Aww noes ;~; Have fun, Yunie! We shall wait here for joo.
S’ever-so-slightly violent. Not a full-scale epic Loki kick-ass moment, but something small. Enjoy, Loki fans. I mean, uh, Sora fans. Yeah. We’re on Sora’s side.
; Uh, go Sora?
Chapter Eighty-One
“It was ingenious to do something like this,” Loki purred, letting his arms fall behind his back. “The original members would follow, simply to pay respect to Mikado. Recruiting new members was simple. We saw the downtrodden, and offered them revenge.” Sable smiled to herself to hear Loki’s words. She stayed silent; Sora and Riku had not noticed her presence in the shadows just yet, and that was where she’d stay until needed.
“You mean you lied to them,” Sora scowled, lips curled in a disgusted frown, his usually amiable expression soured at the thought of Loki and his heartless actions.
Loki’s smile widened, little creases of cruel delight lining his handsome face.
“Yes,” he admitted proudly. His footsteps echoed softly as he stalked around in the shadows, eyes gleaming in the darkness, as a cat’s eyes in the night. Riku scowled, fed up with the man’s conceited arrogance.
“How would you feel if someone exploited you that way?” he asked, question resonant in the silent air. Sora cringed at Riku’s bold questioning, knowing that it would
not end well. “I bet you’ve felt some serious pain. Come on, how would
you feel about it?” Throwing a fierce glare at the impudent silver-haired man, Loki’s brow creased his entire face.
“So what if I have?” he spat, darting around the issue, looking at Riku over his shoulder.
“Answer the question,” Riku dared to command. “How would you feel if someone manipulated you like that?” Clearly, this questioning was getting to Loki already; his temper was just as short as they’d been told.
“No-one else would be intelligent enough to do that,” Loki hissed, giving a predictably arrogant answer. Riku smirked, shaking the silver hairs on his head.
“I bet they would,” he smiled. He‘d received many sharp elbows from Sora, but he was not about to end this emotional onslaught just yet. “But I was right about the pain, huh?”
His questions sent shockwaves through Loki’s nerves, and all at the thought of having to delve into the past. No, never. The past was painful. The past was agonising. What mattered was the future. Yes, his future with Sable. Their future at the head of the universe.
“Silence,” Loki ordered, with a narrow face. “I am growing tired of this impudent behaviour.”
“Yep, I can tell,” Riku mocked, folding his arms. He knew
exactly how to get to the man - but didn’t know how risky it was to provoke this loose cannon. “It can’t just have been losing Mikado, right?”
Loki cursed the man, before turning to him.
“He was the only one that cared for me,” he growled, clenching his fists, “the only person in this pitiful universe that showed an ounce of concern for me. I didn‘t matter to anyone else.” His furious glare found Sora, sending goosebumps down his spine. “Your friend here stole him from me.” It seemed the conversation was going around in circles.
“Aww,” Riku said sarcastically, cocking his head, pouting with his bottom lip. He delighted in Loki’s increasing rage.
“I don’t suppose
you’ve lost anyone you loved,” Loki roared, charging forwards, so that he stood right in front of Riku. Riku felt a little intimidated; mocking from afar was okay, but he wasn’t sure it was as easy from close up.
“Actually,” he said, voice slightly more hushed. Loki smirked, seeing the way his intimidation had apparently affected the man’s confidence. “Yes.”
Sora’s eyes widened. He didn’t think Riku would speak of this; to Loki, of all people. Riku was not an emotional person, and tended to keep things such as this private from others. Although, Sora suspected he was merely doing so to prove a point; that not all people who had suffered turned to the darkness - even though Riku had come especially close.
“Oh?” Loki breathed, his ego suffering slightly as his point had been disrupted. “Go on.”
“You first,” Riku’s eyes narrowed.
Loki shrugged with a weighty sigh, quivering with agonising memories as he delved deeper into his mind.
”That’s why yer brother left,” the drunken voice swirled around in his head, filling his air with the scent of cheap alcohol and cigarettes. “And yer father.” There was a smash of glass hitting the wooden floor. A vindictive smirk flashed in his mind. “None of ‘em could stand ya, Loki.”
“I’d leave too, if I could,” he heard himself retort, anger filling his chest, tears filling his black eyes. “Mikado only left because this place is a dump. And who’d wanna stay with you anyway?!”
“You, obviously,” he voice continued, “why else are ya still standin’ around?!” She began to shout all of a sudden. “Go on! Get out! I sure as hell don‘t want ya!” There was a thunderous footstep. “I resent that godforsaken day you were born!
Loki shuddered. He’d give the bare bones of this story, and nothing more; simply to prove a point. After all, they’d be dead soon; it was not as though they could run off and tell others.
“My father left us,” he closed his eyes. “Mother couldn’t take it. She was sent out of control, so to speak; she turned to alcohol, and simply could not care for Mikado and I.” He frowned, bowing his head. “Mikado left, too. He returned after three days, but for weeks, he was not the same. He was too depressed to care about anything.” He massaged his temples; these memories had been locked up for a long, long time, never released from the vault of his mind - they were simply too painful by now; the agony they caused having escalated over the years. “But then he seemed to turn around. For years, he took care of me. He tried to get through to mother, but she refused the help, continuing her habit. So Mikado did all she should have done, until…”
Riku raised an eyebrow.
“He left me behind,” Loki scowled sourly. “He left. I begged him not to, I pleaded with him - I was still but a child - but he left anyway. Left me with mother.” He opened his eyes. “She couldn’t take care of me. I raised myself from then on, vowing to find Mikado, wherever he had gone.” He frowned. “I left her to find Mikado.”
Pain surged deep within him, evident in the quivers seeming to take hold of his form. Riku ignored this, scowling, telling his own story without an invitation to divulge the information.
“My mother left us,” Riku scowled, the rage in his eyes glimmering stronger with every word. “My dad lost his mind, to put it bluntly. He got depressed, drank a lot.” Pain quivered slightly in his chest at the reopening of this old wound. Loki’s eyes widened slightly, hearing this similar story. “He had better things to do than take care of me.” Sora nodded, having been brought up alongside Riku.
“He stayed with me on and off for a long time,” Sora stated, backing up this story; in fact, the reasoning behind why the two were such good friends. “He kept being left on my doorstep by his father, who refused to look after him.” Riku nodded slowly, his eyes finding Loki’s in a scowl.
“I got hurt too,” he growled. “But you don’t see me getting all megalomaniacal about it.” He took a bold step forward. “I resolved it myself, when I was fifteen.”
Silenced at this irony, bemused at their similar beginnings, yet contrasting endings, Loki stood sheepish for once. His dark mind seemed to understand Riku’s reasoning, though he was too proud to admit such things.
“I went to him and discussed it,” Riku continued with a scowl, “then Ansem had to go ahead with his plans.” He strode closer. “I finally sorted everything with my dad and he had to sever the worlds, and separate us.”
Loki felt a smirk begin, but it faded from his face before it could become noticeable. A strange feeling grew in the pit of his stomach, widening his eyes. No, he couldn’t possibly be feeling this. Was it empathy? If it was, Loki was experiencing a new emotion; and it was making him angry.
“Ansem was a visionary,” Loki stated, trying to shake off these strange new emotions. An expert at hiding anything he felt, covering up his empathy would not be a problem. Riku’s scowl deepened, his fists clenching.
“You really don’t care, do you?!” he shouted, seeing that he hadn’t gotten through at all, even after their astoundingly similar stories.
Without warning, he threw himself forward, taking a swipe at Loki’s jaw - striking his target.
Sora looked on, his jaw dropping as he realised just what he’d seen. Orexein’s eyes widened, and Sable lifted a hand to her quivering lips. Ominous silence hung around them. A flash of lightning illuminated the room, lighting the strangely intense - albeit, seemingly changeless - look on Loki’s face. Despite being hit with all Riku had, he stood there still and silent, his face deepening with each passing second. Thunder rolled overhead, as if voicing the rage Loki felt bubbling up inside.
Before Riku could respond in any way, Loki grabbed his arm, still curled back after the punch. His sour face met Riku’s, black eyes burning deep into his soul.
“You’ll pay for that,” he hissed, tightening his grip on Riku’s squirming arm.
In a single, darting movement, Loki grabbed Riku’s throat with his left hand, lifting him from the ground - before hurling the right forward, straight into Riku’s face, sending him across the room in a painful motion. Loki smirked at his handiwork, laughing a little as he saw Riku’s body slam against the cold, hard floor.
Sora scowled at Loki, but wasted no time in checking to see if Riku was alright. Running towards the man’s pained form, he skidded to the ground, his eyes frantically scanning for injuries. The man groaned, face creasing in agony.
“Riku?” Sora shouted, shifting Riku’s position into one more suitable; leaving his body in this crumpled state wouldn’t help him at all. “Are you alright?”
Riku managed a nod, and then a watery smile.
“Been better,” he croaked, grabbing at his aching cheek. He could feel it bruising after a matter of seconds. “Man, he’s tough…”
“Perhaps we should get down to business,” Loki called to Sora from across the room. “I want this over with now.” His voice raised to a roar. “I want to be rid of you for good, so that I can get on with my plans!”
Cracking his knuckles, stood with a raging scowl, it was quite clear he was ready for battle. Scowling, ready to take him on, Sora rose to his feet, Keyblade held in his clammy hands.
“Just try to keep still,” Sora whispered to Riku, “until I can help you, or something.”
Riku nodded, watching with held breath as he saw Sora stride forward. He seemed confident enough, but inside, the Keyblade master was
not feeling good about the battle he walked towards.
Fighting Loki was a daunting prospect, anyone could admit that. The man was incredibly strong, despite his misleading slender - albeit, toned - appearance. Earlier, when the man had thrown Sora to the ground, his iron grip around his slender neck, Sora had feared the worst. Just now, as he’d picked Riku up with a single hand, before flinging him across the room, it was plain to anyone that his violent temper would easily get the better of him. With razor-sharp reflexes, and such astonishing power, this battle was to be a difficult one indeed. The Keyblade master released an apprehensive sigh, worried about just what could happen. If he wasn’t careful, this would be over very, very quickly. Picking up on the warning signs, he stood defensive, ready for Loki’s terrible onslaught.
“It’s about time I got my revenge,” Loki growled, shifting his shoulders. “Mikado’s revenge. I challenge you, Sora.”
“Then I accept,” Sora frowned, feeling the rush of battle begin inside, swelling through his being. Loki smiled, giving a single nod.
“Excellent,” he smiled vindictively, stalking around. “The sooner we end this, the sooner I can open the door to Kingdom Hearts!”
Oooh. Ending just before they fight; I’m so mean. =D
OML*, this is getting so exciting. I love writing these parts, but they ish so hard >.< I keep thinking I’m gonna write something that doesn’t add up. The vast majority of time I spent on this chapter was time checking back through the 213 pages of TFF I have on my computer. O.O;
TO CLARIFY. The door to Kingdom Hearts was never opened, just in case you guys wondered. Jinn released the Heartless, but King Mickey suspected it had been the opening of the door that released them.
Oh, and the part about Riku and his dad? That wasn’t just thought up on the spot. Twas in the first story, too, remember? =D
<3
*OML? Oh My Loki. Yes, he is our god. Kya knows.
