Angel stepped toward Riku, the dark world around her trembling at her presence. "Ansem."

He turned fast, facing her.

"Relax, I just came to check on you."

"Angel."

"I know I've changed a lot since I saw you last. It's not safe to talk here, come with me." Angel offered her hand to him. He hesitated, she was standing just as he had, she'd stolen the memory from Sora's mind, and mimicked it, smirking. Riku took her hand a moment later. As he did, they both flickered out.

Angel took them to a peaceful little place, a place where waves rolled against the beach a place that was caught in a state of perpetual night. "I didn't tell him, but he figured it out." Angel muttered as she walked toward the water.

"What?"

"That you love him." Riku glared at her from under his hood.

" there is no way he figured that out on his own."

"I never said he figured it out on his own."

"you helped him."

"I thought it would make your reunion more interesting."

"I hate you." Angel laughed, turning back to face him.

"I thought it might pull you back a little farther."

"I almost want to see him."

"You will. But right now, you need to think about you, and how you are going to survive this."

"Promise me that I will get to be with him."

"I know you will, before this is over, you two will go through quite a bit, together."

" don't tell him where I am. I don't want him to see me like this."

"you've said this before."

"I just want to make sure."

"I won't. but he's bound to get lucky eventually."

"I know."

"Than why do you hide?"

"I don't know."

"You're afraid." Riku nodded, Angel smiled.

"I guess I am." Angel turned back to the water.

"you've changed so much, Angel."

"I suppose you want to know what happened?"

"Yeah."

"I couldn't hold up the charade any more. I showed Sora what I really am, a perfect avatar of the dark, and this is what happened afterward."

"Are you stuck like that?"

"I haven't really tried to change."

"Try." Angel closed her eyes, and began to shift again, into her shadow form. Riku stepped back, her red eyes taking him by surprise.

"Sora saw you like this?"

"Yes." her voice was a shadowed hiss.

"How did he react to that?"

"Much the same way you did. he was cautious but not overly so. I thought he wouldn't trust me, knowing what I was, so I left." Angel phased into the earth, appearing behind Riku and shifting back to the twilight form.

"But I was wrong. He went looking for me." Riku smiled.

"He faced your darkness…"

"He'll be fine with yours too." Angel replied, knowing what he was thinking. She moved back to the water, staring out at it again.

"You should show yourself to him, Riku. Even if you aren't exactly yourself."

"I…"

"You're afraid. You're scared he won't be able to look at you the same way. You're afraid he won't love you, if you look like that."

"yeah."

"your faith in his love is quite weak isn't it?" Riku was silent, considering her words.

"you need to realize that your body has nothing to do with his emotion toward you. I saw his heart, laid out before me. His love for you is pure, more so than any I've seen before. And I've seen a lot."

Riku sighed, stepping up beside her. "where is he?"

" currently, The Land Of Dragons."

" I can't go yet…"

"don't. I want to see what will happen when he does eventually cross your path. There are some things I have to do before that can happen. Things must go as planned. Being apart from him will make you both strong by the time we reach Desmariten. Who has been watching you, by the way. Has anyone been close to you lately, close enough to touch you."

"no. I don't let people close to me."

" his aura's on your skin. He's touched you." Riku stiffened.

"relax, he can choose his form, he could have just been a stray gust of wind, or a housefly. It doesn't necessarily mean anything."

"Still, something that I didn't want near me, touched me and I didn't notice."

"His aura's on Sora's skin as well, mull that around your head for a minute." Riku growled, tensing.

"I'll protect him as well as I can , but I can not kill the wind. I have to return, use that rage you feel, use it to save yourself, protect yourself while I am with Sora, and don't let yourself fall." She took both of them from the hidden world, putting Riku back where he had stood when she'd come to him, returning herself to Sora's side.