A/N: Nope still not mine, still hoping that they were. I guess that the story must go on. As always R&R please.
Chapter 3: First Impressions & Grizzly Murders
Riku woke up looking at a stone ceiling that reminded him of Malificent's castle except that there was far more light in this one then her's. He noticed that there was a girl, he put her age at 14, was watching him. As he tried to sit up, she gently pushed him back down. All her actions screamed healer. "I'm fine." Riku protested. "Only because I brought you here where Dedicate Comfrey was." She said matching his stubborn tone perfectly, only reaffirming the idea that she was learning to be a healer. "Dedicate Comfrey?" Riku inquired, voice full of curiosity. The girl looked at him weirdly as if he should know who Dedicate Comfrey was. "Only the best healer in all of Emelan." Cocking her head to the side she asked. "Do you know your name?" Riku almost sighed. He had been through this every time he landed in an infirmary. "Yes, It's Riku. What's yours?" He responded as politely as he could. "It's Sandry." She told him. "So where are we?" He said expecting the name of some temple that he never heard before. "The healing wing in the Duke's Citadel." She replied simply as if it were obvious that that was where she would take anyone who needed help. "So why would Dedicate Comfrey be at the Duke's Citadel?" Riku inquired, knowing that dedicates only left their temple for big things. "He was checking up on my uncle." She said simply. "And why would he be checking up on your uncle?" Riku asked though he had a good who her uncle was. "The duke." She said just as simply as before. Riku nodded receiving the answer he had expecting. "You're uncle is the duke?" He asked for confirmation. "Well I would certainly hope I'm the duke. If not I'm sure the actual duke would be very upset." A new voice sounded by the door. "Now Sandry before you start berating me, I returned at around 8 and I was resting until just a little while ago." The duke looked perfectly aged for the job. Old enough that it was obvious that he was experienced and wouldn't be a push-over but not old enough to make people wonder if his mind was all there. His physical appearance was slightly round with salt-and-pepper hair that was mostly salt. His hair hadn't yet begun to fall out. His clothing was simple yet well made. It was obvious that the duke preferred browns and blacks to the more showy colors like purple and gold. Looking closely Riku could tell that he looked tired, almost like he was recovering from a heart attack. 'He needs brighter colors the dark ones make him look like he's on his deathbed.' Riku thought as a clock struck the half hour. Sandry stood up "I have an agreement to attend to." She said as she started walking to the door. "Goodbye Riku and Dedicate Comfrey said that you needed rest." She said as the door closed. "Well seeing as how I came to see what could keep my niece from meeting up with me I should be off. I have a country to run. Get well soon." The duke wished Riku as he turned around waving a small farewell. Riku eying the healer, decided it wasn't worth the fight to convince the healer that he was fine. He let his head hit the pillow and before he knew it he was asleep.
The next morning when he woke up, Riku got out of bed grateful that he was fully dressed went out and found a servent. After asking where breakfast was being served and the directions to the room, he went there and found the duke, Sandry and an unknown male eating an assortment of muffins. Finding a seat and grabbing a few muffins he received a glare from the unknown male. "Riku, I'm Duke Vedris IV and this is Baron Erdogun, who acts as the ruler when I'm incapable of doing it." Duke Vedris said. Turning to Sandry he said "As I was saying Jamar Rokat was murdered and nobody saw who did it. His bodyguards said that he had opened the door to his study and a sword sliced his head off." The duke informed his great-niece. Riku, upon hearing this tidbit of information, instantly thought of the dark corridors he and other darkness users could employ. He knew that one could easily slip by the heaviest of security by using dark corridors. He resolved to search the city and see if he could detect anything amiss in it.
While walking though the city he caught a glimpse of a familiar face though it had aged some. "CID!" Riku yelled glad that at least one of the members of the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee had survived the destruction of his home world once again. Cid turned around, his face lighting up as he saw the youth. Cid's blode hair had started to lose the battle against the gray hair. His face was starting to show the strain it had been under for all those years but other then those he was still the same old gummi engineer. "Riku, what are you doing here?" Cid asked. "We were looking for the reason Hollow Bastion was destroyed and were hoping to find some survivors." Riku informed him. "And who exactly is we?" Cid responded though guessing that Sora part of the group. "Me, Donald, Goofy, King Mickey, Kiari, and Sora." Riku said holding back sobs for the last three names. Cid guessed that they started out as one group but were separated quite recently. "Come on kid, let's go back to my place where we can go through my inventory of gummi blocks and design you guys, I'm gonna say four, ships though it will require some jury rigging." Cid said moving on to a different subject to spare the boy more pain by his hand. Riku nodded holding back tears by blinking furiously. He was glad that not only did someone know him that well but that said person cared about him to want to spare him as much pain as he could. When they got to the tiny space that was Cid's living space the first thought that entered Riku's mind was. 'that's a lot of gummi blocks.' Every available inch was covered in a pile of gummi blocks. Some of the piles were balanced quite precariously. After clearing a spot for himself to sit on Riku launched into the whole tale while Cid cataloged his innovatory, and designed four gummi ships. True to his word the four ships needed to be jury-rigged. Riku knew that a jury-rigged ships would need frequent checkups to make sure that everything was still in alinement because if it got too out of line the ship would be liable to explode leaving the crew stranded on the nearest planent. Finally Cid felt satisfied with the blueprints and showed them to Riku. Shortly after that Riku left leaving Cid to start building the ships while he was to find a spot for them to be assembled.
While looking for a suitable site Riku heard a strangled gasp. His mind instantly went to the worst possible scenario. Running suddenly Riku thrust out his hand which was instantly enveloped by a bright white light. When it died down he held a keyblade that was dark at the hilt and slowly went to a light pink. He quickly jumped into the fray of invisible swordsmen and frightened horses. Feeling some danger Riku blocked. When he got into a full block stance his keyblade gave a flash of light and suddenly there was a floating sword. Out of the corner of his eye Riku saw a samurai a type of Nobody. Knowing that if it were to join the fray nobody would be left alive he went and confronted it. He started out with a quick swipe at it's middle knowing it would be blocked. Backing away to give himself room to maneuver he ran up a wall. Turning around and seeing the samurai on the wall. Grinning, Riku shot a firaga spell at it. The spell hit it's target perfectly, it exploded into a firestorm composed of dark flames. When it died down Riku saw two things. First that the samurai was dead and the second was that one of the guards had managed to get himself surrounded by heartless and the other guard got stabbed in the leg and crushed under his horse. Focusing on the heartless Riku fired his most powerful thunder spell. He yelled. "THUNDERAGA!" Several black lightning bolts hit each heartless. It was a few seconds later, the heartless exploded. Feeling satisfied that the fight was over Riku was about to walk down the wall to lift the horse off the wounded guard and heal him when he felt something slid in between his ribs nicking his heart. As he fell he mumbled "Cureraga." Three dark green leaves swirled around Riku's wound as he fell closing it. When he hit the ground he was already unconscious. During the confusion of the fight no one realized that Quasam Rokat was beheaded and that his head was nowhere to be found.