It's been a while... college applications and all that jazz... but here it is! Enjoy, and review!
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Aphelion
03: Crushing the Ember, Sparking the Flame
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Mowgli charged into the fray of moving bodies, screaming in rage. But Sora was faster, and angrier, and he pushed past the surprised boy. Whipping Oathkeeper forward, the Keyblade master gave a single bound over the fallen bodies of the Wolf-People, and slashed at the shadowy form of the tiger. "Firaga!"
Flame bloomed from the ivory key and scorched the back of Shere Khan. The dark monster bayed in fury as the wound began to bleed black, curling smoke. It swiped an enormous paw through the air to swat the boy from the sky. Sora shoved the Keyblade between its red claws and managed to push the danger away. But he was off balance now, and Shere Khan roared in thunderous victory as his shadow tail snapped through the air, straight for Sora—
The black blade of Soul Eater diced through the creature's tail. Onyx blood spattered the wolves and the leafy ground as Riku landed neatly on the creature's back. He drew his blade up, ready to plunge it into Shere Khan's spine, but it yowled a curse and melted away into a cloud of black smoke, leaving only its surprised victims behind. Riku shifted out of his stance and quickly made his way over to where Sora was struggling to rise.
The brunette didn't meet Riku's inquiring eyes. "Thanks," he mumbled vaguely as he rolled to his feet and brushed his tattered red clothing.
Riku leaned against Soul Eater with a grin. "So, the Keyblade Master couldn't handle just one Heartless? And I've never been in combat before--how's that for natural talent?"
Sora was examining the raw, bleeding hide of one of the fallen wolves. He threw Riku a sour look but didn't retort as he touched the animal's flank with Oathkeeper. "Cura. You have been in combat before! Tons of times! And it wasn't just a Heartless. There was something different. Cura," he said again, casting the glowing green spell on the injured Wolf-People.
Before Riku could ask what was different, Bagheera ambled forward with Mowgli at his side. "The two of you have saved the Wolf-People, my brothers, from certain doom. I am indebted. Thou art the masters," said Mowgli sincerely, his dark eyes glimmering.
The Keyblade bearer offered the boy a smile, but his sapphire eyes were disturbed by shadows. "It's not a problem," Sora said gently, pushing his chocolate brown hair from his face. He continued to study the black, smoking wounds of the wolf in front of him, occasionally prodding the fur with gloved fingers.
"If you need us, we will be over there," Bagheera gestured with a silky paw. "We will help attend to the injured as well." The panther moved off, taking a reluctant Mowgli with him.
"Riku," the boy called suddenly, grabbing the other boy's pant leg. "Look at this."
The silver-haired teen bent down to examine the panting animal's side. Scorched in the tawny fur of the animal was an oozing, tar-like wound. Veins sprouted from the cut, black rivulets outlined against the wolf's pale skin. The bloody streaks etched the image of a heart dashed with an 'x' in the middle. Riku inhaled sharply but made no comment.
"Master!" moaned the wolf, its legs twitching in agony. "Am I to die…?"
Sora stroked the animal's head, his movements slow and his gaze faraway as he stared upwards at the dark canopy of the jungle. "No," he murmured softly. "Just rest now. You'll be alright." Oathkeeper hummed with more tender green light on the wound, and the wolf placed its weary head on the leafy ground and waited, still trembling with pain. Sora rose slowly, entranced in thought as he wandered away from the battle scene. Riku followed.
"What is it?" asked Riku once they were out of earshot of the wolves. "Hey, focus for a sec. What's wrong?" He grabbed Sora's arm, halting the other teen's racing thoughts.
"They were supposed to be gone."
"The Heartless, right? That's what the mark was, on that wolf. The exed-out heart."
"This… this is different," Sora said as he perched on a rotted log, not caring if his raggedy clothing got even more soiled.
"How? The Heartless would invade a world and steal everyone's heart. Then, the world would be plunged into darkness. So, if it really is starting again, what's so different?" Riku leaned casually against a tree trunk, arms crossed as he watched the wolves carry away their injured. At the same time
"It's more like a sickness than an invasion. Wounds with Heartless symbols in them. I haven't even seen one of the enemies I fought before I closed the door." His tattered yellow sneakers pawed restlessly at the leaf litter and his eyes stared vacantly at the lush velvet sky peeking between the thick branches. Dark chestnut eyelashes curled against tanned skin as he pondered this new predicament, and Riku wondered what kind of plan could possibly be hatching in that spiky head.
"We can't let it happen here. We're not going to let it!" The brunette suddenly sprung from the log and beamed at Riku, a glint of manic courage in his sapphire gaze. "We'll go to Cold Lairs—that's where Bagheera said they hide."
"Don't be stupid," the silver-haired boy interrupted. "We'll get killed if that tiger is there, and we can't ask the Jungle-People for help if the Heartless make them sick. Doesn't matter if we did; they were getting their asses kicked earlier anyways."
Sora brushed aside the comment with a wide gesture of his hands. "We won't have to tell them! We'll find out where the 'Cold Lairs' are, then we bust in there and kick some tail. We're sure to find out something about the Heartless along the way, right? No problem." The excitement in the Keyblade master's voice dimmed as he carefully scanned his companion's face, which had gone rigid with concentration.
"Riku…?"
"Be quiet. I smell something." Sora's eyebrows raised in confusion and he mouthed, what are you, a dog? But Oathkeeper shimmered into his hand anyways, ready for action. Riku's cautious gaze swept over the trees, the leafy ground, and into the deep wells of shadows. The scent was faint, but foreign, and it made his skin tingle in a strange way. He decided it smelled something like a bird—like feather dust, a cool night, and leaves—but he could not pinpoint the source.
"It's too faint," he muttered.
"Since when have you been able to smell auras?" Sora questioned.
"I don't know… I've always had a good sense of smell."
No, you haven't, the ocean-eyed boy thought, wondering what this could mean. Only those who hold the darkness have such powerful senses of smell, like the Heartless, with their cakey yellow eyes and wriggling antenna, how they can smell your blood and the fibers of your tasty heart— but he did not voice his uneasiness. Peril and experience had worn down his naiveté, and if Riku really was Ansem—as much as he shuddered at the thought—then he didn't want the homicidal man living inside his friend's soul to know that the Keyblade master was on to the game. Sora nodded, a grin slipping easily onto his face as he beckoned to Riku.
"We should get back to Mowgli and the others. They'll be wondering what happened to us." He reluctantly dismissed the Keyblade in a flash a light, his nerves alight with slight anxiety. Something was wrong, and had been wrong ever since Oathkeeper had led him to an amnesic Riku, then dropped him into this jungle where he could feel something evil rising around him like a temperature, but he could not place the feeling or its source. The adventure was supposed to end with the closing of the Door…
Wasn't it?
The two boys found the bear and the boy resting in the clearing, which was still splattered with wolf blood and torn bits of fur and flesh. Baloo approached them with Mowgli close behind, his solemn young eyes filled with fire.
"How is everyone?" asked Sora.
Baloo shook his head. "The wounds will not close, no matter the number of healing herbs we apply. Many wolves will be return to the earth tonight."
Sora lowered his eyes. "I see," he responded. "Thank you for trying to help us fight Shere Khan… but only we can fight the shadows." His head snapped up, gaze suddenly fierce like a turbulent sea.
"The Jungle is our home," said Mowgli. "We will help you any way we can."
"We have someone for you to meet," said Baloo, scratching his brown hide with a long claw as he peered nearsightedly at the young travelers. "A few moons ago, another animal came to the Jungle. He wields the Red Flower but walks on four legs like the beast. We do not quite understand what he is, but I believe he may be able to help you in your fight against the darkness. Let us go to meet him, and leave this accursed place. Bagheera has gone ahead to find him."
The great bear lumbered into the woods, with the three humans following closely. They followed him through the thick jungle foliage, pushing past vine-encrusted trunks and sharp brambles as they snaked their way towards the river. Riku glanced at the glowing, scratched face of his watch. If time ran on the same path in different worlds, than it was nearly 9:15. The night was just beginning.
The group finally reached the river's edge, where the shallow water caressed the sides of the rocks in a slow trickle. On the other side of the stream, they could spot the forms of two creatures, crouching low in the shadows.
"I am going to say the master words, the code of help and friendship in the Jungle. You would do well to remember them," explained Mowgli. He cupped a calloused hand around his mouth, and cried out over the river bed.
"We are of one blood, you and I." The call echoed eerily from the treetops, shaking sleeping birds from their roosts as they took wing into the night sky.
"Ah, Mowgli," Bagheera's voice responded. "You've finally arrived."
The creatures leapt over the water at the code words, and in the trickled moonlight Riku and Sora could see an animal that they had never seen before. It resembled a lean panther, with ruby red fur and a cropped auburn mane that was decorated with feathers. Its sinewy legs were tattooed with strange designs, and four golden bangles graced its slender paws. Crimson eyes sparked with intelligence as the beast whipped his flaming tail, bowing politely.
"I am called Red XIII," said the feline. "And you are?"
"The name's Sora," the brunette greeted, and took the animal's outstretched paw into a handshake.
"Riku," said the other as he too shook Red's paw. "What exactly are you, if you don't mind me asking?"
"I am exactly as you see," Red answered unhelpfully, pulling his paw away quickly. Was it just Riku, or did he see the animal's eyes widen in surprise when they touched?
"So, how exactly did you get here, Red?" Sora questioned.
"Well, that in itself is quite an interesting story," he said as the fiery eyes locked into Sora's face. "But it'll have to wait for another time. Bagheera here tells me that something more important is happening as we speak."
"Sora, Riku. I fear that I may have to ask you to go to the Cold Lairs and face the darkness that lies there." The panther's tail twitched in agitation. "I hate to ask this of you, but it seems that the wounds inflicted by Shere Khan to the Wolf People have caused some kind of madness—they seem to be losing control of themselves—"
"What!" Mowgli cried, grabbing Baloo's forearm in a vice grip. He stared into his mentor's eyes, filled with fear and fury. "Baloo, why didn't you tell me--?"
"Peace, Mowgli! We do not want you to do anything foolish, do you understand?" Bagheera hissed under his whiskers.
"My mother and father, they fought the tiger, what happened to them?" Mowgli's fist tightened around the bear's wrist. "Have they been affected?"
"Your father seems to not have any symptoms, but Raksha, your mother…"
"What? What happened!"
"Little Brother, I am sorry… she has turned into one of the soldiers of darkness…" For a second, Mowgli was still, and the only sound was the weeping trickle of the river. Then the boy bolted towards the trees, howling in rage.
"Brother, wait—!"
"Stopga!" A flash of light, and Riku saw Oathkeeper's ivory frame swish through the air. Mowgli's body was suspended in mid-run, and his astonished friends gasped in fear. Red scrutinized the Keyblade master with interest, but made no move to act.
"He's not hurt," Sora said, clenching the soft grips of his Keyblade. "He can still hear us. Keep talking, and if he wants to leave when the magic wears off, then let him."
Bagheera's eyes spoke of fear, but the panther continued, his posture relaxed. "It seems as though those who had open wounds and were touched by the blood of the tiger were taken by the madness. They tried to bite the others but were too weak from injury to properly attack. Their eyes turned the color of the old moon, and they fled into the jungle, towards the Cold Lairs. Akela knows not what to do with his pack. His wisdom in leading the wolves does not extend to such a disaster."
"So you're asking us to just march in there?" Riku asked, folding his arms over his chest with impatience. The smell was still lingering in his nostrils, the faintest stench of darkness, and it was making him anxious.
Baloo lowered his great shaggy head to regard the agitated youth. "I am afraid that I cannot spring as I once could, and Bagheera must stay behind to assist in the order of the Pack. But Red will assist you, and perhaps Mowgli as well. Little Brother, what say you?"
Stopga's magic had worn off, but Mowgli still stood facing away, the muscles of his shoulders trembling beneath tanned skin.
"I will help. Though the wolves have cast me out of the pack because I am a man—they cannot look me between the eyes for fear—they are still my brothers. And my mother, who cradled me between her paws when I was a cub… I cannot betray her, despite my anger at the Pack. I will go, and by the Jungle that bore me, I will save them all."
"Well said," murmured Bagheera under his fine whiskers.
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Weaving through the tree trunks, feet flying, breath staggering under parted lips, the trio of humans and the feline made their way through the Jungle. As they approached the Cold Lairs, the humid, heavy air thinned into wisps of frigid fog and cloudy tentacles that caressed their legs and faces.
"It's freezing!" Sora complained.
"It is not much further," said Mowgli, and despite his determined expression Riku guessed that the scantily-clad boy was probably cold as well. Riku, however, couldn't feel the dropping temperature at all. Soon, Mowgli waved a hand at the others to signal them to stop. They ducked into some nearby bushes and gazed in silent apprehension and wonder at the sight before them.
From the twisted tree trunks and thick vines, the ruins of a city emerged—crumbling marble citadels and summerhouses, stone palaces and broken shrines. However, the most notable feature of the Cold Lairs was the frosting of black ice that had crept over the ruins and spires of dark frost which now hung from the belly of the gigantic stone gate. Wolf sentinels paced the gates, their furs stained with dark blood that dewed from their Heartless-shaped wounds. Yellow eyes roved over the landscape, searching for traces of movement, ready to pounce.
"Incredible," Red murmured, tucking his flaming tail underneath himself to hide the light. "Frost in a subtropical jungle. Is this some kind of magic?"
"Yeah, something like that," Sora muttered, distracted by the dread clenching his heart. He cast a discreet glance at Riku, whose brows were pinched together in thought. If he were Ansem… now is the time he'd show himself. We're surrounded by these Heartless wolves, or whatever they are, so now's the time…
"So how are we getting in?" Riku asked. His nose was tingling with the stench of blood hanging over the area, making him slightly dizzy. He gripped the leather hilt of Soul Eater until he lost the feeling in his fist, his nerves jangled by the combined smell and the chilling sensation that rippled off the Heartless. Could it really be possible that he had once befriended this darkness? It seemed almost insane, but compared with the equally insane ideas of world-hopping and key-sealing, it was nearly normal…
"We should probably formulate some kind of diversion strategy," said Red, his garnet-colored eyes examining the enemy through the screen of the bushes. "We can't waste time with all the minions. Where would the boss be?"
Mowgli rolled his spear uneasily in his fingers. "Shere Khan would probably lurk in the Tower. From there, you can see the entire city and much of the jungle. From here, we shall go up the great staircase and into the courtyard—"
"Um… I don't think that we have time for that," Sora interrupted.
"And may I ask why not?" the feline huffed indignantly.
"'Cause it looks like they found us!" Sora rocketed to his feet and slashed Oathkeeper forward in battle stance, his eyes glued to the frosted gates of the ruined city. Blossoming from the stone and ice like morbid, bruised flowers were the Shadow Heartless. Attracted by the scent of fresh hearts, they pounced from their perches and melted into the ground, oozing rapidly toward them. At their heels were the transformed wolves, eyes rolling maniacally and black tongues hanging out.
"Make a run for it!" Sora yelled. The brunette dashed towards the gate, sliding on the black ice but still managing to rip three of Shadows to shreds. Red pounced on two of the wolves, tearing at them with his fiery tail and claws while Mowgli bashed the head of the other with his spear, knocking it away. Soul Eater dispatched of the rest of the Shadows as they sprinted through the gate and into ruined city.
"To the staircase!" Mowgli cried. All around them, the citrine eyes of the Heartless were winking awake, puddling upwards from the trees, the ice, and the stone. They multiplied rapidly, plopping from every crevice and hopping after the group as they flew up the grand staircase, which was deformed by time and marred by creeping vines. The Shadows danced after them as the trio of humans and the feline emerged from the crumbling staircase into what had formerly been a magnificent courtyard of marble and palms, now slicked over with dark glacial masses.
But they never made it any further into that ruined city.
Because from the Tower charged the mutated, oil-black form of Shere Khan, followed by his legion of Heartless wolves. Mowgli gave a cry of anguish and rage as the canines circled around them, his friends and packmates among the ranks of the enemy. And hovering over the entire evil scene was someone Sora had hoped never to see again.
The witch raised her pale hands to the night sky, summoning more legions of Heartless from the trees rotted by the dark magic. Her painted lips slid into a lazy smile and as she lowered her delicate staff, the frayed ends of her black robes flapping like ravens' wings in the chill wind. She floated down from her tower post, feet lightly grazing the back of Shere Khan, whose impatient snarling sounded like a freight train.
"Ah, Riku…my dear boy. How good it is to see you again."
"Don't you talk to him!" Sora shouted, his fists balled in anger. Oathkeeper flashed into his hands, glowing gold with his master's fury.
The witch ignored the brunette's comment, examining the older teen with calculating, coal black eyes. "Why the confused face? Do you not recognize your mistress?"
"Afraid not, lady," he remarked, twirling Soul Eater in his hand. He flipped a few strands of sterling hair from his face and locked gazes with the woman. "But from what Sora has told me, you're Maleficent, right? The bitch witch who led the Heartless and fell into her own trap."
The witch laughed, the sound quivering in the air like the noise of breaking icicles without a trace of humor.
"Such insolence! You had better watch your tongue around me, child," she hissed, the Heartless sensing her fury and shifting hungrily in their great black masses. "I believe you may regret it if you decide to stay with that boy there and do not come to my side immediately."
"I'm shaking in my boots," Riku sneered. "And what'll you do if I don't feel like joining your merry little band?"
Maleficent grinned, showing her teeth for the first time. Her canines were blood red and abnormally long, and they shimmered with the energy of her sorcery. Mowgli shuddered at the sight of the witch's fangs, while Red began to growl low in his throat.
"You may soon find that you will no longer be able to make that decision for yourself, dearest Riku. It's just as they said—you have forgotten everything, have you not? Even your own friend there?" she said coolly, curving her graceful fingers over her staff. "It's a shame—you seem to have forgotten that this boy here was the one who locked you into the darkness—"
"That's enough!" Sora took a step forward, brandishing the Keyblade, his topaz eyes glinting in anger. "Why're you still alive? Why are the Heartless here? And what've done to Riku's memory?"
"If you defeat me, I just may tell you…that is, if you manage to live. Come, my Heartless, attack! Tear their hearts from their living flesh!" The witch held out a hand and slid sideways into a black portal, melding into the night.
From every direction, the Shadows and wolves swarmed down, with the thunderous roar of Shere Khan shaking the foundations of the ruin as he leapt. Sora swung the Keyblade down and flame exploded from the pearly weapon, erasing an entire horde of Shadows. The brunette then punched the weapon into the air and lighting streaked from the sky, evaporating several more Heartless into puffs of smoke.
"There're too many!" Riku yelled, slashing the chest of an attacking wolf as more Shadows oozed up from the floor. Mowgli cried out as one of the Shadows sprung onto his back, ripping at the exposed flesh with pointed claws. The silver-haired boy kicked out and smashed the creature's face with his Nikes, but more of the monsters rose from the icy floor and slithered towards the huddled group of fighters.
"The Keyhole of this world must be around here somewhere! Oathkeeper's gotta lock it before they—!"
Sora didn't get the chance to finish his sentence. The enormous, car-sized head of Shere Khan hurtled down, mouth open and blood red teeth ready to snap up the morsel of a boy. The brunette rolled out of the way, and leapt to his feet, casting a Firaga at the creature's exposed face. Half of the tiger's face exploded into hissing, putrid black smoke and blood. Enraged, it lunged again at Sora, who was too close to dodge. Sora hurled the Keyblade at the beast's face, where it lodged firmly into its cheek bone and stayed there. Shere Khan bellowed and reared, Oathkeeper poking out of its jaws as it flung its monstrous head around and stamped the floor, squashing the scurrying Shadows and smashing up the icy floor.
"Uh oh…" Sora tried to duck and dodge the flailing limbs, but a paw whacked him soundly in the stomach. The impact jetted him back and slammed him into one of the broken stone ruins. He moaned and crumpled, unmoving.
"Sora!" Red cried as he bounded over to the fallen boy, but more Heartless blocked his path. Mowgli came to his aid, brandishing his spear at the incoming wave of wolves and Shadows.
Riku turned, about to rush over to help the feline and the jungle boy, but he was distracted by a blur of white that suddenly filled his sight. Oathkeeper clanked to the floor in front of him, and Riku stared in horror at Shere Khan. Shadows were creeping up the tiger's legs and back, melding into its wounds and recreating its injured face.
There was no time to think. Riku snatched up the Keyblade and dashed under the legs of the Heartless tiger, panting and sliding on the slippery frost. One chance, he thought to himself, I have to find the Keyhole before the tiger starts attacking again. He raced over the icy stone floors, sidestepping Heartless and spires of ice, and into the looming tower.
As he entered the first room, the Keyblade shuddered strongly in Riku's hand. To his right, crumbling stairs wound up to the higher floors; in front of him squatted a stone altar, etched in unreadable symbols and ornate designs. "Show me where the Keyhole is," he said, feeling slightly stupid for talking to a weapon. Nevertheless, Oathkeeper rumbled again and tugged him towards the stairs. Riku sprinted up two flights before emerging in yet another room with another altar. This one, however, was covered in gigantic blocks of broken stone. In the side wall was a large vine-covered window that looked out over the jungle. Oathkeeper shuddered and glowed blue: this was it.
"Shit," he mumbled as he heaved rocks off of the shrine. He worked feverishly, trying not to think about the three companions outside and ignoring the rumbling of Shere Khan, who sounded as though he was nearly done healing from the rigor of his roar. "Come on, come on…where's the damn Keyhole?"
A sudden sound of hissing halted his work. Riku slowly turned his head and ogled at the frightening sight of an enormous boa constrictor unraveling itself from the corners of the room. The enormous coils of the yellow and brown mottled snake shimmered in the light thrown by the Keyblade, and its luminous green eyes glinted like jade in the dark.
"Ssss…with all this noise and cold, how is Kaa supposed to sleep in peace? And what else has awoken me but a little man cub that has wandered into my lair? But it is well—now I shall not have to hunt, as my meal has come to me." The snake raised his massive head, ready to strike out at the boy and swallow him whole.
"We are of one blood, you and I," Riku quickly called, remembering the master words Mowgli had told them that spoke of friendship in the jungle.
"Assp! The man cub knows the Master Word!" Kaa's coils poured from the shadows until his entire body was in the light, and Riku could see that the snake was about thirty feet long and the width of a tree trunk. It was simply, ridiculously, large.
"Could you help me get this rubble off of this altar?" Riku asked, trying to sound polite though the sound of Shere Khan's snarling whine and the clashes and cries of battle were coming through the window.
"'Tis nothing, Brother, for one as big as I," said Kaa. "Stand back, little manling." The snake leveled his triangular head and hammered the pile of bricks twice, nose first. The stone shattered at the force of the blows and part of the wall crumbled, revealing a keyhole-shaped space above the shrine.
Riku wondered if he would be able to lock it—after all, that was Sora's job, wasn't it?—but he raised Oathkeeper to the Keyhole.
Of course, though, things were never that easy.
Nothing happened. Oathkeeper lay still in his hand, as unhelpfully as if he was holding up a dead fish. Riku fought the urge to chuck the damned thing out the window
"What am I supposed to do!" he yelled, shaking the great ivory key. And as if someone had heard actually heard him, the smell came back. The same strange scent, the one that smelled like feathers, wafted into the stone chamber. And with it came the soft whisper of a deep, baritone voice, smooth and cold like a winter wind, echoing softly in his mind.
"It's not the Keyhole you need…it's the Core. That's where the Heartless are spawning from."
"The Core…?" Riku questioned.
"A Core of this world…a strong heart on which the Heartless are feeding and multiplying…the sickness…"
"Where can I find it?" Riku snapped. He was getting weary of voices with unseen sources.
But the smell and the voice had faded.
A crashing sound filled his ears, and Riku dashed to the window. He stared down through the vines in disbelief at the Shadows that were now crawling up the tower, yellow eyes gawking at him. Farther away, he could see Shere Khan closing in on the tiny figures of Red and Mowgli.
"You've gotta be kidding me," he groaned in frustration. No time for conventional methods. With a great swing of his arm he hurled the Keyblade down the wall, watching with some satisfaction as the Heartless squealed and scurried away from the window. He hauled himself on the ledge, facing outwards, and started to ease himself down the tower wall, arms shaking with effort.
"Manling! Where are you going? Surely not to that darkness?" The great head of Kaa filled the window as Riku paused, white hair slick with sweat and his feet bracing against the ancient granite. Ignoring the snake, Riku took a deep breath and released his vice grip on the old stone ledge. The Heartless forming on the wall hissed and spattered as he jumped from Shadow to Shadow, managing to half-tumble, half-leap his way down the tower. Landing gracefully on a pile of half-formed Shadows, he plucked Oathkeeper from the icy floor and plunged forward into the fray.
It seemed as though the battle was nearly over—Red and Mowgli stood guard over a prone Sora, and the wolves were closing in, tongues sagging and possessed yellow eyes rolling. Above them all, Shere Khan's earthquake voice was screaming out in triumph. The gigantic tiger's mouth was opening, ready to devour the tiny creatures that had dared to oppose him—
Riku leapt, tossing Oathkeeper to the side and summoning Soul Eater. The winged sword howled as it struck the tiger's flesh, digging straight into its back—
"This is your power."
Ruby light burst from Shere Khan's back, blowing away the shadow, and Riku could see the shine of a luminescent heart, clamped by tendrils of darkness—
"Not even Sora can do this."
Steam billowed from the heart, the world was quaking, and someone or something was screaming, voices, an unearthly cacophony of magic and noise and jets of light—
He is a man-cub and from the very marrow of my bones I hate him!
"After all, you are…"
Then open yourself to the darkness… the darkness holds the power to defeat the object of your hatred! Become darkness itself!
"You are…"
This power…Mowgli shall die! This power! All will fall to the might of Shere Khan…!
Riku felt his body impact on the hard earth. Above, the stars glimmered feverishly, and for a moment he could see the outline of a black-robed woman observing overhead, sallow face spread in a smile. Maleficent? Her ruby lips were moving, spelling out words…
"You belong to the darkness… you belong to me."
The world grew hazy, as if someone had pulled gauze over his eyes, and Riku promptly passed out.
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"Hey, Sora." A familiar voice. Sweet and youthful, not yet tinged with the suave calmness that would come later in adolescence. Navy shorts, sleeveless yellow jacket, hair like threads of ivory silk—I recognize this boy.
It's me.
"Hm?" The other boy turns around to face me…the younger me, I mean. Eyes like topaz seas, dark lashes curling against honey gold skin. Sora? It has to be—the boy has the same golden smell. It looks like we're in a cave, where someone has scribbled little pictures in white chalk on the cool, moldy stone.
And at the end of the cave, there is a door. Just a simple wooden door, nothing fancy, nothing amazing, yet it means everything to this world.
"When we grow up, let's get off this island. We'll go on real adventures, not this kid stuff!"
They can't see me. They keep chatting, as they push their way through the wide, jewel-green leaves that cover the entrance. But before I—or he—leaves, younger Riku glances over his shoulder. At me. At the door, so simple and plain, but behind it lies a secret, and he knows that someday, he will discover—
I'm falling through everlasting darkness, swallowed by blackness deeper than any sea. Falling, falling, and I have a feeling that it's not gravity pulling me down, but the calling of some foul and unseen beast.
"What lies beyond the door? Who made the Keyblades, and what is their true power and purpose?"
"Who moves the hands of destiny; what is the power that shakes both the heavens and the earth?"
"Soon. The time is coming when you will awaken…"
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His eyes fluttered open. Aquamarine orbs gazed up a patchwork of leaves, neatly woven by experienced hands, strings of light shining in the spaces between the palms. For a moment, he couldn't remember where he was, or why he didn't hear his damned mother whining in the corridor about a broken nail or some other idiotic matter. Then the sound of bird song and monkey chatter filled his ears and the sweet aroma of roasting meat reminded him of his hunger.
Riku propped himself up on his elbows, running bare fingers through his silvery hair, which shone like gilded steel from the morning dew. He was lying on a bed of soft grasses, next to the gentle river where he and Sora had crash-landed in what seemed like an eternity ago. The sunlight speckled the forest floor and the humid heat of the jungle was subdued by the makeshift tent over his head. For the first time in quite a few years, he felt a sharp tinge of true, unbridled fear—it had essentially been the same dream, but it felt real…too real. The teen then noticed Sora, who was hunkered down a few feet away under a sapling. The other boy's head was bowed as flipped what appeared to be a ragged book of green leather in his hands, his usually cheerful face distorted by melancholy.
"You know, the depressed look doesn't really suit you," Riku coughed loudly. His unused voice sounded like he'd swallowed a cup of grated chalk. Sora jumped in shock, the book leapt from his hands, and his head banged against the branch of the sapling with a resounding thud. Riku couldn't help laughing at the boy's antics, even as Sora rubbed a hand through his chocolate, spiky hair and pouted. But the brunette soon broke into a grin at Riku's amusement.
"Glad to see you're awake," Sora chirped, gathering the other boy under his arm before grinding a fist into Riku's skull. "Only a knuckle-head like you can sleep for two whole days!"
Riku playfully pushed off the offending boy, smiling lazily as stretched out his stiff legs. "Two days?" he asked, his voice still scratchy but nonchalant. "Where're my clothes?" he questioned, running a hand over his bare, taut chest. His jeans were still intact, but his shoes were missing too.
"I had to take them off. You were bleeding into them," Sora said with a sheepish grin.
"Really?" Riku chuckled at the pink stain of embarrassment growing across Sora's cheeks. "I don't see any cuts. But hey, I wouldn't blame you if you just wanted to check out the washboard…" He stroked his tight abs for emphasis, grinning.
"Don't hold your breath!" Sora yelped. "You were cut up! It's not my fault if you healed so damn fast! Kept muttering in your sleep too." The boy puckered his face and flopped his hands in front of him in imitation. "Unh… the door, blah blah…" he moaned, hunching over and crowing like a goblin. "What was that all about?"
"Forget about it," Riku said distantly.
"Hey, c'mon, tell me!" With a grin, the brunette lunged on top of the older boy, pinning him with wiry, but strong arms. "I bet you were dreaming about girls, huh?" he snickered. "Remember that one time you were sleeping over at my house and you had that dream about Kairi and then—"
"Us. I dreamed about us when we were younger. The first time we went to the Secret Place." Silence stretched between the boys, punctuated by the cries of the jungle creatures and the gentle weeping of the river.
"Riku… you remember?" Sora gawked down at his childhood friend, sea-blue eyes sparkling with surprise and hope.
"That's the only thing that I can remember. But how can I have memories from two separate lives?"
"I don't know… but your memory coming back must have something to do with when you released Shere Khan's heart—"
"I did?" Riku asked, puzzled.
"Don't you remember? I got knocked out, but Red told me you jumped at him and Soul Eater started shining and it blew up the tentacles that were wrapped around Shere Khan's heart," Sora said, gesturing.
"And then?"
"The wolves kinda woke up…they couldn't remember anything that had happened and the Heartless mark vanished—but Shere Khan died. I guess the darkness had too strong a hold on his heart. You passed out—and that shot out of Shere Khan's heart before it disappeared." The brunette tumbled off of Riku and picked up the green leather book that he had been inspecting before Riku had awoken. He handed it to the silver-haired boy, who studied the time-worn cover with curiosity. The book seemed to be some kind of diary—it had a rusty gold lock that clamped the pages shut and indecipherable words were scribbled all over the front.
"What is it supposed to be?" Riku asked. With a flash of dancing sparks, Sora summoned Oathkeeper and tapped the lock. The pages sprung open and he eagerly scrutinized the pages—but they were blank, ordinary sheets of slightly moldy paper.
"This is it?" the aqua-eyed boy muttered.
"Well, there must be something else to it," Sora said. "But right now, we've got more important things to talk about!" Riku lowered the book, slowly, though he kept it clutched to his side. "We gotta talk about what's happening with these new movements of the Heartless."
Riku tilted his head back, allowing the warm fingers of sunlight to caress his face and light silver fire to his hair. "Well, I don't know as much about it as you probably do. But I think whoever's controlling the Heartless chose to infect Shere Khan's heart with the power of darkness—his hatred for men, and Mowgli in particular, was a perfect breeding ground for the shadow power that allows you to control the hearts of others. When Shere Khan bit the wolves, he spread that dark power and so he could control them—that's what the Heartless mark on their bodies meant. And Shere Khan was the Core—or something like that."
Sora ogled at the older teen in wide-eyed wonder and confusion. "How d'you know?"
"I heard it when I released Shere Khan's heart. I heard Shere Khan and another voice—whoever started the infection—talking. There was also another voice, in the tower, but it was different…" Riku eased down on his makeshift bed, tiredness ringing in his bones. He rolled and crunched a couple of dead leaves in his hands, avoiding the gaze of sapphire waves as he vaguely wondered why he could now smell nearly every morsel of the environment, from the leaf corpses in his hands to the icy breath of the river to the distant smell of roasting meat. The boy did not move as Sora edged closer and lowered himself into a cross-legged position by Riku's side.
"Did you also hear…Maleficent?"
The silver-haired boy sucked in breath softly, and didn't meet the other's eyes. You belong to me… "No. Who cares about her? She disappeared after ordering the Heartless, right?"
"Riku," Sora began, his voice cracking at the mental barriers of the other's mind, the wafting, golden smell ultimately distracting as Riku tried desperately to ignore him. "Why are you hiding something from me?"
"I'm not hiding anything." Where was this fear coming from? Riku felt his lungs clenching, and his lithe fingers ground the leaves into dust as he focused his stare upwards, at the canopy of leaves. What's the big deal about telling the kid about these stupid dreams? Why am I afraid?
"Riku… I've known you forever. And you stink at lying…you won't even look at me."
Anger suddenly boiled up from the pit of Riku's stomach. The stress and confusion of the past hours snapped his fragile self-control. "I said I'm not hiding anything! If you don't want to believe me then that's fine. Why would I tell you anything anyways?" Riku abruptly jerked up from the ground. He pushed past Sora, emerald eyes blazing, as he strode towards the glittering river. The Keyblade Master sat very still, his expression hidden by wisps of chocolate hair that swept across his bronzed face, but his breath jumped in and out of him in a desperate rhythm. Riku spun around to yell at Sora, the fear clutching at his body like Heartless claws, the fear of the unknown.
"I never had another life! And I don't owe you anything! I'm the one helping YOU out in this ridiculous shit, not the other way around!" Stillness and silence from the brunette. Riku turned away in disgust and waded through the ferns into the chill body of the river. Frigid water licked over his feet and the jungle heat pressed in on him like the iron bars of a cage, with his fear rising.
Riku jumped at the sudden feeling of being embraced from behind. Tanned arms snaked around his chest and clamped down on the wrist of the other. He felt the rise and fall of Sora's chest as the boy leaned against him, the feather touch of his auburn hair, and the golden, autumn smell that belonged only to Sora.
"Don't be afraid."
Riku stood unmoving, blue green eyes locked on some distant tree, the cries and heat of the jungle a faraway sensation as his mind focused on the words of the younger boy.
"You might not remember me, and maybe you don't even trust me. But Riku, I remember you. I know you'd never say anything if you were afraid. You always had to be the support for all of us.
"But I know you—and I know you're scared because you can't remember yourself, and you're probably hiding all sorts of things from me…but it's ok. Don't be such a dork, Riku! And don't be afraid of who you are, and what will happen in the future. Because even in the greatest darkness, the worst sadness or fear...there will always be a door to the light. I really believe that. And I'm not gonna let you sit around and mope and worry about what'll happen. You got it? 'Cause we're gonna be here for each other—always." Sora released him and pulled away, the ocean in his eyes glimmering and that goofy, boyish smile on his face. The brunette placed his hands casually behind his head as Riku turned, very slowly, to face him.
"Thanks…kid." Disappointment stood starkly on Sora's face, stamping out the shine of hope quivering on his lips.
"Yeah… we're best friends, you know?" Sora's smile returned, slowly but steadily like the inevitable approach of dawn.
Riku looked away, finding that his eyes still feared touching the other's ocean gaze. This must have been why the Keyblade chose Sora instead of me. At least that part makes sense. Riku pushed away the silence and allowed his cocky smile to emerge. He grabbed the brunette by the arm and pulled them both from the shallow mouth of the river. "So, is there anything to eat?"
"Oh!" Sora seemed a bit startled by the sudden change of attitude. "Well, Mowgli brought me a gigantic chunk of deer meat this morning, but, um, it was raw and I've been cooking it, or um, trying to. Even though I can't really cook too well," he chuckled nervously.
"What? No McDonald's?"
"Mick what?" Sora questioned, his brows knitted in confusion.
"It's a… never mind." Riku caught sight of the campfire with its crown of impaled meat, supported by two long sticks of wood. He deftly plucked the steaming food from the fire and tore it in half, handing one piece to Sora and folding his legs underneath him to enjoy his meal. The charred meat tasted sweet and delicious, and his increasingly powerful sense of smell made his head spin from the fragrance of the delicate food. Sora flopped down at his side, bouncing the meat from palm to palm to cool it. The two ate with silence as their companion, disturbed only by the weeping of the stream and the sleepy voices of the Jungle animals as each lost himself in his thoughts.
The two were just licking their fingers and brushing the ashes from their clothes when a blur of crimson fur bounded over their heads and landed neatly on all fours beside the dying campfire. Red stretched with the languid motion of a hunter, silky mane rustling as he studied the two boys with ruby eyes. "Good morning," the feline yawned.
"Hey, Red," said Sora, slinging a friendly arm over the sterling-haired boy's shoulder. "Riku's feeling better now."
Amber eyes rolled over Riku's form and the cat's flaming tail swished and snapped through the air in what Riku interpreted as irritation. "Well done. The repairs are finished, so I am ready to leave whenever you are." Muscles coiled, Red charged back into the brush and galloped off on silent paws. The sterling-haired boy rolled his eyes and wandered back toward the makeshift shelter in search of his clothes.
"That thing hates me," Riku muttered, kneeling to yank on his torn-up Nikes back onto his bare feet. "It was pissed about me waking up. Dammit!" he cursed softly as his fingers caught on a narrow splinter stuck in the shoelace. Blood beaded from the shallow cut as he pinched out the slender, moist wood.
"Of course he doesn't!" Sora protested as he busily gathered the supplies into his voluminous jumper pockets. He stamped vigorously on the campfire to douse the flames and gestured for Riku to follow him into the jungle on Red's path.
"Hey! Wait a second! How are we even going to get out of here?" Riku called to Sora's retreating back, rubbing his cut fingers distractedly against his jeans.
"You'll see…!" came the echoing reply.
"Yeah, we'll see..." Riku sighed. "I guess it can't possibly get any stranger." The older teen sauntered after the Keyblade master into the thickets, one hand clenched on Soul Eater's hilt and the other on the old, tattered book. And unbeknownst to him, the trickle of blood from his fingers was seeping into the time-worn leather, and from between the covers the slumbering magic began to stir…
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Super long chapter to make up for months of slackness. Hope you enjoyed, and don't forget to review! A minute of your time justifies the hours I spend on this ;;
Next chapter... I believe we may be seeing our favorite member of the Organization... ?)