Chapter 10

"Yeah. Your best friend. You really don't remember me?" I looked down at my feet sadly.

"No. I didn't remember anything, except my name and age, when I came here. Anyway, what's your name?"

"Oh right, of course. My name is Ruby."

"Ruby? Doesn't ring a bell." I said. "Anyway, can we do this some other time? I need to find Riku first."

"Oh right. You're in love with the guy." My eyes widened.

"How did you know about that?" I asked.

"I know everything about you." Ruby said with a straight face, which made it sound very creepy.

"Okay. That sounds really freaky." I turned around. "Let's find Riku"

"Don't bother" A voice said. I quickly turned around.

"Riku! Wait…Didn't you just leave? That doesn't make any sense."

"He told me to eliminate you. Not that I have to explain anything to you." He said cocky as ever. That made me make up my mind.

"Fine" I said as I walked up to him again. I stopped mere inches away from him.

"Eliminate me" I said softly.

"Jen! Are you crazy?" Sora yelled. Riku smirked.

"As you wish" His dark keyblade materialized in his hand. Meanwhile I summoned my keyblade too. He brought down his keyblade, but I blocked it with mine. He looked shocked, but just for a second. Then he smirked again and leaned his face closer to mine.

"Isn't this familiar?" he said. I blushed as I remembered the last time we'd fought. "Just like the old days. I hope you're not as weak now as you were then. It really wouldn't be any fun bringing you down that way."

"Jen!" Sora yelled again as they ran up to us.

"No!" I yelled. "Stay back! I have to do this on my own." They stopped hesitantly. Riku smirked yet again.

"This is gonna be even easier than I thought. Pity really, I was hoping for a good fight." He said and immediately afterwards he slashed at me but I dodged. I did a quick somersault over him and slashed at his back, but he was quick and blocked it. He tried to hit me again, but I continued blocking his attacks only to be hit by his elbow. I could feel my nose breaking. I wiped off the blood and took a couple steps back, waiting for him to attack.

"You've gotten better." He said. "But you can never beat me." Suddenly the whole room turned black and Riku started running all over the place very quickly slashing at me as he passed. Then he jumped up and stuck his keyblade in the ground. What seemed like green electricity came out of the ground. I dropped to my knees. Riku walked up to me and kicked me in the stomach. I rolled on my back in pain. Riku stood over me. I look into his, still cold, eyes. He kneeled down next to me.

"Any last words?" He said smirking.

"Yeah…I like you. A lot" I said. 'How very cliché' I thought.

"How cute. It really is a shame that you have to die." He took my chin in his hand. "You would have made a fine-…" Suddenly he coughed and I saw his eyes turn red and then to his normal color again, but now they weren't cold anymore. He took a few steps back and fell backwards. I suddenly remembered my healing power.

"Full-Cure" I whispered. A green glow surrounded me and I could feel my wounds heal. I stood up quickly, ran over to Riku and kneeled down next to him. His eyes were closed.

"Riku?" Meanwhile the others had joined me. I could feel the tears filling my eyes.

"Is he…?" Sora asked.

"Crying over me again, aren't you?" Riku suddenly said. I gasped.

"No…" I said softly. "So…what happened anyway? First you wanted to kill me and then you just…fell."

"I'm not sure." Riku said standing up. "Axel would probably know."

"So he did control you"

"I don't know. I'm just saying that he would know. Let's go ask him"

"Shouldn't you rest first? You're only just back to yourself again." I said.

"No. Axel will be gone by the time we get there. We have to go now." Riku said getting serious. "I'm touched by your concern, though." He continued with a smirk.

"I'm not concerned…" I muttered. Ruby cleared her throat and everybody looked at her.

"Shall we go then?" She said with a weird look in her eyes. It felt like something was wrong. Like when you watch a horror movie and you just know that something's going to happen.

"Who are you?" Riku asked.

"Oh right. You didn't meet her. Apparently she's from my world and my best friend. Her name's Ruby."

"Did she tell you anything about why you got amnesia?" Riku asked me like Ruby wasn't even there.

"No, we didn't really have a chance to talk, because you showed up again."

"Right. That was an interesting fight by the way. You've really improved."

"Thanks! I'll ask her when we're done here, by the way. " I said.

"Guys! We really have to go. Riku, do you know where Axel might be?" Sora asked.

"Yeah. He's next door." For some reason I felt really oppressed when we walked over to the next door.

"Scared?" Riku asked me with a smirk. I glared at him.

"No! I just…have a really bad feeling about this." I answered.

"Don't worry. We're in majority. What's the worst that could happen?"

"We could all get killed! I don't know how strong this guy is"

"We won't get killed. You have people here to protect you." I snorted.

"Like who? The guy that knocked me out? The guys that didn't stop the guy that knocked me out? The girl that just showed up and claims to be my best friend, which I can't be sure of because I have no memories? Who?" I said panicking.

"Like me." My eyes widened as I looked at Riku. He was serious.

"Thanks…I just hope that's enough, then"

"Is everybody ready? Great. We'll go in first." Sora said pointing at Cloud, Leon and himself. "You three stay behind us."

"Hey! I can fight too, you know!" Ruby said.

"Yes. I know. But Axel is stronger than Riku. No offense, Riku." Sora said.

"None taken."

"We don't want anyone getting killed here, okay" Sora continued.

"Fine."

"Okay. Let's get him!" Leon kicked open the door and the three of them walked inside. They looked around and stopped to look at something I couldn't see.

"Okay guys. Let's get out of here." Sora said.

"What!" I exclaimed. "But we came here to kill Axel."

"I don't think that's necessary anymore."

"What are you talking about? Of course that's necessary! The bloody bastard took Riku! What did you see?" I tried to get past them, but they blocked my path.

"I really don't think you wanna see this." Sora said.

"I decide what I wanna see for myself." I succeeded at pushing past them and looked into the direction that they had been looking at. I gasped. There lay Axel. He was dead alright. He looked like he was attacked by some horrible monster. There were deep cuts and gashes everywhere with blood pouring out. I turned back around and tried not to vomit. I saw that Ruby had a blank look on her face. Like she didn't really care about all this. She saw me looking and put a concerned look on her face. I gave her a confused look and turned my attention back to the others.

"Who did this?" Ruby asked.

"I don't know." Sora said. When I got my voice back I said what everybody was thinking.

"We're probably better off not knowing. Someone…Something that can do this…" I trailed off.

"Let's get out off here." Sora said again. When we walked back into the hallway Riku stopped me.

"You guys go ahead. I need to talk to Jen for a sec." He said. The others nodded and walked out the huge door where we had entered the castle. I looked at Riku.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Um…Are you alright?" I laughed.

"You? Worried about me? Never thought I'd see the day."

"I'm serious." He said sternly. The smile on my face disappeared.

"Yeah…I guess so." I said as I leaned against the wall. "Is this why you held me back?"

"No…not exactly…" He said. "What you said earlier, when I was still…well evil, did you mean that?"

"Um…yeah…I did." I stammered and blushed. Riku smirked and stepped closer.

"Well then…do you mind?" he said as he leaned forward.

"N-not really…"

I could feel his breath on my lips and I closer my eyes as his lips softly brushed against mine, which send a shiver down my spine. He kissed me softly on my lips and put his arms around my waist and pulled me against him. I put my arms around his neck and deepened the kiss as I pressed myself as close to him as humanly possible. Suddenly a golden glow surrounded us and I could feel the memories pouring into my head. I gasped and slowly broke away from Riku.

"What is it?" Riku breathed.

"I remember…I remember everything!"

Second to last chapter... Next chapter is an epilogue!
R&R!

SilverHearts