Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts.


A/N: Hi guys! Here I finally bring you my newest project, Retener et Liberare, and I'm hoping you guys will enjoy it. As I upload the chapters they should already be revised (so you can enjoy it to its fullest) by me and my beta, Obsidian, who by the way I should thank for bothering doing this (I know of his temper XD). I will also try to add a quote at the end of every chapter and a little "The Making of Retener et Liberare" at the end of the chapter, too. R&R.

Welcome to Hollow Bastion.

The soft splashing of water wakened his sleepy senses. The surface under his hands felt rugged and cold; this brought a spark of curiosity from within the teen. He blinked, closed his eyes for a couple of seconds, and blinked again. Once his dizziness was gone he started to stand up, and soon realized his body was weaker than what he thought it would be. He looked around and found himself in the middle of a floating platform, surrounding him were several other platforms, floating just like the one he was standing on, and water was all around the place—streams, ponds, a waterfall—he had no idea of what was going on, and a burning need within him wished he knew.

"Where—where am I?" He asked to no one in particular.

With his heart beating hard against his chest, Riku's memories flooded back to him, and he remembered, with a grim feeling of satisfaction, that he had allowed the darkness to suck him out of Destiny Islands, to the world he was now standing in.

He summoned his strength, and with a powerful leap he jumped to a higher platform. He did the same for a second time, but this time his legs buckled weakly and he fell to his knees—right, he still was recovering from the harsh condition the darkness had brought him here, he was still weak. The silver-head breathed heavily, summoned his strength again and prepared himself for another leap. When he landed in the third platform he felt worse than before and collapsed on the cold floor.

"There's no need to push yourself so much," a voice said above him.

Riku waited a moment, then he looked up, and his sight trailed up to meet a tall, robed woman with inhuman features. She was amused at his meek appearance. He sat up and tried to ignore her, for he thought that she was mocking him.

"Need help?" She said, extending a long, pointed hand at him, but withdrew when Riku ignored it.

The silver-haired teen stud up and, now that both were standing, he didn't feel as much at her mercy, so his dislike toward her diminished. "Where am I?"

"Why, you're in Hollow Bastion, of course," said she, a wicked smile lingered on her lips. "My name is Maleficent, and I think I may be able to help you."

Riku eyed the woman with suspicion, but he decided to agree with her, after all he knew no one in this place called Hollow Bastion. He dusted his clothes off, and said coolly "I was just a bit tired from my long journey here, that's all."

"Of course you are," she was still amused at him. Then she pounded the floor with her staff, and the same darkness that took him away from Destiny Islands appeared in the platform, behind her. "Come then," said Maleficent, as she stepped into the darkness.

The moment he saw how she so easily controlled the darkness he felt genuinely fascinated and decided follow her, so he could later learn of that darkness. His pulse quickened as he followed her into the dark abyss. When he crossed it he realized it wasn't an abyss after all, it transported him to the inside of a marvelous building. The hall was poorly illuminated, but its rich appearance never faltered. Riku's gaze was fixated on the tall water fountain that adorned the lower part of the hall; he had the inkling sensation that this was just a small part of a bigger place.

Maleficent turned to him and was satisfied to see his admiring expression. "Welcome to my castle… ahh—"

"Riku." He answered, knowing that she was asking for his name.

"Riku, welcome to my castle," she repeated. She eyed him for a second, "Will you be staying here?"

The teen thought for a moment, and finally, shrugged; he had no place else to stay.

"Splendid!" She said with that wicked look in her eyes. "Let's get you a room then."

Hollow Bastion Castle—as she would name it—was just as big as Riku imagined it would be. While he trotted behind Maleficent through the various corridors and passages he wondered how he was going to memorize his way to his new bedroom. He also wondered if it was wise to trust this woman, whose appearance was anything but pure. But the great satisfaction and pride in himself for finally being outside of his tiny hometown made him forget all the important questions that should be answered, for now he just wanted to savor his moment of victory. He even got more than what he bargained for; he could stay in this humongous castle.

So lost in his thoughts was he that he almost bumped into the tall woman when she stopped. Riku felt embarrassed under her questioning look and was almost grateful when her wicked smile returned and she began to talk. "Have a look inside, Riku, for this shall be your bedroom from now on." Riku carefully opened the heavy door and smirked at the room before him. "Return to the Entrance Hall when you're ready."

"Ready for what?" Asked the silver-head as he stepped into the room.

"Ready for what I have for you." And without a second glance she turned on her heel, and disappeared to the darkness of the hallway.

Riku smiled sheepishly at himself, he would return to the Entrance Hall if he actually ever found his way back to it. Turning around he closed the door and allowed the coldness of the room to engulf him. He made his way to a tall table and took the matches (that had been conveniently put there) and lit the several candles in the room. After he was done a sinister green glow filled the room and he silently wondered if he would ever find peace and sanctuary (like most people did) in his new bedroom with the cold and vacant feeling it emitted.

He sat on the four-poster bed and now that his thoughts were at peace he began to remember what had happened when he departed from Destiny Islands. He remembered how eager Sora was to reach him—just like always—and he wondered where Sora was. Was he still in the islands? Living a normal life along with Kairi? Were those two OK? And without realizing it his body began relaxing in the comfort of the bed and he laid down and soon his thoughts faded, he closed his eyes and allowed his mind to slip away to the blissfulness of sleep.

--

A light pounding on the door began to wake him, and he sat up abruptly as the pounding got louder and sharper. He stud up and raced to the door, opening it. He felt stupid as he gazed at the emptiness of the hallway—that was strange. Then, suddenly, his feeling of stupidity turned to embarrassment as someone coughed under him. He looked down and met with the impatient gaze of a short boy with dark, messy hair. Riku stepped back and gave the kid an apologetic smile.

The boy glared at him and said "Maleficent wants to know if you're ready."

Riku sighed remembering what she told him, and was grateful that she had sent someone for him—he just wasn't in the mood to get lost trying to find his way around. He finally nodded.

"Follow me then," said the boy with the same tone of impatience.

After a while Riku couldn't withstand his curiosity anymore, so he asked "So, who are you?"

The boy gave him a side glance, "I'm just like you."

The teen raised a perfectly arched eyebrow, but the boy decided to ignore him—thing that really annoyed Riku. Aside from that they walked in silence and they arrived faster than what Riku thought they would (mostly because the young boy took several bizarre passages where they had to crouch and crawl all the time—and even take elaborate routes through elevators). Riku followed the boy and was surprised when they didn't stop where he thought their destination would be—the Entrance Hall. They passed a few rooms until they arrived to what looked like a throne room; where Maleficent sat in the highest chair.

Without the smallest display of emotion Maleficent told the boy "I hope you didn't drag him here against his will."

The boy just shrugged, Maleficent sighed in annoyance, and turned to Riku. "Riku this is Teddy, he also lives in this castle."

Riku nodded.

Maleficent eyed Teddy as he climbed a high, marvel ornament and sat on it. "Teddy did you tell Jarvia to join us?"

"Yes and she said she didn't care," said Teddy, jumping down from the ornament and doing a couple acrobatics.

Just as Maleficent was about to murmur a reply the doors to Riku's right were slammed open, and a young girl around thirteen stalked inside. "You said I would be your favorite!" The girl pointed a finger at Maleficent accusingly.

"But my dear you all are my favorites," replied Maleficent in a weird, sweet manner.

"No! He will be your favorite," the brunette huffed as she glared at Riku.

"Nonsense," Maleficent waved her off, "Riku this is Jarvia, Jarvia—Riku—Teddy."

"Hurry up I wanna go outside!" Teddy whined as he did a couple of jumps and flips, Jarvia rolled her eyes, and Riku sighed, amused.

"Riku, listen, we're like a family here," Maleficent spread her arms out; Jarvia tapped her foot impatiently; and Riku was beginning to get annoyed at Teddy's continuous jumping. "And we all have different duties and responsibilities. I care for the castle and rule over it; Jarvia protects the castle from invaders; Teddy informs me of the happenings around town and—"

"I'm the delivery boy!" Teddy said quite enthusiastically.

"Yes. And you Riku, you could be my assistant… yes that—"

"See! He's gonna be your favorite now!" Maleficent was interrupted yet again, this time by Jarvia.

"Jarvia." Maleficent gave the girl a menacing glare making her falter and step back, then the witch's expression turned pleasant again—thing that disturbed Riku a little. "I still don't know what you can do so you'll be my assistant until we find a suitable place for you. You will need a weapon."

Riku looked at his bare hands, he had no weapons, and the only fighting experience he had was all the sparing he had done with Sora back in Destiny Islands. "I—" he muttered.

"You worry too much lad. Here," she waved her hand and a dark, short blade appeared in Riku's hands; he took a step back, stunned. "It's called Soul Eater, and holds the power of shadow. Use it as you see fit."

The teen eyed the weapon in his hands. The blade was a dark crimson; one side was bordered by a dull, black outline and the other side held a sharp, deadly blade. This could really kill people—being completely different to the wooden toy swords he used to fight with.

"You are dismissed," Maleficent said lazily, while stroking the dark feathers of her pet crow.

"Finally!" Jarvia exclaimed throwing her hands in the air, and then she stomped her way out of the chapel.

Teddy leapt close to Riku (it seemed that he couldn't withstand the urge to be active) and extended a hand at him saying "Let me see." Riku obliged and gave Soul Eater to the younger boy (but the teen still had the uneasy feeling that Teddy would cut himself with the blade—him being so active). Surprisingly Teddy became still and quiet, but he had an impatient expression, as if he couldn't wait until he was able to jump again. "C'on, hurry up and I'll show you how to use this!" Said the eight year old and Riku shrugged and followed him outside—this would be and interesting beginning of his new life, he finally decided.

The richness of life lies in the memories we have forgotten. - Carol Shields

To be continued...


The Making of Retener et Liberare

Part 1 - Thinking of the Main Plot: A few weeks ago (or even months ago) I was making a fan video about Riku for YouTube so I downloaded a whole bunch of cutscenes from Kingdom Hearts that featured Riku. And to make the fanvid I needed to go through all the cutscenes, so while I was watching everything I felt kinda curious of what had really happened to Riku during Sora's adventure; sure we know what he did and of his short appearances every here and there, but everything was mostly focused on Sora, Sora, Sora. So I headed here to look for any fanfiction regarding Riku's life with Maleficent and all that--just to discover that there are absolutely none (unless I missed a few), so I decided to take the risk of making one. Why is it a risk?--you ask, well because no one makes them, so only a few people are interested about this (it's mostly all the yaoi crap), so I'm taking the risk of my story not being liked and appreciated as it should. But I decided on doing it, and so far I have 5 chapters done (They need revising so they won't be uploaded as soon), and I'm hoping it will be liked.