Author Note: Dudes and dudettes… it's like past 2am and I am typing this because I can't sleep. Norbit is on the TV so I guess it'll play in the background while I do this.
Standing in front of the window in his brothers' shop, Riku stared at the stars in the night sky. Devil May Cry's new shop was situated in Dublin in Ireland. Dante had decided to move from America due to the new laws on weaponry and mercenaries. Riku moved with him to ensure he wouldn't do anything stupid, like gamble all his money away. Riku wasn't Dantes' legitimate brother but with the death of Vergil, because of Dante, he basically needed a brother and Riku was homeless, a Keyblade wielder on the streets, living off the spare change. The doorway to Destiny Islands was gone, so Riku was stuck in this world until a doorway was found. A ringing sound took Riku away from his thoughts and we walked over and picked up the receiver. Moving his long silver bangs from his ear he pressed the phone to his ear.
"Hello, Devil May Cry, Riku speaking," he said, for probably the millionth time since he'd moved in here. His voice was deep yet smooth, velvety.
"Hi, I'm looking for Dante or Trish?" came the reply through the phone.
"I'm sorry, but they are both unavailable, may I take a message?"
"Tell them Skulduggery phoned and it's urgent." Riku put the phone down and returned to looking at the stars. 'Sorry Sora, but I'll find a way to get home; I'll see you and Kairi real soon,' thought Riku. His thoughts were once again interrupted as a tall, silver haired man walked through the front door, followed closely by a short woman with long blonde hair.
"A Skulduggery phoned, said it was important," said Riku, not taking his gaze away from the sky.
"Skulduggery Pleasant?" asked the white haired man.
"I don't know, he just said Skulduggery, and that it was important," replied Riku.
"Hmph, I'll phone him tomorrow," murmured Dante.
"Usually when something important comes up or Skulduggery phones, you are on the phone like a bullet," smiled Trish.
"Fine, I'll phone him now," groaned Dante, picking up the receiver and punching in the number for Skulduggery. After a few rings Riku heard a click to signal the other caller had picked up the phone. They began mumbling into the phone and after a few minutes Dante hung up.
"Riku, you are coming with me on a mission tomorrow. I'll need your help," stated Dante.
"Finally, I've been itching for a mission," smiled Riku. He turned to look at Dante, who was taking his red trenchcoat off leaving his toned body, with the straps of his holsters covering some of his body. Riku looked down Dante's body without even realising.
"You should get an early night, we'll be up at dawn," yawned Dante, walking up to his room, Trish walking out of the building to get to her apartment. Riku locked the door behind her after saying their goodbyes to one another. He headed up the stairs of the building to his room beside Dante's. Riku closed his door and slipped out of his yellow body-warmer and black zip-up t-shirt. He let his jeans fall to his ankles and kicked them off, along with his shoes and climbed into bed. He let the darkness of sleep take him.
Dante was first to wake up and shower. He slipped into a pair of dark brown trousers and began towel drying his hair. He sat down at his desk and the phone began ringing. Before it reached its second ring Dante kicked the desk and the phone flew into his hand.
"Devil May Cry, who's calling?"
"Skulduggery."
"Hey, Riku is just getting ready and then we'll be heading over."
"Okay, well make it quick, there is some important business and one of my friends gave me information about Riku."
"Well, that's him taking a shower, so we'll be there in an hour," said Dante, hanging up the phone. He stormed into Rikus' room and kicked his bed, successfully waking the younger white haired man. He mumbled some incoherent words and looked to the shirtless Dante.
"Room service?" asked Riku, still dazed from waking up.
"No, it's the 'get your ass out of bed we have work to do' brigade," smirked Dante.
"Eugh, what time is it?"
"7AM," replied Dante, throwing Riku a towel and fresh clothes.
"Damn, that's early," yawned Riku.
"Yeah? Well take your little ass into that shower and get ready, we have to meet Skulduggery in an hour."
"You're just so peachy in the morning," smiled Riku, dragging himself out of bed and pulling up his boxers on his thin frame.
"Well one of us has to," replied Dante, closing the bathroom door behind Riku. A few seconds later rock music began blasting through the bathroom. Dante sighed at the usual sound of Asking Alexandria blaring. He walked back to his desk downstairs and began cleaning out Ebony and Ivory. He noticed Rikus' Keyblade looking a bit dull so he began to polish the weapon as well. Riku took half an hour to get ready and bounced down the stairs in his usual clothes. Dante remembered taking Riku clothes shopping a few days after he moved in and all he bought were a few pairs of black jeans, a couple of yellow and blue bodywarmers and a few zip up black t-shirts.
"A man of simple tastes," smiled Dante as Riku collected his Keyblade.
"Aren't I just?" replied Riku, unlocking the front door and heading out to Dantes' motorbike. Dante followed behind him and threw the keys to Riku, who caught them mid-air and slammed them into the ignition. Dante jumped onto the bike and began pulling the throttle, revving the bike. Riku clambered on the back seat and Dante pressed down on the accelerator and the bike shot off through the streets of Dublin. Riku closed his eyes, letting the wind whip through his hair.
Skulduggery Pleasant was a skeleton, a magic skeleton. He and his partner Valkyrie Cain stood on the cliffs edge, watching the waves rage against the cliff wall. The girl, Valkyrie, who had long black hair, a black leather coat, a black tank top and black jeans looked to the skeleton, who was dressed in a sharp pinstripe suit with a matching hat. He pressed his collar bone lightly and skin began congealing on his face, creating features of a human male. His jaw was square and his eyes, no longer hollow, had the brightest green eyes Valkyrie had ever seen. His once bald skull was now a mass of brown wavy locks. She simply smiled at Skulduggery as if this was a normal occurrence, well, yeah, it was. She'd been Skulduggery's partner since she was 12 years old, so 6 years being by his side and defeating evil guy after evil guy, the occasional mega-maniac that tries to resurrect the Faceless Ones. The pair stood in silence just watching the waves when the grumble of a bike slowing down came from behind them. Skulduggery turned swiftly on his heel to see two silvery-white haired males step off a bike. Valkyrie swore they were brothers. They looked so alike.
"Dante, Riku, thank you for meeting me," smiled Skulduggery, holding his gloved hand out to shake in a friendly manner. Riku was the first to shake his hand and simply smiled at this thin man standing in front of him.
"It was no bother," grinned Dante, shaking Skulduggerys' hand rather firmly.
"So, what are we here for?" asked Riku, jumping straight to the point.
"It seems an Organisation has arrived, thirteen members and a massive castle in the sky," started Skulduggery, looking straight into Rikus' eyes.
"I think I know who you are talking about, but if it's true it would be impossible," stuttered Riku, staring into the sky.
"Well, there has been an increase in demon activity since they arrived, Dante, but they have peculiar heart-shaped emblems on their chests."
"Heartless?" whispered Riku, only being heard by himself.
"And since they have arrived, white creatures with a weird symbol have also appeared."
"Nobodies."
"What was that?" asked Valkyrie, staring intently at Riku.
"Nobodies, the white ones and the demons are Heartless. Heartless are born from the darkness in someone's heart, so there must be a lot of darkness for them to arrive here."
"How do we defeat them?" asked Dante.
"Simple, I can use my Keyblade and you can use your guns, swords and whatever weapons you have," smiled Riku, sliding his Keyblade out of the holster.
"Does magic work on them?" asked Valkyrie, her Irish accent mesmerising Riku.
"You can use magic?" asked Riku, confusion on his face.
"You've not been here long have you, or has Dante been keeping things from you?" laughed Skulduggery.
"All of the above?" asked Riku, smiling nervously.
In a matter of seconds the scene changed from the four people standing on a cliff to creatures of all shapes and sizes crowding around them. Valkyrie gasped and a ball of fire curled around her hands. She threw fireball after fireball at the creatures.
"Heartless!" yelled Riku, slicing through one of the black, Grim-Reaper-like enemies with the Heartless symbol on its chest. Dante fired a seemingly endless barrage of bullets through a group of Heartless. Every time Valkyrie, Skulduggery or Dante destroyed a Heartless it just came back within a few seconds, though when Riku destroyed a Heartless a small pink heart would raise from them and they wouldn't return.
"Get in your vehicles!" yelled Riku. Valkyrie and Skulduggery sprinted to a black Bentley and sped off towards the highway nearby.
"Riku, come on!" shouted Dante, revving his bike and shooting Heartless coming at him. Riku sliced through another Heartless then leapt onto Dante's bike. The pair sped onto the highway, closely followed by the Heartless. "Take the handlebars," shouted Dante, swinging his legs around so he was basically straddling Riku. He whipped out his two handguns and began blasting away at more Heartless while Riku kept the bike steady.
"We have to get back to Devil May Cry!" shouted Riku, struggling to be heard over the gunshots and screeches of the Heartless. Suddenly the Heartless disappeared and Riku slowed the bike down. The bike jerked to a stop and the Bentley pulled up to them.
"The Heartless just disappeared," murmured Skulduggery.
"Yeah, they are good at that," groaned Riku, moving his shoulders in circular motions.
"You seem worn out after a small fight," giggled Valkyrie.
"Yeah, I've not fought a battle in about a year," smiled Riku, warming up to Valkyrie quite quickly.
"Come on, we'll get you a nice cup of Irish tea," laughed Valkyrie, hooking her arm around Rikus'.