Chapter X; Tattoos
Yuki sat watching Hysui walk around her lab. Yuki had been assigned to help her but wasn't getting very far, as whenever she tried to touch something Hysui snapped at her. Yuki had decided it was probably safer for her to just sit down and watch.
Hysui seemed to be muttering to herself as she worked. Something about an idiots experiment gone wrong. Yuki didn't understand it but she wasn't going to question it. Most questions she asked would cause Hysui to snap at her.
After a while of nothing, someone entered the room making both Yuki and Hysui look toward the door.
The boy in the doorway was wearing a black coat, identifying him as a Nobody. He held an open book in his hand, which he was reading. He didn't look that old, in his late teens maybe. His hair was a steely blue. His eyes, which didn't look up, were blue.
"Zexion, you're late," Hysui said turning back to her work.
"My apologies. I was detained by an interesting occurrence. Did you complete it?" The boy replied.
Hysui handed him a card without a word. Yuki tried to get a peek at the card but failed.
"Thank you. This will help us greatly." Zexion said.
"What's a card going to do?" Yuki asked. As she was not allowed in the main part of the castle she didn't know what the cards were for. Though she remembered X saying something about the cards governing all.
Zexion looked up at Yuki. His blue eyes locked with hers. A strange feeling rushed through Yuki's head. It was like she had seen him before. Why was that happening so often?
"The cards allow us to show those we give them to their memories. Sometimes we need to...edit their memories to better suit our needs." Zexion said calmly. He too had felt he knew this girl, though he thought he knew why.
Yuki nodded thinking about Zexion's words. Zexion looked at her curiously.
"Is that all, or do you have another reason to disturb me?" Hysui asked Zexion annoyed.
"That was all I came for. But might I make the comment your helper here seems odd. She's different than the rest." Zexion said leaving before Hysui could respond. Hysui glared after him.
Yuki looked up as he left. Was she different than the rest? Was she really? Yuki looked back down at her hand, looking for something weird or off about her. The only thing that could possibly be classified as strange was she had a tattoo of the Heartless emblem on the back of her left hand. Yuki glanced up Hysui and caught a glimpse of the tattoo on the back of her hand. Unlike Yuki's, it was purple outlined in pink.
"Why does everyone but me have tattoos that are different colored than normal Heartless?" Yuki asked. Hysui stopped moving for a second as if trying to think of an excuse.
"You're unique in that matter. It's what will make you key in opening Kingdom Hearts." Hysui said then continued her work. She didn't snap like normal, she sounded reserved.
"But why do they have them? And what do you mean key in opening Kingdom Hearts?" Yuki asked.
"It's a side effect of the darkness. We aren't marked by much, but the darkness tries to prove we belong to it. But it can't do anything more than mark our skin with colors. To mark we are different from the rest the colors are different." Hysui explained.
"Then why aren't my colors any different?" Yuki asked standing up and walking over to Hysui leaning against the counter next to her.
"You're special in about every way. The darkness made you the true Heartless amongst us. Or maybe it marked you as different in another way. But whatever it is it gives you the key we need to open the door." Hysui replied. Yuki frowned, turning her gaze to Hysui's pink and purple emblem.
"Is it always like that? I mean to everyone but me?" Yuki asked. Hysui sighed heavily.
"Yes, it's just the way it's always been. It also seems to represent some personalities. But anything else we really don't understand. Not yet." Hysui explained sounding exasperated. Though Yuki was annoying she felt these questions deserved to be answered.
Yuki nodded and looked at the desk thinking. Her eyes scanned the papers picking up random words. A lot of them were about darkness and several had a couple names written on them. Two names began with a V and looked really similar. Hysui seemed to notice Yuki's wandering gaze and shifted the papers around as if looking for something, though really trying to hide what the papers said.
"You talk about the darkness like it can think for itself, like it's alive. Why?" Yuki finally asked after much thinking.
"Because it does think for itself. It's a force outside of our understanding, much like the keys you carry." Hysui answered.
"What do you mean?" Yuki asked curiously. This all was very confusing to her. And she didn't want to end the day without understanding what was going on.
"Darkness has existed for a long, long time. No one remembers a time without it. Though the story of how it came to exist, I don't believe that's correct. Darkness and light cannot exist without the other. A time of all light seems impossible." Hysui explained her hand motioning as she spoke still reading through some of the papers. "Darkness and light were probably born together, at the creation of the world. The light was the favored. The darkness of course then came to represent all evil, while light represented all good."
"But why? What was wrong with the dark? And how can they think?" Yuki asked, not really understanding any of the things Hysui was trying to say.
"Who can say. Maybe because light is a beautiful lie, and dark the ugly truth. Maybe light just seemed better. But anyway it occurred, darkness was held at arm's length. The people pretended it didn't exist, thus the world full of light. The darkness became bitter since it had nothing. When those in the world of light began to feel those bitter emotions they blamed the darkness." Hysui said with a bitter smile.
"Ok, so the dark didn't really cause these bad things but it got blamed for it, and since it was angry at the light, it accepted that?" Yuki asked trying to keep up. Maybe that wasn't at all what Hysui had just said, but that was how Yuki was understanding it.
"Yes. That's what I and most other Heartless here believe." Hysui replied nodding.
"Ok, then how does darkness think?" Yuki asked, slightly understanding it now.
"Who knows. Maybe it is not just a force but a deity. Or maybe it is a force of tremendous power that is able to think for itself. None can say for sure." Hysui replied casually. It was obvious she meant what she said. There seemed to be a curious light in her eyes. Like she wanted to know all the secrets of the multiverse.
Yuki looked up at the ceiling and slowly walked over to the seat she had been sitting in. She was busy thinking of everything she and Hysui had discussed. Light and darkness. Good and evil. Were those things even existent? If the story of light and darkness was true it would appear it easily could have been the other way around. Or could have never happened at all. It made her head hurt just thinking about it all. It was so overwhelming it made her feel light headed.
Yuki swayed a little on her feet, her hand going to her head. Her mind felt ready to explode like something was trying to break it open from the inside. She shut her eyes tightly, trying to block out the pain. She swayed on her feet once more before collapsing on the ground.
*3*
The little red-haired girl stood on a chair next to a boy with steely blue hair only a little older than she was. They stood doing some kind of experiment with a few different chemicals. Both wore goggles over their eyes and were being careful not to breathe in fumes. The little girl looked over at the boy and giggled. The boy looked over at her in question.
"It's nothing." The little girl said, answering the boys' unasked question. He gave her another look that made her laugh. He rolled his eyes before looking back to the experiment.
"You brought your friend again, did you Ienzo." A man's voice said, making both kids turn around quickly. The blonde man watching them was smiling faintly. Ienzo nodded slowly.
"I'm sorry I forgot to ask. I know Even said not to bring her in anymore." Ienzo said quietly. He looked at the ground ashamed.
"Well, this isn't Even's lab, is it? I do not mind this girl's interest in science. Perhaps one day she will join us here." The man said. His accent was thick and very unique. It would be easy to pick out again.
Both the little girl and Ienzo smiled at this. "Thank you, Mr. Ansem!" The little girl said happily.
"Anytime my dear, now let's see what you two have concocted," Ansem said with a smirk. He crossed the room and looked at what the two had done interested. He raised his eyebrows impressed.
"You two appear to have a knack for deadly mixtures. This is a very dangerous poison I have not seen in a long time." Ansem said.
"What's it called?" The little girl asked.
"Oscuro, coming from the Latin word for darkness." Ansem answered backing away a little.
"Why would they call it something like that? It makes the darkness seem really bad." The little girl said pouting.
"Do you believe that to be incorrect?" Ansem asked curiously looking at the girl.
"My grandma says you should not fear the dark, it only means that a light is shining somewhere near. I don't think darkness is bad, it's just different so people are afraid of it. But it shouldn't be feared." The little girl said. It was hard to tell if she was repeating something she had heard or if she meant what she said.
"That's a very interesting perspective. So, should we chase the darkness?" Ansem asked.
"No, but don't run from it either. It is what it is, nothing wrong with that." The little girl said smiling.
"No, nothing wrong with that." Ansem agreed, giving the little girl a very interested look.
*3*
Yuki opened her eyes looking up at the ceiling of a white room. She struggled to push herself up into a sitting position.
"Oh, you're awake!" The sound of footsteps made Yuki glance up. Zaya was hovering not far away, biting her bottom lip nervously.
"What happened?" Yuki asked. Her throat felt dry and scratchy like she hadn't used it in a while.
"You passed out while helping Hysui. One of the fumes in the lab must have caused you to pass out." Zaya explained. She walked over to a table and poured a glass of water from a pitcher sitting on the table. She walked over and handed the glass to Yuki. Yuki took it and drank it gratefully. She paused after a few gulps.
"I don't remember there being any fumes or experiments going on in the room." Yuki said slowly.
"Must have been something she was keeping in the back. The fumes were probably colorless." Zaya answered watching Yuki carefully. Yuki considered mentioning her dream but decided against it.
The boy had looked like Zexion, but younger. The red-haired girl was very familiar but Yuki couldn't place her.
"Am I allowed to leave?" Yuki asked looking up at Zaya. The blonde nodded.
"Yes, just try to avoid Hysui's lab, alright?" She said with what sounded like concern creeping into her voice.
No, not concern. An illusion of some sort. Heartless can't feel, Yuki needed to stop thinking that they could. There was something else to explain this behavior, something that wasn't an emotion.
"Thank you." Yuki said standing and leaving the room.
"Of course. Be careful now." Zaya replied with a wary smile.
"Never," Yuki replied as she left the room smirking at the blue-eyed heartless left in the room.
*3*
Day 27- Tattoos,
I don't know if this means I'm slow but I just realized all of the other Heartless have tattoos that are different colored from normal Heartless. I don't. Hysui said that it was because I was special and would be key in opening Kingdom Hearts. After that, she told me a bit about the darkness and something made me pass out. I had a really weird dream. Zaya told me it was fumes but I don't believe her. I think something we were talking about caused it.