A/N: Omg, two updates within twenty-four hours? The end of the world is nigh! Written and dedicated to a friend of mine because he doesn't like slash, being a boy. Le sigh. xD

Influenced by Neverevereverdid, the brilliant song by Architecture in Helsinki, and the fact that Repliku/Namine doesn't get nearly enough love. Read, enjoy, review if you please. Con crit rocks hardcore.

Just yesterday, was walking on the moon with your stalker,
And we talked about love and all the battles we'd won.
A permanent malaise prevented us from hiding our fortunes,
So we left them bare for all the natives to see.
--
Neverevereverdid
Architecture in Helsinki

Neverevereverdid

The blood, the Riku replica's blood is everywhere, dripping down and staining the white marble floors. It forms a lake at his knees, dark against his rolling pale eyes and his white skin. Somewhere far away Naminé thinks she can hear a distant graveyard bell, but then she realizes it's all in her head, that it's only her mind making this reality an unforgettable nightmare.

She lets out a gasp, feels tears form at her eyes. She's ruined everything now. She destroys everything she touches, but she never thought she could ever hurt him. He was so much stronger than she was.

But she pushed him and pushed him to be her knight, to death-defy for her sake, to come between her and anything that tried to hurt her. And now he's dying, in gratitude for everything she has ever done.

Now he's almost dead, and now she doesn't have anyone to hide behind, not anymore.

Her throat feels tight, and she forces the words out. They are too quiet to be heard, and nobody really notices them.

"Please, please…you're my…"

My knight.

My hero.

Please.

Pleasedon't leave me here. Please don't leave me alone.

---

Memories come in flash floods to her, disjointed and unattached. Does it really matter?

No, no, Naminé, it doesn't really matter. You just keep drawing. You just keep lying.

Just like that, dearie. Just like that.

---

The announcement of the replica's birth is subdued, quiet, because he's not exactly himself yet and if the other boy, the other Keybearer hears about it, Vexen's grand scheme will be foiled before it's even begun.

But Naminé will have the replica bound to her, and so she is allowed to see him before anyone else.

"Should we make believe that you know him already?" the Chilly Academic asks with dead lips and a frozen, rotting smile. "After all, when he wakes up, he'll be rather fond of you."

"…fond of me?" She can't help asking, even if Marluxia's told her that asking questions is rude, that she shouldn't do anything that he doesn't pre-approve.

"Oh, yes, he'll be your knight in shining armor," Vexen says in a faraway voice, a tone of disgust coloring his words. "That's what every princess needs."

Naminé says nothing but stares, only stares at her manufactured prince, the one who will take her away from this place.

She can't help wishing he was already awake.

"Soon, Naminé," Vexen promises. "Very soon."

Naminé feels uneasy, heavy, and she asks Vexen what that means.

He tries not to gag when he says she's excited.

She goes to sleep and all she does is dream of the replica, her knight, her hero, the whole night through. She writes a clumsy letter to him, all mismatched and misshapen letters, sent from the world of the conscious to the world of dreams:

All I do is dream of you, the whole night through.

With the dawn, I still go on dreaming of you.

You're every thought, you're everything, you're every song I ever sing.

And were there more than twenty-four hours a day, they'd be spent in sweet content, dreaming away.

The skies are grey, the skies are blue.

Morning, noon, and nighttime too.

All I do the whole day through is dream of you.

---

Their first meeting has to be like a reunion, Marluxia is saying to her, eyes sharp with arrogance and expectations.

"If you even manage to ruin this simple thing, Naminé, I wouldn't be too surprised. But erasing memories take time, and we don't have time to waste on him. He's a replica. A backup. He'll simply have to do. But he came from Vexen's hands, and he's not…trustworthy, shall we say? But you needn't worry. We have everything planned. You'll be the one to tell us about what that little replica does, and how far you've changed him."

She forces the question out: "…why?"

Marluxia only smirks and draws a long arm around her neck. He leans in close, his breath hot with secrets and rosary peas, her own breath cold with manufactured, hand-drawn lies.

"Oh, my dear Naminé, don't you see? He won't be important to anyone but you."

---

The door is shut behind them and so she is left alone with her prince. She's been thinking about what to say to him, what to do with him, but now that she's forced to do something she's not entirely sure what to do.

"…it's good to see you again," she says with a smile so fake it's painful. She's never been good at smiling, and when she bares her teeth, she looks more uncomfortable than happy. If the replica notices this, he pays it no mind.

"Do you have it?" she asks, surprisingly businesslike. The paopu chain rests against his armored hand and he opens it to let her see.

"I'd never leave this behind," he says, so genuinely she can almost believe the lie.

She wraps her arms around him, noticing the way he tenses against her. She can't believe he's not real.

"You're perfect, you're perfect," she's saying, and he only nods and holds her back, until they hear footsteps coming and abruptly pull away.

---

The first time he comes back to her beaten and bruised it's all she can do not to cry and remind herself that she can still make tears.

"What happened?"

"Sora," says the replica with utter distaste, speaking the name like it's a curse. "He's coming."

"…is he?" she asks, all white, untouched innocence.

"He's late," he replies with a laugh, moving to hold her and give her a small, soft kiss on her deathly pale cheek. "He never did like coming in second. Remember what you said? I'm always with you, too. I'm going to keep you safe now. I promise."

She uses the same recycled words: "I know you will."

---

Naminé isn't sure whether this is the end or the beginning anymore. She's seen it all: bonfires of trust, flash floods of pain.

All she knows is that she neverevereverdid anything to deserve this.

She neverevereverdid anything to deserve her knight, her dying brave beautiful hero.

But she neverevereverdid anything to deserve losing him either.

---

References: The letter Naminé writes is taken directly from the song All I Do Is Dream Of You from Singin' in the Rain because I am such a theater geek like that.

Rosary peas are poisonous berries. If you eat only one of them, it's enough to kill you. Charming, isn't it?