Memories of the Hearts

Chapter II

"I'm afraid I was born to be alone." ~Ciel Phantomhive (Black Butler)
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As Marluxia and I walked through the void, I felt as if my chest is closing in on itself. It was such a intriguing feeling, but each passing second the feeling increased by a two-fold and when I thought I was going to suffocate, Marluxia opened one of those dark portals in the void and I followed him out into a completely white room. Everything was white. The walls, the floor, the decorations, the furnatures...

A girl with blonde, nymph-like hair with the same coat Marluxia wore stood up from the couch once she saw us. "Oh, there you are Marluxia," she snapped. "You took long enough--"

Her sour attitude annoyed me slightly, but at least she wasn't directing it at me. The girl glanced at me. "That's it?" She raised a brow as she crossed her arms. "I honestly imagined her to be...more impressive, I guess?"

Nevermind that. She directed her attitude at me not even a minute after I stepped foot into this place. "'More impressive'?" I demanded. "How so?!"

"Well, when I first heard about you, I imagined--" She started but Marluxia held his hand in front of her face in a "stop" motion. He whispered something at her, his face becoming furious. She stepped to the side, waving him off. "Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, flower boy," She rolled her eyes as she opened a dark portal and stepped through it, disappearing as the portal closed up and disappeared.

Marluxia exhaled before turning to me and giving me a smile. "You have to excuse Larxene," He apologized. "She has a tendency to find the negative in everything she sees."

For some reason, I found his smile unsettling but I ignored it as I noticed out of the corner of my eye another dark portal opened up. A man, maybe just a few years older than me, stepped through. He had spiky red hair that was just as bold as a stop sign, green eyes and black, teardrop-like markings underneath each eye. He, too, wore the same black coat Marluxia and Larxene wore. "Axel," Marluxia started.

"What's up?" Axel as he stretched, lifting his arms up and over his neck as he leaned to the left and right with the upper half of his body.

"Help Sakura feel welcome here," Marluxia told him as he too disappeared through one of those dark portals.

"Um...I'm Sakura..." I introduced myself awkwardly as I held my hand out to Axel for him to shake.

"I'm Axel," he grinned as he accepted my hand and shook it firmly. "So, this is Castle Oblivion. We have some motto here...how does it go again...oh yeah, 'What to lose is what you will find, and what you will find is what you will lose', blah, blah, blah..." He turned his attention back to me. "So, what other trivia facts you'd like to know about this place?" He asked me.

"...when can I see Sora?" I asked bluntly.

He jerked up at the question. "Well, aren't you just straight-forward," he commented.

"I mean, that's why I am here," I crossed my arms. "Would you please open one of those dark portals and oh-so kindly take me to where Sora is."

Axel shook a finger in front of my face. "First off, they're called Corridors of Darkness," he corrected. "And second, without proper protection, traveling through those things too much can take a negative impact on your physical and mental state."

"Well, what protection do I need?" I asked him.

"Why, these fashionable coats," Axel tugged the collar of his coat. "We don't have any extras at the moment, so we need to limit how often you go through them. Besides, traveling through them is exhausting without a coat. Aren't you beat?"

As soon as Axel said that, I yawned, stretching. My muscles didn't feel sore exactly, but I really wanted to sit down somewhere and rest for a bit. "Yeah, thought so," Axel nodded as he placed a hand on my back and walked me forward. "I'll take you to your room," he said. "We can continue this complimentary tour tomorrow. Sounds good?"