Takeo: A Fractured Heart (Wattys 2019)

Chapter 8: A New Friend

               Takeo shifted around and groaned. He put his hand on his head, and sat up. "Where... where am I?" asked Takeo as he looked around a very empty room.

               The last thing that he remembered was fighting that man in the black coat, and then collapsing after seeing his face. Who was that man, and why did Takeo feel such horrible pain once he was near him? Furthermore, how was he holding the same Keyblade that Takeo had? Nothing that just happened was making any sense, and it was hurting Takeo's head just thinking about it.

               After about ten minutes of just sitting up, Takeo decided that he would stand up and try and figure out where he was, and what was going on. He hopped off of the stone bed that he was laying on, and looked around the room. It was empty, and it felt as though there was no kind of life anywhere.

               It was freezing too. "Wasn't this place a desert? I thought those would be really hot!" Takeo thought to himself, as he rubbed his arms. He walked towards a door, but stopped once he got to it. Something was strange about it. He couldn't see anything through it other than just darkness. Was he dreaming? Or was this real, and he was too late to save this world? Takeo looked down at the floor, and saw that there were black tendrils slowly crawling towards him. He stepped back while letting out a gasp, but the tendrils quickly caught up to him, and grabbed him around the ankles.

               The black tendrils hoisted Takeo up into the air, and held him in the corner of the room. Suddenly, a dark portal opened up in the center of the room, and a man stepped out of it. It was the same man that Takeo saw earlier in the arena! What was he doing back here?

               The man looked up, his hood masking his identity. Takeo let out a worried groan, as he tried to struggle free of the tendrils that were holding him in place. The man suddenly shot up towards Takeo, and hovered just in front of his face. He pulled down his hood slowly to reveal the same haunting face that Takeo saw in the arena, red eyes, cracks in his pale face with a black smoke slowly coming out of them. What did this man want with Takeo?

               "Well, who do we have here? Another hopeful Keyblade wielder? Perhaps. But something is special about you... What is it?" asked the man, as he eyed Takeo up and down. "Ah, that's right. You are Takeo. The boy who just recently discovered that he could summon the all-powerful Keyblade, correct?"

               Takeo squirmed, trying to get free of the tendrils holding him in place, "What do you want with me?" 

               "Oh, I don't think it's so much of what I  want with you, I think it's more of what you want with me!" said the man, letting out an evil sounding laugh. Takeo was confused for a moment, but quickly began to put the pieces together.

               This man, the same one who could use the same Keyblade as Takeo, who seemingly knew everything about him, and somehow knew what his goal was. Takeo looked at the man's face and spoke the truth, "You... You're the other half of my heart!" 

               The man began to laugh again, and the tendrils began to disappear slowly. "In time, Takeo, all of this will begin to make sense to you. But you have so much farther to go. Don't take too long!" said the man as he faded away, the black tendrils disappearing with him. When Takeo dropped to the floor, it was as if he woke up again, and had never even gotten out of the makeshift stone bed!

               But this time when he awoke, there were actually people in the room with him! There was the short red man from before, who was talking to a taller woman dressed in a long pink dress. Takeo decided to speak up, "H-hello?" The two turned around quickly, and with a gasp.