Oi! Alrighty! I'm back from my temporary hiatus! Woot! I finally got a new computer that's not short-circuited. And I believe my power isn't going to go out soon...hopefully. So I'll try to get in updates every week or so. Here's the next chapter for you guys and thanks for all of those who reviewed, and to all of those who were being patient. I hope you enjoy!
EDIT: oops...at the end I accidentally put "Sayomi" from my other story instead of Akemi. Thanks Wingless-Fairy for pointing it out! XD So now it's fixed.
Akemi woke to the sound of the breeze. 'Wait, if I hear the breeze, then I must be near the water that voice was talking about.' Sitting up, Akemi looked around her surroundings. A curtain? A bed? A dresser? She was definitely not near the ocean. "Oh great, I'm lost again." She was currently positioned in the bed, her blade resting on a chair. The room was dark, only the light of the moon filtering in through the open window. The breeze made an eerie noise as it blew in and out of the room. Akemi got out of the bed, it was a fairly large room, with intricate designs and lighting. The decorations on the walls looked a great deal like the ones she had seen from her short visit to Hollow Bastion.
Suddenly, she heard footsteps coming from outside her door. By the way they were echoing, it seemed as though there was a large hallway. The door knob opposite of the bed turned, letting in the owner of the reverberating footsteps. He was a fairly tall man, with very darkened skin. He looked very similar to the man that she had met not too long ago, Xehanort. But, he was different. His eyes glowed amber, and he had a sort of darker aura surrounding him.
"I see you've finally awaken." He spoke with a deep voice, sending chills up Akemi's spine.
"Who are you? Where am I?"
"I? Surely you know who I am. Just think." He answered, slightly confusing Akemi.
"I don't know who you are. Maybe that's why I asked. But you do look like Xehanort." She answered, a bit impatient with him.
"Ah, yes. My whole being."
"Then wait! You're Xehanort's heartless! You're the one that cause Riku so much pain! You caused all this trouble--" Akemi was cut off with a large booming shout of "silence!" by Xehanort's heatless.
"Yes, that I am. But just call me Ansem. It's much simpler to say, isn't it?"
"I don't have to call you anything. I'm leaving!" Akemi rushed towards the door, grabbing her blade. "Ansem" caught her by her wrist as she was about to leave.
"You may want to leave now, but later, you'll be the one coming back here on your own. You have been forgotten. Everyone you cherished once, they have all moved on." And with those last words, he let her go. Akemi glanced back once and stared into his gleaming eyes. She turned and ran out of the room, and into what looked like a fairly small castle. The same intricate designs that lined the room were in the hall. On either side of the hallway were countless doors. She finally came to what appeared like a grand hall and went out the large white double doors. It seemed as though they were the only thing around here that was white, or at least a light color. Once outside, she stepped into the familiar setting of the dark, cold realm. She continued on, walking and fighting the heartless as they came. Those lingering last words that Ansem had spoken to her haunted her thoughts as she continued on her journey.
"Hello? voice? are you there?" Akemi called out, once she had a spot to rest. Something seemed different about this place. I mean, sure it was cold, dark, and gloomy when she had gotten there, but everything seemed so...broken now. 'How long was I asleep?' The roads around her seemed cracked, what was once covered with the tiniest bit of light that there was in the realm was now matched with the other dark, if not pitch black background. The only sound she could hear was the occasional scuttling scratches of the heartless and the faint sound of waves coming in and out of the shore. She was so close, yet so far from her final destination. The place that would take her back to where she once was.
Akemi stood from her resting spot and decided to keep going in the direction of the sound of waves. She figured she would get there eventually. It was settled then, Akemi would just continue on with this until she reached her home. She could finally see everyone again. Riku, Sora, and even Kairi, that is if she felt like it. Akemi chuckled to herself. 'Well, at least one good thing came out of this journey. I didn't have to see Kairi for a while.'
So the pattern followed, walk, fight heartless, rest. And so this routine went on, for what seemed like countless hours. It was then that Akemi saw the faintest amount of light in front of her. With every step, the sound of waves got louder and louder. As she walked forward, it came into view, a beach it seemed. There were what looked like rocks and sand. The moon was illuminating the scene, with clear light. She could see it. Akemi saw the shore, and the water too. Her adventure was over. She could finally go home. With the last bit of strength, Akemi ran towards the shore. She jumped into the water and started laughing when the cool waves hit her.
"I wonder what the voice meant when it said 'I would know what to do'" Akemi thought outloud. Realization had just hit her when she noticed she didn't have the slightest clue what to do when she got here. Akemi frantically searched the area, looking for doors, or some sort of boat that could maybe get her across the water to the other side. That's when she noticed the footprints. There were 3 distinct footprints in the sand. One set was hers. The others, she didn't quite know. They were both pretty big, that's for sure. One of them seemed like one leg was being dragged, and the other was very close. Was one of them helping the other to walk?
Akemi walked towards the footsteps, she noticed a bottle near the shore, next to where the footprints ended. There was also a note. She scanned the message, until she reached the bottem.
"Signed...Kairi?" She questioned herself. "Wait...didn't Sora and Riku say something about a letter...yeah...and then...and then..." Akemi thought hard to herself to remember what the two boys had told her. "That's right! And then the door to light opened! These must be their footprints! Now I can go home. And I'll see Riku!" Akemi started getting excited and was waiting for the door to open. After a few moments, no pathways had been opened, and she started losing hope. That's when her sword suddenly appeared and started glowing. It lifted itself and pointed towards the sky, guiding her arms. A beam of light shot across, revealing a doorway.
Akemi hesitantly stepped forward, looking back on the dark road that lay behind her.
"I'm going home."
She stepped into the doorway. Light flooded around her. She couldn't see anything but light. And then, it stopped. Akemi tumbled onto the ground. There was faint lighting, but it was a familiar place. She stood up and looked back at the door she had just come through. It was starting to disappear.
"It's...it's the secret place. I'm home!" Akemi exclaimed as she rushed out of the cave where she and her friends had once played.
When she stepped out, it seemed as though something had changed. The once happy island that she had knew had a more...darker feeling? It still looked the same nonetheless. Akemi looked around for any traces of someone being on the island. She grinned when she spotted a figure sitting on the same bent paopu tree, gazing out to the horizen.
"Riku! Riku! I'm back! Riku!" Akemi yelled out as she sprinted towards the small island. The figure turned. It was Riku, but he looked...different. The same piercing aqua eyes, same long silver hair, same smirk. But something about him. It just seemed so wrong. "Riku, I'm back. I came back from the dark realm!"
Akemi was only greeted with a confused frown. Riku looked back at her and raised his eyebrow.
"I'm sorry, do I know you?"
So there's your chapter! Review please! I enjoyed all your reviews...even though I couldn't read them until yesterday...so yeah. Reviews make me happy!