"Do you want to go back?"

It had been a simple enough question, but Xion wasn't sure. Yes, she wanted to go back... but she wanted to stay, too. She was scared of what was happening, scared because she knew she was running out of time.

She didn't answer Riku at first. No, she waited until long after sundown, when he'd already curled up in bed and was fast asleep. She couldn't find rest herself – her fragile little heart was beating far too quickly. As though it knew she was already running on borrowed time, and even that was running short.

She paced outside on the balcony, staring up at the moon every now and then. Every moment she changed her mind, wanted something else she couldn't have. To go back to Roxas and Axel and eat ice cream with them every evening, forever. To stay with Riku, even if they always had to keep running from the Organization and from DiZ. To just run from everyone and escape her fate if she could.

But her fate was inevitable and, deep down, she knew it.

Finally, it was too much for her. She missed her friends – she had to see them again, had to eat ice-cream and act stupid with them at least one more time.

She ran into the room where Riku was sleeping soundly and jumped up on his bed, clutching the covers in her hands so tightly that her knuckles went white. "Riku? Riku, please. Wake up. I need to ask you something."

He shifted and rolled over, an arm covering his face. "Ngh. What is it, Xion?"

She stared down at her hands. "You asked me if I wanted to go back. And... I do."

Riku was quiet for a long moment before he peeked at her from under his arm. She only saw his eyes for a moment – a flash of bright aquamarine amid the shadows – before he'd sat up in bed and closed his eyes tightly, warding away the darkness.

"...That isn't a question."

"It's a request," Xion said, softly. "...I'm asking you to let me go back."

Riku didn't say anything for a while again, and when he did speak his voice was quiet, too. "How much time do you need?"

"As much as you can buy me."

"...A month," he told her. "I can't promise you more than that, but I can try."

"DiZ is gonna hate you."

"I don't care how DiZ feels about this," Riku muttered, reaching out blindly and covering one of her small hands with his own. "I care about giving you the time you need to make your choice. So I'll buy you as much time as I can."

"...Riku, you don't have to do this. You know that, right?"

"It's the least I can do for you, Xion, all things considered."

She sighed and bowed her head. "...I promise I'll pay you back for this. Somehow."

"No," Riku said, stubbornly, reaching out with his other hand and brushing her hair back from her eyes. "Consider it a favor, Xion. I've got no use for a debt that'll never be paid back."

The air went deathly silent between them after that comment, and Xion withdrew her hand from his.

"...Still," she mumbled. "I'll find a way."

"I promise, Riku."

Author: What is it with me this week and angsty drabbles? Eh. Here's a RikuXi one cause it's been a while and, despite my wrestling with the current prompt for my drabble series this wanted to come out instead.

There might be a part 2 to this, actually, so I'm not marking it as 'complete' yet. I still want to do a chapter from Riku's PoV as Axel comes to take Xion back and he lets it happen. :) And yes, this whole story was inspired by watching the HD Days cutscenes on Youtube. Ah, lovely added dialogue scenes. I can't even begin to tell you how happy I am about the way Riku said Xion's name in his fight against Roxas - because it most definitely sounded liked I hoped it would. He wasn't taunting Roxas at all... he was saying her name for the sake of saying it. Makes me so happy and so freaking sad at the same time.

Anyway, enjoy and look forward to the second part! ^-^