Riku and Roxas shivered as they dashed into a large house at the end of the snowy walkway that brought them to the snowy village of Christmas Town. Namine and Jack followed at a steady pace, the cold passing through and off them with ease. Riku shook his body to get the snow out of his fur, causing bits of it to fly onto the walls and furnisher "Hey!" Roxas yelled as some hit him.
"Sorry." he mumbled, straightening up.
Jack had led the Heroes to Christmas Town via the Holiday Door. Riku had not believed him at first but after being "convinced" by the overs to go through, which may or may not have involved him being pushed through the door, they all made it to the snow covered village.
Jack walked around the little living-room, which was not as cozy as if should have been: the wallpaper was ripped, the furnisher destroyed, and everything that was not destroyed was flipped over or knocked to the ground "Something is very wrong here." The pumpkin king stated, his expression a look of worry.
Namine stared at the wreckage with a saddened expression before slowly picking up a piece of furniture from the ground. It was the bottom half of a chair leg, probably from the large, tattered armchair near the end of the room. The broken wood at the end of the leg was covered in soot and was scorched.
Roxas took the wood from her hands carefully and examined it "Strange…It's been burned…"He looked over at his fellow Nobody, worry across his face "You don't think...Axel had anything to do with this, do you?"
Namine shook her head "Roxas, do you honestly think he would rejoin them after what happened back in the corridor of darkness with the other smaller Nobodies and Sora?" she intertwined her fingers with his "You heard what he said."
The darker of the blonds blushed slightly before nodding. As they spoke in quiet voices Riku glared, fixed on a certain area of the destroyed room. He growled like an angry guard dog, the fur on his neck standing on end "What is wrong, Riku?" Jack asked.
"I sense darkness behind that door." He snarled "And Maleficent."
Without hesitating Jack and the others dashed through the door and down the ramp. Across the room next to a huge machine with three conveyer belts and a large, decorated Christmas present was placed on the middle one. It was bouncing back and forth furiously as muffled shouts came from inside. Jack ran over and pulled the top of the box off. Inside was a large man in an antique red suit, his face flushed with anger.
"Sandy Claws!" Jack cried. He looked at Riku and Roxas "Hurry! Help me get him out!"
Together, they pulled the box off of its perch and helped Santa out. Namine floated over to him to as the others undid the ropes wrapped around him "Are you alright, Sir?'
"As alright as I can be after being bound and shoved into a box." The old man said, his face still flushed but his anger subsiding.
Jack placed a skeletal hand onto Santa's shoulder "Sandy Claws, who did this to you?"
"How about you look up and find out?" A voice called.
Standing at the top by the door they entered was a cloaked man, a raven perched up on his shoulder "The Organization…" Roxas murmured.
"The Organization? Ha! Don't make me laugh, we aren't a part of that pathetic excuse for a group. The name's Daniel, a faithful servant of my wicked queen." An ever present smirk in his voice flowed into the air. The raven flew off his shoulder and was engulfed in a flurry of green flames. The air where the bird flew was occupied by a pale woman with a bone-chilling grin.
"Maleficent…" Riku growled, getting down on all fours, creating the pose of an offensive wolf.
"Ah, Riku," The dark witch cooed "So nice to see you again. How have you been?"
"I was a lot better until I saw your ugly face." The Keyblade Wieldier of Darkness spat.
"Come now, Riku. That's not the best way to treat your Master."
"You do not own me!" Riku shouted.
"Oh, but you do. You see, you still owe me from your days as my servant. I was the one who saved you from the heartless when you first left your home, and back at that castle those Nobodies lived in. You owe me your life twice over."
"I owe you nothing!" Leaping into the air, keyblade in hand, Riku launched himself at Maleficent and swung at her. Daniel stepped in between them and summoned up a wall of flames. The fire caused the room's temperature to drastically increase. The Nobodies, Jack and Santa had to quickly advert their eyes so they were not blinded by the light it emitted. Riku was caught off guard by the sudden flames, crashing head first into them. His screams of agony filled the room.
When the light died, they found Riku on the ground, his fur scorched and skin burned. His expression twisted into a look of pain. Daniel grabbed the boy by the hair and yanked him off of the ground. Riku grimaced but stayed silent as he slowly opened his eye to look him. The smirk that was on Daniel's face earlier was now one of sick amusement as he watched the Keyblade Master hold back pain filled groans "Listen: we aren't here for small talk, we just came to deliver something."
Waving his hand, light engulfed the air surrounding his fingers, causing an unmarked black envelope to appear in his grasp "Poor Sora. He's been crying for you and Kairi, begging to be sent back to your pathetic little island. Well, he does before we shut him for a few hours." A dark, demon like sounded emanated from Riku's throat "Now, now, best not to be angry, we don't want to hurt Sora more than we have too." Throwing the envelope at Roxas he gave them an order "Punch in those numbers into the computer at your pathetic castle at 3 o'clock. Do not be late." Daniel tossed Riku in their direction and he and Maleficent disappeared into the darkness.
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Hodgins and Sweets quickly carried Riku from the home of Santa and onto the ship. He was covered in burns that were beginning to blister and bubble; once pale and now red, charred skin was peeling off of his body. Riku was beginning to black in and out of consciousness as they began to use healing potions on him but they were not strong enough to stop it, only slow the effects. Danny had to be escorted to the living room by Zack to shield her from the sight of Riku's condition. Angela began to panic and quickly called Kairi to explain their situation "Kairi, nothing is working and we don't have strong enough potions to take care of him. What do we do?"
Kairi visibly paled on the screen "Where is Roxas?" She questioned, trying to keep her voice steady but failing as a small crack her in her usually calm voice emerged. Booth and Brennan looked up from where they were talking in quiet voices towards the other conversation "He knows the healing ability, why isn't he helping."
"He's not responding to anything, almost like his mind has disappeared. He's just staring at a computer code someone gave him. Kairi, what do we do?"
"You need to take him to Disney Castle ASAP. Booth, Brennan and I will meet you there."
"How are you going to-"
"Please, this isn't the time to ask questions. Namine," Kairi looked at her Nobody as she helped Roxas into one of the seats in the cockpit, her eyes filled with tears and panic "get them to Disney Castle, quickly."
Namine smiled reassuringly and nodded "I will. Stay safe." She warned kindly before disconnecting the line.
Kairi let her arm fall to her side as her eyes stared off into the distance, focusing on nothing. Booth walked up from behind her and rested his hand upon her shoulder "Kairi, what happened?"
Her lip began to quiver. Biting it to keep it from moving, she looked up at him "Riku was attacked. No potions are healing his burns. He…he could…"
Booth handed her a handkerchief, she hadn't noticed but tears were flowing down her face. She gently pushed away the offer and wiped them away with her palm "From what you told me," Booth commented "Riku has been through worse than a couple of burns. No doubt he will be fine."
He flashed her a smile that caused her emotions to calm and her heart to stop its thumping in her ears. Nodding, she turned and pulled out the communicator and entered in a seemingly random assortment of numbers. There was a numbing silence as the projection flickered before an image appeared. A girl, no older than nineteen, was staring back at the younger girl with a smile across her face "Kairi, so great to see you. How are you doing?" the woman's voice was gentle and her hair was as black as the night. Bones stared up at the projection: the bone structure of the girl's face and her eyes, a hazel with rings of color, which gave off a gleam of mild amusement, looked familiar. She knew it from somewhere but was unable to make the connection as to where.
"Willow, sorry for not calling you before but we have an emergency. Riku is on his way along with Namine and Roxas and a few other people to receive treatment. No potion is working and he has been badly burned."
A flicker of surprise graced Willow's face before turning serious "Understood. I'll go and wait for them at the-"
"No," Kairi interrupted "I need you to come get me and two others so we can get to the castle."
"Ok. I'll send Donald to meet up with them and use some Cura spells."
"Thank you, and by the way, Roxas should have an envelope with him that apparently has a set of numbers on it. Could you-"
"I'll get him right on it. Be there as soon as I can. Willow, signing off." Willow gave a friendly wink and mock salute before hitting a button on her end and disconnected the signal.
Kairi excused herself and left the library to tell Bell they would be leaving. Bones walked up to Booth's side, watching as the door closed behind the teenager "Do you honestly think Riku will be ok?"
Booth glanced down at her before walking back to one of the armchairs "...It's late, you should get some rest."
Brennan observed him as he quickly passed out in the chair. She stayed where she stood, her question remaining unanswered as the moon was blanketed by the clouds, casting the room in complete darkness.
. . .EVER! You all have permission to attack me because I suck at keeping my promises.
But on a more serious note; Guys, I really appreciate all of the favorites and story alerts. You have no idea how much it means to me. Now that I have a tablet, I can start writing again. I apologize for the shortness of this chapter but it's more of an announcement than anything. Pervious chapters will be re-read for grammar and spelling errors and some minor plot changes will be made. I will make an announcement next chapter when it is done.
Side note: HAVE YOU SEEN THE KINGDOM HEARTS TRAILER AT E3?! OH MY GOD!
Again, thank you all so much for your patients and support. See you all in the next chapter!
