CHAPTER 2:
When she came around, Lirael found herself in a large feather bed. Sunlight was filtering in through a crack in the curtains of a large window situated above her, and she sat up after a moment and checked her wounds.
Most of them had vanished, all except the large rake across her back and the smaller gash on her shoulder. These had healed considerably since they had been inflicted, and caused her to wonder where she was, and indeed how she had gotten there.
Where was the Keyblade? She could not see it anywhere, and that unsettled her.
Standing, she found herself naked. Her clothes hung over a chair situated beside the window, and she quickly pulled them on. Looking in a mirror she made quick use of the comb left there, and brushed her hair back into a neat style.
She was just tying her boots when a knock on the door startled her and made her jump. A moment passed and nothing happened, and then the knocking came again.
"Umm . . . come in?" She hazarded.
The door opened a crack and a voice from outside asked "Are you decent?"
Lirael blushed, the voice sounded so young and thoughtful. She thought of her companion Reno, he would have loved to wander in and find her otherwise, but this fellow was generous enough to ask before entering. "Yes I am. You can come in."
The door slid open and she was surprised to see the man that had rescued her in the alley came in, bearing a tray containing fruit juice and toast with butter. His voice had been so different on the streets, quick and commanding, it seemed odd that he should be so gentle and polite indoors. He laid the items down on a handy dresser not too far from her and indicated them with an awkward smile.
"I didn't want to wake you until you had a little more rest, and the doctor suggested that you have time for her potions to work properly. I figured you could use the time out."
He'd changed out of the burnt clothes she had seen him in earlier, but it looked like he had kept his preference for blue, now he was garbed in a blue shirt and dark trousers.
Lirael lent forwards and looked at the food; it looked good. "For me?" she asked.
He nodded once and she quickly reached over and snatched up a piece of toast with one hand, buttered it and proceeded to take a large bite. She was feeling better than she had in a long while, whoever this doctor was she was defiantly good at her job. And the time asleep had done her a world of good as well.
The man reached out behind his back, and drew forth the Keyblade from its resting spot beside his own sword. He handed it back to her in silence and she murmured an apology around a mouthful of toast. "Thanks." She tried again and swallowed. "I was worried about that."
"You where holding it so tightly that I figured it must be important to you. When the doctor came I took it and looked after it for you in case something should happen." He confided.
That's twice now he's touched it. Lirael thought to herself, he shouldn't be able to hold it for more than a few seconds, yet he's had it for over an hour and it still hasn't vanished.
She sat herself down on the bed and got comfortable, moving the tray onto her lap. "What's your name?" She asked, buttering a second slice of toast.
The young man looked saddened for a moment, then seemed to come to a decision and answered in a stronger voice. "Knave."
Lirael stuck out a greasy, butter smudged hand and smiled warmly. "I'm Lirael, pleased to meetcha."
She looked down and realised the state of her fingers, and tucked them away apologetically before offering a clean hand to him, which he shook warmly.
"Those monsters in the streets . . ." Knave started.
"Heartless." Lirael quickly interjected.
"What?"
"They're called the Heartless." Lirael smiled and took another bite.
The name seemed to fit perfectly with what he had seem, and Knave paused a moment as he realised that he had defiantly heard the name used before. Lirael mistook his silence as him waiting for her to finish, so she quickly swallowed and murmured. "Please, go on."
"They seemed to be chasing you, these Heartless, I was wondering why."
"Because I'm the Keymaster." She set aside her piece of toast and took a sip of the juice, it was a strange mix of orange and something else that she couldn't name, possibly grapefruit.
"Keymaster." Knave repeated the word as if trying it out. He had heard that one used before as well, he was sure of it. Looking at her strange weapon, lying beside her on the bed, he made a guess at its named as well. "That would be the Keyblade?"
Lirael looked surprised and almost choked on her juice. "Umm . . . yeah." She spluttered, "how did you know that? I mean only a few people alive know about this thing."
"It's a weapon, a powerful one against the Heartless." Knave spoke quietly, almost to himself. It was as if he where reading a piece of paper, the knowledge was intuitive, but he didn't know that it was there until he had said it. "But its more than that. It's a key to . . ."
"To the Kingdom Hearts itself." She finished for him. "How could you possibly know all that?"
Knave deflated and sat on a chair, he hung his head in his hands and shook it as if to clear his thoughts. "I don't know." He answered truthfully. "I don't remember anything before I woke up in one of the alleys out there. Nothing about my past, who I am, or where I come from."
Lirael looked sympathetic and shuffled forwards a little to place a hand on his shoulder. "Nothing?"
"Nothing." He repeated sadly.
He replayed the past few hours in his head. Arriving at the hotel, the fight in the streets, and waking up in the alley. But if he tried to push himself a little past that then all he got was a solid wall of white in his memory, with the sensation of heat and falling.
No matter how hard he tried, that was all he had gotten.
Maybe I don't want to remember? He thought, then dismissed it instantly. Of course he did.
Lirael watched him, a warmth growing in her chest at the thought of him. He was so kind, and brave. He'd risked himself to save her, and had given her the help she so desperately needed. She only hoped he hadn't been hurt in the process. She looked up, dismissing her thoughts to find him looking at her strangely, his head tilted to one side.
"Have I seen you before?" he asked, as if he were half way into a daydream. Lirael shook her head.
"I've never seen you. But... then again things are such a mess at the moment anything is possible I guess."
Lirael's words were interrupted, when a soft knock came at the door. A black gloved hand waved itself through the crack, and Lirael grinned, moving to throw back the door and fling her arms around the lythe form of Hakujou in a hug.
"You lived! You really... you're alright!" Another arm wrapped itself around Lirael, and pulled her from Hakujou. Reno was there as well, and now held Lirael in a firm embrace, looking truly relieved to find her ok. He rested his chin on her head, as Lirael squeezed him.
"There were so many! How did you win?" Reno laughed and kissed her forehead. Knave felt oddly relieved that Lirael didn't kiss back.
Why should he care? The two were obviously close.
"We fell back, away from the entrance to the Second District and tried to spread them out thinner through the streets. Luckily the bulk of the Heartless didn't want to follow and we escaped. It was just a cleanup job after that." Reno and Hakujou both looked greatly pleased to speak of it, and Lirael blinked, looking at Knave with wide eyes.
"You know what that means?" Her voice was sharp this time, but, somehow, still held its innocence. Knave moved back a step.
"No . . . something wrong?"
"Quite the opposite," Lirael picked her Key up from the end of the bed, and waved her hand over it. To Knave's astonishment, it vanished, and she didn't blink twice. "It means that this District is clear of Heartless, and we don't have to be worried about any more attacks for the time being. The gates at either end of town will keep them out now the ones here are gone."
It did indeed seem like good news. Knave smiled at Lirael's two companions in an attempt to be friendly. Hakujou responded quickly with a warm grin and a little wave, the young girl obviously the first one to actually notice him standing in the room. Reno, on the other hand had fixed him with a glare that would melt ice.
"Whose the new guy?" Hakujou asked in a mock-innocent tone.
Lirael pulled Knave forwards a little from where he had been hovering away from the main group, and placed a hand on his shoulder. "This is Knave. He saved me from the Heartless that chased me down and then brought me safely here to meet up with you guys. Apparently he's lost his memory."
Knave didn't amend her explanation, the fact he had only been looking for food and medical care was not something he was going to go into now. He had no idea that her friends had arranged to use this place as some kind of fallback point.
"This is Hakujou and Reno." She introduced, pointing at each in turn. "They're my--"
"Guardians." Reno cut in. "We're here to keep the Keymaster safe, no matter what the cost." Reno's voice was still cold, as he directed his words to Knave, who shrugged off his tone. He could quite understand how Reno felt. Lirael was something special, no doubt about it. He was about to say so, when Lirael interrupted.
"Reno... I don't expect you guys to die for me, you know that. I couldn't live without either of you." Shaking her head, her long black hair whipped around, ending up in her face. Reno reached a hand out and smoothed it back, leaning forward to kiss her again. He almost met her lips, when Lirael turned her head, and he touched her cheek instead.
"Never mind that," Hakujou chuckled, walking toward Knave while Reno and Lirael remained silent. "Our top priority right now is to take Lirael to meet with Merlin."
"Who is this Merlin guy?" Knave asked innocently.
"He's the oldest living magician, and very powerful, his magic has gotten to a level where he can sometimes catch glimpses of the future. He sent a message to Disney Castle just before Lirael arrived there herself, asking her to come to Traverse Town and meet him. The king assigned us to protect her on the journey because he feared that the Heartless would make a play for her."
"Which they did." Reno added sombrely. "Luckily they weren't counting on meeting too much resistance and only a weak force was sent to catch her."
Hakujou shook her head a little and glanced over her shoulder at Reno. "They're held up in the heart of the town, my guess is that the big-guns are all keeping Merlin trapped in there to stop him coming to meet with us."
"Then that means . . ."
"Yep, we're going to have to go to him."
Lirael looked a little startled, but didn't say anything. Reno on the other hand looked surprisingly cool and collected, he drew one of his guns from beneath the confines of his jacket and started to reload in a professional and business-like manner. He looked up when he was done and snapped the gun shut with a loud click.
"What are we waiting for then? Let's get moving. I guess that we'll be seeing you around Knave."
He was opening the door to leave when Lirael blurted out "I want him to come with us."
Knave wasn't sure who was the more surprised, himself or her friends. Hakujou stopped dead and spun around without making a sound, her eyes wide with astonishment. Reno on the other hand glared at Knave as if this were his doing.
In momentary fear for his life, Knave raised his hands in surrender and backed away. "Hey, no offence but I have other places to be," he added.
"That settles it then." Reno commented, placing a possessive hand onto Lirael's shoulder and trying to walk her to the door. "He doesn't want to come and we certainly don't need him getting in the way."
Lirael brushed away his hand and stamped her foot on the ground, a strangely child-like gesture. Folding her arms around her chest she turned back to Knave and ignored her friends attempt to shepherd her away.
"And where is it you're going to go?" she asked him. "You don't have any memory and even if you did you probably haven't ever been here before. Don't you want to get your memories back?"
"What?" Asked Knave slightly confused. All too aware of the evil stare Reno was putting on him from behind her.
"I said don't you want your memories back? Merlin is the most powerful magician anywhere, he's bound to be able to do something to help you, or at least pass you along to someone who can. Isn't it worth the effort to go and see him?"
Hakujou tried to intervene by imposing herself between them, "Lira, he's not a warrior like us. You can't ask him to come with us, maybe he can go and see Merlin after we've rescued him from all of this and moved on?"
"That's what you know!" Lirael poked her friend in the chest and spun on Reno, who was still glaring at Knave. "And you can cut that out as well! This man saved me from the Heartless back there, and he risked his own life to do it."
"We don't know anything about him." Reno murmured.
"I owe him the chance to find out who he really is!" She protested. "Besides, he is a warrior! He can be just as useful as you two are!" Lirael watched the expressions on her friends' faces. Hakujou seemed relatively alright with the idea. Her face was shrouded in a thoughtful expression, and she hummed a moment, before nodding.
"Why not?"
"How do we know he's not working with the Heartless?" Reno returned his guns to the inside of his coat, and crossed his arms stubbornly. "We should be wary of anything, Lirael. He could be -" A sharp cough from Lirael cut Reno's speech off short, as he looked down at the raven-haired Keymaster. Her cerulean orbs gazed up at Reno with contempt, and then suddenly softened. She folded her hands together, and hung her head, allowing her long black locks to cover her face.
"Please, Reno? I want him to come with us, because I feel bad. I owe him my life, and, if you truly care about me, you owe him, too." The whole display was somehow comical to Knave, and he couldn't help smiling to himself. This girl was manipulative... and good at it, too.
"Aw... Alright, Lirael. If it makes you happy... but, only for a little while, ok?" Reno patted Lirael's shoulder, and she looked up at him, smiling.
"Thank you." She moved forward and hugged Reno with a childish air of innocence. He hugged her back, and a loud silence filled the room. Hakujou coughed, and headed for the door.
"Yeah, uh, let's go." As she passed Lirael, she grinned at the girl, and shook her head. Lirael was so good at that sometimes. Her innocence and fragility made even the most cold hearted of people want to take care of her. It was just her charm. Hakujou had experienced it for herself, when she'd first met the girl.
Lirael had been sitting alone on the steps that led up to Disney Castle. Her chin had been resting in her hands as she propped her elbows on her knees. Her long, dark hair was spread out over her back, and her pale skin made her seem cold. But it had been the girl's eyes that had taken hold of Hakujou's heart. They were a striking cerulean blue, and, when she seemed sad, it was as if all the sorrows of the world were bottled up in those two, soft orbs.
When Hakujou had spoken to Lirael, she'd shivered, and turned her head up slightly, to look at Hakujou as if she were the only one left in the world.
Thinking about it now, Hakujou realised that Lirael's heart was the purest she'd ever encountered. And, most of the time, it was strikingly obvious.
"Yeah, let's go." Lirael's voice broke through Hakujou's reverie, as they all began to shuffle out the door. Lirael hung back to look up at Knave, and smile at him.
"It'll be ok. We'll find Merlin, and, maybe he knows how you can get your memories back." Grabbing Knave's wrist, Lirael tugged him down the hallway after her, as they followed Reno and Hakujou out the door of the inn.
Knave followed blindly, he was a lost man wondering about in a world he didn't know. How much harm could it do to tag along with these guys for a little while?