Chapter 13

Ugh... Wha' happened? Where am I? Castle...?

"Oh!" I gasped as I sat up quickly. I looked around and remembered what happened. We were in the hall... I fainted... my hand was hurting... that's all... Aiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeee! "What happened to my hand?" I screamed when I looked down at it. The key mark had disappeared, but my hand was solid black and had claws now! I-it looks like a heartless' hand! It tried to open the door to get help, but I found it was locked. Why'd they bother locking it?

"Sora! Sora! Something's wrong! My hand!" I screamed as I banged on the door to the room I was staying in. Someone opened it, and I fell over.

"Calm down! what's wrong- Whoah!" Sora said as he helped me to my feet. He grabbed my arm and looked at my hand.

"I-I-I don't know how this happened! I woke up, and it was like this!" I said shakily.

"Wait here... don't let anyone see that," he said. He let go of my arm and ran down the hallway. I backed up into my room and wiggled my fingers on the heartless hand. This didn't start until after I began sealing keyholes... What if I turn into a heartless because of this? I don't wanna be a heartless! Aaaaaah! Hey, maybe I'm not turning into a heartless! Maybe it's just hand cancer or something... Wait... that's not good either. AAAAAAAAAH! Okay... calm down Fuu... You're not gonna fix this by freaking out! I moved my claws around some more. Sora came back in shortly with Merlin right behind him.

"Now now, calm down. I'm sure it's not as bad as you- Oh MY LORD!" the wizard screamed... That's not usually a good sign... "Wh-what happened to her?"

"Uh...I dunno," Sora said, "That's kinda the problem."

"Do I have hand cancer?" I blurted out. Oh crap... did I say that out loud?

"N-no... U-um... can you cast a fire spell for me, please?" he asked.

"Sure..." I held my blackened hand out and a purple fire ball rested in my palm. Huh? It's not supposed to be that color!

"Oh dear... My dear, I'm afraid you're... how shall I say it... You're-"

"I'm a heartless! I knew it! Why me? All because of these damned keyholes! Argh! I KNOW Roxas won't go out with a heartless! This SUCKS! Why the hell does all the bad stuff happen to me? I've done nothing wrong in the past few weeks... okay, I stole 500 munny out of Seifer's room! I admit that! But that's about it! Why-" Sora interrupted me during my rant by laughing. WHAT'S HE LAUGHING FOR? "What's so funny?" I asked, irritated. He stopped laughing.

"You're funny when you're mad!" he said... Is he not paying attention to the current situation? Why'd I have to get paired with an idiot? I wonder if his girlfriend would get mad if I shoved him into a pit and buried him...

"You're not becoming a heartless... It's just... You're one of those people who... shall we say... lives off of darkness," the old wizard said.

"Huh?" Sora and I said.

"That's not a bad thing! It's just that, there isn't as much light as anyone else's," he said, sitting down. "Tell me, have you ever felt tired after letting out a barrage of spells?"

"Never tried. I never had a reason to," I said, shrugging.

"Okay then," he said, " Um... do you feel more awake at night?"

"Yeah."

"Then you're an insomniac. I'm kidding. You see, the heart is made up of an equal balance of light and darkness. Light gives life to the heart, and darkness gives it its strenght, and in some cases, strong magic abilities," he said. Well... I always WAS my grandpa's best student! "When someone's heart has more darkness or more light than it should, certain abilities become stronger. Sora, for instance, is healthy as an ox, even though he hasn't eaten or slept in a while. That's because of the large amount of light in his heart."

"Don't remind me..." Sora mumbled as his stomach growled. I giggled for a minute and turned back to Merlin.

"So... does that mean I'm... less healthy? Like, is my life span shortened by this?" I asked nervously.

"Yes, but not by much. Only about five years, my guess is that you'll be dead before your 65th birthday." Yeah, THAT'S something I wanna hear, "Because of the darkness in your heart, your magic is better than even Donald's! But not MINE, of course. Ahem, the reason you're changing is because the keyholes you're sealing now rely mostly on light. To seal them pernamently, some darkness is neede, but for that to happen, some of the light has to be forced out. So..."

"So... I'm changing because I'm the trash can for the light that's been thrown out?"

"In a way, yes. Because your heart is mostly darkness, it's rejecting the extra light and causing that," he said, pointing to my hand. Merlin got up and grabbed my black hand. "This will continue to spread, but it should die away after a period of time when all of the keyholes are sealed."

"and... if it doesn't?" I asked.

"You will die. Plain and simple," he said calmly. He looked at Sora and my expressions and chuckled. "Don't worry! There's only a slight chance it won't wear off! Well, I must be off!"

Since when is it okay for someone to tell you that you might die and then run off like it's no big deal? I don't wanna die yet! Be prepared for another rant...

"Ahem... well... Uh... You wanna get some food?" Sora sked, breaking the silence.

"Fine," I mumbled and left with my dark hand in my pocket.

I turned up my iPod as Sora and Donald once again fought for control of the Gummi Ship. And yes, we have iPods on our world. Don't act so surprised. The screaming of My Chemical Romance for some reason couldn't drown out the sound of those two. I have it on full blast here, and they're STILL able to get through! Ugh! I decided to change the song to something a little more upbeat. I chose "You owe me an IOU" by Hot Hot Heat and silently sang along with the lyrics.

"You owe me an IOU, owe me an IOU, you owe me an IOU, don't think that I'll forget..." I looked out the window and saw a star blink out. I let out a depressed sigh. Another world gone. I hope I don't know anyone on it. It just depresses me that they can only save a few worlds at a time, and the rest just die away... I looked down at my hand and scratched at the seat. The cushion ripped and stuffing began to come out.

"We're here! Hey! Fuu! Fuu? Come on!" Sora yanked the headphones out of my ears. There is one rule when I'm listening to music: Never EVER interrupt me in the middle of my favorite song...

"WHAT?" I yelled, irritated. I never got to finish. Sniff...

"We're here!"

"Where's here?" I stepped out of the ship and immeadiatly fell in water. The OCEAN? What're we doing out here for? "Blech! Sora! Why didn't you warn me?" I yelled as I spit salt water out of my mouth.

"You didn't give me a chance!" he said. A second later, he jumped in beside me and sent a wave of water over my head.

"Ach! You son of a-" I screamed and began to swim toawrds him, but was interrupted by Donald.

"Ahem! Can we get this over with?" he said. Get what over with? We're in the flippin' OCEAN! I see no land! Did he have to pee or something? He raised his staff up and said something about fish... Now I'm hungry again! I felt a sharp pain in my legs and arms. I shut my eyes to ignore the pain, but it was gone as soon as it had come. I opened my eyes and saw my purple hoodie was replaced with a light blue tanktop. Weird... WHOAH! I'M A FISH! HOW COOL IS THAT? My legs were replaced with a light blue fish tail, and there were small fins on the sides of my arms. I went underwater and swam around in little circles. This is too cool!

"Look's like you're enjoying yourself!" Sora laughed. I smiled at him and then gawked... Where did his shirt go... Wow... he has muscles... At least he can't see me drooling underwater... NO! Fuu! What're you thinking! RoxaRoxasRoxasRoxasRoxas! Not SoraSoraSoraSora! Muscles... ROXAS! Muscles... ROXAS!!!!

"Aheheheh! Y-Yeah!" I said. Having a boyfriend sucks when he's far away... I looked over at Donald and saw he was a squid, and Goofy was a turtle. Hmm... Calamari... No Fuu! No eating the squid duck! "So... where are we, anyway?"

"Atlantica... I think..." Donald answered, "Thanks to Sora, I probably missed our stop."

"Thanks to me?" Sora sked, putting on an innocent face.

"Yeah! Maybe if you would shut up for five minutes, I would actually know where I'm landing!"

"Maybe if you would let me drive, we'd get there faster!"

"You SUCK at driving!"

"Your Mom!"

"YOUR Mom!"

"Will you two quit, please?" I asked, trying not to laugh. Goofy chuckled and began to swim downward.

"C'mon! Let's get goin'! I see the kingdom from up here!" he said, swimming away.

"Yeah, you two can kill each other when we get back," I said, following him. Sora and Donald sighed and swam after us. We ended up in a reef. A PRETTY reef! The coral was pink and light blue, and these little yellow fish kept swimming in and out of it. "Ooh! Cool!" I said and one swam by my head and nibbled on the end of my hair. I laughed and pushed it away.

"Sora! Donald! Goofy!" A girl yelled. I looked up and saw a girl with red hair, a blue fish tail, and a Seashell bikini top swimming towards us.

"Ariel!" Sora said and swam up to meet her. I followed and smiled at the small fish hiding behind her. If he weren't so cute, I'd eat him. I happen to be very fond of seafood.

"What're you doing here?" she asked as they hugged.

"Well... we WERE going to get rid of the Nobody problem here..." he said, looking around.

"I don't see any," Goofy said, lifting up a rock.

"This place looks fine to me," I said, looking around and shrugging.

"Oh... well, then," Sora said, scratching his head, "What do we do now?" I don't know what you wanna do, but I wanna get rid of this heartless hand. It's starting to hurt again!

"... Aw! But you just got here!" the girl sighed. My head shot up. Wow, Sora's a mind reader.

"I'm sorry, but I need to help my friend out first. We'll come back though!" he said reassuringly.

"Promise?" Ariel said sadly.

"Promise! This'll be the first place I come!" Sora said with a smile... aw... Now I feel bad! We said goodbye after a short visit and swam back to the gummi ship. I put my iPod back on and listened to Evans Blue.

"Hello, I'm your martyr, will you be my gangster
can you feel my trigger hand, moving further down your back
when you hide, hide inside that body
but just remember that when I touch you
the more you shake, the more you give away..."

I sang along with the lyrics and stared out the window again. I found my thoughts drifting back to Roxas ... I hope he's okay... Is he getting enough to eat? Is he alone? Is he sick? Has he been kidnapped by a rapist? That last one's probably not the best thought to have... But I worry.

"Cold, but I'm still here, Blind, 'cause I'm so blind, say never
we're far from comfortable this time
cold, now we're so cold, mine, and you're not mine, say never
we're far from obvious this time..."

Roxas... Are you thinking about me now? Have you found another girl wherever you are? Please tell me you haven't! Well... You can't... I have no idea where you are... I trust you, but still... Sigh... I hate being angsty.

"Wait, another minute here, time will kill us after all
now can you feel its second hand wrapped around your neck
so fall into my eyes and fall into my lies
but don't you forget
the more you turn away, the more I want you to stay... "

"Sora... Are we there yet?" I asked. He looked back at me and shook his head.

"We have about another half hour. Get some sleep, you still look pale to me," he said with a worried look on his face.

"I've always been pale," I answered simply.

"You look PALER. How's that?"

"I feel fine..." I feel like crap.

"No you don't. Stop lying." I can't... You'll worry.

"I'm not lying!" I'm in denial.

Cold, but I'm still here, Blind, 'cause I'm so blind, say never
we're far from comfortable this time cold, now we're so cold, mine, and you're not mine, say never
we're far from obvious this time...

He got up and told Donald to drive. He bent down in front of me and put his hand on my forehead.

"See? I told you! You've got a fever!" he snapped.

"I do not!" I probably do. And my head hurts... but I CAN'T get sick now! He walked away and came back with a blanket.

"Stop it, okay? You'll only make your fever worse," he said, wrapping the blanket around my shoulders.

"I'm NOT sic-" I burst into a fit of coughs. I stopped and glared at him. "Fine. Don't leave me behind, though!"

"Wouldn't dream of it," he said, sitting down in a chair next to me.

"Good... to know..." I said as I fell asleep. I couldn't help it. What's the point in fighting it? I'm tired. I'm tired, I wanna go home, I'm sick, and I miss Roxas.

You're so endearing, You're so beautiful,
well I don't look like they do, and I don't love like they do
but I don't hate like they do
am I ever on your mind?

The song was almost over. I sighed as the final verses got closer and closer. My last thought was about Roxas (duh.).

It was almost liek he was the one in the chair next to me.

Cold, but I'm still here, Blind, 'cause I'm so blind, say never
we're far from comfortable this time
cold, now we're so cold, mine, and you're not mine, say never
we're far from obvious this time

COLD, you broke me from the very first night
I'd love you 'til the day that I die
we're far too comfortable this time
COLD, I loved you from the very first night
you broke me 'til the day that I die
I'm far too obvious this time...

Sorry for the wait! I've already started on the Port Royal chapter! I'm haveing a brain rush at the moment, so I'm able to crank out more than usual! (smiles)