Sorrow's Promise

Chapter 17

"This sure is a gloomy place," I remarked, looking around at the new world we had just entered. "It's just as dark here as it was in the In Between."

"Yeah," Riku agreed. "Not the kind of place you'd want to get too comfy in." He nodded towards a castle that we could see in the distance. "From what I've heard, that belongs to some kind of beast. I've never been inside, though."

I shuddered slightly at the sight of the imposing grey walls looming up against the black sky. "Sounds like a good habit to stick to."

"It is safer inside those gates than it is out here, though," Riku commented. "Let's head that way."

Riku started walking towards the large iron gates marking the entrance to the castle, and I followed. Now that he mentioned it, the trees out here did look like they could be hiding all kinds of deadly creatures and dark secrets. Taking a few quick steps to catch up, I made sure to stay right next to Riku until we reached the gates.

Just as he swung the first one open, I heard the now-familiar sound of Heartless appearing all around us. "They're everywhere," I exclaimed. "Should we split up?"

Riku nodded. "You take care of the ones inside, and I'll take the ones out here."

Summoning my Keyblade, I ran through the gate and assessed the situation. Over the past few weeks we had encountered the Heartless several times, but I had quickly learned that they were different in each world we went to. I never could tell exactly what I was getting into, which both scared and excited me at the same time. Right now the main ones I could see looked just like the Heartless that Riku and I had run into in Twilight Town long ago, though some had different colored armor, and others were slightly larger.

I took out the first few with ease, realizing that these were actually pretty easy to deal with. It was a combination of amusing and embarrassing, thinking back on how petrified I had been of them back in the woods that day. The ones with green armor even began to run away from me, and I had to chase them down to get rid of them. When I turned back around towards the entrance, though, a different sight greeted me. These Heartless reminded me of bulldogs – in a really ugly, psychotic looking kind of way. I scrunched my nose up, a bit put off by having to fight dogs, but I didn't have time to debate it for long. One of the purple ones charged straight toward me, barking and snapping. Throwing my Keyblade in front of me, I blocked his attack and managed to stun him long enough to get in a few hits. He lunged at me again, and I jumped out of the way, then sliced at him from behind and watched him vanish.

Following a similar strategy for the rest, I took out one more purple dog and two green ones in just a few minutes time. When all the Heartless in the courtyard were gone, I stopped and looked around, panting slightly. I was pretty proud of myself for taking out a whole group by myself without getting hurt at all. Suddenly I remembered Riku fighting outside the gate, and hurried to see if he needed help.

I was greeted by a multitude of Heartless of all shapes and sizes, unlike anything I had ever seen. There were so many of them that at first I couldn't even find Riku. Just as panic started to set in, though, a powerful blast of energy radiated from the center of the mob, vanquishing them all in one blow. Only the black-coated figure standing at a distance from me remained.

"Wow, that was pretty impressive," I commented. As I walked further out, the man turned, and I realized for the first time that this was not Riku. The silver hair had me fooled from the back, but this man was much larger and tanner than Riku, and had glowing amber eyes similar to DiZ's.

I took a step backwards, heart rate increasing. This had to be one of the other Organization members, probably one of the bad ones. "Where's Riku?" I asked, my voice wavering. "What have you done to him?"

The man reached into his pocket and pulled out a black piece of fabric. I watched with my eyebrows furrowed, Keyblade at the ready, to see what he was going to do, but he simply began tying the fabric around his eyes. As he did so, furls of black and purple smoke began to rise up around him, and he started shrinking in size. It took until he was done applying the blindfold and looking back up for me to realize that it was Riku who now stood before me.

"Grim!" I breathed, relieved but utterly confused at the same time. "I don't understand. What...? How...?"

"I didn't want you to see that," Riku said quietly, looking down at the ground. "I'm sorry that I frightened you."

I shook my head, dismissing my Keyblade. "It's fine, I just...who was that? How did you...?"

Riku sighed and didn't answer for a moment. "It was Ansem," he finally replied.

I racked my brain for where I had heard that name before. "Wait...the guy – Heartless, whatever he was – that possessed you?"

"Yeah, that's the one."

"But, does that mean...?" I had thought that the whole possession thing was in the distant past, but if he was turning into the guy then it didn't really sound that way anymore.

"No," Riku answered quickly, as if reading my mind. "You don't have to worry about that. Yes, there is a part of him that's still inside of me. But I've gotten to where I can control it now."

"With the blindfold?" I ventured, trying to piece everything together in my mind.

"Partially, yes." He gestured towards his face. "The blindfold is sort of an outer manifestation of the inner process. But, in short...yes, it helps."

I frowned, still thinking through all of the implications. "Isn't it dangerous, though, to...let him out like that? Could he still completely take over?"

"It could be possible," Riku sighed again. "Which is why I always make sure to only use a little bit of the power at a time, and only when I really need it."

I was sure that there were a million more questions to ask, but at that moment we were interrupted by a dark corridor opening not far from where we stood. Both of us automatically took up defensive poses, waiting to see who might come through. To my surprise, it was Xion. I quickly pulled up my hood to cover my face as she glanced back and forth between us in surprise.

"Riku!" she exclaimed. "And..." She looked at me uncertainly.

"Meli," I answered.

"Meli," Xion repeated. "What are you two doing here?"

"We could ask you the same thing," Riku responded. "Word is that you never went back to the Organization."

Xion looked down at the ground and clasped her hands together. "I wanted to. But...I just don't know. Once I'm back, it will be very hard to leave again if I change my mind. And I still don't know what the right choice is."

I could certainly sympathize with her there. It sounded a lot like my own past dilemma over whether to go home or stay here. "So, you've just been wandering around to different worlds in the meantime?"

Xion nodded. "Just...thinking, and trying to avoid meeting anyone." She turned her face back up towards us, and her blue eyes were just as sorrowful as they had been in Destiny Islands. "I wish I could see Roxas and Axel again. Maybe then I could decide. But I'm afraid to go anywhere near the Organization right now."

Riku and I glanced at each other, and I wondered if he was thinking the same thing I was. "What if we took you to see them?" he suggested, proving that we were, indeed, on the same track. "Twilight Town would be the easiest place. Meli and I could go with you, to help protect you."

"You...you would do that?" Xion questioned.

"Of course," I answered. "We could go right now."

Xion took a deep breath, considering the offer, then nodded. "Okay. Let's do it."