Sorrow's Promise

Chapter 35

The black-coated man stepped closer, and I tightened my grip on my Keyblade. "Who are you, and what do you want?" I repeated, louder this time. Was the Organization finally coming after me? There had been no sign of their interest for a long while, and I had become careless, wandering off on my own. If I was lucky, maybe the two men we were traveling with, Jack and Will, would hear any scuffle that occurred and come to help.

Then the man stopped, and pushed his hood back, revealing on all-too-familiar face – Ansem. I gasped in surprise, then narrowed my eyes, loosening my posture a bit but still not dismissing my weapon.

"You," I muttered. "What are you doing here?" I had hoped to never see that face again.

"Meli." My own name sounded wrong in my ears. He spoke it with care, but the voice that formed the word was not the voice of the man who was supposed to have cared about me. This voice belonged to a monster.

"We're out in the middle of the ocean," I hissed. "What are you doing here?"

"I've been keeping an eye on you and Sora, and trying to find an opportunity to talk to you," Riku replied, walking even closer. "I've been worried about you."

I laughed bitterly. "Oh, have you? That's good to know."

"Of course. I was glad to find out that you were staying with Sora, but...but you just left, without saying goodbye or explaining why." He sounded hurt.

"Explaining why?" I repeated incredulously. "Oh, right. I forgot. You don't remember what happened."

Riku shook his head. "I didn't even remember who I was for several days. Thankfully I came back to my senses in time to let Naminé and Axel go. DiZ wanted me to dispose of them for interfering with his plans." He gazed at me with obvious concern etched onto his face, but I couldn't meet his eyes. The orange of his irises was too off-putting. "What is going on, Meli? Is this about Roxas, or about..." He gestured to his face. "This?"

I looked away, gazing out over the endless black water. "I'm not going to pretend those things don't have something to do with it," I answered quietly. "So, what, are you just...stuck like this now?"

"Unfortunately, it seems so. I'm really sorry that it had to go that way. I...don't really know how it ended, only that Roxas was brought in. But I know things got ugly, and I'm sorry for that. I was doing what I felt I had to do, but I never wanted you to get caught in the middle of it."

I clenched my jaw, willing away the tears that threatened to spill over. There was nothing I could say. I couldn't forgive him, not now, no matter how sincere he sounded. I had been there, done that, too many times before, and I was not going to give in again.

"As much as I hate being stuck like this, it's great to be able to actually see you," he continued after a moment. "I like your new look, it's nice."

The comment caught me off guard, and I crossed my free arm over my stomach, unnerved by the idea of this man looking at me like that. Turning away, I walked towards the railing. "So you've checked on us, and you've talked to me. Just like you wanted. Now you can go."

I heard Riku let out a huff of air behind me. "Please tell me what's going on," he pleaded, following me to lean against the rail. "What happened that night that I can't remember?"

Aggravated by his closeness, I moved farther away again. Part of me wanted him to know what he did, but I couldn't bring myself to actually say it. "Nothing," I replied sharply, still looking out over the sea. "Must not have been that important, if you can't even remember it." I didn't even care if that made sense or not. I just wanted him to leave.

"Believe me, Meli, I want to remember! But I can't, so you're going to have to tell me!"

"Maybe I don't want to talk about it, Riku!" I spit out his name, purposely not using my usual nickname for him. It may have been petty, but I could tell that he noticed.

"'Well, obviously not, since you just walked away without trying to work through whatever it is," Riku shot back.

"Yeah, I walked away, and I never heard you asking me not to go."

"I wasn't myself!" he nearly shouted, throwing his hands in the air. "Just tell me what happened!"

"And what if I don't? Are you going to hit me again?" I spun around to face him, the truth finally exploding out of me, fueled by all the anger that had been building in my chest.

Riku froze, staring at me. "What?" He shook his head slowly. "Please, don't tell me I..."

"You hit me, Riku," I hissed through clenched teeth. The tears were pouring down my face now. "I tried to stop you from crushing the life out of Roxas, and you knocked me out of the way like I was a...a rag doll."

I watched all of the color drain out of his face. Good. I wanted him to suffer, thinking about what he'd done.

It took a moment before he found his voice again. "Meli, I...I don't even know what to say..."

"I don't want you to say anything." I turned to walk back towards the center of the deck. "There's nothing you can say that would help. I just want you to leave."

"No, we need to talk about this..." Riku began, following me.

I turned on him without warning, my Keyblade pointed directly at his throat. "I said I want you to leave," I growled. "Now."

Riku's hands had gone up in defense automatically. Now he backed away slowly, letting them drop back to his sides. "I'm so, so, sorry." There was defeat in his eyes, in the slump of his shoulders. He looked like he wanted to say more, but thought better of it and opened a corridor instead.

As soon as he had vanished from sight, I dropped my Keyblade and collapsed to the deck, shaking with sobs. I must have stayed there for at least an hour, even after I couldn't cry anymore, just hugging my knees to my chest and listening to the sound of the waves clapping up against the side of the ship. Eventually I gathered my strength and pulled myself to my feet, making my way as quietly as possible back down the creaky wooden stairs.

Sora pushed up on his elbows as I entered the room, blinking his eyes against the light of the lantern hanging in the corner. "Mel?" he whispered hoarsely. "Is everything okay?"

I nodded. "I just needed some fresh air. Sorry I woke you."

"It's okay." As I drew closer to the bunks, he continued watching me. "Have you been crying? Your eyes are all red."

I attempted a smile to reassure him. "I'll be fine. I just...miss my friend." Oh, how I missed him. As angry as I was with him, and as much as I wanted to hate him, I couldn't stop aching for his company that had become such a familiar part of my life.

Sora sighed. "I know how you feel. I miss my friends Riku and Kairi, too." He rolled over so he could look down at me as I sat on the edge of the bed. "Wait a second, that's who you remind me of!" He snapped his fingers, then lightly slapped himself on the forehead. "Of course, you look a lot like Kairi, why didn't I think of it before?"

This time I didn't stop myself from rolling my eyes, since it was dark in the room, though there was amusement behind the gesture. "Oh, really?" I couldn't keep quite all of the sarcasm out of my voice, but Sora didn't seem to notice.

"Yeah, you do. That's pretty funny." He seemed lost in his own thoughts for a moment before turning back to me. "Hey, you can make dark corridors, though, right? So couldn't you just...go see your friend? We wouldn't mind if you took a break and caught up with us later."

Now it was my turn to sigh. "Thanks. I appreciate it, but he...doesn't exist anymore." Not Grim, not the person I was actually missing.

"Oh. I'm...really sorry."

"I'll be fine," I repeated, laying back onto the hard mattress. "Thanks for being concerned."

"Yeah, of course." Sora turned back over out of sight. "Goodnight, Mel."

"Goodnight, Sora."