1"Anyone else still wet?" Donald asked, noticing how the fire went down. They had spent a good amount of time trying to dry off after being under the sea, despite Sora's wishes.
"I'm good." Melissa said. Stella nodded. Donald let the fire die, and they began to walk again. They only managed to walk a few steps. Sora had stopped immediately.
"You, you're . . ." A figure stepped from the opposite side of the room, and his shadow revealed who it truly was. "Riku?! What are you doing here?"
Riku smirked. "Don't sound so happy to see me, Sora. Let me know if I'm getting in the way of something more important."
"No, of course not!" Sora stepped toward him. "I only meant-"
"Spare me." Riku became angry and somewhat disappointed. "I bet you'd all but forgotten about me."
"Are you crazy? We came all this way because we were looking for you!"
Riku shrugged. "But not anymore, right? Now it's Namine this, Namine that. I bet you've never even considered the fact that Namine doesn't even want to see you anymore."
"He's got your number." Melissa said, crossing her arms.
"Why would Namine not want to see me?" Sora asked, mostly to himself.
"Where's Kristen?" Stella asked, approaching Riku.
"Kristen? Who's that?" Riku smiled.
"Don't play dumb." Melissa said. "She's not with anyone else. The only person she would want to be with is you."
"Oh, her." Riku shrugged. "I left her to be taken by Heartless. She was nothing more than a hassle."
"You lie." Melissa said, drawing her swords.
"Try me." He drew his weapon, smiling.
"You jerk!" Melissa charged at him, attacking ferociously. He blocked, jumping back. Instead of fighting, he ran back into the next room, and the others chased close behind, trying not to lose him.
He was nowhere to be seen in the next room. Sora looked around frantically, but to no avail.
"Sora, are you okay?" Stella asked.
"Forget about me. What's happened to Riku?"
"He was acting strange." Melissa said, of course replacing the word 'strange' with a much more cruel word. "It was as if . . . the Heartless were controlling him."
"That's impossible!" Sora turned. "We got rid of Ansem."
"What if it's not Ansem that controls the Heartless? Of course . . . that still wouldn't explain his actions." Stella sighed.
Everyone looked down solemnly, each lost in their own thoughts.
"Hey, Riku is still our friend!" Jimminy said. "Maybe he's just as messed up in this castle as we are. . . and maybe he got in a fight with Kristen because of that, so he left her. I'm sure he realized his mistake and is going back now!" Everyone smiled and nodded. Even if no one believed it, there was at least hope, and that gave them a bit of happiness.
"I think we'll be alright." Sora said, smiling weakly.
"No, no!" Melissa scolded. "Say it like a Keyblade Master!"
Sora smiled. "How about . . ." he walked forward a few steps, turned, and held his Keyblade up proudly. "I'll save Namine, recover our memories, save Riku, Kristen, and the King, and do it all blindfolded! Forces of evil, do your worst!"
Stella laughed. "Aren't you getting carried away?" Everyone laughed, and continued on, their spirits raised.
They had moved into a small room where Namine was being kept. Amanda and Axel had simply followed, and Larxene went simply to torture Namine.
Larxene stepped toward Namine, barely noticing the drawing on her sketchbook. "Why so glum, Namine? Is something on your mind? Feeling bad about tinkering with Sora's memory? Or maybe you. . ."
"Knock it off, Larxene." The copy Riku walked in, facing Larxene. "Namine wants to forget about Sora."
"You don't say." Larxene looked as if she were about to burst into laughter at any second.
The copy ignored her and turned to Namine. "Don't worry, Namine. I'll make whatever's hurting you go away." He pulled out a small star charm. "I swear it on the good luck charm you gave me. I'll be back." The copy left.
". . . simply amazing." Larxene commented. "It's like you completely rebuilt his heart . . . The good luck charm was an especially nice touch. I didn't know you could use memories to transform objects like cards into keepsakes. Just like you changed Stella's good luck charm. And it wont be long before Sora forgets her completely! And then he'll be yours to–"
"He won't forget. No matter how much I change his memory, Sora will never forget Stella. Because . . . because I'm only a shadow."
Larxene rolled her eyes. "So what? That's your incentive not to screw up. Rewrite Sora's heart, and you can be somebody, not just the shadow of somebody. In Sora's heart, you can be real."
Larxene smiled as Namine looked down at her sketchbook uneasily. Amanda scowled, but Axel simply held her hand.
"Patience. . . patience." he whispered.
Larxene was long gone, and it was only Axel, Amanda, and Namine in the room. Namine was drawing, and Axel was scheming. Namine could see from the small screen in the room what was going on. Sora had once again run into the copy Riku, and nothing had changed. Melissa was ticked off, Stella uneasy, and Sora depressed and confused. Still, they continued on. Namine's conscience seemed to be growing.
"I know exactly how you feel." Axel said, shrugging. Namine looked up at him hopefully.
"Don't get your hopes up." Amanda said, sighing. "Even I know Nobodies can't be somebodies." Namine dropped her head sadly, but Amanda continued. "Of course, I'm sure there's something you can do."
Larxene walked in, a smile on her face. "You'll never guess what you two missed out on."
"You abusing a small child?" Amanda asked.
"Close. Marluxia trapped Vexen. Now, he's going on to destroy Sora."
"Isn't that the exact opposite of the plan?" Amanda said. "I'm not exactly sure of your goal, but this right now seems to go in the opposite direction of everything else you've been working on."
"That's the point." Larxene's voice heightened, and she pleasured in the thought.
"He'll really do it. Vexen's got no choice. You involved the Superior, right?" Axel said, crossing his arms in disapproval.
"Exactly. But Sora made a promise, so he can't be wiped from existence, right? Isn't Marluxia so smart?"
Amanda looked at Larxene and sighed. They were going against their own people, others like them. But she wasn't very fond of Vexen, anyway. But a large concern hit her: what if Axel was next on the list?
