Introducing-Chapter 21! *applause* Sorry this one was a little later than expected-my extended family came into town so I didn't get much time to type. This chapter is longer than average so enjoy everyone! Now that the story is getting a bit more complicated and has some new characters (some more mysterious than others) don't hesitate to ask me about anything your confused about! Enjoy the chapter!
*Selphie*
Later that night, once we had all had our fun in the ocean and said good bye to Prince Eric and Princess Ariel, I found myself back on the gummi ship along with everyone else. Almost immediately people began heading towards their rooms, yawning and stretching their arms out. Sora headed over to the control panel and began to rapidly work at one of the screens. My curiosity defeated my exhaustion and I headed over to where he was standing.
"So what are you working on, Captain?" I joked lightly
"I'm just putting in the coordinates for our next destination." I waited expectantly but he gave no further information so I decided to press him more.
"And where might our next destination be?" I asked him, trying to lean over his shoulder to see but my height got the best of my and all I received was a face full of spiky brunette hair.
"Beast's Castle. Its not the prettiest world but the last time I was there Xaldin was too so if the Heartless are acting up it may be a good idea to check there, since the Organization obviously took an interest in that world." Once again I waited expectantly for Sora to explain further but once again I was disappointed.
"So who's Xaldin?" Sora entered in a few more key codes before explaining
"Xaldin was a member of Organization XIII who tried to turn Beast into a Heartless so they could control his Nobody" I was too tired to ask who Beast was.
*Lauren*
"I swear you and your friends are such gossipers! Kairi and Selphie especially! We have been dating for all of an hour and they are already spreading rumors about us!" I exclaimed as Riku and I entered our room. It was ironic how much I had despised sharing this room with Riku and now I found myself feeling thankful that we could.
"Yeah…sure…gossips…whatever" Riku mumbled before collapsing on top of my bed.
"Riku that's my bed. No you can't take it, not even just for tonight" I told him before heading over to our closet and pulling out a pair of shorts and a tank top. Riku groaned before rolling off my bed and crawling over to his, feebly dragging himself into it.
"Wow that's pretty pathetic" Fury observed, appearing out of nowhere. I shot Riku a panicked look but he was too tired to notice.
"So did I miss anything exciting? Fury asked without emotion
"I blew up again" I told her, knowing she would understand what I was talking about.
"Well it's about that time" Fury said with a shrug. I reached out and grabbed her hand, dreading what new knowledge she would discover there. Pain burst through me, sharp and clear. I grabbed my nose as blood spurted out of it. I knew that a Nobody could wreak havoc on their Other from inside their bodies but I didn't know that Dark Beings could do it too. Fury shot back out of my body and brought her fist down on the thing nearest her, which was Riku's back.
"Ow! What is your problem?!" Riku exclaimed, shooting up from his relaxed position in his bed.
"You're dating Silver Haired Bastard?!" Fury shrieked at me, black lightning crackling around her.
"No I'm dating Riku."
"That's what I said; Silver Haired Bastard" Fury said calmly, completely ignoring my previous sentence.
"Wait does this mean that I'm dating Fury too?!" Riku asked, his eyes widened and he grabbed fistfuls of his silver hair with both hands.
"Look Silver Haired Bastard, if I were dating you, you would be dead" Fury said, being sure to explain the situation slowly so Riku would completely understand.
"Ok that's a relief" Riku said. The guy was just totally out of it. I sighed before heading into the bathroom so I could change and get ready. A minute later Riku came in, without knocking. I glared at him momentarily in annoyance. Luckily I hadn't been changing. He yawned loudly before proceeding to brush his teeth.
"Fury stormed off" he said, his mouthful of blue toothpaste
"Good, she needs to calm down" I said, wiping my lip gloss off on the nearest towel. I could've sworn I heard Riku sigh sadly as I did so.
"Alright clear out so I can change" I told Riku, shoving him gently towards the door.
"Huh-uh!" Riku said and rapidly shook his head. He spit his toothpaste into the sink before continuing
"I'm not done! Why don't you change out in our room? I promise I will knock before I come out. He said before shoving me towards the door.
I left the bathroom, grabbing my designated sleep-apparel. I went back out into our Fury-free room and quickly changed. Riku did knock before heading out of the bathroom but he left the bathroom before I could respond. He glanced at me and headed towards his bed but stopped when he saw my glare.
"What" He asked, sounding mildly annoyed.
"The point of knocking is to get a response! Just cause you knocked doesn't mean I was magically done changing! You have to wait for a person to let you come in if you knock! You don't just barge in!" I exclaimed, using rapid hand motions to allow my speech to reach maximum effect. Riku just sighed and shook his head.
"There are too many rules! How's a guy supposed to remember all of this?!" I just groaned and stomped over to my bed. Shivering slightly, I pulled back my sheets and collapsed in to my bed before dramatically heaving the sheets over my head. I heard Riku sigh and the click of one of our lamps turning off. I peeked out from under my sheets to see Riku gazing at me, his hand lingering on the switch to my lamp. He bent down so we were seeing eye to eye and gave me a small smile. I smiled back and pulled the rest of my head out from under the comforter.
"I hope you aren't going to make habit of being this moody" Riku said, putting his hands on his hips and glaring at me. I laughed
"Just knock and wait for a response before barging in on me" I said, yawning.
"Will do. Good night Blondie" Riku told me quietly before kissing me softly. His lips lingered on mine for a moment and then he was gone. He flicked his light off and slid under his sheets in one fluid motion; wrapping his arms around his pillow and letting his hair hide his face from view. Shivering, I curled up into and ball and tugged the sheets closer to me, but I just seemed to get colder. I cocooned myself up under my sheets once my teeth started chattering. Riku opened one eye halfway and flicked his lamp on.
"What's that sound?" Riku asked sleepily.
"W-what sound?" I stuttered out, shaking violently.
"Oh its you. Are you cold or something?" He asked me, raising one eyebrow
"I'm f-freezing" After a moment of exaggerated thinking Riku scooted back so he was only taking up half of his bed and lifted up the sheets. I tilted my head to side and blinked back at him. He sighed and beckoned me over with his hand.
"What?! N-no way Riku! I-I'm fine, really!" No way was I going to share a bed with Riku, not even if it meant I would freeze to death alone. Riku gave me a 'don't-be-such-a-baby' look and well, that was that. I couldn't have him thinking I was some loser who was afraid of big bad male teenagers. I got up and snatched a big fuzzy blanket out of our closet, wrapped myself up in it until the only parts of me you could see were my head and my toes, and slid into Riku's bed…with him in it. My heart beat insanely fast and I expected sweat to break out on my forehead; this was not something I had experience with. If you wanted me to destroy one million Heartless well, I could do that. One thing I didn't do was hormones and relationships. Up until now that is.
To my surprise though I only seemed to get colder, my body shivering and my teeth chattering.
"Wow you really are cold" Riku said, squeezing my hand for a moment. He reached over me to turn off his lamp and I shrunk down under the sheets, trying to become invisible.
"Wellgoodnight" I said quickly before rolling over so I was facing my now empty bed and squeezing my eyes shut, waiting for the nightmare to end.
"Night" Riku whispered softly, wrapping his arms around my blanket-covered waist and pulling me closer to him. I gasped before clamping my mouth shut. Riku chuckled before whispering into my ear
"The whole point of this was to make you warmer" he reminded me
"Exactly, not give me a heart attack! Now let me go" I snapped at him.
"Don't count on it" he said before putting his head u[ above mine so the top of my head was resting just under his chin and becoming completely still. I waited until his breathing became calm and regular before daring to shut my eyes. Then, amidst my shivering and teeth chattering, I managed to fall asleep.
*Riku*
I woke up slowly the next morning, waking up and then falling asleep for maybe another fifteen minutes or so before waking up again. I had to admit I liked waking up this way. After barely sleeping for over a year my body seemed to be determined to regain as much sleep as it possibly could. Which was fine with me of course. I was just about to fall back into another little cat nap when I heard Lauren yawn quietly and her muscles tense under the thick blue blanket as she stretched. I ran my hand through her hair and I managed to look far enough over her shoulder to see her smile.
"How are you feeling?" I asked her softly, putting my hand on her shoulder. She groaned and shrunk back under her blankets.
"Cold" she said, trying to suppress a shiver. She failed at it though
"Hmmm" I tried to think of what could be making her so cold. It wasn't the room temperature since she was buried under ten pounds of blankets…maybe she was sick? "Do you think a nice warm shower would help warm you up?"
"For now I'm going to stay here. You can take a shower first" Detective Riku has solved his case.
"Ok what did you do to my shampoo this time? Or did you mess with the water so I'll get blasted with mud this time?" I asked feeling slightly annoyed. Didn't dating her give me a free pass through all the pranks? Well apparently not.
"No it's just that I'm cozy and don't want to get up! I may not be warm but I am comfortable." Lauren said, sighing at my lack of trust in her. I mentally punched myself in the face. Stupid stupid stupid!
"Alright in that case I'm going to go take a shower. Do you want me to wake you up when I'm done?" This strange lack of yelling and violence was odd but it was also sort of nice. Being tied to a bed post, frozen in time due to some weird Keyblade magic with a blindfold pulled over my eyes for ten hours was not one of my finest moments.
"No its fine, I'll just take a shower when I wake up" Lauren said before rolling over to take up the entire bed. I went over to our closet and pulled out my clothes for the day. I frowned as I pulled a red hair off my black jacket.
"Has Fury been messing with my stuff?" I asked Lauren, turning around and holding up the jacket and the red hair. Lauren shook her head
"Not that I know of…there may be itching powder in your jacket but if there is I had no part in it. I was going to do that to you…then we started going out." She smiled sheepishly
"Awesome" I said with a sigh before heading into our bathroom.
*Roxas*
I grunted as I brought my blade down on another virtual Heartless. Sora had finally moved up the training level so children above the age of three could enjoy the training.
"Hey Roxas" Speak of the Other…
I turned around to see Sora standing just outside the room grinning, of course, wasn't he always grinning?
"What's up?" I called before destroying five virtual Heartless that had thought they could handle me. They were sadly mistaken.
"I was just heading over to get some training in but now I have another idea!" Sora said into the microphone which repeated said sentence into the giant glass box I was fighting in. Well this should be good. Sora continued
"Why don't you and I have a fight? You can try redeeming yourself!" Oh it's on my brunette haired Other! I exited the giant glass box, slashing a few Heartless with a little effort as I could to intimidate Sora, and headed over to a large flat space with Sora. We both went into the center of the space before splitting off in opposite directions until we were both maybe twenty feet away or so.
"And…fight!" a voice cheered from the side. We both turned in unison to see Lauren sitting on the ground, covered in a thick blue blanket.
"Are you a little cold?" I asked her sarcastically
"Just a little" She replied with a roll of her eyes. She gave a small shiver and I wasn't sure if it was real or just an act.
"Alright are you ready?" Sora asked me, summoning up The Ultima Weapon.
"Copier" I heard Lauren mutter, summoning up her Ultima Weapon too. She looked up at me and twitched her hand ever so slightly to the right. I can't believe she remembers that! Before I met Sora, Lauren and I were good friends and made up little signals to help each other cheat in competitive fights which were mainly against Axel. And I knew what that little motion meant.
I lunged forward and bent my body down towards the ground, feeling Sora's blade glide just over me. I spun around quickly and summoned up the Oblivion, hitting Sora in the middle of his back with it. He gave out a cry of surprise before falling to the ground. He curled up his body and somersaulted before jumping back to his feet, turning back towards me, and lunging. I blocked his blade with the Oathkeeper and swung the Oblivion underneath our two colliding blades, hoping to hit him in the stomach, but he used the Keyblade as a prop and flipped over me. I spun around just in time to get hit in the side of the head with the Ultima Weapon, which did not feel very good at all let me tell you. I blocked his blade and forced it down towards the ground as he swung at me again and spun on one foot, kicking him in the side with the other. Sora went stumbling backwards but just as he fell he threw his Keyblade right at my face and I ducked down, watching the blade fly over my head. I straightened up and heaved the Oblivion at Sora which he jumped out of the way of and charged at me, the Ultima Weapon re-forming in his hand. I let the Oathkeeper fade and put both my hands on the Oblivion. The space between us disappeared. Fifteen feet…ten feet…five feet
"Attention everyone dinner is ready for anyone who gives a damn about eating and surviving…no I didn't make it so there is no need to be worried about your health after eating. Kairi and Namine made it" Riku's voice sounded over the intercom and Sora and I both froze in our tracks. Both of us lowered our blades and shook hands. It was dinnertime which meant this fight was over, winner or no winner. Lauren groaned and we both turned to her.
"Its dinnertime" we both said in unison. Lauren rolled her eyes
"Amateurs" she muttered before leaving the training room. Sora and I both grinned before racing down to the kitchen.
*Riku*
I smirked as Lauren slid into a chair next to me and started shoving steaming hot lasagna into her mouth. It was gross but in a cute way. I sighed and slapped myself in the face. Am I condemned to thinking like this forever now?! I really hoped not. It would get very annoying very fast.
"Wow Lauren slow down" Kairi said with a small smile as she sat down with a plate of lasagna. She cut a small piece of the lasagna and blew on it before putting it into her mouth and dabbing the corners of her mouth with a napkin. If I had to eat that slowly I would go insane! Lauren took in a breath to speak but I decided that I would talk for her so she could keep eating. Aren't I so polite?
"Lauren's been cold all day so she's hoping the warm food will help" I explained to everyone
"That's weird. I'm sorry but I've never heard of you getting sick. I thought it was like impossible" Roxas said to Lauren, getting a few weird looks from the other members of the table.
"It is. Dark Beings don't get sick, so I can't either since Fury and I are two halves of a whole." Lauren said. She got some confused looks and sighed. "For example; Kairi, if you got sick Namine would get sick too by default because you two are both technically the same person. So since its impossible for Fury to get sick its also impossible for me to get sick." Lauren explained. The confused people nodded and people like me, who had more than half a brain and were never confused, just kept on eating.
"Hmmm well that's strange. You haven't been sweating at all?" Sora asked Lauren. Lauren shook her head
"I've been shivering all day! Even last night when Riku- She cut herself off and blushed. Kairi and Selphie in particular leaned in a bit, eager for her to go on.
"Riku even found me this fuzzy blanket to sleep with, but I was still cold all night" Lauren covered up the truth swiftly and easily. I was grateful too, I wasn't going to pretend that sharing a bed with my new girlfriend didn't give me an adrenaline rush and make me nervous. It was definitely not something I wanted everyone here at this table to know about either.
"Ok I'm done bye everyone! I'm going back to my room." Lauren said quickly before tossing her paper plate into the trash can and running back down the hallway towards our room.
"Why don't we stop in Radiant Garden on the way to beast's Castle so Aerith can check out Lauren's strange sickness" Sora offered, considering me the boss of Lauren for whatever reason.
"Well I suppose it wouldn't hurt, and the last thing we need is for Key bearer number two to freeze to death in the middle of the night" I said, trying not to sound like I was too attached to Lauren yet. Even though my body was screaming for me to sprint after the blond girl who had just vanished down the hallway.
"Alright." Sora said, throwing away his plate and heading for the control room. "Radiant Garden it is"
*Lauren*
"You can't be serious" I said to the healer in front of me, just to tell her that I had no intention of doing what she was requesting of me.
"Tank top and shorts Lauren. It's the only way I can perform a good healing session and figure out what your body is doing to you" Aerith said patiently
"I'm sure Riku would be happy to help out if you put up too much of a fight" Cloud said tauntingly. I glared at him; apparently Selphie had told everyone that Riku and I were going out the moment we landed. Now everyone knew. And Cloud, having adopted the position of 'annoying older brother' in my life, had refused to stop embarrassing me with little comments such as that one.
"Oh shut up Cloud, just because you don't have the guts to ask out Tifa" I shot back at him. Aerith giggled and quickly stopped when Cloud looked over at her.
"I'm sorry" she said to Cloud before turning back to me and pointing to the bathroom. "Go get changed"
"Or I will send Riku after you" Guess who that was.
*Sora*
"Hey Sora!" A girl's voice shouted from behind me
"Yuffie I'm busy! I'll fight you la- you're not Yuffie" Why do I always have to embarrass myself in front of her?!
"Do I look like Yuffie?" Kairi said, laughing softly
"No! It's just that you were like 'Hey Sora" and I started talking but I wasn't turned around and Yuffie's been following me around all day asking…you know what never mind" I concluded
"Oh Sora your so funny" Kairi said, smiling happily. We both started walking down the street without even thinking about it. We rounded the corner and ended up right in front of my favorite restaurant in all of Radiant Garden… it was also the place where Kairi spilled ice cold water on my head…and the rest of me. I turned slightly and got a glimpse of Kairi blushing, probably at the same memory I was thinking about.
"Why don't we go eat? Its about dinner time" I suggested, eager to replace that memory with a better one.
"Sure Sora I'd love to!" Kairi beamed at me and we head inside.
"Hey Kairi?"
"Yeah Sora?"
"If someone yells "Heartless attack" I'm going to duck ok?"
"That's probably not a bad idea"
*Lauren*
I shivered violently as I slipped out of my sweatshirt (donated by Riku) and sweatpants (donated by Kairi) and tossed them carelessly onto the ground before picking up my tank top and pulling it over my head.
I reached down to pick up the shorts and noticed a string coming out of my tank top at the bottom right side. Out of habit I grabbed the string but quickly pulled back when my fingers suddenly went numb. I looked at them in shock to see that they were a deep red. I quickly ran my hand under warm water and tried not to wince at the stinging sensation I got as my hand heated back up.
This time I approached the string more carefully. When my fingers were about an inch away I could feel a cold sensation being given off by the mysterious string. Focusing Fury's power towards my hand I changed my arm's appearance so it resembled Fury's, not mine. Now that my arm was lacking multiple human qualities I grasped the string and pulled it out, surprised yet so unsurprised at what I saw; It was perfectly natural that now that he had found out that I was alive that he would send someone after me to try to kill me…or at least to weaken me. I couldn't help but wonder who his little spies were.
In my hand was a black chain sparkling with eternal ice, an item that only certain beings could create. Beings that lacked the ability to feel hot or cold, and lacked a beating heart.
I headed towards the door so I could show the others my discovery. I would have to get a whole new wardrobe now that my old one was filled with stuff that would kill me in long term. I stopped right in front of my door; I should probably put on some pants before I go out there.
*???*
"Well it seems that your plan has been a failure overall from first glance since Lauren managed to find your cleverly hidden eternal ice chains, but do tell me, what exactly was your plan?" I shifted from one foot to the other uncomfortably.
Midnight I'm begging you- please don't mess this up and get us killed.
Fine then you talk! Since you're so incredibly smart and special!
Thanks for the invitation
I stepped forward and explained myself;
"Well we both understand that you have decided to kill Lauren yourself and we had no intention of killing her after you so clearly stated that. We merely meant to weaken her, and make her suffer. We figured it would be more entertaining for you before we brought her here for you to finish her off." He stiffened when I said the word weaker, probably assuming I meant he needed assistance but smirked when I mentioned Lauren suffering. It looked like I was off the hook. Finally he spoke and I was motionless, waiting for the final decree
"Very well, Nightshade. I must admit the operation was quite enjoyable from my stand point and I do admire you and Midnight's creativity. It was a very good idea to make your presence known to Lauren without her actually seeing you. Very well done. I would like you to keep watching her until I give you the order to make yourselves known which will be very soon, believe me. But before you go back to your task there is someone I want you to find."
An image appeared in the center of the black table that he and Aros were sitting at. I stepped forward so I could see her better and as I began to recognize her I could see my Master's plan unfolding before my eyes. I finally understood what he was planning. I smirked
"We will find her immediately" My Master smiled
"Very good"
And there is chapter 21! The next chapter is a very big chapter. Here's my spoiler- The entire plot will be completely twisted around and set off in an entirely new direction! This last part was from Nightshade's POV in case you didn't catch on. And Aros is the name of the first ???'s POV person you read from. I'm getting more reviews than ever (THANK YOU EVERYONE!!!!!!) I'll try to update later this week!
Also I've decided to post a little just-for-fun question that kinda has to do with the chapter at the end of each chapter for people to answer in their reviews (if they want to) So here is my first question (I will add a new one with every chapter if I can remember to make up new ones):
Will Riku ever understand the concept of knocking?