The first thing he sees is Axel. Axel, bending over him, whispering in his ear.
"Hello, Riku."
Riku wakes, disoriented, strapped naked to an operating table. Axel's red hair is a gaudy splash of color against the stark whiteness of Castle Oblivion. He tucks a silver strand of the boy's hair behind his ear.
"Do you remember me? It's Axel, got it memorized?" Axel chuckles softly, the giggles echoing off the emptiness of the laboratory. "Maybe not, though," he continues, "Namine was really thorough, huh?"
The boy stares up at Axel. The redhead has vivid green eyes, as green as the glass that holds Vexen's potions and tinctures. The ones that it's forbidden to touch, lest he break them. Riku dimly recalls a day when Vexen, furious at the mess of shattered glass, shouted, "Fragile, fragile," and danced angrily around the lab, his angular body contorted in rage.
There's nothing fragile about Axel's eyes. They're hypnotic; once he gazes into them he can't look away. Riku drowns in the brightness of Axel's eyes.
"Namine…" Riku murmurs softly. When Axel says that name, a thousand fireworks go off in his head. Namine is his world. She has to be safe, but more than that, she has to be happy.
"Yeah, her, the witch girl," Axel says carelessly, unstrapping the boy. "Vexen told her to switch all your memories around. That," Axel taps the side of Riku's head playfully, "is why you're all mixed up in there."
Riku sits up, rubbing at the red indents the restraints left on his skin. "You remember the necessary stuff, though. At least, that was what they said." Axel leers down at Riku grinning. Axel ransacks the room, opening and closing the drawers, rifling through the cupboards.
"Yes," Riku says. "I remember." And he does, a little bit at least. Riku remembers green glass shattering and Vexen's frantic pacing. He remembers a boy who betrayed him and a girl with blue eyes and blonde hair that's the most important thing in the entire universe.
"Good boy." Axel tosses Riku a lab coat, and watches him struggle to put on the oversized garment. When Axel sees that he can't manage the buttons on its own, he reaches over and fastens them, with quick, jerky gestures.
When he's done, Axel grins mockingly, threading his fingers through Riku and pulling him off the table. "Let's go see your mom, right?"
Riku is confused for a moment, and then he realizes. "Vexen? Vexen's not my mom. My mom is still on the islands."
"Sure, the islands," Axel says, rolling his acid green eyes. They walk along the empty, white corridors in silence for a moment. Their hands are still intertwined, and Axel's touch burns. It feels good on Riku's cold skin.
"Do you remember Sora, Riku?" Axel asks, after another the long pause.
Riku tenses, tightening his grip on Axel's fingers. "Sora." Riku's voice is soft and bitter as he says the name. "He…he betrayed me. He never cared."
Axel is quiet again. Riku looks up at him, and Axel's face is uncharacteristically somber. "Huh. She really did get you good, Riku. I was kinda hoping…"
The redhead trails off as they halt outside an open door. Axel raps on it loudly with his knuckles, once, twice, three times. Then he strides in, pulling Riku behind him. Vexen is there, tall and thin, bent over a spotless white table smothered in paper and notes. He stands, looks Riku over, and stiffly shakes his hand.
"Riku," Vexen acknowledges formally, face carefully neutral. He holds out his hand to one of the dusks standing nearby. A measuring tape is put in it, as sterile and plain as the rest of the castle. Vexen tells Riku to take off the coat and stand on the scale. He orders him to extend its arms, straighten his back, spread his fingers. And Vexen writes everything down, in a neat, precise style, his pen moving regularly and crisply over the page.
"Everything is running smoothly. I expect it…him, back in a few days, a week at most." Vexen speaks to Axel, looking above Riku's head as if he's not there.
Axel nods. "Will do, old man."
Vexen glares at him, not dignifying the younger man with a reply, and stalks back into his laboratory where all the green bottles wink and shimmer. Axel turns to Riku standing at his side.
"Well, I guess we have to start over. Maybe it will go back to how it was. Maybe," Axel says wistfully. He's facing Riku, but somehow he knows that Axel's not talking to him.
"Axel?" he says hesitantly.
"Nothing, nothing." Axel grimaces for a moment, and then his mouth stretches into a wide, painful looking grin and his green eyes are burning.
"Welcome back…Riku."