Chapter 4: Twilight Town

Riku followed King Mickey, in silence, out of the train unsure of what to say or do, or how to proceed after his unconscious outburst. The only sound that could be heard as they walked down a set of purple, stone stairs were the sounds of his and Mickey's boots tapping the pavement with each step, and the gentle tinkling coming from the chains on their Organization coats. Riku couldn't help but still feel slightly embarrassed at what had transpired on the train, but at the same time, he didn't want Mickey worrying for him, even though he knew regardless of how many times he told the King he was okay, Mickey would still worry. He was going to be just fine. He had to be, and even if it took him trying to kid himself into believing it, then he would do just that.

It was only a nightmare after all, though one of the worst ones Riku had had in a long time, and truly one of his strongest fears manifesting itself in the form of that dream in the depths of his own subconscious. Losing his friends. Not just to darkness, but losing them in general. He'd spent over a year now without being by their sides, and the thought was enough to make Riku's heart clench tight in his chest and ache because of how badly he missed them. No matter what though, Riku couldn't let himself be weakened or brought down by one dream or his own fear. They were getting closer and closer to bringing Sora, and the others, to safety, and that's all the boy wanted to concern himself with. He should be feeling happy that soon his best friend would be able to sleep in peaceful safety while the process of his memories were being restored. There would be time later for him to sit down and figure out how to handle his own, personal battles, and sort out his thoughts, but until then, he needed to remain focused on his task.

As he followed the King, Riku found himself standing in an unfamiliar train station. He gazed upward at a large, hanging sign reading the words "Central Station." Inclining his head, he looked around at the location as they walked through a massive set of glass doors and out into what appeared to be a large terrace surrounding the station. Riku glanced upward at the sky, wondering if it were nearing night or the sun was just rising. "What time is it?" the teen questioned as he followed the King down the stony paths that would lead them into the heart of town.

"Hmm, that's a good question," Mickey replied, looking upward at Riku. "Without a clock, you never can tell what time it is in this town. The sky is always this color. It never changes. Hence the name Twilight Town."

"Wow, that's new," Riku mused, finger stroking his chin thoughtfully. "So pretty much, the sky stays this color always? I wonder why that is?"

"This town is special," Mickey replied. "It is located between the light and darkness. This world's sun is always in the same position in the sky. It never rises, and it never sets."

"How in the world do people know when to go to bed and when to wake up?" Riku asked incredulously, aquamarine eyes widened, amusement in his voice.

The King just laughed. "That's a good question. I imagine they just go about their day, and when they're tired, they go home and sleep. C'mon. We're almost to Market Street. There's a clock tower there and we can catch the time. Maybe we can ask some of the locals in town how to get to the Old Mansion."

Riku nodded his head and followed King Mickey into town. As they approached Market Street, the clock tower came into view, and they looked upward at the clock. It was 11am, so still rather early in their day, but it was alright. Riku was enjoying the nice stroll through such a calm, quiet little town. It was much different than both Destiny Islands and Hallow Bastion. It wasn't clouded by darkness like Hallow Bastion, but it wasn't vividly bright like Destiny Islands either. It was comfortable, almost soothing, though not quite as soothing as the breeze off of the ocean's current or the smell of the salt in the air, and once again, Riku found himself longing for home. You wanted so badly to get off that island and now you're homesick. Riku silently chastised himself.

"Riku," King Mickey began, his voice with an edge of concern, snapping the silver haired youth from his thoughts. Riku felt a twinge of dread on the back of his neck. He knew what Mickey was going to ask him, and Riku wasn't sure he wanted to talk about what happened on the train. Not just yet anyway. Nevertheless, this was the King. "I'm worried about what happened with you on the train. The way your hand was sparking with dark energy, the way your eyes looked...," Mickey trailed off.

"What do you mean the way my eyes looked?" Riku questioned, raising one of his silvery eyebrows at the King.

"No, nothing! I mean you just looked devastated and frightened. You were crying too, and that isn't like you at all, so it just worried me," Mickey tried to quickly recover.

"I wasn't... ugh," the silver haired teen stammered, feeling a blush creeping up on his cheeks and frustration licked at his shoulders. So Mickey had seen him. "I wasn't crying, okay? It was just the dream. It just got me worked up. It's fine, and it's over with now, and I'm fine now. If it's all the same to you and with all due respect, I'd really rather not talk about it," Riku sighed. "I mean no disrespect, Your Majesty. I'm just not ready, okay?"

"I understand, Riku. It's just, if you had let go of your dark power right there, who knows what would have happened," Mickey replied, his voice laced with worry. "Are you sure you can control what's inside of you?"

More than anything, Riku wanted to grab the hood to his coat and pull it up over his head so nobody would see him. Had he really looked that bad? Did he still look bad? And what exactly did Mickey mean by the way his eyes looked? "I really don't know, but I'm damn sure going to try," Riku murmured, not only to the King but to himself as well.

The twosome fell silent once more as they entered the Tram Common, where there were more people scattered about, shopping at the shops with brightly lit signs hanging over their stands. A trolly was noisely rolling by on a set of train tracks, while some kids went zooming by on skateboards laughing loudly. There was a large cart stacked high with large bags of it's own cargo, and a few men were helping push it up a hill to move it into what appeared to be a storage shed. Riku couldn't help but find the hustle and bustle of the town pleasant company to be in. The town looked almost familiar. Remove all the people, then... Riku gasped. "Wait! I've been here before! I didn't know it was called Twilight Town, but I met DiZ here. He was disguised as Ansem. It was the card you gave me back at Castle Oblivion, Mickey! Remember? When you found me? You said the card led you to me."

The King turned around to face Riku, looking surprised. "It was? Really? So the card that led me out of the realm of darkness and straight to your heart was a card with this town on it? And that led you to meet DiZ?" Mickey questioned, peering upward at Riku, his eyes widened in surprise.

"Yeah, DiZ. He always seems to be testing me in some form or another, making me choose..."

"Sorry I couldn't come here sooner, Riku," King Mickey, ever the enthusiast, apologized, smiling up at his friend.

Riku's eyes widened in disbelief and he leaned forward ever so slightly, attempting to see if he could look straight through Mickey, wanting to see if he were intangible like before. "Your Majesty! Is it you!?"

"Uh huh!" Mickey confirmed, nodding his mouse-eared head. Riku stepped forward, placing both of his hands against the sides of the King's face, wanting to see for himself that he was real and not just an illusion like he had been in their prior meetings. "Whoa!" Mickey laughed. "That tickles!"

Riku let go of Mickey's face and let out a chuckle at the King. "This time, you're not an illusion. I'm so glad that you could make it here," he smiled, his eyes shining brightly with happiness. One of his friends had found a way back to him, and that alone gave Riku hope.

"I made a promise to you that I would find a way, didn't I?" Mickey encouraged him, but let out a small gasp as the relief settled so heavily over Riku that it sent him collapsing to the floor of the castle.

"Ahh... I'm okay. Don't worry," Riku sighed, still smiling, though his face held a sort of sadness to it. "Guess I'm just relieved." He lowered his head, unable to look at the King as the wave of happiness sent emotions through him he hadn't felt in a very long time. "I've... I've been alone so long that having someone else around is... is a little... overwhelming." He raised his finger to his nose, rubbing his knuckle gently across the bottom, almost as if embarrassed to admit that he was as lonely as he had been. Nobody had been accompanying him up until now, and to have King Mickey there, Riku was more than grateful and truly happy that he would no longer feel so lonely. He quickly recovered from his moment, raising his head once more to face the small King. "But... uh, how did you make it here? I thought it was too far?"

"I found a card to help," Mickey began explaining. He reached around to his back pocket and tugged out one of the familiar, blue cards with a picture on the front that Riku had encountered now several times on this particular journey. "I needed a way out of the Realm of Darkness, and then suddenly this card appeared right in front of me! When I picked it up, I could see your heart beyond the darkness. That's what let me find you. I guess the card felt it's place was to be with you."

The King held the card out for Riku to take, and he accepted it, studying it momentarily. "Maybe you're right," Riku said thoughtfully. He took the card and rose to his feet. Stepping forward, he found himself transported into a town lined with brick walls and stone streets. There was not a single person around, but tall buildings stood along a train track absent it's daily trolly.

A Help Wanted board tacked up with sheets of paper advertising various jobs stood a ways from him, and over to his left was an ice cream shop with a brightly lit sign showing a picture of an ice cream cone. There were storage units with numbers lit above them in the same manner as the ice cream shop, but strangely, there was no one around. The town was like ghost town almost. "Where am I? What is this place?" Riku asked himself, before remembering King Mickey had been with him. He gasped, whirling around. "Your Majesty!?" But there was no sign of the king.

In front of Riku a wave of cold, dark wind materialized and before him a dark portal appeared, causing him to leap back in a defensive stance. A familiar entity stepped out of the portal, one that made Riku's skin crawl and stomach turn just from the mere sight of him. "You must battle me all alone." The man said. "Against my dark powers!"

Riku summoned Soul Eater and held it high above his head, preparing his attack mode. Whenever Ansem was standing in front of him, it made his blood boil enough to be ready for a fight. He was about to beckon Ansem into the fight when he hesitated. "Huh." Riku hummed doubtfully, lowering his weapon.

"What's this? Are you giving up? Finally ready to surrender to your fate?" Ansem: Seeker of Darkness sneered at the boy in front of him.

"You're not the true Ansem," Riku replied, matter-of-factly. Ansem lowered his arms. "Your scent is different. The Ansem in my heart smells much darker. The odor is more foul. But your scent just isn't that. It's not darkness. It's something else. I finally understand. You're the one who guided me when it started. You came to me pretending to be Ansem. You gave me the card, to make me face the darkness."

The man before him lowered his head, closing his eyes and smiling. "Hmm, that is correct." His form miraculously began changing before Riku's eyes, and soon another man stood in his place. He had his entire head wrapped in red bandages with two leather belts placed to keep the bandages in place, except for one amber eye peering out of an opening and a place for his mouth. He wore a long, red cloak, and his look appeared almost digital to Riku. "DiZ, or so I am known. You, I've watched you all along." His voice held somewhat of a parental tone to it, and it made Riku uncomfortable to know this man had been following him and watching him.

"Really. Who are you? And what do you want from me?" Riku questioned him, warily.

"For you to choose," DiZ replied, coming straight to the point.

"Choose?" Riku asked.

"You are a special entity. You exist between light and dark. You stand in the twilight. You are to meet Naminé, then choose," Diz told him, his arms placed comfortably behind his back.

"Naminé? Who's that?" Riku was growing slightly tired of being evaluated by this man.

"You will know soon," was all DiZ had to say before he disappeared in a ball of light, leaving a very confused, blue green-eyed youth in his wake.

"So that's where you ended up," Mickey stated. "And that's how you met DiZ."

"Yeah," Riku nodded his head, still unsure of his feelings toward the man. His presence had been an awkward one for Riku. He was almost fatherly, comforting in a sense, but at the same time, highly irritating with the way he seemed to want to consistently test Riku, to see if he would give into the darkness or not. They fell silent once more as they approached the center of the Tram Common part of town.

"Maybe we should try asking some people were the mansion is? If it's the same place, I have a feeling I've been there, but I'm not sure if I remember how to get there," Riku suggested, breaking the silence. His eyes fell over to a group of three children who seemed to be about his, Kairi and Sora's ages. "Hey!" Riku called approaching the three who seemed to be hovered around a shop window. It was the ice cream shop Riku remembered seeing in the Twilight Town memory he visited within Castle Oblivion.

The oldest of the three, who looked to be about 16, was tall with spiked, blonde hair. He wore a black tank top with a skull pattern on the front, a gray vest was pulled over the top of it left unbuttoned with a pair of camoflauge shorts and slip-on sneakers. He was holding what appeared to be three bars of blue ice cream and was handing one to each of the kids standing next to him. One of the kids was a girl who Riku guessed to be about 15 years old. She had shoulder-length, dark brown hair and dark blue eyes. She was wearing an orange tank top adorned with a flower pattern down the right side, a pair of khaki capri paints and white, lace-up shoes.

The other kid next to them was a bit more on the chunky side. He wore a long, red jersey with a white -shirt underneath, jeans and blue and white sneakers. Around his neck was a blue bandanna, and he wore a black and white striped sweat band that sat snug and comfortable underneath his mass of unkempt, black hair, keeping the hair pulled back from his eyes. The three kids turned to face Riku and King Mickey as they approached.

Riku felt his heart leap in his chest at the sight. It made him think of the days when he, Sora and Kairi used to spend their afternoons hanging out at the main island getting snow cones together on particularly hot days, teasing about who would be the one to buy the snow cones. Sometimes they ran races, or held swimming contests and battled with wooden swords, and the loser would buy the snow cones. Something in Riku's heart shifted.

"You must be new around here," the blonde boy spoke up, tearing Riku from his sentiments. "We've never seen you before. Sorry, but this town doesn't take kindly to strangers. Go bug someone else." Slight disdain could be heard in the blonde's tone.

Riku was slightly taken aback at the boy's abrupt rudeness, but quickly brushed it off as the girl next to time made a noise in protest. "Hayner, don't be so rude!" She turned toward Riku, a bright smile on her face. "Hi there! Don't mind Hayner. He can be a real jerk. He and Seifer tend to fight over who owns the town," she added rolling her eyes. "My name's Olette, and this is Pence," she pointed toward the chubbier of the trio who seemed to be engrossed in his ice cream. His brown eyes glanced upward and he waved toward Riku and the King, mouth too full of ice cream to really say anything. "What's your name?" she asked Riku, hands behind her back and tilting her head to the side. Now was the time to work his charm.

"I'm Riku. This is my friend, Mickey. We're just wondering if maybe you could help us out with something," Riku asked, confidently, brushing back locks of silvery violet from his aquamarine eyes. "You see, as you said, we're new in this town and we don't really know where we're going." He smiled at the girl, hoping to get some answers. They had to know where this mansion was after all.

Olette seemed to stare at him for a moment before she felt Hayner tap her on the shoulder, snapping her back to reality. "O-oh! Yeah, ummm... what was I saying?"

Pence started laughing as he walked forward and placed a hand on Olette's shoulder. "Don't mind her," he said with a grin, still clutching his half-eaten ice cream bar. "She's probably just developing one of her legendary crushes. First it was Seifer, then it was Setzer, and now-" He winked at Olette which earned him a slap on the shoulder.

"Pence, please! Shall we not!" Olette reprimanded, and Pence and Hayner both laughed.

"Anyway," Riku cut in, folding his arms across his chest. "We're trying to find the Old Mansion. We were told it was just outside of town here. Can you tell us where we can find it?"

The trio looked at Riku and King Mickey, their smiles disappearing and a they all seemed to share a simultaneous shiver. "Why would you want to go that creepy old mansion?" Hayner questioned them, mimicking Riku's stance, folding his arms as well, and peering at the both of them as if trying to x-ray them.

"Yeah. Rumor has it that that old place is haunted," Pence added, a small tremor could be heard in his voice.

Hayner gave Pence a nudge and laughed. "Aww, what's wrong, Pence? Are you a scardy cat?"

"N-no! It's just... well, hey! You asked them first why they'd want to go to that creepy old mansion! You're just as scared as I am!" he shot back, and Hayner's laughter quickly changed to a scowl.

"Stop bantering you two. C'mon, Riku. We'll show you how to get to the mansion, but if it's alright, we're not going to go in there with you," Olette told him, leading the way down the road, Hayner and Olette munching their ice cream as they went. Shortly after, the trio stopped in front of a rather large hole in the brick wall that surrounded the town. "If you go through here, you'll come to a forest. Just walk straight ahead in the clearing, and the mansion is right through the trees. You can't miss it. "

"Are you sure you don't want to come with us?" Riku gave them a playful smile, feeling somewhat nostalgic for his days with Sora and Kairi.

"No no, we're sure. You guys go on ahead, but be careful!" Pence insisted as he pointed his ice cream stick at Riku and King Mickey.

"Don't you worry about us, now. We'll be fine," the King insisted as he stepped through the whole. "Thanks for helping us find the place! I'm sure we'll see you around the town later on!"

"Yeah, thanks," Riku added with a nod as he turned to climb through the hole and follow the King. As he walked through the forest, Riku couldn't help but feel a sense of familiarity about the place and before long they found themselves in front of the large, iron gates where a very tall, old house stood, a long, brick wall surrounding it. The insides of the walls were nettled with pine trees, and bushes and vines were growing up alongside of the wall, giving it the impression that a gardener or landscaper hadn't touched it in years.

"Yes! This is it! I've... been here before," Riku breathed, his eyes scanning his surroundings. "At least... I'm pretty sure I have. This place looks really familiar. This is the place where I fought him..." He stopped for a moment, placing his index finger and thumb against his chin, his other arm folded across his stomach.

Riku slowly walked forward toward the tall, , sharp iron gates that had been placed protectfully in front of the massive mansion behind them. The just the look of the gate screamed 'no tresspassers' to Riku. He gazed upward, watching the orange clouds drift by lazily in the blue, twilight sky, his eyes searching the windows of the large house. "Maybe Naminé is here..." he wondered to himself out loud.

"Hold it!" a harsh voice came from behind Riku and he gasped, whirling around and clenching his fists, prepared for anything DiZ might want to throw at him again. There in the clearing of the forest, stood his replica, dressed in the same dark suit of armor Riku had once worn back when Ansem had possessed him. The boy before him was a replica of he himself that Vexen had created from data he'd gathered in a battle he had engaged with Riku prior to his own demise. This replica was unlike Riku, unburned by the ability to wield the darkness as he saw fit without fearing it. He walked foward toward the real Riku, ready to face him in battle, sizing him up. "Hmph. You've changed. Your own darkness. It doesn't frighten you anymore."

"How can you tell?" Riku inquired, equally sizing up his replica.

"Because I'm you," the replica replied, eyes not leaving Riku's.

"No, I'M me," Riku corrected, the stare down not withstanding.

"I'm me, he says. Must be nice being real. A fake like me could never get away with saying that. That's right! I'm a phony! A fake!" The replica cried out, sorrow and acceptance sounding in his voice. "The way I look, the way I feel, everything I remember! And even.. this newfound power!" He clenched his fists and held out his hands as a dark light emanated from his body and flowed upward, enveloping him in a sinisterly lit darkness. Riku gasped, stepping back at the terrible sensation coming from his replica.

"I thought by finding new strength, I could finally be someone!" The light dissipated, leaving Riku's replica standing there, emotions pouring out of him right and left. "Someone who's not at all YOU! But... nothing changes... I'm still just empty!" his voice shook, hitching with rage and sorrow, almost as if he could burst into tears at any given moment, and Riku wondered if his replica could cry, would he, and he felt a momentary sympathy for the puppet replica in front of him. "Everything about me is borrowed. As long as you're around, I'll never be more than a shadow!"

The replica summoned his own version of Soul Eater, readying his attack, while Riku did the same and blades clashed. It wasn't long before Riku had swiftly taken down his replica, knowing what moves the replica would use considering most of them were his own talents, it wasn't hard to tell which maneuver would come next. He easily side-stepped many of the replica's lunges, and parried when he began blindly swinging his sword, no longer using a technique, but powered his heartbreak and his rage into every swing or thrust of the blade, causing him to lose focus. Riku had taken that second of vulnerability and brought him down, hard. Riku panted as the battle came to an end, and the replica collapsed, falling on his back with a pool of darkness surrounding him.

"So... it's over," his voice was quiet and accepting. "Hmph. Death doesn't frighten me. Good riddance to a phony life. My heart was... never real. I'm sure even what I'm feeling now is probably all fake."

"What are you feeling?" Riku asked kindly, his curiousness getting the better of him.

The replica ignored his question. "What happens when a fake dies? One like me? Where will my heart go? Does it disappear?"

"It'll go somewhere," Riku tried to encouraging his dying replica. He wasn't sure why he felt the urge to comfort him, but he did. Maybe it was because of the longing and the aching in his own heart, and maybe it was because his replica could feel many of the same things he felt, because they were nearly one and the same. "Maybe... to the same place as mine."

"Tch. A faithful replica until the very end," the replica replied, somewhat sarcastically. "That's... okay." He spoke his last words before closing his eyes and the pool of dark energy surrounding him overwhelmed his body, and he disappeared, only a few lights left in his wake rising toward the sky before vanishing. Riku stared at the empty spot on the ground, drawing his eyebrows inward, and something inside moved him. He placed his hand on his heart, and closed his eyes, before turning to make his way through the gates leading to the mansion.

"I fought my replica here. This was where I defeated him," Riku told the King walking forward. He couldn't help but feel that same twinge of guilt and sympathy like he had before. "What would life had been like living on false memories and a fake existence? A created heart? Only someone like him would know. You know, asides from the fights I've had with Sora, this was one fight I didn't want," Riku said quietly more to himself than anything. He approached the spot where his replica had disappeared and inclined his head upward, looking at the sky. "I wonder if his heart is with mine now?" Riku knelt down on his knee in the place where his replica died and placed a hand on his chest, lowering his head and closing his eyes. "He was my replica after all."

Riku felt a hand place itself over the top of his own and he opened his eyes, to find himself looking at King Mickey who was watching him with a solemn, but determined expression on his face. He smiled at Riku and nodded, squeezing his hand over Riku's. "His heart had to go somewhere, didn't it? I think if his heart went anywhere, it would've been back to you. He came from you after all. He was a part of you. I'm sure now, he's at peace." Mickey smiled at Riku, and the silver haired youth chuckled, shaking his head.

"And I call Sora a sap," he rose to his feet, smiling. "Thanks, Mickey."