A/N: Hey all! Like I said in the summary, 'tis a series of unconnected one shots/drabbles, some will be romantic or like, just thingies, like this one is. There will be no Yaoi/Yuri because I do not like it, however, if there are any other pairings, ideas, etc, that anyone wants me to try as a challenge, then I'm up for it!
Incredibly, Awesomely, spoilerish!
This one was inspired by the Deep Dive and ASAS clips, and several songs by the band Falling Up. Um, I know that this will be taken as yaoi, 'cause it's Riku giving up everything to help Sora, but it's not! And the Axel and Roxas stuff… I'm just trying to show how deep their friendship is… -mumbles- not yaoi… -pouts in corner-
Disclaimer: I refuse to disclaim –gets toted off by lawyers-
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"Axel… I have to leave." The Flurry of Dancing Flames nodded and stood straighter, no longer leaning on the building.
"Yeah, let's go."
"No."
"No? But, you just said…" Axel frowned, and a terrible non-feeling came over him. Roxas refused to meet his eyes.
"I'm going by myself." He held up a hand to still Axel's protests. "I need to do this. I need to find Sora, maybe… meet him. Then, maybe, I can find out why I have the Keyblade." Axel's face fell. His pale green eyes studied the ground as Roxas turned, and began to walk away. He slumped against the wall, defeated. Nothing could stop Roxas once his mind was made up.
"You're sure about this?" Roxas nodded.
"I have to find out about the Keyblade."
"But, the Organization! They'll hunt you down!" Roxas shrugged.
"No one would miss me." He turned, and a small sad smile grew across his face.
"That's not true…" Axel's whisper went unnoticed as Roxas stepped into a portal. "I would."
……………………………………………………………….."Riku, I've an idea. Something that might be able to wake your friend Sora." A tall man wrapped in red, bandage like, clothing turned away from the computer in his swivel chair, looking back at the youth who leaned against the wall. Riku brushed his long silver hair back over his shoulder, his aqua eyes suddenly alert and boring into the man.
"What do you want me to do DiZ?" There was a pleasant upturn of DiZ's lips as he nodded.
"You see, when Sora lost his heart at Hollow Bastion, he gave birth to a Heartless. However, he, being a strong-hearted individual, gave birth to a human like Nobody." DiZ had completely turned form his monitor now, gesturing with his hands. "If I had that Nobody, then maybe Namine could easier chain together Sora's memories." Riku was silent for a moment, then nodded.
"I'll do it." He vanished, leaving the red enigma alone.
"It's all coming together now. Sora, you will help me get back that which I have lost. Xehanort will never know what hit him." A grin stretched across his lips, but there was no pleasantness behind this one. DiZ turned back to the monitors, and began typing away, creating a whole new world, one made solely of data.
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Organization member XIII stepped from a portal into the World That Never Was. As if sensing his presence, the neon lights that light the otherwise dark world flickered to life, throwing everything into sharp relief. Why was he here? He had meant to teleport to Castle Oblivion, to pay a visit to Axel, not this forlorn place. With a sigh, he turned, but a flash in the corner of his eye sent his reflexes into overdrive.
He jumped, dodging the Dark Firaga, flipping in midair before whipping out his two Keyblades, Oblivion, and Oathkeeper. With a loud cry he used a building for leverage, and threw himself back down at his hooded attacker. The narrow corridor they fought in wasn't the best for a throw down, but neither cared. They whirled, two Keyblades blocking the winged blade of the other.
"You need to come with me Roxas." Throwing a Keyblade and wiping blond bangs out of his face in one fluid motion, number XIII cast a powerful Thundaga spell, momentarily stunning his unknown combatant.
"How do you know my name?" Roxas stood there, staring down at the other's form. They didn't move. He took a cautious step forward, and was nearly skewered when the other's lithe form was up, behind him, and slashing forward.
"It doesn't matter." A myriad of Dark Firagas were shot, and Roxas ran several yards up a building, then, with a great wrench of the Keyblades he held, he pushed himself straight down, crossed Keyblades an inch from the other's throat. Roxas forced him down to his knees, then grabbed a handful of coat and shook him a bit.
"Tell me, who are you?" The unknown's hood fell back, revealing a head full of silvery hair and bright aqua eyes. The stranger looked shocked for a moment, a scene from a dim moment in his memory replaying.
"Tell me, who are you?"
"It is I, Ansem, the Seeker of Darkness."
"Let Riku GO! Give him back his heart!"
"You're so much like him. It's hard to believe that even a part of Sora wouldn't recognize me." Roxas glared, his blue eyes –eyes that were Sora's and yet not- dark and foreboding. The dark look on this Nobody's features, features identical to Riku's sleeping friend, shocked him for a moment.
"I suppose now you'll tell that I'm just a Nobody. That I don't matter!" He whirled Oathkeeper around, and the base connected solidly with Riku's noggin, knocking him unconscious. He looked carefully at the face, wondering why the stranger looked familiar. It was almost as if he could taste the name on his tongue.
"R, Ri, Riku… Riku!" feeling very unsettled by the encounter, Roxas backed into a portal, ready to find Axel. But still, Sora… that name was so familiar… Sora, Riku, Kai… Kai something… He shrugged it off. He wasn't Sora, right? So, why did the encounter with… Riku… feel so weird?
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"Axel!" Roxas' voice reverberated throughout the white halls. When no one answered, he swore, then turned back to the waiting dark portal ready to track down the pyromaniac, whatever it took. As he was about to step forward into darkness, a hand grasped his shoulder and an all too familiar voice spoke.
"You know Roxas, you really shouldn't swear like that." With a wry grin, the nobody turned to face the Axel. It was good to be near his best friend. Even if said friend was currently an outlaw.
"Hey, you're the one that taught me how, something like I was too goody-goody to be taken seriously." Axel frowned, the lines down his cheeks crinkling. Oh, Roxas wasn't goody-goody any longer; nope, now he had abandoned a group that would as easily kill him as a fly. Axel shook his head to clear the thoughts out and the grin returned.
"Hey, you need to wait a few years before you can swear like THAT. Got it memorized? Now, not that I'm not ecstatic to see you… But, what the hell are you thinking? If any one else saw you, you would be dead in no time at all!" With a curt nod of his head, Roxas pulled Axel into a dark portal after him. Axel trailed along, while the scenery changed to the World that Never Was. Axel glanced around, then turned back to Roxas, green eyes unreadable.
"I'm being hunted."
"So, what do you need my wondrous advice for? I ALREADY TOLD YOU THAT YOU WOULD BE!" Roxas glared. Axel had a sudden thought that he had never actually seen Roxas this mad.
"What makes you think I need your advice?" Axel laughed coldly, but he didn't feel… no, he couldn't feel, not even to feel sad that he couldn't feel. Life stunk. Oh well. Roxas growled and pulled the pyromaniac into an alley, the one he had been in before. He stopped cold, and stared blankly at the ground.
"He's gone… Axel… I knocked him out not even five minutes ago and now he's gone. He was trying to kill me, I think. I, I was trying to find you, I needed a question answered, and I tried to go to Castle Oblivion, but he redirected my portal, and—"
"But, you've never missed a portal, that just doesn't happen with you." Axel was stuck on the fact that Roxas, the master of the dark portal, missed his landing, something he hadn't even done the first time, unlike all the others in the Organization. Suddenly, Roxas had grabbed him by the shoulders and pushed him against the wall.
"Tsk, tsk, so violent."
"YOU ARE MISSING THE POINT! SOMEONE TRIED TO KILL ME!"
"Oh, yeah, well, there's that too." Axel held a hand up, suddenly on the alert. Roxas froze, having learned early on that Axel's instincts were to be trusted. Two breaths later the red haired man relaxed, and breathed a deep sigh of relief.
"Sorry, felt Saix come through a portal a few streets over… Didn't want to have an encounter with him now… Anyway, so, someone's trying to kill you. Let's see… Were they in the Organization?" Relieved that Axel had his thinking cap on, Roxas shook his head no.
"Uh-uh. They had a uniform on, and looked like they were, but I could feel his heart. Still. Part of him reminded me of… I don't know, almost like Xemnas, but different." Axel's eyebrows rose, his green eyes going impossibly wide.
"Was his name Riku?" Roxas glanced up, surprised at the mention of the name he already knew. He nodded once and Axel started so violently that he nearly fell off the corner of a building he had perched on.
"You are in deep, boiling hot water man!" Roxas stared blankly at him.
"You're as clueless as your other side sometimes." A small pout crossed Roxas face. "Kidding. Riku… He's Sora's best friend, and trust me, he'll do anything to get Sora back."
"But, why does he want me?" Axel shook his head, and a small chuckle escaped his lips.
"Sora is currently regaining his memories. If they have you near, his heart will be closer to completion, and the memories will start to come back faster. Got it memorized?" Roxas nodded slowly and kept quiet for a moment. How could he get away from a crazy guy trying to save his best friend? Did he even want to? If he could get Sora's heart… Wouldn't he become whole?
Still, if he met Sora, he would do it on his own. He wasn't about to just sit and wait around for that silver haired freak to attack him again.
:.: Reverse :.: Rebirth :.:
Roxas turned and stepped into a dark portal, leaving Riku behind on the cold floor. As he left, a Neoshadow, then another, and yet another popped up out of the ground. They could feel the heart… feel how dark it was… it would be a luscious heart to devour. It wasn't every day a wonderful banquet like this just dropped in out of nowhere… Especially with all the non-existent ones wandering the streets. Suddenly, there was a bright flash, and all three poofed into nothingness.
"Riku? Riku!" A gold Keyblade disappeared into the air, and its owner ran up to the unconscious form on the ground. For one so small, the figure had impressive strength as he pulled Riku over next to the wall, leaning him up against it. The small figure's hood fell back, revealing big ears, and a frank, open face. King Mickey looked nervously into Riku's unconscious face, then dug an Elixir out of his robe pocket. He tossed it in the air above Riku and watched as it exploded in a burst of green light. After a few seconds the King lost patience and whacked Riku's cheek softly.
"Hey… I wasn't unconscious, I was just trying to think. No need to get abusive." Mickey breathed a sigh of relief as an aqua eye cracked open and peered at him.
"Riku! You're alright! What happened?" Riku's eyes dropped to his hands.
"I tried to bring Roxas to Sora… and I lost…" Mickey shook his head sadly.
"You should have called me! I could have helped you!" The King sighed. "Welp, its over now, so, c'mon, let's get back to DiZ and Namine." Riku looked away, then nodded, and sank into a portal.
A Neoshadow ran across the street, then disappeared; he felt a strong non-existent one coming… no, two…
At the end of the alley, two men, one with fiery red hair and a slight grin on his face, the other with blond hair and a shocked expression stared down at the empty ground.
"He's gone…"
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"Hey Sora. You know… I've been coming here everyday. It's been nearly a year you bum. I think it's time for you to wake up." Riku's eyes went unfocused, and he saw his reflection in the flower like pod for a moment. Those eyes, they would have been able to fool Sora… but not himself. No, he knew all to well the dark secrets he had buried in his heart. Or, Xehanort's Heartless' heart… whatever… he had never understood exactly what resided in his heart.
He looked back up at Sora, wishing for a moment he had chosen sleep. But no, it was his turn to fight. He glanced back at his reflection.
His aqua eyes stared back at him, partially covered by silver bangs. He reached into his pocket, pulling out the ribbon he sometimes used to pull his hair back. With out hesitating, he tied it around his head, letting it slip over his eyes.
That was better.
It wasn't like he, a creature of the dark, needed the light to see.
No… it was better this way.
"So, Sora… You just stay here and sleep. I'm gonna wake you up soon. I don't know what'll happen to me now, but I don't really care. So, this is goodbye. And don't ever tell Kairi about this little sappy speech I just gave." A slight movement –Sora's finger twitching- caught his eye, and he gave a soft, sad smile before turning away.
"That better mean ok."
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"Hey… DiZ? Have you seen Riku? He just disappeared on me!" DiZ paused for a moment, a strange sense of guilt welling up inside of him. What? He had no reason to be guilty. Riku had volunteered, and it would help Sora… never mind it might ruin Riku… Keep focused on the big picture, that's what he had to do.
"N-No, I haven't your majesty."
"Call me Mickey!" DiZ laughed softly. The king had never changed, not even after all these years.
"Welp… If you haven't, then I'll have to go find him." The king turned and dashed out of the room, his tail trailing along behind him.
Ansem the Wise looked down at his hands and sighed.
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Roxas felt –well, if he could actually feel- nervous, almost… He had been wandering the World That Never Was, and yet he couldn't find the silver haired one. Riku… His –Sora's- best friend. Then, suddenly, the presence of Riku's heart was burning brightly. Roxas turned a corner and looked up.
There.
Even at a distance, both knew that their eyes met. Both knew this would be the final fight.
Calmly, Roxas moved forward, nearly gliding across the ground. A raindrop fell, and then another… Soon it was pouring, the sound at any other time soothing… now it only added to the tension.
From out of nowhere hordes of Neohadows sprang up. They were in numbers… and even this non-existent creature could not stop all of them. Besides… the one with the strong, luscious, heart had told them… had said it would be worth their while… Visions of heart had danced in their minds as they jumped, desperately trying to rid themselves of the irritant. He smirked.
Oblivion and Oathkeeper appeared, and Roxas whirled, the Keyblades cutting through shadow after shadow. He heard a laugh, and just managed to clear enough Neoshadows to look up. The laugh echoed down around him and he looked to see the Neoshadows retreating, and a burning fire grew up. His non-existent heart jumped, was it… Axel? No… This was the wrong color and… in the shape of a Heartless symbol.
Roxas looked back up at Riku, wondering why there had been no attack. Riku was turned completely around, watching the sky behind him.
"What the-?" Roxas swallowed hard; behind Riku was a meteor shower. It… Roxas cringed; there was something so familiar about the scene, with Riku high up, the meteors, and him trying to get to Riku. Then the part of Sora inside him did the remembering.
The night of the meteor shower, when they were kids, Riku was on top of the hill, illuminated by the strange light, and Roxas –no, Sora- was trying to get up the hill but couldn't; the rocks kept moving and he was scared he would fall.
Riku turned away from the shower, peering back down at Roxas.
"You remember that night, don't you? When Kairi came." His voice was unstrained, though it carried easily down to where Roxas waited. The falmes dispersed, and Roxas started.
"Where's Sora?" Only a laugh echoed down to him, and Neoshadows started springing up. The Nobody began slashing at the Heartless, flipping this way and that.
Riku, what game was he playing now?
Unwilling to wait and find out, Roxas ran at the building, and in an easy jump, managed to clear the stairs, and land on the side of the building. The skyscraper…
Riku watched as Roxas ran up the building, his Keyblades twirling and clearing Heartless as he went. Riku let his blindfold fall, let himself have one unclouded glance at everything before he gave it all up. The Heartless in his heart crowed with joy.
See, Riku? I knew you would call me. You can't live without this high you get from the darkness. He feel the darkness now… feel it bubbling up through his being.
Shut up.
No, I think I'd rather twist the stake through your heart. He could taste it now… His darkness. It wasn't bad, and that was what scared him. It was sweet, almost sickeningly so, but not… He shuddered.
Do what you like. I will not let you win. I owe Sora too much for that. There was only a mocking silence left as Riku dug deeper, drudging up as much darkness as he could. It spread through his limbs, cold, and burning hot at the same time. Tears of shame –that he should have to bend to this!- soaked his blindfold as he retied it. He shuddered again, the darkness flooding his veins deliciously. A part of him wondered how something that felt so amazingly wonderful could be so horrible… was it really?
The light of Kingdom Hearts had made him feel the same. If light was the same, if it gave the same feeling, then was it evil too? The world was light and darkness… so, what was so horrible about the dark?
See? It's not so bad… now is it, Riku?
Maybe not. But you are. That much I know.
Do you now?
There, the last reserves of his darkness were there. He pushed them back, deciding only to use them as a last resort. Who knew what would happen if he went that far? He walked to the edge of the building where Roxas had almost gotten to the top. Then in a move very like Sora, Roxas threw Oblivion straight up, aiming to knock Riku off the building.
Nothing doing.
With a smirk, Riku simply fell forward into a dive and caught Oblivion on his way down. It burned, even through his glove, the light in the Keyblade. If light and darkness felt the same… why couldn't he use light? It didn't matter now though. He smiled as he passed Roxas, almost laughing as a light from somewhere illuminated the Nobody's face, and the shock on it.
He flipped in the air and landed on two feet, not unlike a cat. In fact he whirled and twisted in a very feline move, blocking Roxas' other Keyblade as it came for him.
Roxas glared at Riku, though, with his hood up, it was impossible to see. Suddenly, Oblivion returned to his hand. He snickered.
"Looks like the Darkling can't keep a hold on his sword." Riku smirked in turn; the Soul Eater appeared. He didn't need the light; he had the darkness. Abandoned by one, adopted by another. No… he gave up the light. No use trying to fool himself. Instead he channeled his rage and leapt forward. It caught the Nobody off guard and he only barely managed to dodge the slice.
Whirling, Riku blocked the attacks thrown at him, but was caught unprepared when Roxas fell backwards, only to twist around behind him. A solid kick to Riku's back brought him to his knees. He rolled away and held his sword up in front of him, guarding. Why did this Nobody use a Keyblade? Didn't the Keyblade rely on strong hearts? The Keyblade had even turned to Riku's heart, as saturated with darkness as his heart had been. So, how could this nothing creature use it?
"Why do you have the Keyblade!"
"Shut up!" Roxas rushed forward and with a downward slash, he was sure he could defeat this Riku. Riku rolled back, then threw himself straight up at the Nobody, his sword connecting solidly with the other's head. The hood fell away, and he got a clear view of the face that should belong only to Sora. Roxas glared and Riku realized it… He couldn't wait any longer…
The longer he waited, the more of Sora's life slipped away.
It was time… time to see what happened when he completely relied on the dark.
If it had to be done… then so be it.
"Alright Sora." Roxas halted at the soft whisper. Something in Riku's tone scared him. It was beyond darkness, beyond light… And even though he couldn't feel, for the first time in Roxas' non-life he was afraid, terrified.
"It's time to get you moving around again." Riku dug deep into his heart, deep into the pools of darkness, where Xehanort's Heartless was. He could feel its satisfaction; the creature had known all along, Riku would fall and then the creature that called itself Ansem would regain control.
Not happening. I may fall to the darkness, but you will not control me again.
So you say. There were those last bits of darkness he had in his heart, the ones he swore never to use. Tentatively at first, with growing apprehension, he pulled on the darkness, felt it like bile in his throat.
Riku's blindfold fell away and he looked up at Roxas, grinning madly. Roxas' eyes grew wide. No longer were there aqua eyes staring at him; no, they were swirling pools of yellow now. He stared in horror as Riku stood. There were lines of darkness rolling down his cheeks, moving as if by their own accord around his body. Riku's skin darkened to complete black, his eyes were the only colored part of him.
This strange mass of dark tendrils and shadow that was formerly Riku stepped forward and held out a hand, as if in invitation.
"Come with me." Riku's voice was different, darker. Roxas took an involuntary step backwards. "Don't make me hurt you. Even if you're only a part of him, I don't want to ever hurt him, not again."
"What… what are you?" Riku's yellow eyes narrowed, and a tendril of shadow shot out, pinning Roxas to a wall ten feet away, Riku hadn't moved an inch. Now he strolled forward, casually.
"I've often wondered the same. I guess I'm part Heartless, after all, one does reside in my heart." A Heartless, eh? Well, Roxas could deal with that! He freed his hands and summoned both Keyblades; the darkness shied away from the pure light in each. He twisted and pushed away from the wall, swinging both blades towards Riku's throat, or, the shifting darkness that covered his throat. The darkling bent backwards, his tendrils of hair nearly touching the ground. The darkness shifted into a macabre smile, and Riku flipped backwards, reaching out to grab Roxas as he did so.
The Nobody tried to free himself from the darkness, but it grasped tighter and with a yell he found himself flying towards the nearest wall. With a flick of the Keyblades, he righted himself, and pushed off the wall, ricocheting back like a sling shot to meet Riku. He pummeled the darkling with his Keyblades, slashing as fast as he could, and the whirling darkness around Riku seemed to recede. Roxas smirked and pressed forward. With a final blow, he sent Riku careening across to crash into Memory's Skyscraper. Roxas was there a splint second later, grinning triumphantly at the fallen darkling.
However, when said darkling began to laugh a very twisted laugh, one that echoed as if in a cave, Roxas thought that maybe, just maybe, he might loose this fight.
"You know," Riku's tone was almost conversational a he rose. "That kind of tickled." He brushed imaginary dirt off his black coat before looking back up, laughter in his yellow Heartless eyes.
"Now I'll show you real power, stuff that should only exist in your nightmares."
Riku glanced up, letting the rain fall on his face, wishing it could wash away the darkness, the shame, then brought himself back to the real world. He summoned his sword and glided forward, whipping the Soul Eater out in front of him. The Nobody was hard-pressed trying to block the horrifically powerful attacks sent at him. This darkling was powerful, maybe even as powerful as Xemnas. Riku whirled and hurled some Dark Firagas. Maybe, maybe he was more powerful than Xemnas. Roxas was thrown backwards when a blast hit him, and he crashed heavily into a wall, only to slide down, semi-unconscious. Riku stood, watching him, waiting for any move or twitch to show what the Nobody might have up his sleeves. When Roxas lay still Riku took a hesitant step forward but stopped. Roxas was using Oblivion as a crutch, and pushing himself up.
"I'm not… giving up…" He drew in a shaky breath that looked like it hurt. "I won't." Riku's yellow eyes grew wistful.
"You're too much like him. He would never give up either. Even back on the Islands, after I'd beat him up and down the beach, he'd still get up. It's a wonder he never got brain damage." He sighed, and Roxas could only watch as darker tears ran down the other's cheeks. "So much like him… I'm so sorry."
"What… for?" Riku gave a sad smile.
"This." Riku let his eyes close and he knelt down on the ground, placing his hands on either side of his knees. He exhaled slowly, and pulled at the darkness still in him. Roxas glared at him and started forward, only to find he couldn't move; his feet refused to lift.
"What?" He glanced down, then looked again, his blue eyes going wide. The entire ground, as far as the eye could see, was carpeted in a layer of pure darkness, sticky and deep, pulling at him, trying to swallow him. He gave a small cry and tried to slosh away, but only succeeded in loosing his balance and falling. Now not only were his feet stuck, but his knees, his hands, and the darkness was clawing at him, trying to cover him.
"N-no… not this!" The darkness was spreading, growing up his arms. Too weak to do anything but feebly protest, Roxas slowly collapsed, the darkness sucking his strength away. His only non-fear, the darkness, and now it was there, pulling at him, begging to destroy him. It was tight around his throat, choking him, slithering around his body like a snake and even though he wasn't supposed to feel it terrified him. Roxas looked up at his opponent, his blue eyes beseeching.
"Please…" Riku looked uncertain now. Maybe it was because Roxas' non-heart resonated with that of the Keyblade master's that the darkness scared him so. And the awful eyes, the pale face… It reminded Riku so much of the look on Sora's face when the Islands disappeared. But this wasn't Sora! It was someone else entirely! But… It didn't matter… the face was still that of his best friend. And once again Riku was trying to smother that light in darkness. He gasped, horrified that he should loose control in that way. He had nearly killed the one thing that may help Sora! Xehanort's Heartless' laughter echoed inside of him.
No. I won't let it end this way. I… can't.
Riku slowed the darkness, simply had it hold the Nobody still. The Heartless in him squealed with rage, trying to over come Riku again, trying to kill off all hope for Sora.
I don't care what happens to me… Do what you like with me, but you will not hurt Sora.
"Please… I don't want to fade…" Roxas whimpered softly, unnerved by the stare Riku was giving him.
"I should let you go…" Roxas looked hopeful for a split second before Riku finished. "But, I can't. I am sorry, but, I need to get you to Sora."
Riku pushed back the darkness, let it free Roxas; there wasn't any way he could escape, not in this weakened state. He pulled it all back, let it sink back into the recesses of his heart, and there it would stay. Roxas' eyes went wide as he watched the darkness dissipate. Instead of the teen that had stood before him earlier, there was a man, tall and leonine. Silver hair, but styled differently, with darker skin and amber eyes.
"Who, who are you?" A startled look spread across the man's face. He looked down at his reflection in a puddle. A strange yearning Roxas couldn't understand crossed his face.
"I didn't think this would happen." The words were quiet, almost too quiet to hear. "He must never know." The man that stood in place of Riku looked up, both amber eyes filled with a quiet suffering.
"I… I am Ansem."
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So, how was it? Tell me! –points- I command you! Please? I myself rather liked it.
Number two coming up soon! 'Tis an AxelXYuffie! –grins- That pairing is so addictive!
Please review!