REUNION
Returning to his room for the evening, Riku found a note on one of the pillows. He picked up the letter and saw that it was addressed to him. He shrugged and opened it. It was signed by Kairi. While reading over the contents, Sora also entered the room and started to get ready for bed.
"Hey Sora...did you give Kairi a key to this room?" Riku asked without looking up.
"Now that I think about it, I haven't even seen her since we arrived. I was with Hina the whole time..." Sora blushed, "er, don't let Kairi know that though!"
Riku crumpled up the note and shoved it into his pocket and started to get ready for bed as well. Sora came and jumped on the bed that was further from Riku.
Riku joked, "Oh, so you're two timing now?"
"No! No, it's not like that at all!" Sora wailed, flailing his arms, "That's why you can't let Kairi know. I don't want her to think that."
"Not wanting her to know is exactly why the situation looks like that," said Riku, "If you aren't two timing, then why would you even consider that possibility? Especially coming from you, it would be more like you to casually say you were with Hina in front of Kairi, not realizing that it would hurt her feelings."
Sora blushed some more, "Well, I guess we've all been growing up. I'm allowed to be more considerate, aren't I?"
"Yeah, I guess," Riku said as he turned off the lights and got into his own bed, "So then, what DID you and Hina do?"
Sora laid down with his hands under his head and said, "Just talked about the different pains we've gone through...bearing them for each other."
"Still hurts, huh?" Riku asked, staring at the ceiling.
Sora sighed, "Yeah...a lot."
With that, the two went to sleep. That night, Riku dreamt that he was back in the Land of Departure. He was Terra, with Flamma standing beside him. They faced their Master. The Master warned Terra that he was too young for the exam, but was allowed to participate for experience. The Master then started the test for them. They fought summoned targets and then each other as instructed. In the end, The Master announced that Flamma had earned her Mark of Mastery and even though Terra didn't, his performance was still promising.
He felt small and young as Flamma approached him. She would be going away and he would be stuck there, still training. It would be hard to maintain what they had built up. He felt himself rise and run out of the hall. With Terra's thoughts and feelings racing through the dream, Riku realized that Flamma was wrong about Aqua being a factor of their break up. Flamma was older and on a different level than Terra. A pupil shouldn't date a master.
The dream continued. Flamma became a master. Soon Aqua also became a master. He felt the insignificant feeling of never being good enough as the dream world around him turned dark.
The dark powers surrounding him seemed to latch on to every fiber of his being. A sharp pain stung him in the core. The pain expanded like a knife trying to split him in half. He struggled and groaned under the attack. Pulled and pushed in every direction, but he held on instead of releasing himself to the external forces. He may not be strong enough, but he was stubborn and would not give up. Still, his soul wished that the pain would cease. But Terra wasn't going to give up. Riku couldn't either.
Riku awoke early the next morning. Outside the window, he could see the pink and orange rays of dawn creeping over the horizon. The occasional bird chirp accompanied Sora's soft snoring. Riku smiled and shook his head at how the boy could sleep through anything. He got up and walked to the window to watch the sun rise.
The serene scene calmed the lingering jitters of his nightmare. It was a new day, fresh and clean. Even after the darkest night, dawn always comes. He remembered before he had made the choice to follow the road to dawn, and that is what he must continue to do. He looked back at Sora sleeping peacefully and thought it was a pity that his friend was too busy sleeping to enjoy this beautiful wonder of nature. Then again, Riku was only up this early because his nightmare woke him. If he didn't have the pain of the dark, would he be able to still enjoy the calm of this peaceful morn? The trial may be hard, but the promise of the rising sun gave a feeling of hope.
While getting ready for the day, Riku came across Kairi's note in his pocket and remembered it said she wanted to meet with him. It was a bit of a shock that the note was for him and not Sora, but Riku wasn't going to complain. The note said where she was, so it wouldn't hurt to go see what she wanted while waiting for Sora and the others to wake up.
Over at Ansem's place, Riku followed the instructions in the note to where it said she was staying. Riku knocked when he arrived at the specified room. He listened, but there was no response. Perhaps she was still sleeping as well? Riku knocked a bit louder. He then checked the doorknob to see if it was locked. It wasn't. He cracked the door open and called out. Silence prevailed.
Something wasn't right. The room was too dark and too quiet. He opened the door wider and reached for the light switch, but the lights didn't turn on. He had a feeling to turn and leave, but the thought that Kairi could be in danger pressed on his mind. He called out again as he stepped into the room.
Suddenly, the door was shut behind him, leaving him in complete darkness. He could hear shuffling and bouncing around him as ropes or chords touched his skin. He tried to push his arms out and summon his Keyblade to sever the impending web being weaved around him, but soon he found himself too wrapped up to maneuver his weapon. The chords tightened around him, causing his grip to weaken around his Keyblade and it disappeared. He felt a cloth across his mouth, being tied tight behind his head.
A candle was lit in front of him. The small flame illuminated a familiar, green face. It was Maleficent, surrounded by a hoard of her goons.
"What's this? I set a trap for a princess and what do I catch? A prince! Ah ha!" the dark fairy chortled.
Riku's comeback was muffled by the gag in his mouth, but he knew full well that she had set this trap up for him. He tried to struggle free, but to no avail.
"Indeed. I have caught my Prince of Darkness," Maleficent oozed, "How fortunate for your little princess that you came in her place. Now she needn't be involved in this dreadful matter."
Riku glared back at her. Maleficent simply smiled wickedly in return. With no more to be said, she gently pursed her lips together before blowing out the tiny flame.
When Sora woke up, he found Ventus, Aqua, and Hina waiting for him. No one had seen Riku, but they figured he might have gone ahead to the lab, and if not, they might run into him along the way.
Even when they didn't see him upon their arrival, they figured they should proceed. Ventus took out the key Sora's Heartless had found. It ended up working with the lock to the middle door on the right. The lock disengaged and they were able to enter the cell.
The only source of light was from the hall behind them, but they could see a dark creature moving against the far wall. It looked like a giant Heartless with black and red coloring. Disturbed by the intruders, the creature slid against the wall. Shackles could be heard clinging as the Heartless tried to inch away.
"Lea's heart..." Ventus recognized.
"His Nobody is already gone, if we take care of this Heartless, he'll come back whole," Sora pointed out.
Ventus nodded in return. The group summoned their Keyblades. The chains of the shackles clinked as the Heartless couldn't move any further in the cell. With its back to the wall, it looked like a cornered animal ready to defend itself.
Ventus took a deep breath before initiating the attack. The others followed his lead. In response, the Heartless moved what limbs it could to knock the attackers away. Still they persevered until Lea's Heartless was vanquished.
Now that his Original would be able to return to the place he was separated, Hina led the group to where human experiments were performed in the lab. As expected, Lea was there inspecting his hands and chest to verify he was whole again. To Ventus, he looked only a bit older from what he remembered, with the biggest difference being how his hair had grown. To Sora, Lea looked like a younger version of Axel without the facial markings.
Hearing the group enter, Lea turned his green eyes towards them. Words could not convey the gratitude he felt for being restored, much less being able to feel anything at all. He blinked his awed expression into a smirk.
"Hey guys. It's 'bout time, dontcha think?" Lea laughed.
Both Ventus and Sora felt a warm happiness overcome them. Lea leaned a bit forward with one fist on his hip and the other waving a finger.
He said, "They still got sea-salt ice cream around here, don't they? Lets get a little extra to celebrate, some icing for the cake."
Excited, the boys nodded in unison. The group progressed to ascend the stairs out of the lab. Hina found the boys enthusiasm to be contagious, but Aqua kept her calm as she followed.
Once outside, Lea continued, "We should go to ol' Ansem's place. There's a nice balcony we could sit on. Sure its not the clock tower in Twilight Town, but it'll work."
Ventus and Hina found it hard not to skip ahead. Sora would have too, but he was distracted by the solemnity he sensed behind him. He turned to see Aqua was lingering behind. The others continued ahead as Sora stopped to check on her.
"Is something wrong, Aqua?" Sora asked.
Aqua rubbed her arm and said, "I guess I'm just a bit worried about where Riku went."
"Oh yeah, it's not like him to just disappear like this...well, maybe it is like him to go off on his own," Sora chuckled, "But he can take care of himself. Hm, I wonder where he went anyway."
Aqua shrugged. Surly he couldn't have run away now that they needed him to get Terra back. Perhaps he needed some time alone to meditate, but waiting still made Aqua antsy.
Meanwhile, Lea, Ventus, and Hina had purchased some sea-salt ice cream and climbed to the balcony of Ansem's place. The boys chatted away while eating their ice cream, discovering both had memories of Axel and Roxas. Now they could do things like sharing ice cream on a tower together again. Their friendship carried on from their Nobody counterparts, but now with hearts. Being Somebodies again, they experienced a fuller feeling that they could only mimic before.
Ventus told Lea about their group reconnecting everyone tied to Sora and soon he'd be with his friend again that he was looking for all those years ago when he and Lea first met. He offered for Lea to join them, but he declined, saying he had his own matters that needed to be taken care of.
Through the conversation, Hina slowly slipped into a daze. Her sea-salt ice cream began to drip down her hands. She rejoined reality by a bump from Ventus as he and Lea started to playfully shove each other. Hina scooted over to give them more room, leaving her half eaten treat on the ledge.
Noticing a third person with them, the guys looked at her. Questioning her, she explained that they seemed like close friends and she didn't want to intrude.
A forgotten memory tugged in the back of Lea's and Ventus's minds. Details couldn't be recalled, but the feeling that she should be there too prevailed. Axel grabbed for more sea-salt ice cream in the bag and reached in front of Ventus to deliver it.
"Hey, we're all friends now, got it memorized?" Axel said with a smile.
He spread the sticks to show he was actually holding three of the bars so everyone could have a second. Hina gave a gentle smile and nod as she accepted the stick closest to her with her sticky hands. Ventus also took one and the trio shared another round of ice cream while looking out on Radiant Garden.
AN: Smart readers pick up all the symbolism ^.~ not just the ones pointed out.
And imagine the sidequest of restoring the other former Organization XIII members ^.~