Redemption Frägment

Chapter Three: Where Is This?

Riku shakes me awake when we arrive in Bedouin. The feline-man jumps off the cart to help us down, but his services aren’t needed. I mean, Riku practically pulls me off so I end up on my face anyway. I glare at him and he merely smiles. Irritating little bastard. The cat-man watches us with interest now and I know I’m getting bad vibes from him. You know the kind. They start like butterflies in your stomach and you feel cold but your hands are getting kinda sweaty? Yeah, like that. I stand up and step prudently behind Riku, leaving him to deal with the cat-man while I look around.

Riku grabs my wrist suddenly, pulling me along behind him as he threads through the crowd of people that had come to watch the unloading of the cart. What is it about trivial things that people find the most amusing? The look in Riku’s eyes warns me not to ask questions. I probably wouldn’t like the answers anyway. He turns into an alley and finally releases me.

“I’m all for advancing in an opposite direction,” I mutter as I rub my wrist, “but don’t squeeze my hand to death.”

“Were you getting evil vibes from that guy?” Riku stares into my eyes. I nod helplessly.

“Yeah. It was kind of weird. He stared at me a lot.”

“He stared at both of us a lot. You were unconscious most of the ride here, and he stared at us every chance he got. I can only wonder why.”

I shiver, feeling Emma rub against my leg. “I don’t like this place, Riku. Everything feels wrong. Tainted.”

“I know what you mean. Let’s keep moving.”

“And go where? I’ve never been here before. You haven’t either. We need to stay put for a while and find out all the information we can.”

“We don’t have time for that,” Riku says darkly, “we have to go now.”

“And we’ll walk right into danger. You know, this is exactly how this whole thing started in the first place! Because you didn’t listen the first time around!”

“I did too listen!”

“And that’s why you were taken by the darkness, right? Why you let yourself be my vessel?”

Riku makes a sound like a teakettle about to boil over. “I don’t know how I could ever see any good in you!” Riku storms off, leaving me alone in the alley. I follow him out to the street, but I quickly lose sight of him. Great. Me and my big mouth.

“I need to learn to shut up when I’m ahead, don’t I? This is going to suck. Now I have to find him all over again,” I sigh and look down at Emma. She looks back at me with an expression that plainly says, “you are a royal idiot”.

“Come on, fuzzy-death. Let’s go find him and apologize.”

Emma stares at me for a long moment and then she bolts in the direction Riku disappeared in. I curse and follow her as best I can but it’s inevitable that I lose Emma in the crowd as well. This is just great. Just perfect. I’m in a city that I’ve never heard of before, alone because the one human and the one fuzzy… whatever she was I thought I could trust ran off because I let my mouth get carried too far from my brain. I really need to learn to shut up.

I walk through the streets, looking for a flash of black-splattered silver or white fur. I call out occasionally and get stares from the townspeople for my efforts. After about an hour, I just give up. Bedouin is way too big for me to search for one teenage boy and a Memoria Custos all by myself. And there is no way I’m going to ask anyone to help me. I have that much pride left, at least. I wander to the docks, staring at the ships that have come in, loading and unloading their cargo. It’s interesting to watch the sailors putter about their duties. I sigh and throw up my hands helplessly.

“Why can’t I be as efficient as them? Why does it seem like I screw everything up?”

“Why do you screw everything up?”

I whirl around, seeing the cat-man standing behind me with several other men dressed in priest-like robes. With rope. And a gag. Or blindfold. Shit. I back away from them when they advance. “We weren’t expecting something like you to appear here, boy.”

I twitch. Something? A blow to the pride there.

“And what, exactly, were you expecting?” I stop at the edge of the pier and stare at them. They all share the same grin and that alone unnerves me.

“You are dead and yet you are alive. A Heartless and yet human. You’re a very interesting specimen. A perfect sacrifice.”

A small laugh of disbelief escapes me and the next thing I feel is a sharp needle prick in my neck. The feline-man steps up to me quicker than I would have thought him capable of and catches me before my world goes completely dark. My last thought is of Riku and Emma and I wonder if –


Riku wandered aimlessly through the crowded streets, head bowed and hands shoved deep into his pockets. He knew Ansem had a point. He had let the darkness take him. But he had reasons to listen to its seductive call. And he hadn’t listened, not to Sora, not to his own conscience. He’d heard the concern and fear in Sora’s voice but he’d ignored it in the prospect of the ability to go home. That though, had completely failed, and it had ended with him locked in Kingdom Hearts until Ansem showed up to release him. Ansem could have left him in Kingdom Hearts, fighting the Heartless that had almost overwhelmed them. But Ansem hadn’t let go of his hand when he had grabbed onto him.

Ansem hadn’t let go.

Riku sighed angrily and ran his gloved fingers through his hair, turning around, intending to go back and apologize to Ansem when a white fuzzy cat-like thing leapt into his chest, yowling incessantly as its claws dug into his skin. It took him a minute to realize the fuzzy thing was Emma.

“Emma? Emma, what’s wrong?”

Emma continued to yowl, pressing her head against his heart. Riku shook his head.

“Emma, I don’t understand. What’s wrong? Where’s Ansem?”

His question was answered when he was jostled by the crowd and pushed along with people eager to go somewhere. He caught a glimpse of the cat-man who had brought them to Bedouin and the black-speckled silver mess of Ansem’s hair between two men dressed as priests. Where were they taking Ansem? Riku clutched Emma to his chest and followed the priests and the crowd out of the grand square of the city to the temple district.

Were they going to sacrifice Ansem?

Riku ground his teeth. This was his fault. He left Ansem alone when his instincts had been screaming not to. He followed the crowd, pushing his way to the forefront of it when the people circled around a pedestal high off the ground. The priests settled Ansem down on the pedestal and clamped irons around his wrists. The cat-man stepped up to the altar and Ansem’s prone body, spreading his arms wide. In his right hand he gripped a sharp dagger.

“My friends!” the feline-man began, “Today is the day we’ve longed for! I have found the cause of the Heartless infestation in our town! This boy here is Heartless, but he is human as well! He’s summoned them down on us in retribution for letting the Keyblade Master sail from here! Now we can sacrifice him to end the creation of the Heartless!”

Riku’s eyes widened. Sora had been here? Sora had been here, in Bedouin. And Ansem, his only hope for finding Sora, was about to be murdered. Emma struggled out of his grip, clawing up his arms in the process, and bounded up the stairs to the altar. She landed on Ansem’s chest, back up and fur on end, hissing at the cat-man as she displayed her claws, swiping at the knife-wielding hand. Riku wasn’t far behind, picking up his pace at Ansem’s small cry of pain, reaching him as his eyes fluttered open. The yellow orbs were dull and unfocused. They’d drugged him with something.

Bastards.

“C’mon An. We have to get out of here!” Riku pulled Ansem up and against him, jumping off the platform into the astonished crowd. Ansem clung to him, trying to force his legs to work. Riku pulled them through the crowd toward the pier. If they could hop on a ship, they could get out of here. Or so Riku hoped. Emma appeared in front of them, bounding down the pier to one of the ships whose gangplank was being pulled from the landing.

“Wait!” Riku cried out. “Wait!”

The captain’s grizzled, chapped face appeared over the railing, pausing for a moment before shouting to drop the gangplank and let the two boys aboard. Riku pulled Ansem up the board, tripping gracelessly at the end and tumbling onto the deck, spilling them onto the wood as the ship broke away from the pier.

Riku looked up at the captain and his crew, panting, holding Ansem as close as he could. Emma stood before them, hair on end, her lips pulled back to display her teeth as though she thought she could defeat whatever danger they faced now. The captain’s hawk-like eyes peered at them, judging.

“I see you nabbed the sacrifice.” The captain muttered.

Riku shivered. “He’s my…” Riku paused again, trying to cover his falter with a swallow. “My brother. I couldn’t let them kill my brother.”

The captain seemed to mull over this for a moment. “Heard he summons Heartless.”

“He can’t. I know he has yellow eyes like the Heartless, but he’s not evil. He’s kind. A bit of an idiot, but he’s a good person. Look, we don’t know what’s happening. We don’t know what’s going on. We’re just trying to find a safe place to hide out until we can figure things out. Please. Please, can’t you help us?” Riku pleaded now, breaking into old skills he’d learned in a time forgotten. He didn’t want Ansem to be turned over to those priests and murdered for something he didn’t do. Well, something he didn’t do in this new life of his.

The captain studied the two boys, weighing and judging. The blue-eyed one seemed to be telling the truth about his companion. Thee other boy was listing, not really focused on the real world. And that little white beast seemed awfully protective of them both.

“Take them below. Make sure the gold-eyed one is kept warm and comfortable.” When the sailors paused, the captain shouted, “Now, you scalawags! Before I hand you over to the priests!”

A sailor took Ansem from Riku, carrying the boy below deck. Emma followed and Riku started forward when the captain grabbed his arm.

“I don’t to charity, boy.” The captain said with a smirk. “We’re headed to the town of Therein. Quiet place where no one asks the questions nobody wants to hear. It’ll take us a few days. Until your friend,” the captain emphasized the word, “is better to help you, you’re going to swab the decks.”

Riku sighed, grateful. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me boy,” the captain said, reaching for a bucket and mop, tossing them into Riku’s hands. “Swab my decks.”