Summary: During his first attempt to capture Roxas, Riku gets into a bit more trouble then he expected.
Disclaimer: If I owned Kingdom Hearts, do you really think I would share it with everyone else?
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It is almost like Traverse Town.
He cannot see the area around him, but he can feel in a way that defies description. The place has the same perpetually black sky, the same neon lighted shops, the same asphalt paved streets. But where Traverse Town had been filled to bursting with refugees from the vanished worlds, this world is almost deathly hollow. The only inhabitants are those that creep along the shadows, invisible except for their too bright yellow eyes, the Nobodies who had somehow managed to retain their minds, Riku himself and, of course, him.
Riku is almost scared to face him.
Despite all of DiZ's speeches that a Nobody was just the shell of a person that got left behind after a heart had been torn out, Riku wonders in his hiding place if he had Sora's blue eyes, Sora's wild brown hair, Sora's unreal smile that was always too large for his face. Would this Nobody be an empty shell with his friend's face? Somehow, Riku simply cannot imagine anything of Sora being something short of alive. It…hurts, to think of Sora's Nobody like that. Even if Riku has never met him. Even if Riku will never know him.
Riku sits quietly on his perch above the street, hidden safely in darkness, like he always is. For all the ability of the Twilight within him to walk in both light and darkness, Riku has never really lost the feeling of security the shadows provide him. His dark coat and hood hide his silver hair, and he is free to spy out on the world around him. He does not have to move, he does not have to act, he simply watches.
- And that is so unlike you, little Riku. Wouldn't you rather find him, before he finds you? -
- Be silent -
The voice laughs and fades away under Riku's pressure. In the weeks that run by between the voice's visits, Riku finds his running commentary for the past few hours disturbing. He hates being reminded that he will never again be truly alone his mind. When the voice reminds him that it is his own fault, Riku remembers that the only person he will ever hate more than the voice is himself.
("You abandoned us Sora. You found new friends to replace the ones you lost, like we were nothing more than toys!"
"No! I never stopped looking for you Riku! Not even for a second!"
He can't stand those lying blue eyes anymore and he draws his sword. Idly, he wonders if it will hurt to kill his once-friend.)
Safe.
Sora was safe and alive and he had not killed him and he never would. Kairi was home and she was safe and nobody would take her heart away again. He just had to save Sora, to give him back the last remaining piece of his being, and then he would wake up and when he did Riku would be there and they could together again and go to Kairi and they'd be whole again -
Movement.
A smallish figure in a black coat with the hood drawn up, hiding his face. He is unarmed and alone. Riku is suddenly intensely glad he can't see his face because the thought of fighting anything that is visibly part of Sora would make him sick now and he knows it. Never mind the ribbon across his eyes, because there are some things even it couldn't hide. Riku crawls to the end of the balcony he is on, sensing his target and waiting for the smaller boy to pass underneath him.
It is foolish, impossible, and in all ways illogical, but Riku thinks the Nobody walks like Sora. His feet swing out too far and he almost dances the way his hips swing. Riku wonders why he is even wearing that heavy black coat when he is oh-so-obviously not suited for it. The humming of the fluorescent lights seems to dim and the quiet of the city that never drew breath went quieter still. Riku can hear his heart thundering as he jumps off the balcony and falls toward the Nobody, the hilt of his sword raised for one quick hit at the temple.
And clearly DiZ is wrong because the Nobody does have something more of Sora in him then a discarded body. Only Sora has ever rolled away from his attacks like that and Riku can think of no one else who would have known he was coming. Sora has always known when Riku was trying to surprise him and it has always pissed Riku off. And then Riku has no more time to think because there is a flash of light and the Nobody is coming at him with Sora's Keyblade.
Riku barely has time to block and then there is weight on his blade and he is straining against the smaller boy who is absurdly strong for his size. He wonders if the Nobody would recognize him if he took off his own hood. Could Sora's memories have such a great effect on his Nobody? Because, as Riku is forced to retreat and parry and block and duck, the Nobody is even fighting like Sora and with just as much power. He uses more strength than Sora and is a little slower, but the tactics and the ability are the same. With a mixture of fear and embarrassment Riku notes, as he ducks beneath another hit that would have taken his head off, that he is losing almost a mere fifteen seconds after the fight first started.
Grunting as the flat side of the Keyblade smacks him in the ribs, Riku falls to the ground on one hand and lashes out with a leg. The Nobody skips back and out of attack range. Riku rolls to his feet and charges forward, mentally chanting that this is his only chance, and that the Nobody will never let his guard down again for Riku to get at him. The Nobody, as if sensing his thoughts, lifts the Keyblade and runs right at him. They meet in midair with metal screaming and sparks flying and then Riku is flying back and landing hard on his back. The Nobody lands on his feet and turns to face him.
Riku can't see the face, and he is getting more and more grateful for that by the second because it looks like he will have to get rough after all. But he can't hold back the question, because only the strongest hearts were supposed to get the Keyblade and Nobodies didn't have hearts.
'But they have minds right? I can't be fighting a puppet and DiZ said they have free will. But he doesn't have a heart, so why does he have it, why, why, why, why…?
"Why? Why do you have his Keyblade?"
Riku doesn't know he has spoken the words until they leave his mouth. The Nobody looks (ashamedly curiously) at the sword in his hand and he turns violently back to Riku. Slashing his gloved hand through the air, the Nobody orders him to "Shut up!"
And then he is coming again, with violent intent written across every line of his body. The coat is meant to emphasis that, Riku realizes. Riku rolls out of the way in a hurry and barely avoids being cut in half. He staggers back on to his feet and brings his own sword up just in time to catch the Keyblade and strike it away from his stomach. Riku lifts his foot and kicks hard into the Nobody's shin. The Nobody yells and the Keyblade goes down. Riku swings the flat of his sword at the exposed being, but the Nobody jumps away and Riku misses again. It is becoming an unpleasant habit.
But unless his ears deceive him, the Nobody is breathing hard now, tiring quickly. Riku circles him slowly, feinting here and there, trying to find an opening. The Nobody always blocks, but his movements are slow and sloppy. Riku feels triumph and pity, because even if it will save his friend, he knows what it is like to be forced against your will.
There!
Riku takes the opening and a heartbeat later realizes that it was no opening it was a trap and he walked right into it like always! The Keyblade flies up and the blunt tip smashes into his jaw, sending blood and saliva flying into the air as Riku falls to the ground for the second time that night, cursing in his mind. Riku can't move immediately and it comes back to haunt him as apparently the Nobody isn't quite done yet. A black silhouette floats across the heart shaped moon and the glittering silver of the Keyblade is aimed at Riku for the final blow.
The Nobody falls at him like an angel of death and Riku wonders if it would really be so bad to just let go.
- You know he'll never wake up then, Riku -
Riku hates that voice for making him want to live.
Riku bunches his legs and kicks up, catching the Nobody in the chest and knocking the Keyblade away when it is only a few inches from impaling him. The black-coated boy tumbles and comes up in a crouch, awkwardly positioned with both hands balancing him. He looks like Sora after falling from a coconut tree.
Riku suddenly hates him.
Furious, he is on his feet and the Nobody is on his feet and they are hammering at each other again, but this time Riku is not holding back and it is Riku who is pushing the other one back with every trick he knows, dirty or fair. The boy stumbles and staggers and weaves and ducks and tries to run foolishly because it leaves his back wide open and Riku was never one to pass up a good opportunity, though it has come back to take a good sized chunk out of him lately.
Riku mimics the Nobody's earlier attack and jumps high in to the air, the sharp edge of his jagged blade aimed at the retreating back. Part of him is screaming that it will kill the Nobody and part (not of him) is laughing at the whole situation.
"Roxas, down!"
And yes, he has done something extremely foolish again.
There is nowhere to hide in the wide open air and the bar of fire catches him full in the back. He is knocked over the Nobody, who huddles on the street floor, and crashes hard into an alley nearby. As he stares dully at the trash can near his head, he realizes how utterly stupid it was to go after the Nobody after he had already tried to trick Riku once with a fake opening.
- Foolish child -
- Shut up damn you, I know -
Riku has just enough energy left to wonder why a world with no people in it needs trash cans and then he is no longer awake.
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A thought occurred to me in American Government class as I did not listen to my teacher's droning voice. What if during Riku's first try at bringing Roxas back to DiZ he pulled some stupid Riku-ish stunt and got himself locked up by a bunch of gothic-coat wearing Nobodies? Well, here's the first part of the answer to that question.
Next time – Riku wakes up and decides he doesn't like Number III.
Edited – February 8th, 2008.