Riku emerged from Belle's castle somewhat shaken, but trying to focus on moving ahead. How many floors had he gone up now? He had nearly lost count, but every step forward was one step closer to a reunion with his friends.

"How's it going Riku?" a voice suddenly said from immediately behind him. He jumped, his heart pounding.

"Larxene! How did you-"

"Get your head out of the clouds, Keyblade Master," the woman said, winking. "We need to think of a nickname for you. Riki? Rikky-poo?"

"Er... I think I'll pass," Riku said, laughing nervously. "My friends just call me Riku."

"Well, glad to see you finally consider me a friend," Larxene said with a smirk. "And here I was thinking you'd be pointing your huge key at me forever. That hurt, Rikky-poo."

Riku rolled his eyes. "Well, I figure if my friends trust you, you can't be that bad."

"Ah, yes," Larxene said thoughtfully. "How's that coming along? Remember anything else about them?"

Riku thought for a moment. "Well... I remember that Naminé's brother used to work on the farm on the islands. He was busy a lot, but whenever he got a chance he'd come hang out with Naminé and me at the beach." He grinned. "He used to complain that he was always had to cut grain, but he still carried that scythe everywhere. We'd fight a lot on the beach... he was really good, even if he was using a farm tool as a weapon. And then Naminé would draw us."

"Interesting," Larxene said, her eyes glowing. "Yes, that Naminé really is quite the artist..."

"He liked the outdoors a lot, actually," Riku said, straining to remember as much as possible. "Especially plants... he had a flower garden, I think. I'd tease him sometimes, but it was actually a really cool garden. I guess you could say he had a bit of a green thumb."

"So, what about anyone else from the islands?" Larxene said in an offhand, disinterested way. "Did you hang out with anyone else? That Sora boy, maybe?"

"Sora?" Riku said, frowning. Something about the boy's name irked him... he wasn't sure why. "No, I don't think so. He was actually kind of annoying; he'd always try hanging out with us when we were playing. After a while he just started brooding by himself. He was kind of an oddball, I think... always really jealous of us."

"I can see why you wouldn't want to hang out with someone like that," Larxene said, a wide smile on her face. "Nice job, Riku. You've remembered a lot since Axel talked to you."

Riku nodded, then sighed. "I just... wish I remembered his name. I know Naminé's name already." He frowned, struggling to force his mind to dig the memory from wherever it lay hidden beneath him. "They were always such a great pair. Naminé, and... and..."

Larxene raised her eyebrows. "Yes? Come on, you can do it Rikky-poo... don't be a wimp."

Riku ignored this slight, his brow furrowed in concentration.

"His name was... M... Ma something..."

He pulled Naminé's charm from his pocket, doing his best to focus on memories of his home, Destiny Islands. Who had been his best friend back then?

"Ma...Marlu...Marluxia."

"About time," Larxene said, chuckling. "That's right - Naminé and Marluxia, siblings extraordinaire. Was that so hard?"

"You're not the one who's forgotten everything," Riku mumbled distractedly. He had finally remembered...

"It's only a matter of time now," Larxene said brightly. "Soon you'll finally have the reunion you seek. With a little more effort, you can-"

"Wait," Riku said suddenly. "If Marluxia and Naminé are in the castle, then why haven't they come to see me? They... they do want to, right?" He still had plenty left to remember, such as why they had left the islands in the first place. It didn't have anything to do with him, did it? No... surely not.

Larxene waggled a finger in front of his face. "Nope. That would be cheating." She leaned in close, whispering to him in mock confidentiality. "You might have guessed already, but Marluxia is the boss of the Organization. He'd love to come and see you I'm sure, but he wants to test you first, to make sure that you're ready."

"Ready? Ready for what?"

Larxene smiled. "To join the Organization, of course. Don't you want to help your best friend?"

Riku hesitated, then smiled. If Marluxia was the leader of the Organization, then it could probably be trusted. "Yeah... of course I do. I'll do whatever I can to prove myself."

"Great!" Larxene said with a grin. "Then just keep making your merry way through the castle, remembering as much about your friends as possible. It wouldn't be fair to meet them before then anyway, would it?"

Riku shook his head. "No, of course not. I want our reunion to be right... not like meeting all these people in worlds I barely remember."

"That's the spirit." She grinned, then waved. "Well, I guess that's it for now. Later, Rikky-poo!" Without another word, she vanished into darkness.

Riku looked down at the last world card he had. It showed nothing but an odd purple blob in the middle of a black void... was that even a world? It seemed familiar though, so he must have been there before. His drive had been renewed when he had remembered Marluxia's name. No world was going to stand in his way to prove himself to Marluxia and Naminé. He owed them that much, at least.

Axel appeared in a swirl of darkness. He walked over to where Naminé was sitting and looked down at her, but said nothing. Finally, the young girl spoke.

"This is... wrong," Naminé said, voice pained. "Sora... Sora has nothing to do with this. He doesn't deserve to be forgotten..."

Axel shook his head. "What, and Kairi does? Don't be a hypocrite, Naminé. You can't have your cake and eat it too."

Naminé looked shocked; she looked away, hurt. Axel chuckled.

"I understand how you feel, though. You have my sympathies...from the heart." He smirked at this, then sighed and looked away with what might have been sadness. "But don't waste your time. We Nobodies can never hope to be somebodies."

Riku made his way into the second half of the hallway leading to the next world of his memories. Standing between him and the door, however, was a familiar-looking boy with spiky brown hair. Riku's eyes narrowed.

"Sora...? What in the world are you doing here?" How had Sora left the islands? As far as Riku could remember, he hadn't seen the boy since a couple of days before his home world was destroyed. He had the odd feeling that he had seen Sora much more recently than that... but perhaps he was imagining things.

"I could ask you the same thing, Riku," the younger boy said sullenly. "You don't belong in this castle."

Riku shook his head. "Don't be ridiculous. Marluxia and Naminé want me here... they're helping me regain my memories of them."

Sora seemed to find this funny for some reason. "Everything's about them, huh? You just blindly charge ahead, not bothering to think about how Naminé or Marluxia might feel."

Riku's eyes narrowed. Something about Sora was wrong. His essence smelled of darkness... the bad kind. He summoned the Keyblade as a precaution. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You mean you really didn't think about it?" Sora shook his head, grinning wickedly. "Just because you want to see Naminé and Marluxia doesn't mean it goes both ways."

"Very funny! Marluxia wouldn't have led me here if he didn't want to see me, and Naminé-"

"Why is he testing you, Riku?" Sora interjected, and Riku froze. "Think about it. If you were really such great friends, wouldn't he just welcome you back with open arms? And Naminé doesn't even want to see your face."

Riku's eyes narrowed. "What? You... you're not telling me something. What do you know about them?"

"Ask your memories," Sora said, glaring at him. "If you bothered to remember why they left the islands..."

Riku's eyes widened; the boy before him was confirming his worst suspicions, the ones he had been pushing into the back of his mind. "Why? Is... there something I did? Was it my fault?"

"You aren't fit to be their friend," Sora said. He began to glow with dark energy. "Go home, Riku. I'll be the one to prove myself, not you. I should have been their friend in the first place... not some wannabe waving around a big key."

"Shut up!" Riku shouted angrily. He reared back and shot a dark orb at Sora in his fury; Sora dodged it, then charged at him, pulling out a sword made of darkness. It clashed against the Keyblade; Riku strained to push against the younger boy. When did he gain so much strength?

"You don't deserve the Keyblade!" Sora shouted, slashing through the air. Riku managed to sidestep most of the blows, but received a nasty cut on the shoulder.

"Damn it," Riku muttered. This Sora was far more skilled than he remembered, not that he remembered much. Sora had never been an important part of his life - now he could see why they had never been friends.

"Get out of my way!" Riku shouted, slamming the Keyblade into Sora's side. "I'm Marluxia and Naminé's best friend! I'll be the one to help them!"

Sora laughed weakly, dazed by the blow. "Sure... if you can even make it. You've got a while to go, you know. Are you even capable?" Recovered, Sora dashed forward, jabbing the sword at Riku.

"More than you," Riku said quietly. He blocked the attack, and counter-struck just as quickly. His blow hit the back of Sora's neck, knocking the boy to the ground.

Sora growled, struggling to get up, but he kept slipping. Finally he looked up at Riku, his dark eyes filled with loathing.

"You haven't seen the last of me, Riku." Darkness spread around him, engulfing him; soon there was nothing left.

Riku sighed. Sora's presence here was more of an annoyance than anything, but his words irked Riku. As much as he despised the boy, he had to admit that he had some valid points. Why didn't Marluxia trust him right away? Had he done something in the past?

He shook his head. All of this worrying was stupid. If Marluxia and Naminé really didn't want to see him, they wouldn't have led him here. They were best friends, weren't they? They used to be inseparable.

After all, the three of us were never apart, he thought with a small smile. Me, Marluxia... and Naminé.

The real Sora entered yet another blank white room. Ever since he had shattered the memory of the Destiny Islands, he had been able to enter the other blank memory rooms without a problem; this made it a lot easier to make progress through the castle. He could only hope that he could continue going like this until he caught up with Riku. At this rate, it wouldn't be long before the two best friends were reunited again.

Riku was probably looking forward to the same thing...

Lexaeus appeared next to Zexion in a swirl of darkness. He glanced around the room and frowned.

"Where did Vexen go?"

Zexion smirked, flipping through a large book distractedly. "He's off using Sora's data to create some kind of replica. He says he used the memories of Sora taken while he was in the upper floors. Apparently Axel made some kind of adjustments to them afterward."

"And what of Riku?"

"Naminé is shuffling his memories as we speak. Marluxia may well get his puppet." Zexion shook his head in disbelief. "He's a danger to us all. Larxene's not to be trusted, either."

Lexaeus nodded. "Nor is Axel. Who knows what that one is thinking..."

"Let's observe a little longer, then speak with Vexen."

Lexaeus looked at Zexion questioningly. "But Vexen despises Marluxia. Think of the mess it would create..."

Zexion chuckled. "That's why Vexen must be told." He slammed the book shut. "Better he clean up the mess than us."

Riku appeared in a small cave. Curious, he peered outside; the entire cave seemed to be floating in a strange, insubstantial sea of purplish darkness. Pieces of rock and earth were scattered throughout, floating motionlessly.

"Where am I?" he mumbled, eyes narrowed. This was unlike any world that he could remember... but as always, the world was still hauntingly familiar.

He approached the edge of the dark void; how was he supposed to get across?

Somewhere in his heart, he still remembered. He could walk here, couldn't he? He extended a foot tentatively, and found that the air seemed to support his weight. Soon he found himself standing alone above an endless dark chasm, dark essence splashing around his feet; the feeling was eerie.

The only place to go, as far as he could see, was an enormous glowing mass a good distance away. He sighed. What else could he do? He needed to move forward. Still, this world intrigued him - what had happened here? He summoned the Keyblade, preparing to go on.

Without warning, a swarm of Heartless appeared, far more than Riku was accustomed to. They looked powerful too - tall, muscled beasts with wings and dark swords that floated through the air with ease.

He held the Keyblade over his head, preparing for battle. As his position shifted, he felt Naminé's good luck charm move in his pocket. The feeling gave his heart warmth and strength.

No matter what his memories revealed, he would do whatever he could to find his friends again.

How much time had he spent fighting Heartless by now? They never seemed to end - it was as if this whole world was made of darkness. Actually, that was probably the truth. Nearly everything he saw was swirling with dark power... power that the Heartless were clearly able to feed off of. They weren't the only ones though; Riku's dark powers felt stronger here as well. As one Heartless charged towards him, Riku reared back and shot it with a huge blast of dark fire. He felt stronger here, but he couldn't let himself be lost within the power. The only problem was that he couldn't remember why. There had to be a good reason why he always limited his use of darkness... what was it?

The deeper he delved into this strange world, the darker it got. While the area he had first visited had been lit by a hazy purple glow, the dark abyss began to grow more sinister the deeper he went. He found himself now standing on a wide, circular platform, the edges of which were jagged like teeth; a plume of purple smoke rose through the center.

Curious, Riku stepped forward to investigate - but before he could get close to it, a figure stepped forth from it.

"Sora," Riku said, eyes narrowed with suspicion. "What are you doing here?"

"Just finishing up a bit of work," the boy said with a grin. There was something odd about his appearance... his eyes were now a bright yellow, his skin was darker, and his voice was oddly warped.

"Work...?" Riku said, holding his Keyblade at the ready. He had been here before, he knew it. And Sora had something to do with it. "You... you did something here, didn't you?" Riku said, eyes wide. "You caused this world to exist, because of... something you did before."

"That's right," Sora said with a smirk. "It looks like you're finally remembering the truth." He spread out his arms triumphantly. "Behold... my work."

The plume of smoke widened; through it, Riku could vaguely see the smashed, broken remnants of the islands. Riku stared onward, horrified.

"You...! You were the one... who destroyed our islands!"

"Precisely. Take a look at that tiny place. To the heart seeking freedom, that island was a prison surrounded by water." Heartless began to appear around the boy, but he paid them no attention. "I couldn't stand it... I had to get out. I guess in the end, that longing opened my heart to darkness, bringing the Heartless to our world."

"But why?" Riku whispered. "How could you do such a thing? It was our home..."

"Our home?" Sora said scornfully. "Don't make me laugh. I never had a place there... you never wanted to be my friend. I'm so much better off like this, surrounded by power." He began to glow with pure darkness. "I wasn't afraid to step forward into darkness! I am the only one worthy to use that power..." He pointed at Riku. "You have no right to use it!"

Riku looked around. "All of this... this is what's left of the worlds you destroyed, isn't it? You destroyed everything, all for power." He shook his head in disbelief, the memories continuing to flood in. "Now I remember why I'm always so careful with darkness. It's because I didn't want to end up like you! But I'm stronger than you... I still haven't given in."

"It's only a matter of time," Sora said with a grin. "Your pathetic little Keyblade... what a joke. Your heart holds no power, no strength. Just like that fool Marluxia..."

"Shut up!" Riku shouted. "It's your fault that Marluxia and Naminé are gone!" He ran forward, jabbing at Sora, but the younger boy blocked his attacks with a strange dark blade. Sora forced him back with surprising strength, then slashed at him; Riku just barely managed to dodge them.

"I should have been the Keyblade Master!" Sora shouted furiously. He dodged a beam of light that Riku shot at him, then retaliated with an orb of dark energy. "Darkness has strengthened me... you're weak! I'm the one who's worthy!"

Riku blocked the attack and shook his head. "You don't get it, do you? It isn't how much power you have that proves the strength of your heart... it's how you use that power. You've done nothing but destroy and hurt. It's you who aren't worthy."

Sora glared at Riku, but seemed to consider his words. Finally he smirked.

"You're such an idiot. But you'll find that out soon enough."

A glowing door appeared behind Sora; without another word, he disappeared through it.

"Hey, wait!" Riku shouted. He ran through it, leaving the dark world behind as he pursued his enemy.