The Heart of Nobody: Chapter 8

" CHAPTER 8: STRANGER "

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I slowly wrapped my hand around the wooden stick and took the strange object. It felt cold... "It's called Sea Salt ice cream. You eat it." Axel explained. "hm..." I stared at the 'sea salt ice cream' for a few moments and took a small bite out of it. I chewed a little "!" ,then coughed after swallowing. "s-salty..." I coughed out. Axel chuckled a little, "Give it another try." he said.

    ".................................... *chomp*", I took another bite. I blinked. ('...! It's sweet...')
My eyes lit up, curiously. I chewed and savored the taste of the sweet & salty, sea salt ice cream as I eagerly began to eat away at it. Axel smiled and softly whispered, "I guess this is today's icing on the cake."
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Four days passed by so quickly.


Between my practice of magic, and tag team missions with Axel or Roxas...
I was able to gain a little more experience.


I spent what little free time I had at the castle's library or in the training area.

I studied up on more information about casting magic & the Heartless in the books I've read...
and I trained myself to improve my movements with my Keyblade, Endless Twilight.


And it was all paying off.


Because today was the day that Saix assigned me...


My first Solo Mission...!
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    It was early afternoon in the World that Never was.
And about 2/3s of the people in the Castle that Never Was, were soundly asleep.
I wasn't one of them, today though.

I was wearing my Organization XIII attire with my hood up. 
    Today was important, so I had already packed the night before today's solo mission.
        Using my saved up munny, I managed to buy five fresh Potions and one High Potion from Organization XIII's Moogle.

It was a cute creature with rounded features, a big red (sphere-like) nose, & an antenna with a large red ball at the end of it. It's eyes were hidden because it wore the Organization's cloak with hood... it usually kept to the Grey Room, but it was open for business every day.

Anyway...

It was still early for most members, so many of them were asleep. I held onto the door knob to my room & quietly stepped out of my bedroom and into the hallway. My gloved hand slowly turned the knob into the door frame until the door shut with a soft 'clack'. Putting my hand back down to my side, I glanced around the empty hall from under my hood. ".........."
I stepped lightly, careful not to make any sound, as I walked down the castle corridors into the Grey Room.
The sky was the same as always... a midnight blue with silvery stars scattered about, and the yellow glow of the hollowed, heart-shaped moon was high in the sky. Saix had his back turned to the hallway entrance & was gazing up at the moon called Kingdom Hearts.

I set my shoulders up & back slightly and continued my stride, walking over to him.

I shallowed down a slight feeling of anxiety... ('First impressions, Rukix. This is an important Mission.')

I stood a good few feet away from him, and waited a minute. "Good evening, Number 7." I greeted politely.


Saix's amber eyes shifted over to me. He turned back around to face me and nodded once. "Good evening, Number 15." his tone was calm & respectful.
"Will you be heading out for your Mission?" he clarified.

"Yes, sir." I said.

"Very good. You'll take a Dark Corridor to Twilight Town. Your mission is to 'collect hearts'. Do you have any questions?" Saix stated.

"No, sir. My objective is clear." I said to him.

A ghost of a smile tugged at the edge of his mouth. "I expect good results on your report, Number 15."

"Yes, sir." I nodded.
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The Dark Corridor's floated around my feet in ribbons of shadows as I walked along my pathway.

My boots shuffled quietly against the dark floor that shifted with each step. The walk was quiet, save for the soft jingle of the chains on my cloak... I pulled my hood down, a little lower over my eyes as I reached the end of the Corridor. I held out my outstretched, gloved hand to the Dark Corridor & watched as the waves of black, blues, and violets cleared into a world of warm colors.
My boots clicked onto the tiled street of Twilight Town, and I turned slightly & watched as the Corridor disappeared in on itself.

"........"
I faced forward again.

This world was always in a never ending sunset, but you could tell the time of day by the amount of a specific color in the sky, or how many distant chimes rang out from the Clock Tower... I looked up above the clear sky, a shadow veiled over my eyes protectively.

Pastels of soft oranges and fading pinks...

It was early afternoon here, too.

I tilted my head back down and glanced around at the street.
    It was fairly narrow, with a staircase that lead up into the street... moving upwards you could feel the hillside as the street sloped upwards and around the corner. Buildings of many oranges, yellows, & warm pastel colors were side to side with hardly any room in between. To my left was a fenced off area of some sort... The fence was built into a frame with a gate that looked closed... a blanket was thrown over the gap between the top of the gate & the structure that it lead into.

I tilted my head slightly. "............"


"!"
I snapped out of my small trance towards the gate.

('I have a Mission to complete... If I have time, I'll explore afterwards' I settled in my thoughts.)

    I then turned around on my heel and made way to the left and towards the staircase. My golden yellow eyes caught sight of a Heartless's shadow forming.
The darkness formed inside the palm of my left hand and expanded in a flash. Endless Twilight gleamed in the sunset light.

I watched as many Shadow Heartless rose up from the tiled walls & shadows in the buildings. Their antennas flicking, anxiously, sensing a Keyblade nearby.
Their glowing yellow eyes scanned arose their surroundings.

"There you are."

    With Endless Twilight clenched in my left hand, I broke out into a run & leapt from the street and over the edge of the staircase.
I landed rather cat like on my feet and I shifted my weight on my back foot, swinging my keyblade once before entering a battle stance.

The Heartless looked on at me with an aura of curiosity.

It appears that I have their attention now.
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"TWANG!"

    Endless Twilight swung dead on. The Heartless collapsed instantly inward & faded into disappearing shadows...
A single gem-like heart floated off into the sky...

"FWUMP!"

I had jumped back & managed to dodge a scratch attack from my left.

"CLANG!"

My keyblade rang, the keychain jingled, as a second attack from a Shadow was swiftly blocked.
    I pushed the Heartless back & adjusted my keyblade's handle as I shifted my weight onto my heel. I spun around in a low circle with a long reach. The remaining Heartless disappeared into clouds of vanishing shadows... Three gem like hearts joined the traveling of wandering off into the sky...

The shadows began to disappear in my left hand; my keyblade disappeared.
"......................"
    I watched as the hearts floated farther until I couldn't see them anymore.
            Then turned off to the side.

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The hours had flown past me.

    I fought Heartless that were scattered throughout Twilight Town... in alleys, in the streets, at the plaza, and in front of the clock tower. Collecting Hearts was tiring, but I was getting better. I was currently laying against a rather large tree trunk besides the roots. In the Shopping District, I found a triangular like jagged tunnel in a thick wall... it lead outside to a lush & more secluded forest of grass and tall trees. I uncapped my third bottle of the healing potion and drank it. It tasted of a cold drink with a slight after taste of herbs or fruit...
    The Potion vanished after it was used... 'maybe it went back to the Moogle...?' I pondered in my head.


    '____...'


"Huh...?"
I glanced around the forest. 'Did... I hear something?'


    '_____.'


I slowly stood back up on both feet. 'There it was again...'


    'R_____.'


"......"  I took one last look around myself, before following the location of the sound.

    Grass brushed against my boots & an occasional 'snap-!' of a twig occurred under my feet. The sound wasn't clear... it was more... like an instinct than a sound...
I couldn't exactly hear it well... but it just pulled me in a direction.

I walked past emerald green bushes, older trees, and the frequent patch of wild flowers until I found myself in a clearing.
Up ahead of me was a large mansion with tall ceilings and a brick-work structure fence. The mansion had a few short towers that twisted into cone shaped roofs with darkly colored tiles. The mansion was wooden with gold frames along the edges & windows. A tall window was located at the farthest tower in the back, on the second floor. The brick fence was was a coppery-brown sandstone with fresh moss growing all over it. The entryway into the mansion was a double set of iron gates that were closed with heavy chains wrapped around the bars & a heavy padlock for good measure.
    The mansion looked a little worn down & abandoned...

I blinked, looking over towards the iron gates.

There was another person standing there. They wore the coat of Organization XIII, with the hood up, hiding their face. And based off of their figure, they were male & maybe a little taller than I was...

The cloaked figure looked up abruptly and over in my direction. He turned to face me.
    His tone was calm when he spoke,  "Who Are You."

"..................?"
'That's strange... I don't recognize their voice.'

I stayed silent.

The cloaked man studied my own coat. "...You're with the Organization."

"..............."

"No answer...?"

"....That coat doesn't belong to you." I muttered.

"I don't see a reason why not." the man retorted.

I took a step forward.
"That coat belongs to members of the Organization, and you're clearly not a Nobody... who are you, impostor?"

The man shrugged his shoulders, "I guess you could say that I'm the biggest Nobody of them all."

My golden yellow eyes dulled slightly under my hood.
    This person was calm & collected... yet I felt a inner turmoil coming from him...

Turmoil... like a dying storm.

Ba-dump

"!"
I clapped a hand to the side of my head, where I felt a sharp throb coming from. "nh....."

"...And who are you?" the man asked.

    I turned my gaze back up at the hooded man,
"Number XIV (15)."

"Fifteen...? That's your name?"

    "It's my number."

Something appeared to be bothering him, he didn't sound satisfied with my answer...
"....Tell me your name." he said.

    "................."

"......."  The man began to walk towards me & stopped when he was halfway there.

I loosely clenched both hands... I wasn't very comfortable being this close to him.
    If he had a weapon on him, he could lunge out at me...

Throb.

"Tell me your name." he repeated.

"Why don't you tell me your name, Mr. Biggest Nobody?" I joked lightly.

The man paused for a moment.

    Silence, and then...

"......it's Riku." he said.

Throb.

"Riku...?" I muttered quietly.

I visibly flinched in pain. My headache was getting a lot stronger & it hurt.
My surroundings went hazy for a second... I had to will myself to stay standing & not pass out.
My foot shifted a little for a better support for standing.

"Riku..."
My head was really hurting now.
I felt light headed and I couldn't tell if I was awake or not...


    I looked around and I was standing back in Traverse Town.
When I turned my gaze back in front of me, a boy with blue eyes and brown hair was standing there...
he looked maybe a year younger than me.

My mouth spoke on it's own, 'It took forever to find you, Sora.'
    ('Who's Sora....?' I thought)

The boy called Sora looked over at me.
His blue eyes lightened up & his expression broke into a big, goofy smile.
        'RIKU-!'



    I gasped.

I was now standing back in Twilight town.
I was standing in the same spot in the clearing...
But Riku now stood a foot or two away.

His hood was lowered.
He had a very light tan... and silvery white hair like mine, but it went a little past his shoulders & his bangs were evenly cut.
Riku wore a thick, black ribbon as a blindfold.

...His face....


When I snapped back into reality,
    Riku had brushed back my own hood with one hand...
        and he raised up one side of his blindfold with his other hand.

His eyebrow was also silver, & from under the blindfold, I could see a single eye.
    It was a sea green... maybe a teal color.

....His face.....

Riku's visible eye widened & he made a quiet intake of air. "...................?!"
    His expression was absolutely shocked.

I staggered backwards, away from him.
    My visible gold-yellow eye watched him.

Riku spoke up.
His voice was hardly more than a whisper,

"...Your face...... Wh-Who are you-?!" said Riku.


I looked up at him,
a single teal eye meeting a single yellow-gold eye.  
We were both shocked and visibly confused.


"I'm me." I told him. 
"I am Number XIV (15),  Rukix."


But why did that feel different now...?

Nothing about me changed... but I was suddenly confused...




......Why did Riku and I have the same face....?