Sorrow's Promise

Chapter 51

Springlock2: Not the final chapter yet!  Including this one, there's 4 more chapters of "aaaaaa!" left haha.

SoraIsTheBest: Don't worry, Kairi is fine!  It's Riku and Sora that got left behind.

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"Where are they? What happened?" I yelled, running over to where the dark corridor had just been.

"I don't know!" Kairi replied frantically. "They were coming in right behind me, then suddenly it just closed! You can open another one, right?"

I was already trying, but for some reason nothing was happening. "I should be able to," I huffed, gritting my teeth and stretching out my hand again. "Why is it not working? I just opened one a few seconds ago!"

Donald, Goofy, and Pluto had already crossed through the second corridor onto the beach, but King Mickey jogged back over toward us. "It's alright, Meli, calm down. Maybe you just need to give yourself a minute."

"No, you don't understand." I could feel panic trying to take over my body. "Something's wrong! I should be able to open a corridor right back to that rooftop that we were just standing on, but it's like it's not even there anymore. I can't find it."

"What does that mean?" Kairi asked nervously.

"I don't know!" I ran my hands shakily through my hair. "I've never had this happen before...never felt anything like it." I let out a frustrated growl, then realized I was forgetting something. "Wait...I can just try to find Riku. Maybe they're somehow somewhere else now, but I should still be able to find him."

"You can do that?" the King queried.

"Yeah, that's how I caught up with everyone else in the castle earlier," I explained quickly, then shut my eyes and opened my hand again. I could imagine Riku standing there, just like usual, but something was off. I couldn't feel him, couldn't focus my energy on him. Like the rooftop, it was almost like he had disappeared from existence.

Heart pounding, I switched hurriedly to Sora. The same thing happened. There was nothing there. They were just...gone.

"No!" I let out all the breath I had been unintentionally holding. My head was aching from concentrating so hard. "I can't...I don't know where they are! They're gone!" I panted. "I can't find them anywhere!"

"It's gotta be Xemnas," King Mickey announced. "Only he could do something like this."

"But I thought he was gone!" Kairi protested, tears brimming in her eyes.

"I thought so, too, but..." The King shook his head. "Sora and Riku can take care of him, I know they can."

I was getting tired of hearing that same speech over and over again. "We've got to help them!" As I resumed my search, I could vaguely hear the King trying to convince me to give up, but I ignored him. I couldn't give up. I couldn't lose him, not again, not when I had just gotten him back.

"You've got to stop," Kairi's teary voice broke through to my consciousness. "They'll find their way back to us, just like they always do."

"No, they won't!" I shouted. "Don't you get it? They're in the Realm of Darkness. The only way to get out of there is to use a dark corridor, and I'm the only one who can make them! I have to find them, or they'll be stuck there forever!"

"Okay," King Mickey acquiesced. "But you'll have to wait and try again later. It's not safe for us to stay here anymore."

"Then go!" I growled. "Get Kairi out of here. But I'm not leaving without Riku!" I closed my eyes again and desperately tried to find some trace of either of my friends. Blood trickled down my lip from my nose, but I ignored that, too. My mind swirled through the darkness, grasping at nothing, flying through all of the worlds I knew and coming away empty. Kairi tugged on my arm a couple of times, then eventually left at the King's behest.