The so-called 'perfect place' Five was raving on and on about just ended up being her shrine. Zero thought it wasn't humanly possible to get any more disappointed than she already was, but then Five started talking about preparing the food herself and Mikhail wanted to sing for them so they could have 'dinner and a show', and she sunk to new levels of disappointment.
"Good evening Riku and Zero, our starter course for today will be bat poêlé, served with a glass of premium red wine," Five said, handing out two plates of one of the most disgusting dishes that Zero ever had the misfortune to lay an eye upon. "I'll be returning shortly to check up on the chef, which is me, to see if the stuffed orc head is ready."
At the same time, Mikhail was belting his heart out alongside the edge of the shrine. "Draaaaaagon River wiiiiiiider than a MILE! I'm flyin' over you in style soOOOooOOOOoome dayyy!"
"Riku, this is fucking terrible," Zero said.
"It's not that bad. Sure Mikhail's a little off-key and this food is inedible, but..."
"But?"
He shrugged. "...Yeah I got nothing."
Five came back to the table with two servings of food that looked even more rancid than the last dish she served. "-Hm? What's wrong, you two? You've barely touched your bat poêlé, and this stuffed orc head isn't going to eat itself...I think?"
Riku gulped down at the horrifying dish on the table. "It..looks like it wants to eat me instead."
"I can't believe you made food that was worse than the literal dogshit they gave me while I was being fucking tortured," Zero said.
"Ugh- I slave over the stove to make this delicious meal and you turn your nose up?! Remind me never to treat you guys again!"
"What a nightmare."
"Wait wait, if you guys aren't gonna eat it, then let me try! It looks super yummy to me!" Mikhail said.
"Why, of course! I'm glad someone here has taste!"
As bad as Riku and Zero's night out together already was, it got even worse when an enormous airship flew over the shrine.
"Huh? But I thought we beat up all the pirates already?" Mikhail asked.
"No, I'm afraid this is far worse than mere pirates." Five let out a tired sigh. "Here we go again."
A long rope ladder fell from the airship to the shrine and soon after, Four climbed down. She was immediately met with hostility from Zero, who pointed her sword in her face and all she could do was hold her arms up. "Please, I- I mean no harm, I actually wanted to talk to all of you about this 'Flower' entity."
Zero lowered her sword while the others joined her side. "What do you know about that?"
"...Admittedly, not much, but after that short exchange we had back at Crestholm, I was able to ascertain that whatever this Flower is, it's the reason that we Intoners have powers. Not only that, but you have found a way to seal those powers. Am I understanding this situation correctly?"
"Yeah, that's the gist of it, but it seemed like you were on One's side last time we spoke, so why are you here now?" Riku asked.
"Well, I thought it over and I realized maybe there was some truth to what you were saying. I've always wondered why I have certain...desires. Plus, even if One and I are able to control our powers, there's no telling how long we'll be able to. I'm afraid that at some point, despite our best efforts, we may end up just like Two...or worse."
"So, what you're saying is that you want the Flower sealed within you?"
"What I'm saying is that I'd like to make a deal with you. I'll let you use your magic on me and seal my powers away, on the condition that first, you help me quell the rebellion taking place in the Land of Forests."
"Oh, that's it?" Riku nearly agreed to her offer before Zero pulled him aside.
"Maybe you forgot, but she lies! Don't think that's not what she's trying to do just because she's sounding all sweet and innocent now."
"Right, sorry, I almost forgot. What do you think her ulterior motive is then?"
"Who knows, but this deal is just some bullshit that's gonna fuck us over end, like always."
Riku and Zero faced Four again.
"I'm sorry, but we can't take your offer," Riku said.
"I completely understand that you're apprehensive about trusting me, we have only just met, but I assure you that what's been happening in the Land of Forests is very much real. A civil war has broken out that threatens to destroy the entire country. Whether you believe me or not, that fact is true, and I invite you to see for yourself."
"And why should we care about some damn civil war that doesn't affect us?" Zero asked.
"Your mission is to save the Intoners, correct? Three is the ruler of the Land of Forests and she's been missing for days, it would be a shame if nothing were done about it."
"Of course we'll save her too, and help as many people as possible, but we'll do it our way!" Riku said.
Zero rolled her eye. "Oh fuck me."
"That's good to hear, at least you're willing to help. With that being said, I won't push my beliefs down your throat and force you to choose a side, that should be your own decision. However, be warned that the elves, the aggressors of this conflict, will lie and deceive you at every turn, as is in their nature. Should you align yourselves with them, you'll soon come to regret it."
"Isn't that a bit racist sounding?" Five asked.
"What- n- no of course not! I love every race equally, even the inferior ones- uh, erm, whoops! Sorry there, a slip of the tongue!"
"Uh-huh...well, in any case, if you do intend on staying at my shrine, there's plenty of bat poêlé and stuffed orc head to go around!"
"Oh dear me, would you look at the time? I have an important war meeting I must attend at this very instant so I'm afraid I can't join you for dinner." She turned back to Riku and Zero before she left. "But one more thing before I leave, if you do ever change your mind and decide to fight on the side of justice, feel free to send me correspondence. Goodbye for now."
"So... now what?" Riku asked.
"I say we just head to the Land of Sands and deal with Two instead. She'd be way less of a hassle and who knows, if we're lucky, Three and Four might be dead by the time we come back, " Zero said.
"That's a terrible plan!"
"Then I don't know why you asked me like I'd say anything different."
"I don't know why either. How about this: Instead of going for Four next, I think we should just go to the Land of Forests and find Three ourselves, then she should be able to stop the war going on in her country, with our help."
"Please do, I'm starting to get really worried. Like, I have a feeling all of the bad stuff that's been happening lately—Faris, the heartless, Three disappearing and now a whole war breaking out in the Land of Forests are all connected somehow."
"Yeah, no shit," Zero said.
"And whatever the connection is, Maleficent's definitely playing a role in all of this. I'm not sure what her reasons are for starting a civil war, but we have to put an end to this," Riku said.
"I'm sorry, Malefi- who now?" Five asked.
"She's bad news and someone you don't want to run into."
"That's...unnerving, but hopefully I'll have my military up and running soon. How long will you be staying in the Land of Seas?"
"Tomorrow morning," Zero said.
"Aw so soon? Well, I suppose the fate of the world does rest in your hands. Still, it is a shame because I had 52 other courses planned out, but due to time constraints, we'll just have to skip right to dessert, unfortunately." Five briefly disappeared back inside her shrine, then came back out with two glasses of what appeared to be a normal serving of chocolate mousse.
Although despite its seemingly normal appearance, Zero and Riku were understandably hesitant to pick up their spoons and dig in.
"Let me guess, the chocolate is troll shit or something, right?" Zero asked.
Five looked offended at the assertion. "Oh, heavens no, that's disgusting! I mean, honestly, what do you take me for? It's just regular chocolate mousse. No need to be a worry wart."
"I guess it wouldn't hurt to try it, at least." Riku ate a spoonful of the chocolate mousse."...Huh, it's actually not bad."
"Is it supposed to be this chewy though?" Zero asked.
"That must be the live sandworm larvae, I found it gives the mousse a more authentic taste!"
Both Riku and Zero passed out at the phrase 'live sandworm larvae', their heads emitting a loud THUD sound when it dropped on the table. Worried this would be another repeat of what happened back at the convent, Five checked both of their pulses, then breathed a sigh of relief when she confirmed they were, in fact, still alive. "...Wow, I guess they literally got knocked out by the amazing taste of my food!"
"Ooh- Ooh! Whatever they just had I want some of that too, Five!" Mikhail said.
—
When Riku woke back up again, he found himself in a lavishly decorated bedroom, sharing a bed with Zero. "What the- WAIT-WAIT-WAIT did we-" He pat himself down. "No, my clothes are still on...and so are Zero's...so what the heck's going on?!"
Riku tried shaking Zero awake. "Zero wake up! I think we got kidnapped or taken away somewhere- I don't know!"
Zero moved Riku's hands off of her. "...Stop freaking out and just go back to sleep," She mumbled.
"How can I go back to sleep when I don't even know where I am?!"
"Well, now I can't with all that fucking yapping you're doing!" She finally sat herself up to take a look at their new surroundings, then laid back down. "...We're still at Five's shrine, it looks like she moved us inside one of her rooms after we passed out."
"Oh man what a terrible night..." He eventually laid back down on the bed as well. "I can't believe this really happened. I'm sorry, I just wanted to do something nice for a change and I screwed it up."
"Yeah, the whole thing did suck."
"Oh...thanks for being honest at least..."
"But no one's ever taken me out like that before, so I guess I can't complain too much."
"Really? Sorry, your first time had to be like this. I'll have to take you out somewhere nicer next time."
"It's not that big of a deal, don't worry about it."
"Hey, don't be like that. Come on, let me make it up to you."
"Riku, you don't have to do all of this extra shit just because you tried to kill me."
"Maybe I wanted to spend time with you too! You said I don't really understand you so I thought we could ask each other questions, you know, get to know each other better, but that sure didn't happen."
"I mean, what questions were you going to ask me?"
"Like...what're some things you like doing?"
"Having sex."
"That's it?"
"You asked. I answered."
"I don't think that's true."
Riku saw Zero's shoulders slightly move up and down as if she was trying to stifle a laugh. "You don't think I like the thing I talk about almost every day?"
"No I didn't mean it like that, I just think you like other things too."
Zero, who previously had her back turned to Riku, rolled around to meet his gaze. "Like what?"
"Um...like, singing?"
"It activates my powers so, I guess, but I don't really think about it too much."
"No way, I don't buy that for a second! You always sound like you're pouring your heart out whenever you use the Power of Song."
She smirked. "That just means I'm so good at it that it sounds like I'm actually trying."
"Yeah, whatever you say."
"And let me guess, you probably like boring stuff...like fishing or 'taking long walks at the beach', right?"
"Heh, it's funny that you say that. I actually used to think that stuff was pretty boring too when I was younger, what I really wanted to do was see the world, that was way more exciting to me. I ...ended up getting my wish, but these days, all I want to do is go back and just hang out with my friends on the beach again, like old times."
"I'd kill to have a normal life like that instead of whatever the hell these past 19 years of my life have been."
"It's not too late for that- to have a normal life I mean. When the Flower's defeated and all of this is finally over, you'll have your whole life ahead of you."
She smiled at him. "You know, it wasn't that long ago when the thought of having to go through another year of this shit sounded like a fucking nightmare, but now it's something I look forward to."
"What...ended up changing your mind?"
"A dumbass who wouldn't let me have my way."
As they lay together on the bed, Riku couldn't help but stare at her face. It's not like he didn't see it every day, but it was different when she didn't wear that permanent scowl on her face, or have streaks of blood rolling down her cheeks. She was different. Her skin glowed under the moonlight and her once daunting stare softened from her smile. She was beautiful.
Riku inhaled sharply through his nose, almost forgetting to breathe. Then he turned his back to her so abruptly, muttering something about how they 'needed to get some sleep' and all Zero could reply with was a weak, 'yeah'.
"...Goodnight," He eventually said.
"..."
Deeno3p0: Four and Ven would certainly make an odd couple, but I see the vision! A comedy fic involving the D3 x KH cast would be a really funny idea, somebody should get on that.
J Geil (Jul 14): Yeah, me too. I also wanna know how the hell I'm gonna wrap all this up.
Centurious the Azure: Tbf chapters where it's mostly just fighting are easier to write imo. I'm looking forward to whenever you release that next chapter, you will see me there in the reviews :] Lol your comments are always really funny, I specifically wanted to avoid there being like a 'harem' situation so I wanted to limit the down bad intoners to just Zero and Four. Yes, I love writing this story, clearly since it's been 2 years and I'm still updating. I'll definitely be sad when I post the final chapter.
Phoenix Keyblade: She mostly just doesn't trust Riku or Zero and doesn't want to admit the Intoners are the problem
KingdomDone: Good. Then my job here is done.
J Geil (Jul 4): Aw I'm so glad you liked it! I haven't had time to draw fanart but I'd love to start doing that again whenever I get the chance. And yeah that's like 20 some odd characters interacting, that would definitely be an interesting scene to write, to say the least. I think One and Two would both have the most normal interactions. Three would either keep to herself or follow around Xion and Roxas, if she knew they were replicas. Four would either be drooling over the hot guys or causing a mess with her attitude since she'd be talking to characters who are actually, genuinely nice. Then Five and Zero would def be the most problematic for various reasons.
As for the androids, 2B's gonna keep to herself, 9S's going to be very curious about Donald, goofy and Mickey and then A2 generally having an attitude, I think they'd cause the least drama towards the kh characters tho. The Nier and Drakengard characters together, other than A2 and Zero popping off, I think they'd probably be fine. Maybe.
Gundam-Knight-Chris: She's weak af
Anon: "Still getting somewhat accustomed to these frequent updates that are going on." LOL. Oh I would love to write the D3 cast going to Disneyland, I think that would be a hilarious premise. Riku thinks the stuff Five gave him are literally just props. Five didn't necessarily tell him everything or that might've taken days. "Go on Riku sell her that Final Fantasy." XD Dito's more so tolerating her and Five's simply respecting his boundaries for once. Just doing my job of making sure everyone properly suffers :]
Keybladelight: Yes, Riku wants to save all of the Intoners so he'd eventually get to her. Yeah omg I didn't forget about Riku's gummiphone just could not find a good way to introduce until now, it'll be of importance next chapter. Nooo I refuse to write Riku saying any curse words that are not in the bible XD The station of awakening is def a project I'd have to work on, and you're right I should start a DeviantArt, I'll get on that soon.
"Nero"
The following morning, Riku woke up to an empty bed. When he went outside, everyone was waiting around at the center of the shrine.
"Sleeping beauty's finally up," Zero said.
"Everyone's up early...or did I sleep in late?"
Five waved it off. "Oh don't you worry, we were hardly waiting for long. So did you want me to get started on break-"
"No thanks." Riku joined up with them. "Zero, it's not like you to be up so early. Were you doing something?"
"You could say that."
"Oh." He looked over to Dito. "Is this kid joining us?"
"Yep," Zero said.
"By the way, I'm not a 'kid'. I'm 22, asshole."
"Uh, my bad? Sorry you look like you're 12."
"Yeeeeeah, I can already tell I'm not gonna like you."
At that precise moment, so began the cycle anew of Riku and Dito's mutual hatred towards each other.
"In any case, I suppose this is farewell to all of my friends. Riku and Zero, thank you for everything. For giving me the courage to face myself and the strength to save my people, I really can't thank you enough," Five said.
"Wait so your name's Riku?" Dito snapped his fingers together. "Oooooh, then you're the guy Zero kept calling out when we were-"
"DITO I WILL FUCKING KILL YOU!" Zero pounced on the small-statured disciple and started choking the life out of him.
"Zero!" Five shrieked. "Oh my god- Riku help me!"
Together, they pulled Zero off of Dito, who was gasping for breath.
"A- Actually...I'll just stay with F- Five..."
"Oh hell no, don't pussyfoot now! You're coming with me whether you want to or not!"
"Yeah, don't go, you're gonna love it here! It's tons of fun- except when someone's trying to kill us which is basically all the time! Oh-oh, and you can eat all the yummy flies and birds you want while we're flying, you just gotta leave your mouth wiiiiide open!" Mikhail said.
Dito's head fell back on the ground. "Please...God...kill me now..."
After Five said her final goodbyes, they boarded Mikhail and flew to the Land of Forests.
"So where should we start looking for Three once we reach the Land of Forests?" Riku asked.
"Beats me. The only reason we found Five was because Indigo just so happened to be tracking her down, I don't think we'll be so lucky this time around," Zero said.
"We can try that one elf village and ask around to see if they know where Three is. We know for a fact that Four is a liar and doesn't like elves, so even if there is a war going on, they probably aren't the aggressors. Not only that, I doubt Three's actually went missing, something happened to her. Maybe the other side in this war took her out and that's why the elves are fighting?"
"Maybe. From the sound of it, Four is the 'other side' of the war, so it's no wonder she was begging for our help. Whatever that sleazy bitch is planning, looks like Three ended up being collateral damage."
"Uh what're you guys talking about? Feel like I'm out of the loop here," Dito said.
"You'll get caught up eventually."
"-Hey, hey, hey! I know the grown-ups are talking right now, but I really want you guys to hear this new song Five taught me! Me and her practiced it all night together!" Mikhail butt in.
Zero let out a tired sigh. "...Sure, go ahead."
"Yay! This one's called 'Fly Me to the Meat' AHEM! Woooooo wooooo do-dodod-do FLY Me to The MEEEAT and let me rollllllll around in the Mudddd!"
They listened to "Fly Me to the Meat" (by Mikhail) for an hour straight before Zero got so fed up hearing the line 'in other words, hold my meeeeeat' repeated over and over again that she threatened to rip Mikhail's vocal cords out. He was quiet for the duration of their trip.
While Four may have been a liar, she was right about the state of the Land of Forests. They could see the war-torn country with their own eyes. Huge swathes of the once beautiful land were either plagued with soldiers or destroyed by the heartless. To make matters worse, thick black smoke from the constant warfare billowed into the sky, obscuring their vision as they flew further into the country.
"I can't see a damn thing. We'll have to go on foot from here on out," Zero said.
Mikhail landed in a clearing within the forests so they could get off, then flew a ways above them to continue scouting the skies. Reaching Elfheim would prove to be difficult this time around, because Zero—their sole navigator, had no idea how to get there in nor did she even know where they were relatively speaking.
"Uh...do you know where we're going? I'm pretty sure we passed by this same tree like 5 times already," Dito said.
"No, not really, but I figure we'll run into this elf village eventually."
"So basically we're gonna dick around in this forest all day, huh? Yeah, great plan you got there, Z."
"Then why don't you pull a compass out of your ass and point us in the right direction?!"
"Hey, don't look at me, I just joined you guys. I mean- aren't you supposed to be the boss here?"
"Wherever we're going, we should head in that direction," Riku said, pointing his keyblade at a densely wooded area. "I can smell a strong scent of darkness and...blood."
"Wait did that guy say he can smell 'darkness'?" Dito asked.
"It must be a heartless attack," Zero said.
"And you're just rolling with it?!"
"Heartless attacks don't usually involve blood, unless it's-" Without another word, he sped off into the woods, leaving Zero and Dito to begrudgingly follow behind him.
Dito let out a groan. "Don't tell me this guy's gonna be a freakin' weirdo."
"You get used to it," Zero said.
Using his keyblade to cut through the trees, Riku quickly forged a path ahead into a village that was being invaded by a pack of mutated rabid dog heartless. And the blood he smelled earlier? That was from the heartless eating people alive rather than simply consuming hearts.
"This is...sick. These heartless don't even care about creating more heartless, they're just mindlessly killing people!" With so many lives on the line, Riku had no choice but steel his emotions and save the people he could from being devoured like pieces of meat. Darting across the village grounds, he slew every manifestation of darkness that crossed his path, relying on quick thunder magic to get the job done. Then, just as he was getting ready to destroy another rabid dog, a voice called out from above him.
"—Hey! You're not bad, but I can do you one better!"
Before Riku's blade could split the rabid dog open, a slew of arrows rained down from the sky, piercing the heartless's body. The darkness its body was comprised of suddenly began melting into an amorphous black goop, something Riku had never witnessed before.
"Hell yeah! These things actually work, guess the Commander's not a quack after all." A young elven man with unruly blonde hair walked up beside Riku, flaunting his crossbows at him.
"How were you able to do that?!" Riku asked
"No idea, I'm just testing it out on those demons and it looks like they work pretty damn well."
"Not really. Your weapon's not enough to destroy the heartless, all that did was temporarily destroy their physical bodies, they'll come back in some other form eventually. Just leave those guys to me and you focus on evacuating the people out of this village."
The elf scoffed. "I know some scrawny ass human isn't ordering me around! Since you think you know everything, then how about me and you have a competition of who can defeat the most demons, huh?"
"You shouldn't make saving lives into some dumb competition!"
"Aw come on, you know you want to! Loser gets the last pick on the women... if there are any survivors left that is." Then he sped off in the direction of where the most heartless were gathered.
Riku gripped the handle of his keyblade. "Just who does that guy think he is?! Whatever..." Before he set off himself, he noticed something strange—the black goop that the young elf apparently defeated was sinking itself into the ground. "Oh no, that idiot's creating a bigger problem for everyone! I have to evacuate this village as soon as possible!"
While Riku was leading villagers away from impending death, he ran into Zero, who was carrying around a kid by his collar.
"-There you are, keyblade." She nonchalantly threw the kid at Riku for him to carry. "That piece of shit was about to get itself killed."
"Wow, you're saving people now? Maybe you are actually getting better."
"Don't push it."
The little boy clung to Riku's jacket as he sobbed into his shoulder. "They're gone- they're gone...m-my mommy and daddy...they're gone!" He wailed.
"I'm sorry, kid." He pat the boy's head. "We'll work something out, just hang in there."
All of a sudden, a shadow so massive, that it was as if a cloud were blotting out the sun, overcast them. Riku was overcome with such a repugnant scent that he could practically taste it, hell, he could feel it sticking to his skin like a thin film. When he turned around to see where it'd come from, that's when he saw it; the giant gaping mouth of a heartless, like a bottomless pit, about to devour the three of them whole.
A daunting sight, for sure, but not one that Riku wasn't used to by now. Imbuing his keyblade with darkness, he moved as fast as a clap of thunder, slashing the heartless at multiple different points, all while carrying a kid in his arm.
"Whoa! You're really fast! That was so cool!"
"You think that's cool? Watch this!" At the end of his string of attacks, he ended up above the heartless's head, where he could see that it was some disgusting fusion of all the rabid dog heartless that the cocky elf failed to defeat, which meant it was up to Riku to finish them off once and for all. Without missing a beat, he threw his keyblade down, the blade striking the heartless like a bolt of lightning and it exploded into dozens of hearts.
"Finally, it's over." Riku set the little boy down. "Why don't I bring you to the rest of the-"
"Nice job. You killed a grand total of- hold on, let me check...ONE of those fuckers, just 32 shy of my count." The young elf from before dropped down in front of him, along with two other elven soldiers. "How's that about my crossbows not being enough? You, on the other hand, can't even keep up with me!"
"What're you talking about?! You didn't defeat any of them! The only thing you did was turn them into black goop and left me to clean up the mess you made!"
"Well someone's a sore loser! If it makes you feel any better, you can keep all the girls to yourself since they're not my type." He then flashed a smile to Zero. "But that one definitely is."
"First off, who the hell are you?!" He demanded.
"I'm Nero. Captain of the Elfheim Elven Resistance and these two are my boys, Kain and Edge. Now it's your turn."
"Riku," He said flatly.
"Man, oh, man, what's with that sour look on your face, eh? Looks like someone shoved a spear up your ass."
"Heh, that's just his default expression," Zero said.
"Damn, really? You must be fun to be around 24/7. Anyways, I already know who this lady is, she needs no introduction. Zero, the most infamous criminal in Midgard, practically a living legend!"
"Living legend? I like the sound of that."
"Yeah, I hear some parents tell their kids not to misbehave or Zero'll come feed you to her dragon, ha ha!"
"Those parents have the right idea. Though, my dragon's not with us right now, damn idiot's probably gotten himself lost again."
Dito waved his hand. "And I'm just her disciple, Dito."
"Ah, what a merry band we got here. So what're you all doing at the Land of Forests anyways?" Nero asked.
"We were just leaving." Riku was about to walk off when Zero grabbed his arm and pulled him aside.
"What're you walking away for? You wanted to ask the elves about where Three was and here's one who comes to us on a silver platter."
"I don't like him."
"You just met him."
"And you saw the way he acted towards me, right?!"
She rolled her eye. "That stupid broad from the Land of Sands tried to fucking kill me, but you still kept her around!"
"That was way different!"
"Was it? Because she kept trying to kill someone! Great job vetting her out, by the way, she had such a genuine heart."
"Okay, okay fine, I get your point. I'll ask him about where Three is, but that's it." Riku returned to Nero. "Hey, what do you know about Three, we're looking for her."
"What, to kill her?"
"No, to save her."
He chuckled. "Yeah right, everyone knows Zero's been on a crusade to kill her sisters. That's old news, buddy."
"And for all we know, you could be sympathizers of Four plotting to overthrow the resistance!" Edge argued.
"'Four sympathizers' my ass. Besides, all of that murdering-my-sisters stuff is behind me now. I won't kill her if you tell us where she is," Zero said.
"And what if I don't believe you?"
"I, uh, promise?"
"Huh, well you are promising..."
"That's all it takes to convince you, Captain?" Kain asked.
"What can I say? I'm easy to please. Plus it would be such a shame to see a babe like her just walk away~"
"...I get the feeling she's the real reason you're agreeing to this, but it would be unwise to give up information with no strings attached, especially to people we just met."
"You're not wrong, hmmm...tell you what, we were actually in the middle of securing a major supply line that had been cut off by Four's army. Opening it up would deal a huge blow to Four and be a great victory for the resistance. However, the route is crawling with those demons, so if you could help us out I think you'd earn yourselves our trust."
"Not if you're gonna keep using those arrows to melt the heartless, otherwise you can deal with them by yourself," Riku said.
"Those were anti-demon arrows and they were in limited supply anyways, the Commander just wanted us to test it out."
"Great, looks like I won't have to clean up after you."
"Give me a break! You're the one who decided to drop the ball on some people who, let's be real here, were just going to die the next day. Waste of time if you ask me."
"What a disgusting way of looking at someone's life!" He pushed past him. "Let's just get out of here and get this mission over with as soon as possible."
"Took the words right out of my fucking mouth!"
After departing from the village, they soon found themselves entering deep into enemy territory. This was marked by the sudden uptick of anti-elf war propaganda posters plastered across the trees and trampled over on the ground, along with the increased presence of Four's soldiers.
"-Look alive soldiers! It's a bunch of elf savages!" One of Four's soldiers yelled.
"And Zero's with them too, does that mean she's with the resistance? We have to report this to Lady Four!"
Nero drew out his crossbows. "Don't worry about her, keep your eyes on the 'elf savage' before you lose 'em!"
For all the reasons Riku could come up with as to why Nero shouldn't have been a captain, his skill level certainly wasn't one of them. He was an excellent marksman, shooting enemy soldiers and snipers before they could even draw their weapons, but his skills didn't stop there...
"You hear that? That's the sweet sound of silence," Nero said.
"Not anymore," Zero said.
"Good one. I meant that usually this area is infested with faeries but it looks like they either skipped town or got wiped out."
"Best news I heard all day," Dito said.
"I don't blame 'em if they did leave, I wouldn't want to stay in this shithole either," Zero said.
"Eh, not a fan of the Land of Forests?" Nero asked.
"Can't say that I am since this place always makes my period come early."
"Sounds like you never had a guy part the red sea for you~"
"Oh, I have. I'm just not big on the mess or smell."
"Wow, I'm actually kind of surprised. Thought you'd be down for something freaky like that."
"Believe it or not I have standards too."
"Oh yeah? What's the freakiest you'll go?"
At that point, Zero and Nero's conversation went over Riku's head, which deeply frustrated him. It wasn't enough for them to just have a regular conversation with each other, no, now they had to talk in code about 'pegging' and 'full nelsons', never mind that Riku didn't know who this 'nelson' person was in the first place. He even went as far as to rant about it to Dito, who was just minding his business at the back.
"What is this guy talking about that Zero's so interested in?!"
Dito let out a sigh. "It's just dumb sex stuff, which they're both into. I don't even know why you're bothering me with this..."
"Because he's literally the worst person I've met here so far!"
"What- he's the worst person? Weren't you hanging out with Five for a while? I dunno, man, just sounds like you're jealous."
"Jealous?" He repeated, in a mocking tone. "Of what?"
"Probably because he talks about things Zero actually likes and about not sniffing darkness."
Fortunately, Riku was saved from having to deal with any more insufferable personalities because Mikhail finally rejoined them.
"—Hey! Hey! I'm back guys, see? Sorry, I took so long, I ended up getting lost a lot! Ha ha ha!"
"Huh, like mother like dragon," Dito said.
"Shut the fuck up, Dito."
"So did I miss anything while I was gone? Huh? Did I?"
"Well aren't you a hyperactive one, dragon," Nero said.
"Ooooh wow! Zero made another new friend already? Well, I'm Mikhail and I'm a dragon that can fly and shoot out giant fireballs! Wanna see?!"
"I want you to think really hard about that last part you said. Keep in mind we're surrounded by highly flammable objects," Zero said.
"So...uh, that's a no on the giant fireballs?"
"Save it 'till we reach this barricade, big guy," Nero said.
It wasn't much longer until they finally reached the Elven Resistance's main supply line, located at the border between the Land of Sands and the Land of Forests. There was a giant wooden barricade blocking off access to any potential traders and it was heavily guarded by both Four's soldiers and heartless alike. To avoid detection, they hid in the surrounding bushes so they could formulate a plan of action.
"With this barricade in the way, our friends from the Land of Sands can't reliably supply the resistance with the necessary resources we need to keep the war effort going. Our job is to—"
"Alright, let's burn baby! I'm gonna show you guys my super secret special attack: Mikhail's awesome mega-powerful fireballs YAHHHHHHH!" Mikhail flew ahead and just started breathing a bunch of fire at the barricade, burning down everything and everyone in his path.
"Damn, no wonder everyone wants to keep a dragon around," Dito said.
"Nice! That dumbass just saved us from a massive headache!" Nero ran through the ashes of immolated human remains to plant a flag that proudly showed off the Elven Resistance insignia. "Now we're one step closer to taking that bitch down! Alright, I say this call's for a celebration back at Elfheim, you guys in or what? Wouldn't be a party without ya!"
"The deal was for you to tell us about Three's whereabouts, not take us to some party," Riku said.
"Ughhhh, are you always this friggin' lame?" Dito groaned.
"Tell me about it, and no I didn't forget about our deal, dickhead. If you wanna know so damn bad, Three's coming back to Elfheim tomorrow so I'd stick around if I were you."
"Hm? What business does Three have with Elfheim?"
"She is the Commander of the Elven Resistance so, uh, I can think of a few reasons."
"Are you fucking with us? We can't be talking about the same Three here," Zero said.
"Right? She couldn't 'command' herself to stay awake last I saw her," Dito said.
"Trust me, I wouldn't have believed it either if you told me about a month ago, but you should see her for yourself. That is, if you're coming back to Elfheim with us, your choice."
"...It sounds like we don't have one," Riku muttered.
For the duration of the day, into the night, they spent at Elfheim. Due to the war tearing the Land of Forests apart and the rise in anti-elf sentiment ever since Four took rule, Elfheim hadn't exactly been the liveliest place to be. The displaced elven families and the soldiers patrolling the streets didn't help its image either, but when they came back with news of the resistance's triumph over Four's tyranny, the village lit up in celebration of their victory.
Zero and Dito were more than happy to drink and celebrate along with the rest of the Elven army, even Mikhail was enjoying the singing and dancing. The only odd one out was Riku, who wanted no parts of the festivities and chose to sit alone by himself.
'I'm not actually jealous, am I? He's clearly a jerk and I don't know why Zero would want to associate with him. Not that she's the nicest person in the world, but she has standards, right?' He sighed, then leaned back on the bench. 'Why am I getting so worked up over something this stupid? I shouldn't care who she talks to, I should just support her as a friend. That's something friends do, because we're friends.'
"—Hey, human, you know this celebration is in your guy's honor, right? What're you sitting all alone here for?"
Riku turned his head to see a curvaceous elf woman with long, unruly, black hair, smiling back at him.
"Oh, parties aren't really my-"
"Come on!" The elf woman grabbed Riku's arm and whisked him away into the crowd of people. "Name's Claudia, by the way. What's yours?"
"Riku."
"Riku, huh? So how long are you staying at Elfheim?"
"Until Three comes back. I heard from Nero she's the commander of the resistance, is that actually true?"
She chuckled. "Yes, it's hard to believe, I know. I guess after her sister turned on her she had a change of heart, but enough about her, I'm more interested in why you're here."
"To help as many people as I can, and after seeing the state of the Land of Forests, I can't agree with Four's actions. She needs to be taken down as soon as possible."
"How noble. Honestly, I don't know why my brother was ranting and raving about you like you were the plague. I swear, he's so childish sometimes."
"You're...brother?"
"Yes, Nero's my brother." She pointed to her ears. "Don't you see the family resemblance?"
"...Where is he anyways, and Zero? I haven't seen either of them."
"Well my brother is horny as a rabbit and the girl's a whore, so if they're alone together, you know what that means." She clapped her hands together. "I know, here's a thought, why don't me and you just get away from everyone and spend some quality time together? I think I want to get to know you better, Riku~"
"No... I should go, actually."
She rolled her eyes. "What, are you gonna go find them and be their third?"
"No- no of course not! I just ...got a really bad feeling all of a sudden. Sorry, Claudia, it was nice knowing you."
CW: Themes of sexual violence, read at your discretion
"Zero"
I remember one day when I heard someone say; "the best lies are the ones we tell ourselves", at the time I wrote it off as another drunkard waxing poetics about how he shit his own life away. But looking back, I was just a dumb kid who'd already shit her life away before reaching 18, so I guess that old drunkard has me beat.
He probably did something with his life, at least something that was worth drowning yourself in beer and crying on the street every day. I used to mock that crying, old drunkard, not realizing that I was looking at a reflection of what my own life would become.
I am exaggerating to an extent, because I rarely ever cry. I think crying shows weakness and if I stopped to cry at every little shitty thing that happened in my life, I wouldn't have made it as far as I did. Hell, I wouldn't have lived as long as I did.
Tonight, though, I did cry.
...
I guess now I should choose where to begin with an opener like that...yesterday night should suffice.
Apart of me wishes I could go back in time to be in that bed with Riku again, just to do things differently than what I ended up doing, but ...then again, I wouldn't have even known where to begin.
How can you tell someone that you love them when you've never heard those words said to you? Or know how to love someone when you've never felt loved before? For me, it's easier to think of these things in terms of sex because at least then you know that they're attracted to you at some level, but I've been told that's not the same. Normally I would've called bullshit on that, but ...those few words I exchanged with Riku while we lay in the bed together felt like the most intimate I've ever been with another person.
Or maybe I'm lying to myself again because I ended up fucking Dito the moment he fell asleep. Which I don't entirely blame myself for, in my defense, Riku can never make up his damn mind about anything and I couldn't tell you what he wants for the life of me. I guess, in that way, Nero was the complete opposite of Riku. That's what first struck me about him, but I'm getting ahead of myself here...
My clearest memory of the night began when the booze was first getting passed out during the celebration and by then Riku had already left. Even though I did want him to stay, I knew drinking wasn't really his thing, so I figured I'd just catch up with him later after I got my fill.
It didn't take long for Dito to leave either, as soon as a decently attractive elf boy caught his eye, I could expect to not see him around 'till the next morning. Whatever. Even Mikhail was doing...something, not really sure what that idiot was up to, but for the longest time it was just me. Pathetic as it sounds, I'm used to drinking by myself, so I wasn't bothered by it. Still, it did get boring after a while, but when I tried to leave the crowd to find Riku, Nero popped up out of nowhere and stood in front of me.
"Oh, it's you," I said, trying to sound dismissive, but that didn't seem to deter him.
"Man, I watched you down like 12 bottles of beer. How are you not drunk yet?!"
I shrugged it off. "I just know how to hold my liquor."
"Heh, heh, you and me both! This shit my people brewed doesn't have a strong enough kick if you ask me." He pulled out a vial, then proceeded to wave it in my face. "But this is some of the good stuff! Just a shot of it'll get you piss drunk, wanna try it with me? Kinda we see how high this tolerance of yours is."
I'm not stupid. Like I said before, he was the complete opposite of Riku, so I knew exactly what he wanted from the moment he first laid eyes on me and I just wasn't interested. He was the type who would sleaze around brothels all day while calling other women whores. Who would boast about fucking tons of women without actually pleasing a single one. And worst of all, he refused to go down on a woman, which turned me right the fuck off from the idea of ever sleeping with him.
However, what did interest me was this vial he kept waving in my face like a kid who'd just won their first and only ribbon. I was curious if this liquor was as strong as he boasted, so it'd make my time here worth a damn. It had been a while since I was able to get tipsy, let alone full-on drunk, and the thought of finally being able to numb my emotions enticed me.
So yeah, I did take him up on the offer and I did follow him to the outskirts of the village. In my mind, I had already figured out a plan of action, if the booze didn't do it for me, then I'd be gone before he finished his first drink. If it did and he tried something, I was confident I could easily kill him in one go, drunk off my ass or not. Plus, it's not like he would attempt to kill me because he knew I was immortal.
It was a foolproof plan. In fact, I thought I was a fucking genius. All the benefits of getting drunk with a guy without any of the downsides, or rather, THE downside, which I had more than my fair share of experience in at this point. Nothing could go wrong that I wouldn't be able to handle, I thought to myself at the time.
At first, the night went by pretty smoothly, Nero tipped the vial of liquor into both of our glasses, and after we took our first swig, I was surprised that I actually started to feel a little tipsy. And God was it a feeling I've missed. Tipsiness would be my first step into accepting the harsh reality that nothing between me and Riku would ever surmount to anything and that he was eventually going to leave Midgard behind—But anyways, it seemed like the booze was taking an effect on Nero too because he randomly started blathering on about nothing like a drunkard.
"Fuck, I forgot how strong this shit was! You know Zero, even though we just met, I'm starting to feel a real connection with you!"
'Here we go again.' I thought, trying not to roll my eye.
Nero sat up. "Hey, don't look at me like that, I'm serious! You're so unlike any girl I've met before, they're all so dainty and shit, but you're not like that at all! I feel like me and you can take on the world together!"
"Uh-huh."
"Ever since I was a kid, I've always been sick of this world you know? The lords of the past were incompetent, especially that piece of shit Shaxor, but the people that are in charge now? Give me a break. Gonna be honest with you, I always thought you had the right idea trying to kill your sisters."
"Uh-huh."
"They claim to be paragons of justice or whatever but when Four decided to launch her crusade against all of those elves, no one- not a single one of these bitches did ANYTHING to stop her! And now she's just- just doing it all over again but ten times worse! Sure Three's finally stepping up, but that was mostly because she had no choice so honestly fuck her too!"
"Uh-huh."
"And I gotta bunch more fuck you's where that came from! Fuck the lords, fuck the Intoners, fuck alllllllll the other races that turned their backs on the elves so they could bootlick Four... and fuck all of humanity too while I'm at it! Every single person in this world deserves to suffer so let's just burn everything to the ground! Just me and you!"
I was only half listening before, but now he's grabbed my full attention because I recognized those words. Of course I have, they've come out of my own damn mouth before, and I've come to the point where it was disturbing to hear someone curse the world the same way I did. So I decided to take another sip of my drink before shutting that shit down. "I'm not interested in whatever the hell you're talking about! Find someone else to be your partner in crime."
"What the- why not? I thought you of all people would share the same vision I had! It's because of that Riku guy feeding you a bunch of bullshit lies, isn't it? Well, fuck him too, that whiny bitch doesn't know what the hell he's talking about!"
"Shut your damn mouth already! The only whiny bitch here is you!" I shouted at him before standing up to leave.
That's when he snatched my arm and tried to hold onto me. "Where the hell do you think you're going?!" He said in this really low voice, as if to intimidate me, but I yanked my arm out from his grasp and shoved him off of me.
As I turned back around, I got this splitting headache that felt like my brain was about to burst out of my skull. Then, once my vision started to get hazy, I realized what the fuck was happening to me. And even though my mind was all over the place, I distinctly remember screaming 'FUCK! So much for a foolproof fucking plan! That bastard fucking poisoned me! OR whatever the fuck this is! FUCK!' in my head. The rest isn't so clear.
I reached for my sword but then ████████████████████████████████████ ███████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████
As we fell back on the ground, he positioned himself over me, grabbing my shoulders so I grabbed his neck ████████████████████████████████████ ████████████████████████████████████ "Stop fighting back, you know you want this you goddamn slut! So just sit still and let me fuck you!" ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████
I could feel my muscles getting limp on me, so with every last bit of my strength,████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ Then I pulled out my dagger and just as the blade scraped against his neck, I lost my grip. He smiled at me, even though I can imagine blood was filling up in his mouth because I can see it dribbling down his chin. How is this bastard still breathing? ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ ███████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████He knew the poison was finally kicking in because███████████████████████████████████████
"Looks like even an Intoner can't handle elf magic. You were a feisty one though. I knew you weren't like the other girls." He pushed me off of him, then stood over me and...I didn't have the strength to get back up again.
██████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ ██████████████████████████████████████████████████████████"What was your favorite position? Missionary, right? I'm more of a doggy-style guy myself, but I want to see you cry, that'll make all of this bullshit worth—"
Suddenly, I saw Riku standing above Nero, holding his stringy hair in his hand. In one swift movement, he threw Nero on the ground, then as best as I could describe it, beat the ever-loving shit out of him. It wasn't the Flower this time, there was no voice in his head telling him to do what he did...and that's when I finally began to see him. Actually see him. Not as some perfect, goody-goody saint, but as someone who genuinely fucked up in their past but did everything they could to become a better person. I know he told me this a hundred times before, but it was different seeing it in action.
After Riku was done with Nero, he ran back over to me, blood dripping all over his face and arms. Before I knew it, he picked me up off the ground and held me.
"I'm sorry I wasn't here. I'm sorry..." He kept saying 'I'm sorry' over and over again until I heard the cracks developing in his voice, like he was about to cry. I must've already started too because he pulled away and looked at me all concerned and shit.
I just didn't understand why I was crying. Nothing happened, but I guess something was so close to happening that my mind reverted back to when I was a child. When I used to cry so much and for so long that tears wouldn't even fall down my face anymore and so I'd hopelessly gasp for breath.
And I thought I'd move past that phase of my life, but it was as if each tear I shed brought back one painful memory that I had kept bottled up over the years after the next. Like a knife tearing open an old wound. I couldn't stop myself from crying, let alone calm myself down. It was...humiliating. I hated to feel this way, to be seen this way, but at least now I wasn't alone.
Riku let go of me so he could wipe the blood off his hands before bringing them to my face, where he carefully wiped away my tears. Then he stared at me, with such intent in his eyes, and told me in a gentle voice, "Rose, I will always be here for you, I promise. You're my light."
Of course, I wanted to say SOMETHING back to him, but I started seeing everything go black. The poison was still ravaging my body and I would black out at any second. I wish I could've told Riku, but I couldn't force the words to come out of my mouth.
And so...██████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████little by little███████████all I could see was ██████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████
Flowers for the Dead
A/N: Hi! First, I wanted to say thank you for all the reviews, I didn't expect sm lol, but I tried to respond to all of them. Second, I'm sorry this took so long to get out, it was a very difficult chapter to write, to say the least, but I hope you all enjoyed it. Next chapter will hopefully come out within this month!
