Each step we took closer to his wing of the mansion, the more heart-poisoning dread filled my heart. "Ah – Sora, you're hurting me!" I break through a sob as I am yanked around a corner.
Sora's grip around my wrist was becoming more and more painful; his fingers biting into the thinly covered pulse of my veins. Blood racing in my ears, I know he is doing ignorant damage to my arm.
"Wouldn't be the first time..." he said, a dry smirk twisting his mouth, coffee tresses obscuring his eyes from my sight.
"Sora. What on earth are you doing?"
My heart leapt into my throat as Sora came to a halt in front of the young hatter. Axel.
He glanced down upon Sora's clawing grasp on my arm and turned his troubled eyes on Sora himself.
"Axel – move!" Sora snapped through gritted teeth. "This has nothing to do with you."
"What the hell?" the crimson haired hatter stood deliberately in Sora's steaming path, throwing his gloved hands out by his sides, "You need to settle down and let her go, kid."
A feral growl reverberated off the walls, drawing my eye to the blazing cerulean depths that now stared Axel down with a murderous intent, "Bite your tongue - Axel! She needs to see this...I can't hide it from her - not this."
His brow furrowing, Axel looked as scared as I.
"Wait-" he started before the young hatter was sent soaring backwards, bashing his back and skull into the wall before slumping to his knees. I gasped in horror as I watched Sora's curled fist lower to his side as he trembled violently.
"Know your place." his tone was curt and final, "With or without your advice, this is my decision. I have made my decision."
Axel, staggering to his feet, cupped his jaw as blood slipped past his chin. Giving me a sidelong glance, my mouth parched painfully before Sora was once again on the move. I trailed behind, every step of the way.
"Don't do anything you will come to regret, Sora. Got it memorized...?" Axel's parting words faded into the darkness as we reached the one room from which I had been denied.
The master bedroom.
"Sora"-he flinched as he grasped the heart shaped knocker-"What could possibly be in there that you must show me so immediately that...you would attack a friend?"
He paused. Lips parting in the harsh whine as his jaw tensed, throat jerking.
"You'll see soon enough..." And with a sharp yank, the twin doors yawned open before me, and at once, I was being lead into the dark depths of the room.
At once, my eyes were drawn to bareness of the room. Devastation wrought on almost every surface; only shreds of curtain and tatters of bedding were left scattered around the room. A sickly dual casement window seized the entire far wall, allowing streams of twilight to filter through its diamond hatching.
It was hardly fit to call a bedroom – let alone a room.
A jolt of pain burst down my arm, burning my wrist as I muffled a yelp. Sora, in releasing my wrist, had allowed my heart to kick into overdrive in order to make up for blood lost. A discoloured bruise was gradually forming round the flesh of my wrist. Clutching it tenderly to the swell of my bodice protectively, I turned a wary eye on the dark silhouette gliding across the room.
Scraps of material were thrown back, and shattered wood was tossed aside until Sora uncovered a mahogany hutch dresser. Its body, horribly mangled, had gauzes of wood torn from it, incisions crosshatching the delicate surface. The bronze handles were well grimed, neglected just like every other item in the room. It was well worn, no telling how old it was.
"Almost every night," Sora's hallowed voice brought me back to his actions, startling me as he looked down upon the dresser with detached eyes, "this drawer's collection grows, filling closer and closer to the brink of overflowing..."
Collection?
"Filling up a drawer with clothes – is that so bad?" I asked, taking a step in his direction, "It is better to have too many than to have no clothes at all."
He chuckled darkly, "Who said anything about clothes?" his eyes growing dull and soulless as he yanked the top drawer from its encasement and dropped it to my feet.
Dipping down to see what Sora could mean, I was confounded with what I saw.
Not clothes, but...everything else there could be. From photos to perfume bottles – filled or naught; books to stray trinkets; and cards to tokens of favour. I was about to speak when a flash of brilliant blue caught my gaze.
I swear my heart plummeted into the deepest parts of shock. Thrusting my hand into the cascade of items, I drew out the source of the twinkling blue light. Dangling within my grasp, a fine silver chain held a thumbnail sized blue topaz heart. A fifteenth of a carat diamond crowned the heart's valley.
I would recognise this necklace anywhere. My infant years were filled with continuously amusing myself with it - biting it, twiddling between my fingers - as it dangled around my mother's neck. Tears sprung to my eyes.
I looked back to my saviour, looking down on me, bracing himself.
"How...?" It came out broken, echoing from my true heart as I was bombarded by my cherished family memories.
Sora released a shuddering breath, eyes drifting closed. Clenching fists...then release.
His eyes, so like my mother's blue topaz at this very moment, opened once again, staring me down - never wavering – and spoke.
"I killed them."
...
The world was wrenched from beneath my feet, sending me plummeting down to the ground beneath my feet.
A horrible wail tore through the room, shrieking in my ears. I clawed at my temples to stop it from seeping into my mind but it plagues me in sorrow and darkness all the same.
My nightmares were lifting their fierce heads to the moon, reaching for the opportunity that had so violently presented itself. Snarled teeth cackled behind my mind's eye, claws of darkness greedily reaching out for the thundering source of life within my breast.
"Go away." I pleaded. Make them go away. Hard to breathe.
"...Danny..." I heard him speak to me, his warmth drawing closer. And with each step he took, the closer they came to overtaking me.
"Get away!" I screamed. Torn from the darkness, I dragged myself away from him, stumbling over debris. "Get away! Get away from me! Help!"
Blind. Ever blind, I stumble to my feet and make my way for the door, soaring through the way and down the darkening corridors. Stray showers of light reflected of the blue stone whipping around by my side, encouraging me to keep running. The only reason I have it now is...
"Danny?" Aeris called out as I flew down the last cascade of stairs, "What is it? Where are you going?"
"Slave or no slave"-I turned and held up my mother's necklace to her-"I can't stay here another second! I'm sorry, Aeris."
With no time for a reply, I was out the door and thrown into the blistering wind as the sinister clouds raged through the evening sky. Flicking the crimson fur hood of my cloak over my head, I sprinted for the far gate.
I could hear Julian screaming for me - calling me back. Given the wind, the mere fact his voice carried over the noise surprised me.
"I'm sorry, boy...I can't do it."
...
I'm so stupid. I have no idea where I am; where I've been; or where I'm going. The woods all look the same. Tricky ditches, unearthed roots, death traps at every turn. So dark. And to make matters worse, the rain was starting to gush. A waterfall of pressure on my back, I trudged through the sodden mud.
I needed to find shelter – quick. Face burning despite the cool water dripping down the back of neck; I squinted through the blurring rain.
Ah! A cave. Perfect. Tugging the cloak closer around my shoulders, I pushed through the grappling mud towards my safe haven.
Shuddering out of my drenched cloak and tossing my boots, I ravelled my hair to drain the water weighing me down. Collapsing onto the rocky floor, I looked back out the mouth of the cave. The splattering curtain easily hid me from view.
I'm safe...for now. I idly think as I lay back, resting my eyes. So tired. I suppose I could grant myself a small rest before setting off again – once the rain cleared up a bit of course...
Just a short rest...
In the dark, I hear a scream...In the dark, screams dwell...In the dark, I weep in pain...
In the dark, the pain dwells...In the dark, no light...In the dark, no light is mine...
In the dark, I am here...In the dark, here I shall stay...
...My pets...are we hungry for more?
I leapt into consciousness. Brushing my fringe back, my palm slicked with sweat from my brow. Panting as though I have run the length of a meadow, I wrap an arm around my stirring belly.
The rain no longer casts a veil over the cave entrance, leaving the dawning sun to seep through the brushing tree leaves. Scattering pixies of light dance across the burrowing bush and soiled ground.
Maybe my short rest wasn't so short. The sleep cracking within the corner of my eyes was proof enough – if not for the light.
You. You are my punishment.
I screamed, clutching my frazzled hair close to my scalp. "Get out of there!" I tugged, hoping pain would wake me.
Do you want the answers you have so desperately craved...?
"No...no, please," I begged, my body slumping to the coarse floor, scraping my skin as I thrashed.
I killed them.
I opened my eyes against the nightmare.
"Stop. Leave me alone!" the echo of my grinding teeth filled my ears. Through it all – through all the screaming, gnawing teeth and poisoned mind – I was still able to hear it.
Rippling water echoing through the silence. The unmistakable sound of their approach yanked me sternly from my nightmare delusion. The twang of their antennae; shushing glide of their toeless feet dragging them through the terrain.
Heartless.
No nightmare could compare. Leaping to my feet, leaving my discarded cloak and boots behind to sink into the darkness, I dashed out of the cave, more driven for escape than ever before.
They followed, eyes burning, claws dripping, all of them – hungry.
I would rather brave Sora – I flinched, gritting teeth – a thousand times over than face these creatures. Faster and faster, I can hear them closing in. Frantic, I glance over my shoulder – stumbling into the dirt. Knocking the air free from my lungs, I hear a resounding crunch.
Closer and closer, ravenous for their next kill. My entire foot falls into a pit of needles as my ankle burns with fury.
Whimpering. Stumbling. Desperate.
I hug the tree from whose roots I tripped, sobbing into its bark as my right leg throbs.
Why? Please, why me?
They're here. For my life, my heart – they want it. And I have not the strength to stop them. As they draw back for the kill, I feel my mind wondering to the one person I will regret leaving behind on this earth.
I...did not stay for his explanation. It was the Heartless that killed my family. Big brother told me. I saw it myself. How could Sora be responsible for their murder?
Sora. How?
I looked back into the eyes. Eyes so soulless, yet deep. I saw my own death reflected back at me as the Heartless, banded together, leapt for my light.
Darkness is bliss, I reason as I close my eyes to the world.
"...Sora..."
A blister of wind slashed past my face. Confusing. I hear the rapid sound of shadow whipping through the air, belting of flesh, yet I feel naught but the slow steady burn of my ankle. Daring to see, I blink past my temporary blindness only to catch my breath in horror.