Redemption Frägment

Interlude 03: Simple Dreams

I had met him as a young boy of fourteen, first in Hollow Bastion when he'd possessed the body of my beloved, my opposite. I killed him to save the world from the Heartless, and set on the quest to save Riku from the clutches of Kingdom Hearts. On that quest, I met him again, this time as a boy of sixteen. He wasn't a psychotic body-snatcher anymore. He had his own body, quite sane, and what's even more appalling, is that he was one of us. He was a Keyblade Master like Riku and myself.

We'd come back to Hollow Bastion after getting off that backwater planet, Ansem in worse shape than when we were. He'd screamed. Ansem, the former ruler of Hollow Bastion, the man who’d tried to unleash hell on the worlds with the Heartless, had screamed.

And he’d passed out right after.

He'd had a fever. He'd had it all through the fight with that… crab thing, had made it worse when he used up all his magic reserves healing Riku. One of us sits beside him all day and night, eating only when Aurora gets Ansem to swallow broth in his unconscious state. We’re all worried, I won’t lie to you. Zack and Squall scour the library for anything that could help us, anything, on Ansem’s condition.

He’s caught in the throes of nightmares, screaming in some tongue none of us recognize. He writhes and cries out, but he doesn’t recognize us. But, there’s good news to this story. He’s starting to improve. He’s able to open his eyes, but he can’t sit up on his own. He could hardly speak to us, rather making gestures in companion to his halted words. Couldn’t blame him really, considering all the nightmares he’d had during his sickness. No doubt his throat was sore.

Riku and I took to exploring the old castle, playing like we used to on the island, all bad things forgotten. We were in our own little world, not caring about anything. Which only made us feel like fools when we were caught by Ansem, who must have decided to try walking. He is alone, just staring at us. We don’t speak until he smiles.

“Look what I can do.”

He holds up his hand to us then, palm directed toward the marble floor. A small black puddle forms, a puddle very familiar to us. We watch as a little Shadow Heartless worms its way out of the puddle, the small creature making sounds of pleasure as it waddles over to the one who'd summoned it. The shadow doesn’t last long, melting into a black puddle nearly half way to Ansem.

I couldn't frown at him, couldn't rave at him for this. To him, it was a new power, a new accomplishment. He looked so happy, wanting to be accepted by us. By me. I couldn't do anything to ruin his joy. That would be like slapping a small child who'd been trying to give you a present he thought had been a great gift, even if the gift was a rock or a slug.

"That's great, Ansem." I say, watching him smile a bit more. He turns then, walking ahead of us as we walk out of the depths of the castle to the warmer library.

Here, in this place, we're like a big family, where there are no worlds that need saving, no Heartless that need killing, no problems to take away our simple happiness. It's all we've dreamed about. Our simple little dreams.

We sit around the library, on the floor or in chairs, in laps. Seifer is certainly milking that all it's worth, Squall settled in the larger blonde’s lap and looking terribly unhappy about it.

But then, Squally always kind of looked unhappy. Always with this sultry pout on his face that Riku tells me Seifer claimed made the brunette sexy. Just makes him look annoyed to me.

Books are set in front of us, open to nothing useful. Zack rubs his eyes, then the back of his neck, cracking a few of his joints.

"There's nothing. Nothing on that crab creature we fought, nothing on what happened to Ansem, nothing, a hundred times over." Zack tells us, gesturing to the books he and Squall had searched through for days as Ansem recovered.

"…Anything on that wouldn't be in these books. These were for everyone to read." Ansem whispers softly. He shifts, rising, and moves toward a bookshelf. He doesn't do anything for a moment, studying the bookshelf before reaching for one book, and pushing it into the wall. The shelf shifts then, sliding inwards and to the side, revealing a narrow corridor.

“You hid the books that weren’t for the public eye, huh?” Seifer asks Ansem then as we stand up to follow him.

"I didn't hide anything. These books were always here in the library. I'm just the one who found them." Ansem replies, leading us down the corridor and into another section of the library. This one is dark, mutely lit by black candles, books lining the walls and table. "This is where I learned of the Heartless. Where my insanity started.”

I see Zack give a shudder, and watch him move to a hidden section of the dark library. Sephiroth follows a few moments later, but there's nothing but silence from them. Squall shoves Seifer out of the library, back into the main one, following soon after. Riku and I stay, standing beside Ansem as he calls out to the pair in the darkened library.

“You’re going to be okay in here?”

"Yes. We'll be fine. Might take a while, but we'll be all right." Zack's voice replies from somewhere among the books. Ansem nods, shifting, and leaves the hidden room, Riku and I trailing behind. but Seifer and his lion are no where to be seen. A soft little sound from Ansem and he’s gesturing up the stairs. Ah.

“Well, then,” I say with a grin. “All the more reason not to go upstairs, huh?”

Riku shakes his head and smacks the back of my skull, earning soft peals of laughter from our companion. I rub the abused part of my skull and glare at my Dark. He just stares back, a smirk quirking his lips. I can't stay mad at him, and I'm soon grinning as well.

Ansem pauses just before Riku opens the door, turning halfway to look down at a small Shadow that has a death-grip on his pant-leg with its teeth. He kneels down to touch it, his face going from playfully amused to serious.

Watching Ansem switch from a playful boy into a dangerous warrior is a beautiful thing to witness. The playful sparkle in his golden eyes goes out, replaced with a sort of calm wariness. The smile drops to a stoic expression and his bodyline becomes relaxed, ready for any kind of movement that's needed. Makes one wonder if Riku and I do the same thing.

The Shadow vanishes, and Ansem rises. He's serious now, a warrior through and through. He shifts, looking first at Riku, then at me.

"Well?" I say, putting my hands over my chest and grinning. He just stares at me, and the longer he stares the sooner the grin slips off my face to replaced with a just as stoic expression.

"An intruder is in the castle," he says, looking straight at me, "Someone you two know very well.”

I see Riku tense in response, and I tense as well. I don’t like where this is heading.

"Who…?" Riku says in a croon. My eyes slide to his face, the aquamarine taking on a golden tinge. I’m positive he knows whom, considering the way he’s reacting.

"Calm yourself, Riku. There's no need to ride the killing edge until absolutely necessary." Ansem's voice sounds ages older than he looks. No small wonder he became the ruler of Hollow Bastion and the leader of the Heartless. He may be insane, but he's not stupid, even if he said crappy one-liners and repeated words all the time.

The gold retreats from beautiful aquamarine and Riku relaxes, a lazy grin appearing.

“Very well. Let’s go see what the bitch wants.”

Ansem smirks, nods, and leads us out of the library. I can hear my name being shouted, and in response I give a snarl. One slashing look from Riku quiets that snarl, but my lips still curl in the cruelest of smiles I can make.

So Kairi came looking for me, huh? No doubt by now she's heard Riku's been found, and Ansem's "rebirth" has been kept very hush-hush, so it isn't him she's come to claim revenge on. No, she’s here to destroy my Dark and reclaim me as she promised a year ago.

Let the bitch try.

Riku was taken away from me twice; once by Ansem, once by Kingdom Hearts.

I won’t let a spoiled little girl who’s -fixated- on my body being hers take him away from me a third time.