Redemption Frägment

Chapter Six: Finding the Way

A soft touch of fur to my forehead awakens me. I turn my head to face Emma as I blink sleep from my eyes. She has this far away look to her own eyes, like she is staring into nothingness, and I immediately know something is wrong. I sit up and look over at Riku. He is still sleeping, unaware that anything is wrong. Wait.

I scramble out of my bed when I see Riku is not breathing and I run over to him. I’m just about to touch his shoulder when the corners of the room begin to darken. A moment later, the entire room fades out of sight.

“Riku! Riku, wake up! Something’s wrong!”

“He cannot hear you, Ansem.”

I whirl around and stare as Emma floats in mid-air before me. She is beginning to glow and it takes a long moment before I recognize the voice.

“Oh, not you again.”

The entity narrows Emma’s eyes. “Do you forget already, Ansem? The Council gave you this Memoria Custos so that we may contact you.”

I wave my hand in dismissal. “Like I want you barging in on my life.”

“Easily, we gave you life, Halfling. Just as easily, we can take it away.”

I swallow, catching the one word the entity probably did not want me to hear. Halfling…? I lower my eyes, feigning shame. Obviously buying the act, the entity begins its rant again.

“We are amazed at your progress. You’ve befriended Riku and freed him from Kingdom Hearts. Already one step is complete in your quest. We are very pleased indeed.” There is a slight pause as the entity steps closer to me, using Emma’s paw to raise my head. I stare into Emma’s eyes and I feel cold suddenly, as if a weight was pressing down on my mind. Finally, the entity releases my gaze and I look away, shivering.

“We are greatly pleased, so pleased that the Council has decided to give you a gift.”

“A gift?” I feel a sense of foreboding at that remark. I’m not sure I want the gift the entity offers.

“Yes. A wonderful gift. You will know it when you see it. For now, I must leave you.”

Slowly the entity faded away and the room comes spinning back into my vision. I teeter precariously on my feet and stiffen when a hand is placed on my shoulder.

“Hey, it’s just me, An.” The concern in Riku’s voice relaxes me. My eyes find Emma’s furry body curled up on my bed as if nothing had happened.

“Riku, I need to talk to you. Away from fuzzy ears.” I grab his wrist, tightening my grip on him.

He looks at me, frowning. “All right.” A pause. “When?”

“Now?”

Riku picks up on the fear in my voice that I had thought I’d hidden and moves toward his bed. We pull on our shoes and leave the room, going down to the tavern of the inn. While he makes sure Emma didn’t follow, I sit at a table, where Riku joins me a moment later.

“All right. What’s up?” He cups his chin in his hands and looks at me.

“Remember when I told you about my redemption quest?” I don’t bother to wait for his nod. “Well, this entity-thing sent me on the quest. Emma is kinda like its way of keeping an eye on me. But I don’t like it.”

Riku stares at me. After a moment, he speaks again. “I don’t know what we can do. The most is keeping Emma with us and I’ll just protect you.”

I glare at him. “I don’t need protecting.”

“Yes you do. You’re half Heartless and you –” His eyes widen in imitation of mine. “Ansem? An!”

The last thing I feel is Riku’s hand catching me as the world around me goes black.


- Wake up now. That’s it. Good boy. Feel the darkness within you? That is your power. And that power is bound to me. Don’t fight it. I own you now. You will fight for me. Fight them for me, Xehanort. -


Riku brushed stray strands of violet-silver hair out of Ansem’s closed eyes. He was concerned. He remembered acutely the way Ansem’s yellow eyes had widened at the mention of him being half Heartless. Had this entity done something to him earlier? Had it hurt him in some way? If not, why would Ansem react like this? The silver-haired boy ran his fingers through the silky strands of Ansem’s hair, imitating the way someone used to do to him when he was feeling sick. He had once hated this man who lay here defenseless before him. But the man had returned a boy, much different that he had been. After all, so far, he hadn’t mentioned the word “darkness” once! When he had been doing the “Let’s-Be-Evil-And-Open-Kingdom-Hearts” plot, he’d said “darkness” after every single word. Probably pissed off a lot of people.

Probably amused a million more.

Riku shifted, drawing his hand away from the other boy’s hair. It had been easy to carry him back to their room, silently laying Ansem on his bed without alerting Emma. Since the confession, he found himself wary of the furball. An ebony glint caught his eye and Riku turned to see a sheathed dagger sitting so easily on the dresser beside the bed. He recognized it as Ansem’s dagger, given to him by King Mickey. He reached for it, wrapping his fingers around the hilt. He pulled the blade, squinting as the sunlight reflected off the metal of the blade. It was beautiful, the steel inscripted with a language Riku had only seen once in his life – and he was terribly out of practice in translating it. He hastily sheathed it once more and set it back where it had been as Ansem groaned a bit and shifted.

Riku smiled at the other, canting his head. “Hey. Feeling okay?”

“Yeah.” Ansem pushed himself up, sitting on the bed, looking at him. “I passed out.”

“That’s correct. Not for long enough. You kind of freaked at the ‘H’ word.”

Ansem made a sound. “The you-know-what said I was a Halfling. Figured it was true, considering, and when you said the ‘H’ word, I just kind of freaked. No big deal. I’m ready to continue on.”

Riku nodded. “Figured we’d leave soon. We have to get some supplies too. I don’t think they sell items here though, so we’re going to have to go to the next town.”

“Figures.” Ansem pushed back the covers and set his feet on the floor and stood, grabbing his dagger and shoving it through the chain belt on his pants. Both of them stared at each other once they realized the chain was something frighteningly new.

Riku swallowed. “That’s new.”

“No kidding.” Ansem paused and smiled. “Think it’s something for mass destruction?”

“In your hands, anything is something for mass destruction. Come on, An, let’s get going.”

Muttering colourful curses as he followed Riku out, Ansem made a short kick for the silver-haired teen’s rear. He missed, earning a laugh and a retaliatory grin. They left the inn, finally joined by a white fluff-ball that glared angrily at the both of them. No one marked their leave.

But it was noted. As their coming had been.