Disclaimer:

I own nothing but my OC(s). Everything else belongs to either Square Enix or Disney.

KINGDOM HEARTS: Of Days and Memories

Memories in Pieces

Floor VII

"…Mm? …I have identified the scent. It's Riku."

"Riku, you say? Has he emerged from the Realm of Darkness?"

"His existence- it was once doubled in the Darkness."

"Fascinating. That's why you mistook him for the Superior. That power given to Riku facilitated his escape from the Dark Realm."

"What I want to know, however, is why he's appeared here, at Castle Oblivion."

"That's really quite simple. His existence resonates with that of another hero."

"…"

"Sora…is in the castle?"

"He arrived earlier. Marluxia is already using Naminé's unique powers to meddle with Sora's heart."

"…Without even bothering to consult us."

"It seems he desperately wants the Keyblade wielder for himself- yet what a foolish plan he's concocted. There is more than one unique tool currently at our disposal. Sora's is not such an interesting existence. When compared to those that came before his time, his is lackluster at best. Rather, focus should be prioritized on Riku, as his current state still renders him malleable whilst withstanding the Darkness to such dangerous effect."

"Pardon, Vexen, but you hinted at…? Pray tell, what do you mean by 'more than one'? Sora and Riku are-"

"You haven't caught her scent?"

"'Her'?"

"Sora and Riku are malleable still yet. But there is another in our halls."

"Who?"

Green eyes slanted as a Cheshire smirk spread over wide, thin lips. "Arina currently wanders these corridors, isolated and alone. You can thank Axel for that."

"Arina…? What is-"

"The Keyblade has appeared again, after near a decade, in the hands of a batch of three. While one is currently out of commission, we have two- but only one can be easily obtained. Do you truly think she would allow herself to be so easily manipulated? She's always been stubborn. You may thank your mother for that."

'Run, run- have to keep going, gotta keep moving…!'

It had become her mantra through the long echoing walls of both the fifth and sixth floor. The latter of which's doors were shutting behind her with their precariously eerie low whines. With every room she rushed through, she was starting to swear they were getting larger and larger. Some with side doors. The last had been split between two rooms without a door to fully close the other out.

At the base of the stairs to the seventh floor's hall and doors, she took a brief respite. Bent over, she let sweat trickle down in beads, slow and few- the still air chilling her heated skin and flesh. 'They have to be somewhere. Unless…I needed to take one of the side…? No. No, Sora would stay linear. He wouldn't detract from the main path.'

Her free hand dug into her hoody's pocket, feeling the edges of the card in her possession. 'However, his don't behave like mine. Maybe those doorways are leading off the main hall's path. That…it makes sense, but I don't have the time to backtrack.'

Saving grace met her with the sound of Sora's voice calling out to something, or perhaps someone up ahead. And he sounded more surprised, and perhaps a little hurt, than anything else.

"Sora…?"

She didn't hesitate. Two by two, she let her legs scream in protest as she fought the ache to meet her friends and comrades.

"-it's more important."

Her breath stopped at the sound of his voice; a bad combination for the cardio she'd been pushing herself through for far too long between those white walls.

"H-huh…? I didn't mean that."

Cyan eyes were on her, cold and callous and…

'It's like he doesn't remember me…'

Donald and Goofy were surprised to see her, both crying out. But Sora seemed so much more focused on Riku in front of him.

Riku scoffed, turning his gaze away from the boy, and more prominently the girl behind him, and cast his darkened gaze to the side. "Spare the excuses. I bet you'd all but forgotten about me."

"Are you crazy!?" Sora nearly choked, mouth dry and tongue feeling heavy. "C'mon, man. I came all this way looking for you."

"Tch." Riku cast him a dark look. "But you're not anymore, right? As of now, you're only looking for Naminé. Admit it."

'Naminé?' Ari frowned, stepping up behind Sora directly.

"You never cared about me," a scathing remark from the older boy. "Just like you never cared, at all, about her feelings."

"Naminé's…?"

Riku's sneer said it all. "I knew it. Never even gave it thought, did you? Just 'cause you want to see her- sorry, doesn't go both ways." He pointed an accusing finger at Sora, to which Ari pulled him back by his hood. He startled then, watching as the exhausted girl take front and center.

Riku's sneer didn't falter as he kept his eyes locked onto Sora. "To tell ya the truth- Naminé doesn't even want to look at your face."

Sora collided with Ari's arm, braced to keep him back. "Why not!?" he was desperate, she realized. Yet she had to wonder. 'Who is she…?'

Riku's sneer broke into a tired frown. "You should ask your memories…on why she left the island. Manage to remember that, and you'd know."

She felt Sora slacken against her arm. "Did I… Did I do something? Is it my fault?"

The boy's blue eyes met his best friend's dead center, eyes locked with his seeking answers. The other meaning to scar and inflict pain. "Riku…"

Darkness swarmed the older boy, and Ari caught the sign she was looking for. 'I knew it. I don't know how…but I knew it wasn't him.' Raw Darkness. New Darkness. Scathing and left unchecked. Even his pulse…did not match.

"Go home, Sora," Riku scoffed, embodied by the organic suit sticking to him like a second skin they all recognized from prior encounters before this damned domain. "I'll care for Naminé."

Ari tried her hand, then and there. "Sorry. But we made a deal."

The other faltered. "…I don't recall any deal." He spat.

'Bingo.' "Oh really? What? Can't bring this other girl back with us? Sorry. But you're not that stupid to allow your own arrogance to leash you for a second go around."

"Shut up!" His temper flared, and a wave of Dark Fire sailed her way.

Goofy leaped in, blocking the spell with his shield, to which it withered against the metal.

"Riku…" Sora called in disbelief. "Riku, what the hell has gotten into you, man!? You'd never attack her like that!"

The other scoffed. "Yeah well, she's not important enough to remain in my memory, if she chose to be with you instead of me."

She sneered, to which she knew only the clone could see. 'You're grasping at straws.'

"Not important…? What the hell!" Sora clenched a fist. "Ari's been our best friend as…as long as Kairi has!"

"Speaking of- weren't you supposed to go back with her?" Riku shook his head. "Regardless. Go home, Sora. I'll take care of Naminé for the both of us. And anyone who thinks they can get past me…well…" His anger channeled into a cloud of Darkness, to which was birthed the dark winged blade they were a little too familiar with. He lunged, Goofy pulling Ari out of the way as Sora scrambled to collide his Keyblade against the black metal. "They'll have to get through me, won't they?"

Grunting under the pressure, Sora through in his body weight to get the taller boy off of him. "The hell…? Riku, we're supposed to be friends! What's gotten into you!?"

Riku clicked his tongue. "Please, Sora. Since when have you ever cared about me?" he pressed harder. "Naminé's not the only one who's sick of looking at you- so am I!"

He fled. Panting, gasping, and wounded- the lookalike fled from them. Ari was sure no one else saw the wounds bleeding upwards in wisps, rather than with gravity in rivulets of blood. Sora began to give chase, but she grabbed him by his hoody again.

"Wait." Her tone was stern, to which he seemed to disregard as he shook to dislodge her. When that proved fruitless, he resorted to fighting his hoody off instead.

"Oh no you don't…!" She grabbed him by both the chain of his crown necklace, as well as the back of his red jumper, using what strength she still had pent up to throwing him behind her.

He started yelling at her, accusing her of stalling them to which she silenced with a backhanded slap to his face.

"No, you don't get to throw insults at me when you left me behind."

That perplexed all of them. "We…" Sora swallowed. "No we didn-"

"None of you came back to find me." She snapped. "So here I am, who knows how long it's been as I've tried to search for you. Now tell me right now what the hell is going on." Her eyes narrowed in on Donald and Goofy, averting back to Sora who shrank at her anger. "Who is Naminé?"

Sora's face hollowed, but his eyes hardened. That was the first time, she noted warily, he'd ever thrown such a gaze her way. In the nine-and-something-years they'd been friends, never had his look seemed so…almost hateful.

"She…Ari, how can you not remember our best friend?"

That baffled her. "Best…? Sora, I can count on my hand the number of best friends I've had in my life. Not one was ever named 'Naminé'."

"But she was there! She left like…a year after you and Kairi showed up!"

She shook her head. "No…Sora, there never was…" She looked away as he started fuming, turning to Donald and Goofy to gain any other perspective while he steamed in his spot. "You two, start talking. The faster you answer, the quicker we can leave."

"Leave!?" Sora hollered.

She kicked his shin to shut him up. "Start. Talking."

"W-we've been losing our memories to remember stuff…!" Goofy blurted.

Donald nodded in agreement. "Our most important memories need to be dug up. After all, they brought Sora's memories of Naminé back, so who's to say what else we need to remember?"

"Besides," Goofy interjected. "We gotta go save her. She's trapped here by them fellers in those black coats."

'Them…?' She frowned in puzzlement. "How many have you encountered?"

"…Three." Sora wouldn't meet her eye, seething on the ground where he remained. "And I bet there's more. I won't leave without her!"

He flashed her an adamant look, challenging her authority. 'What authority?' She scoffed.

"Sora…" She grimaced.

In silence, she stewed on everything. 'They forgot to come look for me. Their memories are vanishing. Mine haven't. Now there's a girl he's obsessed in tracking down, to which never existed according to my memory. Not to mention Riku…this one wasn't the one I felt. There's still a resonance elsewhere, I've been feeling it since I entered through the fifth floor.'
She paced back and forth sifting through her messy auburn hair and all the facts laid out for her. 'Sora's not stable. He needs to stay put. This 'Naminé' can wait. That Riku, though, I need to find. He'll lead me to the heart of what's going on with the real one more likely than not.' She cast Sora a cool gaze. He was seething at her backside.
'If looks could kill…' She chuckled at it, shaking her head as she came to the stairway leading up again. 'This girl…if they had no use for her, she wouldn't be here. Something's going on. First, though, Sora needs to be brought under control. And Riku…'

She shook her head again, casting one last glance to the others behind her. "Stay put."

Ari left no room for argument, taking off in the wake of the other 'Riku'. She felt a little bad for the abuse she put Sora through, but he was falling out of control, and she needed to rein him back in. Regardless, it still stung when he yelled at her backside with such blinding anger.

As she suspected, the other was sluggish and wounded. "Oh no you don't!"

He whipped around, nearly toppling at the sight of the girl. He growled, though, when Sora, Donald, and Goofy came clobbering up past her and stood firmly blocking the way back down.

"You just can't take the hint, can you Sora?" He hissed. "Go. Home."

Sora shook his head with nothing but stubbornness pouring from his very being at the notion. "Not until I rescue you n' Naminé."

'Riku' scoffed. "I don't remember ever asking you to rescue me."

Sora's face softened, to Ari's surprise. "Did you forget?" his tone softened too, cracking with puberty, but no less an impact on the genteel message. "Kairi's there- waiting for all of us to come home." To which he sent Ari a grin.

Surprise seemed to still paint her eyes. She followed it by letting out a surprised laugh. "Right…"

'But this… Oh Sora…'

"Tch," the other boy rejected of the idea. "You're the one who forgot. I told you at Kingdom Hearts when we closed the door… 'Take care of Kairi'."

Sora jolted, wincing back from the accusation left unsaid.

'You didn't abandon her. The islands were the only safe place left for her, besides…' She shook the train of thoughts aside. 'No use thinking on it now. Bigger priorities. Like where the 'real one' is.'

"Give it up," the boy snapped. "I'm not going back to the islands- for anything."

Sora lurched. "It's not just about Kairi! What about the others, huh? The rest of our friends?"

'Not to mention your poor parents. And Riku's. And pops…'

He scoffed. "You can have those losers." He grinned. "Already forgot 'em."

That set the younger boy off. "That…" Ari jumped at the sound of his Keyblade coming to his call. "That does it!"

"Sora, no!" she tried to grab him by his hoody, but to no avail as he started charging in. The cloth ripped from her fingers before she could even curl them in.

The other seemed unfazed. "What about you, huh?" He threw in loftily. "Do you actually remember their faces? Their names?"

Sora faltered, losing balance and coming to a near tumble to the ground. "W-what…?" he choked. "Of course I d-"

She frowned, sharing a glance with Donald and Goofy. They seemed more or less, less surprised. She however…

'You…don't tell me it's true. What the first coat said…' Could it be, that he'd given up all memory in order to find ones that never existed in their world…?

The other simpered softly, shrugging at the brunet's dilemma. "Don't feel bad," he cooed. "That's what this castle will do to you- after a while." He turned his back, waltzing his way to another staircase.

'The halls are getting longer too…I knew it. Finding Riku is going to take longer than I'd hoped.'

And then, he paused, shrugging both shoulders as he mused. "It's good. You forget all the useless crap and remember, for the first time, what really matters." He sent a scathing look to Sora. "In my case, it was protecting Naminé. Nothing else matters to me. So back off. She's not your concern anymore. And neither am I."

Sora's grip faltered, though not enough to allow his blade to clatter on the white-white floors. No, she could sense something replaying in his mind. And she had an idea that it was the bond he and Riku shared since early childhood being brought forthright to his memory.

She slouched, head lowering as she recapped on that bond. 'They're brothers in all but blood. Of course that would wound him. But…I'd think he'd know that no matter what, Riku wouldn't toss him aside unless he himself thought Sora had abandoned him.' She lifted her head, eyes hard and frown creasing her brow. 'The last mishap revealed that much. Riku's always been easy to jealous. But he's not one to flaunt and trigger it in malice unless provoked first. Just more proof I needed.'

"Hey…Riku…"

His eyes and hers fell to the boy with the Key. She wasn't surprised, nor was she even remotely accepting of the direction his statement was heading.

"I think…" and then he crouched, ready to tackle and ready to fight. "…I'll just jog your memory for you."

The other was amused. He rolled his neck, and summoned his dark blade in the same smooth curve. "Go right on ahead and try."

Author's Endnote:

Longer chapter? Yus. Appeasing everyone? I sure hope so! (I'm so sorry if the previous chapter was a bit dry or slow...! Sometimes they're necessary to cultivate the plot. ;-; My apologies.)

*** Also, what I meant about the Days arch is that is tacked into this story, too. It's combined. And I've mapped this entire set to be about 40 chapters long. So please look forward to that!

Next one coming next Sunday, so long as my schedule stays paced like this. :)

Much love,

~ AoZ