A/N: Thanks Princess Kaira of Mirana my loyal viewer! Oh yeah, RA… Don't worry there will be eventually some RA in here, if I can get these two to start talking again. It'll be a bit hard, but hey, that's what makes it fun, right? Thanks for your tip on Xehanort/Amaterasu/Riku it helped a lot.
And a BIG THANK YOU to my readers, thanks you guys!
On with the story…
Chapter Sixteen: Remembrance
"That thing…" Leana said rushing towards the girl. "Is going to be your down fall!" she said bring her weapon down. Amaterasu blocked the attack with her right arm, since she didn't have enough time to block it with her Keyblade.
She winced in pain and felt her legs were going to collapse from the hit. She had forgotten how strong the woman was, and she had improved a lot during their years apart. Leana jumped back and chuckled, watching Amaterasu's right arm trickle with a visible crimson substance.
"I wonder what he'd say if he saw you like this?" Leana said circling the girl as Amaterasu mimicked her moves.
"Just shut up…" Amaterasu said coldly to her. "You have no right saying that…"
"And I suppose you do?" Leana said throwing her weapon to her. Amaterasu flung the metal object into the air, but Leana gained the upper hand as she jabbed her closed fist into Amaterasu's stomach.
The girl fell back, and at that moment she felt the sphere fall on the ground. She frantically crawled to grab the sphere, and barely dodged an oncoming attack from the woman. Amaterasu twirled her Keyblade around her sending a fire spell around her body, and Lena jumped back.
The girl placed the sphere in her sack and jumped back as Leana's weapon struck the ground. At that point Amaterasu took her chance and dashed forward, with her Keyblade tearing the ground, she brought it up and slammed it down to where Leana was at.
The force from the attack shook the ground a bit, and the others could only watch the event from outside the barrier. Lena's knees bent slightly trying to push the girl off of her, but once Amaterasu decided to give it her all there was no stopping her.
Leana used her free hand and muttered something, and before long a small slab of earth rose up knocking Amaterasu into the air. The girl stared at the blue sky in disbelief, feeling her whole stomach turn upside down. Her weapon was knocked out of her hands.
Leana jumped into the air and brought the girl crashing down with her 'crafted' Keyblade.
Outside the barrier…
"Can't this thing break down?!" Kairi yelled out hitting it again with another fire spell. Riku and Sora tried everything possible to break the barrier but it was no use. Whoever this person was had a strong mind to keep this up for so long.
The only thing they could do was watch as their friend fought to protect the sphere and their own lives. At one point Sora blamed himself for not chasing after them earlier. Kairi had yelled out various Cure spells, but it was no use magic was forbidden to enter within the barrier. Riku on the other hand, his heart was going to stop beating all together.
Riku placed a hand on the barrier slamming his palm down in anger.
'Why is she doing this?' he thought to himself feeling anger rise up. 'That stupid little sphere, it's his fault!' he could feel something rise up in his emotions. 'Ammi you idiot, just give her the damn thing!' Riku said pounding on the barrier again.
He saw her charge at Leana and mimicked a move from earlier that he had once done. She jumped into the air, with her back slightly turned and as she struck she twirled slightly, with full force knocking Leana on her knees.
A m a t e r a s u
"Uh…" I moaned out. Leana kicked my stomach, and I feel hard on the ground. My whole body was aching again.
My right arm was still bleeding, and not even a Cure spell of any level could heal it, it was too deep to close. I closed my eyes for a moment and I could hear her laugh a bit. Her footsteps were visible in my line of vision since I was knocked onto the ground.
I could hear faintly my friends calling out my name, but it didn't give the motivational effect to move me again. My eyes moved about the scene and I saw her feet two millimeters away from my face.
She bent down and smiled again, stabbing her poor excuse of a Keyblade dangerously close to my head. I didn't flinch, in fact for a moment I didn't even really care if I died, but it was just for a second.
"Are you even trying?" she asked me plastering a big smile. "Come on Ammi, where's your spirit? Don't tell me it's all gone because that idiot's dead?"
"Shut your face…" I whispered harshly, calling my Keyblade back.
She stood up and stepped on my right arm. I yelled out in pain as the blood started to pour out. I begged her to stop, I begged, and I begged, but doing that just caused more pain. Leana told m that she'd make the pain stop if I gave her the sphere.
"Over my dead body!" I said placing my free palm on the ground and I felt my body turn to liquid. Within a matter of seconds I was a couple of feet away from her and I was able to stand up, panting a bit with my Keyblade at hand again.
"Just give me the little sphere and it'll be all over." Leana said vanishing for a spilt second. I felt her breath on my cheek. "Be a good kid and give the sphere."
I swung my weapon around and heard metal hit metal as she blocked it with no effort. I jumped back and dashed forward. She jumped into the air and threw her weapon towards me.
'Reflect,' I thought to myself as a thing barrier formed around me for a spilt second. The weapon hit the ground and I could see the frown on Leana's face. She dashed forward to grab the weapon and at that spilt moment I jabbed my Keyblade between the hilt and guard, locking it into the ground.
She stopped in front of my feet, and moved back at bit.
"Now if it were a real Keyblade, you could call it back…" I said taunting her slightly.
I ran up to her and placed a strong Stop spell on her. She fell backward as I knocked her on the ground, and within moments my Keyblade was right in her face. She growled slightly bringing both knees under my stomach, and kicked me clear off the ground.
Current scene…
Leana pinned the girl to the ground, and brought out a dagger from her waist. She held it tightly to the side of the girls throat, letting the blade break a millimeter of skin, just enough to make it bleed.
The other just watched as the battle went on, not really possible to determine a victor. They each seemed to be losing though.
"Move, Ammi!" Riku finally yelled out as loud as he could.
Leana had used the Gravity spell to pin the girl in one spot and took advantage of the whole thing. Her stripped Keyblade was about to impale the girl in the chest. Leana stopped halfway as she noted the color change in the girl's eyes.
Amaterasu grinned slightly and the Gravity spell was terminated, and she ruthlessly froze the woman's weapon, and the ice traveled up to her left arm. Leana exhaled sharply, and her breath could be seen in plain daylight.
The woman tried desperately to move her arm, but it was no use. At that moment the girl had vanished and reappeared in back of the woman. The girl placed a strong grip on the back of Leana's skull.
"You move, and I'll crush it…" Amaterasu said meaning every word of it.
"You'd let your friends see it?" she asked, her voice was faltering.
"No…" she said commanding the darkness in her heart to blacken the barrier around them. "But now I can…" she said smiling at Leana. "You want me to freeze you first? Or just go straight for the kill?"
"Ruthless bitch…" she yelled out at the girl struggling to break free from her grip. At that moment Leana's right arm was dislocated by the ex-members own hands. She screamed in pain as Amaterasu let her go.
"It's a present for Gabriel…" Amaterasu said feeling the darkness go back into her heart. "Hopefully you can get back in one piece…" she said giving her a big smile.
At that point Leana's barrier broke, and she disappeared into a dark portal, but the girl made no effort in following her, she was too tired, and her arm was starting to go numb. The Keyblade went back into the shape of its keychain and secured itself back into place along side Amaterasu's little sack.
'I can't stand up anymore…' she thought panting heavily, feeling a weight crush her heart for a moment. 'My arm's going numb, aw crap…' hers knees hit the ground and she looked back at her friends, her vision started to go in and out. At one point she heard Xehanort's voice, but that was just a figment of her imagination.
"Kairi, wrap up her arm…" Sora said placing Amaterasu on the ground gently. "Riku, do you have any Elixirs on you?" he said frantically. Riku gave him one, and Sora placed the open bottle on her lips. "Come on…" he said pleading for everything to be all right.
R i k u
We're back here in Radiant Gardens and I'm glad. It seemed like an eternity back in Twilight Town. Amaterasu still hasn't woken up, and my heart's been in constant pain. I don't know what to do, and I'm starting to regret the things I've been thinking about.
They had to put here in a hospital since the wound on her arm was too deep for a Cure spell. There were bruises on her back, and a slight bruise on her stomach. She had a couple of scratches on her cheek when she collided with the ground.
I'm sitting here in the infirmary room with her. I snuck in since visiting hours were only for family members at this point, that and because I feel that her whole family is furious with me at this point.
I sighed heavily and watched her for a moment. I couldn't take it, just watching her like this. I'm sure that if Xehanort was alive, the one she knew, he'd be in my shoes, or so I assume.
"Why didn't you just give her the sphere…?" I whispered holding onto her left hand. "I know it means a lot to you… And I know it's going to help us, but… You didn't have to do that…" I said looking down at the white tiles of the room.
Her hand felt warm, and she squeezed back reassuringly.
At one point I remembered the woman had stepped on her arm, and I was afraid it was going to get infected. With the right antibiotics and stitching it would get better.
"I should have protected her…"
'That's right you should have…' the Heartless said in a rather annoyed tone. 'If the other one saw you he'd be furious, he'd mostly kill you…'
"I know that…" I said sighing for a moment.
"Just wanted…" her voice was low, "To keep you all safe…"
Her breathing was slow and I could somehow feel her heartbeat in synch with mines. She didn't say anything after that. I could hear voices outside the door and I looked around for a place to hide in, but I couldn't find one in time.
The door opened and Yomigami and Aerith stopped at the foot of the door. Aerith greeted me with a rather heartbreaking smiled, but Yomigami didn't make any eye contact with me.
"How is she?" Yomigami asked in a rather caring tone.
"She's okay…" I said not really sure how to say it. "They fixed her arm…" I said looking back at the bandaged arm. "And we're supposed to give her some antibiotics."
"You want us to come back later?" Yomigami asked looking back at his sister and then to me.
"No," I said standing up from my chair. "I've stayed too long here…" I said bowing to both of them and exited the room.
It's been about a week since that day, and our friendship hasn't gotten any better, if anything it's still the same. I've been avoiding her. I'm still feeling guilty about it all. I know that it's not really my fault, but I still could've done more. I know I could have done more.
We're still waiting for the other sphere so that all of us could see them together.
HBRC Conference Room…
"Cid you genius!" Tachigami said hugging the older man. "Ha-ha! This is great, it's amazing!" she said jumping up and down in delight. "Finally we can see the sphere!" she said twirling.
Amaterasu and the other siblings, including Reeve, just felt a sweat drop fall down their cheeks in embarrassment. Cid cleared his throat calling Tachigami a crazy old bat. He turned on a microphone.
"Hey! Get your ass up to the conference room!" he ordered the rest of gang as his voice traveled to different rooms.
Within a couple of minutes or so everyone else started to enter the room. Cid placed the sphere acquired from Traverse Town on a little machine, and a computer scanned its contents.
"You'll ready?" Cid asked looking at everyone.
The others nodded and within moments the room went dark. At that point Traverse Town became a real life projection in the room. People were moving about, but it wasn't real, just bits and pieces of data.
Yuffie jumped slightly bumping into Leon, and she rubbed the back of her head. This was Traverse Town about twenty years or so, everything sort of looked the same, but the Moogles hadn't come to that world yet so there were no little red pompoms floating about.
They all watched as three figures came through the front gate of that world. A young teenager with blond messy hair, and blue eyes stepped out first.
"That's Roxas!" The others said in disbelief.
"But that's…" Sora tried really hard to wrap the whole thing around his mind.
Another girl walked out after, she had blue eyes and matching hair, with an earring that had a yellow feather on it. She was a bit taller than the Roxas look alike. She looked back at the gate and called out after another person.
"Xehanort, come on out!" the Roxas looking boy said.
Amaterasu felt shivers run down her spine when she saw him step out of the gate. He had looked the same as when she first met him. His light skin, blue eyes, and brown hadn't changed at all. All three of them were wearing civilian clothing.
"Did we really have to come here?" the teenager asked, he was obviously about an inch taller than the girl.
"Don't look at me…" the girl said shaking her head. "It was all Ven's idea…" she said pointing out to the Roxas looking boy.
"We need to restock on supplies…" the boy named Ven said. "Plus if I remember correctly Xehanort was complaining about a rest stop."
"…" Xehanort messed up Ven's hair and laughed a bit. "You know I keep forgetting how short you are…"
"Are you guys going to start this again?" the girl said putting both hands on her hip.
"Sorry Aquan…" the two both said giving a big smile to the girl.
"Besides… We have to worry about the Keyblade Master… Did you see how strong that guy was?!" Aquan said using her hands to explain it all. "That was gigantic!" she said describing the magic the Keyblade Master had used. "He's really dangerous…"
"I thought guys like him were supposed to be good guys…" Ven said walking down the street of Traverse Town with his friends.
"If you paid attention to the reports, you would have known that they can be bad too…" Xehanort said poking his buddy's forehead.
"Can we even beat that guy?" Aquan asked looking back at the two males.
"I think so." Ven said placing his hands over his head. "Now let's go get something to eat!"
"You're a walking stomach…" Aquan said rolling her eyes at Ven.
At that point Xehanort stopped walking and looked in back of him. A figure with a black and red tight skin suit approached them.
"We've got company…" Xehanort said pulling out his Keyblade.
Aquan and Ven pulled out their weapon and turned around to face the figure. The figure chuckled slightly, and that point the sound of metal and Blizzard spells could be heard. Aquan was thrown into the air by the figure, and Ven managed to knock the person down to the ground. Xehanort placed an Aero spell to keep Aquan from hitting the ground.
"Don't you take a break?!" Ven said blocking an attack from the figure, obviously it didn't take breaks.
"It stops right there…" Cid said as the sphere stopped at that scene in time.
"At one time the Keyblade was said to bring destruction…" Reeve said looking back at the others. "And with these spheres, we can stop from making those same mistakes."
A m a t e r a s u
The other sphere from Twilight Town had the same thing from Traverse Town. The three of them were being chased by that figure in black and red. They had managed to drive it back, but Xehanort had gotten knocked out in the process.
I had left the meeting after that and I ended up coming to the ravine to clear my thoughts. Riku and I still weren't talking, but I suppose it's for the better for right now. With what had happened a week ago I would most likely have done something similar.
I sighed for a moment leaning against the wall watching the colorful gems sparkle in the darkness. It's moments like this that make it all the worth while to be alone sometimes, and yet I wish it wasn't like that at all.
My arm does hurt still, so I've had to take some pain killers for it, they don't taste all that great, and I really hate swallowing pills. My back still hurts a little and I just made the pain worse by leaning against one of the ravine walls.
"Maybe I should just go back with Gabriel and Leana…" I said quietly to myself. "I can try and keep everyone out of harms way." I shook my head. "I can't do that…" I sighed heavily.
'You have no idea how much I miss you…' I thought to myself looking up at the ravine's covering. I was trying to imagine the sky overhead, but all that popped up was Xehanort's smile.
I slumped down and sat on the ground bring my knees up and wrapping my arms around them. The ravine was very majestic, and I was glad I was alone for right now. I could lose myself in old memories and no one would ever know.
"Hey…" I said smiling slightly at the teenager. He looked up and gave me a small smile. He offered me a spot on the bench. "How have you been?"
"I've been doing all right." He said his blue eyes full of joy. "How was your trip?"
"Okay…" I sighed heavily leaning against the wooden bench. "My arms are SO sore!" I said complaining about the cramp space in the gummi ship. "It was me, Yomigami, Leana, Lucifer, and Gabriel, in a ship that only fits three…"
Xehanort laughed as I explained the cramp condition of the ship. He placed a hand on my head, and messed up my hair. I pouted slightly and tried to fix my hair back in place, the sleeve on my sweater was pulled back, and I large white cloth was wrapped around my right arm.
Xehanort eyed the cloth carefully, noticing that the bloodstains were still fresh. I pulled the sleeve down and looked away shifting my eyes back from the ground to him.
"I got cocky…" I said rubbing my right shoulder. "And Lucifer ended up busting me out…" I looked up at him for a moment. "I didn't want to tell you… so then you wouldn't end up worrying about me when I would leave again…"
He just sighed again and rubbed the back of his head. "I do worry…" Xehanort said looking at me for a moment. "It's human nature, right?"
"That's right, Neo…" I covered my mouth after the last word. "I'm sorry! I promised you I wouldn't call you that anymore…"
I placed my forehead to rest gently against my knees, and I felt a slight tingling sensation on my lips, I knew I was blushing at this point. The feeling left me, and a couple of tears slid down my cheek, and I closed my eyes tightly.
I see you in him so much Riku, you have no idea how much it pains me now. I know that the chains in our friendship are lost within the depths of our hearts again, but I know we can make it work.
"No matter what we'll always be together, okay?"
"I promise…" Xehanort said giving me a sincere smile.
R i k u
'There she is…' I thought to myself. She was sitting in the ravine. Yomigami was right this is where she had gone after the meeting. I stepped into the area and the colorful gems seemed to shimmer with each step I took.
"Ammi…" I called out to her. She didn't look up.
I sighed heavily and ended up sitting next to her. I could hear her sobbing, but I didn't know what to do now. I could hear her whimper in pain as she continued to sob. If I put my arm around her I'd just end up hurting her again, her back was bruised, I remember that much.
"Amaterasu…" I said softly looking some of the strands of hair that fell over her knees.
Amaterasu raised her head slightly and looked at me with watery eyes. She closed them again and let the tears fall again.
She sighed and spoke in a small voice, clearing her throat. "You're talking to me again?"
"Does it bother you?" I asked her in a soft tone. She shook her head.
"I know you're still mad at me…" she said, and with that I looked down at the ground.
I still was, but not at her, just at a memory. "It's okay if you are… but I really wish you'd talk to me about it…"
"I'm not mad at you…" I said looking back at her for a moment.
"Then…" she looked away from me, "Why won't you talk to me?"
"It's… complicated…" I said. That was the only thing I could say.
"That's a stupid reason." She said sinking her head back down to her knees.
I sighed and rested my head against the ravine wall for a moment. "Why didn't you tell me that you knew Xehanort earlier?"
"I was afraid…" she whispered. "I was afraid something like this might happen… I guess it doesn't matter now, since all of you know about it. Maybe I should've said something sooner, but I was afraid of how you'd all act. To be honest I didn't want to tell you about him…"
"Then, why?" I asked her.
"That's what friends do, right?" she said looking down at the ground for a moment. "To be honest Riku, a part of me still misses him…"
"Amaterasu… You have to let it go…" I said feeling my body tense up for a moment. "A dead person doesn't want someone to grieve over them for a long period of time. They would want them to be happy."
To be honest Amaterasu, I would do anything to see you smile again. Xehanort would do the same thing. I don't really know what you guys did together, but I remember how much you use to smile when the two of us would hang out together.
"I think, given the current situation, happiness won't come that easily." Amaterasu said staring at the ground.
A/N: You know what to do 1 review please!