Keys of Destiny
Chapter 8: Residing Darkness
Confronted by Roxas, Namine looked lost as to what she should do. She had her sketchbook in her hands.
"Why did you have to run, Namine?" Roxas asked, taking a step closer to the girl.
"Roxas. I, I was just," Namine stammered, not realising she took a step back as she did. "I thought you were a Heartless."
It didn't take a genius to figure out Namine was a bad liar. Roxas, for one, wouldn't buy that excuse. Not when he was positive she saw them and then she ran away. Namine was wearing her usual white, above-knee length summer dress. Her slender hands clenched onto her important sketchbook.
Sora joined them moments later. "Namine!" Sora was surprised to see her, but nonetheless greeted her with a big smile. Returning a smile at him, Namine asked him how he got here. Sora had to explain everything from the beginning again. Roxas stood and stared at the two, arms folded. Sora wasn't supposed to know Namine more than her being Kairi's Nobody. But Sora was treating her like an old friend.
"Could I see that?" Roxas extended his hand, asking for the sketchbook. He knew he didn't sound nice, and wasn't in the mood to either. For what she could have done to him and Sora, he considered himself relatively nice.
Namine drew her sketchbook close to her protectively. She shook her head, declining his request. "I'm sorry."
Striding forward to her, Roxas snatched the sketchbook from her and flipped it open.
"Roxas! What are you doing?" Sora stepped forward, trying to take the sketchbook back from Roxas. Roxas paced around to avoid Sora's snatching hands without taking his eyes off the sketchbook. His cerulean eyes widened as he went through each drawings.
"Give it back!" Sora scowled. Roxas had proven to be as slippery as wet fish.
Namine was watching them from a short distance. Roxas went up to her abruptly. He opened up the sketchbook to a page and showed it to her. "Namine," Roxas' voice was like the calm before the storm. "What is the meaning of this?"
At that moment, three voices called out to them from behind. Sora turned around and saw King Mickey, Goofy and Donald running towards them. On the contrary, Roxas and Namine stood very still. They didn't react to or take notice of the arrival of their companions, as though there were only the two of them in the deserted city.
King Mickey and Goofy looked up to Sora doubtfully. Sora simply shook his head and looked back to Roxas and Namine. Donald rolled up his sleeves, looking annoyed by Roxas' attitude. "What is Roxas doing to her-" the duck jumped when Sora hushed him quiet. Raising an eyebrow, Donald crossed his arms and fell silent.
Roxas stared at Namine demandingly. Namine stared back, her eyes hard and determined. Worried by their petrified posture, Sora went to take a closer look at the drawing that Roxas was still holding up. It was a sketch of Kairi with a red cross over it. Roxas released his hold on the sketchbook, allowing it to drop. Loose pages fell out and scattered all over the ground. Most pictures depicted Kairi, all bearing red crosses over them. There were also pictures of Sora, Goofy and Donald and scenes of Castle Oblivion. Those were without crosses.
Namine's eyes rested on the scattered drawings. She bit her lip, looking like a child expected to be scolded for doing the wrong thing.
"Do you know what you can do to Sora if you continue to alter his memories?" asked Roxas angrily, his voice getting louder. He was taken back when he saw Namine staring back at him accusingly. The look disappeared as quickly as it appeared. Roxas wondered if he imagined it.
Sora peered down at Namine, who hang her head in silence. "Namine?" he, looking concerned.
Namine turned to face Sora, her blue eyes meeting his. "I'm sorry Sora. I…" She lowered her head, afraid to meet his glance.
Sora's hands reached up to her face, pulling her cheeks until her mouth formed a smile. He did it gently so he wouldn't hurt her. Namine rubbed her cheeks. She remembered that he did it once to cheer her up in Castle Oblivion.
"I like the smiling Namine more," Sora said, smiling in a friendly way. "Can you tell me what happened?"
Namine looked at him gratefully. Slowly she began recalling the occurrence that took place a day ago.
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It all happened too fast for her to comprehend. When Namine opened her eyes, she found herself having a physical form once more. Kairi was holding an unconscious Riku, who just turned back into human by finding his heart through Kairi's guidance. They were inside a dark room about the size of a basketball court. Perplexed by the situation, Namine asked for explanation from Kairi. While Kairi was recalling the events, a dark portal appeared in front of them and out stepped a man in black hood. He had the most uniquely coloured aqua eyes in the world. The girls knew instantly he was Riku's Nobody.
His sudden appearance shocked Kairi and Namine to the extend they forgot to move. Riku's Nobody walked up to Kairi. "You must be Kairi," he said with a small smile. He looked exactly like Riku, so confident and heart-achingly handsome, except that his hair was raven black. "There's something I want you to do for me. I need to you find Sora and bring back his keyblade."
"What?" Angry at his attitude Kairi asked, even though she heard him perfectly well. She assumed his cockiness and rudeness came from Riku.
"I want you to do as I say. That is, if you don't want anything to happen to him," Riku's Nobody shrugged, referring to Riku.
Without warning, Kairi found herself pushed away by Riku, who threw a punch at his Nobody. None of them realised he had awoken. Riku's Nobody dodged it effortlessly. Riku was no weakling, but he only just recovered from being a Heartless. The punch came out slower and weaker than usual. Riku's Nobody held up a hand towards Riku. From his palm, an invisible force threw Riku back fiercely. He hit the wall hard and slumped to the ground. Kairi screamed, running over to where Riku lied unmoving. Namine was as scared as Kairi, but she didn't scream.
"No!" Kairi cried when Riku's Nobody came towards them. Tears rolled down her cheeks. "I will do anything, just don't hurt Riku. Please."
Namine stared at Kairi with wide eyes. She couldn't believe her ears. Fearing for the ill intentions of Riku's Nobody, Namine despaired at Kairi's weakness at the same time. He seemed to her different to others of their kind.
"No, don't listen to him," Riku pushed himself up with his left arm. His right arm was broken when he was took the hit on the wall. Riku's Nobody grabbed him up by his silver hair and tossed him across the room. Kairi screamed for him to stop.
"Run, Namine! Don't let Sora come here," Riku yelled out to Namine, his silver hair messy and stuck to his face by blood.
In the midst of it all, Namine froze. She didn't know what to do, what to say or what to think. Riku words went through her ears and echoed in her mind. Her logical mind told her to escape. Her feelings told her she couldn't leave Riku.
"RUN!" Riku's call snapped her back to reality. She stumbled up clumsily, turned around, running as fast as she could out the only door.
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Sora looked at Namine. She hang her head, her eyes wouldn't meet his glaze. He couldn't bring himself to hate or be angry with Namine, even if she did erase some of his memories. "Is that why you changed my memories?" he asked softly.
"I can't forgive Kairi for betraying you. Even if I'm part of her…that is more so why I can't forgive myself for what 'I' have done," Namine took her sketchbook back from Goofy, who kindly picked up all the drawings and put them back neatly for her. "I thought if you didn't know Kairi, you wouldn't trust whatever she says to you. I wanted you to remember what happened in Castle Oblivion, so if you see me you'd know who I am," she tightened her hold on the sketchbook. "And you'd trust me."
Sora was trying to interpret everything he was told. It never occurred to him that he would face Riku's Nobody one day. "I still don't get it. Why doesn't Riku's Nobody get along with Riku at all? I mean, Roxas never tried to kill me…and Namine never hurt Kairi either."
King Mickey nodded understandingly. "I think Roxas and Namine may be able to answer us."
Namine shifted her gaze at Roxas. Soon all eyes fell on Roxas, waiting eagerly for him to speak. "Well um, I'm not really sure either actually," he ruffled his hair out of nervousness. "But I think it is to do with the way Sora and Kairi look at their darkness and how Riku looked at his. I'm not good at this. Namine, I think you're better at explaining."
Nodding, Namine took over. "Sora and Kairi accepted the darkness in their hearts as part of them. Riku, on the other hand, never accepted the dark side of himself. Even though Riku allowed darkness to take over him, he never accepted it as part of him willingly or completely. I think that was why his Nobody would turn against him."
"Everyone, we need to save Riku as well as find Omega," King Mickey said. No one disagreed. Namine was especially glad to hear it. She was worried about Riku. During her with him and DiZ in Castle Oblivion, Namine knew well the sort of recklessness the silver hair youth was capable of. He wouldn't just sit and wait to be rescued unless he fainted all these time, which she seriously doubted.
"Riku should be at the lowest basement floor of that building where I found Sora and Roxas," Namine told them. "There is a lift but it's broken so it only goes as far as B12. We have to take the stairs for the rest of the floors below."
King Mickey asked everyone to hurry and then he, Goofy and Donald began running towards the direction of the building. Roxas saw Namine looking at Sora, as if she had something to say to him. He decided to leave the two alone and followed the three up ahead.
"Sora, I'm sorry," Namine apologised once again.
Sora stared at her for a moment. Now that he had the time to look at her properly, he noticed her pretty blonde hair was messy, probably from running away from monsters. Dirt was found on her plain white dress. There were quite a few cuts and bruises on her legs too. Sora sighed, "I know why you did it. Well, though I still don't remember Kairi, I think I better have memories of her back just in case," he winked at her. "But this time, don't make me forget about what happened back in Castle Oblivion. I don't want to forget either you or Kairi. You're both very important friends to me." He looked back and found his friends long gone. "Come on, we better catch up."
"Yes," Namine replied and ran after Sora.
The King, Goofy, Donald and Roxas waited for them in front of the skyscraper. Together they took the lift down to the twelfth basement floor. Just as Namine said, it wouldn't take them further than that. From that point, they must walk down to the bottom. Namine explained to them the way down wasn't just a set of continuous stairs. On each floor there were a number of rooms and only one room had the stairs that led downwards. Different floors had stairs positioned in different locations. Their way was dimly lit by fluorescent light. Not all the rooms were lit. Some fluorescent tubes went out and left them with darkness. There was no furniture at all in any of the rooms. All was found there were scratches and burnt marks, covering from floor to ceiling. Despite that Namine claimed she didn't encounter any enemies on her way up, the group proceeded downwards with caution.
For the first few floors, everything seemed normal. Nothing jumped on them or ambushed them. Sora, who had been leading the way, opened the door to the next room. He was bewildered by the sight. It was a room full of mirrors. There were six stand-up style mirrors in the room, lined up in a circle. Sora looked into one. As soon as he saw his reflection, he vanished.
Namine cried out in fright when she saw Sora gone. Goofy and Donald were next. They too, vanished into thin air within a blink. Roxas was the last to enter the room. He grabbed Namine's wrist and pulled her back. "Don't look into the mirrors!" King Mickey warned, keyblade ready in his small hand. Frantically, Roxas shoved Namine back to the way they came. But just as he turned around, he saw himself.
The mirror moved.
The next moment, Roxas found himself alone in a different room. He didn't even blink. Everything around him simply changed. He noticed he was still inside the skyscraper but on a different floor. Somehow the mirror, which he suspect was actually a NeoNobody, teleported him. He couldn't tell if he was higher or lower than where he was. His companions were probably brought to different floors and were separated from each other.
"Hello, Roxas," a snicker came from behind. Roxas spun around. Kurix stepped out from the shadow in his cool and confident demeanour.
Author's rambling: The flashback of Namine was much shorter when I originally planned it. But I enjoyed writing it so much it turned out like this.
I probably should have made a note on this earlier. At the beginning of this sotry, Sora only knows about Roxas and Naime as much as he read about them in the real Ansem reports. Namine erased his memories of Castle Oblivion so he's not suppose to remember a lot about her.