Rebirthing Midnight

[Andillexe]

Chapter 4: WHAT?!

Falling in the black,
Slipping through the cracks,
Falling to the depths
Can I ever go back?
Dreaming of the way it used to be.
Can you hear me?
Falling in the black,
Slipping through the cracks,
Falling to the depths
Can I ever go back?
Falling inside, falling inside the black, black, black, black.

“Yeah, good thing I know who that is.” I shook my head.

“Oh, you still don’t remember, do you?” He laughed.

“Will you stop talking about my forgotten memories and just tell me?! They’re gone and obviously not coming back, so just drop it.”

“What makes you think they can’t come back?”

I blinked a couple times. “…WHAT!?? Why didn’t you just tell me this earlier, instead of talking about how bad it is and how sad it is that I don’t remember? Do you just take joy and pleasure out of other people’s pain and confusion?” I scoffed. “Shouldn’t be surprised, though. It’s typical dark behavior.”

One minute, I was sitting in the middle of my cell with Xehanort leaning on the open cell door, and next thing I knew he had me pinned up against the wall, his arm up to my throat, keeping me there, blocking off my airways. His face was so close to mine that I had difficulty focusing on him.

“Don’t ever say that again,” he told me, rage burning in his eyes. “I will never give into the darkness like my foolish apprentice.”

Okay, now we were getting somewhere with the apprentice. Too bad I had to nearly be choked to death to get there. “Got it,” I croaked. Xehanort let me go and walked back to the door. “So,” I ventured, preparing myself for another attack, “what’s with your apprentice?” He just stared at me for a second, and then sighed.

“That’s information you’ll get after we rebuild the Organization,” he told me. “But, for now we need to get you out of this cell.”

“Uh, why? Don’t you want to suppress me and keep me your prisoner until our dastardly deeds are over and done with?” I should probably lighten up on the sarcasm.

“Do you really want to stay down here? ” He looked at me curiously.

“Well, no,” I said. “I was just being sarcastic.”

“Then come on,” he said, walking away. I followed, figuratively kissing that cell goodbye once and for all. Walking out of the cell, I looked around. My cell was the first in a long hall filled with cells. I didn’t ask Xehanort why anyone would need so many cells. For all I knew, he’d start laughing like a maniac, or he could just break down and cry. That’d be a bit too weird for me.

“Maybe it’d be better to teleport up to your new room,” Xehanort told me. I shrugged, not caring how we got to the room; I just wanted out of that dank dungeon. He opened a portal, and walked through it. Following, I found myself in a crazy spacious room.

“Whoa,” I gasped. Okay, maybe it was crazy spacious, but it was way better than the dinky little cell I’ve been living in for the past month-ish. There was a nice bed, a dresser, a bookshelf, and a desk. Best part: everything was blue. Sure, I knew that it meant “Unbirth room”, but blue’s my favorite color (connection? I really don’t care anymore).

“The kitchens are down the hall to the left, down the stairs, and to the far right,” Xehanort charted for me. I wondered why he only pointed out the kitchens, but I didn’t ask where anything else was. The faster he got out of my room, the better.

“Good to know,” I said while heading towards the bookshelf, not really paying attention.

“I’ll be upstairs if you need me.” And with that, he finally left me alone. The question of why he was all of a sudden being a good host popped into my brain, but I’d worry about it later.

“Geez,” I said to myself, getting used to the softness of my room. “He’s very bipolar, isn’t he?” I looked around. “Does this mean I can leave?” I asked myself. I tried to teleport outside. Didn’t work. I ended up in the courtyard. Then I tried to teleport to Destiny Islands. That didn’t work, either. Giving up, I teleported back to my room and lay down on the bed after grabbing a random book from the shelf. I leafed through it and got another book off the shelf. A couple dozen books later, there was a knock on the door.

“Finally using common courtesy?” I asked, sitting up.

“May I come in?” asked an unfamiliar voice.

“Uh, sure?” I cocked my head, curious to see who this new voice was. The door opened, and a boy about my age with short, sandy blonde hair stepped through. His eyes were a bright shade of green that had some light blue around the edges, and he was wearing a blue T-shirt and baggy pants. “Psh, why do you get the normal outfit while I’m stuck with this?” I pointed at my god awful suit. He laughed, then shrugged. “So, who are you and how did you know I was in here?”

He walked over to me and extended his hand. “My name’s Jethro, but you can call me Seth.”

“How does that nickname work out?” I asked.

“I don’t like the name ‘Jethro’,” he explained. “So I go with ‘Seth’.”

“Very good reason,” I nodded. I had only met the guy five seconds ago, but I liked him already. “So, are you Xehanort’s son or something?”

“What? No!” he corrected me.

“Held captive?” I asked.

“No. Nothing like that,” he laughed. “Master Xehanort took me in, and I like it here.” He looked at the floor and got a strange look in his eyes.

“Oh.” I’d ask about that later. “So what do you think of the Unbirths?” Seth just shrugged.

“You hungry?” he asked me. As if it heard him, my stomach growled very loudly. Between becoming profoundly confused and almost grilling my boyfriend, I hadn’t noticed that my body needed one of the most basic and important means of survival: food. Seth smiled. “I guess that means ‘yes’?”

“Uh, yeah.” I looked at the dresser, then at my suit. “Could you excuse me for a second while I change out of my stupid fighting suit?”

“Yeah, sure.” He left, giving me a bit of privacy.

I went to the dresser and searched for some clothes that I could wear. After going through three drawers of suits, I finally found a shirt and pants similar to what Seth was wearing.

“Kay, ready,” I told him, walking out of my room.

“Alright, then.” Seth smiled at me and led the way to the only place I already had directions for.

* * *

Seth’s awesome. He has a great sense of humor, is almost as sarcastic as me, and he’s really nice. When he was little, his parents died somehow, but he can’t remember how, and Xehanort found him wandering around his town. Seth’s been living here ever since.

While we were talking, laughing, and having a good time, I suddenly forgot about Riku. Sure, it was only for an hour or two, but I still forgot about him. Riku, the guy who was probably working his butt off looking for me, and I forgot about him. How could I just forget about that? That stupid castle was more than enough to serve as motivation to keep trusting Riku would come. As I realized this, I quickly excused myself and ran up to my room. When I opened the door, I immediately started looking around for something that I could display that would always remind me of Riku. I didn’t find anything. I slumped onto the bed.

“Crystal?” Seth knocked on my door. “Are you okay?” He came in and sat down on the bed next to me.

“Not really,” I said, sniffling a little. I didn’t want to cry and make Seth feel awkward. “But I’ll deal with it.” Seth was just about to say something when Master of Worst Timing in the Universe popped into my room.

“Mission time,” Xehanort said. “You need to get ready.” He looked at Seth and smiled. “Both of you.”

“Really?” Seth looked up at him and smiled. Xehanort nodded. And with that, Seth jumped off the bed and ran out of the room.

“Why can’t you be that enthusiastic?” he asked me. I glared up at him.

“What’s the mission? Destroy some lives, homes, and worlds?”

“Just get ready,” he snapped, then he disappeared. I got up to change back into my stupid suit. Apparently he was still frustrated with me.

“Crystal, you ready?” Seth asked from the other side of the door.

“Yeah,” I said as I walked out. He seemed so excited, like we were going to the beach instead of out to rebuild the most stupid organization in the history of organizations and replace the Nobodies with Unbirths. But we weren’t going to the beach. He was wearing a suit similar to mine, only with red instead of blue, with the red outlining pecs and a six pack on his torso instead of my stupid emblem. He was also wearing a helmet that didn’t let anyone see his face.

“All set?” Xehanort asked, teleporting in front of us. Seth and I nodded. “All right, then.” He opened a portal and we all walked through.

* * *

The first part of the plan involved getting to Disney Castle. If Riku was going to go look for Crystal on his own, he would need a gummi ship. And he couldn’t just take the gummi ship the others were using too and strand them there on the Wasteland. Nope. He had to go to Disney Castle where the King had tons of gummi ships just waiting in his gummi bay. That was the easy part of the plan.

The hard part of the plan was getting said gummi ship inconspicuously and taking off without anyone noticing.

“Hey, Riku,” Sora said as they jumped out of the gummi ship. The others were heading to the Library, leaving the two friends alone. “You know you don’t have to do this alone, right?”

“Yeah, Sora.” He knows, Riku thought. I’m screwed. “I appreciate the offer, but I really do need to do this alone. At least for a little while.”

“In that case, I am going to be totally oblivious as to what you are about to do in the next five minutes,” Sora stated as he turned his back to Riku. Riku smiled and ran to the nearest, best gummi ship. “Just be careful, okay?” Sora walked off to the Library.

“I will,” Riku said. I promise, he added mentally. And with that, he took off to find Crystal and bring her home.

* * *

“Where’s Riku?” Kairi asked as Sora walked into the Library.

“He’s right behind me,” Sora lied, pointing into the hall behind him.

“Not unless he can magically turn invisible.” Sora looked behind him and ran into the hall to look for Riku.

“He’s gone.” Kairi came up behind him and hugged him around the waist.

“You know, you really suck at lying,” she said.

“What are you talking about? I really don’t know where he is.”

“Where’s Riku?” the King asked as he came into the hallway.

“He’s gone,” Kairi said. “More than likely to look for Crystal on his own.”

“Welp, I guess we should keep looking, too.”

“Why, Yer Majesty?” Goofy asked as he and Donald joined everyone in the hallway.

“Two search parties are better than one, right? So let’s go.” They all went back to the gummi bay to help Riku out.

* * *

“Aurora City?” I asked when we got to our destination. “I’ve never heard of this place.” Of course, I wasn’t really the most adventurous person in my whole conscious year outside my home world. Aurora City was beautiful. There was a pretty sunrise (and I almost never use the word “pretty”), and the people of Aurora City were milling about the plaza we were standing off to the side of. “So, which poor, unfortunate person is gonna get their life shattered?”

“I think you’ve made your point clear,” Xehanort told me, looking like he wanted to slap me. “We’ve found our volunteers.” I looked at him and followed his gaze to a group of people. They would’ve seemed normal, but they were all packed together in the far corner of the plaza. None of them spoke; they just looked around the square. I was going to ask Xehanort why they were the “volunteers,” when they suddenly dispersed. A few of them stuck together, flanking a woman who had walked by them. The others went off to who knows where.

The guy closest to the woman ran up behind her and grabbed her purse, running into a nearby alley. “Help! Thief!” she screamed. The other two that were following her ran off after their buddy like they were trying to help the lady and bring the purse back. Xehanort and Seth teleported.

“Uh…” I said. “No, no. It’s fine. I think I’ll walk. Who needs teleporting, anyway?” I went to the alley. All the guys from the group were there in that alley, with Xehanort and Seth blocking the only two exits. I came up behind Seth, who didn’t even acknowledge my entrance.

“Hey, man, let us through,” said the guy with the purse (whom I’m going to assume is the leader). “We don’t want no trouble.” Xehanort didn’t say anything. “All right. You asked for it.” The leader motioned to the rest of the group, and everybody took out various weapons. Xehanort smiled and snapped his fingers, summoning about ten Unbirths that proceeded to surround the people in the alley.

“What the hell are these things!?” some guy exclaimed. The Unbirths closed in on the group.

“Doesn’t matter,” another guy told the second guy. “Just get ‘em!” Too bad they weren’t a match for the Unbirths. Before they had a chance to even lift their weapons, Xehanort nodded and the Unbirths and Seth took every one of them out in about five seconds. The Unbirths grabbed a group member and teleported away.

“Well done, Jethro,” Xehanort congratulated. Seth turned to face me and I could just imagine the look on his face at the name “Jethro.” I attempted not to laugh. “You could learn a thing or two from him,” Xehanort added, staring right at me.

“They aren’t dead, are they?” I asked.

“No.” Then Xehanort disappeared, more than likely back to the castle.

“What now?” I asked Seth. He took off his helmet and smiled at me.

“Explore?” He asked, looking around. “I hear there’s a haunted house outside of town. Wanna check it out?”

“If it means spending less time in Crazy’s castle, then yeah. Let’s go.” I walked out of the alley, Seth following.

* * *

“No wonder they call it ‘haunted’,” I said as we came up on the house. It was one of your typical haunted mansions; overgrown lawn, rotted porch, siding peeling, shutters either falling off or completely gone, and very few windows still fully intact. Seth’s smile got even wider as he walked up to the door. “What are you doing?” I asked, looking around and getting a weird feeling that if we were caught sneaking around, that’d be very bad.

“Just checking it out,” he told me as he examined the door. “Why? You wouldn’t be scared now, would you?” I glared at him then ran up to the door and yanked it open. The wood was so rotten that I almost took the entire door off. “Way to go.” I frowned at him as I walked into the dark house. The inside was almost as typical haunted house as the outside. We were standing in the foyer, with dust and/or cobwebs covering everything, floorboards rotting or completely gone, and cracks everywhere along the walls and ceiling. “Let’s go downstairs,” he told me, heading toward the nearest door that would seem to head to the basement.

“Why?” He just shrugged and descended the dark stairwell. I followed, not wanting to be left alone. It was sort of hard to climb down, because the steps had either rotted away, leaving holes in them or were very uneven. So it was a slow descent. About five minutes of climbing down the stairs, Seth and I heard voices and saw a little flicker of light.

“Maybe we should turn around and head back,” Seth suggested, almost inaudible.

“Scared?” I whispered back. Brushing past him, I continued to go down the stairwell. Seth said something to himself and followed me. Yeah, it was an incredibly dumbass move, but my curiosity was getting piqued (not to mention my damned pride was flaring like no other). I sorta regret it, but not too much. When I got to the bottom, I found myself in an incredibly roomy basement, where the only furniture was a small, worn down couch, chair, and coffee table. About ten or eleven guys were sitting in a circle around a small fire.

“Hey, what are you doing here!?” one of the guys demanded, looking straight at me. Everyone else turned to see who the intruder was.

Before I could answer, a different guy shouted, “That’s one of the people that took Jerry and them!” He stood up and pointed at me. “Yeah, I could never forget that weird-ass outfit.” Everyone stood up and faced me, picking up various weapons and walking towards me. By then, I was cursing myself for being so stupid and backing away slowly towards the stairs. When I finally did reach the stairs, I was too scared to actually pick my feet up to go up the stairs, so I tripped and fell on my butt. “Where are they? What’d you do with them?” they asked as they swung their weapons. Before I could answer (and before they could actually come at me), Seth teleported in front of me then portalled both of us back to my room. I sat down on my bed.

“Why don’t you ever just listen!?” Seth yelled at me, storming around my room. “Honestly, your curiosity will get us killed one day. Then where would we be?”

“Dead?” I said with a smile. “And why are you yelling at me, anyway? You’re the one who wanted to explore. ‘Check it out’. Besides, I could’ve taken them all on.”

“Was falling on your ass part of the plan? Plus, I wasn’t the one who wanted to keep going into the basement of an occupied haunted building.” He groaned.

“Well, as super fun as this blame game is,” I said, getting up, “I really want some me-time. Almost getting beaten to a pulp by a group of people who saw us taking their friends is somewhat exhausting. So shoo.” I tried to wave him out of the room.

“Not so fast,” came Xehanort’s maddeningly annoying voice. Predictably, he teleported himself into my room. “I need to talk to both of you.”

“Okay, now I’m not even joking. We need to make this room teleport-proof,” I told him. “And thanks, but I already met my lecture quota for the day.”

“I’m not here to lecture you. I’m here to give you your memories back.” Wow, that was seriously out of the freaking blue. “Since you seem incapable of realizing how important rebuilding the Organization is.” He took something out of his pocket and tossed it to me. I caught it instinctively, and immediately got flashes of me and Zexion together, just like when I was on the island.

“What the hell was that?” I asked, shock making me drop the object. When it was on the floor, I saw that it was a white, round pendant attached to a blue ribbon. A necklace.

“Pick it up again,” Xehanort said to me, smiling a bit. I looked at Seth, hoping in vain that I’d get some explanation as to what the freak was going on. He was shifting his gaze between Xehanort, me, and the necklace, a look of utter confusion clear on his face. I took a breath and cautiously picked the necklace up. Again, flashes of Zexion and I moved through my mind. It was still overwhelming (and somewhat painful), but I was partly prepared; so I gripped the pendant of the necklace tightly and took it.

There were multiple images of me and Zexion just sitting together in various places, but there were some of me and other members of the Organization. There were quite a lot of me and Axel, and I thought I even saw a couple of Riku once or twice. Then there were images of Twilight Town, Ansem the Wise, and Naminé. When it was over, I stood there panting, the tiny pendant cutting into my palm.

“I used to be in the Organization,” I said, the new information flooding through my brain. “I was the fourteenth member. Only they called me ‘Xion’…” I took a good look at the pendant. On the other side were two kanji symbols. “Water gem,” I whispered. Even though I couldn’t read it, I knew what it meant. “Zexion liked me, though he didn’t have a heart and couldn’t feel emotions. And I liked him, too.”

“Maybe now you see why it’s so important for us to rebuild the Organization,” Xehanort told me, interrupting my babbling over these newfound memories. I stared at the necklace. “So we can fulfill what the Organization set out to do. To obtain Kingdom Hearts and become whole!”

“I understand,” I said as I put the necklace on. “I understand that what you’re wanting me to do is wrong. I won’t help you anymore.” Even though I didn’t really do much in the time I was held captive. Seth did most of the work.

He stared at me for a second. “What?” he finally asked me. “What did you say?”

“I said, you can do everything yourself, ‘cause I’m out,” I repeated, walking to the door. Seth stared at me, his jaw hanging open. “I don’t know about you,” I told Seth as I reached the door, “but I’m not going to help this kook destroy people’s lives.” I opened the door. “Goodbye, Seth.”

“If you walk out that door, you will regret it,” Xehanort said in a low, threatening voice.

“Anything’s better than here,” I mumbled, yanking the door open. “Even oblivion.”

“Aaarrrgg!!”

I’m through now, so take me and blow me away.
When I feel numb, I’ll let you know
I won’t become what I was before.
You cannot kill what’s not your creation;
This is the art of breaking.
I think I might just lose my mind
If I have to watch this one more time.

[TwilightRiku_13]

WHAT!?!? Crystal used to be in the Organization? She was onec Xion, the 14th member? And she used to like Zexion? Man, I hope you go into her past more, especially with Zexion. Also, when did her name change? So many questions. Anyway, great job again. I really like the Seth/Jethro character; he seems to match Crystal's wit and sass. Also, one more thing, what were the lyrics at the beginning of the chapter (the ending was "Falling Inside the Black" by Skillet)?

[Andillexe]

Originally Posted by TwilightRiku_13

WHAT!?!? Crystal used to be in the Organization? She was onec Xion, the 14th member? And she used to like Zexion? Man, I hope you go into her past more, especially with Zexion. Also, when did her name change? So many questions. Anyway, great job again. I really like the Seth/Jethro character; he seems to match Crystal's wit and sass. Also, one more thing, what were the lyrics at the beginning of the chapter (the ending was "Falling Inside the Black" by Skillet)?

I knew that title was appropriate. Yes, yes, and yes. And I might make a mini story about her and Zexion. I don't know. Her name changed when her original self lost her soul, because when she saw the necklace, she read "water gem", so she thought "crystal". Seth's cool. I made him in dedication of an old friend, only I lightened up his mood a bit more. ^^ The song's "Art of Breaking" by Thousand Foot Krutch.

[Twilight_Path]

Jeeeeez, look at all the awesomeness I've missed!

lol, The title pwns. As does Thousand Foot Krutch.

"Master of Worse Timing in the Universe" ... Nice.

Full of excellent twists. I love this. You rock, Andillexe.

[Andillexe]

Chapter 5: You have got to be kidding me.

So clever. Whatever, I’m done with these endeavors.
Alone I’ll walk the winding way. Here I stay.
It’s over. No longer. I feel it growing stronger.
I live to die another day, until I fade away.
Why give up? Why give in? It’s not enough, it never is.
So I will go on until the end.
We’ve become desolate. It’s not enough, it never is.
But I will go on until the end.
The final fight, I win.

“Aaarrrgg!!” Xehanort screamed as he came at me, Keyblade ready. I was ready for him. Right after I said “here,” I began summoning my sword and tensing into my fight position. I remembered how to summon Kingdom Key, but summoning it would be like accepting that what Xehanort’s been saying was all true. Turns out I didn’t have to. Just as Xehanort brought his Keyblade down, Seth jumped between us, his own Keyblade at the ready.

“Seth…” I said, staring at him. “I—”

“Don’t say another word, Crystal,” he cut me off, the strain eminent in his voice. “He’s gone too far, trying to attack you.”

“You should’ve seen him in the Wasteland,” I scoffed. “Oh, yeah. You’re an idiot.” He turned his head slightly towards me and his forehead creased a little, as if to say “this is the thanks I get for saving your sorry ass?”

“Don’t do this, Jethro,” Xehanort told Seth, leaping across the room.

“My name is Seth.” And then Seth portalled us out of that hell hole…

And to the dungeon area.

“He’ll never find us here,” I said as I looked around. “Nope.”

“Let’s see you do better.”

“Is someone there?” came a voice from down the hall. I looked at Seth, who shrugged, and we both ran to the voice. It was one of the group members from Aurora City. He was sitting in the far corner of his cell, his eyes looking around wildly and trembling worse than a leaf caught in the middle of a tornado.

“Where are the others?” I asked him, looking up and down the hall. I figured if this guy was here, then his buddies must be somewhere nearby.

“I don’t know,” the guy whimpered, terror plain in everything he did. “I don’t know. Where am I? Why am I here?”

“I’ll go check the other cells,” Seth told me as he walked down the hall, looking through the bars as he went. The guy just kept blubbering. “Crystal, you might wanna see this.” I looked at the guy then jogged over to Seth. He was standing in the very last cell of the hallway.

“Oh my God,” I breathed. Inside the cell were about five or six very rowdy Unbirths. They were bouncing off the walls, ceiling, bed and each other. Seth went back to the guy.

“How many of you were there?” he demanded. Dude kept rambling on. “Hey!” that got Dude’s attention. “How many were in your group?”

“Uh, seven?” Seth ran back to me.

“There are five Unbirths in that cell, but there were seven in the group.”

“Where’s the seventh?” I asked, watching at the Unbirths.

“Xehanort’s lab, probably.” Yay, he ditched the “Master.” “He might still have his soul, so—”

“So, what?” I interrupted. “What are we going to do? Bring him and his crazy friend over there back to Aurora City? What are we going to tell them? ‘Oh, yeah. Uh, about your buddies. They got their souls ripped out of them by a mad scientist who wants to take over Kingdom Hearts. Sorry.’”

“I don’t think their souls were ripped out of them.”

“Not the point.” I shook my head. “Why does he need a lab, anyway? Can’t he just send out the Unbirths he has now to make new Unbirths, like the Heartless or Nobodies?”

“Unfortunately, the Unbirths don’t have that ability,” Xehanort’s voice answered my question. The dude promptly started freaking out when Xehanort appeared in front of his cell. “That’s why I need your help. So that I can have Kingdom Hearts. So that you Unbirths can have Kingdom Hearts.” I could feel Seth looking at me, but I ignored him.

“Thanks, but no thanks,” I said, dismissing his offer. “I’m fine without Kingdom Hearts.” Xehanort looked like he was going to attack us again, but I grabbed Seth and light-portalled us out of there. We ended up in the Wastelands. “It’s not Destiny Islands, but at least we’re out of that stupid castle.”

“Too bad we’re still, like, five hundred meters away from it,” Seth told me. I looked around and all I saw were the same cliffs as before.

“What are you talking about?” I asked. “I don’t see the castle.” He pointed to an unusual, castle-shaped grouping of cliff-rock things not too far away. “That’s the castle?” Seth nodded. “Oh, you have got to be kidding me.”

“I might be able to teleport us somewhere else,” Seth pondered. “Only problem is there’s a strong possibility that it’ll be back inside the castle.”

“Okay, I vote not doing that.” I looked around. “I know how we’re going to get out of here.” I told him, smiling.

“How?”

“Escape by gummi ship.” I pointed up at the gummi ship in the sky.

* * *

The first logical place to look for Crystal would be to look for her where she was seen last. Or so Riku thought. Not a lot of people know this, but flying a gummi ship for a couple hours is very therapeutic. No, really. Flying through space and blasting things with lasers and dodging various perils is good for you. Gives you time to think. And that’s what Riku did as he rocketed through space, heading to the Wasteland. All his thoughts were on when he and Ansem the Wise decided to erase all of her memories.

“Is this really necessary?” Naminé asked after they put Crystal in the pod.

“Yes,” Ansem said. “If it is as you say, then replacing her memories should protect her.”

“What do you think?” she asked Riku. He looked at the pod for a while before answering.

“I don’t know why, but I feel as if I’ll be very sad if something happens to her,” he answered. Naminé turned to the pod. Crystal was very vague, but they could still see her shadow through the frosted glass of the pod. She was sleeping very soundly, her memories getting replaced.

“I know what you mean,” she said.

“Huh?”

“Nothing.” Naminé smiled. “She just feels like a sister to me.” That puzzled Riku, and he was about to ask her what she meant, but then Ansem sent Riku away on another job.

“Too bad I never got to ask her what she meant by that,” Riku said softly. He looked out the windshield at the Wastelands, and his heart started beating rapidly. “Crystal,” he breathed. Apparently his logic was correct.

* * *

“Riku!” I exclaimed as I ran to him. After everything that’s happened, everything that we had to go through—me, getting taken from my home, and him having to worry about me—and now it’s finally over. I glomped him and we both fell over. “I missed you so much,” I sobbed. He answered me by kissing me very hard (if a person can kiss someone hard, he just did it to me. But it was nice). After a few moments of kissing, Seth coughed.

“Still here,” he said. Riku let go of me, summoned his Keyblade, and attacked Seth.

“What are you doing?” I shouted as I got up. Seth blocked him and they fought.

“How do you know he’s not working for Xehanort?” Riku yelled from the fight.

“Stop attacking me and I’ll tell you why,” Seth grunted as he blocked another blow. Riku attacked harder.

“Riku, stop it,” I told him. “Seth helped me escape, so we owe him that.” Riku leapt away from Seth and put his arm around my waist unnecessarily, yanking me close to him. Seth was still tensed as he spoke.

“Crystal, remember that story I told you? About how Xehanort took me in when I was little?” I nodded. “That was a lie Xehanort made me tell you.” Riku stiffened and glared at Seth with an intensity that probably would’ve made my legs buckle if I was the one he was staring at. I had never seen him so… angry. Not even at Xehanort.

“Eh?” I asked.

“Yeah, that was a lie. I’m actually an Unbirth he created so that you wouldn’t leave.” Riku’s grip tightened around me, and I started to see pretty colors.

“Can’t… breathe,” I squeaked. Riku loosened up a little. So, Seth was also a soulless? Huh… I wondered why he was putting it all so bluntly. He could’ve been a bit more delicate, especially with Riku being there and all.

“Heh, not a very good ‘boyfriend’ you’ve got there,” Seth scoffed, making little air-quotes around the word “boyfriend”. “If you die of suffocation one day, I’ll know who to blame.” Riku tried to lunge at Seth, but I grabbed onto his waist and dug my heels into the ground. It took everything I had just to keep Riku from murdering Seth.

“Okay, stop it,” I told both of them, letting go of Riku (thankfully, he didn’t kill Seth). “Seth, stop being a jerk. Riku, stop being an idiot. We still need to get off this stupid rock before Master Fruit Loop finishes up in there. Let’s just get along until we get to whatever world is furthest from here. Then you two can maybe attempt to play nice. Got it?” They both nodded, but kept glaring at each other. “Good. Let’s go.” I walked to the gummi ship and hopped inside, immediately sitting in the driver’s seat.

“Oh no,” Riku groaned. He sat down in the co-pilot’s seat.

“What’s wrong?” Seth asked, his voice hostile.

“Crystal’s driving.” I chuckled evilly, making Seth’s eyes widen a bit.

* * *

Seth’s reaction was way worse than Riku’s was. Seth wasn’t just shaking like a leaf, he actually collapsed when he tried to stand up.

“You should’ve seen her the first time,” Riku laughed as he stared at Seth. “She’s actually improved quite a bit.” I gave them a thumbs-up before I hopped off the ship and into Disney Castle’s gummi bay.

“Where is everyone?” I asked Riku as he and Seth jumped off the ship.

“Probably in the Library.” He came up to me and once again put his arm obviously around my waist. I thought I saw him glance at Seth, who was behind us, and groaned mentally.

Why does he hate me? Seth’s voice asked me mentally.

You can do it too? Great. Just great.

Yeah. Why does he hate me? he asked again.

He doesn’t hate you; he just doesn’t trust you, I explained.

Why? Because I’m an Unbirth, like you? Or is it because I was created by Xehanort because of you?

Probably the latter. I thought I heard him grumble something about “jealous,” but I ignored it.

“Do you mind if Seth and I change first?” I asked Riku. He nodded and led the way to one of the rooms on the second floor.

But I don’t—, Seth started.

You’re changing, I snapped, cutting him off. These outfits represent a very unpleasant period in Riku’s past, and I don’t want to cause him any more pain. That shut him up.

As Riku led me to one of the doors, I thanked him and rushed inside to get that stupid suit off of me. I found a T-shirt and jean-like pants. I quickly put them on and discarded the much hated fighting suit. I looked at myself in the mirror that was hanging on the wall, staring at the necklace that had belonged to my original self. Yeah, it was given to me by Xehanort, but it was mine to begin with. Besides, it let me remember everything I forgot. Like why I forgot my memories in the first place. It all started when I fell into the abyss.

The reason I was hanging on for dear life was because Axel made me.

“I am fed up with always having to bring you back,” he told me, summoning his weapons of fire. I was backed up to the edge of the chasm with cliff walls on either side of me, the only escape being through Axel (because no one had really taught me how to teleport properly). Kingdom Key was in my hands and I was getting ready to fight my way out. He came on me slowly, and I was backing away at the same speed. “I don’t know why you’re so freaking important, or why you run away so much, but I don’t care anymore.”

He moved like he was going to attack me, and I stepped back to defend myself. Only I lost my footing and slipped, dropping Kingdom Key into the dark crevasse. I held onto the edge, the corner of the cliff cutting into my stomach. Axel disappeared for a second and came back with Roxas and Zexion.

“What happened?” Roxas asked Axel as he and Zexion ran to me.

“She slipped,” Axel said as he just stood there.

“And you didn’t think to help her yourself!?” Zexion demanded as he and Roxas tried to pull me up. I fell further, gripping the cliff with my hands. The rest happened exactly as it did in my dream.

I also knew why I couldn’t teleport to my home world. It’s because my home world doesn’t exist. Nope. The explanation for that is also the explanation for why I was in a pod for almost a year (or so Riku tells me. I think it was more like a few months). It’s because Naminé and Ansem the Wise planted those fake memories and got rid of my real memories. I don’t know why they felt the need to do that, but if they had done one tiny thing wrong, I’d be stumbling through oblivion instead of standing here reminiscing. And that is why I’m keeping the necklace. Though I have no idea why I never asked why I was in that stupid pod in the first place…

* * *

Riku was ecstatic that Crystal was finally home, safe and sound, but did she really need to bring Seth? Seriously, he was created for the sole purpose of keeping Crystal to stay with Xehanort. He couldn’t betray the person that gave him somewhat free will, could he?

After Crystal shut the door, Seth and Riku stared at each other for a while. “Thanks for helping Crystal out,” Riku said through clenched teeth. “It means a lot to me.”

“You’re welcome. Is there somewhere I can go to change?”

“Down the hall, last door on the left.” Seth looked at him funny, but left anyway. Okay, that was a really low move, but Riku didn’t want Seth anywhere near Crystal until he knew what was going on inside that head of his. Xehanort could very well be controlling him to try and get Crystal back, or get her to do something that would work in his favor. Seth was created by Xehanort, after all. Also, Riku sees the way Seth looks at Crystal. He didn’t think that it was much of a threat; he could tell that Crystal thinks of him more like a… brother, I guess.

“Hey, can we talk?” Crystal asked, her head peeking out of the door.

“Yeah, sure,” Riku said. He took one last glance down the hall before going into the room. “What’s up?”

“I know that Seth may seem like he shouldn’t be trusted no matter what—“ Agreed. “—but he’s a good guy. I promise.”

“And how can you be sure of that? How do you know he’s not still in contact with Xehanort? Xehanort could be on his way right now to come get you back.” Crystal looked at the floor and didn’t say anything.

“Just give him a chance. I don’t think he’d do anything to hurt us.” She looked back up at him and gave him big puppy eyes.

“I’ll give him half a chance. But only because you want me to.”

“Better than nothing,” Crystal sighed.

* * *

I don’t know why Riku’s being such a hardhead about Seth. I mean, yeah, it looks kinda bad, him being my friend only because Xehanort wanted him to. And the way Seth treats Riku isn’t ideal, but he’s trying. Right? Riku could at least try to show him some gratitude.

“Uh, Crystal, could you come out here for a sec?” Seth asked, knocking on my door. Riku rolled his eyes and sat down on the bed.

“At least he has common courtesy,” I told Riku. “Yeah?” I asked Seth, stepping out into the hall and closing the door behind me. For now, it was best if I tried to keep Riku and Seth separated. I looked at what Seth was wearing. “Why are you wearing Riku’s clothes?”

“Well, he sent me to the end of the hall and to the last door on the left, but there weren’t any clothes in there. So I checked all the rooms on this floor. And I found these,” he explained.

“Uh, you might want to change into something else,” I told him, fearful that Riku might actually hurt Seth if he ever saw Seth wearing his clothes.

“Into what? I got rid of my suit.” I tried to think.

“Wait here.” I went back into the room and grabbed a shirt and pants. Riku gave me a funny look as I went about the room and back out the door. “Here you go.” I handed Seth the clothes.

“Thanks.” And he went back to the end of the hallway. I was going to tell him to come back and take one of these rooms, but the thought of Riku and Seth fighting again kept me quiet.

“What was that about?” Riku asked when I walked back in the room.

“Wardrobe malfunction.” Riku didn’t inquire further. “So, everyone’s in the Library?”

“Yeah, wanna head over there now?” Riku got up and walked to the door. “We don’t have to bring Seth, do we?”

“I think it’d be better for them to meet him later, don’t you?” I didn’t want to handle any more stress that day, so it probably was best for Seth to just stay in his temporary bedroom. Just for now.

* * *

“Hey, I’m back,” Riku announced as we walked into the Library. “And I found Crystal.” The Library was empty.

“Where is everyone?” I asked Riku.

“They’re probably out looking for you. Two search parties are better than one.”

“Yeah, but what if they found me and you were gone?” I looked around the Library. “Is there a radio on the gummi ship?” Riku shrugged. “Let’s go check it out.” I went to the gummi bay. Jumping into the gummi ship that we came in earlier, I checked the dash for some type of radio thing. “Found it,” I called when I found a big box with a walkie-talkie thing attached to it. Riku jumped into the ship and picked up the walkie-talkie.

“Uh… King? Can you hear me?” he asked into it. There was static for a second. We were just about to give up and go back to the Library when…

“Riku?” the King’s voice came from the box. “Is that you?”

“Yeah.”

“Where are you?” Sora asked.

“Back in the gummi bay. Where are you guys?” Static. “Guys?”

“Uh… we just fought Xehanort and demanded that he give up Crystal,” Sora explained. “He said that she escaped, and mumbled something about apprentices. We’re on our way back to Disney Castle now. Do you know where Crystal is?”

“Right here,” I said.

“Oh… Hi, Crystal! We missed you.”

“Glad to hear it.”

“Sora, out,” he told us before sending a lot of static our way.

“At least they’re okay.” I sighed. “I can’t believe that they actually fought Xehanort, but at least nothing bad happened.” I got out of the gummi ship and went back to the Library. My reasoning was that maybe the King had a few books on Unbirths or Heartless or Nobodies or something. Riku came with me, probably worried that I’d get kidnapped again if he let me out of his sights for even one second. I didn’t mind; I missed him so much over the past month or two. I picked up a few books and started skimming through them, looking for anything that might be even remotely related to one of the three. After an hour or two of looking through every book, I sighed and put the book in my hand back. There wasn’t anything in the library on Unbirths, Nobodies, or Heartless.

“Didn’t find anything?” Riku asked. Even though he didn’t have a clue as to what I was looking for, he pulled books off shelves and skimmed through them right along with me. I shook my head. “What were you looking for anyway?”

“Anything that might help me understand the connection between Unbirths, Heartless, and Nobodies,” I told him, sinking down into a nearby chair. “But the King doesn’t have anything.”

“Well, if it’s bothering you this much, I do know one place where we might be able to get some answers,” Riku said.

“Really?” I looked up at him. “Where?”

“Good ol’ Master Xehanort’s place,” he said with an evil smile. My eyes got wide.

“No way!” I shouted, jumping up. “No way in hell! I just got back from that horrible hell hole. I don’t want to go back. Maybe in a couple of months? That’d be nice. Or, you know, never? That’d be even better.”

“Can your curiosity really wait that long?” he asked, looking me in the eye. Jerk.

“No,” I admitted. “But I really don’t want to go back. I just… can’t…” He looked at me for a second longer, and then sighed.

“If you really don’t want to, we don’t have to.” I smiled at him and sunk back into the chair. I couldn’t believe that he would want me to go back to that place so soon. Did he really want to risk losing me again? There was no way he would do that over my curiosity. Unless... unless he didn’t really care about my curiosity. That’s when it his me. It was all about revenge for him. I was flattered, but I also thought that Riku was a flippin’ idiot. If he wanted to go kick Xehanort’s ass, he damn well didn’t need me there to see it. All he had to do was say “hey, I’m going to go get revenge on Xehanort. See you later,” and I’d be okay with that… Actually, that’s a lie. I would so not be okay with that. What if he got hurt? What if he got… killed? I shook the thought from my head. But… he did have a point. If there was anything that would or could help me grasp a little of what I actually am, it’d be at Xehanort’s castle.

“When do you want to leave?” I asked. Riku looked at me and a huge grin appeared on his face.

* * *

There was just one condition: Seth had to come. Riku wasn’t happy about it, the numbskull, and Seth was a bit snide, the jerk. I didn’t want Seth all alone in the castle, and I wanted to wait to introduce him to the others. It’d be a bit of a shock if they found him wandering around by himself. Riku and Seth did agree on one thing, and that was to not let me drive on any conditions. Probably best; I’d crash us into a meteor because of all the things I had to think about. So, it was a quiet trip. About two hours long. No one spoke. I wasn’t driving. It was a nice, peaceful drive to the much hated castle. I was in the back with Riku driving and Seth in the co-pilot’s seat.

“I am about to go crazy from all this quiet!” I finally exclaimed. That scared the shit out of the other two. “How much longer?”

Riku and Seth looked at each other and sighed. “About half an hour,” Riku informed me. “Not that long.”

“Can I dr—?”

“NO!” they both cut me off. I crossed my arms and sat angrily in my chair (if a person can actually sit angrily, I did). In that random way of it, my mind started wondering first about Seth and Riku, then somehow trailed to my memories, and ended up thinking about the King, Sora, and everybody.

“Where do you think they are?” I asked, surprising the other two. They both looked at me funny.

“Where’d that come from?” Seth laughed. Riku looked like he was about to chuckle, but took one look at Seth and stopped. I looked at the floor of the cockpit and just shrugged.

“Can I ask you guys a favor?” They both gave me a quick glance and turned away.

“Depends,” Riku said. “What’s the favor?”

I took a breath. “I want to fight Xehanort alone.”

“WHAT!? NO WAY IN HELL!” Riku exclaimed. He seemed like he was going to turn around and give me a stern look, but the sight of oncoming meteors and ships kept his gaze forward. Seth, not having any obligations, gave me that look for him. I sunk into my chair, trying to get away from that look.

“Are you crazy?” Seth asked me. “Do you honestly think you can beat him?”

“Not really,” I admitted. “But I just want to give him all the hell that I’ve been bottling up ever since he first showed up on Destiny Islands.”

“That’s so… stupid,” Riku told me, shaking his head. “You’re risking your life just for the chance to get some payback?”

“What are we doing right now? Hmm? Aren’t we risking our lives for some payback? Besides, this whole thing was your idea, remember?” Riku’s grip tightened on the steering wheel for a second, then he finally let out a groan.

“Fine.”

“What?” Seth asked. “Are you crazy too? We can’t let her fight him by herself. She’ll get hurt. Or worse!”

“You don’t understand.”

“Damn straight I don’t understand! I don’t understand how you can just stand by and let your girlfriend get beaten up by that sick bastard.” When Riku didn’t answer, Seth gave up and sat fuming in his seat.

“You don’t know Crystal,” Riku finally said. “She won’t get hurt. And if she’s in any trouble, you and I will be there, right? We’ll get in there before Xehanort even gets a chance to touch Crystal.”

“Thanks, Riku,” I said with a smile. We both knew it was a crazy plan that had little to no chance of succeeding, but we also knew that I had to do this by myself. At least for a little while. Seth can be mad all he wanted; I wasn’t going to change my mind.

“We’re here,” Riku said, drawing our attention to the brown rock before us. He turned around to look at me. “There’s no giving up now.” I nodded. Riku landed on the dark dirt, the same place as last time. The moon shone brightly in the sky, illuminating everything in a dark light, casting shadows across the ground. The castle lay not even five hundred meters away, towering over us and concealing us in shadow.

“Ah, so you’ve decided to return,” Xehanort greeted, teleporting in front of us. Riku, Seth, and I took up our weapons. Xehanort laughed. “Do you honestly think that you can defeat me?”

“Well, yeah,” I told him. “That’s kinda why we’re here.” Xehanort answered by summoning his Keyblade and getting in his battle position. Then he attacked. I was ready for him. All his training was going to come back to haunt him, I just knew it. I teleported into the air and hung there for a second while I tried to think of what he would do next. He jumped into the air and feigned an attack, teleporting behind me and reappearing in front of me, swinging his Keyblade at my stomach. I blocked that blow and immediately teleported to the ground, bringing my sword around to cover my back. There was a blow and Xehanort quickly vanished. I brought my sword to my left side and felt a sharp pain in my right side. Xehanort laughed before disappearing. Riku and Seth made a move to join in, but I stopped them by shaking my head. They stayed where they were and I went after Xehanort. He was back in the air, still laughing. I attacked his front and side, but he easily blocked me. I disappeared and reappeared, attacking him as quickly and accurately as possible. He blocked every single one of my attacks seemingly effortlessly. We kept this up for a while; I kept attacking him and got blocked, and he kept attacking me and got blocked. Finally, his stupid smile faded and was replaced with concentration and frustration.

“Looks like we’re an even match,” I told him, thrusting my sword at his chest.

“So it would seem,” he grunted, blocking my blow and whipping his Keyblade around to hit my head. It missed.

“Do you think we should help?” Seth asked Riku, staring up at the fight with concern. Riku shook his head.

“No. This is her fight.”

“But—you said that we should help if she needed it.”

“Does she look like she needs it?” Seth shook his head. “Then we should let her finish it.” Seth looked at Riku for a while before returning to the fight.

I smiled, attacking with more vigor than before. After a while of beating upon Xehanort’s Keyblade, I was finally starting to make connections. And before long, I was hitting him almost every time. His face changed from concentration to pure, unadulterated hatred. All of his attacks were getting sloppier and sloppier, making it very easy for me to simply bat them away and hit his sorry ass. It was just like when I was fighting Xemnas (well, when my duplicate was fighting him). In that fight, I was slowly able to start whacking Xemnas, before… Xehanort caught me off guard and struck me hard in the head. I saw stars and started falling to the ground. Xehanort slowed my decent by attacking me again and again in rapid succession. When I had landed on the ground, he stood over me with triumph shining like fog lights in his eyes.

“Crystal, no!” Seth and Riku shouted. They tried to run over to me, but they were stopped by dozens of Unbirths.

“I told you,” Xehanort said, bending down so that he was right in my face. “You can’t beat me.”

“I just did.” I brought my sword up and plunged it through his chest. He looked down in rage and hit me across the head again with his Keyblade; I thought I heard something crack. He fell to the ground and started coughing up blood.

“Crystal!” Riku shouted, he and Seth struggling to get through the line of Unbirths. They finally managed to defeat the Unbirths and ran over to me.

“And so it ends,” Xehanort said, taking his last breath. Riku took my head and cradled it gently in his lap.

“Tell me you made a copy of yourself, just like last time,” he said, tears forming in his eyes. “Please. Tell me.”

“I wish,” I almost chuckled, my vision getting blurry. “Take care, and try not to worry about me. Find someone nice.” And then I went.

“Crystal?” Riku asked, lightly shaking me. “Crystal!?” He shook me harder, but I wouldn’t answer.

Got my sights locked in, I can see you breathe.
Then I watched you fall and somebody scream.
It’s the saddest thing when angels fly away.
I can’t be home tonight. I’ll make it back, it’s alright.
No one could ever love me half as good as you.
If you can’t be strong tonight; love makes you sad, it’s alright.
No one could ever worry half as good as you.

[madammina]

PLEASE don't tell me Chrystal's dead...

[TwilightRiku_13]

Please, please, please do not tell me that Crystal is dead!!! She is the hero of the story, she cannot die!!! And I have a hard time believing that Xehanort would die that easily. I so cannot wait until your next update; I really need to know what happens next. One more thing (like usual), what were the songs at the beginning and end of the chapter? They do not seem familiar.

[Andillexe]

Yeah... she died. Sorry. *hides* Please don't hurt me. o.o When I was writing this, all I wanted to do was just get rid of Xehanort, so I had Crystal kill him. Sure, it could've been better, but he was starting to make me mad. XD Guess I got really into it. The first song is "Until the End" by Breaking Benjamin, and the second one is "When Angels Fly Away" by Cold.

[madammina]

(starts bawling) (hides future Riku Kelsie Fanart)

Where are you going to take it now? She WAS the protagonist.

[Andillexe]

Originally Posted by madammina

(starts bawling) (hides future Riku Kelsie Fanart)

Where are you going to take it now? She WAS the protagonist.

*blinks* Riku... Kels--nevermind. You'll see where it goes. I might have to add a bunch before next Friday, or I could just be lazy and make a mini-story later. idk.

[madammina]

Riku Kelsie are my crack pair. Despite the fact they seem to go well together (in my mind anyway) no one else seems to have put them together.

I'm really stumped on how this will go forward. I'm gonna miss Crystal though, and I'm scared for Riku.

[TwilightRiku_13]

I agree with madammina, what are you going to do with the story now that the main character is dead? And I am terrified for Riku; he doesn't seem like one to deal with death well. Anyway, can't wait until your next post; I really want to see where the story goes now.

[madammina]

One question, how is Crystal narrating this if she's dead?

[Andillexe]

I''m... uh... not at liberty to discuss this? I really don't want to give anything away, but at the same time I want to tell you how I'm going to do this. *bites tongue* Arg! Now I take back everything I've ever said about cliffhangers. They are not fun to write. Not fun at all. >.<

[TwilightRiku_13]

Yeah, cliffhangers aren't fun, especially the one you left us hanging with at the end of your chapter. Man, I don't know where you're going to go with this, but I do hope you find a way to bring Crystal back to life. I was thinking that, since she is an Unbirth, if Riku can find her soul and put it back into her body, then she would be whole. Just a crazy idea that I had rolling around in my head. Can't wait until your next update.