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Well believe if or not they do know that I'm on a forum, but they don't really care what I do so long as I keep my nose clean and safe from harm. Eh, they really don't care what I do so long as it doesn't reach their ears.

Out of all the holidays I think I like Christmas the most because of the cold that comes with it, that and we get to play in the snow... (no not really I have to go to local mountains to play in the snow...)

It's probably because I get to send time with my family, together, and it's all warm and cozy like that.

STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN​

by LED ZEPPELIN​

There's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold
And she's buying a stairway to heaven.
When she gets there she knows, if the stores are all closed
With a word she can get what she came for.
Ooh, ooh, and she's buying a stairway to heaven.

There's a sign on the wall but she wants to be sure
'Cause you know sometimes words have two meanings.
In a tree by the brook, there's a songbird who sings,
Sometimes all of our thoughts are misgiven.
Ooh, it makes me wonder,
Ooh, it makes me wonder.

There's a feeling I get when I look to the west,
And my spirit is crying for leaving.
In my thoughts I have seen rings of smoke through the trees,
And the voices of those who stand looking.
Ooh, it makes me wonder,
Ooh, it really makes me wonder.

And it's whispered that soon if we all call the tune
Then the piper will lead us to reason.
And a new day will dawn for those who stand long
And the forests will echo with laughter.

If there's a bustle in your hedgerow, don't be alarmed now,
It's just a spring clean for the May queen.
Yes, there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run
There's still time to change the road you're on.
And it makes me wonder.

Your head is humming and it won't go, in case you don't know,
The piper's calling you to join him,
Dear lady, can you hear the wind blow, and did you know
Your stairway lies on the whispering wind.

And as we wind on down the road
Our shadows taller than our soul.
There walks a lady we all know
Who shines white light and wants to show
How everything still turns to gold.
And if you listen very hard
The tune will come to you at last.
When all are one and one is all
To be a rock and not to roll.

And she's buying a stairway to heaven.​

Whatever we post here makes us unique in our own way...

Um, I'm left handed, I sketch, play keyboard (very little), and my fingers don't go like that -> | they go like this -> \

Rikufanattic's list:
1. PS3
2. PSP
3. A new set of headphones
4. New color pencils
5. Chocolate
6. Sketch pads
7. Laptop
8. anything with candy really...
9. anime DVD boxsets
10. a boyfriend... ( I couldn't help but put that! but no I don't want one for christmas)
11. Ties!!!!!!

Just laugh with me people... I'm kidding on number ten relax... XD

Ello ello!
Welcome to kh-vids! Remember to have follow the rules and whatnot, ya know?

I hope you have fun here and catch you later, see you around!

Huh, to be honest when I played the game it didn't seem all that hard before because I loved playing those types of RPGs sure I took my time only because I didn't want to leave out anything, plus I wanted the secret ending pretty bad.

Was it hard?
To me, the game in general wasn't hard, but if you talk about Sephiroth than yes that part was hard, and I leveled up to about 90 before I fought him using Ultima Weapon. That was the only thing that I had trouble on, and KH2 seemed WAY easier, but Xemnas was hard... lol

Well here's another chapter you guys!

Chapter Seventeen: Out of Form

Riku sighed for a moment and looked up at the ceiling of the plain colored room. ‘It’s been three days…’ he thought to himself as he moped. ‘I’m not really in the mood to do anything…’

He turned over in his bed and decided the next best thing was to sleep again. Just as he had gotten comfortable he heard a loud knock on his door. He growled in frustration and stood up to answer the door.

“Riku!†Sora said smiling at his friend. “Whoa… You’ve got bed hair…†the brunette said pointing at the messy silver hair.

“You know what time it is?†Riku said yawning.

“Yeah it’s noon.†Sora said nodding to himself reassuringly.

And with that last word Riku slammed the door leaving the young Keyblade wielder with a shocked look on his face. He told the blue eyed boy not to disturb him, and he could hear Sora mutter something as he left, it was something about training.

He slipped back under the covers and rested his head against the light colored pillow. He closed his eyes and sighed enjoying the silence that fell on him.

‘I’m not sleepy… Just don’t feel like getting up… I might as well sleep some more.’

Riku turned over again trying to go to sleep once more, but he couldn’t now. Sora had scared off his sleepy mood. He yawned loudly, but still stayed under the covers. ‘I wonder what she’s doing right now.’ Riku thought for a moment before frowning. ‘Him…’ he thought, not wanting to mention his name.

‘You’re jealous of a dead guy…’ the Heartless said laughing at Riku’s flaw.

“That’s the sad part.†He sighed looking at Xehanort the Heartless. “Surprisingly I wish he were alive.â€

‘Again, it’s because of her. I keep telling you but do you listen? No, of course you don’t… Why the hell am I giving you advice on this…? I’m going soft.’

With that the Heartless went back into the far corner of his heart. Riku sighed slightly burying himself deeper within the blanket and listened to people walk down the hall outside of his room.

Traverse Town…​

“She did a number on you Leana!†Gabriel said again for the fifth time laughing at the woman wearing a cast. “I wish I had been there to see that fight.â€

“Oh shut up!†Leana said punching Gabriel with her good arm. “I’d like to see you fight her when that little black heart shoes up.â€

“She really froze your arm and weapon?†Gabriel asked stopping her from crossing the street. Leana growled slightly and pushed Gabriel’s hand away from her. “Hey come on, I mean… Was she really that strong? Hey… Leana…†he said chasing her down the street.

“Just shut it… My goodness… Yes, she did. I could’ve killed her if she didn’t tap into the artificial heart at that moment… I’ll get her next time.†She said turning her head to look at the brown messy hair.

“There won’t be a next time for you… You’re out of commission until your arm’s fixed.†Gabriel’s purple eyes stared at the cast for a moment. “Which mean I’ll get to have some fun this time. By now, Yomigami knows we’re still alive too.â€

“…†Leana rolled her eyes at the mention of the others name. “It’s sad, but I feel just a little bit bad about doing this… Still if we want to bring back him back we’ve got to steal those spheres…â€

“Let’s hit ‘em where it hurts them both then.†Gabriel said forming a malevolent smile.

Leana arched an eyebrow noticing the look on her partners face. She blinked in confusion.

“What’s the one thing most important to them?†Gabriel asked the honey eyed female.

“Their family?†Leana said pushing back her brown hair.

“Exactly…â€

“When?†Leana asked looking at the purple eyes of her partner.

“How about right now?†he said stretching out his hand. “You want call out the Heartless to Radiant Garden?â€

Radiant Garden…​

“Amaterasu. Get. UP!†Tachigami said trying desperately to pry the covers off her young sister. “Come on, it’s 1 o’clock in the afternoon! Get up!†she said amazed at the strength Amaterasu had.

“NO!†the young one said burying herself deeper into the covers. She held on tighter to the covers closing her eyes tightly. “Just go…†she said.

“Wake up!†Moegami said knocking loudly on the wall. He was in the other room.

Tachigami managed to sweep the covers off of her in a rapid motion, and Amaterasu covered her face with a pillow. The older sister sighed and sat on the bed.

Amaterasu heard the bed creak at the rising number of weight added on to the sleeping item. She muttered out lowly to Tachigami that she was getting fat, but the 19 year old said nothing.

“Is she awake?!†the twins asked. Kazegami was knocking on the wall this time.

“Yes!†Tachigami hollered back.

Amaterasu tried to block out the noise coming from her family, but it was to no avail. She couldn’t ignore the noise even if she wanted to, because she would miss the talking she called ‘noise’.

“It’s been three days…†Tachigami said pulling the pillow away from Amaterasu’s face. “Get some fresh air, or outside or something… Take a shower…â€

“I took a shower today in the morning…†she said covering her eyes with her arms. “Just leave me alone, okay?â€

“Suit yourself… But you’re going to have to talk to him someday…â€

“No one asked you…†Amaterasu said at the same time as her older sister was speaking.

With that Tachigami closed the door to her room, leaving the girl alone, without any covers. She mumbled again looking up at the beige ceiling.

“Are you awake?†it was Gekigami’s voice.

“Yeah…†she answered.

“Are you decent?’ he asked.

She looked down at to what she was wearing, navy gym shorts and a black t-shirt. “Yes…†she said looking at the door to her room. Gekigami stepped through the doorway. His hair looked horrible, it was messy with the back part looking like a afro of some sort.

“Yomigami’s worried about you, ya know?†he said sitting next to her.

Amaterasu breathed in for a moment, and exhaled slowly. She nodded and turned over on her side, away from her second big brother.

“Listen… He’s pissed off at the fact you fought Leana on your own. What were you thinking?!†he whispered.

“…I wanted to protect the sphere, and them.†She said fixing her gaze on an empty flower vase by the nightstand.

“Fine, just next time…†Gekigami placed a gentle hand on her head, “don’t go off doing things on your own, okay? That heart won’t work every time… Anyway I hope you didn’t forget today’s the day those three start their training…â€

“Ugh… See now I don’t want to get up…â€

R i k u ​

It was an arena of some sort with pillars from old buildings scattered about. In the distance was an old decaying chapel, and a paopu tree could be seen through one of the window openings.

“All right then…†Yomigami was wearing black cargo pants and a white shirt. “Today’s the day of your first training session.â€

Amaterasu was standing next to her brother. She was wearing the same thing as he big brother.

“Any questions?†he asked the three of us. Sora rose up his hand, but he had already somehow guessed Sora’s question. “No, there aren’t any bathroom breaks for the next three hours…â€

“All right then, on that note…†Amaterasu stepped forward. “The three of you are going to spar off against the two of us.â€

“But that’s a 3-on-2 match…†Kairi said frowning for a moment. “It’s not really fair for you guys.â€

“We’ll deal with what’s fair for us…†Yomigami said stretching out both of his hands. Two Keyblade like weapons appeared in mid air before he caught them. “I’ll take Sora and Kairi… I like 2-on-1 practices. Ammi, you can take Riku.â€

From the look on her face my guess would’ve been Yomigami had picked something else, and changed it at the last minute. Amaterasu nodded slightly and pulled out two Keyblade looking weapons, but they had no keychain. For a moment I thought she was going to pull out the other Keyblade.

“We can use the environment however we please, but we can’t go past the chapel…†Amaterasu said pointing her weapon in the direction. “Is that clear?â€

We all nodded, and pulled out our Keyblades.

“We won’t hold back…†Sora said getting into a defensive stance.

“We ask that you don’t hold back…†Yomigami said twirling both of his weapons. “Are you guys ready now?†we all nodded. “One…â€

“Two…†Amaterasu said getting ready to move.

“Three!†we all yelled, running forward to our opponent.

An hour into it…​

Kairi barely had enough time to dodge Yomigami’s mid air attack. Sora placed a Reflect spell on her as Yomigami’s weapon was within range. She breathed in ready to prepare herself for the pain, but the spell had worked.

Yomigami threw his weapon towards Sora and the boy did a back flip, his leg had missed the weapon by an inch. The blue eyed boy panted heavily, and dashed forward bringing his weapon over his arms.

Yomigami blocked the attack with ease, and then side stepped to the right feeling Kairi’s presence in back of him. The two of them weren’t a match for the veteran, but they’d eventually read his fight patterns soon enough.

Riku’s reflexes had saved him from wiping out on the floor as he used his free hand to push him up, in a sort of one handed flip. Amaterasu sighed for a moment before jumping back at the silver haired teen brought his Keyblade down on the ground.

Amaterasu used her own enhanced reflexes and was able to stand nimbly on the boy’s Keyblade. Riku stared at her in disbelief, she was taunting him for a moment, and it was almost near to impossible to move the weapon.

‘How can she stand on it?’ the boy thought to himself as the girl disappeared from his sight. ‘****!’ he looked in back of him and noticed something lightly touched his back. He knew if it had been a real battle he most likely would’ve have died at this point.

Riku moved forward, and turned around pointing his weapon at the girl. She made no effort to protect herself, and sighed heavily as she got into a defensive stance.

It was apparent to Sora, Kairi, and Yomigami that the two of them still had some unresolved issues to work. Sora and their team had gone two hours into their spar, and Yomigami had won, since he had managed to unarm Kairi and Sora.

Riku brought his weapon up, and blocked both blades from hitting him. He started to strain under the force as both blades keep hitting his defensive again, and again.

“Funny, she’s not even giving it her all…†Yomigami said thinking back to the wounds she had received a while back.

“Are you serious?†Kairi and Sora asked.

Riku brought his weapon down in mid air, and Amaterasu felt confident enough to kick it back. Riku was flung backwards and looked back at her. The girl ran forward with enough speed to catch him off guard, and as a last resort he hid his chest in back of his Keyblade.

Amaterasu’s blade cracked and she cursed, disposing of the two weapons. She jumped back and brought out the other Keyblade she had. Riku moved back quickly as he saw the Keyblade being thrown towards him, he pushed it into the air with his Keyblade, and it was just enough to distract him.

Before long Amaterasu knocked him onto the ground, with her weapon dangerously close to his neck. She was breathing heavily, finally pinning him to the ground. Riku had been able to keep his weapon in the air, so that it could be called a draw. She looked at the weapon that was close to her neck.

Riku was breathing heavily, feeling some beads of sweat run down the side of his cheek. He gulped feeling the Keyblade lightly touch his neck. She if had gone any further he wouldn’t be alive, at all.

‘She was gong to kill me?!’ he thought to himself trying to scan her eyes for a different answer. ‘But it’s a draw…’ the boy thought to himself as his weapon lightly touched his opponent’s neck.

“Not bad…†she said getting off of him.

Amaterasu winced in pain for a moment as she stretched her arms and legs. Riku sat up feeling his back hurt a bit. ‘That’s going to hurt in the morning,’ he thought to himself. At this point Sora, Kairi, and Yomigami had gone back into the city.

“For some reason I thought he’d do something like this…†she said helping Riku up.

R i k u ​

The two of us ended up walking back to the city, and boy what a quiet stroll that was. It’s killing me, I can’t take it. I’m going to go insane if she doesn’t talk to me. ‘Talk to her you idiot…’ my conscience said. ‘Idiot…? …That makes you one too…’ I thought to myself as I walked in back of her.

I was still worried about the fact she still had some bruises on her arms. I asked her if she was okay, and she said as long as she could walk she was fine. ‘Talk to her… Hellooooo…? Are you even listening?’ the little voice in my head was saying.

She looked back at me sighed for a moment. I still felt some tension in the air, and that was pretty much just about it. Her body was swaying to the side once in a while, she was tired.

“Ammi…†I picked up that pace and walked alongside her this time. She didn’t look to good from where I was standing. “Amaterasu, you don’t want to rest?â€

“M-M…Maybe…†she said struggling to get the words out of her mouth. I caught her before she fell. “Can you get Yomigami here, please?†she asked me in a soft voice.

“It’s getting dark I can’t just leave you here…†I placed her arm around my shoulder. I knew she winced in pain, but I didn’t want to just leave her there.

“I have another idea then…†she said stretching out her hand. A black portal materialized from out of thin air. “Just carry me on your back…†but that was the last time she spoke to me consciously.

I looked back at the dark portal for a moment and sighed. I didn’t know where it would take us, but I knew I could trust her. I looked up at one of the buildings. Cement had broken off on one side of the thing.

Something didn’t feel right, and the sooner we got out of here the better. Another small piece broke off as I felt my leg go through the portal. I had forgotten how cold this thing could be.

‘She’s pretty heavy…’ I thought to myself as I carried her gently on my back. She was mumbling something, but I just couldn’t hear what it was. At that moment I felt my whole body grow cold as I passed through the portal.

There was a bright light at the end and when we passed it, a beige colored bedroom was in full view. I looked around slightly, this was her room. I lay her gently on the bed, and there was an expression of pain on her face. ‘Her back still hurts,’ I thought to myself.

On her nightstand was a small bottle of pain killers for the aches on her back. It was still fairly full and I smiled at that fact, she didn’t like taking pills at all.

There weren’t any clean sheets on her bed, and I didn’t want to look through the closet. I’m still kind of paranoid about this one time I had to look for bed covers in Kairi’s house. Sora had gotten sick and threw up on her bed, lo and behold who did they ask to get extra sheets? Me. Did I find any? Let’s just say I found something I shouldn’t have.

Her hand felt cold though, and I didn’t have a sweater or anything with me, so I would have to go find some clean sheets. I looked around in this bottom drawer that was attached to the bed and found a pink bed cover.

It’s still a bit funny, she didn’t like wearing pink, yet she had a pink bed cover. I covered her up, being careful not to hurt her anymore. With that I sat up against the bed, looking back at her as she slept.

“When you dream, do you dream of the past? Do you dream of him? Do you wish that sometimes the dream wouldn’t end? Would you sleep forever to not face the pain?†I asked her that watching her turn over in her sleep. I knew it was pointless since Amaterasu couldn’t hear me. She was out like a rock. “I really wish you could answer these questions…â€

‘I’m jealous of a dead man, and I wish he was never brought up in the first place. I’m pissed at the fact I can’t talk to her like I use to. I haven’t seen her laugh, or smile, or even get angry. I’ve seen her cry, but for him…’ I thought to myself closing my eyes.

Civilian District​

“They’re here too?!†Moegami yelled pulling out his weapon. There were Heartless as far as the eye could see. Tachigami grunted under the weight of Heartless on her weapon.

“Where’s Sora?!†Kazegami said breathlessly as he stood up leaning against his weapon.

“Stop…†Gekigami said freezing several Heartless in his path. “Didn’t’ Sora call this meeting here?†he struck his weapon through a couple of frozen Heartless.

Tachigami pulled back Moegami. He was really close to getting his arm bitten off. Kazegami blocked the attack from one of the Heartless.

There were the little Heartless, called ‘Shadow’ and the other bigger ones, the centaur looking ones. One of the centaur looking ones jabbed his lance forward, and Tachigami blocked it with some strain. Gekigami was thrown back as he had gotten to close to one of the centaurs. The two twins were trying their best to get rid of the smaller Heartless, but it didn’t seem to be working.

Tachigami jumped up to one of the rooftops of a house and scouted around the area, Heartless covered about three blocks. ‘Someone called them here… But why?’ she jumped back at a flying Heartless was abto tackle her.

In the distance, there were several loud roars from a couple of Behemoths off to the west of the block. ‘Something tells me we aren’t getting out here alive…’ that’s what all four of them were thinking of.

The old Hollow Bastion castle ​

“So then…†Leana winced slightly as she moved her injured arm. “This is where most of his memory spheres are at?â€

“Yeah…†Gabriel said looking down at the ground below their feet. “But only Sora can unlock them from that box… The problem is, is that thing’s in those damn ruins.â€

The two of them turned around hearing the Behemoths roar once again. They chuckled slightly and jumped down the ruins of the old building. This was out of form for them, and yet they still did what they had to do. There was no turning back from this point.

These two were close to finding the spheres, but without a key to open the lock what was the point.

What was so precious to them that they had to go and destroy kin from their own ex-members?

A terrible secret would soon come out, and things would be thrown out of form.

For a modern myth of some sort? No, it was for the tale of the sealed truth. Darkness was soon going to overrun this world like it had done in the past nine years ago with Maleficent, but this time the Keyblade’s ‘Chosen One’ would stop it before it was too late. Everything is being thrown out of form for memories…

heh never been quoted before! Also to keylbader_twilight thank you very much!

Chapter Sixteen: Remembrance

“That thing…†Leana said rushing towards the girl. “Is going to be your down fall!†she said bring her weapon down. Amaterasu blocked the attack with her right arm, since she didn’t have enough time to block it with her Keyblade.

She winced in pain and felt her legs were going to collapse from the hit. She had forgotten how strong the woman was, and she had improved a lot during their years apart. Leana jumped back and chuckled, watching Amaterasu’s right arm trickle with a visible crimson substance.

“I wonder what he’d say if he saw you like this?†Leana said circling the girl as Amaterasu mimicked her moves.

“Just shut up…†Amaterasu said coldly to her. “You have no right saying that…â€

“And I suppose you do?†Leana said throwing her weapon to her. Amaterasu flung the metal object into the air, but Leana gained the upper hand as she jabbed her closed fist into Amaterasu’s stomach.

The girl fell back, and at that moment she felt the sphere fall on the ground. She frantically crawled to grab the sphere, and barely dodged an oncoming attack from the woman. Amaterasu twirled her Keyblade around her sending a fire spell around her body, and Lena jumped back.

The girl placed the sphere in her sack and jumped back as Leana’s weapon struck the ground. At that point Amaterasu took her chance and dashed forward, with her Keyblade tearing the ground, she brought it up and slammed it down to where Leana was at.

The force from the attack shook the ground a bit, and the others could only watch the event from outside the barrier. Lena’s knees bent slightly trying to push the girl off of her, but once Amaterasu decided to give it her all there was no stopping her.

Leana used her free hand and muttered something, and before long a small slab of earth rose up knocking Amaterasu into the air. The girl stared at the blue sky in disbelief, feeling her whole stomach turn upside down. Her weapon was knocked out of her hands.

Leana jumped into the air and brought the girl crashing down with her ‘crafted’ Keyblade.

Outside the barrier… ​

“Can’t this thing break down?!†Kairi yelled out hitting it again with another fire spell. Riku and Sora tried everything possible to break the barrier but it was no use. Whoever this person was had a strong mind to keep this up for so long.

The only thing they could do was watch as their friend fought to protect the sphere and their own lives. At one point Sora blamed himself for not chasing after them earlier. Kairi had yelled out various Cure spells, but it was no use magic was forbidden to enter within the barrier. Riku on the other hand, his heart was going to stop beating all together.

Riku placed a hand on the barrier slamming his palm down in anger.

‘Why is she doing this?’ he thought to himself feeling anger rise up. ‘That stupid little sphere, it’s his fault!’ he could feel something rise up in his emotions. ‘Ammi you idiot, just give her the damn thing!’ Riku said pounding on the barrier again.

He saw her charge at Leana and mimicked a move from earlier that he had once done. She jumped into the air, with her back slightly turned and as she struck she twirled slightly, with full force knocking Leana on her knees.

A m a t e r a s u​

“Uh…†I moaned out. Leana kicked my stomach, and I feel hard on the ground. My whole body was aching again.

My right arm was still bleeding, and not even a Cure spell of any level could heal it, it was too deep to close. I closed my eyes for a moment and I could hear her laugh a bit. Her footsteps were visible in my line of vision since I was knocked onto the ground.

I could hear faintly my friends calling out my name, but it didn’t give the motivational effect to move me again. My eyes moved about the scene and I saw her feet two millimeters away from my face.

She bent down and smiled again, stabbing her poor excuse of a Keyblade dangerously close to my head. I didn’t flinch, in fact for a moment I didn’t even really care if I died, but it was just for a second.

“Are you even trying?†she asked me plastering a big smile. “Come on Ammi, where’s your spirit? Don’t tell me it’s all gone because that idiot’s dead?â€

“Shut your face…†I whispered harshly, calling my Keyblade back.

She stood up and stepped on my right arm. I yelled out in pain as the blood started to pour out. I begged her to stop, I begged, and I begged, but doing that just caused more pain. Leana told m that she’d make the pain stop if I gave her the sphere.

“Over my dead body!†I said placing my free palm on the ground and I felt my body turn to liquid. Within a matter of seconds I was a couple of feet away from her and I was able to stand up, panting a bit with my Keyblade at hand again.

“Just give me the little sphere and it’ll be all over.†Leana said vanishing for a spilt second. I felt her breath on my cheek. “Be a good kid and give the sphere.â€

I swung my weapon around and heard metal hit metal as she blocked it with no effort. I jumped back and dashed forward. She jumped into the air and threw her weapon towards me.

‘Reflect,’ I thought to myself as a thing barrier formed around me for a spilt second. The weapon hit the ground and I could see the frown on Leana’s face. She dashed forward to grab the weapon and at that spilt moment I jabbed my Keyblade between the hilt and guard, locking it into the ground.

She stopped in front of my feet, and moved back at bit.

“Now if it were a real Keyblade, you could call it back…†I said taunting her slightly.

I ran up to her and placed a strong Stop spell on her. She fell backward as I knocked her on the ground, and within moments my Keyblade was right in her face. She growled slightly bringing both knees under my stomach, and kicked me clear off the ground.

Current scene… ​

Leana pinned the girl to the ground, and brought out a dagger from her waist. She held it tightly to the side of the girls throat, letting the blade break a millimeter of skin, just enough to make it bleed.

The other just watched as the battle went on, not really possible to determine a victor. They each seemed to be losing though.

“Move, Ammi!†Riku finally yelled out as loud as he could.

Leana had used the Gravity spell to pin the girl in one spot and took advantage of the whole thing. Her stripped Keyblade was about to impale the girl in the chest. Leana stopped halfway as she noted the color change in the girl’s eyes.

Amaterasu grinned slightly and the Gravity spell was terminated, and she ruthlessly froze the woman’s weapon, and the ice traveled up to her left arm. Leana exhaled sharply, and her breath could be seen in plain daylight.

The woman tried desperately to move her arm, but it was no use. At that moment the girl had vanished and reappeared in back of the woman. The girl placed a strong grip on the back of Leana’s skull.

“You move, and I’ll crush it…†Amaterasu said meaning every word of it.

“You’d let your friends see it?†she asked, her voice was faltering.

“No…†she said commanding the darkness in her heart to blacken the barrier around them. “But now I can…†she said smiling at Leana. “You want me to freeze you first? Or just go straight for the kill?â€

“Ruthless *****…†she yelled out at the girl struggling to break free from her grip. At that moment Leana’s right arm was dislocated by the ex-members own hands. She screamed in pain as Amaterasu let her go.

“It’s a present for Gabriel…†Amaterasu said feeling the darkness go back into her heart. “Hopefully you can get back in one piece…†she said giving her a big smile.

At that point Leana’s barrier broke, and she disappeared into a dark portal, but the girl made no effort in following her, she was too tired, and her arm was starting to go numb. The Keyblade went back into the shape of its keychain and secured itself back into place along side Amaterasu’s little sack.

‘I can’t stand up anymore…’ she thought panting heavily, feeling a weight crush her heart for a moment. ‘My arm’s going numb, aw crap…’ hers knees hit the ground and she looked back at her friends, her vision started to go in and out. At one point she heard Xehanort’s voice, but that was just a figment of her imagination.

“Kairi, wrap up her arm…†Sora said placing Amaterasu on the ground gently. “Riku, do you have any Elixirs on you?†he said frantically. Riku gave him one, and Sora placed the open bottle on her lips. “Come on…†he said pleading for everything to be all right.

R i k u ​

We’re back here in Radiant Gardens and I’m glad. It seemed like an eternity back in Twilight Town. Amaterasu still hasn’t woken up, and my heart’s been in constant pain. I don’t know what to do, and I’m starting to regret the things I’ve been thinking about.

They had to put here in a hospital since the wound on her arm was too deep for a Cure spell. There were bruises on her back, and a slight bruise on her stomach. She had a couple of scratches on her cheek when she collided with the ground.

I’m sitting here in the infirmary room with her. I snuck in since visiting hours were only for family members at this point, that and because I feel that her whole family is furious with me at this point.

I sighed heavily and watched her for a moment. I couldn’t take it, just watching her like this. I’m sure that if Xehanort was alive, the one she knew, he’d be in my shoes, or so I assume.

“Why didn’t you just give her the sphere…?†I whispered holding onto her left hand. “I know it means a lot to you… And I know it’s going to help us, but… You didn’t have to do that…†I said looking down at the white tiles of the room.

Her hand felt warm, and she squeezed back reassuringly.

At one point I remembered the woman had stepped on her arm, and I was afraid it was going to get infected. With the right antibiotics and stitching it would get better.

“I should have protected her…â€

‘That’s right you should have…’ the Heartless said in a rather annoyed tone. ‘If the other one saw you he’d be furious, he’d mostly kill you…’

“I know that…†I said sighing for a moment.

“Just wanted…†her voice was low, “To keep you all safe…â€

Her breathing was slow and I could somehow feel her heartbeat in synch with mines. She didn’t say anything after that. I could hear voices outside the door and I looked around for a place to hide in, but I couldn’t find one in time.

The door opened and Yomigami and Aerith stopped at the foot of the door. Aerith greeted me with a rather heartbreaking smiled, but Yomigami didn’t make any eye contact with me.

“How is she?†Yomigami asked in a rather caring tone.

“She’s okay…†I said not really sure how to say it. “They fixed her arm…†I said looking back at the bandaged arm. “And we’re supposed to give her some antibiotics.â€

“You want us to come back later?†Yomigami asked looking back at his sister and then to me.

“No,†I said standing up from my chair. “I’ve stayed too long here…†I said bowing to both of them and exited the room.

It’s been about a week since that day, and our friendship hasn’t gotten any better, if anything it’s still the same. I’ve been avoiding her. I’m still feeling guilty about it all. I know that it’s not really my fault, but I still could’ve done more. I know I could have done more.

We’re still waiting for the other sphere so that all of us could see them together.

HBRC Conference Room…​

“Cid you genius!†Tachigami said hugging the older man. “Ha-ha! This is great, it’s amazing!†she said jumping up and down in delight. “Finally we can see the sphere!†she said twirling.

Amaterasu and the other siblings, including Reeve, just felt a sweat drop fall down their cheeks in embarrassment. Cid cleared his throat calling Tachigami a crazy old bat. He turned on a microphone.

“Hey! Get your *** up to the conference room!†he ordered the rest of gang as his voice traveled to different rooms.

Within a couple of minutes or so everyone else started to enter the room. Cid placed the sphere acquired from Traverse Town on a little machine, and a computer scanned its contents.

“You’ll ready?†Cid asked looking at everyone.

The others nodded and within moments the room went dark. At that point Traverse Town became a real life projection in the room. People were moving about, but it wasn’t real, just bits and pieces of data.

Yuffie jumped slightly bumping into Leon, and she rubbed the back of her head. This was Traverse Town about twenty years or so, everything sort of looked the same, but the Moogles hadn’t come to that world yet so there were no little red pompoms floating about.

They all watched as three figures came through the front gate of that world. A young teenager with blond messy hair, and blue eyes stepped out first.

“That’s Roxas!†The others said in disbelief.

“But that’s…†Sora tried really hard to wrap the whole thing around his mind.

Another girl walked out after, she had blue eyes and matching hair, with an earring that had a yellow feather on it. She was a bit taller than the Roxas look alike. She looked back at the gate and called out after another person.

“Xehanort, come on out!†the Roxas looking boy said.

Amaterasu felt shivers run down her spine when she saw him step out of the gate. He had looked the same as when she first met him. His light skin, blue eyes, and brown hadn’t changed at all. All three of them were wearing civilian clothing.

“Did we really have to come here?†the teenager asked, he was obviously about an inch taller than the girl.

“Don’t look at me…†the girl said shaking her head. “It was all Ven’s idea…†she said pointing out to the Roxas looking boy.

“We need to restock on supplies…†the boy named Ven said. “Plus if I remember correctly Xehanort was complaining about a rest stop.â€

“…†Xehanort messed up Ven’s hair and laughed a bit. “You know I keep forgetting how short you are…â€

“Are you guys going to start this again?†the girl said putting both hands on her hip.

“Sorry Aqua…†the two both said giving a big smile to the girl.

“Besides… We have to worry about the Keyblade Master… Did you see how strong that guy was?!†Aqua said using her hands to explain it all. “That was gigantic!†she said describing the magic the Keyblade Master had used. “He’s really dangerous…â€

“I thought guys like him were supposed to be good guys…†Ven said walking down the street of Traverse Town with his friends.

“If you paid attention to the reports, you would have known that they can be bad too…†Xehanort said poking his buddy’s forehead.

“Can we even beat that guy?†Aqua asked looking back at the two males.

“I think so.†Ven said placing his hands over his head. “Now let’s go get something to eat!â€

“You’re a walking stomach…†Aqua said rolling her eyes at Ven.

At that point Xehanort stopped walking and looked in back of him. A figure with a black and red tight skin suit approached them.

“We’ve got company…†Xehanort said pulling out his Keyblade.

Aqua and Ven pulled out their weapon and turned around to face the figure. The figure chuckled slightly, and that point the sound of metal and Blizzard spells could be heard. Aquan was thrown into the air by the figure, and Ven managed to knock the person down to the ground. Xehanort placed an Aero spell to keep Aqua from hitting the ground.

“Don’t you take a break?!†Ven said blocking an attack from the figure, obviously it didn’t take breaks.

“It stops right there…†Cid said as the sphere stopped at that scene in time.

“At one time the Keyblade was said to bring destruction…†Reeve said looking back at the others. “And with these spheres, we can stop from making those same mistakes.â€

A m a t e r a s u​

The other sphere from Twilight Town had the same thing from Traverse Town. The three of them were being chased by that figure in black and red. They had managed to drive it back, but Xehanort had gotten knocked out in the process.

I had left the meeting after that and I ended up coming to the ravine to clear my thoughts. Riku and I still weren’t talking, but I suppose it’s for the better for right now. With what had happened a week ago I would most likely have done something similar.

I sighed for a moment leaning against the wall watching the colorful gems sparkle in the darkness. It’s moments like this that make it all the worth while to be alone sometimes, and yet I wish it wasn’t like that at all.

My arm does hurt still, so I’ve had to take some pain killers for it, they don’t taste all that great, and I really hate swallowing pills. My back still hurts a little and I just made the pain worse by leaning against one of the ravine walls.

“Maybe I should just go back with Gabriel and Leana…†I said quietly to myself. “I can try and keep everyone out of harms way.†I shook my head. “I can’t do that…†I sighed heavily.

‘You have no idea how much I miss you…’ I thought to myself looking up at the ravine’s covering. I was trying to imagine the sky overhead, but all that popped up was Xehanort’s smile.

I slumped down and sat on the ground bring my knees up and wrapping my arms around them. The ravine was very majestic, and I was glad I was alone for right now. I could lose myself in old memories and no one would ever know.

“Hey…†I said smiling slightly at the teenager. He looked up and gave me a small smile. He offered me a spot on the bench. “How have you been?â€

“I’ve been doing all right.†He said his blue eyes full of joy. “How was your trip?â€

“Okay…†I sighed heavily leaning against the wooden bench. “My arms are SO sore!†I said complaining about the cramp space in the gummi ship. “It was me, Yomigami, Leana, Lucifer, and Gabriel, in a ship that only fits three…â€

Xehanort laughed as I explained the cramp condition of the ship. He placed a hand on my head, and messed up my hair. I pouted slightly and tried to fix my hair back in place, the sleeve on my sweater was pulled back, and I large white cloth was wrapped around my right arm.

Xehanort eyed the cloth carefully, noticing that the bloodstains were still fresh. I pulled the sleeve down and looked away shifting my eyes back from the ground to him.

“I got cocky…†I said rubbing my right shoulder. “And Lucifer ended up busting me out…†I looked up at him for a moment. “I didn’t want to tell you… so then you wouldn’t end up worrying about me when I would leave again…â€

He just sighed again and rubbed the back of his head. “I do worry…†Xehanort said looking at me for a moment. “It’s human nature, right?â€

“That’s right, Neo…†I covered my mouth after the last word. “I’m sorry! I promised you I wouldn’t call you that anymore…â€

I placed my forehead to rest gently against my knees, and I felt a slight tingling sensation on my lips, I knew I was blushing at this point. The feeling left me, and a couple of tears slid down my cheek, and I closed my eyes tightly.

I see you in him so much Riku, you have no idea how much it pains me now. I know that the chains in our friendship are lost within the depths of our hearts again, but I know we can make it work.

“No matter what we’ll always be together, okay?â€

“I promise, lil sis…†Xehanort said giving me a sincere smile.

R i k u​

‘There she is…’ I thought to myself. She was sitting in the ravine. Yomigami was right this is where she had gone after the meeting. I stepped into the area and the colorful gems seemed to shimmer with each step I took.

“Ammi…†I called out to her. She didn’t look up.

I sighed heavily and ended up sitting next to her. I could hear her sobbing, but I didn’t know what to do now. I could hear her whimper in pain as she continued to sob. If I put my arm around her I’d just end up hurting her again, her back was bruised, I remember that much.

“Amaterasu…†I said softly looking some of the strands of hair that fell over her knees.

Amaterasu raised her head slightly and looked at me with watery eyes. She closed them again and let the tears fall again.

She sighed and spoke in a small voice, clearing her throat. “You’re talking to me again?â€

“Does it bother you?†I asked her in a soft tone. She shook her head.

“I know you’re still mad at me…†she said, and with that I looked down at the ground.

I still was, but not at her, just at a memory. “It’s okay if you are… but I really wish you’d talk to me about it…â€

“I’m not mad at you…†I said looking back at her for “Then…†she looked away from me, “Why won’t you talk to me?â€

“It’s… complicated…†I said. That was the only thing I could say.

“That’s a stupid reason.†She said sinking her head back down to her knees.

I sighed and rested my head against the ravine wall for a moment. “Why didn’t you tell me that you knew Xehanort earlier?â€

“I was afraid…†she whispered. “I was afraid something like this might happen… I guess it doesn’t matter now, since all of you know about it. Maybe I should’ve said something sooner, but I was afraid of how you’d all act. To be honest I didn’t want to tell you about him…â€

“Then, why?†I asked her.

“That’s what friends do, right?†she said looking down at the ground for a moment. “To be honest Riku, a part of me still misses him…â€

“Amaterasu… You have to let it go…†I said feeling my body tense up for a moment. “A dead person doesn’t want someone to grieve over them for a long period of time. They would want them to be happy.â€

To be honest Amaterasu, I would do anything to see you smile again. Xehanort would do the same thing. I don’t really know what you guys did together, but I remember how much you use to smile when the two of us would hang out together.

“I think, given the current situation, happiness won’t come that easily.†Amaterasu said staring at the ground.

"We're each going to say that one of us has the coolest power regardless... But I don't think that asking someone else would be a good idea... people aren't very trusting these days..." Leila said shivering a bit. Someone's heartbeat started to make her a bit jumpy.

I love Rocky Road...

Chapter Fifteen: Twilight Town

“How long will it be before they come back for us?†Kairi asked walking along the streets of Twilight Town.

Amaterasu shook her head, not sure when they’d be back for them. Sora and Riku had gone off somewhere, probably to look for any Heartless or Nobodies. Tachigami figured it would be better if they look for more memory spheres of Xehanort, and they took the one they found in Traverse Town to Radiant Gardens, leaving the four teens stranded in Twilight Town.

Each memory was precious so as not to repeat mistakes from the past.

The two teenage girls decided to walk around the shopping district of the town. They passed a Moogle synthesis and something caught Amaterasu’s eyes. She looked at the item on display and motioned to Kairi to look at the item.

It was a thick banded ring with black and blue swirls decorating it. In the middle was a small emblem of a heart etched into it. Kairi admired the workmanship of the ring and asked Amaterasu if she was going to buy it.

“Yeah, I think so…†she said smiling slightly. “It’s about 1,500 munny, I have more than enough.â€

“Hey you should buy one for Riku too, have it to match your guys’ friendship necklace.†The red haired girl suggested smiling slightly.

Amaterasu thought about it for a moment and smiled at the thought, she nodded in agreement and the two of them walked into the Moogle’s shop. There were a lot of items of value in there, from anklets to staffs.

“Oh yeah!†Kairi remembered something. She pulled out small pieces of parchment from the little bag that hung at her side. “I have some Moogle recipes.†She handed them to the Moogle that was behind the counter.

Amaterasu looked at the little bag that hung around her shoulder she searched for some the recipes she had acquired. She also handed them to the Moogle and they kept browsing around the little shop until the text recipes had been translated.

“Look!†Amaterasu pointed out to a Keyblade picture. “That’s Star Seeker!†she said feeling like a little kid in a candy store. “King Mickey use to have that!†she said rambling on about the weapon for a moment. “Yen Sid gave that to him a LONG time ago…â€

The Moogle called the two girls and they each looked at their translated lists. Amaterasu had more than enough items and ended up synthesizing everything on her list. Kairi had almost the same amount as Amaterasu, and ended up getting some items out of the recipes.

“The ring on display, I’d like to purchase two of them, please.†Amaterasu said motioning to the Moogle the item of interest. The Moogle nodded and placed both rings on the glass counter.

“Wanna put it in a box, kuppo?†the Moogle asked as its little red pompom moved slightly.

“Just one.†She said watching the Moogle wrap one ring in a bow with a black and blue bow. With that she paid the Moogle and Kairi bought a necklace that reduced dark attacks by 20 percent.

Sora and Riku…​

The brunette haired boy and the silver haired boy walked down the area looking around for any Heartless or Nobodies, they found none. This place was peaceful, and Sora doubted the fact that there was a memory sphere in the area.

“You and Ammi haven’t been talking since we came here… What’s up with you two?†Sora asked looking back at his friend.

Riku frowned slightly trying to enjoy the walk with his best guy friend, but it was no use, at least now it was no use. He thought back to the events that had happened a while back. ‘What am I suppose to say the reason we won’t talk is because of some dead guy? Yeah that’s a real good reason…’ the silver haired teen thought to himself, he still felt Sora’s stabbing gaze.

“You know if you won’t talk I’ll keep looking at you.†He said really meaning every word of it.

“People are going to think I broke up with you or something…†Riku said hurriedly.

Sora just raised an eyebrow, slightly confused about his friend’s choice of words, it didn’t really sink in with him, but he kept on pressing the taller Keyblade wielder again. Riku stayed silent and Sora didn’t tear his gaze away from his friend anytime soon.

“Look, Sora, it’s nothing,†he said smiling slightly, “so don’t worry about it.â€

“If it’s nothing, then why aren’t you guys talking?†Sora said getting to close to his friend’s face. “Come on, spill it.â€

“Dude…†Riku pushed Sora away for a bit. “Listen don’t worry about it, okay?†he tried to throw Sora off, but it was no use he kept coming back to the same question again. “It’s nothing we can’t work out, there?â€

“I guess so…†Sora said folding his arms over his chest. “You’re stubborn, you know that?â€

Riku sighed; “I guess so…†he was just glad that Sora was off his back, for now that is.

“You think there’s a memory sphere in this place?†Sora asked his friend.

Riku shrugged looking back at Sora for a moment, he looked back at the big clock tower. It read 4:36 PM, and he thought back to a small memory of when he had decided to take hold of the darkness.

Axel, a member of Organization XIII sat on one of the benches over looking the sunset of Twilight Town. Beside him was Naminé, Kairi’s nobody, she had a sketch of Roxas and Sora holding hands.

Axel’s eyes looked quickly at Naminé as if to tell her to go.

“He’s gone.†Axel said in a low voice.

“Let’s go now.†Naminé said clutching her sketch book tightly on her lap.

“Just askin’,†Axel said making small talk before they left. “You don’t have a place to go, do you?†he say Naminé look down when he said that. “You don’t have any place to fall back on, do you?†she shook her head sadly. “Such things don’t exist for Nobodies like us.â€

Naminé spoke up now looking back at her drawing for a moment. “That’s right… There is no place for me. But still… I have some places I want to go, some people I have to see.†She said looking back at the red head.

He nodded slightly. “Yeah, same here.†He looked up and noticed a dark hooded figure, he tensed up a bit and finally spoke to him. “So why don’t you just let us go?†he didn’t answer. “That old man told you to get rid of us, didn’t he?â€

Naminé gazed up at the hooded figure a bit confused. “He did?†she questioned him.

“Just go…†Riku’s voice was still recognizable, at least to Kairi’s Nobody.

“Don’t you think you should just finish the job here?†Axel said referring to the instructions Riku had to follow.

“I owe you guys.†Riku said simply enough.

“You do?†Naminé asked honestly.

“From Castle Oblivion.†Riku said answering the witch’s question.

“Okay then…†Axel said getting up from the bench and walking away from Riku he stretched out his hand and a dark portal materialized out of thin air. “Thanks.†He said looking back at Riku. He looked back at Naminé and then walked through the portal.

Naminé bowed her head slightly and stood up for a moment. “Sorry…†she said softly and went after Axel.

a m a t e r a s u ​

A little ring tone was coming from the little sack I had over my shoulder, and I answered it, it was getting a bit annoying.

“Hello?†I answered.

“Sis…†it was Tachigami’s voice. “I keep forgetting how young you sound, like a little kid.†She said mimicking my voice. “Anyway Cid said he’ll have the sphere ready in about a week or so.â€

“A week?â€

“Yeah well I mean it has been in there for decades or so, the darkness has messed up the visibility of the whole thing.â€

“Have you heard it?†I asked looking back at Kairi slightly.

“Just a little bit… His voice sounds the same…†I could hear her laugh. “Just thought I’d let you know.â€

“Anything else?†I asked tapping my foot lightly in annoyance.

“Nope!†she said sounding rather happy. “You having a good time over there?â€

“Well, sort of. Sora and…†I paused for a second. “Riku… They’ve gone out to look for disturbances. You think we’ll find a sphere here?â€

“Possibly… Remember that town from the archive in the computer? They said it just disappeared one day, it could be this one.â€

“But this one was created from his memories…â€

“You never know, history repeats itself, remember?†she said.

“Yeah, yeah…†I said rolling my eyes for a moment. “Well I’ll ask Sora to check again, if it makes you feel better.â€

“All right then. Be careful okay?†she said in her own caring tone.

“Okay, you too okay?†I said rubbing the back of my head. “Tell the others I miss them.â€

“Okay, love you!†she said shouting into the receiver.

“Me too…†I said holding the phone away from my ear. She hung up and I clicked the little ‘off’ button.

Kairi looked a bit tilting her head for a moment, and smiled at me. “What did they say?â€

“The sphere’ll be ready in a week!†I said almost sounding happy. “We just have to check this place again to see if there’s a sphere or not. Tachigami swears that one’s in here.â€

We walked along the area with our newly acquired items and stopped at a place where ‘Struggle’ tournaments were held. The object of the whole thing was to knock your opponent’s colored balls from their grasp and take as many as you could. The time limit I think was two minutes, or so.

“What was he like?†Kairi asked as she bought a Popsicle from a nearby stand.

“Xehanort?†I asked buying a mango flavored Popsicle.

“Yeah.†Kairi said nodding at me. “I’m kind of interested about him now…†she said not really sure how to say it.

“I wish someone else was…†I muttered to myself. Kairi asked me what I had said. “He was a lot of different stuff!†I said hurriedly making it rhyme a bit with my last phrase. “In a way Riku sort of reminds me of him…†I said softly watching the mango Popsicle drip a bit. “History does repeat itself…†I said in a small whisper.

“Anyway…†I cleared my throat sticking the Popsicle in my mouth for a moment. “He was a pretty cool guy.â€

“Did anything every happen between you two?†Kairi asked arching her eyebrow.

At this point I almost gagged on a piece that I bit off. My eyes got all watery and I shook my head. “Why do people always ask me that?â€

“Well I mean it’s true…†Kairi said patting my back a bit. “So did you, or not? Hmm?â€

“My memories can get a bit fuzzy…†I said rubbing my nose slightly. "But not to my knowledge."

“Fine…†Kairi said sighing in defeat. “I won’t force it out of you then.â€

“I win!†I said happily biting another piece of the Popsicle. “Hey can we get another Popsicle after this?â€

“You’re a walking stomach you know that?†Kairi said looking at me in disbelief. “Shouldn’t we go find Sora and Riku now?â€

“Yeah…†I sighed throwing the Popsicle stick in the trash can.

r i k u ​

We didn’t find anything, but then again we haven’t checked out the mansion yet, so maybe it’s in there. Sora was talking about something, I just really wasn’t paying attention to what it was.

“Riku?â€

I heard something in the distance, but it was really faint. Other than that I just kept thinking back to what I told her on the gummi ship. Man do I feel like a jerk…

This is getting me no where, just thinking. I have to do something, or at least try and make it better. I was right, we’re going to have to start from scratch now, and I’m not making this any easier. But neither is she, she won’t speak to me about him…

Not that I would want her too, but it’d be nice she would confide that with me.

‘And that’s why she won’t!’ the Heartless in the back of my heart said, it echoed through out my mind. ‘Are you really that dense? Judging by what you’ve been thinking about you probably are…’

“Last time I checked no one asked you!â€

‘Well I am entitled to put my own opinion, considering the fact I’m in your little heart.’

“You have any idea how weird that sounds?â€

‘You’re the guy talking to a Heartless. Tell me, Riku, does that sound weird?’

“Just be quiet, I’m trying to think.â€

‘Still confused?’ it asked smiling in triumph.

“No…†I lied to myself.

‘That’s a big lie, boy.’

“Can you just go back in there?†I asked it hoping it’d leave me alone again for another couple of hours. “I don’t want you popping up when I’m talking to her.â€

‘If you ever do…’

“Just leave…†I growled at it watching the Heartless disappear in a puff of smoke, going back into the depths of my heart.

“Riku?†Sora was shaking me. I blinked slightly and looked up for a moment. “Hey, welcome back from la-la land.†He said giving me a goofy smile. “You had me worried there buddy.â€

“Sorry…†I said shaking my head. “It’s really quiet here…†I said looking around the area of the town.

“We still gotta check out that mansion.†Sora said checking it off with his finger. “We should probably go and find the girls though.â€

“They’re probably eating Popsicles…†I said. “Amaterasu has an unhealthy obsession with them.â€

“I wonder why?†he asked walking back from where we came from. I followed after him, wondering the same thing myself.

Twilight Town Manor… ​

“There’s a computer room down in this place…†Sora said guiding everyone through the area. “I don’t know if it’s useable or not. I hope it is…â€

“Oh yeah,†Kairi mentioned something. “Cid said the sphere will be ready in at least a week or so, right, Ammi?â€

“Yeah…†she said softly walking in back of everyone. Riku was a couple of millimeters in front of her, and she just felt uncomfortable around him now.

Their hearts made no attempt to contact one another, and with each passing step their hearts seemed to break off their chains of friendship with one another. In the end the two of them probably thought that it would be very hard to put the pieces back together.

Still, each one of them would steal glances from the other. With silence they were both probably thinking the same thing, but it was no use they decided to keep their silence around the other.

They all walked into the manor, and it seemed to be pretty old. A lot of things were falling apart and there were some paintings that had rips and tears on their canvas and the wallpaper on some of the rooms were starting to peel off.

Sora led the group up a flight of stairs into the manor’s library and looked at the area. It was a regular library now, something in the back of his head told him to walk up to the symbol on the table, and he grabbed a carefully placed crayon and drew the other emblem on there.

Within moments the floor disappeared and the underground are was visible. Amaterasu asked Sora how he did that, and he replied saying that it was just a feeling. She tilted her head slightly and thought nothing of it.

As they went down the flight of stairs she thought back to Sora’s file, the one registered in the HBRC database, it said he’s Nobody’s name was Roxas, and that he had once lived here, this place acted as a haven while Sora was asleep. ‘I get it now, Roxas acted that out, not Sora, or well his heart did… This is kind of confusing, sort of anyway…’ she thought.

Riku was in back of her now, and it just made her fidget with her hands even more. She played the ring she had bought, to try and calm her nerves, oh how she hated feeling like this, but still they weren’t talking. The box she bought earlier was in her little sack, and she’d give him the item later, if later ever came.

“Here it is!†Sora said pointing to the computer with about ten different screens. “Hey, it’s fixed!†he said in disbelief.

“We’ll worry about who fixed it later!†Amaterasu said happily. “Maybe we’ll get something out of this baby!†she said jumping onto the chair of the computer. She pressed the power button from the electronic device and smiled happily as the screens start to turn on.

“So you think it has the sphere’s location?†Kairi asked.

“Maybe the sphere’s been uploaded into this…†Amaterasu said typing in ‘Chasers’ in the computers search engine. It came up with no result, she typed in another name, this one being ‘Another’. It came up with nothing. She growled slightly and looked back at the others. “Any ideas?â€

“Try the other name.†Sora said pulling up another chair to sit next to her.

She typed in ‘Xehanort’ and it asked for a password. Amaterasu sighed in defeat and shook her head. Riku looked at her slightly and then quickly looked away, he couldn’t think up of anything to help her, his mind was scattered.

It asked for two passwords, one was a three character password and the other was a five character letter. She searched the back of her brain and could find a couple of things that would fit it.

“Ice-cream!†Sora said wildly, and he typed it in, but it was denied. The others just looked at him, blinking a bit.

“Hmm…†Amaterasu finally spoke up. “Aqu…†she typed it into the three character area, but it was denied. She remembered something else from her memories. “Hey does anyone know a three letter name with ‘V’?†she asked.

“Van?†Kairi suggested.

“Ven?†Riku said quietly.

“Vic?†Sora asked rubbing the back of his head.

Amaterasu typed in the second one and it was granted. One down one more to go. The last one was probably Xehanort’s other friend, the one with the other armor. He had muttered ‘Aqu’ but that’s as close as he ever got.

“Five letter word with ‘a, q, u’?†she asked again.

“Try Aquan…†Riku said speaking up clearly this time.

This was the first time Amaterasu and Riku looked at each directly in the eye. She didn’t doubt what he said and she typed it in. The screen turned green, and they heard a whirring noise come from the side of the computer. There was a type of materializing transmitter of some sort, and soon a black sphere came about.

“See I was right, once a Chaser always a Chaser!†someone said stepping out from the second door to the right.

This speaker had honey colored eyes, and looked female, she wore a dark trench coat. “It’s been a LONG time, Amaterasu.†She said sounding as though if they were old friends. “Tell me how has life been?â€

“Who are you?†Sora asked pulling out his Keyblade. Amaterasu didn’t look at the figure. She kept looking down at her hands fidgeting with her ring. She was lost in thought for a moment.

“If we fight in here, we might lose the sphere… And it took me FOREVER to get this piece of junk working again…†she pointed to the screen. “It’ll break, and we’ll lose all the data…†the woman said waving her finger at Sora. “We don’t want that happening, do we, Ammi?†she said looking at the girl.

At that point Amaterasu stood up and walked over to pick up the black little object. And at that point she ran out with sphere. “Wha theâhe said chasing after the girl. “Damn it, girl!†she said chasing her up the stairs. “What do you think you’re doing?!†she yelled after her as the two of them ran out the door.

“I’m not letting you get his memory!†Amaterasu said running as fast as she could.

“He’s dead!†the woman said watching Amaterasu stop in her tracks. Amaterasu turned around slightly and looked down holding the sphere close to her chest.

They were outside the manor, standing with the crumbling pillars that once held beauty.

“I don’t care if he is.†The girl said softly, almost sounding hurt. “I’m not letting you get this memory, or hurt any of my friends!†she said growling slightly at the woman before her.

“Is that why you ran out here?†the woman asked chuckling. “I’ll make sure they pick up your body then…†she said pulling out something that looked like a Keyblade.

“It’s not good without a Keychain…†Amaterasu said looking at the stripped weapon. “You want to die like Lucifer did, Leana?†she said revealing the woman’s name. Amaterasu unhinged the keychain from her sack and threw it into the air. “I may not have the original Anima or Rapture anymore…â€

At that point the Keychain burst into flames and from within the flame a Keyblade by the Name ‘One Winged angel’ appeared. It had crafted flames as the tip of its blade, and a wing for a keychain. Within moments Leana placed a barrier around the two of them, and Sora and the others managed to rush forward, but were stopped by the see through barrier.

“But I do have this one…†Amaterasu said gripping the handle of the weapon tightly. “Are you ready?â€

"I'll be honest I don't think I have the greatest power... but at least I know if someone's going to attack me. I can hear them..." she said.
---
The ticking noise started to subside and Sylar slowed down as he walked. To Maya this meant they were out of range, whatever it was that was keeping him like that. She didn't ask any questions and continued to walk with him.

And another chapter!

Chapter Fourteen: Memory in the Keyhole

“What took you so long?!†Kazegami yelled from across the area.

All of the other teenagers were running down the hill, the scent of darkness was overwhelming. It felt as though they were being weighed down by the thick odor. Sora made it first to Kazegami and he panted for a moment to catch his breathing.

“They’re here.†The youngest sibling said pointing to Second District. “They started pouring out from that fountain with the butterfly.â€

The other three finally made it standing next to Sora, repeating the same modus operandi to catch their breaths. Amaterasu looked at her sibling for a moment and then back to some smoke that caught her eye.

Within a matter of moments a dark portal formed underneath their feet and Amaterasu sighed for a moment commanding the pool of black matter to wrap around the people around her. The black matter wrapped around the bodies slowly.

“What are you doing?!†Sora asked struggling to push the matter away.

“Relax…†she said softly. “Just trust me for right now.â€

Kazegami closed his eyes for a moment feeling the cold liquid like substance start to crawl up his arms. Kairi’s arm had twitched slightly from the coldness the substance carried, and Riku somehow had grown accustom to it all.

From the earth that covered the grounds of Second District a dark matter formed mysteriously out of no where. The citizens paid no attention as the Heartless started to jump out from the shadows.

“This way!†Yuffie said directing the people away from the Heartless. Cloud and Leon brought out their weapons and started to slash their weapons at the nearby Heartless that came out.

“Look out!†Tachigami instructed, slashing away at two Heartless that popped out in back of Aerith. The flower maiden thanked her, and noticed that there were more Heartless than before.

“Amaterasu!†Aerith noticed the body that came out from the dark portal, but at that point she felt something crept up on her, and Aerith recited a Blizzard spell on the enemy. She ran down the path and dodged a couple of Heartless with a bit of difficulty.

Yuffie waited for the last person to run through the door, but at that point a Heartless caught her off guard and she had no choice but to defend herself with her giant shuriken. Moegami turned his head slightly as he heard Yomigami curse loudly. His brother’s right arm was bleeding, and he slashed wildly at the Heartless blocking his path towards his big brother.

Amaterasu cursed mentally at the fact of what she was wearing, the good thing was that the girl had gym shorts underneath the skirt. She tossed the fabric aside and took off her shoes. Kairi and Sora were already ahead of her, slashing at a couple of Heartless that threatened one another.

Riku brought out his Keyblade and dashed off in a straight line helping Kairi fight off some of the Heartless with ease. Amaterasu brought out both of her Keyblades, and noticed at that point Gekigami came crashing down from a nearby rooftop.

“What the hell?!†Tachigami yelled out madly noticing her brother fall. She threw her Keyblade at one of the nearby Heartless. Amaterasu had made a made dash to her brother’s aid nearly tripping over a fallen Heartless in the process.

“Up…†Gekigami managed to mutter out to his younger sister. She looked up noticing a tail of some sort whip past the ledge of the building.

Kazegami managed to get heal Gekigami’s wounds, and climbed the ledge with Amaterasu. From up on the rooftop everyone looked like the size of beach balls. A deafening roar came from in back of them and the two of them turned around slowly. Amaterasu was knocked down by her brother in order to save the both of them from a hit.

The Heartless had a long tail with barbs on the end of it with a menacing face. It had a strange looking opening because blobs of black spit would drool down the sides of its mouth, it looked like a humanoid looking monkey.

“That’s one ugly son of-†Kazegami was pulled to the side as the tail came crashing down smashing pieces of tile everywhere.

From below the Heartless were starting to fall back and Sora noticed the fountain Kazegami was talking about earlier. The keyhole he had sealed up some time ago had a dark aura crawling into it, that’s where the Heartless decided to go.

Riku’s eyes scanned the area for a moment and noticed Amaterasu and Kazegami weren’t there. He saw Yuffie throwing her giant shuriken as Kairi yelled out magic spells. He blocked an on coming attack from behind, and kicked the enemy back. He noticed something on the rooftop, and he felt his eyes widen a bit.

r i k u​

I broke my concentration for a second when I noticed she was up there, and that Heartless on the rooftop was really thrashing about. I dodged an oncoming attack from the side and hit the Heartless with enough force to make it fall down.

Kairi yelled out a Cure spell on Cloud and Leon who had gotten roughed up pretty badly, and Yuffie was protecting Aerith as she said her spells. Tachigami and the others were helping Sora fight off the Heartless that were trying to go into the keyhole.

‘Bring the bigger guy down and the others will disappear…’ I thought to myself running towards the building. I ran up the side of the building, but as I reached the halfway mark I noticed two people jump down.

My gaze traveled to theirs, and everything seemed to go in slow motion. She smiled at me slightly and descended back down to the ground with her brother. At that point the monkey like creature jumped down in my direction.

“Reflectga!†someone shouted out.

I remember a crystal like ball form around me as the Heartless was approaching me as I fell down.

As soon as I collided with the ground I looked up, still protected within the shield, the Heartless was trying to scratch the barrier down. The barrier broke down, it sounded like glass was being shattered into a million pieces. The Heartless was flung back as a Keyblade got a clear shot of it in the face, and it growled in agony.

Amaterasu and Sora faced off against the Heartless, jumping into the air performing a combo attack. Sora hovered in the air pointing his Keyblade at the Heartless and a white light formed around the wrist and legs of the Heartless chaining it to the ground.

Amaterasu withdrew her Keyblade as she was approaching the Heartless from the air, placing her hand to over her heart a ball of dark energy mixed with purple and red formed over her hand.

The Heartless opened its mouth in protest, and that’s where the dark energy was placed, Amaterasu brought the Heartless down with her hand, and within moments its body twitched and soon it melted away.

She was the one who had placed the Reflect spell on me, that was her voice. I thanked her silently as I returned a small smile when she looked at me. Sora looked back at the Keyhole and we all walked over to it. Gekigami followed behind as Aerith was tending to a fresh wound he had received.

a m a t e r a s u ​

I looked back at Sora as he placed his Keyblade over the keyhole. I told him that there was a memory within the dark part of the world’s heart and he asked me how he should get it. I told him to just draw the darkness out with his Keyblade.

He placed both hands on his weapon and within a matter of moments a ball of pure darkness hovered his Keyblade. He opened his eyes and looked back at the others not once letting his hands go of the Keyblade.

I walked over and placed a hand over the Keyblade catching the ball of darkness. It was the same as last time, a lot of memories were stored in here, memories of everything that happened in this world, even the recent memory of the festival.

I smiled slightly at the warm memories that entered my artificial heart. I closed my eyes and pulled out the necessary memory I was looking for, a small black sphere fell out and with that the dark ball shattered, retuning back to the keyhole.

“Is that what you were looking for?†Sora asked picking up the black orb.

Inside the orb dark blobs were moving about. It would be a while before the memory would even become clear. It had been in there for so long.

I told everyone that Cid would be able to get the vision from the orb, which would be a lot clearer rather than having it done by anyone else. With that our little trip to Traverse Town was done with. The gummi ride back to Radiant Gardens was really quiet.

I closed my eyes and winced slightly at a cut on my leg. Speaking of which I did remember to get the skirt and shoes I left back in Second District, the same can’t be said for the guitar Riku left behind in the park. I’m sure it’s still there, I have a good feeling it’s still there, or at least I’m hoping it’s still there for Riku’s sake.

Riku and me aren’t talking which started since I decided to show them that memory. I’m still kind of upset about it, but he probably does have a reason to not speak to me, but I’m not sure it’s a very logical reason, but you know what, I’m going to respect it.

Still a part of me wants to know what’s wrong with him, why is he upset at me. Is it because of Xehanort? And if it is, why?

I know Xehanort was an enemy of theirs, but the Xehanort from my memory was a completely different one from theirs, both physically and possibly emotionally. All this thinking was getting me nowhere, and I opened my eyes to gaze at the black sphere within it was just one of the memories Xehanort before he lost them.

‘That’s funny knowing I’ve walked the same streets as my friend. I wonder what he did before he had to fight. I guess he hung out with his friends, I really wish it could’ve stayed that way,’ I looked to the side for a moment staring out at the view of stars.

Music from an mp3 player caught my attention, Riku ahd his eyes closed and was absorbed into the sound the little headphones played out. I sighed heavily, wishing to get up from my chair. I just felt my heart sink each time I was near him, and it was annoying me pretty bad.

“It’s a slow song, come on it’ll be fun.†The young teenager said. He pulled me up to my feet as I was sitting on a bench.

“Xehanort, I really don’t think we should…†I said looking at the area we were in. “I’m not a big crowd person.â€

“Then just pretend no one’s here.†He said somehow taking me deeper into the crowd. “Just trust me, all right?â€

“I have a feeling this is going to be burned into me brain,†I said exaggerating the last word.

“Stop complaining, Ammi,†back then he was the only person who called me that sometimes. “It’s your day off and you’re going to spend it dancing.â€

“My feet are going to…†the only thing I could remember was something soft brush up against my lips, and it was a feeling I knew I would never forget.

“You like it? It’s sea-salt ice-cream.†Xehanort said sticking the Popsicle in my mouth.

I tried to talk, but that thing was in my mouth. He laughed at the face I was making feeling the cold touch my teeth. He waved a finger at me and I took the handle of the Popsicle, and smiled slightly.

“It’s good…†I said still trying to let the cold sink in.

“You should have seen the look on your face!†he said his blue eyes seemed to be dancing full of life. “Besides you said you’ve never had sea-salt ice-cream so I thought I’d give you some.â€

“You didn’t have to stick it in my mouth!†I said waving the Popsicle dangerously close to his face. “Next time offer it to me, okay?â€

“All right then… Now come on let’s go dance all right?â€

“Do we get more ice-cream after this?â€

“Do you always think with your stomach?†Xehanort said laughing at me.

“Hey!†I said pouting before putting the Popsicle back in my mouth.

That was the primary time I ate sea-salt ice-cream, I blame him for my addiction to that type of ice-cream. Well, I don’t blame him, he’s just the reason I love that ice-cream.

Current scene… ​

Amaterasu sighed heavily for a moment and Riku’s turquoise eyes locked onto her dark eyes, and there was silence. She broke away from his gaze and continued to look back at the stars that were outside the window. Riku put the mp3 players away and sighed softly catching one last glance at the girl.

From what he could tell she seemed to be lost in thought, and his thoughts went back to Xehanort. He sighed in annoyance and looked away from the girl again. He wanted to talk to her, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

Riku closed his eyes and lost himself in the darkness that surrounded his heart. A figure materialized within his conscience, it was the Heartless form of Xehanort, not the one Amaterasu had known.

“Do you know her?†he asked the Heartless.

‘Boy, why would it matter to you?’

“Just answer, yes or no.†he said starting to get annoyed with the figment of his imagination.

‘I don’t, is that all you want?’

“What do you mean you don’t know her?!†he asked furiously. “She knows you! She was your friend!â€

‘You’re referring to back then…’ the Heartless said closing his eyes for a moment. ‘I don’t remember anything from that time. Maybe that other one does…’

“What other one?†the boy asked.

‘Xemnas… I think that was his name.’

“He’s been defeated…†Riku said feeling as though his only chance had slipped away. “But maybe you have some things I’m looking for.â€

‘The only thing I can give you is my darkness, and you reject it.’

“Not this time…†the boy said confidently. “I’ll use it, but to gain my own personal satisfaction.â€

‘Is it for that girl?’ the Heartless asked snickering at him. ‘Do you even know if she loves you?’

“I know we’re good friends.â€

‘Or is she only friends with you because you remind her of him?'

“What? Are you calling our friendship a lie?â€

‘Not exactly, just remember the darkness will do anything to keep you there…’

Riku opened his eyes and looked up at the ceiling of the ship. His own mind was telling him to go back to the darkness, to make her happy, but in his heart he knew that wasn’t the answer. He looked at the black sphere in her hands.

He was very curious td out about the memory locked within the little ball. Riku wanted to ask her what she thought was in there, but she probably wasn’t in the mood to talk to him.

“You want some ice-cream after this?†she asked him looking back at the silver haired teen slightly.

Riku looked at her for a moment, “Ice-cream won’t solve our problem…â€

“I know that.†She said cutting him off in a rather annoyed tone. “It would’ve been better if I kept my mouth shut…†and with that Amaterasu looked away from the boy again.

“Why’d I open my big mouth?†The boy muttered to himself looking back at the ceiling of the gummi ship.

"heh..." Leila couldn't help but laugh a bit, stiffling it to a small giggle. "My name is Leila, and I have bionic hearing. I can hear people's heartbeats, so I know if they're nervous or in pain just by the way the beats are heard... it's kind of sensitive though..."

Have no fear! Well I'm posting up more than three chapters today so lucky for the readers.

Chapter Thirteen: Festival Part II

“Xehanort?!†the three of them looked at Amaterasu as if she had just killed someone.

“How do you…? Why would you…? Why?†that was all Kairi could say, she looked at the girl a bit confused.

Amaterasu had asked Riku to call them up, and soon they could get their talk underway. She sighed for a moment still trying to let the pain in her heart subside, it wasn’t the easiest thing to talk about.

Xehanort, he called himself Ansem once, out of ignorance born of deception. He was, in part, responsible for the exile of Ansem the Wise, and that was how the events of this whole thing started.

“You see, this all started about either more or less than 3 decades ago…†she began, laughing nervously. At that point the fireworks started to go off, and all four of them looked up at the sky.

“Strangely it happened during a festival, almost like this one. I met Xehanort, when I was still just a kid.â€

“But that would make you… old…†Sora said giving up as he counted with his fingers.

“I don’t age, but that’s another story entirely!†she said almost sounding proud for a moment. Another firework went off, it had blue and gold sparked shower part of the sky. “It’d be better if I just show you the memory…†she said to all of them, “Once the fireworks are over.â€

Back to Reeve and the others… ​

“We’re going to win!†Tachigami counting down to the end of the fireworks display. Yuffie gave her a sour look, and just looked back at the fireworks.

“Tachigami…†the ex-Chaser looked down at what called her name. It was a small robotic cat.

“Cait Sith…†she had seen the little robotic cat earlier before. “What’s up?â€

“About Amaterasu, how does she know Xehanort?â€

“I’ve been meaning to ask you that myself.†Reeve said looking back at the young female. Everyone at the table got quiet and all attention was focused on Tachigami.

It was a very difficult matter to explain, but this was the only thing she could say. “Him and my little sister at one point, they…†she chose her words carefully. “They were once involved with one another.â€

“What, that’s…!†Yuffie blurted out loud in protest.

“It still will sound weird in whichever way she says it be it a real relationship or not,†Yomigami said looking at Yuffie with a cautious glance. “Funny though it was around the same time as ‘Project Blitz’.â€

“Question?†Yuffie raised her hand slightly. “What was that project about anyway?â€

“Let me answer this one!†Moegami said raising his hand into the air. “Professor Hojo, was given orders to study people’s hearts, like Xehanort, under King Ansem’s orders. Professor Hojo at the time was trying to physically infuse darkness into a person’s heart, and make it stay there forever. That’s when he got some stupid idea to create a fake heart…â€

“Fake heart?†Squall asked. He had arrived with Cloud and Aerith.

“Yeah,†Moegami went on explaining. “A black box type of heart.â€

“So it’s hidden?†Squall asked.

“A hidden type of heart, like it’s unattainable at times. It means that the person has an artificial heart of darkness, and their own heart.†The youngest male said using some napkins he found on the table.

“That was the only way one could have darkness without turning into a Heartless, back in that time.†Yomigami said. “Riku of course broke that fine line, lucky kid…â€

“The whole project was to create these types of dark soldiers. The way the artificial heart was placed, it would have find some place within the original heart, and Hojo made a small incision,†Moegami stabbed the napkin, “and placed it in there. Mind you the fake heart was small.â€

“How many people were subjected to this?†Aerith asked.

“About five dozen…†Yomigami was uncertain about the amount. “We’re the only two that survived. We had high resistance to the artificial heart, and our body would reject it time and time again. At one point it was locked…†Yomigami said pointing to his heart. “At a certain age it was opened up again, and of course we don’t reject the fake heart now… the heart, it’s a very strange thing…â€

“You know…†Yuffie looked back at the fireworks that were still being set off. “All this talking and stuff, we forgot about the bet thingy…â€

Twilight Town​

Two hooded figures walked down the streets enjoying the silence of the night. The taller one with the purple eyes was male, and slightly shorter one was female, and she had honey colored eyes. The two of them walked in unison giving off a weird vibe wherever they went, which was normal to them.

“Lucifer’s gone…†the female said looking back at her partner.

“That’s not a problem…†the male said holding no remorse in his voice. “I think it’s better this way, he wasn’t much of a fighter anyway.â€

“Is that why you sent him there?â€

“Sort of. At least we know that those pests are there.â€

“The Diaz family?†the female asked stopping for a moment in her tracks. The male stopped in his tracks and looked back.

“Them…†he said harboring some kind of hate. “And that kid… The Keyblade’s chosen one…â€

“You still really think he’s going to be like him?â€

“It happened once…†he said taking his hood off. He had messy brown hair and light skin. “It’ll most likely happen again, Leana.â€

a m a t e r a s u ​

The last firework was about to go off, and the whole thing gave me some time to gather my thoughts, and some memories I wanted them to see. I sighed for a moment and I noticed Riku kept looking in my direction.

The last firework went off showering the sky with pink, gold, purple and white. For a moment it looked like rain, and the last image on there was that of a heart. It was very nice, which meant that the festival was coming to an end. In my mind though, I had another festival I wanted to show them.

“Hold hands you guys.†I said pulling their attention away from the display. They all did as they were told. “Close your eyes, and let the beating of your heart take you away…†I noticed the hesitant look in their eyes. “Trust me on this, nothing bad will happen.â€

It was in mid December when this started to unfold. My brother and I just got out of the castle, still rubbing our temples feeling as though our hearts were going to explode.

Yomigami had longer shaggier hair back then, and I had my hair in layers. He had just turned eighteen and I turned sixteen. A couple of people, mostly maids, greeted us as we walked down the stairs. It was a very busy day, because a festival was scheduled for today.

“Still alive I see?†the two of us looked down at the bottom of the stair case.

This person’s name, with the slight short black hair, that had bangs covering one part of his face, his name was Vincent Valentine. He was undergoing a different kind of experiment, but all by the same man, Hojo.

“Nothing’s going to get rid of us.†Yomigami said smiling at him.

“Brother, let’s go…†I said gently still rubbing my temple a bit. “Mom’s going to get mad at us again.â€

The night time had finally started to set in, and the festival was going as planned. The fireworks signaled the beginning of the whole thing. I remember looking up the night sky, noticing a blue comet looking thing coming down.

“Hey, look!†I pointed up as one of the fireworks showered out their sparks.

My family and I, we had front row seats since we were slightly close to the king himself. My mother and sister looked up at the blue comet like object, and my fathers eyes glanced up slightly. My dad, Mom use to tell me I looked like him, and I knew it to be all too true.

“Is that a shooting star?†I remembered hearing my brother Kazegami say.

I could remember hearing people scream and shout as the comet was getting closer, but for some reason my parents didn’t pull away. I could see the object get closer and closer, and the fireworks were still going off.

“What if the fireworks hit it?†Moegami asked my mother.

“It’ll probably hurt the boy…†she said.

“What boy?†we all asked.

“There…†my father pointed out.

The comet like thing was in fact a person, and the human figure was becoming more defined little by little.

“Why aren’t we leaving like the other people?†I asked.

“He might get hurt…†and I remember as my mother said that the comet was a couple of yards away, and Aero spell was placed on the ground, and the human comet came crashing down, creating a sort of small crater around the area we stood by.

King Ansem was at the festival, because he rushed over to the scene, and he thanked my mother and father for their help.

“It looks like he’s wounded…†I couldn’t see anything.

“He’s armor, pieces of it are singed.†I heard my dad say. “There’s another set of armor here, this ones pale…†that was my mom’s voice.

“Hey!†Tachigami called out pushing her hair back. “A sword fell out of his hands!†she said picking it up, it was really heavy.

“That’s cool!†my younger brothers and I said.

I walked forward and was finally able to see the comet guy. I looked down at the ground, he was wearing broken armor, with a torn and messy cape. He had brown hair, the middle part was combed back while the sides of it were left alone.

His face guard fell to the floor with a heavy thud, and I remembering picking it up, it felt really cold to the touch. He moaned a bit in pain, and King Ansem ordered to bring in a couple of mages. My mom was one of those, but she needed more help to take the guy into the castle.

I remember seeing his blue eyes for a small moment, but when he opened them up again they were amber.

“Hey… Are you okay?†I asked him, he moved his mouth a bit.

“It hurts…â€

“What does?†I asked trying to keep him awake.

“My heart…â€

“That was the first time I saw Xehanort.†I explained to them as the link to the chain of my memories was cut off to them. “I didn’t really know what had happened to him, but for some reason I probably should have said something when he said his heart was hurting.â€

“He looked, really young…†Sora said. I could feel his eyes on me. “And, he had brown hair and blue eyes. He was really different back then… I mean he wasn’t bad…â€

“I have another memory you guys,†I said closing my eyes for a moment.

It wasn’t a white room or anything, this place was called the infirmary and it might as well have been called the ‘White Room,’ it was white, and just sort of eerie. Mom made me check up on the outsider with Tachigami and Gekigami.

I ran up to the bed where he slept at, and I looked at his face for a moment, he was fast asleep. Mom said he was around 18, which meant I was two years younger than him. Tachigami sat next to him, and extended her hand over his chest, a light green glow came out from her hand and washed over his body.

“He said his heart hurt…†I said looking back at my brother and sister.

“When did he say that?†Tachigami asked.

“A month ago, when he crashed here.â€

“Why didn’t you say that earlier?†Tachigami said, telling Gekigami to take care of the rest. “I’m going to tell King Ansem, and Mom, you two stay here.â€

We just sat there, waiting, and waiting, and waiting. Finally the guy started to move a bit muttering phrases and stuff. He opened his eyes slightly, and it was a mixture of amber and blue.

“Aqu-†he had his hand stretched out, as if trying to grasp something.

“Don’t strain yourself…†I said putting his arm down.

“You’re that girl,†he whispered hoarsely. “From before…â€

I blinked slightly, he had barely been conscious when he crashed here, and by surprise the whole thing caught me off guard. Gekigami sighed for a moment rolling his eyes muttering something in Spanish.

“Is she here?†he asked.

“Who?†both of us said.

“My friend…She came with me.†He said, trying to move a bit. I shook my head slightly.

“Don’t move,†Gekigami said. “You’ll open up your wound again.â€

“Wound?†he asked blinking his eyes slightly.

“It’s by your chest,†Gekigami said just to advise him to be careful. “If you move around even for a bit you’ll open it up again, and Tachigami’s going to get mad again at all of us.â€

“Tachigami?†he said looking at the two of us confused.

“Our big sister.†Gekigami said describing her a bit. “Anyway, what’s you name?â€

“My name…†he repeated it softly to himself. “I think is was Another…â€

“Another?†I asked, finding it strange to be called something so simple like that.

“But Xehanort sounds really familiar…†he said staring up at the white ceiling. “I think Xehanort was my name.â€

“You don’t remember your name?†we both asked him.

Sora paused everything for a moment, “Wait let me get this straight, he was in a battle?â€

“That’s what we were told.†I told him feeling the vision before me go fuzzy. “It was around the same time the Keyblade was first heard of. Back then we had no idea something like that even existed.â€

“That sword he dropped, was it a Keyblade?†Kairi asked looking directly at me.

“Not close…†I said thinking about it for a moment. “If memory serves right, it had no keychain. You all know for a fact a Keyblade with no keychain is just about as good as a sword.â€

“What kind of battle anyway?†Sora asked seeming interested in their former enemy.

“Keyblade War.†I said simply. I sighed for a moment and disbanded the memory all together. There was a sound of glass breaking as the chains started to break off one by one. My memory of that day broke off and fell back into the darkness of my heart. “It’s hard to describe what happened that day, no one really knows, but what we would guess was that he was in it, since he had worn out battle armor, and battle scars.â€

I looked at Riku for a moment and he didn’t really seem all that comfortable with the fact I knew Xehanort, he didn’t say anything for the whole thing. At one point or another Xehanort had given me the same expression, but that was for something else entirely. Those two were so much alike. ‘That’s why I feel weird around you…I get it now, you carry his darkness…’ I thought to myself, it just really made everything a bit worse in my head.

“King Mickey a while back, he gave you guys a letter right?†I asked them clearing my throat for a moment. The smell from the fireworks somehow made its way over to this area of the park.

Sora and the others nodded, and Kairi asked as to why. The answer should have really been obvious, but I guess it wasn’t, or it was, but they still wanted to hear it from my mouth.

“I mean it is pretty obvious…†I said laughing slightly, “You guys need us as much as we need you.â€

“Why would ex-Chaser’s want our help?†Kairi asked. “I mean not to be rude or anything… You guys are pretty strong…â€

“Ha…†I said laughing sarcastically. “We’re nothing compared to the actual Chasers. We were born into their ranks, we didn’t have to work our way up. But that aside, we’re looking for certain memories, and I’m think that they’re in the heart of each world.â€

“You think?†Riku asked, finally speaking.

“A very strong possibility that it’s there.†I said sighing for a moment.

r i k u​

‘A strong possibility…’ I thought to myself as I looked at her for a moment.

For some reason every time I heard the name Xehanort, or even saw him in her memories, it made my blood boil. I just didn’t feel all that comfortable when he was mentioned.

Ad now, knowing for a fact that she knew it, I just felt confused, and somehow in my heart I felt betrayed. If anything, I think our friendship is starting break apart now, due to some damn memory of him.

I know that dang Xehanort hasn’t really left, since I’m still using the darkness he gave me, but I really wish he didn’t have to affect my friendship with her.

It got me thinking again too. The reason why she was so comfortable around me, could it be because of Xehanort? Do I remind her of him? When she looks at me, does she look at me, or does she see him in me?

It’s all really confusing, and I’m getting pissed at the same time now. I can’t ven begin to grasp the whole concept between Xehanort and Amaterasu. A voice in the back of my head was answering my questions, and I started to feel my heart sink.

‘You know she’d never let go,’ the voice in my head told me. ‘I now that, but there’s still a chance to set things right again, like how it was before…’ I answered back in my head.

The others were just talking some more, and I ended up blanking everything out, lost in the darkness in my heart.

‘Would you be willing to go back into the dark, to help your friends?’

“Why would I want to do that?†I asked myself.

‘Some of that darkness in your heart, it may have some memories she may need.’

The festival had been some fun up until this point, when the whole weight of reality came crashing down on all of us. I didn’t really want that to happen, but I knew somehow it was going to, and I wish it didn’t.

‘Each of their fates pass through time and gather together…’

At that point I caught the scent of darkness again, but it was coming in the direction opposite of us. Amaterasu was already standing up looking in the direction of the scent, she looked back at us with a sad gaze. Something told me that everything would turn bad from here on out.

Leila heard the conversation loud and clear and grinned thinking of all the possiblities. 'Maybe... things will be different, I'm one of them after all...' she thought taking off her headphones.

"Couldn't help but hear..." she didn't mean to butt in but curiosty took over. "You guys have powers too."

Leila looked up noticing that the boy was talking to her. Just for safety she didn't take off the headphones right away and responded:
"Hey..."
---
"Where are we going?" Maya asked looking at Sylar. She was used to moving from place to place, but this time something seemed differen't about him, like he had found something.

"We can't stay in one place too long... you know that, Maya." he responded.

Leila looked at the guy as he had won the bet fair and square.

"Is he trying to show off? Or does he just want to challenge himself?" she asked herself. She couldn't go farther into the arcade, the noise seemed louder towards the end. Leila sighed for a moment and watched other people walk past her. The music was flowing through her but all she heard was just loud desruptive noise.

"This stinks..." she muttered softly pulling out a small mp3 player. "Last resort..." she thought putting the headphones on. For now her ears didn't hurt.

kitten eaters...? *eye twitches* Don't eat teh kitties! XD

Chapter Twelve: Festival Part I

“Are you guys excited, today’s the festival!†Kairi said smiling brightly at the brunette and the silver haired teen. “Come on you guys, at least pretend your happy…†she said whining a bit at the slightly serious faces of the two boys.

“I’m tired as hell…†Riku said blinking slightly. In fact he had been excited for this day too, which was really rare for him, but since he had a feeling he might see his ‘close friend’ he decided to try and cheer up.

“Kairi, no offence or anything, but I’m kinda broke because of you…†Sora said remising a bit. He had opened his plain looking wallet to discover he only had 100 munny in it. “Hey Riku, have you had any luck trying to find a guitar?â€

Riku looked up at his brown spiky haired friend and shook his head slightly. He sighed for a moment and tried to think again of where he could possibly find a guitar, a lot of places around the area of Traverse Town didn’t sell the kind of guitar he was looking for, it was just a regular acoustic guitar, and apparently all they had were electric guitars.

“Maybe, if you ask, you could get one of the performers to lend you theirs,†Kairi suggested before asking another question. “Why do you want a guitar?â€

“For something…†he said musing over the fact of what he should do. Sora and Kairi just stared at him for a little while longer, trying to think of all the possible reasons as to why in the world Riku would want a guitar. “Now if you guys are done staring at me… You want help me find a guitar or not?â€

“I guess we have some time to kill…†Sora said laughing nervously. “I’m just kidding of course we’d like to help you find a guitar.â€

In a hotel in Traverse Town… ​

“This is Aerith Gainsborough,†Amaterasu said to the woman in her mid thirties. Aerith boxed slightly at the mention of her name.

The woman extended a gentle hand to Aerith and told her, her name. She was Riku’s mother, and her name was Leila Fonovi. Both Amaterasu and Aerith could see where Riku got his manners, not to mention his eyes. They didn’t mind saying that she was a beautiful women, because it was true.

If one were to guess they could say she was a model, or something close to one. Truth be told Mrs. Fonovi was Miss Destiny Islands of ’89 to ’92, it had been hard work keeping that title hers for four long years.

“And this young man,†Amaterasu motioned to Cloud as he got up and walked towards Mrs. Fonovi. “His name is Cloud Strife.†Cloud shook her hand and she returned the gesture with a kind welcome.

“How has your wrist been, Mrs. Fonovi?†Amaterasu asked as Mrs. Fonovi invited them to sit in the living room.

“Well…†she looked at the black item around her left wrist, it was smaller than a cast. “I guess you could say it’s better, thanks for asking, Amaterasu.â€

Aerith and Cloud both looked at Amaterasu bit stunned by what the woman just said. She rarely gave out her name to anyone. But since this was Riku’s mother she could be trusted which was a good sign to them.

“Sorry I couldn’t have gotten to your house sooner…†Amaterasu said feeling a bit guilty about the accident. Mrs. Fonovi just dismissed the whole sentence with a soft sentence.

“You don’t have to be sorry, the important thing is that we’re safe, right?â€

“You guys!†Moegami called out from the front door, he was out of breath but yet he still managed to call out to everyone in the house.

It had been roughly about a week since Sora and the others left. Things went back to their normal routine at least until a storm came to the area. Tachigami walked out calmly looking at her little brother. She asked him what was that matter.

“Heart…†he panted for a moment. “The Heartless…â€

Yomigami went downstairs, managing to hear the last word his youngest brother said. “Are you sure?†he asked him. Moegami nodded. “Where’s Kazegami?â€

“He’s out evacuating some of the people in the area…†Moegami said leaning against the doorway for support.

“He can’t do it by himself…†Tachigami said with some concern as she looked at her twin.

“Where’s Amaterasu?†Yomigami asked his brother and sister. They didn’t know where she was at that point. “If she comes back tell her to help Kazegami…†and with that he grabbed a jacket and headed off into the storm.

It was raining heavily, almost to the point where it felt like hail. The winds were howling, ripping trees clear off the ground. Cars on the street were wailing as their alarms were set off, it was very chaotic that day.

Amaterasu had noticed something wasn’t right and ran back home as fast as she could. She noticed that everyone was outside, but that Yomigami was missing. Tachigami had informed her that Kazegami needed help evacuating some of the people in the area.

“Where is he at?â€

At that point Heartless started to sprout up from the ground like those annoying weeds you see on your front lawn. Tachigami called her Keyblade forth and hurled it to three Heartless, they vanished leaving behind a sort of black mist.

“Go!†Tachigami said slicing through another Heartless. “Help evacuate people!â€

Amaterasu ran down the lawn, and the first place she decided to evacuate was the block on which Riku had lived on. Five of the Neo Shadow Heartless blocked her path, and she muttered under her breath.

“I don’t have time for you!†she said noticing that the Heartless stopped in their track, she could hear them make a horrible hissing sound. She liked the little Heartless, the ones called Shadows, not the bigger one that blocked her path.

She brought out both of her Keyblades, and noticed a couple of the Heartless move back a bit. At that point more came out from under the shadows of nearby cars. It was still raining heavily, and even with her jacket it was still hard fighting like this.

A couple of Neo Shadows jumped into the air ready to strike her down with their claws. She threw her Anima Keyblade and let her Rapture Keyblade block an oncoming attack. The only thing she could remembering seeing was Mrs. Fonovi’s limp body by her front porch and a Heartless fleeing the scene.

“There’s a piano in the main dining room of the hotel,†Mrs. Fonovi said looking at Cloud and Aerith. “You two play?â€

The two of them nodded and looked at Amaterasu. She finally came back from la-la-land. The festival was today, which meant that it was suppose to be a happy day. All four of them got up from the couch and Mrs. Fonovi directed them past the pale yellow hallway and down into the dining area. It was closed around 1 o’clock until 3 in the afternoon.

“Wait, wait…†Amaterasu said running to the grand piano. She sat down on the piano bench and let her fingers gently touch the ivory keys. “This was the first piece I learned to play…†it was none other than Chopsticks. “I played it this one time at a learning center, and some lady made me stop… I remember she was wearing a red blazer, and she looked sort of old. She told me to get my hands off of the keys and I remember hearing the lid of the piano close with this loud thud, but she let some of the kids from her program play with it, I remember feeling a bit mad at her, and embarrassed…†she had finished playing the piece and looked at the others just sitting by the piano.

“That was mean of her…†Aerith said frowning a bit. “How old were you when that happened?â€

“16…†she said letting her fingers play something random.

That was a very long time ago, that was about thirty years ago, but no one would’ve have guessed it due to her appearance. Amaterasu and her family did not age one bit for the past thirty years, due to the actions of their parents, but that will be revealed in due time, still knowing that the siblings wouldn’t dare tell anyone.

“Hey, Cloud what about that motif you were playing last time?†the girl tried to remember the name of it. “Wasn’t it called, um…? Darn…â€

Cloud, he took off his black gloves and moved his hands so that they hovered over the F sharp and the C sharp key. He played the motif with such grace it was hard to believe he was ever in SOLDIER. Aerith watched his skilled fingers; each note that was hit flowed into her heart.

“It’s a theme for…†Amaterasu said gently smiling. “He-†she noticed that Cloud looked at her slightly, and she laughed nervously. “Fine, I won’t tell…â€

“I want to know…†Aerith said pleading with Cloud. “Come on, Cloud… Please?â€

Mrs. Fonovi was enjoying her time hearing Cloud play the motif. It was something he constructed all by himself. Cloud told Aerith that it had been a birthday present for someone.

“Maybe we should start playing Santa Fe…†Cloud said as he finally finished playing the motif. “You have the sheet music, Aerith?â€

In another room…​

“Hey do you hear that?†Yuffie looked at Leon for a moment, he had his eyes closed trying to think of something. “Squall!†she said whining to him again. “Geez… Leon!†he opened his eyes and looked at her for a moment.

“What?†he asked her.

“Someone’s playing the piano…†Yuffie said scratching the back of her head for a moment. “You wanna check it out?†she saw that he didn’t answer. “Come on it’ll be fun…. Please?†she asked giving him a big smile. She tugged on his arm.

“All right…†Leon said sighing for a moment as Yuffie smiled in triumph. He noticed Yuffie’s shoes for a moment. “You’d better tie them, you’re going to trip…â€

“No I’m not, and even if I do I’ll catch myself, I have great reflexes.â€

They reached the end of the pale yellow hallway and heard the sound of piano chords and a voice singing. Yuffie made a mad dash to the dining room and just like that she could feel her footstep on a shoelace, and as much as she wanted to she couldn’t control her other leg from moving forward.

The ninja closed her eyes tightly as she was bracing herself to hit the floor. Leon covered his eyes with one hand shaking his head, and caught Yuffie as she stumbled forward. She was going to hit the floor, she was… Well Yuffie opened her eyes and noticed she didn’t hit the floor, she was more worried about her shirt at this point, she thought it was going to rip or something.

“Tie your shoes…†Leon said letting go of Yuffie. “Or else I’ll let you fall next time…â€

“Is that why you didn’t catch me last time?!†there was a thundering note coming out from the piano, it was a sour note. “You let me fall on purpose…? Hey you know that’s pretty rude…†she told him.

“It’s also rude to yell while some people are trying to practice!†they heard Amaterasu yell from across the area.

“It’s rude to yell, period!†Yuffie answered back.

“Then why are you yelling?†Aerith’s voice echoed a bit.

“Cause every time we touch I get this feeling…†Amaterasu’s vice trailed off echoing for a moment.

Yuffie ran up to Amaterasu and as the girl turned around slightly the only thing she could see was an embarrassed ninja pounce on her. Cloud, Aerith, and Mrs. Fonovi had moved away before they ended up getting dragged into that. A shoe had gone midair landing with a sharp thud on the piano.

“I won’t sing it then!†Amaterasu said tearing Yuffie’s hand away from her. “Ack!†she strained under Yuffie’s weight. “Get off of me… Not offence Yuffie but you’re heavy…â€

“Hey take that back!†Yuffie said pouting as she sat on her.

“What you want me to lie… You don’t exactly weigh 100 pounds you know…†Amaterasu felt her spine giving away. “My spine…†she howled. “I can’t breathe…†she said feeling the air in her lungs leave. At that point she stopped moving. Little did the ninja know she was just playing opossum.

“Why do stars fall down from the sky…?†Amaterasu sang out, and Yuffie’s face grew red with embarrassment. “I have that one on tape… Ya know Leon might accidentally get that tape one day…â€

“I thought you said you got rid of that tape…†Yuffie hissed into the girl’s ear.

“I did, but what I didn’t say was that I have copies… Why don’t you just tell him how you feel?â€

“Same reason you don’t tell Riku…â€

“Hey!†Amaterasu pushed Yuffie off of her. “That’s completely different!†she said whispering harshly.

R i k u ​

It’s 4:49 PM and we still haven’t found an acoustic guitar, I think we’ve gone into about ten different music stores. The festival doesn’t start until about 8, and yet I still think I won’t have that guitar in at all.

“Do you really think they’ll let me use their guitar?â€

“I think so…†Kairi said looking at me for a moment. “I’m still curious as to why you need the guitar.â€

“You’ll see…†I said smiling for a moment.

I thought back to home, I use to have a guitar, I’m not sure if Mom was able to take it with her when the Heartless evaded, but I know when we restore the world’s everything is going to be back in its place. All the places in the District area were getting ready for the festival, placing their items outside for sale and stuff.

Sora was off buying some pretzels, of course I lent him some money, since he was complaining about not having enough money. Kairi ended up taking my headphones away so that I would end up having to put up with Sora’s whining.

“I didn’t know she had Asian Kung Fu Generation in here…†Kairi said lowering the volume on the mp3 player. “I love them!â€

“They’re alright…†I said thinking back to only one song I like from them. “I like Blue Train, but that’s about it.â€

We ended up killing some time just walking around the area again, I wasn’t thinking about the guitar anymore. What I was thinking about was what I would do if I ran into Ammi while I was with Sora and Kairi.

I know that eventually I’d have to tell them, or she might telling them herself, after all after the festival ‘we’ have to talk to them.

For right now I’m not going to think about anything, I am however going to finish eating this Yan-Yan. For those who don’t know what Yan-Yan is, it’s this little container with little crunchy yeast bars, and you get to dip them in a container that either has vanilla, chocolate, or strawberry.

Personally I love chocolate, and I’ve been eating these things since I was a little kid. Besides chocolate is an anti-depressant, well technically it’s dark bittersweet chocolate that’s the anti-depressant. The only reason I know this because of my mom, she use to tell me things like this.

Something rang out from my front pocket and I looked down having a Yan-Yan stick in my mouth. I placed the container down on this little brown stool near a store and answered the call.

“Hewo?†it’s hard talking with food in your mouth.

“Riku?†the voice called out laughing a bit.

“Awi?!â€

“Are you talking with your mouth full?†she asked as I gulped it all really fast.

“No!†I said answering quickly. “No, I’m not…â€

“Hmm… So, how have you been?†she asked. I could hear a piano in the background.

“I’m all right… Hey who’s playing the piano?†I picking up the container and sitting down on the patio area of the place.

“Ah… Um well, it’s your mom…†she said.

“Mom? She can play the piano?†I asked almost dropping my container. “Ah…†I caught the container before the sticks fell.

“I taught her how to play Chopsticks…. So are you going to be at the festival?â€

“Of course…†I said biting off the little snack stick. “Are you?â€

“Yeah, absolutely!†she said, she sounded happy.

“I’ll see you there then, right?â€

“Most definitely…†I heard someone yelling in the background. “I don’t know… Hold on…It’s a date…†I heard her sigh softly after that, and someone yelled at her again. “Anyway I have to go Riku, Tachigami needs help. Bye bye, see you later tonight!â€

“Uh…†I didn’t hear any noise after that, and well the only thing that brought me back from my daze was the fact that my snack fell on the ground, but for now I didn’t really care. “A date?†I asked myself looking at the flashing screen on my cell phone.

In the main hall of the hotel… ​

“It’s a date…†she repeated again. “‘Fechado’ means dated…†Amaterasu said looking back at her older sister. “‘Fecha’ means date, remember?†she corrected her older sibling’s Spanish.

“Oh yeah…†she said smiling slightly. “So are you done practicing?†she asked looking at Cloud and Aerith for a moment as they finished practicing the song Santa Fe. There was a small piano stationed in the main hall of the motel, which was better for the acoustics of the instrument.

“Yeah…†all three of them said, sounding rather relieved at the fact that it was all done.

“Don’t go getting cold feet now…†Aerith said poking Amaterasu on her nose. “If you do I’m coming after you with Cloud’s First Sword, got it?â€

“Can you even pick that thing up?†Amaterasu said dodging a playful punch by the flower maiden.

“It’s five o’clock you guys… You should probably start getting ready or something, the festival will be starting at 8… okay?†Tachigami said walking back into the area.

“Come on, let’s go Amaterasu!†Aerith said grabbing the girl by the hand.

“Hey, whoa!†she felt Aerith pull her out from her chair, and led her deeper in to the building. “Cloud!†she looked back at the ‘lone wolf’ as she called. “Control your girlfriend!â€

“Struggling makes it worse…†he said to her.

Aerith really was bent on making Amaterasu shine today. She found Yuffie in the dining area, pigging out on little pastries, which apparently Leon was going to pay for. ‘Pay for’ meant that in Yuffie’s mind that she would just give him the bill and run off.

“How cute…†Yuffie said opening the door to Aerith’s room. “Ammi’s going on a date with Riku. It’s about time you’ve had one, you’re WAY over due…â€

“What’s that suppose to mean!?†Amaterasu called out to the ninja.

“Xehanort ring a bell?†Yuffie said, at that point the whole room was filled with silence. She gasped slightly at the words that came from her mouth. “I’m sorry, Amaterasu, I totally forgot… I’m sorry!â€

“No…†she said shaking her head slightly. “It’s all right… I mean you forgot, so it’s only natural…â€

“Let’s just try and let that go…†Aerith said leading Amaterasu to her closet. “First of all, we have to get you some festive clothing! Come on, what do you say?â€

Amaterasu just looked at Aerith as if she had just spoken to her in Chinese or something. Yuffie tried really hard not to laugh at the look on the girl’s face, but it was hard not to.

“Wait… I’m wearing a skirt?†Amaterasu said looking at the article of clothing laid out for her. “I hate wearing skirts…†she muttered to herself.

There was a knock at the doorway and Tachigami entered the area. She smiled sweetly at her sister and offered her help, since it was going to be a challenge to get her younger sister to comply with the whole wardrobe change.

“Treat it like that dance you had with what’s-his-face…†Tachigami said closing the door behind her and walking forward.

Amaterasu shuddered at the fact she remembered that day. “I think that day has been emotionally burned into my brain…†she said exaggerating the last word.

“Stop complaining…†Yuffie said handing Ammi the clothing Aerith picked out for her. She rushed her into the bathroom. “Don’t take to long changing, we don’t have a lot of time, okay?â€

“Fine… But I won’t like it…†Amaterasu said closing the door to the bathroom. “Did I ever tell you how conservative I am?†she said, apparently she didn’t really like the clothing handed to her.

At the hotel entrance…​

It was seven o’clock now and Riku was waiting outside for him mom. As if his prayers had been answered, his guitar was salvaged from the whole wreckage of the Heartless attack. He had received a call from his mom two minutes after his talk with Amaterasu, and he sat by a bench near the hotel entrance.

Riku was wearing a black collared shirt with a red tie, and black pants with black shoes.

His mother stepped out of the window revolving door, wearing a black stylish dress. She greeted her son with a long hug and kisses on his cheek and forehead. She smiled at him and held him again. Her boy was equally happy and glad to see her.

“Here’s your guitar, son.†She said in a gentle tone handing him the instrument. “You know if it wasn’t for Amaterasu the guitar would’ve probably had the same fate as the islands.â€

“Did you say Amaterasu?†Riku was a bit in shock. How did his mother come across that name?

“Yeah, you know Selma. I thought she told me that you knew…†she said the last part to herself.

“No, I mean yeah I know, but I didn’t think you’d know…†he said laughing nervously. “Has she told you anything else?â€

“Not really, she’s still the same quiet girl as always. Speaking of which…†she looked back at the hotel. “She’s about ready to come down…†she noticed one of the hotel windows went dark.

Riku gulped slightly as he could feel the pain in his heart come back, but this time there was a mild cold feeling slowly working its way up. He knew that once he saw her that his heart would feel as though it was on fire, he didn’t know how he knew, but he just did. ‘The paopu fruit, it really does intertwine destinies together. I never would have thought that it was true, but it is…’

Tachigami stepped out first from the revolving door, she was wearing some black Capri pants, used for parties and a black and white striped shirt. Moegami was wearing a light green long sleeved shirt, with a slightly tanned colored vest, and matching pants with brown shoes. His hair was still the same untidy mess as it always was.

Kazegami was wearing a white plain cotton shirt with blue jeans and a black scarf around his neck with gloves that only covered the knuckles and not the fingers. Gekigami wore the same thing, but instead of blue jeans he wore black jeans.

Yomigami on the other hand had the same hair style from Kairi and Riku’s last encounter with them. He wore khaki colored pants and a white collared shirt with striped fishnet like clothing on his arms.

“Ammi, get out here!†Gekigami said walking back to the revolving door and dragging out his little sister.

“Are you sure I look okay?†she asked her brother again for the tenth time.

“Yes, now come out!†and with that he pulled her out the door and she stumbled forward.

‘She looks…’ Riku could feel his mouth open slightly, he never saw her wear something like that, so he was surprised to see that type of clothing on her.

Amaterasu frowned slightly as she looked back at Gekigami. She rubbed the back of her head slightly and sighed looking down for a moment.

The girl had decided to wear, or rather, she was only given the option of wearing a black frilly skirt, that was longer on one side, with a white sash around her waist. The shirt was a white V-cut blouse with pastel blue and black designs on it, with matching shoes.

“Hey where are Cloud and the others?†she asked looking back at Tachigami.

“They’re still getting ready. You know how they are…†Tachigami said fixing her hair a bit. “Aren’t you going to get a jacket?†she paused for a moment. “If I send you back in there you might not come out again… I’ll lend you mines, okay?†her sister nodded in reply with a slight sigh.

Amaterasu looked back and noticed Mrs. Fonovi talking with her son. She waved at them slightly and they returned the gesture. She noticed he had a guitar strapped to his back, and titled her head in slight confusion.

First District…​

“They’re saving our places?†Amaterasu asked Riku.

“Yeah…†he said adjusting the strap on his guitar. “They’re probably going to have us up in the front.â€

Amaterasu just sighed and scrunched up her nose, she didn’t really like noisy areas, but since it was a festival after all, she would at least try and comply with it once.

The music portion of the festival, which was in Second District would take up two hours, and then after that it was pretty much whatever the people wanted.

“The fireworks are going off around 12…†Riku said walking ahead, noticing Amaterasu stopped for a moment. “What’s wrong?â€

“Ah, well…†she fiddled with the frills on her skirt. “I, uh… I don’t want to see them…â€

“Ah come on, I mean… Sure you fought with Kairi…†Riku paused as Amaterasu pouted for a moment. “Ok, yeah I can why… Sora’s a forgiving guy. He’ll accept your apology.â€

Amaterasu walked past Riku for a moment and turned to face him. “It’s not Sora I’m worried about it’s Kairi… Can I just stay here, and wait?â€

“Stop doing that, running away from your problems. That won’t solve it. Just face the music.†Riku said walking up to her and taking her by the hand. “Sometimes you do act like a little kid.â€

“Sometimes I wish I was a little kid…†she muttered under her breath as Riku dragged her with the crowd that was going to Second District.

The dancing portion of the whole festival was starting to go underway with a DJ that Sora believed to look exactly like Axel, but his name was DJ Alex. Kairi saw Riku arriving inside Second District, and waved him down. She called out to the two of them and they came, but she noticed that Riku’s guest was pulling back a bit.

“Just tell them right now…†Riku said looking back at his guest.

“Bite me…†she muttered shaking her head slightly.

“You’re being stubborn…â€

“Hey you guys!†Sora said smiling at them. “ Selma, how have you been?â€

‘Sora’s kind of dense…’ Amaterasu thought to herself for a moment, and shook Sora’s hand. “I’ve been doing pretty well, how about you?â€

“Good!†Sora said calling Kairi over to them.

“You don’t really have to…†she stopped as she saw Kairi. “Kairi… Hi!†she said giving her a big smile.

Kairi didn’t say anything, her brain was trying to say it was Selma, but her heart knew it was Amaterasu, at that point she asked the question to the obvious answer.

“You’re her aren’t you?†she asked a bit angrily pulling Sora slightly back.

“I’d be lying if I said ‘no’,†she said rubbing the back of her head.

“Why didn’t you…? Out of all the… Why’d you have to hit me so hard?!â€

“I can’t go soft on you!†she said as if Kairi had just said something horribly terrible.

“Wait! You’re Amaterasu?†Sora asked finally letting the evidence dawn on him.

“Duh!†the others said frowning at Sora.

“Let’s just forget this, okay?†Riku said trying to calm down Kairi. “At least let’s try and have a good time.â€

R i k u ​

Things were going underway, that and well we ended up placing the guitar in back of the stage that the turntables were placed on. With that the music went under way, a lot of techno songs were being put on, at the request of the DJ, who really does look a lot like Axel. Maybe Nobodies don’t fade away into darkness but they find a new life or something like that.

It looked like Kairi and Amaterasu patched things up rather quickly, Kairi was usually the forgiving type, and she said she owed Amaterasu for saving me back there on Isla. The first song that was ‘The Road to Lost Withiel’ by BT, it was just techno rather than anything else.

It took me a while to get Amaterasu to dance, but in the end she did, because I had to bribe her with something. I have to end up buying her some ice-cream after this, so I shouldn’t forget.

The others finally came and they were all dancing, a lot of people were in the area, and there were lanterns everywhere, streamers, and a lot of other festival items. The place was really bright.

A couple of songs into the whole thing, and I had to take a break and Amaterasu kept on dancing with her family this time. It was nice seeing her laugh and having a good time. She walked over the area I was sitting at and pulled me forward, she was coaxing me to go and dance with her again.

It didn’t take that long for my response and she seemed glad. We ended up dancing next to Sora and Kairi and we would switch dance partners once in a while. The music was loud and there was a fog machine and strobe lights, just really loud and flashy.

“My heart goes boom, boom, boom,†Kairi and Amaterasu were singing along to the song the DJ put on.

‘Boum-Boum’ a song written by Enigma, which was alright, in my mind. I pulled Amaterasu closer when the lyrics ‘I want you, just you,’ came on.

“Cause I wanna be your lover…â€

“Till the end of our lives…†Amaterasu sang the rest of it for me.

Kairi and Ammi ended up singing the whole song while we were all dancing, and Sora was also enjoying himself as he was able to dip Kairi on the last note of the song. ‘Kiss Kiss’ by DJ Cammy came out and we all focused our attention as the DJ sang out whole song. We all in turn sang along with him, moving a bit to the beat of the music.

To be honest a lot of DJ Cammy songs were coming up, a lot of which I didn’t know. The first hour was done and the DJ asked if any people were willing to participate in sing some songs. To my surprise Amaterasu raised her hand and dragged Kairi, and she ended up dragging me into the whole thing.

The song the DJ wanted us to sing was one I knew. ‘In the Shadow, In the Light,’ written by Enigma.

Amaterasu pulled away after the song was done and she was seen talking to the DJ and he was nodding to whatever she was saying.

“Hey, listen up!†the DJ said through his mike. “We got a special request here from this young girl.†The DJ said, the crowd was silent. “It’s ‘ Santa Fe’ by Angela Aki.†At that point Kairi and I walked downstage.

A m a t e r a s u ​

This was it, I don’t feel nervous now, but I know once I start singing that I might just forget the words. The good thing is though that the DJ has the piano version of it, which will make me feel a bit more comfortable. ‘A lot of people are going to be watching though…’ I thought to myself. The piano melody was starting and a paced myself.

“He spoke my language in this foreign land. Familiar secrets shared in a sinful bed. Imagination flowing through his ancient hands. He painted just my fantasy in red, bright red…†I was singing my little hart out, and at that point I started to feel my stage fright leave me.

Those five minutes went by pretty fast, and I was glad I did it. I could see my friends cheer loudly and it made me feel good. I handed the mike back to the DJ and I walked down stage and Riku ended up kissing my cheek for a moment.

“That was great!†he said walking me back to where Kairi and Sora were at.

“You know I really wished they would’ve up some J-Rock or something…†I said thinking back to the songs in my mp3 player.

With that the dance was over, which was a good thing because my feet were hurting. We all went our separate ways and decided we’d met back by 12 back in a place called Traverse Park, that’s where the fireworks were going to go off.

Riku got his guitar and he took me to First District and he bought some ice-cream. I had a really bad carving for sea-salt ice-cream, and well I got my wish. I smiled at him slightly and lightly tasted it, feeling some weird tinge in my heart it was warm.

“Hey…†he called out softly. “Are you okay?â€

“Yeah…†I said still trying to figure out why my heart felt warm. Heartburn? I didn’t eat anything spicy so we can rule out heartburn. “Let’s get going to the park…†I said pulling him along.

He picked out a spot that was under a giant tree. The sky was very beautiful, the landscape of the stars shining and the moon, it was all peaceful. I heard Riku strum his guitar, and it sounded out of tune.

“Sorry, I hit it when I was carrying it out…†I said finishing my ice-cream.

“Thanks…†he said.

“For what?â€

“Well you didn’t have to save the guitar.†He said tuning the instrument. “Oh, hey you know how earlier you want J-Rock?â€

“Yeah…†I said arching an eyebrow in confusion.

“Listen…†he said strumming the chords to a familiar. “Saikou sokudo no seimeitai enerugii…â€

“Hey that’s Raion.â€

He shushed me for a moment and I listened to the song he played. I only heard him sing one other time, and that was at the dance, surprisingly he did sing pretty well. I watched his fingers on the fret, and he played with almost the same style as Cloud did when he played the piano.

“That was beautiful Riku!†I said smiling at him. Even at night I could feel in my heart that he had blushed. “Why are you blushing?â€

“I’m not…†he said looking away for a moment.

With Reeve and the others… ​

“Wait, so you’re saying you’re willing to bet fifty munny that nothing will happen?†Gekigami said watching the others who were betting. The others just nodded in agreement. “All right then I’m in.†he said.

“I don’t know…†Yuffie said. “Something might happen, you never know…†she said placing 50 for the bet that said ‘yes’.

“Yeah well Amaterasu’s our sister, so we know how she’ll act.†Tachigami said feeling confident with the bet.

“So then, are all bets closed?†Yuffie said looking back at the people on her table.

Reeve moved his money. “Hold on I’m going for the other one…†he said placing the area that said ‘no’.

“Reeve, that’s the third time!†Yuffie said shaking her head furiously.

They were sitting at an area close to the park, where they got a good view of the two teenagers.

“I smell money!†Yuffie said laughing. “Are you sure you don’t want to change?†she asked the others.

“No…†the siblings said throwing death glares at the ninja.

A m a t e r a s u ​

Riku placed an earpiece on his ear, and I put one on mine, he pulled out the little mp3 player. He pressed the play button and I heard a familiar song come on. He ended up pulling me a bit closer to him, and well it felt kind of nice.

“Hey that’s ‘This Love’,âe to start dancing.

The song was like a slow ballad, which was something I liked, and it really did capture the mood of the whole thing. I rested my head against his shoulder, an I could feel some strands of hair gently touch my neck.

I closed my eyes and felt another memory come back.

“It’s a slow song, come on it’ll be fun.†The young teenager said. He pulled me up to my feet as I was sitting on a bench.

“Xehanort, I really don’t think we should…†I said looking at the area we were in. “I’m not a big crowd person.â€

“Then just pretend no one’s here.†He said somehow taking me deeper into the crowd. “Just trust me, all right?â€

“I have a feeling this is going to be burned into me brain,†I said exaggerating the last word.

“Stop complaining, Ammi,†back then he was the only person who called me that sometimes. “It’s your day off and you’re going to spend it dancing.â€

“My feet are going to…†the only thing I could remember was something soft brush up against my lips, and it was a feeling I knew I would never forget.

This was only the beginning of the Festival of Light, and I really wished it would last forever, but that was impossible. I just enjoyed dancing with Riku, and I knew he was enjoying it too.

“Hey, Ammi?†he whispered.

“What?â€

“Do you remember when you asked me if I thought Amaterasu was pretty?†I could feel my cheeks get a bit red.

“You don’t really have to answer that…â€

“Well…â€

“Riku…â€

“I’m just being honest, I mean come on…â€

“Fine…†I sighed for a moment knowing I couldn’t shake off the curiosity. “So, did you think she was pretty?â€

“Before or after I knew it was you?â€

“Both…â€

“You really want me to answer?†I nodded slightly and he smiled at me for a moment. “Let’s just say that after I found out it was you, I thought you were more than just being pretty.â€

“Why the heck does that remind of something from a movie?†I asked pausing for a moment.

“You know we’re having a pretty good moment…†Riku said trying to get me to go with the flow.

“You know the music has stopped, so you can let go of me…†I said trying to get him a bit ruffled up.

“Ammi…†he started to whine slightly.

I sighed and gave up pulling away from his embrace. We ended up sitting against the trunk of the tree, and a lot of things were running in and out of my head.

I thought back to Cloud and Aerith. I knew those two were having a good time. Kairi and Sora of course those two are having fun. The others from HBRC were having fun too, they always found ways to entertain themselves.

“I have something to tell you Riku…†I said looking at him for a moment. He looked back at me, and he was ready to listen. “Do you know someone by the name of Xehanort?â€