Secrets of Memories Chapter 56: The Eye of the Storm
Riku may have the powers of darkness but he was missing something: a weapon, a real physical weapon. In all his life, he had never faced danger without something physical that promised to inflict pain on the evil, on the enemy before him. First he had his Soul Eater, then he had his Dark Keyblade, the Heart Unlocker, but now he was practically weaponless, save his dark powers.
" Shiiiiit," he swore, as the great shadowy draconic thing rose up from the ground.
Tarzan swung out with his spear swiftly but was astonished to find his spear rush right through the dragon; it really was just a shadow.
" This is not good…" Sally murmured.
" Ae-aeroga!" Pooh exclaimed and cast the protective windshield around all three of them.
The dragon's head shot forward and pulled back at the windshield surrounding Riku. He had braced himself upon contact but was quite surprised by the power in the attack. He then flung at that mass of shadow an orb of darkness.
It tore a hole in the dragon and it shrieked. It struck out at all three of them and they went tumbling, despite the protection of the windshields. Riku's dark power did nothing more than enrage the beast.
" Major shit," Riku muttered, creating a large flat disc and chucking it at the great dragon.
With the roar of pain came a rain of attacks, driving Riku back. Tarzan was helpless against this non-physical being and Pooh's magic attacks seemed to be swallowed up by the shadows.
" Why isn't this working?" Riku thought, throwing another black disk.
" It's a shadow," Tarzan concluded, dodging the black tail. " Maybe it only responds to black magic."
" This is not black magic!" Riku snapped back. " It's the powers of the Darkness, different from black magic. And I can't be the only one fighting on like this forever!"
" What can I do?" Pooh asked worriedly. " Nothing's working for me but for you."
" Think of something!" Riku yelled back.
" Um…think, think, think…" Pooh sat down and tapped his head. Tarzan stared at him in astonishment. " Pooh, what are you doing?"
" Think, think, think, think…" Pooh knew there was something, some sort of connection, but he couldn't recall it. " Oh if only I could remember…the honey tree…I need some honey to help me think…bees and balloons, up the honey tree and think…"
But Sally quickly understood what he meant. " Pooh, that's it!"
" What's that?" Pooh looked up. Sally only smiled. She stretched out her hand, the one holding a small golden vial. " Fairy dust?"
" It'll bring shadows up into the air," Sally said softly. " That is what you tried to remember."
And then it clicked. " Oh I remember!"
He took the fair dust, turned to the scenario, and found that both Tarzan and Riku were busy distracting and bombarding the shadow dragon with Riku's dark magic. They did not notice Pooh approaching with the vial of fairy dust.
" Maybe…I should toss it to them," Pooh reasoned to himself out loud, then threw the fairy dust at Riku.
Riku, who was busy dodging the whipping tail, felt something hard bounce off his head. " Ow! What in-"
The rest of whatever it was he was gonna say got lost as glass shattered against the shadow dragon.
" The fairy dust!" Tarzan exclaimed. He quickly spotted the culprit. " Pooh, what have you done?"
The shadow dragon roared in sudden agony, thrashing and snapping off railing. As all who had perfect vision saw it, molding appeared on the shadow dragon, a sudden sense of 3-D. Then the dragon stood up and roared…and they saw that now it stood upon the ground solidly, did not melt into the ground as it did before.
" Riku, it's solid!" Sally called out. " Now everyone can strike!"
Tarzan decided to test that; he succeeded in taking off a good chunk of the dragon's tail. They watched as it went spinning over the edge and into the misty abyss below the castle, spraying dark liquid as it went.
" Fire away, Pooh!" Riku yelled.
" Water?"
All of them were immediately doused in water. The dragon roared again but Riku was just plain mad. " No, Pooh, I meant fire – you know what, never mind. Bad idea. Use Cure and Aeroga, Pooh"
" Stop?" Pooh questioned.
" Pooh, shit, no!" Riku yelled back. " You freakin' yellow son of a-"
" Riku, strike with all you got!" Tarzan exclaimed. " The dragon's frozen!"
" Huh?" Riku whirled around and realized that the shadow dragon that was formerly a shadow had indeed frozen. " Gotcha."
Summoning everything he had, he generated a massive ball of dark energy and tossed it at the frozen dragon.
The explosion that followed rocked the castle, throwing everyone to their feet as the great dragon burst. Liquid sprayed all over them, leaving behind a rather gooey mess.
" Now this is gross," Tarzan commented as he picked himself up. " Much worse than those caterpillars Terk showed me."
" You ate caterpillars?" Riku demanded as he got up. " Caterpillars! Why in fu-"
" C'mon, I think I know what we're supposed to do with the Crystal Trident," Sally said with a grin. " And Riku, mind your tongue. It's getting way out of hand."
" Oh I'm sorry for my rowdy tongue," Riku grumbled back. " My ass."
" I heard that!" Sally reprimanded.
" Sally, give me the trident," Tarzan said as they passed under the arches of gold. " I'm gonna toss it at that firebird."
" Aim right, Tarzan," Riku warned him, " or I might have your head for supper."
" That's not funny," Pooh said after a moment's silence.
" It was a joke, Pooh, a joke!" Riku practically yelled at him. Why doesn't anyone understand me?
" Aim right," Sally whispered as the dancing flame spotted the two warriors, the yellow teddy bear, and the scarecrow woman and soared towards them in a dance of flames.
Tarzan aimed carefully; he was an excellent marksman, mind you, and, as the flame neared, he threw the Crystal Trident at it.
A bird's cry rent the air and Riku grimaced again. First that hideous, hideous screech and now a bird's scream magnified ten times? This day was not kind for his ears.
" Oh my…" Sally murmured as the Crystal Trident shattered against the firebird and water sprayed everywhere.
" What, is it really a naked chicken?" Riku grumbled.
" A chicken?" Tarzan seemed to have never heard of one before.
" Never mind."
" It is a bird, a hawkish bird with a swan's neck and golden feathers," Sally described, evidently enraptured by the great winged beast. " A most beautiful beast."
" Ah…I don't think it looks very happy to see us, Sally," Pooh said nervously.
" Never consort with the enemy," Riku commented. " Take that!"
He threw a ball of dark energy but the bird merely avoided it.
" You missed," Tarzan replied calmly, then leaped up and began swinging vigorously at the bird, thwacking it constantly but failing to inflict any serious injury on the golden bird.
" Fire!" Pooh exclaimed.
" Pooh, no!" Riku knew what happened with elementals and like spells.
" What?"
The bird shrieked again as part of its wing exploded into flames. Then the great hawkish creature gave a keening cry.
" Pooh, don't use fire!" Riku shouted.
" Fire?"
" No!"
He hastily brought up dark shields and deflected the fire spell. " Water, Pooh, water!"
" Water?"
The bird avoided the weak spray of water. Tarzan could not help but comment, " I saw an elephant do that once, quite by accident you know-"
" Enough details," Sally interrupted.
" Okay, Pooh, use Water, Watera, and Waterga all you want," Riku gave him the rules. " Cure and Aeroga are fine but only on us. No fire. Thunder may be okay but NO FIRE!"
" Okay," Pooh smiled. " I get it now. Fire on fire doesn't do anything, right? What about ice?"
Riku thought for a second. " Okay, I guess that's okay, too. Duck!"
Pooh dropped onto his stomach and felt wind rush over his back. " Oh that was close."
" Pay attention or we won't be happy," Riku warned him.
" And you'll never find your friends," Tarzan threw in for extra measure.
" Oh…"
" Tarzan, that was harsh."
" Sorry."
" Enough. I can't do anything but you three can. Do something!" Sally informed them of the reason for their existence.
Tarzan bounded up and jabbed with his spear, succeeding in yanking out some tail feathers. The bird shrieked in fury and dove down at him.
" Waterga!" Pooh yelped. Water splashed on the bird's head and it quickly backed up, startled.
" Take that, you stupid chicken!" Riku tossed a black ball at it, smoking feathers on its chest but unable to get in deeper. It seemed that the bird's layer of feathers protected it from many outer attacks. It needed something physical like Tarzan's spear or magic of the type like Waterga to penetrate the bird.
" Damn it!" Riku grumbled.
" Riku, manipulate your dark powers," Sally advised him. " If you can make shields with the darkness, think of what else you can make."
He was missing the Dark Keyblade. He needed a physical weapon right now, or at least something that could penetrate the feathers. And he had an idea.
Riku opened his right hand, palm up, and focused all his energy on the air right above it, forcing out a great orb of black energy. Then he used every last bit of will power, trying to force the dark energy to elongate into a long blade with a sharp end. It was hard, very hard.
" I…don't think its…made for…manipulation…" Riku quipped through gritted teeth while Tarzan and Pooh succeeded in taking out more tail feathers and drenching out the fire on its wing. But under his powerful will, the orb grew into an oval, then elongated even more until it became a long rounded cylinder sparked with purple and glowing black. Riku twitched his left hand and two-thirds of it flattened into a sharp edge.
" Riku, you did it!" Sally exclaimed.
He took an expert swing, thought better, and produced another orb in his left hand. With a slight twitch, it flattened into a small round dark shield. He dropped his left hand but the shield stayed floating, a hovering dark disk that moved at his command.
" Chicken for dinner," Riku muttered, then charged.
Tarzan, aiming once again, threw his spear and it passed through the bird's left wing. As golden feathers spread everywhere the bird shrieked and attacked the spear as it lodged itself in the flesh. Flapping madly, it could not avoid a blast of water in its face and left off a roar, belching out hot flames that sent Pooh running. Then Riku appeared, the shield left his side to stopper the blast of fire, and jumped at the bird, the black edge ready to bite.
See, Riku never exactly held it by the handle; he simply controlled it by his hand's proximity to the dark energy. His hand hovered over its handle as he swung his arm down at the swan-like neck Sally had described.
The great fire bird collapsed; its head went in one direction and its body fell in another direction. Gold-red blood spurted from the gap in between where Riku's makeshift sword had ended its apparently short life.
" There's something in the blood," Tarzan noted, touching the slightly hot liquid with his fingers.
" Don't touch it," Riku ordered; there was some strange power in it. He could feel it
But Pooh was drenched in it and he was sitting in it, too, with a stupefied look. " It feels…funny, like my empty tummy…"
Riku held back a sigh. " Let's see…"
He removed the glove from his right hand and touched the golden liquid blood.
" This is a potent mix," Sally, safe from the mess, studied the strange liquid. " I think it's a power enhancer of sorts."
" What makes you say that?" Tarzan asked, picking up his spear from the blood and making his way out of the mess.
" Golden blood often signifies power," Sally explained, then pointed to Tarzan's spear. " Study it."
Tarzan stared at his weapon. The wood of the rainforest had become dark, lacquered, and very hard, not to mention shiny. And the spearhead…
" This is the lava stone." He felt over the large obsidian spearhead, admiring its jet-black shine.
" I don't feel anything," Pooh countered. " But I feel full. Like I had some honey from the honey tree."
" Did you eat this, Pooh?" Riku demanded, lifting his hand up and watching the gold liquid spill out of his hand and back onto the floor.
" No."
" Oh. Okay. How strange…ow! Damn, this is hot stuff!"
" I don't feel anything."
" You're a bear, Pooh, a teddy bear. You don't have sensors like we do, therefore all the pain you feel comes from your heart."
" Oh."
Riku felt his hand, checking for any burns. When his gloved left fingers encountered something smooth and hard, he pulled off the glove with his teeth and ran over the palm of his right hand again with bare fingers. Again he met something smooth and hard, like a healed burn.
" What the…" He pressed down and bit back a yelp; power fired from the palm of his right through the fingers of his left and up his shoulder.
" What's wrong?" Sally demanded.
" Uh…nothing," Riku quickly shot back as he pulled his gloves back on. " Nothing's wrong, really. Come on, Pooh, let's go inside Hollow Bastion."
He sounded very dull as he finished completing the sentence.
" Don't cry over melted ice cream, Riku," Sally advised. " What's done is done. Worry about what we may face once we are inside, not what happened here the year before."
" I know…" Riku groaned as they neared the great double doors.
" Is it just me," Pooh ventured to say, " or do I have a bad feeling about this?"
''
Once he took a step into Hollow Bastion, Riku knew something was wrong.
It wasn't the silence that bothered him; it was a clash of power somewhere in the deep of the castle but ruffled his sense and put him on the alert. Something was going in the library, wherever it was.
" Nothing's changed about the entrance, I see," Sally noted, striding to the fountain that sat between two staircases that joined at the top. " But something, I think, is wrong."
" I know," Riku agreed. " Pooh, stay with Sally. You two stay here, right here. Don't leave the fountain, whatever you do. Tarzan, we're heading for the library. I've a feeling we're going to find something rather unpleasant."
" But Riku," Pooh questioned, " what if something comes?"
" Uh…" Riku spotted several tall, empty pots around the rim of the semi-circular room. " Hide in those. If you think you can take them out, though, do so."
Pooh nodded. Sally then said, " I will study the fountain. There's something funny about it, too."
" Everything is funny to you, Sally," Riku muttered, then ran up the stairs. Tarzan followed close behind.
" The door is supposed to be to the left," Riku informed as they slowly, and as quietly as possible, inched in the direction Riku mentioned. " But let's not go in yet."
He felt along the wall until he came upon the ornate frame of double doors. Dropping to his knees but ready to jump up at a moment's notice, he pressed his ear against the door.
Tarzan studied his actions for a few minutes, then did the same thing.
"…an insane airhead and a fool."
Riku blinked under his blindfold. What was a girl doing here in Hollow Bastion?
" You…"
Okay, now he knew who this was. He had the privilege of not meeting him in his journey through Castle Oblivion, having heard of the fearsome things this member of the Society had done but really, what was Domitan doing here? And who was he talking to?
" Shut up!"
Click.
" Tarzan," Riku hissed. " Someone's entered the library from above; go there. I'll go through here. I think it's a two-way ambush or something."
Clearly Domitan had a quarrel with this girl, but why? And who was she? And who had also entered the library, this time from the door on the second floor?
Tarzan swiftly headed for the platforms surrounding the fountains that continuously hovered up and down. Riku carefully searched out the handle and pulled it open.
A musty smell, mark of old books, slammed in his face as he carefully shut the door behind him. He summoned a dark shield, finding himself rather surprised when he found he could call upon his dark powers much quicker than usual. And then he threw out feelers of darkness, searching for other life forms that carried their own black pools.
His feelers met a sudden block, in the tall form of a man trying to choke a teenage girl with his forearm. Anger rushed through his veins and Riku rushed forward.
A few feet from Domitan, Riku unfortunately heard another voice saying, " Domitan, behind you!"
Riku threw up the shield as Domitan turned, letting the girl slump to the floor. They clashed and Riku jumped back, forcing another black orb into a long blade.
" Well met, Riku of the Twilight," Domitan grinned, whipping out his whip.
" It's Dawn, you 'airhead'," Riku snapped back. " What are you doing here?"
" I should ask the same of you," Domitan hissed back as he let fly the whip; Riku's shield rushed up to meet it. " What are you doing here?"
" It doesn't concern you."
" My point exactly. What I do doesn't concern you either."
Riku hastily deflected the whip, then charged forward, pushing Domitan back. " And who were you so desperately trying to kill?"
" A traitor," the blue-haired man hissed back. " Just like you."
This time Riku found himself on the defense, stumbling backwards. Domitan grinned. " I thought you were more powerful than that. Pity Crimson wouldn't let me test you back at the blasted castle."
" Diz?" Riku questioned.
" It does not matter; you're weaker than I thought," Domitan sidestepped the question.
" Am not!" Riku growled back and furiously parried back.
This went on for a few more minutes, with both of them going nowhere, when Axel's voice yelled out, " We're outnumbered! This battle's going to take much longer than planned. Let's get out of here and leave them alone!"
" About time," Domitan shot back, then quickly withdrew from the fight. Riku, breathing hard, stood up straight and demanded," Going somewhere, punk?"
" It does not concern you," Domitan said rather delicately. " I'd rather waste my time doing something other than fight something as pathetic as you, you blind fool."
" Being blind is not without its rewards," Riku snapped back.
" Remove the cloth," Domitan said, turning away, " and you'll soon find out there are no rewards."
He quite suddenly vanished.
" Hey, get back here, you!" Riku yelled. " Running away, huh? Get back here, you blue-haired coward, you fu-"
" Would you just shut up!" the girl's voice shouted at him from behind. " Geezes, the racket you're making is giving me a headache!"
" Oh, sorry!" Riku found his way to the girl. " Are you alright?"
" No broken bones, sore throat, bruises, privacy intact, yep, I'll live," the girl replied, struggling to her feet. " That's enough reading for today. Never going to look at libraries the same way again."
" Reading?"
" Oh yes, its this book. Can you do me a favor? Take this book with you to Twilight Town and give it to Cid Two. He'll make copies and send it onward to Cid One back in Traverse Town, thanks."
" Uh, okay…" Riku said hesitantly as he felt a book in his arms. " Who are you?"
" My name is Lorien d'Cadia but believe me, it's a stupid last name and I never use it," she spoke, seemingly unaffected by Domitan's rough treatment. She also acted like the boss around here, which was itching on his nerves." We were looking for some stuff Ansem wrote but I only found this one. I'm not sure what Kobi found, though…"
Kobi.
Riku blinked. For some strange reason, that name struck an odd chord in his mind, his memory. Where had he heard that name before?
" Hey, Riku, are you okay?" Lorien asked worriedly.
" You know my name? Who told you?"
" Dude, everyone who works for King Mickey knows who in hell a blindfolded, silver-haired idiot is!" Lorien exclaimed, poking him on the head. " Use your head; I heard you were supposedly smart!"
Riku bristled again. " And your being pissed off doesn't scare me. I've been through enough for nothing to scare me."
" Some things scare you," another voice called out from above. " Lorien, it's time to bail. I think we've been here a bit too long. If Axel and Domitan alert the others in here, we'd be in very serious trouble."
" Right, right, I'm coming," Lorien replied. " Okay, Riku, here's the deal: you go to Twilight Town. You'll…meet someone there who'll give you a key to a very special door. Lock the door and don't screw up. I will personally kick your ass if you do. And if feathers fall from the sky, assume the worst."
" Feathers?" Riku echoed. " Feathers! Why feathers!"
" Give whatever you were reading to whoever's up there with you," Lorien called out. " Cid Two can make copies. We need to go to Traverse Town. Kobi, leave the book alone. Let's go."
" I'm coming, I'm coming," Kobi grumbled. They heard a book drop on a desk, then he came walking down the stairs. " Oh…"
" Yeah, that's Riku," Lorien affirmed while Riku cocked a head in his direction. " Impressive guy, huh? Walked through the darkness and still survived."
" I don't give up easily," Riku informed.
" Whatever you say," Lorien ignored him completely. " I think maybe there's a train station around here somewhere. Not the castle, of course, but somewhere out there. We'll take the train to Traverse Town."
" Alright," Kobi nodded, then looked at Riku. " You look familiar…"
Riku started; that was what he had initially thought when he had heard Kobi's name. Had they met before. " Have we, uh…met before?"
Kobi was silent for a few minutes. " I don't know. Maybe, maybe not. But you do look familiar…your silver hair does, at least."
Riku touched his shock of hair. " This hair? I haven't appreciated my hair that much, since what Ansem did to me a while back…"
Lorien sighed. " Bad memories, huh?"
" Next time I meet him, he's dead."
" You'd better hope you can meet him so you can demand payment from him," Kobi said darkly. Then, he threw out a question into the open. " What happens if you remove your blindfold?"
Silence.
" Kobi, what kind of question is that?" Lorien demanded of him.
Silence.
" I don't know. But…I think I need to know. I don't know why."
Silence.
" I think you've offended him. Apologize."
" No need," Riku said slowly, his fingersd reaching his blindfold. " I've a feeling I need to see who you two are for myself."
" What, can't trust us?" Lorien asked in amusement.
" Well, its not just that," Riku replied, slowly undoing the blindfold. " Kobi's voice…sounds familiar. Maybe, if I could see his face, I could know just where in heck he came from."
''
" Sally, why are you looking in the water?" Pooh asked curiously; he couldn't see what Sally was seeing.
" I'm seeing what our two friends are doing," she replied. " Why is Riku removing his blindfold?"
" He is?" Pooh asked in astonishment.
" What is he doing?" Sally wondered, leaning closer to the water.
In the rippling surface, she saw Tarzan appearing behind Riku, carrying an old book. Riku, who was also holding an old book, was slowly pulling away his blindfold, while the two pupils of the mentor, Eldest, looked on. The silver-haired boy looked rather nervous; the red-haired girl looked on sternly.
" The eyes of the storm," she gasped. " That explains the blindfold…"
"What does?" Pooh demanded, trying to climb up the ledge that Sally sat on as she stared into the water. " What does?"
" The blindfold," she murmured. " This is the consequence of the darkness. You get some, you give some. What a sacrifice."
As Riku removed his blindfold, he opened his eyes to the waking world for the first time in many months. Both Lorien and Kobi jerked back in surprise.
On the outer rims of the iris were colors, iridescent colors of the tropical sea but as one moved inwards towards the pupil, all became white. His eyes were, in essence, hot, glowing white flames tinged sea-blue.
Riku immediately squinted in the dim light; perhaps the light was blinding him. If there was one thing Sally knew, it was that eyes like those were extremely sensitive to light and one needed near-darkness in order to see, which would explain the blindfold.
" Riku…"
''
Riku blinked, then blinked again. Everything was shaky, shaky and ultimately too bright. He could barely make out the forms of two people before him, though he did locate the owner of the silver hair quickly.
" Riku, your eyes…" Lorien stared in horror.
He peered at Kobi, trying to see his face. " I – I can't see. I can't see!"
He shut his eyes, felt hot tears forming. " Why am I blind? Why can't I see anymore? Why? What's wrong with me!"
He dropped the book on the floor and quickly covered his eyes again. But still, he felt a tear crawl down his face from under his blindfold. He angrily dashed it away, picked up the book, and turned to go. " See you again next time."
He yanked the hood over his head and strode out of the library, shoving the door open and slamming it shut behind him. Tarzan, who had not seen his eyes, stared at him in astonishment, then bounded after him. " Riku, wait!"
That left only Kobi and Lorien, who looked on as the double doors banged shut. Lorien looked at Kobi.
"His eyes…like white fireballs," she murmured. " How'd he end up that way?"
Kobi shook his head, trying to rid himself of the image. " Lorien, I'm suffocating, let's get out of here. I…don't want to stay here any longer."
Lorien had to agree. Things were starting to get out of hand.
Chapter 57…
" But the dreams do not lie."
" You can never come home again."
" Secondly, they might not be Keyblade Wielders."
Author's Note: If my page break system is not working, then blame not me! Jk but really, it has a tendency to malfunction. On the other hand, please check out my new Kingdom Hearts fanfic Song of the Blue Moon!