Trust Issues
A few hours had passed since our great escape and the Gummi ship was coming up on Radiant Garden. Nothing had really been said between Kaity and me. After everything that had happened... I guess we just didn't know what to say. I was going to question her about what had happened to her. I wanted to know her side of the story. Why did they kidnap her? What did they want her to do? Then I had a feeling that, deep down, I really didn't want to know... Because whatever the answer is, I was the one they wanted. Whatever they wanted from her, they wanted from me.
An annoying beep from the controls pulled me from my thoughts. The ship was shifting into manual mode so that it could be landed. Moving around in my seat, I grabbed onto the controls and started the descend into Radiant Garden. We broke through the atmosphere and soared over the castle toward the town. My flying is horrible to begin with and to make things worse, it was dark and pouring rain.
As we neared our landing point, I slowed the Gummi ship down more and more until it was almost hovering in midair. When I was sure I had the ship hovering over the spot it had been resting in just outside town, I started to set it down. I had wanted it to land gently, like Riku had, but I ended up jerking us around as it hit the ground hard. I hastily let go of the controls and unbuckled myself, pulling the key out of the ignition as I stood. Kaity and I walked out of the Gummi ship and into the freezing rain.
I lifted my face to the dark clouds above our heads and blinked as the rain hit my face. The water felt nice against my skin, washing away the dust and grim from the explosion in the castle. My clothes were soaked in a matter of seconds along with my bag. Great. Now everything is going to be soaking wet. With a miserable sigh, I pulled my bow over my head and swept the hair plastered against my forehead out of my eyes. I looked over at Kaity who was trying to catch rain drops in her mouth. I grinned at the childish act.
"Are you thirsty or something?" I asked her.
Kaity closed her mouth and turned to look at me with a tormented glare. "Yes! And I'm starving!" She complained, clutching her stomach. "The jerks didn't feed me or anything."
"Be glad, they could've poisoned you." I said as my own stomach growled at me. I hadn't eaten anything since the night before. "I'm hungry too."
"Well then, let's go!" Kaity said impatiently. "There has to be food at Merlin's house and we have to go there anyways and tell the guys that we're back." She began walking toward the Market Place.
Oh yeah... Merlin's house...
Reluctantly, I followed Kaity through the pouring rain. I didn't want to go to Merlin's house. The guys are there. Riku is there. God, he's going to kill me. He's going to kill me and then he's going to bring me back and kill me again.
"Do you think we could just take off to some other world?" I anxiously to Kaity over the sound of the rain. "Somewhere far, far away from here?"
Kaity slowed so that she was walking beside me. She turned to me with a tired glare. "You stole the Gummi ship, Sam. Now you have to pay for your actions. You're going to have to face them sooner or later."
"Yeah, well, I pick later." I huffed at her. "And I didn't steal it."
"Whatever, and that's too bad. I'm making it sooner." She sped up her pace, walking a few yards ahead of me. I groaned in frustration and angrily kicked a nearby puddle of water.
We navigated our way through the Market place and into the Borough in silence. If we wanted to speak, it would be in vain. The rain thundering down around us was deafening. Not to mention it was cold. I shivered and crossed my arms over my chest. My shirt was soaking wet and was no help in trying to keep me warm. I thought about the clothes that Kairi had lent us and was thankful that I had thought to keep them.
It wasn't until we were in view of Merlin's house that I noticed him.
I was just walking along when I got the feeling that someone was watching me. Instinctively, I stopped and turned to face the place where I felt them. I peered through the sheet of rain at a alleyway about twenty feet back. It was hard to see through the rain, but I saw him. The first flash of lighting sparked in the air, lighting up the world for just a second, giving me just enough light to see him.
Divan was leaning casually against the alley wall, his hands in his pockets, his hair plastered to his face and his eyes staring steadily at me.
My heart jumped into my throat. I tried to call out to Kaity, but my voice wasn't working right. Instead, I force my feet to turn and run toward Kaity who was standing just outside of Merlin's house. I grabbed her shoulder and spun her around.
"Sam, wha-"
"It's Divan!" I sputtered. I looked back and pointed to the spot where I had seen him.
Except there was no one there.
Kaity looked at the spot confused. "Where?"
"He was right there!" I shouted panicked. Where did he go?
Kaity saw the fear in my face. She glanced back at the spot I had pointed too. "We need to get inside. He'd be an idiot to follow us in here."
Kaity pushed open the door the Merlin's house and stepped inside. Just before I followed her in, I could have sworn I saw a flash of blue in the rain not too far away.
With a yelp, I shut the door and backed away from it. Kaity was right, he wouldn't follow us in here. If he did, he'd have to face every person in here. I made my heart slow down. It wouldn't help anyone if I had a heart attack. We were safe for now.
Calming down, I turned to face the room. Water dripped from my soaked clothes onto the wooden floor, pooling at my feet. It was warm in the room, but my body wouldn't stop shivering. Kaity was in the same state I was, but there where people clustering around her. Sora, Roxas, Yuffie, Aerith, and Leon were standing around her, battering her with questions. She looked overwhelmed.
No one had noticed me yet, so I took that moment to pull my bow over head and set it against the nearest bookcase along with my sopping wet bag. When I straightened back up, I looked over to the group of people talking in a garbled mess. Leon was quiet, as usual, asking a question here and there. When he looked up, he saw me standing by the door and nodded slightly. I half smiled back. I'm going to take that as a "Good job, Sam".
Roxas saw Leon look up and he turned around, catching my eye. He stepped away from Kaity and walked over to me.
"Hey..." He said with a small smile. "You alright?" He looked worried.
Aw, how sweet, I thought. I half smiled back. "No, but I can deal with it." I said solemnly.
"Prepare yourself, then." He said warningly. "Riku's furious."
I looked over Roxas' shoulder and saw Riku standing stock still next to the computer with his eyes closed and his fingers pinching the bridge of his nose in anger. In his fist was my necklace, glittering in the light of the room. I think he felt me looking at him because his eyes flashed open and met mine with a death glare containing all the fires of Hell. My eyes widened as he untwisted myself and began to walk over toward me and Roxas.
"Roxas?" I said timidly.
"Yeah?"
"Tell Kaity to tell my mom that I love her." I whimpered.
Roxas flashed a grin before turning around to see my death stalking toward us. "He won't kill you." He said confidently. "But... just incase..." Roxas stayed standing in front of me, half shielding me. Thanks Roxas, your certainty is assuring, I thought sourly while backing up into the wall behind me.
Riku stopped a foot away from Roxas (two feet away from me, cowering in the wall) and stood tall with his arms crossed, his eyes still were narrowed at me. "Would you like to begin, or should I?" He hissed.
"Just get it over with." I said, preparing to fire back if I needed too.
"Why in the Hell would you go off on your own?" Riku exploded. "What you did was stupid and irresponsible! You could have been killed! Or worse!"
God, he sounded like my mother.
"If you would have left when you were planning too, you would have been too late!" I shouted back.
"That's not the point! You shouldn't have gone alone!" He yelled. "Your inexperienced! For God's sake, you can't even fight!"
"I'm here, aren't I? I got back safely, didn't I?" I yelled. " I'm not as weak as you think I am! I can take care of myself!"
"THAT'S NOT THE POINT!" He yelled furiously. The room was quiet. The others were watching us in a stunned silence. I backed hard into the wall, shocked at the sudden rise in his voice. "YOU'RE IN DANGER! YOU ARE!"
I turned my face away from his, hiding behind my wet hair. "I know." I muttered. I know that I'm in danger. But... How does he know that? I turned my eyes to meet his. He knows something that he's not telling me. I looked upon him uncertainly. "How do you know what kind of danger I'm in?"
For a moment, the anger vanished from Riku's eyes, replaced by a taken aback look. Then the frustration came back. "We know more about you two then you think." He said carefully.
"Oh, yeah? And what's that?" I said, getting annoyed.
"We know that Kaity is the Other of Kairi and that you have retained Namine's soul." Riku explained. "The king told us. He said that there were going to be people after you. Hunting you down for the power you hold. When Kaity was kidnapped, we knew that they would be after you. That's why we didn't want to take and deliver you straight to them!"
"Wait...you've known about our true selves this whole time?" I said, irritation rising inside me. I glance at both Sora and Roxas, who were avoiding my gaze guiltily. "And you never told us?"
"The king told us not to let you know that we knew who you were!" Riku explained annoyed. "You had to tell us when you were ready or else we would have never known if you two trusted us or not!"
I can't believe this! All this time, I thought that I was hiding a secret about myself from them, but they were the ones with the secret. Kaity told them about where we had come from because I thought it would help them trust us a little more. We already trusted them. We know who they are. I just didn't want to tell them about how Kaity and I were connected with Kairi and Namine until we were sure they trusted us. But now...
"I don't trust you." I said darkly, narrowing my eyes at him.
"What?" Riku said taken aback. "Then why did you confide in us about your home world and who you really are?"
"Because I was trying to get you guys to trust us!" I shouted. "I thought that if we told you about where we came from, then you'd trust us a little more. But no..." I said. "You never trusted us. You never would've until we came up to you and spilled our life story!"
Riku didn't look like he had a comeback for that. I rendered the great Riku speechless. Way to go me!
"If I trust you, you'll know it." I said. "Until then, I wouldn't pride myself on thinking that you know everything about us."
I could see the heat rising in Riku again. He took a step forward as if to pin me completely against the wall, but out of nowhere, Kaity was suddenly between us, shoving Riku away.
"That's enough!" She snapped at him. "We have bigger problems then this! The point is that Sam and I are back, safe and sound. Now just get over it and move on!"
Riku looked as if he wanted to punch something, but he held his temper and turned away. He stalked over to a small table holding several books and slammed my necklace on to it before moving away to brood in the corner.
Warily, I went to go pick up my necklace. I gently turned it over and over in my fingers, examining it for any scratches. Glancing over to the corner, I saw Riku still glaring at me. Sighing through my nose, I slipped the necklace over my head and shivered. My clothes were still wet and it was keeping my body from warming itself. If I don't change soon, I'm going to catch a cold. I turned and spotted Sora standing near the black board. I fished my hand into my pocket and walked over to him.
"Here," I said pulling out the Gummi ship keys. "Take them."
Sora took the keys from me and slipped them into a pocket. He looked a bit unnerved by the conversation between Riku and me. His eyes darted over my shoulder, probably to glance at Riku. He seemed to nod slightly, as if agreeing to something. When his eyes returned to mine, they were unwavering. "Sam, we need to know what happened."
I stared back into his eyes suspiciously. There was something... different about them...
My own eyes narrowed slightly. He knows something. He knows something that I don't. So much for wanting to change out of these clothes, I thought miserably. "Kaity could probably answer your questions better than I can." I said, turning away to go sit next to my bag and bow. So many secrets...
Kaity was now sitting on the single bed in the room, shivering. She seemed to have the same thought I did, because she glance unhappily at her clothes before huffing. She wrapped her arms around the upper half of her body before looking tiredly at Sora. "What do you want to know?"
"Who kidnapped you and what did they want?" Sora asked still standing. I swear, does that boy ever sit down? Everyone else in the room was standing as well. Except for Cid, of course, he was working at the computer still.
Kaity was silent for a moment, gathering her thoughts. "At first... I didn't know who had taken me." She began. "When I was patrolling, this breeze blew past me and I had this huge whiff of flowers. I was talking to Sam over the headset and told her, but I didn't realize where the scent had come from until it was too late.
"I was in the Great Maw and I turned around to see a man standing in the middle of the clearing." She explained. Her voice seemed distant, like she was reliving it in her head or something. "I was confused at first, but then I saw his face and I added one plus one and I knew who he was. It didn't matter that his hair wasn't pink, I still recognized him. So I ran.
"But he caught up to me in the Dark Depths and dragged me through a portal of darkness." Her face twisted in confusion. "I think I fainted or something, because the next thing I knew, I was tied to a chair in a huge white room." She said uncertainly.
"You probably passed out from traveling through the darkness." Riku said from his corner. He still looked irritated, but his attention was on Kaity's story. "It's not safe to travel through it without some kind of protective shield. You could die."
"But... I wasn't wearing anything that could protect me from the darkness. How did I survive?" Kaity asked confused.
"That's a good question..." Riku muttered.
"Anyways," I interrupted. "What did they want?"
"Oh, right." Kaity said, snapping back to her story. "I woke up in that room and a guy that looked a lot like Saix came in and started commanding me to do things. He kept telling me to draw something. Then he started telling me to find someone with my drawings and arrest his heart. I was so confused!" Kaity shouted desolately. "I kept telling him that I didn't have a clue what he was talking about, but he just got more annoyed. I tried to ask him questions, like who the hell he was and where I was, but he ignored me and told me to draw.
"The thing that got me though was when he started calling me a 'Witch' and told me to use my abilities to find the person. My ability to delve into someone's heart and rearrange their chain of memories." Kaity glanced over at me, followed by everyone else.
I pulled my knees to my chest and wrapped my arms around them. I looked up at the guys face's. They were looking at me knowingly. I glared back at them and looked away. "Yeah, Isa was talking about me. So what?"
Sora and Roxas wouldn't retort back, but Riku would challenge me. But he didn't, surprisingly. Although, I felt someone burning holes into my head.
"Uh, after that, Isa left and I tried to escape, but I couldn't." Kaity began again. "I fell asleep and woke up when I heard voice's coming from the other side of the door. They were really soft, so I didn't hear what they said. A few minutes later, Sam found me..." Kaity said, her voice growing darker, "and they found us."
Kaity finished her story with a gloomy look on her face, remembering what had ensued after I found her. Roxas had taken a seat on the ground close to me, leaning against the wall, but still far enough away to see Kaity and me. Riku was still in the corner and Sora had just then sat on the raised platform the table was setting upon in the center of the room. Leon, Yuffie, and Aerith were all still standing.
"That didn't really answer any of Sora's questions..." Leon said from where he was standing.
"No, I explained it up to that point so that Sam could explain the rest." Kaity said with a small smile. I shot daggers at her head. I didn't want to explain anything. Kaity turned and sent me a meaningful look. Oh... I see... she wants me to explain what happened with Divan. Why I froze up...
I looked away and stared at my hands that were curled around my legs. I could feel the impatience of everyone in the room. Taking a deep breath, I pulled my memories of what happened to the front of my mind. "When I got to Castle Oblivion, no one confronted me when I entered the castle. I remembered from a manga that there were supposed to be camera's throughout the castle, so I was a bit confused on why no one tried to come kill me." I began quietly. I already decided not to tell them about the Room of Reflection experience. That... I don't even know what it was. But something just told me not to tell anyone about it. Not now, at least. "After a while of navigating the halls, I found a short cut that led me up to the thirteenth floor. When I entered the thirteenth floor, I found a hallway with a lot of doors.
"I checked the doors, but after about five or six of them, I heard voice's. I followed them to a room that was the control room for all of the camera's throughout the castle." I told them. "I think they lost me when I took the short cut, because I they were trying to find me on the monitors. After that, one of them spoke up and said that thought they had the wrong girl and the one that they needed was me. I overheard them saying that they had been watching Kaity and me since our arrival here, trying to figure out which of us they needed to take.
"But they couldn't tell." I glanced first at Sora, then to Riku. "They said that the one with the most darkness was the one they needed, but something was blocking him from telling which of us it was. He couldn't read our hearts."
"Read your hearts?" Yuffie pipped in. "How can you read a heart?"
"More like smell, than read, but yeah." I said with a shrug.
At that Riku stiffened. "Smell? What did this man look like?"
What? Oh, wait... that's right, Riku still remembers the Organization members that were stationed at Castle Oblivion. Sora's memories of that place were erased by Namine, but not Riku. He would know about Zexion and his ability to smell a person's level of darkness.
"It wasn't a man." I said. "He looked like a boy." I looked at the guys. I guess it's time to just tell them who we're up against. "The Organization hasn't come back, so you don't need to worry about that. What we're up against is far worse..."
"What?" Sora said impatiently. "What is it?"
"Heartless." Kaity said gravely. "Human formed heartless of the old Organization XIII members."
... "What?"
Although they were yelling at Kaity, I flinched at the exclamations from everyone.
Sora jumped up from his seat. "Human formed heartless? Do you mean like Ansem?"
"Of course that's what we mean." I snapped tiredly.
"How many were there?" Riku asked, moving away from the corner.
I narrowed my eyes at him and he stopped moving. I'm still mad at him and if he comes within reach, he's getting punched. "Four heartless." I held up four fingers "Isa - Saixs' heartless other." I flipped down one finger. "Ienzo - Zexions' heartless other, Rauliam- Marluxias' heartless other, and Lea," I said, looking at Roxas. "Axels' heartless other."
Roxas looked a little startled, but reigned in his surprise. Riku nodded as if he thought of something and crossed his arms again in thought. Sora sat down heavily on the stone platform. "Four more human formed heartless..."
"But that's not all..." Kaity said looking at me.
"What?" Sora said looking at us. "What else happened?"
Riku looked at me. "Who else was there?"
"After they found out that I was the one they needed, they went out to search the castle. But when they found me, they were going to kill Kaity." I said with a pointed look at Riku. See? If I hadn't gone, she would have been killed. "I found Kaity and freed her. Just as we were about to escape, we were ambushed by the heartless and... Divan." I felt my throat tighten at the memory of him.
Everyone looked confused. "Who is Divan?" Sora asked.
"I...I don't know..." I whispered, thinking back to the affect he had on me. Who could have such darkness and survive? Funny... Ienzo said the same thing about me... "He was in charge though. He told us about the others... but..." I paused looking at Sora. "He seemed taken aback that we didn't know who they were. Why would we know?" I said perplexed. "I'd never seen him before. Then he said something about a master...his master over-estimating my knowledge..."
"A master?" Riku asked stiffly.
"Yeah," I said looking at him. "He didn't give a name."
Riku and Sora exchanged a meaningful look. I looked at both of them. "What?"
"Did anything else happen?" Riku asked guardedly.
"Not really," I said carefully. "We played twenty questions, Divan tried to seduce me into the darkness, we ran, we blew up stuff, and then we escaped."
"Wait, Divan seduced you?" Roxas asked.
"Tried to seduce me." I said with emphasis. "But, yeah. He was using his own darkness to try and get to the darkness in my heart." I lowered my voice at the memory. "It was terrifying."
I don't know why I was so mesmerized by it, but that fact is that I was... and that is not a good thing at all. It took all of my strength to push him off of me. What if he were to corner me again, but with no one around to help me? What if that was what he was trying to do earlier in the rain? I shivered not from the cold, but from the possibility. What would have happened?, I thought quietly. What would I have done?
"At one point, I thought he had you." Kaity muttered after a moment. "All of the power in that room... I'm surprised we didn't drown in it."
It was quiet for a few minutes as everyone took it in, thinking to themselves. I was still cold and wet. Sighing pensively, I brushed my fingers through my hair, taking out the knots. All I want is a warm shower and sleep. Screw eating, I can wait until tomorrow to eat.
"Well, hell!"
I snapped my head up at the shout to see Riku pacing across the floor, fuming. What the heck is his problem? I looked over at Sora who was now standing with his arms crossed over his chest. He looked kind of irritated too. Roxas was off the floor as well, watching Riku walk back and forth.
"This changes everything, doesn't it?" Roxas said wearily.
Change what?
"Yeah, it does." Sora sulked.
"What will you do?" Leon questioned them. Riku stopped pacing and looked at him blankly along with Sora and Roxas.
Um, okay... that's not confusing at all.
"What are you guys going on about?" I said, standing up. "Is there something else you're hiding from us?" The guys turned to look at me. I crossed my arms over my chest as another shiver over took my body. Sora's eyes widened and he glanced at Kaity and I, taking in our bed-ragged state.
"You're both soaking wet!" He said with realization.
Thanks Captain Obvious, what else are you going to tell us? That fire is hot?
I grinded my teeth together to keep from biting his head off. Kaity looked immensely irritated as well. "Thanks, Sherlock." She snapped. "I hadn't noticed."
Sora blushed and sheepishly scratched the back of his head.
Riku raked his eyes over Kaity and I before closing his eyes and sighing. "This can wait until tomorrow." He said, looking up at us. "You two need to shower and change before you catch a cold."
No matter how much I wanted to know what they were hiding from us, I was too tired. If I have to stay up any longer, I might just pass out here. To prove my thought, I lifted my hand to cover my mouth as a huge yawn broke out.
"And then you both should get some sleep." Riku added after he saw me yawn.
"Let's go then." Kaity mumbled, standing up from the bed.
The five of us bid goodnight to the others and stepped outside of the warm house and back into the pouring rain. I had to grab my bow and bag, so I was the last to walk out of the house. When I was out in the rain, I tilted my head up to the sky, staring into the falling drops of water. Will it ever stop? Lowering my head, I ran forward a few steps to catch up with the others. I stayed near the back, bringing up the rear. For a moment, I had a feeling that someone was watching me, but it was gone just as sudden. Could it be Divan again? Alarm creeping up my spin, I jogged forward until I was walking next to Roxas. I glanced over my shoulder, but I didn't see anything.
"Are you alright?"
I lifted my eyes to Roxas, meeting his own eyes. He looked concerned. I half smiled and lowered my gaze. "I'm not sure."
The rain was colder than ever and my clothes were again hanging on my body like sodden rags. The others looked no better. Tucking my arms close to me, I tried to stop my teeth from chattering, but I was too cold. It's amazing that the rain hasn't turned into snow yet. Does Radiant Garden even get snow?
A few minutes later, we came upon our hotel. It was like a lighthouse in the night, shining through the rain. The five of us filed into the warm structure and trudged up the stairs to our rooms. Kaity and I reached our door and bid goodnight to the guys. As soon as the door was open, I charged past Kaity into the bathroom.
"Sam!" She whined from the other side of the door.
"Sorry, love." I called back. "A girl has to fight for what she wants."
A hard 'thump' echoed on the door as Kaity hit it. After I turned on the shower to let it warm up, I discarded my bow, bag, and clothing. I wrapped my arms around my bare body to keep warm as another violent shiver shook me. I didn't dare look at myself in the mirror over the sink. I didn't need to see myself to know that I looked like a wreck.
A few minutes later, I stepped under the warm, welcoming spray of water, sighing. My shivering stopped and I began to scrub the grim and all signs of what happened at Castle Oblivion from my body. The rain had gotten rid of most of it, but I still felt dirty. I was going to use the time to think about everything that had happened, but weariness kept my mind from doing anything other than wash my body.
When I finally felt like I was clean, I turned off the water and stepped out, grabbing a towel to dry off. I dried off and grabbed the outfit Kairi had given me out from the cabinet under the sink. I dressed, brushed my hair and teeth, and then turned to stare at my sodden clothes lying on the floor. With a huff of annoyance, I picked up all the clothes and threw them in the corner of the bathroom. I saw a small laundry room on the ground floor of the hotel when we came in. After Kaity's done showering, we'll take care of our clothes. With a small nod at the thought, I grabbed my bag and bow and exited the bathroom.
"Finally!" Kaity shouted, exasperated. "Why it takes you over twenty minutes to shower, I will never know."
I set down my bow and began emptying my bag. "I have longer hair then you do, Kai." I said while pulling out my sketchbook. "Like, a foot and half longer. It takes awhile to wash all of this hair."
"And you wonder why my hair is so short." She grumbled as she closed the bathroom door.
I smiled and flipped through my sketchbook, checking for water damage. I liked having long hair. The one time I had cut it over my shoulders was the worst mistake I had ever made. The months after that were miserable. For me and my family. However, Kaity looked really pretty with shorter hairstyles. She had the face for it. A gift I wasn't given.
I guess that's another thing that we have in common with our other selves here in the Kingdom Hearts universe. Kairi has always been pictured with short hairstyles and, well, I don't know how long Deirdra's hair is now, but in my vision thing it had been pretty long.
I set the contents of my bag on the night stand next to my bed. Surprisingly, none of the supplies was wet. The bag was soaked through, but the water seemed not to touch anything in it. Strange, but extremely lucky. Wet paper is not fun to deal with. I looked over the items, stopping when I saw the Earth book setting on top of my sketch book. I had forgotten that I had that with me. Picking it up, I opened to the table of contents and ran a finger down the long list.
I was half way down the page when I heard the turning of a knob. I looked back at the bathroom door, expecting Kaity to walk out. But the door wasn't opening and the water was still running. I turned to see the front door, but it was closed. The sound of falling rain broke through the silence, drowning out the sound of Kaity's shower.
Hastily, I turned around to see the balcony door standing wide open, but there was no one standing in the doorway. I cautiously walked toward the door. I know for a fact that this door was locked, so the wind couldn't have opened it. I reached toward the door, ready to slam it shut on whoever opened it.
"Don't bother closing it," a voice said from behind me. "I won't be staying long."
Gasping in alarm, I spun around and saw sea blue eyes staring back at me.