AN: Is this melodramatic? Yup. Is this plausible in canon? Probably not. Am I writing it anyways?
Fuck yeah I am.
This is just blowing off steam and taking a quick break from my NaNo novel. Hey. It's still writing, so I can put it in my word count. I'm being productive!
...Hey is it three in the morning? Wow, I have work tomorrow. ...Today. I have work today. Haha time to keep writing nothing better to be doing yup this is fine this is allll just fine.
Anyways.
Title is from The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe, specifically the first line. Look, I did warn about melodrama, no complaining about it now.
Also, this isn't shippy, and if you read this as a ship thing, I honestly don't know what to say to you. It's also not character bashing, despite two fan faves doing their best to kill each other. I love them both, but I'm aware that they would probably hate each other, at least during this point in time.
Enjoy!
Upon a Midnight Dreary
Riku was tired.
That was where his problems started. He'd been sleeping worse than usual for the last few days, and nothing so far had helped. He was settling in to just ride the insomnia streak out for as long as it felt like lasting, which unfortunately meant going about his regular business on four or five hours of sleep. When he was lucky.
He was not lucky today. The number was more like two hours, and Riku felt like death warmed over.
Probably not the best state to be running highly dangerous missions in, but well, nobody had ever accused Riku of having self preservation instincts. Kairi was just as bad as him when they got going, it had always been Sora that stopped them from getting themselves killed with stupid stunts.
Well, Sora was somewhat out of commission right now, so Riku could be as self destructive as he wanted, thanks.
Right now, he was walking through the streets of some world, trying to work up the energy to corridor back to the mansion. God, he was exhausted and needed to rest, but his stupid fucking brain couldn't fucking sleep. Everything was terrible.
The only warning he got was the sound of a dark corridor opening.
Riku's sleep deprived brain needed a second to process the implications of that, but by then there was already a strong arm around his waist, forcibly tugging him into said corridor. He was dragged through for a moment, and then thrown out into somewhere else, presumably another world by the cooler temperature.
His back hit brick, and he stumbled, narrowly keeping himself upright by using the wall for support.
"Hey there. Long time no see." Axel said, voice dangerous.
Fuck.
"Well, I still haven't seen you, technically speaking." Riku deadpanned, his mouth running ahead of his common sense. Not exactly a difficult thing to do, but still.
Axel didn't seem to appreciate it, judging by the fist that slammed into Riku's stomach, hard enough to make him wheeze.
"So. Can't help but notice you're interested in little numbers XIII and XIV. I'm not as stupid as they are, I've noticed you around. You're decent at covering your tracks, but you're still an amateur. Did you really think I wouldn't catch you?"
"Not really, no." He managed to say, breath coming back to him. "You tend to give an impression of being the needless violence sort of guy."
He didn't need to be able to see to tell that Axel's face was twisted in a vicious scowl. Or maybe a cold glare. Either way, he could guess the Nobody's expression was the sort that promised murder.
"Sorry, but that's kind of the impression I want to give. Considering the dumbasses it brings out of the woodwork. So then, dumbass, do you have any really compelling reasons to live? Or can I just slit your throat now?"
Riku was definitely awake now, adrenaline pushing back the sleep deprivation, and setting his nerves on fire. If someone as prone to mind games and manipulations as Axel was openly speaking of murder, it was alarmingly clear that Riku was not expected to leave this encounter alive.
Double fuck.
He lashed out, kicking where he hoped the assassin's groin would be. Instead, there was the crackle of fire, and Riku's boot planted on something metal instead of a body. Axel had brought out his chakrams.
He ducked on instinct, which proved to be a good idea, as there was the screeching sound of metal cutting through brick above him - right where his throat had been.
Axel really wasn't playing around here. This wasn't a play fight, or head game, or an evaluation. This was an assassination, plain and simple.
Triple fuck.
Riku rolled out of the way, pulling off the blindfold as he moved smoothly back onto his feet. Handicapping himself was all well and good, but best left for when he wasn't in an unfamiliar location having a fight to the death with a professional assassin. A professional assassin with a long, bloody history of kills. DiZ's research on the Organization was very thorough, and had included a list of Axel's known kills. It was a very long list.
Blindfold dropped to the ground, he summoned Soul Eater, raising it just in time to block a chakram, thrown with devastating force. Enough to make Riku skid back a half inch. Axel might look half starved, but the Nobody had an alarming amount of strength behind those arms.
Riku wavered for a moment, fight or flight warring in his mind. That moment was enough of an opening for Axel to follow up on his initial attack, rushing at Riku with flames covering his weapons.
He blocked the first, but couldn't quite dodge the second. While not the fatal gut blow Axel clearly intended, it still carved a deep gash into his side, the flames encasing the metal only making it all the more painful as his skin burned and blistered on contact.
Riku was knocked off balance, and fell painfully to the ground, a strangled noise escaping him from the impact.
Seemingly in slow motion, he watched as Axel wound up to deliver the deathblow.
"BLIZZAGA!" He yelled reflexively, scrambling backwards before the spell even connected. And it did land, thank god, quite literally freezing the Nobody in place, ice forming around his legs and locking them to the ground.
Axel snarled, and directed his flames towards the ice, already melting from the heat.
Riku staggered to his feet, pressed a hand over his wound, and ran.
He had been taken to the World That Never Was, that much was obvious from the dark city, and the white castle in the distance. Backup wouldn't be able to reach him here. Even if that backup consisted of Mickey and maybe DiZ.
Quadruple fuck.
He wouldn't be able to open a dark corridor right now, he needed breathing room, a minute to recover and get his head on straight. He needed… He needed…
He needed somewhere to hide.
He bolted for the nearest skyscraper, smashing the glass door instead of wasting time on trying the knob. Inside was seemingly an abandoned office, full of desolate, empty cubicles, and Riku sprinted through the rows, ducking into the stairwell at the back, and taking the first flight two at a time. Then, hidden around the corner, he paused for a moment, closed his eyes, and listened.
Broken glass crunched underneath a pair of boots as Axel entered the building.
"Oh, Riku! Where are you?" The psychotic Nobody called out, voice practically sing song.
Riku took the rest of the stairs silently, and slipped out onto the second floor. It was also all cubicles, and he hurried his way down the main aisle, to where windows looked out onto the entrance Riku had came in. If the doors could be broken, so could the windows. It was just one story. He could make the jump.
No sense in hiding if you don't have an exit plan for if (when) you get found.
He ducked into a cubicle near the windows, but in the middle of the line, and curled up under the desk.
Taking advantage of his brief reprieve, he peeled his hand back, and looked at his wound.
It was bad, long and deep, definitely in need of stitches. He was concerned about the burns around it too, the skin already an angry red, and blisters forming. Fortunately, the heat of the metal had led to the wound being somewhat cauterized, and only bleeding sluggishly, most of it caught by his hand. He wasn't going to be found immediately by a blood trail.
Riku firmly reminded himself that it could have been worse. Yes, it hurt like hell, but when injuries didn't hurt was usually when you were screwed. It was only a second degree burn. He'd be fine.
But immediate first aid would help.
He stiffened as footsteps sounded at the far end of the room.
"You can't hide forever!" Axel called, the door to the stairwell closing decisively behind him. Riku winced silently.
'Just go away. Don't search this floor. Move up to the next one, just go away, please.' He thought, half praying for the man to just leave.
Axel was not going away.
Silently, Riku mouthed the word 'blizzard', calling on his magic. Unsurprisingly, without a verbal command, all that happened was a tiny bit of ice was created in his hand. Which had been was he was going for anyways.
He bit down on his free hand just in case, ignoring the unpleasant taste of the leather glove, and pressed the ice against the wound.
The pain immediately skyrocketed, and he bit into his hand to stop himself from making a noise. Sweet fucking Kingdom Hearts, that hurt!
Namine was going to be upset when he got back. If he got back.
Axel's footsteps were approaching.
Probably not good.
He removed the ice from the wound, and banished it, holding his breath. His heart was pounding in his ears, and it felt almost wrong to have his heart be so loud when his pursuer didn't even have one of his own.
Axel was humming under his breath now, the tune unnervingly cheerful, and disturbingly close. Likely the next cubicle.
Riku tilted his head, and looked at the crack between the cubicle and the floor, waiting.
The light was blocked slightly, two boots casting shadows.
Riku was on his feet before he could think twice about it, Soul Eater thrown in front of him at the window, hoping it was enough force to break through, as Axel cried out in triumph -
The glass shattered.
Riku jumped.
He rolled on impact with the pavement, but it was an awkward landing, and didn't quite carry his momentum the way it was supposed to. Jolts of agony lanced through the shoulder he'd landed on, but he still completed the roll, and stumbled to his feet again.
He had just enough left in him to summon a dark corridor in front of him, and half run, half fall into it.
He just heard Axel starting to yell in frustration and anger when the corridor closed off behind him.
Safe.
He was safe.
Riku staggered through to the end, and emerged inside of the mansion, where his exhausted legs refused to carry him any further, causing him to collapse to his knees. The jolt to his wounded side and shoulder caused him to hiss in pain.
"Riku? Oh my god!" Namine cried out, rushing to help hold him up. Probably just in time, as Riku was about to pass out.
As blackness took him, he heard Namine calling for DiZ, voice terrified.
He woke up somewhere warm.
It took a long few moments to get his bearings again, feeling pleasantly groggy from a long sleep, but after a bit of blinking, he realised he was in the mansions infirmary. He was hooked up to two different IV lines, both in his right arm. His left arm, the shoulder he'd landed poorly on, was wrapped up in a sling.
Some shifting allowed him to lift up the blanket , revealing the wound on his side was covered in crisp, white bandages. Probably cleaned and stitched up too.
He didn't feel pain. Just felt kind of floaty and calm.
...One of those IV lines was probably a painkiller. A fairly strong one too.
And someone was at his bedside.
Mickey was in a chair pulled up beside him, coat discarded for once, and seemed to have fallen into a doze.
Riku attempted to sit up quietly, but the shifting of the blankets was enough to stir the king.
"Wha… Riku? You're awake! How are you feeling?"
"Hey Mickey. I'm feeling… actually, really good. Floaty."
Mickey gave something that vaguely resembled a smile, albeit a worn, exhausted version of one.
"Yeah, DiZ mentioned putting you on some decent painkillers. Riku, what happened? You scared Namine half to death showing up like you did."
"Didn't mean too. Sorry. Got caught by Axel, had to fight him for a bit before I could escape. ...Why is he so strong? He's a fucking twig, there is literally nowhere to have muscle, how does he do that? What an asshole." He rambled, the drugs making him more talkative than usual.
"Are you alright?"
"Me? Yeah, m'fine. Got away before he could kill me. Oh man, he's actually trying to kill me, that's going to be a problem now. DiZ is gonna be maaad. I don't know if I like DiZ, he's so grumpy all the time. Not like you and Namine. You guys are-"
Thankfully, before he could fill a stereotype and embarrass himself forever, DiZ and Namine entered the infirmary. Namine gasped upon seeing him awake, and rushed forwards, looking like she was going for a hug, but re-thinking at the last minute, and instead doing an awkward little shuffle hop at the side of his bed.
Riku smiled.
"Hey, Namine. Sorry for scaring you earlier."
"Good. You should be sorry for that, you scared the hell out of me!"
It always seemed a little weird when Namine swore, even mild ones like the word hell, but as she pointed out when the subject came up, she had spent most of her existence around the Organization, and they weren't exactly the type to watch their language around a child. Axel was the only one that even put in the effort, and even then he slipped up and swore around her half of the time. Not exactly surprising that swearing was a normal part of her language patterns. Sora's Nobody would probably be the same.
...Ugh. Now he was making himself sad. Just how strong were those painkillers?
"So, how bad was it?" He asked, looking at DiZ, who was as stern as ever.
"Not life threatening, but bad. The wound on your side needed almost a dozen stitches, and was surrounded by extensive second degree burns. You also fractured your shoulder, as the sling might have told you. It's going to be a few weeks before you're well enough to go out again."
Riku groaned, and slammed his head against the pillows. It wasn't very satisfying.
"Great. Still, could have been worse."
"Or better."
"Thanks, I was just thinking we needed less optimism in here."
...Wow, he really was high.
Apparently that was a group sentiment, as instead of annoyed, DiZ looked mildly amused.
"I'll see about lowering the painkiller dose. You should go back to sleep."
"Mm. Good plan, I'll do that."
He settled back into the blankets, as Mickey and Namine left. DiZ was still in the room, but on the other side, quietly working. Probably putting together a different painkiller dose that wasn't as strong.
The sound was quiet enough to be white noise, and Riku drifted off quickly.
AN: For the record, while Riku was cut off by DiZ and Namine entering, he was absolutely about to say "You guys are my best friends and I love you". He is extremely high in that last scene. High as a fucking kite.
I hope I'm not going to be accused of playing favourites here, because trust me, I love Riku and Axel equally. Yeah, Riku didn't actually score a real hit on Axel at all, but consider this, Riku spent the entire fight sleep deprived, disoriented, and kind of freaking out, so yes Riku came out on top just by escaping with injuries that would heal. Axel was out for blood here.
Look, my man has proved he's willing to kill for Roxas and Xion, him quietly attempting to kill Riku is not a stretch. Might do a second chapter follow up of this with Riku and Lea very awkwardly attempting to work together like normal people after DDD, while the whole 'hi I tried to murder you' thing is very much hanging over them. There's gonna be talking. There's gonna be feelings. They might physically fight each other again. No matter what, it's gonna be wild, so keep an eye out for it.
In conclusion, stoned Riku is the best Riku. And stoned Riku would want you to review.