Chapter 2 (Riku POV)

'This is getting annoying.' Nothing has come up to help Kairi. And there is nothing that I can do about it. If I don't get any more information that can help her…I'll freakin' break something.

Just then a huge object crash landed out at the waterfalls and the collision was loud enough to make me fall out of my spot on the ledge. "Damn…what the heck was that?" I get up and look over to see smoke coming from the crash. "I didn't mean to blow something up…Maleficent will take care of it."

Then I hear an ear shattering scream and I see two flying Heartless up to the higher part of the castle. 'Intruders?'

A short Shadow Heartless appears and starts gesturing to the sky. "Maleficent wants me? Tch. Thought I wouldn't have anything to do with that." I look at whatever crashed and I see that the fire has grown twice its size. Then there was a small explosion. The Heartless sweat dropped and disappeared. "Coward…"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Riku…you're finally here. Good. I have an assignment for you. We have new guests. Take care of them for me will you?"

I glare at the witch and at the reaction she stared at my hand, which was clenching and making a quiet noise from the gloves. "I'm not killing innocent people."

"My child what are you saying?" 'I really hate it when she acts like a mother. A fake one.' She gets up and puts on a fake grin to assure me of what she'll say. "I don't want you to kill them. Just introduce yourself. They'll be kept here until they are no use."

"Use for what exactly?"

"Nothing that concerns you or your friend. Now go."

'I'd really like to kick her in the face around the floor one day…' The dungeon was damp and cold, plus there were Heartless looming at every corner ready to attack anyone. The only sounds were dripping water and slow movements of the Heartless.

"DAMN IT WHY WON'T IT WORK?" Now there is a new noise. It sounded like a girl's voice, and it sounded familiar. 'No freaking way it could be her.' I walk down a few cells and see the Heartless guard the entrance. When they see me approach they disappear and I see a blonde in her cell throwing something in the air and hitting the floor above.

"Those monsters made that platform go down! Why won't this work?" There is a pile of rocks next to her feet and she grabbed another one and threw it through the gap for the platform to move. "Wah! I'll never get out!"

"Not like that you won't klutz."

The girl turns around and upon seeing me, she smiles. "Riku!" Nina runs out of the cell and a Dark ball Heartless appears to attack her.

"She's with me. Get lost." The Heartless looks mad, but I don't really give a damn about that creature.

"Why are you here? Are you a prisoner here too?"

"No. I-"

"Found this place and stumbled upon this dungeon? No…Oh I know! This must be your home world I guess? Maybe that's why you didn't want to talk about it."

"No I work here."

"Because you are in debt to that ugly hag and you do very hard bone-breaking tasks?"

"I work with her and the Heartless. I can control them."

Her smile drops and now she is just staring at me. "That's not true. You would never do that."

"Why do you think you were allowed outside your cell?"

It looks like she finally believed me. Nina starts to step back away from me and go back in her cell. "So, you're a bad guy now. Is that it?"

"You wouldn't understand even if I told you."

"You're just assuming that. What makes you believe that I won't get what you're talking about huh?"

"Your attitude right now is it."

"What about my attitude?" Her voice is getting louder now. "If you're working for evil then you should know how dangerous it is. You can get you or other people killed and that witch you're working for won't give a damn about what happens you!"

"And you care?"

"Because I'm your friend that's why and friends care about each other!"

When I heard that, it made me think about Sora. He said that he cares about me and Kairi. But he wasn't the one who found her; I was. He was lying to me, busy forgetting about us.

"What the hell is going on?"

Roy is walking toward Nina's cell and stares at me. "I leave to find the restroom for 10 minutes in this heck of a maze almost killing my kidneys. And I see that you guys are having a fighting match. One more thing, what are you doing here Riku?"

"He works here." Nina tells him with a sharp edge to her tone.

"I don't care about your bad comments about me so save it."

"What about your friends and parents? Wouldn't they be caring about you right now?"

I don't say anything. She'll just keep talking until her brother stops her or until she runs out of energy.

"At least you have parents that would be caring about you right now! If you ever thought about that you wouldn't be like this! You're an idiot!"

"And this is coming from someone who's stuck in the dungeon from traveling around the place with 'approval' from your parents?" I walk to the exit and pass by Roy without looking at him.

"I don't have approval from my parents because I don't have any! Are you happy now jackass?"

I turn to see that she is out of her cell with clenched fists and on the verge of tears. She walks back into her cell and the sound of rocks hitting something strong can be heard through the cold dungeon. Roy walks away to his cell on the right after giving me one more look.

(Nina POV)

"That stupid asshole!" I keep throwing rocks at the ceiling to make the platform go down so I can get out of here. But the rocks keep on hitting the solid surface of the ceiling and ricocheting at impact.

"Who the hell does he think he is? Screw him!" That moment I threw the rock too hard and it bounced off the ceiling and hits my left shoulder.

"Ouch! Stupid rock, stupid ceiling, stupid hag, stupid Riku." I kick the pile of rocks and ignore the pain on my foot. I limp to the wall and sit on the floor hugging my knees. "Everything's stupid these days."

I look at my bag and lazily reach out to grab it and take out two things. A dark wooden box with a tiny painting of a beach that looks like it was done by a 6-year-old and a spiral mint green and light purple scrapbook (where did I hear that word from?) with a winged heart on the cover. There is a pen in the spiral back of the book and I take it. I open the book and the box, looking at the Polaroid photos, taken by Poh-Coh, inside the box.

There were pictures I took of every place I went to: Roy becoming a giant in Wonderland, the two of us at Olympus Coliseum, vine swinging with gorillas at a jungle, hanging out with moogles in our very first trip to Traverse Town, before I met that idiot. There are also photos of making fun of the palace guards at Agrabah, being chased by a whale while flying on the ship, dressed up as a witch while Roy was a vampire in Halloween Town, scuba diving away from a crazy shark at a sunken ship in Atlantica, me flying around Big Ben while Roy was being a baby and clinging to a column, and a picture of me and Roy with the other kids and Nana back at the orphanage in my world.

"Man I miss them…"

I put the photos in the scrapbook and write messages under them. There are two more photos in the box and there is a heart-shaped silver locket. I take out the locket and look at the ivy and angel winged design on the heart. Then I stare at the remaining photos. One is of me, Roy, and a young woman who looks just like us, except with very deep sapphire eyes; my mom. The other is a picture of her by herself before we were born. I look for the scissors in the box and cut out her face to put it in my locket. I put the locket on and place the last photo in the scrap book.

A piece of paper catches my eye and I pick it up, an old newspaper clip from back in my world. The headline says "Tragic Death At Wreckage Lake" and there is a picture of a navy blue car, being pulled out the water by a tow truck, bashed at the front with a hole in the windshield at the driver's side. Next to the wrecked car picture is a picture of a platinum blonde woman with sapphire eyes, mom. I read the story, for the millionth time, and a drop of water falls on the clip. And another, and another until I drop it.

(Normal POV)

"Why the heck does that lady want us to clean up the place?" Roy drags along a broom outside the library on the balcony. He starts to sweep the dirt off the floor onto the balcony only for a Heartless to prance around the spot where he just cleaned. "Dammit I just swept there you ugly Chuckies from hell!"

"Keep it down over there."

Roy looks around and sees a head of silver hair on a body sitting on the edge available to sit on, staring out to the horizon. "What are you doing here Riku?"

"I can do whatever I want here." He said coldly and got back to staring and sitting silently.

"You're mad about what Nina said or something?"

"…Well, I guess I'm on her list of 'Stupid Assholes I'll Beat Up' or whatever she does. What is up with her?"

Roy comes to sit down next to Riku and holds the broom with his left hand on the ground. "She tends to keep her cool in arguments most of the time unless you're calling her dumb or make fun of her height. Or…if you say something about our parents like the way you did."

"What happened to your parents anyway?"

Roy leaves the broom at his side and rests his head on his clasped hands. "Our mom told us that our dad was gone before we were born. She basically meant that he was dead. So, our mom took care of the both of us on her own. But, when we were about 4, we were with our friends and Nina said she had a weird feeling. She ran off and I followed her…to an area called Wreckage Lake."

He sighs and holds his head, looking at his lap. "The lake used to have a building of some kind, but a flood destroyed it, many years ago, and its pieces are scattered in the lake. No one could ever swim in that lake, because someone could get hurt. When Nina and I got there, a car was totaled and being pulled out the lake by a tow truck. There was a police rope at the dock, and when we took a closer look, our mom was there. I remember seeing a dark reddish spot, a hole I think, on her chest. There was a sawed off pipe of some sort next to her, as long as my arm, with dark stuff on it. She died from that thing crashing into the windshield and impaling her when she veered off the road into the lake."

Riku just stares at him and looks away at the unseeing bottom of the ground miles below. 'Great…now I definitely feel like a jackass…' He stands up and walks away to get inside.

"Where are you going?"

"No where."

(Riku POV)

'She should still be here…' I walk to the cell and see two shield-wielding Heartless guarding the entrance. "Let me in, now." They disappear and I go in, seeing the blonde sitting with her head on her knees. "You're crying?"

Nina's head quickly shoots up and looks at me with red, puffed eyes. She wipes her eyes and turns her back on me as soon as she sees me. "W-what do you want?"

I lean my back against the stone wall and see a newspaper clip. I take a glance at it and know that it's about her mother.

"Roy told me about your mom. And…I'm sorry about mentioning your parents."

She says nothing and I just get up ready to leave.

"I forgive you. And I'm sorry that I got a bit over the top."

I look at her bag and see a book open with photos. I pick it up and look at the pictures, holding back a laugh at one or two photos.

"Hey! Who said you can look in there?"

She gets up and tries to grasp the book out of my hands, but I hold it above her head. She's two or three inches shorter than I am, but she can't reach the book.

"You're too short."

"I'm not short meanie!" She stands on her toes and snatches the book away. "Looking into people's things right after you apologize. Have you no honor and shame?"

"It doesn't go to people shorter than me."

"YOU'RE HEARTLESS!"

"No, the monsters out there are. I'm just a guy."

I notice something dark on her left shoulder the size of an orange and realize that it's a black-purple bruise.

"What the hell happened to you?"

"Oh…um…I threw a rock at myself in the heat of anger?"

"You are stupid."

"I'm not stupid!" She tries to punch me but I hold her fist in my hand.

"I kid. Listen, your ship, I'll take care of that. As soon as it's fixed, you and your brother get out of here. Got it?"

"Thanks…but why are you doing this?"

'Because you are my friend.' "I don't want Maleficent to do what she plans about you guys. I wouldn't want anything that happens to you guys on my conscious."

"Right…Whatever you say. One question: Why are you working for her?"

"I'm trying to help a friend of mine. She lost her heart and I'm trying to get it back."

"Oh…Your girlfriend?"

"No, no way. She's…more like my sister."

"Fine, she's like a 'sister'."

I playfully punch her shoulder, forgetting that it's the bruised one. Nina winces in pain from the punch and holds her shoulder.

"That hurts Riku!"

"My bad…or do I mean it?"

"Torturer."

I take another look at the book and bag. "So what is this supposed to be?"

She opens the book and there are Polaroid pictures of Nina and Roy in different worlds. Under the photographs there were words in nice, yet sloppy handwriting with short phrases.

"I took pictures of every world we've been to. I never had enough time to put the pictures in. It was a birthday present. I took pictures with Poh-Coh."

"…I don't even want to know what the hecks a Poh-Coh. Where did you get that?" I point at the silver heart hanging by a thin chain around her neck.

"A locket that belonged to my mom. She gave it to me when I was little. It felt heavy for my size, so I kept it until I could find a chain for it and I was able to put a picture of my mom in it."

"You mean there is no make up or whatever in that bag of yours?"

"Nope. I don't carry that around. It's in…the bag that was in the gummi ship…" Doom was written all over her face. "Probably burned by now-" A Defender Heartless appears at the cell's entrance and is making a beckoning gesture toward me.

"Got to go. I've got work to do…"

Nina sighs and crosses her arms. "Fine…But one thing. If the gummi ship gets fixed…are you gonna stay here? There are other ways to help your friend. Maybe we can help."

"…Thanks…but I think I'm a bit stuck where I am right now."

A/n: Sorry if it took too long to update. Slight case of writers block...but I'll update with vengeance against writers block! Bring it on! (Send reviews by pressing the square "Go" button please)