Redemption Frägment

Chapter Eleven: Fragmented Child

/Wake up now. That’s a good boy. Do you know where you are? Do you know who you are? Can you speak?/

The darkness is crowding in around him, cutting off air, sight, distorting hearing. He struggles against the darkness but it only tires him. The sepulchral voice urges him to just give up and relax.

/Can you hear me?/

He nods slightly, answering the silent voice. There’s a far off chuckle, a laugh, deadly and welcoming all at once. He’s certain he’s heard this voice before, certain he knows it from somewhere. But where?

/Don’t dwell too much on it, little one. Just wake up now. It’s time for you to go back to where you belong./

Belong? Where does he belong? He wants to ask but that deep voice continues on as if it hadn’t heard the question.

/I’ll come for you soon, now that I know where you are. Don’t try to resist me lest you wish for an eternity of pain./

/Who are you? Who am I?/

/I am you. A fragment of me, my little lost heart, and I’m coming to get you./

/I am…/

A fragment?


After a severe argument between Zack and Seifer, we choose to go right. And by we I mean Riku and I. This leaves Seifer with a pouting look on his face. Not that he’d ever admit it, but he was.

I whisper to Riku my feeling of being watched and he just nods, stepping a little closer to me. I suppose I should feel annoyed at being coddled so, but I don’t. I’m capable of defending myself, sure, but added protection at my back doesn’t hurt either. We enter a chamber with six offshoots and a tiled floor. As Zack consults Riku and Seifer, I move toward the tiled floor.

Each tile has a different rune and colour. I tilt my head as I study the floor. Each rune corresponds to a colour, so there’s only one correct path to the correct tunnel. I take a step forward and suddenly my vision swims.

What. The. Hell?

A dark room, lit by green and violet light. A man is there, almost bent by age, pouring over an old tome. Another is there, a younger male, face masked by a helmet, body covered by dark cloth.

/Where are you going?/

The younger male shifts, gesturing with his hand. The old man slashes a glare at the youth.

/You know what’s happening./

/I am you./

/You are mine,/ says the old man, gnarled fingers reaching for the young face.

/No!/

/I own you. You’re not meant to exist like this./

/No! I am-/

“An?” Zack’s beside me, a hand on my shoulder to steady me before I topple into the tiles. Riku’s there too, on my other side to help support me. “Are you all right?”

Am I all right? I just had this vision of an old man trying to molest me. I don’t think I’m all right. “I think so…”

A dark room, plush black carpets on the walls, one on the floor, all meant to muffle sound.

Screams, heart-wrenching, soul-tearing pain contained in each.

Rage, hatred, sadness, longing.

They were all there, in those sounds.

Why?

Zack and Riku help me stand up, Riku keeping an arm around mine to hold me upright in case I felt like having another fainting spell. I can still feel the ghost touch of the old man, still feel a feeling of the revulsion the younger male had for the elder.

What were they to each other?

Master and apprentice?

Or master and slave?

What did it have to do with me?

Bright, blinding light. Such rage in those strikes! Such hatred! How it burned!

Seifer lets out an exasperated sigh. “If the princess is done fainting can we please get back to choosing which way to go?”

“Are you really okay?” Riku asks in a whisper.

“I think so.” I give the other a shaky smile. “I’ll be all right.”

Zack coughs a little to get our attention. “The red tiles are the ones we have to take. Once we get across, we take the left path.”
“From where?” I ask, leaning a little more on Riku as I feel my head start to spin again.

Laughter, torturous laughter.

Pieces of glass broken like puzzle pieces littered the black floor.

Some were foggy, some were clear. Some glowed with bright light while others glowed deep black. Fragments. Fragments of what?

Of me.

“From where? From where?! God damn it, An, weren’t you listening?” Seifer reaches out to pull me away from Riku and into a headlock, rubbing his knuckles against my skull. Riku just gives the blonde a wicked glare to get him to let go of me. I stumble a little bit, thankful Zack has the presence of mind to catch me.

“Enough,” Zack says. “Look, just go across now.”

Riku goes first, and I follow him across the red tiles, leaping onto the cave floor once across. Our companions do the same, Seifer making a swipe at Zack once he reaches us. Zack only dodges it with a smile and moves down the path, taking point. We fall in behind him, each of us keeping our eyes and ears open.


Sora was frowning heavily by the time they entered the town at the edge of the forest. Goofy had run ahead of them and stood now on the path leading into the city. Sephiroth walked beside Leon, arms folded over his chest. The silent brunette turned to the boy as he walked by, an elegant eyebrow raising.

“They’ve got to be here,” Sora stated, stopping to look at his companions. Then he turned to Goofy. “Go back to the ship, let Donald know where we’re going.”

As the humanoid dog ran back the way they had come, Leon merely nodded an answer; Sephiroth glowered at the town almost suspiciously. The place was awfully festive for a place celebrating the dead. Something wasn’t quite right.

“Let’s have a look around.” The General spoke, smoothly melding into the shadows as he stepped back. “See if anyone’s heard anything.”

“We should stay together.” Leon said softly, a hand resting on Lion Heart’s hilt. He glanced at Sora and the boy followed him after the silver-haired man. An hour of walking around the town and with no answers to our questions was not something they had hoped for, but the more they knew about the town, the sooner they could escape. They paused for a moment by a cave in which parties of warriors went into, trying to find the treasure and make it back out in one piece. Sora leaned against the ticket booth, fighting back tears of frustration. He looked up into glowing green eyes when their owner placed a gloved hand on his shoulder.

“That one group has help, I’m sure of it.”

Leon stepped into the shadows as Sephiroth pulled the Keyblade Master back. They watched a cloth on the ticket booth pull back and then fall in place once again as whoever was looking out was satisfied that no one was eavesdropping.

Sora stared at the booth once he realized the gaze of the person would have seen them, before a wet tongue touched his cheek. He jerked a bit and heard a quiet laugh. Against Leon’s shoulder sat a green furry creature.

Carbuncle, mouthed Leon to his companions, shielding.

Sora could tell Seph was smirking and surprisingly he felt he was as well. Leon’s hand moved to his mouth, index finger pressing against his mouth in a ‘be quiet’ gesture. Like one entity, the group’s attention centered back on the booth.

“---SOLDIER. Recognized the belt.”

“If he is, then nothing we do kill him. And what are we going to do about those twins and the blonde?”

“The SOLDIER is the same group as them.” A pause. “If they figure out all the traps, he’s going to be very angry.”

“The sacrifices must be made.”

“He demanded so many this year.”

Sephiroth’s hand squeezed Sora’s shoulder at the voices. The smaller brunette looked up at the man and saw the carefully guarded, hopeful look. They all had a hopeful look.

Those they were looking for were here. Quietly, the quartet slipped out of the concealing shadows and into the cave. Leon’s calm voice was speaking to the furry creature on his shoulder. It leapt to the cave floor and began to trot off.

“Follow Carbuncle,” Leon whispered. “He’ll lead us to them.”

The quartet followed the small shielding summon deeper into the cave, hopeful of finding the ones they were searching for.