The Bloodstone Necklace

DnCnChIcK369

Chapter 7: Monstro

A/N: Hate the place, I only put up with it cuz it’s filled with Riku… love the guy :D ! Ugh, before I get to writing this chapter… I’m gonna finish Agrabah, and do SOMETHING in Monstro… sigh… I hate Atlantica too, but I’l have fun with that, because it’s gonna have shirtless Riku in it… (faints)…

Nora: Since she fainted thinking about Riku’s shirtless chest, I’ll tell you that if you want the disclaimer, go to chapter 1, and enjoy the chapter…

“What do you want, and what time is it?” I asked him.

“We’re paying a visit to a whale… don’t ask, Hook said I could go, but only if you come with me,” Riku explained. I nodded and got up, uncomfortable after sleeping in my clothes, since my pajamas were all back in Hollow Bastion. I slipped on my shoes and we went through a dark portal to a whale called Monstro.

“Kairi, the girl you saw… Hook told me she’s lost her heart…” Riku told me.

“I’m sorry…” I said, not really caring about this girl, but just pretending because… I don’t know, really. We heard voices, and I turned around and noticed it was a puppet, an old man, and Sora and his friends. Riku immediately ran through the doorway… that was inside a whale… and I followed, but I noticed the puppet was following us.

“What’re you doing? C’mon, let’s go back,” Sora told the puppet. We were right behind him.

“You know, Geppetto’s awfully worried about you,” Goofy told him.

“Pinocchio, stop fooling around! This is no time for games!” Sora exclaimed. Pinocchio… that was the puppet’s name. Sora and his friends turned around and began walking out when Riku decided to step in.

“But, Sora, I thought you liked games,” Riku told him. I stepped out, beside him. “Or are you too cool to play them now that you have the Keyblade?” Riku asked. Thst was one of the few times I actually ADMIRED the boy. He managed to make me laugh, I’m sure unintentionally, and that’s not that easy of a thing to do.

Sora looked over to me, obviously wondering why I was always with Riku, and why Riku wasn’t with him and his friends. It was odd, though, wasn’t it? How he was always with me, instead of his friends?

“Riku! Wh-what are you doing here?” Sora asked. “And why is SHE always with you?”

“We’re just playing with Pinocchio,” Riku told him, causing me to smirk. Yeah, this was the only reason I put up with the guy.

“You know what I mean! What about Kairi? Did you find her?” Sora asked. I could tell he really did want to know, that he did care, and that Maleficent’s twist of the truth was fogging Riku’s mind as to where, no matter what Sora said now, Riku wouldn’t change his mind.

“Maybe. Catch us and maybe I’ll tell you what I know,” Riku told Sora.

“Come on!” Sora exclaimed. Riku grabbed Pinocchio and left, but I lagged behind for a few moments.

“Sora, right?” He nodded. “I’m sorry. I mean, I’m definitely not on your side, I’m not FOR the whole saving the worlds thing… but Riku’s head is screwed up right now… so I figured I’d better apologize for him. Don’t expect it again, though… but he’s taking this playing thing WAY too seriously.”

“Wait!” Sora yelled as I turned around to leave after Riku and Pinocchio. I stopped but didn’t turn back. “Who are you? I mean, I know your name, but… how do you know Riku?”

“I’m not at a liberty to tell you that,” I told him before summoning my staff and running after Riku.

Maleficent appeared in a dark portal. Riku stopped for a moment, before walking away, me just standing around, watching him.

“Why do you still care about that boy?” Maleficent asked. “He has all but deserted you for the Keyblade and his new companions, after all.”

“I don’t care about him. I was just messing with him a little,” Riku commented.

Liar.

“Oh, really? Of course you were,” Maleficent said. “Beware the darkness in your heart. The Heartless prey upon it.” She opened a portal and stepped through.

“Mind your own business!” Riku yelled at her. After she was gone, I spoke again.

“Amen to THAT, Riku. Now, let’s get going…” I told him. He nodded, and walked away. I followed closely behind. But then we stopped, Pinocchio running by.

“Riku!” Sora exclaimed, as he had just entered the room. “What’s the matter with you? What are you thinking? Don’t you realize what you’re doing?” I winced. Sora was right.

“I was about to ask you the same thing, Sora,” Riku told him. I elbowed his back, right in the middle. “Wha-hey! What was THAT for?” He asked me in a whisper.

“Stop being such a JERK!” I esclaimed, also in a whisper. He glared at me.

“Stay out of this,” He replied. “You only seem interested in running around and showing off that Keyblade these days,” He said, louder at Sora.

I knew it. I knew what they did in Traverse Town would come back to bite them in the butt. KARMA!

“Do you even want to save Kairi?” Riku asked. I knew Sora did. Why else would he keep asking Riku about her? I almost slapped him, but then he’d just get pissed at me… which would, at that time, be bad.

“I do,” Sora said. There was a scream, and Riku and I turned around, Sora and his friends staring behind us. Riku and I ran to where we heard the scream come from. Sora followed us inside, his friends following him, and there was this huge… thing in the middle of the room. I summoned my staff when I noticed Pinocchio was trapped inside.

“You up for this?” Riku asked Sora, surprising me, and summoning Soul Eater.

“No problem. Let’s do it!” Sora exclaimed.

“Hmph,” Riku huffed. Honestly, I was really surprised that Riku was helping Sora. For the entire battle, all of us had a routine. Riku was running around the outside edge of the room, jumping and hitting this… Parasite Cage whenever he got the chance. Sora was hacking away at it while Donald and Goofy distracted it, taking a hit at it whenever they got the chance. I shot magic at it, mostly my dark fireballs, taking a rest off to the side, Riku putting a shield around me, whenever I ran out of MP and I used Ethers on myself before dismissing the sheild and attacking some more.

And then we defeated it.

It spat Pinocchio down into a hole, and Riku jumped in after him. I followed, and so did Sora, Donald, and Goofy. But, when I came down, out of the hole, Riku was no where to be found. We were on this ship with that man named Geppetto.

“Pinocchio! Pinocchio!” He yelled. “Please! Give me back my son!” I looked up and gasped. I saw Riku, up on a ledge, with Pinocchio under his arm.

“Riku! What the hell are you DOING?” I yelled at him. He glanced at me before looking back towards the others, ignoring me.

“Sorry, old man,” He told Geppetto. “I have some unfinished business with this puppet.”

“He’s no puppet! Pinocchio is my little boy!” Geppetto exclaimed, just wanting his ‘son’ back. I felt bad… really bad that someone I knew, and somewhat accquaintanced myself with, was doing this.

“He is unusual. Not many puppets have hearts,” Riku explained. I glared at him, but he didn’t seem to care. That’s when it clicked. ‘Not many puppets have hearts’. He was trying to use Pinocchio’s heart to save Kairi.

“Riku…” I whispered. Sora and his friends looked over to me for a moment, and then looked back at Riku.

“I’m not sure, but maybe he can help someone who’s lost theirs,” Riku added. I was right. He was trying to save Kairi… but, though he had good intentions, he was certainly going about it in the wrong way.

“Riku, stop. You shouldn’t risk taking away someone else’s heart, it might not even work!” I exclaimed. He looked towards me again.

“Nora, how can you tell me that? It may not work, and if it didn’t, then yeah, I’d probably feel a little bad about it… but not trying isn’t going to solve anything. I’ll never know if I can save her or not if I never even try,” He explained coldly.

“Wait a minute. Are you talking about Kairi?” Sora asked, Riku looking back at him.

“What do you care about her?” Riku asked, angrilly. He turned and walked away, leaving me with Sora and his friends. He turned to me.

“Nora?” I nodded. “Um… I don’t mean to pry, really, but how do you know Riku? I REALLY need to know,” Sora asked me. I shook my head.

“I’m sorry Sora, but I can’t tell you that. I can tell you that what Riku’s doing… he has good intentions, and I can tell he’s good deep in his heart… he’s just having a hard time making good decisions on how to get what he wants… And Kairi’s… fine, but,” I hesitated, knowing Maleficent would kill me if I told him.

“What? What’s wrong?” Sora asked. I looked to the ground and shook my head.

“I’m sorry… I can’t tell you that, or I’ll be punished, I’m sure. I’m certain she wants to get rid of me ANYWAY for speaking out against her beloved Riku, oh my, the world shall end!” I exclaimed. The trio looked at me in confusion. “Don’t even ask. It has to do with how I know Riku.”

“Oh, okay. So, do you wa-“ Sora started, looking over to the side for a moment. In that moment, I went into a dark portal to where I knew Riku was.

“Don’t try and stop me, Nora,” Riku told me, looking down. I walked up to him and took a deep breath. This was a side of Riku I’d never seen before. I took his hand in mine, causing him to look up.

“Riku… do you love her?” I asked him, looking straight into his eyes, trying to get some emotion out of them. The emotion I got was surprise.

“K-Kairi?” He asked me, nervously. I nodded, and he let got of my hand, causing me to tilt my head and raise an eyebrow. “I… I don’t really know. I guess I’ve always, kinda, liked her… but I don’t think I love her. Besides… unless I save her, she’d pick Sora over me anyday…”

At that moment… I felt my chest tighten…

Am I… am I JEALOUS? Of KAIRI? A girl who LOST HER HEART? And who Riku has a crush on? My god… there is something wrong with me…

“I…” I started, trailing off. I looked away from Riku, not wanting to admit to myself that I, in some way, liked him… as more than a friend. I sighed, noticing he was thinking about something, and jumped up to a ledge above me. I assumed we were in Monstro’s stomach… ewww… Riku walked over to Pinocchio.

“Hey, let Pinocchio go, Riku,” Sora told him, entering Monstro’s stomach, most likely, from his throat. Riku turned around suddenly, appearing to be in a pretty bad mood.

“A puppet that’s lost its heart to the Heartless…” Riku stated. “Maybe it holds the key to helping Kairi.” I sighed again, feeling more depressed now than I had in a long time. “How about it, Sora? Let’s join forces to save her.”

I knew Sora wouldn’t do it. He would only help Riku if he stopped acting the way he was, left Maleficent and the darkness behind, and helped Pinocchio… which Riku wouldn’t do.

“We can do it, together,” Riku added, walking across the stomach. Sora pulled out his Keyblade, and I summoned my staff, preparing just in case there was a fight.

“What? You’d rather fight me? Over a puppet that has no heart?” Riku asked. I dismissed my staff, knowing that Riku posed a good point. I’d seen him fight, and he, for lack of better word choice, kicked ass. If Sora fought him, he was screwed.

“Heart or no heart, at least he still has a conscience,” Sora said. Riku did have a conscience, I knew that, but both his mind and Sora’s mind were clouded from the truth of the other’s true intentions. And… Donald and Goofy were debatable.

“Conscience?” Riku asked. I sighed and looked up, wishing Riku would stop trying to be the better person here, and actually let go of his pride, and BE the better person.

“You might not hear it, but right now it’s loud and clear,” Sora told him in his ‘I’m gonna save the worlds’ voice. “And it’s telling me you’re on the wrong side!”

Sora was right, and wrong. Riku WAS on the wrong side, by helping Maleficent and the GoV. However, he had intentions for it that could rival Sora’s own. He just wanted Kairi back, and he saw helping Maleficent as a way to achieve that.

“Then you leave me no choice,” Riku said.

Stupid, stupid Sora! Don’t piss him off! Just run away! He has dark powers AND amazing abilities with a sword!

I hopped down next to Pinocchio and saw a little cricket running over.

“Pinocchio! Pinocchio!” He exclaimed, Sora and Riku not noticing this movement off to the side. His eyes opened, and I sat down beside him, holding his wooden hand, actually worried… about a puppet…

“Jiminy… I’m not gonna make it,” Pinocchio said. But then there was a bright light and his nose gained about an inch. I knew this happened when he lied, and I giggled kindly at the puppet. “Oh! I guess I’m okay!” He pulled his hand from mine and smiled brightly at the cricket, Jiminy, who was jumping up and down with joy.

Riku looked over at us and gave me an… odd look before turning back to Sora.

“Huh?” He asked as another Parasite cage fell from the ceiling. He disappeared through a dark portal… leaving me there… without Ethers…

“Oh, that arrogant little-“ I started. Jiminy interrupeted me.

“Nora! Please! Help Sora! I know what you said before, about not wanting to help again… but it’d be great of you!” The cricket exclaimed.

“Sorry Jiminy, but I need to report back to Hoo- I mean… um… wherever Riku went, or I’ll be in trouble,” I told him, giving Pinocchio a light smile. “And you… be careful… and about Riku? I apologize for him, again.”

I held out my arm and disappeared through a dark portal, onto Hook’s ship.

Back on Hook’s ship, I couldn’t find Riku anywhere… until I heard voices coming from Hook’s cabin.

“So, Kairi’s like a lifeless puppet now?” I heard Riku ask.

“Precisely,” Maleficent told him, sounding almost HAPPY about it.

“And her heart was…” Riku sounded REALLY pained by this.

“Taken by the Heartless, no doubt,” Maleficent explained.

“Tell me! What can I do?” Riku asked, frantically.

“There are seven maidens of the purest heart,” Maleficent began. “We call them the Princesses of Heart. Gather them together, and a door will open to the heart of all worlds. Within lies untold wisdom. There, you will surely find a way to recover Kairi’s heart. Now, I’ll grant you a mervelous gift.”

Oh no… what’s she planning now? Maleficent’s gifts are always given for her own purpose…

“The power to control the Heartless,” She finished.

“Soon, Kairi. Soon,” Riku said. I sighed and made my way back to my cabin, fingering my necklace all the way there.

Alyssa R.T.