…when I sat here, waiting for someone to come. It was the only thing that kept me going. Things, actually. The light of the moon…and me waiting for someone to come."
Don't forget. Wherever you are, I'm always with you.
Sora's voice echoed in her heart. She blinked in astonishment, startled by the words, by who spoke within her. Somehow, his voice was coming back.
Iago saw Kairi's sad smile. Such a sweet girl, living through such times. She did not belong here, in the dreary gray, and dead land. She belonged in a realm where there was a swift sunrise, golden light cast upon a green country under a bright blue sky.
But now he saw that she was lost in thought. Her blue eyes looked to the skies, to the faint shining of stars, the night upon the dead plains of Agrabah. Her eyes briefly turned to the sandy land they stood on, with its shining sand crystals. Then, she looked back up to the skies, to the great seas tinged with gray and gloom.
Then she smiled and looked to Iago. Enlightenment and understanding shone in her eyes. It was then Iago felt the inches of silver, of pure light, emanating from her. She knew.
" Hope," she spoke, her voice at a bare minimum. " The children carried the hope for a new beginning to what was destroyed by the Darkness. Shadowrenis is what we face. War will come, but there is the light, light that everyone holds on to in the darkest of days. I do not know what it means by falling feathers, but I do know that a curtain of night comes with them. Hope is what keeps us going. Hope is what we seek, what we must hold at all costs. Iago, your hope was in the light of the moon, and your hope of seeing someone to help you. My hope…my hope is to get through all this…return home…return home and see all my friends again…to see Sora and Riku again…Sora…"
Such is your answer, what you speak. Is this what you finally seek?
" Are you sure that's the right answer?" Iago asked nervously. " We might not get a second chance."
Kairi's smile was angelic. It was like she had deviated from the world around them, the reality.
" Hope," she said firmly, precisely. " Hope…or something like it."
What followed was a silence, a deep, dark silence. Iago shifted his feet again and looked up at Kairi nervously. " Are you sure? I think we did something wrong."
" I don't know," Kairi replied, a bit doubtfully. " But have faith; maybe we're right."
Then came perhaps one of the only times the Guardian of the Cave of Wonders never rhymed his speech.
You may pass.
Kairi backed away; Iago leaped up and onto her shoulder as she stared at the rising mound of sand in the middle of this ring of gray stone.
" You did it," Iago murmured in her ear, awed into silence.
She stared in astonishment as a lion's head rose from the deep sands. It was a great, bluish head, serene and mighty. Actually, it seemed like a mix of a lion and a panther-like feline; the Guardian of the Cave of Wonders was missing his mane.
The majesty overwhelmed the poor red parrot on her left shoulder. Iago covered, backing into her deep red hair. He huddled next to her ear and his feathers tickled her.
" Iago…" Kairi quickly touched her ear. " That tickles."
" Sorry."
The Guardian opened his eyes, eyes that glowed with a bluish white light. They stared at the eyes, drawn to its brightness. The great lion's head shook its head from side to side, as if getting rid of the kinks in its neck.
Much better…young Princess of Heart. Angel of Light, you have opened yet another door. You and the parrot may pass. Do not touch the gem within, for it is not for your hands but for who was once among the poor.
" Still manages to rhyme, does he?" Iago muttered, then fell silent when the Guardian of the Cave of Wonders opened his mouth.
A yellow light shone forth from its jaws, yet another beam of light in the gray stillness of Agrabah. Kairi shielded her gaze, blinded by its brightness.
" There's someone in there!" Iago exclaimed in astonishment.
" What!" Kairi looked, her eyes gradually getting used to the radiance.
Yes, there was someone there. Tall and foreign. Someone was there, had been in the gully of the lion's head. The light then began to fade in brilliance. It still glowed, but now it was a soft, steady glow. A glow of light.
Kairi saw who it was. She could now see. And she could not believe it.
" Tidus?"
""
" Where do we go now, Merlin?" Selphie asked, her eyes still wide, still traumatized by what she had been told by Merlin and Oracle Kenaii.
" We follow where Kairi as gone, of course," Merlin smiled as he picked up the ends of his blue 'nightdress' and skipped merrily down a dreary gray road, whatever to the right and left obscured by the smoggy mist.
Selphie stared at him like he was a madman. " Merlin…what are you doing?"
" Bringing cheer to our mission, of course!" Merlin chortled, still doing his swing dance.
" I'm sorry?"
" Let him be, child," Oracle Kenaii whispered to her. " Let him be. This is what's become of such a powerful wizard. His poor mother dropped him on his head.
" Ouch." Selphie sensed, however vaguely, that Oracle Kenaii was merely joking.
The serious look on the specter's face told her he was speaking the truth.
" Ouch," Selphie winced.
Still humming, Merlin turned back to them and said, " Oracle Kenaii, are you coming with us?"
" I've grown quite weary of doing business down in these parts of reality," the dead oracle admitted. " Wouldn't mind coming with you lot back to the Real Universe. Need to give Atlantis a visit again."
" Don't scare them like you did last time," Merlin warned. " Scared the living hell out of them, you did!"
" As long as they don't go to Hades, it won't do any harm," the oracle smiled. " By now, I think Deep Jungle's back in the circle. Wonderland should be gone by now. I have no idea how we're going to get that great bloody whale back to Real Universe; rather have him here and leave everybody else alone and in peace. Agrabah, oh yes, one of the newer worlds, we have to get Agrabah back as soon as possible. Hopefully Kairi and Iago have solved the riddle by now…"
" What?" Selphie turned on the oracle. " What in the name of whatever-gods-are-out-there are you talking about?"
" In order to find the next part of Ansem's Other Report in In Between, they must solve a riddle that the Guardian of the Cave of Wonders gives them," Oracle Kenaii informed. " So far, nobody's been able to solve the riddle. They always get lost after the first line. I've told him over and over again to try and spare the poor victims but the Guardian has an impeccable taste for live blood, I'm afraid."
Selphie paled.
" Of course he can't do anything about Kairi so I believe he'll simply turn her away if she does not answer correctly," the specter quickly reassured. " Iago, the poor parrot, must wait for another savior to come. However, if she solves the riddle, she will meet that old friend I mentioned not too long ago. Oh yes she will. Won't she be surprised once she sees who it is!"
" If it's not Sora, then who is it?" Selphie knew no one was going to answer that.
" For me to know, for you to find out," Oracle Kenaii said enigmatically. " As of now, we will go to Celt Circle. It's been quite a while since I've been there. Got lost in this bloody mist."
Selphie raised an eyebrow at this. First Oracle Kenaii was like some hard ass, then he gets all soft and informative, then he starts mildly cussing at everything. What is wrong with the man – er, ghost?
" Celt Circle?" Merlin looked at Oracle Kenaii, profoundly disturbed. Selphie found that disturbing. " Why are we going there? We're supposed to go to Agrabah."
" No 'buts', young one," Oracle Kenaii retorted briskly, moving to the front. " Agrabah is done for and it's to Celt Circle we must go. Have I not said so? 'A circle and the deepest peace/ Holds the key to the puzzle.' There you go, both of you listen. Circle is the key, you see. Celt Circle is our next destination. Besides, Merlin, '…a gathering is unwound.' That old poem tells more than I expect it to."
Selphie bit her lip as she listened to this messed-up banter between the dead man and the old man the dead man called 'young'. Clearly, with every step they took in this hell of gray, they were losing their minds. Apparently the gray mist did something to their minds. They seemed to be losing their sanity.
" Listen, buds," Selphie turned on the two, her hands on her hips, looking very cross. " What are you talking about? Is it that hard to answer? Why can't you just tell me straight out what is going on? What are the rules? Tell me what I need to do in order to what the hell is going on here! I hate being in this darkness. Just tell me what's going on!"
Merlin and Oracle Kenaii stared at her in astonishment. They looked at each other, then back at the teenage girl. They looked very worried, worried and just as confused as she was.
" Do you really want to know?" Oracle Kenaii asked softly, his voice ominous and cold.
" Why? What's so bad about knowing?" Selphie demanded.
Merlin was shaking his head. " We have yet to know whether or not ignorance was in your best interest. So far it has worked in our favor. You were able to do everything without fear. But if you were to know-"
" Fear?" Her eyes widened. " Why do you mention fear? What's there that we're afraid of?"
" There is something we're trying to prevent," Oracle Kenaii said heavily, sighing as he looked at Selphie with a deep, wise gaze. " It began when one of the last known Keyblade Masters disappeared after he was stripped of his power by the Good King Mickey. It was foretold that something will go terribly wrong with the next Keyblade Master. So far our only guess is death but of course, death is not the worst thing."
" What is?"
" Well, it depends. Hopelessness. Failing when you're almost there. Who it is that kills you is also a big thing. I know living death is worse than death itself but I cannot see how that works with what's been foretold."
Selphie was not stupid. She knew what was going on.
" So your whole mission, the one reason why we're here, is to keep Sora safe? We're trying to keep Sora from getting into big trouble? Sheesh, why didn't you say this earlier! Kairi would've been so worked up, we'd have gone through In Between in no time at all, maybe in two hours, doing everything in our power to keep Sora from getting into some big hole!"
" We already said everything you're doing is to help Sora along," Merlin reminded her.
" Big deal," Selphie scoffed. " That's not motivation, you boneheads!"
" We're also trying to put together the pieces of the past," Oracle Kenaii informed, walking on. " We know what you'll see and know in due time; my concern is what you want us to tell you that you would understand. You've been exposed to very little; it will not be easy explaining to you everything if you haven't experienced or encountered everything yet. Get my drift?"
This he said menacingly and Selphie backed down.
" There are four forces you must know, at least that's what Selphie must know, Oracle," Merlin said, fingering his moustache. " Yes, she must know. If you're not going to tell her, then I will. There are four forces in this reality, Selphie. They are the Advocate, the Angel, the Knight, and the Prophet. They exist to work in the best interest of the whole of the Universe…well, most of them at least. The Advocate is essentially evil, an evil power and the representative of the true Darkness. They, so far, have never been identified. The Angel, however, we know much about. The Angel is the benevolent goddess, the representative of the true Light. There has been only one Angel, for the Angel, unlike the Advocate, is immortal. She has the guise of the long-lost race of Angels, immortal, fair beings who gave the rest of the Universe the gift of song, of music, of the word, of writing, of everything fair and beautiful. Well, the Angel now exists as a disembodied Spirit; her mortal appearance was killed long ago. The Knight is, as you have met him before, the Dream Heart. He is, literally, a knight. Long ago, he labored for both the Darkness and the Light, to balance out both sides, but over time, the Darkness grew so evil the Knight finally joined the Light and now he works with us, to restore peace to the Universe. Lastly, there is the Prophet."
" By the gods, I love that man," Oracle Kenaii commented.
" He is a man, an old man, in fact," Merlin continued. " He is immortal as well but his guise is that of an old man. He is, essentially, the Prophet. He sees all. He's not a god but he has some of the powers of a monotheistic god; he knows mostly everything. Not what's going through our thoughts, not what the fly is doing right now in the middle of a jungle, but what happened in the past, what's happening now, and what's going to happen in the future. He is one of the most powerful, and he is supposed to work for no one. But lately, ever since King Mickey was born, he worked with us more and more. Now he is also affiliated with the Light. These four, Selphie, work behind the scenes. They decide what happens, what doesn't happen, what must be done, and what must not be done. Lately, a lot of rules have been broken."
" They've been broken ever since Sora became the Keyblade Master." Oracle Kenaii looked at the two living people with eyes that saw beyond them. " The Prophet is now very attached to the living things of the Universe, which is not supposed to be. The Knight, Dream Heart, is supposed to appear only in dreams. He has not, as you have seen to that. The Angel, I do not know of her whereabouts. Nobody does. But the Advocate…well, he's certainly making quite a few appearances."
" Has he now…" Merlin mused.
" Where?"
" In due time, Selphie, you will come to see what the Society is," Oracle Kenaii explained. " They once balanced the Dark and Light but grew corrupted. They now are wholly of Darkness, save a few…renegades. Some were able to slip in and out undetected but some…well, they became very involved in the activities of the Society. They are now imprisoned by the Society and it is up to one of their own to free them."
" Some messed-up drama," Selphie muttered, scratching her head.
" Believe me, you have no idea," Oracle Kenaii promised her.
""
He was tall, tall and warrior-like. He looked just as cheerful as before, though his sea-colored eyes carried great weight within. His feathery blond hair made him rather appealing to many people.
Kairi had to admit that this was much of an improvement over what she remembered of him the year before.
But one question nagged her. How did he grow up so fast in a year?
" Tidus, is that really you?" Kairi demanded, bewildered.
He looked to her, astonished as well. " Kairi? What are you doing here? What's going on? What's that red parrot on your shoulder? Where am I!"
" This is Agrabah, boy!" Iago informed, not too kindly.
" Hush," Kairi reprimanded. " Be nice, this is one of my friends."
" Sure looks old to be one," Iago commented.
Kairi had to admit that Iago was right. How'd he grow up?
" How'd that happen to you?" she demanded, walking up to him. " I mean, you were thirteen the last time I saw you! How old are you now?"
" I think nineteen," Tidus mused. " Eighteen, nineteen. Spira's time is kinda faster than Destiny Island's."
" I'm sorry?" Kairi had never heard of this 'Spira' before.
" You were at Spira?" Iago squawked. " Explains just about everything, I suppose."
" What explains everything?" Kairi asked.
" Spira is this world, Kairi," Tidus informed. " I washed up there, after that big explosion. I've been there for…quite a while, as far as I'm concerned. But I've been gone only one year?"
" I'm fifteen, Tidus," Kairi said. " Yes, you've been gone only one year. Is Spira's time supposed to be ultra-fast, like how In Between's like ultra-slow, Iago?"
" I think so, Prin – Kairi," Iago said. " Makes the only sense in the world."
" Say, Tidus, what have you been doing, anyways?" Kairi demanded, scrutinizing him.
" I've…been exploring Spira," he said, flashing a grin. " Oh boy, that's one great world right there. So diverse, with so many cities, so many creatures, and people! Oh, and I think Wakka lost his memory; I found him there and he didn't remember a single thing."
" Oh dear," Kairi murmured. " We're in trouble for sure."
" The thing was," Tidus was looking wistfully up at the gray sky, " I was there for maybe four, five years, and then when I met Wakka, I met all these other people, too. Rikku, for one. She spells her name with a double K and so far nobody understood why I called her 'Double K'. Keeps me from mixing up with Riku. Then there's Lulu. She's a scary woman, I tell you. All serious and creepy. Sorceress she is for sure. But she and Wakka's going to marry-"
" What!" Kairi stared at him.
" Okay, you two catch up on whatever it was you guys missed," Iago told them. " I'm going and searching for that ol' ghost man told me. Some report or something."
" You do that," Kairi said hypnotically. She was staring at Tidus in aghast.
" Kimahri is like…whoa!" Tidus continued to say. " He's a Ronso, this race of blue tiger creatures. He's awesome. And Auron…oh man, what can I say, he's the greatest. He was like a mentor to me, a mentor and a friend. He's all business and stern but he's fun to be around with. Then there's Yuna…"
" Yuna?"
" She's a summoner in Spira. A summoner is someone who basically summons and in summoning helps to defeat this evil called Sin," Tidus explained with infinite patience. " She succeeded in defeating Sin. That was amazing. Thing was, I found my father."
" You did?"
" Jecht. He was Sin."
Kairi blinked.
" Well, we beat him, then Auron had to go. He was like some walking ghost, a walking solid ghost. As for me…I had to go, too. I was supposed to be dead."
Kairi stared at him.
" Oh relax, it's no big. The Fates came and fixed me up. Then they put me here. No idea why."
Kairi smiled. " Tidus, I think I do know."
''
Iago had found a plain leather bag and was busily stuffing it with gold coins. Cackling gleefully, he picked one and put it in, then picked another. He did pick up a scroll, carefully stuffing it in the leather bag as well. Then he went back to stuffing in gold coins.
He carefully kept his gaze away from the dark hallway at the end of this gold-filled room. He did not want to be tempted by the gleaming red; to go and touch that great gem could mean the end of Agrabah as he knew it.
Iago was surprising himself more and more every minute he breathed.
Another Author's note: Is ffn fixed so that I don't have to put spaces between each paragraph? It's kinda killing my fingers and it takes a lot of time, so I kinda need to know.
Har har har, having fun?