Chapter 9
"I honestly didn't give a second thought about Lumaria's dream," Larxene leaned against the white walls of the castle, her acid-colored eyes clouded with nostalgia. "I thought he was overacting, but fate was trying to warn both of us,"
Marluxia was silent as he sorted through his thoughts. "That whole day, Lumaria tried to convince himself he was overacting too. But his heart was telling him the truth. Ironic how his heart actually turned him-" Marluxia placed a hand over his heart as a flicker of Lumaria's determination lit up his chest.
Larxene raised an eyebrow. "Is something wrong, Mar?"
Marluxia smiled to himself. "Nothing…I just thought I felt Lumaria's last emotion,"
Larxene chuckled to herself. "You're delusional, Nobodies can't feel,"
"We can't feel with our non-existent hearts," The assassin began. "But we can feel in our memories,"
Renale's POV
Sunlight fluttered through the open windows as I leaned against the black countertop. The Blackbird Tavern was empty, besides a few chefs in the kitchen and I. Everyone else had gone on lunch break, but I wasn't hungry at all. My stomach was weighed down with a bad feeling I couldn't shake off. Ever since the conversation with Lumaria this morning, my head's been swimming in a sea of endless nonsense. Lumaria was just overacting, I tried to tell myself but my words held no reassurance.
I looked up as a young woman entered the tavern. The waiter seated her while I reluctantly pulled out my pen and walked over to her table.
"Hello and welcome to the Blackbird Tavern," I recited boardly. "Is there anything I can get you on this fine day?"
"Can I please have…" The woman's voice trailed off. "…Renale?"
I snapped out of my daze and glanced at the woman. She had long ember-colored hair tied back into a neat ponytail and pale green eyes that were wide with shock. She was wearing a simple grey jacket with ruffled edges over a black shirt and knee-length skirt. My pen fell out of my hand and clattered to the floor.
"Renale is that really you?" She asked with a compassionate, motherly tone.
Tears welled up in my eyes. "Yes, it's me Arina," I threw myself into her arms and cried.
Ever since my father died, tears have never escaped my eyelids. Not telling Arina what Lumaria and I had done was the only regret I had from Radiant Garden. I felt so bad only because I ran away after her boyfriend (or something along those lines) mysteriously went missing. Arina held me in her embrace like the way a mother holds a child, which was the case since she was the closest thing I had for a mom since my biological one died.
"Renale, where have you been? I was worried," Arina wiped the tears from her eyes. "After you left, my brother and I put up missing posters of you everywhere. The town even sent out search parties to look for you along with Ansem and his apprentices," Arina pulled a picture out of her wallet.
"Where…they ever found?" I asked, imminently regretting that I said it after I saw the sadness in Arina's eyes.
Arina looked down at the picture. "No, they just vanished without a trace and have been missing for years. This is all I have left to remember Even by," She explained, handing me the picture.
The first thing that came to my mind upon seeing this picture was the family portrait that hung in my room. The photo was just a simple picture of Braig, Even and Arina, most likely at a party judging by their outfits. Even had his arm around Arina while Braig was leaning on the redhead's shoulder, grinning and flashing the camera a thumbs-up. They looked so…happy like my family did in my family portrait, like nothing bad would ever happen.
But of course, EVERYTHING fell apart.
"Is Lumaria okay? He's 21 now, right?" Arina's soft voice pulled me out of my thoughts.
"Yeah, but he says he's been having some strange dreams lately," I began. "It's about him getting attacked by himself but his other self is roaring like a heartless, or something. I think he's just crazy," I blew a lock of flaxen hair out of my eyes.
Arina was silent for a while. "I would watch out for Lumaria if I were you. Heartless are becoming a bigger problem, everywhere. In Radiant Garden, a year ago, a boy was attacked by heartless and never seen again. Then last month another boy was attacked and was never seen again," Arina explained. "I was actually starting to think you and Lumaria had a heartless related disappearance but-" A piercing crack sliced through the air as glass flew.
I fell backwards, the rigid edges of glass cut my skin as I slammed against the floor and the wind leapt out of me. I lay there, trying to catch my breath when the limping form of Lumaria pulled me to my feet. Honestly, he looked like a truck hit him. Blood dyed his pink bangs red and ran down the side of his face like a waterfall. His left sleeve was torn off and the cuffs of his jeans were in shreds.
"Lumaria, what's happening?" I demanded as I carefully pulled a shard of glass out of my arm, flinching in pain.
"HUGE heartless is attacking the clock tower area, like you said," He replied, picking up a long pole and holding it as if it were a long sword. "Leon, Cid, Yuffie, and I are trying to keep it from getting to other areas of the town but it's not working. Ya think you can give us a hand?" He asked me.
I gave the pinkie the are-you-freaking-insane look. "Do I look like I take samurai lessons in my free time?" I almost screamed at him.
Lumaria's head jerked around the, now destroyed, tavern trying to find a weapon. A light bulb went off in his head and he ran into the kitchen. Less than a second later, he bolted out again and tossed me a few butcher knives. I raised an eyebrow at him again, but the man smirked at me, bringing out the devious side of him.
"Who said you needed to have samurai abilities to fight? Those are pretty decent weapons!" He flicked his head toward the demolished glass window and sped out of the building and back onto the battlefield outside with me hesitantly followed.
The heartless in front of the clock tower looked like it fell from hell itself. It was at ten feet of pure muscle and destruction. Its long fangs could easily cut through a pile of steaks and its claws were as long as my legs. Its eyes were just narrow red slits on the sides of its head. I tightened my grip on my knives, feeling my knees tremble as those horrible red eyes locked onto me.
The heartless jumped high into air and raised its claws, ready to gut me. I jumped back threw a knife as hard as I could at the heartless. It would have been a good shot; if the knife didn't bounce right off the heartless's skin! The beast charged at with bared fangs while I just stood there, frozen in disbelief. Funny thing was, I couldn't move until AFTER the heartless picked me up by the back on my shirt and threw me across the square. My breath flew out of me when I hit the ground. The heartless seized the opportunity and raised its claws once more to kill me.
A gunshot echoed through the air as the heartless screamed in pain. Leon stood firmly in front of me, his Gunblade smoking. I quickly climbed to my feet as the heartless charged at us again. Cid jumped up from behind the beast with his spear raised and jabbed it into the heartless's skull. The heartless fell to its knees and let out the loudest ear-shattering scream I've ever heard.
"Now Yuffie!" Cid screamed over the heartless's roar.
Yuffie nodded and threw a dozen kunais over the beast, thick rope trailing behind the weapons. The heartless struggled beneath the rope, growling at us ferociously. The beast let out another roar and bucked, snapping the rope like a frail twig and bolted straight at me. Me being an idiot, I threw my second knife at the heartless at LEAST hoping to make a decent-sized cut. But no, the knife simply bounced off the heartless like a bouncy ball. You'll never guess what I did next:
I ran like hell was after me.
I gripped my last knife to try to reassure myself, but it would do little damage against this thing. My acid-colored orbs darted around the area, looking for something, anything, that looked like it would be a decent weapon. My legs halted and I faced at the beast as if facing death itself. I held out my last knife, shakily aiming for its eyes, this was probably the only spot I could hit it. I shut my eyes, braced myself for a mortal blow, and threw the last knife at the heartless.
I was expecting death to hold out its arms for me, but Lady luck was still with me. Or should I say Lady okay-what-that-hell-just-freaking-happened?
Electric shockwaves flew threw the air as the heartless screamed with agony. My eyes cracked open and my ordinary butcher knife was wedged in the corner of the heartless's eye and sending electric charges throughout the heartless. But the weird thing was my knife was now a yellow and blue and shaped sorta like Yuffie's kunais.
"Wow, Renale I didn't know you could control lighting!" Yuffie exclaimed.
"What the hell are you talking about?" I demanded.
"…You just threw…that knife and…lighting shot out of it…" A confused Lumaria explained.
The world stopped as I looked at my hand and saw I was holding more yellow and blue kunais between my fingers. Was I dreaming or what? Of course, since I was oblivious to the world around me, I didn't see (or hear) the heartless charging at me once again. Leon jumped in front of me and fired his gunblade at the heartless. Lumaria leapt into action as well, held his pole above his hand, and slammed it into the skull of the heartless. The thing didn't even have the strength to scream it was so beat up. The defeated heartless simply fell to the ground.
Cid and Yuffie fell back still clutching their weapons tightly. I followed their example, gripping my new knives as Lumaria jumped off the heartless's crushed skull, and held out his pole defensively. Leon's penetrating dark eyes never left the fallen form of the heartless. I forced myself to breathe slowly as tension held its ground in the air. Yuffie turned toward Leon, her shuriken still high in the air.
"Leon, is it really necessary for us to stand like this when it's most likely dead?" She complained.
"Keep your guard up, Yuffie. It's probably trying to trick us," Leon whispered.
Right on cue, a blur of motion whizzed above Yuffie and landed gracefully behind her. Crimson erupted from her shoulder and she fell like a rock onto the ground, clutching her bloody shoulder.
"Yuffie!" I cried, rushing to the ninja's side.
Her headband, now cut in two, lay on the ground beside her as whimpers of pain cried out from her shaken body. I grabbed the two pieces of her headband and carefully wrapped her shoulder between the two pieces. A tiny stream of blood from a small cut on her forehead ran down the bridge of her nose and cheek. I tore off a piece of my sleeve and pressed that against her forehead as well.
"Renale…it hurts," Yuffie moaned.
An image of me cutting my wrist back when I was fifteen flashed into my head. My hand gripped Yuffie's and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "I know Yuffie, I know," I whispered as Cid ran over.
Yuffie leaned against me as I arose, still moaning in pain as her injured shoulder throbbed. I carefully put Yuffie good arm over Cid's shoulder, while getting a confused look from the pilot.
"Get her somewhere safe and take care of her wound. I'll stay back and take care of this thing," I instructed.
Cid nodded and dragged Yuffie of the battlefield, the ninja now crying from the awful pain. Sympathy ached in my heart but I shook off the feelings and ran straight to hell.
I jumped above the monster and threw a sparking knife at the beast, but it jumped to the side and earned a smack in the face from Lumaria's pole. The heartless swiped at the pinkie and Lumaria jumped back, avoiding another swipe from the heartless. Lumaria fell back a few more feet before he swung his pole at the heartless, only scratching it on its half-demolished face. Leon jumped on the heartless's back and fired his Gunblade at point blank; straight into the heartless's back.
The heartless flinched slightly before prying Leon off his back and throwing the man across the Square. Leon flipped in mid-air and jumped off the wall of the clock tower and fired another shot at the beast. That was when I rushed in and threw another sparking knife at the creature. The heartless screamed in pain as electricity ran through its veins. Lumaria joined the rain of attacks and threw his pole at the heartless, mindful of the lighting running within the creature. Sure enough, the pole struck the poor thing in the back, making the heartless roar in pain again.
"Renale, your lighting knives!" Lumaria ordered.
I smirked towards the pink-haired man and charged at the heartless. Jumping in the air, I braced myself for the worst and threw two more knives at the heartless. The two struck the heartless in the chest before I shot a weak bolt of lighting out of my fingertips. It may have small feeble, but it was strong enough to jolt the heartless hard. The heartless screamed again before it fell to the ground, hoarsely growls coming from its throat.
I lowered my guard, ignoring Leon's advice and sighed in relief. The heartless defiantly dead, there's no possible way it could've survived that. Leon held his ground but as soon as the heartless lay still and quiet, he dropped his guard like the rest of us. I took a final look at the dead heartless and began following Leon and Lumaria back to the house, where Yuffie and Cid probably were.
To this day as Larxene, I always regretted dropping my guard. What happened next would be embedded in my heart forever, even if it didn't exist. I wish I was more aware of my surroundings and I could've stopped it from happening, or at least tried. But because it was so fast, I never saw it coming until that frantic voice tried to save me.
"Renale!"
I whipped my head around only to see the heartless's claws swipe across Lumaria's chest, black smoke dancing from the tips of its claws. Tears began pouring down my face as Lumaria's scream echoed through the town. More black smoke swirled around his body, as he screams grew louder. Do you ever have that feeling when you friend is injured and you can't do anything about it? Multiply that times twenty and have my hysteria.
Lumaria looked back at me with a terrified look in his eyes as something floated out of his chest-a heart. It floated higher and higher before it shattered like glass. Lumaria stopped screaming and his body went limp as the black smoke pulled away from his body. Blood soaked his clothes as his rose-pink locks framed his pale face, stained with tears and blood. His sapphire orbs were closed, never to be opened again.
"Lumaria…" Sobbed escaped my throat as I gripped his hand.
Suddenly Lumaria's body was swept upward and my hand was pulled away from his. I looked up as a man towered above me with Lumaria's body thrown over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. The man was dressed in a long black coat with silver beads decorating the front. The hood was pulled over his head, hiding his face from me.
Anger boiled inside me as I jumped to my feet and tried to tackle that bastard. The man simply held up his foot and kicked me in the gut, knocking the breath out of me. I fell to the ground, gasping for breath as the man stood over me chuckling to himself.
"It's no use, he can't feel anymore so what's the point of keeping him here?" He asked me.
"I don't know what you're talking about and I don't give a damn about it either!" I screamed, climbing to my feet and punching the man's collarbone.
The man stumbled, which gave me just enough time and kick him in the gut like did to me. The man stumbled backwards, still holding Lumaria's limp body, and I slapped his across the face, knocking off his hood. The man was still standing but he stared at the ground, letting his long platinum blonde hair hide his face. He finally looked at me with his jade-colored eyes before he smirked, the classic mad-scientist smirk that makes your skin crawl right off your body.
"Your friend isn't dead, first and foremost," He waved his other hand; making a swirl of black and purple appear behind him. "Second, that determination to protect your loved ones will cause you to lose everything sooner or later like your friend,"
"What the hell are you talking about?" I screamed at him against as tears continued to roll down my face.
The man chuckled to himself. "You'll see soon enough," Was all he said before he stepped into the swirl behind him and disappeared.
I just stood there, unable to take what just happened. Lumaria paid with his life to save me because I was too careless to hold my guard. I fell to my knees as Leon finally came running back into the Clocktower Square. Geez, you couldn't have been here FIVE MINUTES AGO? His eyes held shock as he scanned the area from Lumaria. The only thing that was left was the pole he used in the battle against the heartless.
"Renale…where's Lumaria?" Leon asked, crouching beside me.
Another tear made its way down my, already, stained cheek. "He's…gone,"
Author: I actually almost cried writing this chapter. And I DO NOT support MarVex just because I made Vexen recruit Lumaria, or Marluxia in this case. i don't have anything else to but my usual: Hope you enjoyed!
~yukihikari99