We're on a roll, folks. Two updates in a row! Yeah!
Bonus points to anyone who can tell me what the name of this chapter means. :)
Enjoy.
Only so many words that we can say
Spoken upon long-distance melody
This is my hello
This is my goodness
There's really no way to reach me
'Cause I'm already gone
Is there really no way to reach me?
Am I already gone?
-The Fray, "Vienna"
Riku lounged in his favorite spot on the paopu tree, staring out at the sea. They'd been back on the islands for a week now, and still there had been no change. Sora slept as soundly as a baby – except, of course, that they couldn't wake him up, no matter what they tried.
The islands were getting crowded, now, with all of Sora's friends from other worlds pouring in. Some of them Riku liked, others he had to admit he didn't. One, a spiky-haired blonde, had tried to kill him the moment he saw Riku. Something about his silver hair. Luckily he'd had friends with him, who managed to explain that Riku was not, in fact, a leftover from the Jenova project. Not that Riku even knew what that was.
When someone walked towards him over the bridge, Riku turned and was relieved to see Mickey instead of one of the others. If he had one more person say, "Oh, so you're that guy Sora was looking for," he was going to punch them in the face.
"How ya doin', buddy?" Mickey asked, hopping up on the tree beside Riku.
"Alright, I guess," Riku shrugged. "Considering my best friend's in a coma."
"And the girl you love's worlds away," Mickey added.
Riku smiled wryly. "Yeah."
"Welp, I know how that is," the king told him.
"I bet," Riku said. "At least I know for sure I'm gonna see her again. You never knew, did you? Anything could have gone wrong, and you'd never come home."
"Guess it's a good thing I had such a good friend to watch my back, huh?" Mickey said.
"Yeah, he was pretty awesome," Riku agreed.
Mickey took something out of his pocket – a bottle with a paper rolled up inside it. But instead of having Mickey's seal as Riku was used to, this one was simply marked with the number '14'.
"Kairi found this on the beach and asked me to bring it to you," Mickey said.
Riku seized the bottle and the letter – Bruixe's letter – and opened it.
Dear Riku,
I hope things are going well. I guess Sora hasn't woken up yet, or you'd be here. I'm really sorry. Hopefully I'll be done here, soon, and I'll be able to come home.
Things are starting to fall back into place here in Kingdom City. We're still taking care of the last of the wounded, but most of the soldiers have gone home. There's nothing left to fear for them now – knock on wood.
You wouldn't believe what happened today. Everyone old enough in Kingdom City – every man, every woman, rich or poor – gathered in the big square outside the Temple of Heroes. You should have seen it – the place was packed. Remember Councilor Laurene? The one whose Councilor friends were murdered, and she was really upset? She got up and gave a speech about how Kingdom City needed new leadership and new guidance. And then she proposed that instead of electing an entire Council, they elect a single person to make decisions, with advisers and everything of course, but still just one person.
Then someone yelled out Garrison's name, and then everyone was yelling it, and when it came down to a vote it wasn't entirely unanimous, but the overwhelming majority was for Garrison. It was so cool. Garrison stood up – I think Laurene probably forewarned him that that's what would happen – and told everyone that he was willing to accept the position, on the condition that there be a new election every six years. He said that one of the failings of the Council was the appointment of Councilors for life, and that no one should have that kind of absolute power. Everyone seemed to like that idea.
I've been thinking about that a lot lately – absolute power. The kind of power that the Chasers could give people. Xehanort and Isalena both wanted it for themselves. Right now I'm capable, I guess, of getting that kind of power, even though I don't want it.
That's why I've decided to destroy the Room of Awakening. I think it would be best if there just wasn't that temptation anymore. I mean, the Room itself isn't an awful thing. Being able to talk to the people that you care about that have died – well, it's what kept me sane through everything Isalena did to me. To us. And a lot of people would love something like that. But… now just about everyone in the Eternal Kingdom knows about how the Chasers were really made. Through my Keyblade. And there will always be someone who wants that power. Taking away that temptation is the best thing to do, I think.
They've put up a monument in the Temple of Heroes, where Terra's body was finally laid to rest. I don't know who went up there into that old manor and got it, but… the monument is beautiful. It says, 'In memory of Terra, the Great Liberator, who rose above expectations and never gave up. May his legacy live on forever.' It's right between the memorials of Ven and Aqua. It's kind of sweet – that the three of them are together even in death. I think that's what Terra would have wanted.
There's also something that's been bothering me, something Ren said. Hanna's still on crutches, by the way, so she's been pretty much sitting around doing nothing, and Ren's been with her of course. I never realized how close they were. It's really sweet. Anyway, Ren wondered if maybe what happened to Sora had something to do with Isalena's Keyblade. You know how it makes you see whatever you fear most? Maybe some of its magic got to Sora, and that's why he's asleep – he's stuck in his own head, trapped by his fears. I know that's an awful thing to think about, but… Ren had kind of a point.
Riku lowered the letter for a moment to absorb the shock of that idea. Mickey looked at him quizzically, but Riku just shook his head and went back to reading.
I'm going to go out to Isalena's manor, and see what I can find. Maybe there's something there that can help Sora. Maybe I'll even find her Keyblade, and we can put him right.
If I find anything, I'll come straight home, I promise, no matter what Kingdom City wants me to do.
Tell everyone on the islands that I said hi, and don't let Kairi worry too much, okay? That goes for you too.
I miss you.
Bruixe
Riku smiled sadly. 'I miss you.' That was as sentimental as it got for Bruixe.
"What'd she say?" Mickey wanted to know.
Wordlessly Riku handed the paper off to his friend and ran to tell Kairi.
"Why am I here again?" Ren wanted to know.
Bruixe rolled her eyes. Getting into Isalena's manor was so much easier the second time around. No soldiers, no crawling through rivers, no dead people splayed on the walls. "Because you're driving Garrison nuts hanging around his house all day, and I offered to take you off his hands."
"That's mean," Ren complained.
"No, it's true," Bruixe told her. "If I was trying to be mean, I would have called you annoying. And whiny."
"Ha ha," Ren said sarcastically.
"Besides, coming on my own would have sucked, and I couldn't exactly bring Hanna, could I?" Bruixe pointed out.
The younger girl ignored this and disappeared into another room. "What are we looking for again?" she called.
If Bruixe didn't like the girl so much, she would have strangled her. "Anything that looks like it might be magical. A Keyblade, or an orb, or something. Use your head. If it glows or floats, that's probably a good sign."
"Does that happen often? Glowing or floating things?"
"Not really," Bruixe admitted. "C'mon, give me a break here."
She prowled around the great hall, silver eyes roaming the surrounding doors. It would take forever to search all this.
"Nothing in here," Ren announced, flouncing back into the great hall. "Hey, did you check this?" she asked, squatting next to Isalena's thronelike chair. Just looking at it pissed Bruixe off. Who did she think she was, a queen?
"No," she said.
"C'mon, all creepy thrones have secret passages in them," Ren told her. "It's like, a mainstay of all castles."
"I don't think Isalena would be that cliché," Bruixe started to say, until Ren triggered something under one arm of the chair and the entire floor slid sideway to reveal a staircase downward.
"Told ya," Ren gloated.
"Who does that?" Bruixe wondered, taking the steps two at a time.
The room the stairs led to wasn't small, but there was writing all over the walls that gave the room the feeling of being very cramped. Bruixe stepped closer. Most of it seemed to be jumbled nonsense.
Mysie Torken/ 12/ ladder, heights
Jiro Vignus/ 43/ dark, small, locks
They were names, Bruixe realized, looking around. Something on the south wall caught her eye.
Bruixe Rubesia/ 17/ water, death of friends
Her stomach did a flip. The room was a catalogue of all the people Isalena had terrorized, and their fears.
"Creepy," she said, rubbing her name, but it wouldn't come off, didn't even smudge.
"Bruixe," Ren called, pointing to a dais at the end of the room. "What's that? Some kind of… altar?"
But Bruixe spotted the telltale crack along one side, perfectly straight and horizontal. "Not an alter. A chest." She braced her shoulder against the lid, shoving with all her might; the sound of scraping stone filled the room as the lid slid off and clattered to the floor.
"Bingo," she whispered.
Resting inside the chest was a pale orange and pink Keyblade, shaped like a lotus at one end, with another tiny lotus dangling from the keychain.
Ren reached for it. "It's so pretty," she said.
"Don't be fooled," Bruixe said darkly. "That thing is the most twisted Keyblade I've ever laid eyes on."
"What's it do?" Ren asked.
"Makes you see everything you're afraid of," Bruixe answered. "It makes you believe it's true."
Ren recoiled from the blade as if it were toxic. "Is that why your name's on the wall? Did she do it to you?"
Bruixe nodded.
"What… what did you see?" the younger girl whispered. "I mean, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to –"
"It's alright," Bruixe said. "I saw – water. I thought I was going to drown. And then – I saw my friends. Dead." Even just remembering it made her hands tremble, and she clenched them into fists.
"I'm sorry," Ren said.
Bruixe shrugged. "Don't worry about it. With this thing, we can save Sora."
"Really?" Ren asked.
"Hey, this was your idea," Bruixe replied.
Riku looked down at his best friend's face with worry.
He brushed a hand over Sora's forehead. "What are you seeing in there?" he wondered aloud. "Is it really that witch's magic making you like this?"
Maybe I'll even find her Keyblade, and we can put him right.
"I hate this," Riku said to no one in particular.
The moon was rising above the horizon, white and luminous. He looked through the window, up at the stars. So many times he'd been sure he'd never make it back here, never see the island stars again. Once upon a time he'd wanted to get the hell off this tiny prison. Now he wouldn't trade it for anything, even after all the worlds he'd seen. There was nothing quite like the smell of the sea, the sound of the waves. The billion stars that you couldn't see through city lights were brilliant here, unlimited.
"Go get some sleep, Riku," said someone from the doorway, and he whirled – he hadn't even heard Leon come in. "Sora wouldn't want you to push yourself too far just for him."
"Yeah," Riku said. Those were pretty much the same words he'd used on Kairi. "Thanks, Leon."
"Sure," the older man said.
Outside, the world was perfectly still. There wasn't even a breeze tonight. Maybe that's why it was so easy to hear the sound – a soft whooshing. He could have sworn he'd heard it before. Then it came to him.
The sound of a portal being opened.
He took off sprinting towards the beach. He could think of only one person who could travel through the dark realm and who needed to be on the islands.
She came out around the corner of a house and he didn't see her in time, ran straight into her, sending both of them crashing to the ground, a knot of limbs.
"Well, hello to you too," Bruixe muttered.
"Sorry," he said, disentangling himself and jumping to his feet. Sora had always hated that move. It had sent him sprawling many a time.
"Welcome home," he said, pulling Bruixe up and into his chest, crushing her against him, burying his nose in her fragrant hair. "Mmm. Juniper."
"Um, yeah," she said. "You smell like palm trees."
"Well, I do live on an island," he pointed out, letting her pull away. "Did you find anything?"
"Of course I did," Bruixe replied, as if his question had been ridiculous. "Where is he?"
"At his house," Riku told her. "We thought it would be better than the hospital."
"Well, then, let's go," she said.
review, please.
