The Land of Mountains was as harsh as they came, the rocky terrain practically invited death to its doorstep. And the scarce amount of people who lived there could hardly call it 'living' either, they simply remained alive despite all odds. However, the ruler of the Land of Mountains knew nothing of such strife and struggle. Four, the Intoner who lived in the ivory tower, wanted for nothing except to see that her people were alleviated of their suffering. At least, that's what Four told herself anyways, but in reality, what she truly wanted was far less noble...
"Hello, I'm sure all of you are aware by now of the terrible demons that have ravaged our lands. As your benevolent ruler of the Land of Mountains, I will do everything in my power to vanquish those demons once and for all!" Turning away from the mirror, Four looked over to her own disciple, Decadus, who was standing idly beside her. "Well, what do you think? Was I being too formal?"
"I found your speech quite pleasant."
"Being 'quite pleasant' isn't going to cut it. I'm going to a war meeting after all, I must demand everyone's attention."
"Unnngh!" He groaned. "My ...humblest ...of apologies."
"Please, I hardly reprimanded you, so will you stop doing such untasteful things? I need you to be on your best behavior."
"Oooh, how you look at me with such disappointment and disgust in your eyes. And now you punish me for having my own salacious thoughts, ughh."
"Still your tongue, Decadus. I won't have such filth coming out of your mouth."
*knock-knock
"A visitor?" Four opened the door to her chambers, surprised to see one of her soldiers standing outside. "I don't believe I called for you. Is there something wrong?"
"Lady Four, there are guests waiting for you outside the castle."
"Guests? The Generals can't already be here, can they? I thought I scheduled the war meeting for tomorrow."
"Actually, one of them is claiming to be your younger sister. The Fifth Intoner as it would be, but you can never be too sure."
Her eyebrows knitted together. "Five's here? As if I don't have enough things to take care of. Come on Decadus, let's welcome our 'honored' guests."
As far as Intoners went, Four always considered herself to be among the most sensible of her sisters, falling only behind One. On the other hand, the furthest away from any notion of sensibility was Five, so she assumed her sister was just there to annoy her, not expecting to see her right arm was completely torn off.
"Oh my goodness Five, what happened to your-"
"Big sis!" Five squeezed the life out of Four like she wasn't down one arm, then let herself inside. "You know you should really teach your soldiers some manners or I'm gonna have to punish them myself~"
"Five..." Four began to say, but her words fell on deaf ears.
"Uunnnggh, punishment...please, I will accept any retribution, however cruel, on their behalf! Make it as harsh as you desire! I don't mind if you kick me, or even whip me! Kick me...whip me... whip... ooh! It would be my pleasure," Decadus said.
"Ooh my~ I see your disciple is still as kinky as ever." She brushed her hand over his wide chest then moved her hand up to caress his stubbly chin. "Stop by later tonight and I'll give you some real punishment, big guy."
"Five!" Four repeated. "What are you even doing here? As much as I love and cherish your ...company, don't you have the Land of Seas to rule?"
Five clasped her hands together. "Oh right, that's why I'm here! So you know those little black demons that One told us to stay away from? Well, I just couldn't help myself so I used them to bring me all sorts of goodies and one of them bit my arm off like a piece of meat!" She stuck her lip out, pouting. "And the worst part is they bit off my favorite arm so when I pleasure myself it won't even be half as good!"
"Ugh, have you no shame for the vulgar things you say?"
"Even someone as tight-lipped as you can't repress their desires for long. I'm willing to bet you pleasure yourself all night long and torture your poor little disciple. You can't hide it from me!"
"'Torture'...do not tease me so with such...unngh abhorrent...activities..." Decadus muttered.
"Why- I do no such things. How dare you make terrible accusations of me!"
"Accusations? You're the one who's blushing! Why don't you show me your collection of toys and we can have some fun tonight~"
"I swear you have the attention span of a small child but the mind of a dirty pervert!"
She crossed her arms, then looked Four up and down. "At least I don't have the chest of a small child."
"Mock me all you want, since I'm your older sister I will ignore your rude remarks and be the bigger person. Hopefully, you will follow in my footsteps as I set the example of a proper Intoner."
"Yeah, I'm willing to bet your stroke your ego about as much as your stroke yourself," Dito said
"You'd let your disciple speak to your own sister like that? Shame on you, Five."
"Aw, he just has a bit of a bite, don't you love it?"
Sighing, Four pinched the bridge of her nose, already at her wit's end. "Okay, since I'm clearly the only adult here—"
"Ooh the way you belittle me as if I'm not even here is just- uuungh."
"So is your whole schtick just being a pathetic masochist?" Dito asked
"Your scornful words are so ...ugh...degrading."
"I'll take that as a yes. I'm gonna get a lot of mileage out of this."
"Oh so am I, Dito. So am I," Five said.
"Will the three of you stop being horrible and just listen to me already," Four said.
"...Horrible..."
"Decadus!"
"Apologies."
"So let me get this straight. Five, the demons in your domain lost control, then started attacking you and you're here because you want me to get rid of them, right?"
"You're good at this!"
"Unfortunately I've also been having a bit of trouble with the demons. My soldiers have tried everything; killing them by sword, burning them with fire, human sacrifice..."
"Wait, human sacrifice?" Dito asked.
"Don't give me that look, it was for the good of the people!"
"Riiiiight."
"The point is none of the methods we tried worked because they all came back again in some form. At the war meeting, we'll discuss other possible solutions, but I fear they may be immortal beings."
"They're not immortal, we just heard about a guy who can crush them like ants," Five said.
"Excuse me?!"
"This is why you should go outside more often, big sis. There are tons of rumors flying around about a handsome young man traveling with Zero. They call him the 'demon slayer' but demons aren't the only thing I want him to slay~"
"A...demon slayer..." Her eyes widened. "Wait, this changes everything! Why didn't you tell me about this sooner?"
She rubbed the back of her head. "Whoops, I guess it must've slipped my mind! My bad."
"Yes it is, maybe I'm the one who should be reprimanding you," She said sharply.
"Yes please, do your worst on me~"
"Not like that. Listen to me Five, this demon slayer has the ability to save my people and defeat the demons! One would be so impressed with me!"
"I do love a good vanity project!"
"Don't call it that."
"So will you be able to take my shrine back too? I miss all the toys I was forced to leave behind."
"One thing at a time little sister. First, we must find the demon slayer and get him on our side."
"How? With the power of song?"
"Even stronger than that; logic and reasoning!"
"I think you need to have logic and reasoning in order to use it," Dito said under his breath.
Goldfaber: Darkness smells like the sacrificial blood of my ancestors. Curb your enthusiasm should be the unofficial theme of Drakegard 3 lol.
Taromaru: Zero and Riku would be the most messed up relationship lmao, I don't even think Riku could last long with Zero if ya know what I mean( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Keybladelight: Lol Riku telling Mikhail the story of kingdom hearts and he's like "And then we finally defeated Xehanort…" and Mikhail's like "Wait you lost me a few hours ago." I suppose I can figure out a way for Riku to save the intoners but not without consequences of course, Two is tricky since the orphan children's hearts are gone I think? Like I don't think you can summon hearts from a year ago but I could be wrong.
Centurious the Azure: The brothel was just symbolic to her and the funny thing about becoming a heartless is you can somehow become human again in a roundabout way which is better than becoming a red eye, that must suck. Good luck on that next chapter, must be nice to have a co-author, I only have creative energy to write for like, one story at a time.
Anon: Riku was probably one of those edgy kids who used to say bad words just to sound cool, but mellowed out as he got older. I have to compile a blooper reel at some point then lol. I think Sora and Zero could be friends, just not like how him and A2 were since Zero would only see him as like Mikhail 2.0. Literally wrote down that "Riku is the dad friend" in my notes so he would definitely try to protect Mikhail from everyone's bullshit *especially* Dito. Riku would be the type to save it until marriage anyways even if he wasn't possessed for two games. The Leechgrave is one of my favorite heartless even if it's a bitch defeat, had to implement it at some point.
Bluzerker: Wow I'm flattered that you think this story is binge worthy and I definitely didn't write in side content for chapter 3 just so I could introduce Four at Chapter 4
"Everything and Nothing"
["It's just... I've always wondered why we're here on this island. If there are any other worlds out there, why did we end up on this one?"]
Cold water trickled down Riku's back, washing off the dirt and blood he accumulated during his time traveling with Zero. 'Zero and Mikhail should still be asleep so at least I have some time to myself for now.'
After he and Zero returned from the abandoned village, they set up camp along the edge of a rocky cliffside where the Land of Mountains stretched out before them. Fortunately, the pool of water where Riku bathed himself wasn't too far off from the campsite so he could quickly return without any of them noticing.
*ring-ring
"Huh? Wait isn't that my-" Rushing out of the water, he fished out his gummiphone from his pocket. 'It's an unknown caller?'
When he answered, a young woman he'd never seen before appeared on the phone screen and smiled at him. "Hello, Riku. It's nice to finally meet you!"
"I'm sorry, but do I know you?"
She adjusted her glasses. "Oh no, we haven't met before... formally that is. Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Accord. I'll be meeting you in person soon, I just have to tie up a few loose ends in your world."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I believe you're familiar with the concept of 'world order'?"
"...How do you know about that?!"
"No need to worry about me, I'm but a humble Recorder. Let's just say you and your friend's adventures to worlds that were never supposed to meet have had some...let's just say unintended side effects."
"Unintended side effects?! What's going on, do I need to come back?"
"Oh no, we already got it handled, the reason why I called was actually just to give you a bit of advice. Riku, the world you're in is fated to fall into darkness and when that happens, a great evil will be unleashed. As you can imagine, that'll end pretty badly for all parties involved."
"What the- how can I stop it?!"
"We'll talk more about this later when I see you in person, but know this, even if you follow your heart...the world you're in is full of darkness. It'll be very tempting to give in, but if you do, you will stand to lose everything. No pressure or anything."
"Yeah...no pressure at all." He brushed his hand over his face. "It's okay...whatever happens, I won't lose sight of myself. I've lost everything before, I won't let it happen again."
"Then that's good to hear! Oh, and one more thing, there should be a wooden crate behind you. Could you let Zero know those are the weapons she ordered?"
"Sure."
"Thank you, sorry for being such a bother. I'm not always this doom and gloom but the situation demands it."
"No problem. I'll be expecting you soon, later." 'Weird. I don't remember there being a crate here earlier, guess I've must've missed it.' He let himself dry off a little before slipping his clothes on and picking up the crate. When he returned to the campsite, Zero happened to be awake for once, although she had this dazed expression on her face like she was still half asleep.
"Zero? Didn't expect you to be up this early." He set the crate down. "Looks like you were right about the whole mail order thing, they got your weapons in here."
"Took long enough. Just put it over there."
"I'm surprised you aren't mad. Have a sudden change of heart?"
"I made my point pretty clear last time so I didn't think you'd ditch unless you had a death wish."
"Like I wouldn't cut you down before you got the chance."
"Would that be before or after you start crying about how 'wrong' it is to kill someone?"
"Because it's so wrong to have morals and a conscience?"
She scoffed. "Hasn't done me any favors. So...it's still bright and early in the morning, how about we go at it before we set off?"
"No thanks."
"Hey, your loss. I was giving you a free pass to not be a virgin..." Her face scrunched up in disgust. "Wait, don't tell me you're one of those committed types who save it until marriage."
"It's too early for you to already be giving me a headache."
"I should be the one complaining about you teasing me for so long. This is why I don't deal with virgins."
"That sounds like a personal problem."
"It's gonna be a 'you' problem soon if I have to keep getting off by myself." She stood up, then walked to Mikhail and kicked him in the head. "Get up, idiot."
"OW! You don't have to keep waking me up like that Zero!"
"Then start waking up by yourself!"
"Okay, I'll try really hard to next time!" He began stretching his legs out, then ended his morning routine with a loud yawn. "So Riku, you gonna make some more yummy food for us today?"
"Sure, why not? How about I catch some more fish from the river?"
Zero wrinkled her nose. "I'm not eating that again."
"You ate it fine yesterday."
"Because I was hungry."
"Well there aren't exactly a lot of animals around here, but if you can catch something, I'll cook it."
"That sounds like a shit ton of work. Just save dinner for tonight, it's time we hunt Four down."
"Zero, do we really have to go kill Four?" Mikhail asked.
"Not this again..."
"He has a point."
"We didn't kill Five and look at what happened to the Land of Seas, we were the ones who almost got killed that time."
"I know, but it's not right. You shouldn't stoop down to their level, older siblings are supposed to set an example for the younger ones," Mikhail said.
"Okay, let's pretend for a second, imagine there's a big pile of raw meat here."
"Oh yummy!"
"Now if you divided that meat among all the dragons in the world, you'd only get a little bit."
"That's right, just one teeny-tiny bite."
"But you'd rather have all the meat to yourself, right?"
"Hah-yeah! I'd want the whole big pile!"
"Well, I want to kill my sisters so I can have the world to myself. Make sense?"
"Nope. Still don't get it."
"So what'll you do when you have the world to yourself?" Riku asked.
"Yeah, are you gonna throw a big party?"
"No...I haven't thought that far ahead yet, but when I do have that much power then I won't have to worry about this shit anymore." She made a gesture to them. "Now let's head out, I got a sister to murder."
Riku slipped his hands inside his pockets, thinking to himself. 'Is Zero really doing all of this for a power trip? I might just have to stop her now if that's the case, but I need more information on her sisters and figure out if they're playing a hand in the darkness as well.'
Between the steep cliff sides and frequent rock avalanches, the Land of Mountains posed an inherent danger unlike any other, but despite that, there wasn't anywhere near as many heartless creeping around as the Land of Seas. In fact, there were even soldiers left to oppose them as a testament to the darkness not yet having consumed the land.
"It's the demon slayer! Hurry men, let's take down the Intoner and secure him for Lady Four!" The soldiers formed an impassable barricade and charged at them.
"Did they just call me a demon slayer?"
"Wish I could get called a cool nickname that wasn't 'dummy' or 'idiot" Mikhail said, who'd already taken to the skies.
"Word gets around fast. Don't let the fame go to your head," Zero said.
"Not a chance." Riku shot a Blizzaga spell at the incoming soldiers, freezing them to the ground just as Zero was readying her sword.
"Ughh, do you always have to take the fun out of everything?"
"I need to figure out something." He melted down enough of the ice to uncover one of the soldier's heads. "Hey, what does your Intoner want with me?"
"La-Lady Four ...she w-wants you to get rid of tho-those d-d-demons..." He said between chattering teeth.
"She wants to get rid of the heartless? That doesn't seem too evil to me."
"How are you this gullible? They're brainwashed soldiers, dumbass. They'd eat Four's shit if she told them too."
"I'm aware, but there's a lot less heartless here so that has to count for something."
"So she has one decent thing going for her out of all the other horrible shit she's done. We have a fucking philanthropist in the making here."
"You're gonna have to give me more examples of her being evil than just the virgin thing."
"Wow. Spoken like a true virgin."
"You're as childish as your dragon."
"Oh I'm the childish one, meanwhile you nag at me like an old lady for every other thing I say."
"Because you say such deep, insightful things all the time, right?"
"What, like you do? Right, I must've forgotten how deep and insightful lines like 'I can smell the stench of darkness' are. That's sure gonna go down in the history books."
He chuckled. "Alright, point taken."
"—Guys! Guys! Guys!" Mikhail landed down in front of them, incidentally crushing the frozen soldiers beneath his feet. "I have a huuuge problem! There's a bunch of those weird monsters in the skies and I can't get through!"
Zero crossed her arms, looking dead at Riku. "So what happened to there being less heartless?"
He shrugged, cracking a playful smile. "Guess I couldn't smell the darkness that well because of you."
"You need to work on your shitty 'jokes'."
"I thought that was a pretty good one." He hopped on Mikhail's back. "You coming Zero?"
"Not if you don't want me to kill you."
"Then let's meet at the next enemy stronghold over there."
While Zero continued along by foot, Mikhail soared through the skies. "Ha ha, you're pretty brave for standing up to Zero like that. If I talked to her the way you do she would've stabbed me a whole bunch of times!"
"It takes a lot more than empty threats to scare me."
"Like what?"
Riku stood up. "...I'll tell you later, we're under attack!"
A battleship brought to life by darkness with a swarm of air pirate heartless surrounding it advanced towards them. As the battleship opened fire at Mikhail, the air pirates closed in on them, ready to slash at the dragon with their cutlass swords. It was close timing, but Riku was able to use Reflega to protect Mikhail against the cannonballs and stave off the pirates.
"Wait a second, these guys are supposed to be pirates right? How come they're attacking us and not searching for buried treasure and stuff?"
"This falls in line with most pirates, trust me. Hey, see if you can get any closer to that battleship."
"You got it Riku!"
Mikhail spun around to avoid the initial swarm of air pirates. "Mikhail's fireball special comin' right up to serve you guys!" He shot a round of fireballs at the heartless to get them off his tail, then sped along to the battleship. "What'd you think? Pretty cool, right?"
"Nice! Think you can back me up while I finish the job?"
"You can count on me!"
Running all the way down to Mikhail's head, Riku dove off, then landed right inside the battleship where he lit it on fire. Once the vessel was burning ablaze, it flung him off and was now gunning for Mikhail.
"Riku!"
"I'm fine just focus on getting away from the battleship!"
Even though Riku was falling from the sky at an alarmingly fast rate, airstep warped him right back to the battleship and he made sure to slice it in half this time. While still in mid-air, Riku shot bolts of lightning at the remaining air pirate heartless, finishing them all off.
"Rikuuu!" Mikhail swooped down and caught Riku on his back. "Ha ha, I think we make a really awesome team!"
"Yeah, we sure do. Let's go check up on Zero and see how she's holding up."
"Knowing her I betcha she hasn't even broken a sweat!"
When Mikhail flew over to Zero, she was dripping wet with blood and in the middle of battling a giant Cerberus of all creatures. However, it didn't seem to be her own blood that was shed since the Cerberus was already down to two heads.
"Oh wow, look at the size of that pup!" Mikhail said. "You okay Zero? Me and Riku are here if you need any help!"
"Don't need it...and don't call this thing a pup!" She waited until the Cerberus snapped its row of knife-edged teeth at her to take a swing at its meaty neck. With her new sword equipped, Sinful Scream, the cutting edge was so sharp that it cleaved off its giant head without getting caught in bone or muscle and she bathed in a crimson red shower.
Now that the Cerberus only boasted a single head, it retreated rather than let Zero finish its execution, which meant she could expect to encounter it again.
"Whoa, that was scary! I was nervous the whole time," Mikhail said.
"Why? It's not like I was gonna lose." Zero took the time to wipe the demon blood off her sword so the blade wouldn't sully, but she was otherwise indifferent to her gory appearance. "Hey, what're you staring at me for, keyblade? We got ground to cover, come on."
"You're fine with all that blood on you?" Riku asked.
"Don't care. It'll wear off eventually."
"No wonder you don't smell good."
"You know I'm really missing the peace and quiet from when you two were gone."
"That's not true! If we're not here, then who would you have to talk to?" Mikhail asked.
"Preferably no one."
"Well, you're not great company either. So how far is Four away from here anyway?"
"No idea."
"...So you don't know where we're going?"
"I didn't say that. She's around here somewhere."
"Are you serious?"
"This is just how I do things so get used to it."
With Zero leading the way, their path through the mountains was paved by the blood of men and dismembered body parts, a sight that lingered of Riku's heart like a shadow. It didn't matter how many times Riku witnessed Zero slaughter men like pigs, the hundredth time was just as sickening as the first, even though he knew their fate could only end with death to her blade as a man or death to his blade as a monster.
Zero, on the other hand, gave not a second thought to the men she killed, viewing them as nothing more than the obstacles they were. However, she knew that look on Riku's face all too well, the look of someone who felt utterly powerless for the situation they were in. While she didn't care about his feelings, she did care about him pulling his own weight since he'd fallen back on the sidelines now that the heartless weren't involved.
"Hey, keyblade, how long are you gonna keep pouting like that? This could go by a lot faster if you helped me kill a few of these bastards," Zero said as she hacked away at another group of soldiers.
"I already know what you told me, but I still don't think it's right. I should be using my keyblade to protect people, not destroy them. I have to listen to my heart on this one."
"Oh my fucking..." She ripped her sword out of the last soldier's body, then went over to the Riku. "Look, maybe in whatever foreign land you come from, you might've been one of those annoying, self-righteous heroes but here that shit doesn't happen. So stop screwing around and fight, you're pissing me off."
"Everything I do pisses you off, doesn't it? Why don't you back off, Zero."
"Say that to me again asshole and see what happens!"
"I said back off!"
"That's it! I'm gonna kick your ass!"
They got right up in each other's faces, but before things could get ugly, Mikhail stepped in. "—Hey! Stop fighting you two! You guys are always arguing like an old married couple!"
"Stay out of this!" They both yelled
"Besides this bastard isn't going to live long enough to have a marriage!" Zero said.
"Is that supposed to be another one of your empty threats?"
"It's not an empty threat if I make it happen!"
Mikhail sighed. "Somehow I think I made things even worse..."
"Fuck this...you're raising my blood pressure."
Zero stepped back from Riku and walked towards the gates leading out of the area, but they slammed shut in her face, enchanted by a spell. She prepared herself for an inevitable attack, not expecting a portal swathed with darkness to appear before her and for the Cerberus to drag itself out like it was the gates of hell. And based on its ghastly appearance; tattered, pitch-black skin and yellow eyes, it did look like it crawled from hell and back just to reach her. Even worse, the Cerberus regrew the heads Zero previously cut down.
"Whoa! He's back!" Mikhail yelled.
"This fucker just won't give up! The hell is up with this mutt?!"
"Looks like the darkness got ahold of it," Riku said, summoning his keyblade.
"Oh so now you want to fight when they look fucked up enough for you!" Knowing there would be a tough battle ahead, Zero went into Intoner mode.
Verse 3
Death follows as I soar through the skies
Love blossoms, forged by blood,
Made true by a song that is yet to be heard
Zero charged at the Cerberus only for it to split into three individual demon dogs that darted all across the battlefield.
"Are you fucking kidding me?!"
"I'll take them down!" Riku tried to cast Stopga, but they were immune to it so he went for a Thundaga spell instead that stunned them long enough for Riku and Zero to unleash a counterattack. While Riku lodged his keyblade down one of the Cerberus dog's throat, Zero opted for her usual approach of slicing the head off.
The last Cerberus dog, in a desperate bid to fight for its life, lunged at Zero. She swung her sword at it, but it clamped down on the blade and threw her up in the air. Riku acted fast to pin its body to the ground as Zero switched to a different sword to cut through its neck. Although the blade didn't possess as smooth a cut as she would've liked it, its head fell to the ground like any other.
Disregarding the obvious danger, Zero pulled Sinful Scream out from its clenched teeth then walked away. "Hmph. I told you things would go by faster if you helped fight."
"Didn't take you as someone who liked relying on others."
She shrugged. "Hey, fighting's a pain in the ass."
Riku was about to join her when the Cerberus head suddenly launched itself forward, initiating a final attack on Zero because even while headless, it still had the power to bite. Riku threw his keyblade at it, but the moment the handle released from his grasp, the other Cerberus head that Zero sliced off also flew towards him.
"Riku! Watch out!" Mikhail yelled.
In that split second, it was either he call the keyblade back and let Zero get harmed, knowing he could've saved her or leave himself defenseless and a choice like that, he didn't even need to think about.
The Cerberus head bit down into Riku's arm, sinking its teeth into his flesh with the intention of ripping it off, but he wasn't going to let it. With his left arm, he summoned enough strength to slow down its momentum, just for a moment, which was all Zero needed to completely butcher its head into unrecognizable chunks of flesh.
However, with the damage it did to his arm, it was already too late. The skin on his arm turned an ash-gray color, like something out of a horror movie. While he still remained collected, he tried to use a Curaga spell on it to mend the wounds, but it had no effect and that's when everything started spiraling out of control.
There was blood. So much that it spilled out on the ground.
There was pain, but maybe he didn't feel it at first because he was in so much shock.
Or maybe because Mikhail started screaming and yelling and cursing. No, the cursing had to be Zero. He remembered that much.
He remembered her cursing at him, calling him a 'fucking idiot' over and over again until he felt like his ears would bleed out next.
When she pulled him over her shoulders, that's when he felt it. An intense, excruciating pain that hit him all at once, causing him to blackout.
.
.
.
That night, Riku woke up to Zero who was in the middle of bandaging his wounds. Her clothes were wet with what he assumed to be his blood and he started to feel lightheaded.
"I'm ... glad you're awake Riku," Mikhail said, on the cusps of falling asleep. It was late into the night, but he didn't want to close his eyes until he knew Riku would be okay.
"...Yeah." He tried again to use every healing spell in the book he could think of this fix his mangled arm, but none of them had any effect whatsoever, he couldn't move his arm or even feel it for that matter.
"Uh...that mutt...it really fucked up your arm." There was hesitation in Zero's voice as she continued to speak. "It's basically dead now...you might be better off just, you know, cutting it off altogether."
"I can't do that...ah-"
"Don't move so much," She said in a soft, almost motherly tone that he had no idea she was even capable of.
"Is this real..." The worlds fell out one after the other. Was it real? It felt real. It looked real. It was real. He just didn't want to believe it was.
After she finished tending to his wounds, she stood up, trying her damndest not to look at him, but Riku already knew that she blamed herself for everything. For that reason, he felt like he should've at least said something to her, but he couldn't find the right words to say. Neither could Zero for that matter, at least words that wouldn't come off as some shitty, half-assed excuse, so they shared a silent exchange and left it at that.
Zero put her supplies back, then made a weak gesture to Riku. "Don't move," She said again before walking away. She ended up going all the way down the river that ran throughout the mountains in order to wash his blood off her.
The Keyblade wielder sacrificed a great deal in order to protect the Intoner.
And what did she have to show for it other than the guilt eating away at her core?
But guilt alone wouldn't change his fate
Zero stared at her reflection in the dark red water. 'I can't have him be around me anymore. Not like this. I need to leave him or this can't end.'
Flowers for the Dead
A/N: The lyrics I use for the verses are from the English fan translation of Kuroi uta that I recontextualize a bit. Btw, posted art on my ao3, check it out if you want.
