A/N: Here's the other chapter, I wasn't feeling to good yesterday so I'm putting it up today.
Matt-san yeah, that is from our song, you remembered. Thanks that's made my day pretty good today, thanks!
Thanks readers and reviewers alike!
On with the story...
Chapter Twenty-Two: Set back
"This is rich…" Gabriel said blowing his hair away from his face. He looked back at the person that was outside of the confined area. "They send you as a guard." He said smiling at the person before him.
Amaterasu rolled her eyes, and looked back at the purple eyed man. In a way, it seemed like a good idea, since Gabriel would've gone insane with someone other than an ex-member. She titled her chair back and whistled a simple little tune that popped into her head.
"You saved your boyfriend…" Gabriel said trying to break free of the white chains, but it was no use. He growled in defeat and slumped back down to the wall of the cold confined area.
"He's not my boyfriend," Amaterasu said looking away, the man had broken her little whistling concerto. "Those binds are strong, they're made from pure light, Heartless can't even break out of it."
"Thanks for the tip…" the man said looking at the girl again. "Nice eyes," he said laughing. "That little heart finally kicked in. I missed watching you look like that."
Amaterasu glared at him, but he smiled as if she was no threat at all. It was true, this was the third time the artificial heart had made its long term appearance, but it was the first time it saved her life. The girl sighed and crossed her arms over her chest, she didn't want to do this anymore.
"They've got Xehanort's memories, well most of them anyway," the man said looking up for a moment.
She shifted uncomfortably at the mention of his name, and puffed her cheeks up a bit. Her tendencies were childish, but granted she did appear like one, so it was second nature now. Gabriel was more than happy to see his old comrade, for now anyway, most likely given another situation he'd be happy to kill her.
"You still miss," he stretched out the last word, "him." he said taunting her.
"They should've got rid of you…"
"Ouch, Ammi I feel hurt…" Gabriel said sounding hurt for a moment. "I felt really bad for a moment when I thought Leana killed you, I almost felt bad for the other guy too…" he chuckled. "I really thought it was going to be a Romeo and Juliet farewell."
"That play's depressing…" Amaterasu said looking at Gabriel, this time making eye contact. "I don't know why you like it so much though…"
"Let's jump off that topic…" Gabriel said feeling motivated now, "And ask you an important question," he looked at Amaterasu, "hold your comment… Would you liketocomebackwithme?" he said quickly. "Pretty please?"
"…" Amaterasu just placed a hand over her eyes. "How about you just focus on your escape?"
"I'm kind of getting sick of working for that witch…"
"I'm not listening…"
"I'll join you guys…"
"Nope… I know how you work, did you forget who you're dealing with?" Amaterasu said knowing all too well his plan of revolting on them later.
"Fine… It would've been fun making that Xehanort copy jealous…"
"He's got a name…" she said coldly. "And he's not a copy."
"Ammi and that guy sitting in a tree K-I-S-" at that point he stopped looking at Amaterasu for a second time, she was in a rather pissy mood so to speak. "Fine, but let me have some fun for a little while… Besides what does your heart want?"
"What?"
"What… Does…Your…Heart…Want?" he said counting it out with his fingers. "It's a five word question."
"My-My…heart?"
"Does it want love, power, darkness, loneliness, what does it want?"
Up until this point she had never thought about what her heart had carved for. It rarely at times did cross her mind, but she began to think for now. She couldn't think of anything her heart didn't want.
"I don't know for right now." She said looking down for a moment. "Everything?"
"You said that last time, remember?"
The top floor
"How are you holding up, Riku?" Sora said with this worried look. Riku nodded, sitting up a bit, but Kairi told him again to lie back down again. "You really should rest though…"
"How is she?" Riku asked looking back.
"She's doing fine, she's doing guard duty downstairs…" Kairi said smiling slightly. "We got you these flowers, from Aerith's place." She pointed to one that had a clear vase. "That's mine, and the black one's from Amaterasu."
'White roses…' he thought smiling slightly at the sight of it all. Sora and Kairi left after that, and that was the last hour for visitors in the area. Riku had suffered a sprain ankle, and a bruise on his right side, a small fracture to his ribcage, but nothing life threatening.
He closed his eyes, and before he knew it he was asleep.
'So then, how are you feeling?' the Heartless asked smiling.
"Don't start… I'm going to get control back…"
'Wouldn't want to disappoint her, she likes your eye color. She says it looks good on you.'
"She's only saying it because of him, I mean isn't it obvious?"
'Never thought you'd bring him up again. I thought you were over the whole thing?'
Riku opened his eyes, and closed them again. Amber eyes scanned the room again for a moment, and he sighed. 'Am I so worked up about him now? When I smile, I really want to believe she sees me smiling and not him… I can't really help feeling like this but it's something I'm curious about. She's too nice to me…'
He thought back to what Amaterasu said, about the sea-salt ice-cream thing. It was like her, to say something like that. 'Sea-salt ice-cream, she loves it to no end in sight, she's like a little kid…' Riku thought hearing the beating of his heart for a moment.
His heart was in pain again as he felt the Heartless try and take control, but it stopped when Riku sat up slightly. 'I've got to worry about this now too, just great…' he thought frowning at the whole situation he placed himself in.
In the distance he heard someone singing a song down the hallways. He tried to pay attention to it as best as he could, it sounded familiar, and at that point his heart felt as though a warm fire was lit underneath it, and he knew who the voice belonged too.
"Take a dare don't tell the truth…" the voice sang out. "Will the message cause a motion we won't know till we get there…" it was a female's voice. "Can't keep from moving…" at that point feet were shuffling about in rhythm.
Riku felt a smile spread across his lips and sighed happily. He sat up for a moment ignoring the pain on his side, and he heard the lock from his door click.
"Can't stop to sleep it off…" the voice sang out as it opened the door.
She sounded happy when she waltzed into the room, and Riku was pretending to be asleep. His plan was working for right now, and he was enjoying it. Amaterasu didn't really identify if he was asleep or not, so she decided it was best to stop singing. Riku turned around, managing to watch her body move in rhythm with the song, which she was probably singing in her head, for a moment.
There was a small blush creeping over his face, and he decided to 'wake up' before anything else happened. Amaterasu had pulled up a chair opposite of Riku, and she paused when her crimson eyes caught sight of the amber eyed teen.
"You're awake." She said smiling. "Is it um, stuffy in here for you…?" she asked. "I couldn't really help and notice your face is a bit red there…"
"Uh...erm, it's nothing really, I mean…" he looked away for a moment. "Yeah it's a bit stuffy in here."
To be honest Amaterasu felt a bit oppressive within the room, and the next best thing she could do was just open the window from the room. The clouds were gone since a couple of days had passed since the events. Amaterasu had remembered to close the door quietly, so as not to attract attention.
She looked back, and couldn't help but smile at him again. Riku patted a spot next to her on the bed, and she shook her head.
"It's okay, they won't find us," Riku said giving a big smile. "Besides you're not going to hurt me."
"But visiting hours are over…" Amaterasu said rubbing the side of her head. "Don't they check the rooms, and then lock them?"
Riku frowned and sighed, she had a point, but he wished she didn't have to follow the rules. "Be reckless… If you knew visiting hours were over then why are you here?"
"Wha?" Riku noticed the confused look in her crimson colored eyes. "Reckless? Wait I just came here to check up on you, for like a second…"
"Yeah… Sure you did…" Riku said nodding. "Just sit down for a while…"
Within a matter of moments Amaterasu's weight made the bed creak slightly, and Riku smiled despite the pain he was given by the sudden movement. From here he could smell her 'scent' as he called it. Truth be told it was just her body cream lotion, it was called 'Cherry Blossoms'. Without realizing it he found his lips lightly brush against her cheek.
"…" Amaterasu tensed up for a moment, feeling her heart stop for a second. 'I hope my face doesn't get red…' she thought, placing a hand on the spot where Riku's lips brushed up again. He on the other hand seemed pleased with the result, Amaterasu on the other hand thought otherwise.
"Sorry…" he muttered laughing nervously. "I don't… I wasn't… It just happened," but at that point, he felt another tinge of emotion play across his face. Riku felt Amaterasu's lips gently touch the side of his cheek, in a rather comparable motion of what he had just done to her.
She seemed pleased with the look of confusion on the boy's face. Amaterasu pulled away from him, managing to catch another glimpse of his amber eyes. She loved watching his eyes, they made him seem, so much more older, wiser than he really appeared.
"Are you leading me on?" Riku said letting a sly smile show. Amaterasu blushed looking away in embarrassment. "Listen, Ammi…" she looked at him now. "I have a question… When you see me smile, who do you see?"
"You…" she said smiling. "You've got a smile nobody in the world could imitate!"
"Are you sure?"
"Yes!" she said looking down at her feet. "I've never told you a lie about things like that. Just like what I said about your eyes, they suit you… But I mean turquoise is also my favorite color…"
"I thought it was blue?"
"It's all three…" she said rubbing the back of her head. Her body jumped feeling Riku's arms wrap around her. Amaterasu looked up at him for a moment, and smiled, feeling his warmth for a moment. "I'll be honest, I missed your hugs…"
Riku laughed slightly, ignoring the pain in his body, and placed his head on her shoulder, breathing in for a moment, finding some peace of mind with her. Amaterasu pushed a couple of strands away from his face, carefully so as not to hurt his injury that was on his head. He felt as though he would melt from her touch once more, trying hard not to blush again.
"Once this is over, let's get some ice-cream…" Riku said feeling his breath brush against her skin.
"Yeah…" she said, lost in thought as to the emotion that stirred in her. "Chocolate…"
"Not sea-salt?"
"Something really sweet…" she said placing a kiss delicately on his head.
Yuffie and Aerith
Yuffie and Aerith were in charge of checking up on Riku's condition, which he forgot to tell the girl. The ninja opened the door carefully and tried hard not to laugh at the sight she saw. She pulled Aerith in and the flower maiden sighed for a moment shaking her head with a small smile.
Yuffie was about to say something when Aerith placed both her hands on the ninja's mouth. She pouted and frowned at Aerith. The only thing she could say to the ninja was that it was best to just let them be.
"They're asleep…" Aerith said. "And you know how Amaterasu especially gets when she's woken up."
"Aww…" Yuffie said slightly in disappointment. "I don't even have my camera today, this day's been lame, and then we have this!" she whispered pointing to Riku and Amaterasu. "And I can't embarrass them."
"She can get you back with those tapes…" Aerith said simply.
"…Eh…" Yuffie tried to answer back with something else, but it didn't seem to work. "Well they look cute like that…" Yuffie said laughing nervously.
Riku had fallen asleep, with his head resting on her chest, arms still wrapped around her. The girl had slumped over to the side lazily, and she, Amaterasu, didn't really seem to mind since she was asleep, but when she'd wake it, it'd be a different reaction.
"I wonder, what she'll do when she wakes up?" Yuffie said placing a finger under her chin.
"I just don't want be here when it happens…" Aerith said already imagining the outcome. "I'm guessing she'll hit him, or something… And then we'll get blamed…"
"Ah, how sweet…" another voice said in back of them. "So this is where she's been." It was Rinoa. She eyed something that hung around the necks of the two teens. "It's a really nice outcome… Don't look at me like that I'm talking about the friendship necklaces."
r i k u
"Oh, look your alive…" Gabriel said in a discontented tone.
I sat down on a chair watching him for a moment. All I had to do was just watch him for about three hours, to see if he cracks more information about what his business is here. What fun…
It's been about two weeks now, and we've seen the memory sphere's at separate times. There's nothing new, that figure still kept chasing those three like crazy. In one part though Xehanort betrayed Ven and Aquan, which made me think back to my own betrayal, it gives me more of a reason to hate the dead man now.
"You've got his eyes, did you know?" Gabriel said with this stupid smile on his face.
"So I've heard…" I said coldly to him.
"I was wondering when you'd get guard duty."
I looked at him pretty weird, so he was waiting for me? Yeah, he's really weird, no scratch that he scares me, well now he does anyway. I'm still hating his guts, always have always will, he's the enemy no way around that.
"Don't flatter yourself with what I just said," the purple eyed man said laughing. "I'm sure by now you guys have seen the spheres?"
I didn't say anything.
"I'll take your silence for a solid 'yes'." He said. "You're like him in almost everyway, even down to the part where he…" he couldn't help but laugh. "He stole her heart." Gabriel shook his head again and laughed. "She likes you, because you remind her of him. Which would be an insult to a whole mess of people if that ever happened to them."
"That's not true…" I said sighing for a moment. "You don't know her like I do."
"I, beg to differ on that, boy." He sounded sure of himself. "Right now, she doesn't know what she wants because her heart is fake for right now."
"Fake…?"
"She's an experiment for Christ sake! Her heart's been tampered with so it's not even a real one anymore… Technically you can't really call her or her brother Yomigami human. Their hearts are sort of fake anyway… Don't get mad at her though, she's just doing what her 'heart' thinks is right… Once the darkness in her fake heart takes over, she might as well not have a real heart at all."
"Just shut up…" I said trying to ignore what he was saying, but it was no use, curiosity was winning this.
"Aw, don't tell me your mad now? Well it's true to an extent, her eyes don't lie, as yours don't. You've…" he pointed to me. "You've got his darkness… She's got a heart that's being overtaken by darkness. Look at the amber tinge in her eyes sometime, you'll see what I mean. Yomigami on the other hand doesn't use his fake heart, because he's still using his real one. Since you were going to die, Amaterasu's fake heart kicked in to help you out. If she gets lost to the darkness, it'll be your fault."
"She won't get lost to the darkness…" I said still trying to register everything he had said. "I'll make sure she won't."
"You're going to be her light?" Gabriel started to laugh. "That's hilarious right there. You don't even have your own light, how can expect to save yourself and her?"
"I…!" I never did finish that sentence.
"Riku, your time's up…" it was her voice. I turned around and noticed Amaterasu standing in the doorway. "I've come to relief you from your duty." I smiled nervously at her and bowed slightly.
"Thanks… How the hell do you put up with him?"
"I'm standing right here you know…" Gabriel said in a rather annoyed tone. "Just kiss her already and leave…"
Upstairs
"Hey Riku, how did it go?" Kairi asked watching their silver haired friend flop down on a couch. From the look on his face, it didn't go all that well. She sighed slightly and looked back at Sora who was still looking at the Ultima keychain in his hands.
Riku was muttering hateful phrase about Gabriel, up to a point where he'd say he'd kill him, if he ever got the chance. Sora looked up at Riku and shook his head. Sora placed the keychain back into his pocket and looked at their amber eyed friend.
"Don't worry about him, besides we've got more important things to worry about. If Maleficent is alive we've got to take her down, again. This is just one part of our journey, remember?"
Riku sighed and agreed with his spiky haired friend, he had a point. Still what the current Chaser had said got him thinking again, and he hated himself for listening at that point. If anything Riku thought he was just doing it so that his heart would stray further into the darkness, and it seemed to be working.
'It's true… She was an experiment… But I mean, she is human, she does have a heart, there's no doubt about it, I can feel it beat,' Riku stared up at the ceiling thinking of another answer, but he couldn't find one. 'I shouldn't tell the others, and Amaterasu probably might get mad, but…'
"It's just what he said," Riku said deciding to tell them. "It's got me thinking about something. It's Amaterasu's heart…"
Reeve and the others
"I'm afraid that her heart might give into the darkness pretty soon, thanks to the lock what was broken from within." Reeve said looking back at the others that sat before him. That's what they were all worried about, Yomigami and Gekigami included.
Nanaki on the other hand just looked down for a moment he spoke out in turn. "But by the time she does have the strength to lock it, it'll probably be too late."
"That's impossible…!" Gekigami said banging his fist down on the table.
"With the emotional stress, I'm afraid it's true… She's still just a child after all." Reeve said placing his elbows on the table. "For now, we're just going to have to keep her under constant watch, and Gabriel. The injury she received was close to the heart, and I'm most likely sure her own mind shut down for a couple of seconds, and the artificial one kicked in…"
"But she seemed fine a couple of weeks ago…" Aerith couldn't help but point out. "I mean probably she does have it under control, she's still the same Amaterasu, nothing's changed."
"We don't know that for sure…" Cloud said looking back at Aerith for a moment.
"For now," Rinoa said agreeing with Reeve. "We've got to keep her under our care. There's no telling what could happen if she were to snap."
"The only thing keeping her stable…" Squall said looking away for a moment. "My guess would have to be is Sora and the others."
"But aside from that…This also probably means that the dark lord himself will be coming back," Shelke said once the silence was brought back. "It's a new day and age, and there's no doubt that's what the witch is trying to do she's going to try and bring him back to life, wouldn't you all agree?"
"He'll try and find a suitable host, like Xehanort's Heartless did, but break off from this… Another question to also think about, Chasers they go after the true power of the Keyblade, why haven't they started yet?" Vincent asked following after Shelke's question.
"We all know you, Yomigami, and your sister are Chasers…Wait, but then, why haven't you guys gone after Sora?" Rinoa said with some concern.
"He's probably not the one…" Yomigami said placing his elbows on the table. "Remember Ven's appearance? He looked like Sora's Nobody. But, you know what, it's probably because he hasn't reached his true power. Gabriel hasn't even gone after him, he's concentrating more on those memory spheres. Anyway when it does happen, you can kill the 4 of us, we'll just be in the way with our original nature taking over."
"Just ignore him." Gekigami said sighing heavily. "Let's just concentrate on the other thing, okay?"
Chasers sought out power, and would desperately fight for control over it. Whether it be from darkness or light, they would fight to control it. It was unknown whether or not that the Keyblade War began because of the Chaser's desire for power, but that's what created more key-chains. Chasers were those who crafted metal as well, lining them to the first Key-chains.
If it was true that Sora was not in fact the one with the true power of the Keyblade, it would probably mean he's a pawn for something else. Yet if he was, his next step would be to become one with the darkness, which for now seemed like a set back, since the one with the most experience, this being the young girl, was in a difficult position, someone else would have to teach him.
"Riku can do it…" Yomigami said looking at his brother Gekigami for a moment. "He's able to use light and dark."
"He was originally the chosen one…" Gekigami said. "Yet once Sora's mastered that, they'll come after him…"
"For now, let's just focus on foiling Maleficent's plans…" Nanaki said. "We'll worry about the other stuff later when the time comes."
A/N: You know what to do 1 review please.