A/N: Thanks you guys for the reviews, here's your next chapter!
On with the story!
Chapter Twenty-Seven: Sunset Horizon and Lightning
It had been a couple of days since the Heartless had relayed that message to Gabriel. Amaterasu had to lie and say Gabriel had been taken back to Maleficent. That was untrue, he was somewhere within the area keeping his presence to a minimum. Around night though Amaterasu's behavior would change as she locked herself in a room and wouldn't come out for hours. At some points it sounded like she was talking to someone, and that was true.
Sora had just gotten the sphere from this world, and they would soon be leaving. Amaterasu decided that once everyone boarded the ship she would keep out of sight and go back to where she assumed she belonged. The sphere contained a vital clue about the Dark Master and Princesses of Heart. As it turns out the Princesses of Heart had kept his power to a minimum, rendering him almost into a weak state.
Xehanort in the memory sphere had been tempted by the darkness and acted as the Dark Master's host. Ven had lost against him and Aquan had been injured in the process of their fight against their friend. The red and black figure that had chased them was a rather weak apparition of the Dark Master himself, it was his Heartless. With Xehanort as his host, he was able to keep some worlds under total darkness.
"So then, you think it's Roxas and not Sora?" Amaterasu asked staring out the window. She had her cell phone in hand speaking to Gabriel in the dead of night.
"It's likely, well more than likely. You said so yourself, Ven looked like Roxas… Riku, he doesn't have a Nobody of his own, does he?"
"No," Amaterasu said shaking her head for a moment. The snow was still falling down, and some of the cold ice landed on her window. "Not to my knowledge."
"Hmm… Well for Sora and his Nobody we can have Yen Sid teach him. He use to deal with dark arts and stuff like that." Gabriel said laughing. "Once Sora does master it, he'll look just like Ven."
"Still it's weird that Xehanort and him are able to use the same Keyblade as Ven and Sora did too. I'm beginning to think Aquan and the King are related, since they use the same Keyblade in addition."
"Well, we'll just have to wait and see. That's going to be painful though for the three of us, fighting off the urge to hunt down the true master of the Keyblade. Anyway, is Riku still unconscious?"
"I've been knocking him out this past couple of days!" Amaterasu said whispering, so as not to disturb the others. "I'm running out of sleeping pills…"
"Just bear with it a bit longer. Once Sora and the others are boarding…"
"But what about Yomigami and Gekigami?" she asked letting emotional attachment get the best of her.
"We'll take them too. We're going to that place…"
A m a t e r a s u
The plan was simple enough, and to my surprise it was carried out so flawlessly. Sora and the others were getting ready to board the gummi ship when a Heartless started to endanger the ship. Yomigami had been informed of the plan to some degree and he ordered Sora to leave without us, including himself and Gekigami. Riku of course has still been rendered unconscious but I know it's not going to last long.
Yomigami and Gekigami are indifferent to my decision on going back. In a way I think they knew I was going to go back, they just never thought I'd take Riku along with me. See my plan is that once Riku becomes the host for the sphere, that he can destroy it, so that it can never happen again. I know that Gabriel doesn't have a clue about that bit, and we'll have to be the darkness so we can wreck it from the inside. If that doesn't work, and Sora doesn't take hold of Roxas' appearance I can sacrifice myself, being the sphere's host.
For right now I won't dwell on that fact until for certain we have the candidate on who is chosen to be the sphere's host. As of right now Sora and Kairi are on their way to Yen Sid, and no doubt the King must be there too. I just hope that Sora and Kairi continue their mission and get the rest of those spheres. We're going to be too busy trying to wreck the enemy from the inside. Maleficent is no pushover, she's a very powerful witch, and having her place me in a rank is going to be tough.
Riku won't have any trouble though, since he was after all in her rank. She gave him power, and he used it. He in turn once being possessed by Xehanort gave her darkness, but the tale ends there since Sora defeated her. Out of all the reason's she wants to bring back the Dark Keyblade Master, I'm guessing she wants to throw the worlds into the days when darkness ruled with an unbreakable will.
I looked back and sighed watching Riku finally wake up from his five day nap session as I call it. He sat groggily and looked back at me for a couple of minutes, still trying to get his brain to finally wake up. I smiled at him for a moment, feeling indifferent about the situation that was going to unfold. 'Once he wakes up I'm suppose to call Gabriel…' I thought dialing numbers on the keypad of the cell phone in my grasp.
"He's awake…" I said whispering slightly.
"I'm already outside the door!" a voice was muffled from the outside. I stuck my head out from the window and looked at Gabriel waving his arms frantically. He had hung up on his cell phone and he seemed to be in a good mood.
"Who was that?" Riku asked yawning for a moment. I rubbed the back of my head and laughed nervously.
"Gabriel…" I said trying to laugh it all off, but it didn't work. Riku started yelling, still that got his brain to wake up. "Calm down… He saved you while you were knocked out." I said, it was only half right, but Riku didn't need to know the rest, so it was all right with me. "It was a Heartless that knocked you out. She gave us a clue about the Dark Keyblade Master and all…" I left out the part about the Princesses of Heart, I'll tell him later about that. "For now, Gabriel said he'll take us to Maleficent… He's been planning a rebellion for years."
"And I suppose he just told you that?" I know he didn't trust him, but I still nodded at the lie I had just told him. "Where are Sora and the others?"
"They had to leave. Well just Kairi and Sora, Yen Sid called for them personally, so that means they're somewhere in Twilight Town…"
I hate lying about things like this, but I need to in order for things to go smoothly. Within a matter of minutes and stuff Riku got ready and we headed outside with Gekigami, Yomigami and Gabriel. Gabriel had his own gummi ship close by the area and from then on out we were heading out to Radiant Gardens to go talk to Maleficent.
R i k u
'We'll be the darkness…' I never thought I'd find myself back here again with that witch. It's just really awkward. Amaterasu and Gabriel are doing all the talking while Gekigami, Yomigami, and I are just sitting there. Amaterasu told me earlier that we would have to work from the inside to take it down quickly. I still don't really know if we can since the darkness might be tempting to me or to Amaterasu. Still I mean somehow we can bring Maleficent and the darkness down, so I'm not going to worry. I'll trust in Amaterasu, but I'm not that ready to trust Gabriel all that much.
It's been a couple of days since we've been in Maleficent's stronghold. It's located within the ruins of the old Hollow Bastion castle, and we aren't leaving anytime soon. From what Pete and the Heartless have been able to gather Sora is studying with Yen Sid, and we're going to 'strike' once Sora has completed his training, it doesn't seem like a winning strategy but then again we're not here to win.
Amaterasu and I have been spending our time in the training room just sparring and talking from time to time. Gabriel does drop by, just to bug me, and then act innocently towards Amaterasu. I don't know how she puts up with his whole individuality, she says it's a very complex personality, one that has a couple of layers, like an onion. I don't like onions so I don't think I could ever see him as a friend or comrade like she does.
"You know…" she sighed for a moment after stretching after our match. "We're going to have to take those sphere's she has…" Amaterasu said yawning for a moment. "We've got most of them back in Radiant Gardens…" I nodded. That was true, we do have the upper hand on the whole thing.
Maleficent didn't seem too pleased with the fact that Gabriel came back empty handed, but with new 'additions' she did seemed to change. When she saw me she changed a bit, and when she saw Amaterasu she changed drastically, giving us some 'warm' hospitality. I sighed and looked back at Amaterasu for a moment, I would've given anything to kiss her right there on the spot, but knowing my luck for now Gabriel would pop out of the shadows.
"What are you think about?" she asked with a big smile. I laughed for a moment and smiled back at her shaking my head. "Hey come on no fair, what's so funny now?" she asked pouting for a moment. Before I knew it she jumped onto my back and laughed again. "Hey…"
"It's nothing…" I said lying smoothly for a moment. "I'm just thinking about what we're doing here…" I heard her laugh close to my ear. I tried hard not to shiver at the sudden closeness between myself and Amaterasu. She wrapped her arms around my neck gently, and I was able to hoist her up slightly.
"I can tell you why…" she said. I caught the smile spread across her face. "We're here to be the darkness. We're going to analyze our enemy and then take them apart. It's a sign of true genius…" she paused for a moment and then looked at me with her crimson and amber eyes. "But then again a true genius appears when there's an army of dunces against him…" she rested her chin on my shoulder and breathed in, and then exhaled loudly, probably out of boredom.
Her breath had the distinct smell of coffee, she was for lack of a better word, obsessed with the caffeinated liquid. She blamed it on her mother's upbringing for giving her coffee at the tender age of three years old. Me personally, I never did like coffee a lot, it tasted weird for me. I looked back at her for a moment trying to think of what to do, or at least what to say. I didn't mind that I was giving her a piggy back ride, but it felt weird just standing there.
"Take a left here!" she whispered into my ear. Somehow she placed me in a trance to wander around the castle, looking at all the rooms in the hallway that was located on the same floor as the training room. We ended up going into a room that was probably locked for a reason, but Amaterasu picked the lock with ease and we went in. Curiosity took a hold of our judgment, not making error and consequence part of the plan in our heads. I set her down and we looked around the dim room.
Stain glass windows covered the room, with black and red, with some purple fragments of the colored glass. The sun at one point hit the glass at the right angle and the colors leaped out onto the floor and the walls. Amaterasu watched the sight for a moment and then let her hand wander around the bookshelves picking out a small dusty brown leather book. She blew on it, and coughed for a bit as the dust kicked up and the spine pooped and cracked as she opened it, it hadn't been opened in a while.
"When darkness touches their hearts, the day will draw near when the Darkness will appear. The light will fall at the magnitude of the Dark One and not even the hearts of the purest will cleanse this Dark Age. For the maidens shall fall at the power of the darkness in their hearts. That will be the day the Dark Master will appear, when the purest give in to darkness, all shall fear…" Amaterasu recited that passage with some concern in the tone of her voice. "To extinguish the fire the darkness and light must be pulled out from the Chosen One and fight against the Dark One, and all will be at peace." She closed the book slightly and placed it back into the shelf she found it in. "We should go now…" Amaterasu said softly.
"Yeah…" I said out stretching my hand to her, and she took hold of it. We walked out of the room, letting the passage sink in to our hearts and thoughts. Someone was running down the hallway, you could hear their footsteps get louder and louder with each second as they moved quickly. The two of us looked up and noticed a familiar face with purple eyes. "Great…" I said sarcastically, sighing as Gabriel stopped within earshot of us.
"All alone, huh?" Gabriel said with that little goofy smile of his. He shook his head for a moment and yanked Amaterasu and me forward. "You guys pick a lousy time to rendezvous…" Amaterasu laughed slightly and I growled a bit feeling the little Heartless in me growl in annoyance. "Anyway, it doesn't matter. You two can do that on your own time…" he led us up two flights of stairs, purple stained windows covered this part of the hallway now. "Maleficent called a meeting, and you two are making us late…"
A m a t e r a s u
I call this room the Purple Room, but I doubt that's its real name. Anyway Yomigami and Gekigami were sitting next to me. When Riku, Gabriel, and myself entered the room there was an awkward silence in the room. Gabriel completely forgetting that he was holding both of our hands laughed nervously and let our hands go when Maleficent looked at him with a cold stare. The witch instructed us to sit down as she stood up, her back facing the alter like construction of the meeting room.
In the middle of the table where we sat at was a giant rose patter with thorns all around it, it had gloomy colors on it, and by that I mean these dark colors. Purple, crimson, black, and this sickly gray color. Maleficent outstretched her hand and a green flame appeared in the middle of the table. A small green tinted projection appeared, it looked like the shadow of another world. I leaned forward in my seat and watched as the projection seemed to zoom in, it was pinpointing a specific location.
"What's that world?" I asked shyly in front of her. Her cold yellow like eyes stared deep into my soul, she could sense that I was scared of her, but I guess she let it slide or something. She took a small breath and waved a hand into the air, making a dramatic pause that added more to my fear, since the look in her eyes were so menacing, it just made me feel uneasy.
"Sunset Horizon." She said in that manner of hers. I looked back at the others and the shrugged for a moment. "This is where the fabled Keyblade War started, or rather where it took place when the Dark Master was challenged by those fools." I'm assuming she was referring to the first Chasers, which are Ven, Aquan, and Xehanort himself. "I'm going to send the five of you there to that world. It's more than likely that his sphere is in that world, but be on your guard, the King's lackeys might be there, or he himself might be there."
"That mouse?!" Gabriel asked in a rather harsh whisper. His whisper did reach her as she said not to underestimate the power of King Mickey, since he too was there during the time that Keyblade War took place. He had seen the aftermath of the Keyblade War himself and it was likely he began a journey of his own after that. "You've got three… Well one true Chaser, and two ex-Chasers on the job, you shouldn't have to worry about that small little mouse."
After the Meeting
"What's your name?" Amaterasu asked looking at the figure standing beside her. This was Amaterasu's guard, since Yomigami had made a request to the dark witch, and she in turn did complete her end of the deal. The figure shook her head and said she had no name. "I have to name you?" Amaterasu asked in a rather childlike tone, and the figure nodded slightly. "What to name a Heartless?" she thought for a moment and then brought her hand up in the air. "I got it! I shall call you, Lightning!"
"Lightning." The Heartless said feeling no emotion at the sudden joy Amaterasu had placed on the name. Amaterasu smiled slightly and pulled the Heartless alongside her. To the Heartless she found it useful to mimic the same happiness the girl before her felt, since it was suppose to be a joyous occasion for finding a name for her. "Why that name?" the Heartless asked.
"Amaterasu, why are you going through the trouble?" Riku asked as he had stayed by her side when Gabriel presented her with the Heartless. "It's a Heartless after all, not a human. Two completely different things."
"It looks human, therefore I'll treat it like one!" the girl said looking at Riku for a moment smiling at the look on his face. "I call you Lightning, because you remind me of another person. You, see you… You look like Cloud's female counterpart." She said addressing it to the female Heartless before her.
Her name was Lightning now, and from what Amaterasu could tell she seemed to like the name, whether or not a Heartless could show emotion, something just told her in her heart that she did in fact agree to the name. 'Lightning' as she was now called had light dirty blonde hair that seemed to become darker when in the shadows. Her hair seemed to be cut in layers, with one side longer than the other. She had distinct blue eyes, very different from the other Heartless.
She wore a black shirt, with a thin sleeveless overcoat that went down to her thighs. She wore black shorts, and had a belt of thick material around her waist, securely fastening the weapon that appeared to be a gunblade. Amaterasu had given her something else, a very long crimson colored scarf, which the Heartless seemed to be fond of at this point.
"Anyway…" Riku really didn't know what else to say after the whole 'name the Heartless event'. "We're leaving to Sunset Horizon in a couple of days, with Lightning." Riku noticed that the Heartless was enthralled with the scarf, not really paying attention to the surrounding she was placed in. Lightning patted Amaterasu's head mimicking Gabriel and Yomigami's movement of gratitude. Riku didn't really understand why the Heartless did what it did, but if anything it wanted to act human, nevertheless it needed a heart in order to do that.
"Thank you very much, Amaterasu Diaz." The heartless said very formally, as if she had done so all her life. She bowed in gratitude to Riku's presence, and he blushed slightly, he didn't want to admit it but she was very pleasing to look at. Amaterasu laughed noticing the blush on his face, and teased him about it for a while. "First of all," Lightning said. "The three of us should do research on this Sunset Horizon planet, get ourselves use to the area, so that we do our bet to avoid traps."
Amaterasu grabbed Riku's hand as she decided to lead Lightning to the book area from before. This time they would have a couple of days to research the world, and no one would disturb them in that room since it was locked most of the time. Those couple of days would prove to be a valuable and insightful chronological timeframe of dates and events. Riku had never seen Amaterasu this happy before, the only time he could remember was when they were back on the island.
"Amaterasu…" Riku said looking back at the girl with crimson and amber eyes. "You really think we can overcome the darkness?"
"Anything is possible…" Amaterasu said in a soft whisper so that Lightning couldn't hear the conversation. "Just don't say it in front of Lightning…" she looked up at the female who held her hand and smiled at her. "Lightning, when this is all done, I want to make a promise to you."
"A promise, Amaterasu?" Lightning asked rather caught off guard. Amaterasu nodded and toyed around with the scarf that hung around her neck gingerly. "What sort of promise do you plan to make?" the girl thought about it for a moment and said it was something that she would most likely be happy with.
"You see… I don't want to give a Heartless darkness, because that's their nature to want that. Instead I want to give you, a heart." Amaterasu said noticing the expressionless look placed on the female Heartless' face. "What are you feeling right now?" she asked looking at Lightning with some hopeful eyes.
"I… I can't say…" Lightning said truthfully looking back down for a moment. Riku couldn't believe the promise Amaterasu was trying to make to the Heartless. If anything right now they need to focus on other things. "Right now Sunset Horizon is of greater importance than a heart." She said sending Amaterasu's moral down by a fraction, she recovered and nodded.
A/N: You know what to do one review please!