Kingdom Hearts: Warriors of Light
Dark Reflection-Chapter 29
While Kita and her group began their assented from the dungeons, Ti-Day led his group forward deeper and deeper into the castle. They had to keep running to avoid being flattened by huge swarms of heartless. In what seemed like hours they finally reached a huge ballroom. The dark emptiness inside was eerie and ghostly.
"Man, this place looks terrible," Ti-Day said standing still looking all around the dusty, abandon ballroom. He looked at the dried up fountain in front of him. That had been the last place he and Kita stood in Hallow Bastion together before one of the dark holes swallowed him into darkness.
"Nice of you to come," said Riku's voice from behind them all.
"Riku!" Sora said spinning around to confront Riku. "What's going on? Did you really hurt the Beast out there?"
"Yeah, so what?" Riku said in a calm voice. "He's not needed here. But you on the other hand, are."
"Huh?" Sora said with a confused expression on his face. There was something about the tone of voice Riku was using that didn't seem right. "Riku, what are you saying?"
"I mean that you are needed here. So if you'll just follow me," Riku said turning to head up one of the staircases on the side of the room.
"We're not following orders from you traitor!" Ti-Day shouted. "What kind of friend beats up an ally?"
Riku turned to face the group once more, Ti-Day in particular. "Can't you see I am trying to help? For your information I found Kairi on Hook's ship when all of you left."
"Kairi?" Sora asked sounding shaky. "You found Kairi? Where is she now?"
"Why don't you just listen and follow me?" Riku said coldly. Sora took a step forward thinking no longer about Riku's sour attitude and headed for the stairway. Ti-Day however wasn't fooled. He grabbed Sora's hood on his jacket and caused him to fall to the floor.
"We're sticking together," Ti-Day said keeping his stare on Riku.
"Why are you making this difficult?" Riku asked sounding annoyed. He pulled the Soul Eater sword from his belt and pointed it at Ti-Day. "Don't make me come down there and take him by force."
"You want him? Come and fight me for him!" Ti-Day said holding his magic staff in front of him. Sora, Donald and Goofy stepped aside out of Riku's reach. Riku slowly walked back down the few stairs he had managed to climb to confront Ti-Day in battle. The look on his face was livid.
"Looks like I have no choice but to destroy you," Riku said.
"I can't believe this!" Donald said. "What's gotten into him?" Ti-Day and Riku circled each other like lions waiting to pounce one another. Riku took the first leap as he lifted Soul Eater high into the air and prepared to swing down on Ti-Day's head. Ti-Day merely lifted his staff to catch the sword and prevent Riku's swing from coming down. He was also able to push Riku away and land him flat on his back. Riku however was far from done. He rolled over and jumped to his feet again. He started circling more to get around Ti-Day's staff and was able to whack Ti-Day in the back.
"Ahhh!" Ti-Day shouted as he was forced to kneel in pain. Riku was ready to strike again and so Ti-Day, despite his pain turned his torso and swung his staff at Riku's legs knocking him over again. "Fire!" he shouted shooting fireballs at Riku.
"Errr," Riku said as his skin burnt. Though his skin had been singed, Riku got to his feet again right away as though nothing had happened. "Just because I can't use your kind of magic doesn't mean I don't have a power of my own." Riku was looking at Ti-Day with a dark aura in his eyes. For a moment it seemed as though his pupils disappeared for just a moment. Ti-Day backed away feeling that he wasn't just up against the Riku he knew.
"STOP!" Ti-Day shouted holding Riku frozen in time. Ti-Day got up off of the floor and stood holding his painful back.
"Ti-Day, we have to help you," Donald said rushing over to the fight scene. "He's not right."
"Thanks guys," Ti-Day said groaning. "There's definitely something wrong with him and I'm not just talking about his normal tough-guy attitude."
"You think this fight is over?" said Riku's voice from his frozen body. "I told you, I can fight against your magic." The time spell wore away slowly as Riku began to move again. He looked again as though nothing had happened to him. What was causing his new found immunity to magic? Sora ran up behind Riku feeling as though he'd had all he could take of this Riku. He lifted his Key Blade and swung down on Riku's head before he could turn around.
"AHHHH!" Riku shouted falling again. This time he looked as though he really had been hit. "Errrr, I knew you were a traitor Sora! Maleficent was right!"
"What!" Sora shouted. "Maleficent? She's one of the villains Riku. I thought you knew that."
"Yeah, she was protecting Kairi," Riku explained. "Where were you when I found her! You don't really care about her and you'll only try to take her away!"
"Riku… what are you talking about?" Sora said sadly. He couldn't believe the words coming out of his best friend's mouth.
"I promise, I'll be back to deal with you later," Riku said as a dark mist surrounded him and he disappeared.
"Come back you chicken!" Ti-Day shouted. His voice echoed around the ballroom. Riku was gone.
"Come on, we have to find Kairi," Sora said. "She must be here. And I'd say she's better off out of Riku's hands as well as the villains." Sora led the way up the staircase. Ti-Day directed them to the library doors on the second landing in the ballroom. They went inside.
Kita, Hercules, Simba and Beast were hastily moving into the lower levels of the castle. Kita was running fastest, leading the way as the others struggled to keep up. "Keep your eyes open for-," Kita stopped in mid-sentence as she also came to halt. They were now down where the labs Ansem had worked in where located. The door to one of labs was open. It was a large round room with metal walls. There was a large multi-colored sphere in the center with pipes sticking in it from every angle. A large computer ringed around the sphere where some pipes were emitting a dark cloud of something far from smoke. But what caught Kita's eye was Ni-Ne's figure sitting on the computer.
Ni-Ne's head was hung low. She was now wearing a different outfit much darker than the last. There were black marks all over her hands. Kita slowly walked toward the lab and entered it cautiously. "Ni-Ne? Are you alright?" Kita asked as she approached Ni-Ne. She stopped in front of Ni-Ne who still hadn't looked up. Kita noticed a blue bandage wrapped around Ni-Ne's arm where her tattoo was. "Ni-Ne?" Kita asked again. She put her hand on Ni-Ne's left shoulder.
"Ni-Ne is not here princess…" Ni-Ne said. Kita jerked her hand away from Ni-Ne and stepped back in shock. Ni-Ne looked up at Kita. Her eyes were a pail yellow and there were black stained tears around her glowing eyes. She lifted her right arm and removed the bandages from her left arm. There, black blood was smeared all around a deep wound where her heartless mark used to be. Her lips pulled into a devilish smile. Her eerie eyes narrowed and she began to laugh. Kita stood frozen in her place. She could feel a cold familiar presence coming from Ni-Ne that made her blood feel chilled. Somehow she found the courage to move again and slowly backed away.
"Don't back away from me Kita… I thought you were going to play with me." Ni-Ne stood up, black blood dripping from down her outfit and onto the floor making small pools of black tar-like goop. "Doesn't anyone want to play with me?" Ni-Ne asked as he scanned the group with her glowing yellow eyes. She pouted seeming disappointed. "Aww, no one wants to play? That's too bad." The black goop dripping from her began to collect and reversed direction by climbing up her legs. The look on her face grew angry. "That means I'll just have to destroy you by force!" Her whole body liquefied and she sank to the ground.
Kita took the opportunity to run for the door and escape, but she stopped by Beast to look back. The group watched in horror. Time seemed to stand still for a moment until Hercules shouted, "Kita! Look!" Kita's eyes were glued to the goop as it started to bubble. The goop started to rise and take form. It was the form of a woman's body. As the formation continued, the goop began to change to the color of pale skin. Very long hair that touched the ground sprouted from the head. Hands appeared as well as a black dress covering the body with a V-shaped cut over the breast. Lastly the haunting face that Kita had looked at once before. It was the woman from Wonderland.
Her eyes opened slowly revealing golden, yellow glowing eyes. Her lips were dark and she smirked evilly. She stretched her arms and arched her back as though crawling out of a tight space. "Ah, finally I'm free. Out of that old body. This feels so great!"
"Who are you and what have you done with Ni-Ne!" Kita shouted. The woman looked at Kita and began to move closer.
"My dear, I told you. The one you know is long gone now and I have this body all to myself." The woman answered.
"That doesn't explain who you are," Kita said staring the woman down angrily.
The woman backed away a bit. "I did say you would find out didn't I? I guess that means it's time for you to know. Well then… I'm the True Darkness. I am the Black goddess. I am the one who can make the world turn to chaos. I control the heartless. I am Ni-Ne's Dark half… My name is Siren."
"You witch!" Kita said stepping forward leaving her fear behind.
"Ah ah ah, looks can be deceiving Kita," Siren said shaking her pale boney finger. "You underestimate my power. As a heartless, not only can I take away your heart, but I can take away your life with one deadly kiss." Kita thought twice before taking another step. "Thought so," said Siren. "I believe I have some matters to attend to, but believe me, I will be back." Siren was engulfed by a dark mist and vanished from the spot.
"So does this mean that Ni-Ne's really gone?" Simba said sounding worried.
"No," Kita said. "I refuse to believe that Siren destroyed her." Kita was trying to sound positive, but there was sadness and doubt hidden in her tone. Nevertheless she was ready to fight on and find Ni-Ne, rescue Kairi and put an end to Siren and Ansem. "Let's go. We've got a score to settle." Kita led the group forward like troops into battle. "We've got to find Kairi at least. Mulan said she was here. Wherever that room is they keep taking the princesses to, I'll bet we find someone there responsible for this."
"Got any idea where we might start looking?" Hercules asked running along side Kita.
"Well, I know that just before things started getting really out of hand, my father closed the castle chapel," Kita explained. "But he kept going back to it. Like he was making something, or looking for something. I don't really know for sure. By this time, he didn't want anything to do with me. But I'll bet we find some answers there."
"Ok then, lead the way," Simba said. "I just hope it doesn't involve lifts."
"Don't worry, the only way to get there now is by lift," Kita said smiling.
"Crap," Simba said thinking of the dangerous heights hanging by streams of light."
"The entrance to the lifts is in the ballroom," Kita said. "We're getting close." After turning a few corners, the ballroom was in sight, but the heartless were one step ahead waiting for their arrival. Everyone drew weapons and prepared to fight their way to the lifts.
Meanwhile Ti-Day, Sora, Donald, Goofy and Pom-Pom had just escaped intense battle in the ballroom with Riku and were now safe in a neutral library. "Well, at least the heartless are staying out of here," Ti-Day said walking between tall shelves stuffed with books. "Man, this brings back memories," Ti-Day said looking around taking in the musty smell of the books. He stopped to look at a few of the story books he had once read when he was younger. There were stain-glass windows on the southern wall of the library. The colors of light coming through them were shining down on a wooden table under the staircase to the second level.
Ti-Day eyed the spot and felt entranced. He slowly walked over to the table and put his hand down on it to wipe away a thin layer of dust. "I remember sitting here once with Kita and some other kids from the town. There was a girl here I'd never seen before. She said she was a princess. No one believed her, but I did. She disappeared after that. It made me think that maybe she didn't even exist. But I still think that maybe she just ended up in another world."
"That's funny," Sora said. "Kairi didn't always live in our world. She just showed up one day all by herself. And strangely enough she couldn't even remember where she came from. And before we left Destiny Island I told her I'd help her find her home so she could know. That's why I have to rescue her, so we can find it!"
"What's Kairi like?" Ti-Day asked.
"She's really sweet, kinda funny sometimes too," Sora explained. "I might have had a crush on her." Sora's cheeks began to turn red.
"Is she pretty?" Donald asked joining in on cornering Sora.
"Well, yeah!" Sora said shyly. "She has short red hair and blue eyes just like mine. And her smile is so innocent. She always stands with her toes pointing each other like she's and innocent little angel." Sora was getting caught up thinking of Kairi. He looked up at Ti-Day who looked extremely lost in a far away thought. "Ti-Day?"
"Did Kairi ever tell you she was a princess?" Ti-Day asked smiling.
"No," Sora said looking confused. "Why?"
"Because I'm sure we're talking about the same girl," Ti-Day said confidently. There was no more time to waste standing around. As far as Ti-Day could see everyone had caught their breath and was ready to go again. He took off to ascend the staircase before them. Sora looked caught off guard and kept begging Ti-Day to continue telling him about Kairi before her Destiny Island days. But Ti-Day was now very focused on getting to their destination, wherever Ni-Ne or Kairi could be.