CHAPTER X

Summertime

(NOTE)

Wow, I've gotten pretty damn far. I think I just really like this fanfiction. Too bad nobody reads it. xD If you're one of the people that reads this, review it or something so I know it doesn't suck so bad. Dx

But, I have to warn you with this chapter, full all-out warning. Something happens that will change the fanfiction totally from here on out. Read and review. :3

(/NOTE)

"Riku." Charity asked, as they waited for the others to wake up. They had, however, been told by Cid that they probably weren't going to get anything on Organization XIII today, so Charity was in a pretty lazy mode.

"Hm?" Riku asked his girlfriend. They were both walking down the marketplace because it was so early out. They hoped that the rest of them would get up early, but until then, they had absolutely nothing to do.

"Who do you think those two keyblade wielders were? You know, the ones that Sora saw." Charity asked, putting an earbud from her mp3 player into her ear.

"I'm not sure— where did you get that?" Riku asked.

Charity smiled, "I just remembered that it was still in my jeans pocket. I never used to go anywhere without my music, but I've just been so busy with life here, that I haven't really needed." She handed him an ear bud, and Riku put it in his ear.

He could hear the rich voice of a man singing a beautiful, yet hopeful song. "You come over unannounced, silence broken by your voice in the dark. I need you here tonight, just like the ocean needs the waves."

"You really like music, huh?" asked Riku.

Charity smiled, and stared up at the newly risen sun, the golden in her eyes sparkling like the actual metal, "Music used to be everything to me. I always felt different, and nobody seemed to understand me. I found a refuge through music. Like, a way home. But somehow..." she looked down, and then back at Riku, "now it feels like my way home is through you."

A small amount of blood rushed to Riku's cheeks; he wasn't much used to the sensation of blushing, as the only person that ever made that happen was Charity. "I—"

Riku was interrupted by a small voice coming from behind them. "Charity! Riku!" Kairi called as she ran up to them.

"Kairi," Riku said, "what happened?"

"Disney Castle's under attack."

xxxxx

"Do you think Kingdom Hearts would be there?" asked Odol, as they flew in a small Gummi ship, nearing an unfamiliar world.

"Somehow I think so." Anton admitted. "We're going to a castle after all, and it's called Kingdom Hearts. But maybe that's just what they want us to think..." Anton muttered off as he began to reconsider.

"Hmph." Odol said, as he rested his head on his hands and looked out the window to the ship.

"You can't even play car games in this thing."

xxxxx

"Here we are, guys, Disney Castle." Sora sighed, as they landed shakily by the garden of a large, beautiful castle. Chip and Dale were taking a day off, so Sora was left to drive the Gummi ship, much to Cid's dismay.

"Where to first?" asked Kairi.

"We should probably visit the King and the Queen and find out what's wrong." Sora said. Riku nodded, and they were on their way to do so.

"Fellas," came a familiar voice. Behind them, they saw the King. He didn't have his usual, determined face on, nor did he have a happy one. It seemed to be filled with shame, anger, and deep sadness all rolled into one.

"King Mickey," Sora said, doing a quick bow, "What's going on? Where's Queen Minnie?"

"That's what's goin' on," Mickey went on, softer than ever, "The Queen's been kidnaped. If I'm right, I think she's been taken over to The World's Creation."

"The World's Creation?" Kairi, Sora, and Riku almost said in complete unison. Nessa and Charity, however, shrugged this off.

"Anything to do with the End of the World or The World that Never Was?" asked Sora.

"It's some place close," said Mickey, "It's a world based on complete memories, because personal thoughts of the individual is how one can create their own world. It's complicated, definitely too risky to try. I need you all to go rescue Queen Minnie, and get rid of the rest of the Organization." King Mickey almost pleaded.

"Of course." Kairi smiled.

They soon all found themselves back at the Gummi Ship, and heading for where the radar could tell them The World's Creation was.

xxxxx

Meanwhile, another gummi ship crash-landed right next to the garden, right on top of Mickey.

Author's Note: I'm just kidding. Calm down.

Meanwhile, another gummi ship crash-landed right next to the garden, and Mickey was so taken aback by this, that his keyblade had appeared in his hands.

The two mysterious keyblade weilders walked out, and Mickey's grip on his keyblade tightened, "Hey, just who are ya?" he asked. Getting no response, he asked another question. "Why are ya here?"

The taller one of the two was the first to speak. "Kingdom Hearts."

xxxxx

"Here," said Sora, finally detecting the world. They were very close to it, but Sora had to navigate his way through so much crap, that by the end he was seriously ready to just crash onto the ground.

"This is so..." Kairi started, as they stepped out of the Gummi Ship.

"...Beautiful." Charity finished. The world was simply the solid sky they were standing on, with a gorgeous fading gradient of yellow to orange, like the sunset. Stray colors of the rainbow speckled where they needed to be, making the scenery all that better.

"Don't be too sure." Leander said, looking around. "If this is is anything like End of the World was, you'll be sent through different worlds at any time."

"We'll probably be sent through our memories." Sora decided. "Here goes nothing." He was the first to walk farther ahead, and then he looked at himself, and back at the group, who still hadn't moved. "Nothing to worry about!" he said. Two seconds later, he disappeared like sand in the wind of a sandstorm.

Sora ran up to Kairi, who was waiting on the edge of what seemed to be a sandy patch of ground. "Kairi!" he called to her.

"Sora!" she called back. She ran up to him, but the floor beneath her shook. Before she knew it, she fell into Sora's hand. The ground beneath them was splitting, and Sora and Kairi's hands were joined.

Sora recognized this memory all too well. It was as if he was standing next to himself and Kairi as this all happened. Had it been two years already? It felt like yesterday. He himself had hardly changed at all, and every change Kairi seemed to have made, she changed back when Sora and Riku returned to the islands.

"Kairi!" started Sora as the floor beneath them moved farther apart, "Remember what you said before? I'm always with you too. I'll come back to you," he paused, as Kairi's foot slipped slightly, "I promise!"

Kairi could hold on no longer, but she didn't want to stop looking at Sora's face. "I know you will!" Their hands unlatched, and Kairi was sent into the blissful oblivion of the way to Destiny Islands.

Sora woke up from this, at the end of what seemed to be the beautiful scenery, and the start of a room with the portal at the end of it. He decided that it was best if he waited around for everyone else before he went off on his own, lest he wanted to be killed.

Riku sat in a familiar scenery, almost like Destiny Islands, but not quite. He was sitting down with Sora, who was reading a letter from Kairi. "Thinking of you, wherever you are." Sora read the rest silently, but Riku somehow knew exactly what he was feeling. He wanted to return to Kairi, he wanted to embrace her again. This was hard on Riku; he had been friends with Sora since they were small. The simple thought of Sora growing up and loving Kairi as much as he did was confusing to Riku.

Maybe one day Riku would feel that way. But wait—

Riku rubbed his eyes free of whatever had stayed there, so he could see. Sora reached out a hand in front of him, "We just have to wait for Leander, Nessa, Kairi, and Charity."

One by one, the rest of them had appeared on the other end of the scenery. All of them but Charity, anyway.

Charity and Nessa had just left from the detention area from Charity skipping classes. "You waited here for me?" asked Charity to Nessa as they exited the school. "Stupid question, I know."

Nessa laughed softly back at her, "No, no, no," she responded, "You see, my English class was right next to the detention office, and since detention took place during your eighth hour class, you know..."

Charity laughed along with Nessa, and jumped on her back. This memory was more than familiar, but she couldn't comprehend Charity's last words as it faded into a different memory. Riku and Charity were sitting in the main room of Hollow Bastion. Charity seemed to be holding a cute argument with him.

"So are you," she had stated, but Charity couldn't remember to what, "I don't know. I guess I just find like I'm most comfortable talking to you. Almost as comfortable as I was talking to Nessa." Charity looked down at this. Still, she wasn't and never would be more comfortable with anyone but Nessa; she was like her sister.

Riku gave a cute, lopsided smile, "Really?" he asked her.

Charity nodded, "I'm still so worried about her."

"Go get her!" Charity woke up, shouting. She was in a cold sweat, and had no idea where she was. Things calmed down a little bit when she saw Riku's face looking down at her, and Kairi holding a hand out to help her out. Taking it, she regained her balance and coughed. "Where are we?"

"I dunno," said Sora, "We're gonna find out, though." he said.

They kept going forward, "Do you have any idea what the point of that was?" Nessa asked Sora, because he seemed like he would know the most out of all of them.

"Um..." Sora's voice trailed off, "Maybe we have to remember the memories they showed us for something later."

Nessa laughed, "Maybe it'll be like those magazine games where you're given two pictures and you have to find the differences." She quickly hit away a Heartless; much to the group's pleasure, they weren't very abundant there.

"Actually, that's a pretty good idea, now that I think about it." mentioned the silver-haired boy to the rest of the group.

"What do you mean?" asked Leander. He obviously was just a few watts short of a light bulb that day.

"I mean, maybe we'll be presented with our memories again and we'll have to find out what's wrong with them, almost like comparing two pictures together." It seemed as though Riku knew very well what he was talking about.

"That'll be easy, my memory was just us playing on the island together," Kairi told Sora and Riku.

"Let's hope that's it," Nessa mumbled, "because I'm really not ready for anything else they throw at us."

Out of nowhere, walls dropped down in a square along the area in the long hallway that they were walking, encasing them in an empty room. The once blue walls and floor quickly changed a pearly white, and a rose design appeared on the walls.

"Castle Oblivion." Nessa and Sora both said as if on cue. The keyblades were all out and ready to attack; the Kingdom Key, Way to Dawn, Destiny Blade, Savior and Destroyer of Balance (Charity was very surprised that the Destroyer had come back), and Rising Sun. Nessa readied her carved sword in response to this.

Much to their surprise, flocks of Nobodies were engulfing the 'room', very different from the Heartless that the new Organization had originally put up as a defense system from intruders entering Castle Oblivion. Shortly after the Nobodies, Heartless had swarmed too.

"There are too many!" Nessa complained, although destroying as many as she could. Riku and Charity were fighting side-by-side, the two of them being attacked the most out of the group.

Suddenly, a Heartless jumped on Charity's face, and she could see a thing. "Get off of me!" shouted Charity, swiping around at her face, uncaring that she might hit herself in the process. As she finally got the Heartless out, she was twenty feet away from Riku, and his back was open. A shadow appeared behind him. "Riku! No!" she shouted.

It was too late. The Shadow had dug into his back, and Riku fell to his knees. He was sweating, and gasping for breath. The boy's eyes were wide open, and his pupils missing, as if his eyes were devoid of any and all light. The multiple calls out to him from Charity were the only things he could hear. As he fell forward in blissful darkness, Charity rushed up to him, and he fell in her arms.

"Riku!" she called again.

Riku's body disappeared, as did his heart.

"Riku! No, Riku! No..." Charity kept calling. She sat where Riku disappeared, her face in her hands, crying like a baby. Everything around her was silent. The Heartless clashing with keyblades and a sword made no difference to her. It didn't matter if a Heartless came up behind her and ripped her heart out that very second; it already had been.

"Char!" came Nessa's unheard scream, abandoning the Nobodies that she was fighting to go run next to Charity. Charity couldn't hear her; everything was silent. She couldn't see her because her eyes were swimming with tears. All she knew was that her best friend's presence was close; she threw herself onto Nessa's shoulders, and tried to speak, but she couldn't.

"What's going on?" shouted Kairi from a distance.

"I don't know," Nessa replied, "We have to get back! Call Naminé out!"

Kairi nodded, and Naminé appeared out of her body. Understanding entirely, she held out a hand, creating a swirling black and purple vortex. They all stepped through, only to appear right in front of Merlin's house.

xxxxx

"Dammit!" shouted Leander, pounding his fist onto the table in which they were sitting around. Charity was no longer crying, but her face was dry with tears, and she was in an obvious shock; she wouldn't talk or look anybody in the eye. Kairi was also beginning to tear up, and Sora started to blame himself.

"It's my fault. It's my fault in the first place for dragging any of you into this. You and Riku should have stayed at the islands," the mention of Riku's name only made Kairi scrunch up her face further, and another tear fall, "You and Charity should have stayed at Azure Daybreak, and Leander should have kept working with the restoration committee. It's my fault."

Kairi stood up, and made a sweeping motion with her left hand, "No way! You wouldn't do this alone even if you wanted to!" she scolded, "We're all in this together. We have to find a way to get Riku back."

"We can't get Riku back." Leander said pessimistically as always, "This is his second time in the darkness. What makes you think that he can return to the light a second time?"

"Shut up!" Kairi said, uncharacteristically flipping the table over. "Riku was like a brother to Sora and me! And to Charity... There has to be a way! I'm not doing anything until we get Riku back!" she said. She never seemed to like to talk to Leander much, but she was not happy. She got an inch from his face, and made a face, "And neither are you. You're part of this Order, and we're not going on without Riku."

At this, Charity's eyes clouded over only the more, and her head dipped down until she looked at the floor. She seemed thankful that Kairi at least could stand up for him. Charity had only known him for three weeks at the most, but she knew for certain that she was in love with him. Love, though, was not a feeling like a childhood friendship, both of which Kairi and Sora had for Riku.

"We abandoned Queen Minnie for this," Nessa said quietly to her, now quite angry, boyfriend, "and we owe it to her to try to get Riku back. I don't think we can do it without him, anyway, because his memory was at The World's Creation."

"For now, you all need a good night's sleep." Yuffie spoke up, after being silent for the past hour, listening to the story, to the arguing, and to the crying.

"We do," Leander mumbled, "It's not like Riku's going anywhere."

"Shut up!" Kairi called back to him. She didn't think she had been so angry in her whole life, not since she had saved Sora from the darkness.

xxxxx

"So familiar." he said, trying to open his eyes. It's not like it would matter, anyway; it was so dark whether or not his eyes were closed. "I remember."

He, however, could feel himself outside of the darkness. He couldn't tell how, but he could feel it. Did he have a Nobody? It didn't matter now, nothing mattered. He was in the darkness. However he managed to escape the first time was not very likely the second. Slowly forgetting everything, Riku forgot where he came from. He forgot his name. What about the people that meant the most to him?

Sora. Kairi. Charity. They appeared before him in the darkness almost as if they were real.

Kairi, like a sister to him. He had done all he could to save her before. He remembered, when they were all building the raft. They were determined to find new worlds. After they had, all he was determined to do was find her a new heart. So many amazing memories with her, ever since they were small and she appeared on the island.

Sora, his best friend. He couldn't even remember how long he had known Sora. His memories were slowly coming back to him, though, as he looked at the faces. The island, always rivaling him in something. Sora had left him with King Mickey behind the door... he remembered the door... and what King Mickey had said... 'There will always be a way to the light'. Riku relaxed at this, and then looked over at the third face.

Charity. The one that gave him that feeling that he couldn't quite describe, like love, but stronger. They talked together constantly. She told him that he was the only one she was comfortable around when her best friend was lost to the Organization. That song he let her listen to, however long ago that was. It went something like, 'You come over unannounced, silence broken by your voice in the dark." Riku was positive now. He was positive of all of his memories. He wouldn't lose his mind to the darkness again; his friends would be his light.

xxxxx

A boy with dark silver, medium length hair and forest green eyes sat on the shore of the World that Never Was. He knew who he was; a mirror. He was a mirror of his somebody, just as this shore was a mirror of his Somebody's home.

He could feel something fighting inside of him; his Somebody surely wasn't lost to the darkness just yet. He wasn't quitting. 'The Organization will go after you soon. You have to go.' said Riku's voice inside of the boy's head.

"I really don't care." was the boy's response, staring out into the mirror of a sunset.

'I do, though. I won't stop fighting until I'm out of the darkness.'

"You don't have a heart anymore," laughed the boy, "Neither of us do. It's with the Organization now, along with all of the other hearts they've collected. They've probably already destroyed that weak heart of yours..."

'If I have a weak heart, that does nothing for you.' Riku thought back to the boy.

"You have absolutely nothing to do with me." Pointing his hand forward, he let out the darkness of a portal, and stepped through it. The slightest amount of darkness use was enough to silence Riku, for how long, the boy didn't know.

xxxxx

Charity woke up, sweating almost as much as she had been crying the day before. It was only 4 am. She looked to her left, hoping for a glimpse of reassuring silver hair. Nothing. She pulled the blanket up to her face, and tried to remember her dream. There was a boy... he almost looked like an inverted Riku. It was as if he was arguing to himself.

It dawned upon Charity. The boy had disappeared to join the Organization, much like Nessa did. The only difference was that the boy still had his Somebody living in the darkness of his body.

"He can't fight for too much longer." Charity spoke, speaking for the first time in at least twelve hours. The time didn't matter to her anymore. All that mattered was getting Riku back. The Nobody had disappeared to join the Organization... so he was in the new hideout.

Without thinking, Charity softly shook everybody in the room, and told the cranky, yet sympathetic members of the group what was on her mind.

"We left the Gummi ship over at The World's Creation," Kairi murmured, "We'll have to get Naminé to take us."

'Already ahead of you,' came a reassuring voice in Kairi's head. The familiar blonde girl stepped out, and smiled at the rest of them. "I know you can do it, but I want to stay out and help you fight." she said.

"Deal," Kairi smiled, nodding. Naminé created a portal in which they all stepped into, and they found themselves back in the room that they had left, and as if nothing was interrupted, the Nobodies and Heartless were stirring at their presence.

"Alright, we just have to get rid of these Heartless and Nobodies, and then we'll be able to keep going," Sora said, already attacking a few, "We'll get Riku."

"I'm sorry I couldn't take you to the new headquarters, but I don't even know where those are." Naminé apologized in her cute voice.

"There's nothing you can do about that," Nessa said as she pulled out her sword, and violently swung at a Giant Body.

Charity gripped her Savior of Balance and Destroyer of Balance, and stared out into the crowd of Heartless and Nobodies, "This is for Riku!" she exclaimed, charging at the crowd.

She could feel Exie and Nessa at her side, and she could feel Riku fighting beside her even though he was gone. For once in her life she felt stronger than anything.

Author's Note: I told you something huge would happen:3 Definitely adds more to the plot, I think. Don't worry, this fanfiction's going on for a long time... I sometimes wish I could make a game out of it. x3 Anyway, see you next chapter.