Castle Oblivion.

Deep, deep in the heart of that cold, barren building, with walls white and blank and chill as the empty, memory-ridden mind, down countless flights of steps that plunge anyone deep into the unconscious darkness, three Nothings sat in the tranquil dimness. Before them, set upon the wall, were several screens, all telling them what exactly was going on at the moment. They had not been instructed to spy; however, they decided to take it upon themselves to watch the action unraveling.

"I knew this would be undeniable trouble." Lexaeus spoke, his eyes never moving from the screen's picture of the workshop, with the stunned teens and trio all standing there silently.

"Despite what he may say, The Superior won't like this." Zexion added in.

"You know her best, Vexen." The two men turned to look at the scientist seated away from them, his eyes glued to the screen. Lexaeus continued, "What do you make of this?"

Yet, the blonde never answered. He never even acknowledged their question. All he could do was focus on the monitor, an unreadable look prevalent in his acid green eyes.

His comrades found this strange; when asked a question, Vexen would usually ramble on about his opinions and theories until someone was forced to cut him off. But this silence was odd and unexpected, and faintly worrying.

Number V and VI exchanged brief looks.

Although they wished to question Number IV, they could agree it was best to say nothing at all.

000

"Welp, looks like we're gonna be here for a while."

Riku looked down at his mouse friend, who was smiling up at him.

He wasn't smiling back.

He was happy he could help to protect the worlds by staying inside of Kingdom Hearts to seal the door, but he didn't want to stay here…in Darkness…

"Riku?" The boy looked back at his friend.

"Yes your Majesty?"

"Please, call me Mickey."

Riku chuckled slightly. "Yes, Mickey?"

King Mickey smiled, but it quickly faded into a frown. "Are you going to be okay?" The teen sighed.

"Yeah, I'll be—watch out!"

A Heartless tried to jump and attack the King from behind, but Riku summoned his Keyblade and swiped at it, causing it to fade away. Suddenly, two more appeared, and King Mickey summoned his Keyblade and took them out. More and more Heartless appeared, coming in huge packs, and the King and Riku took each one out. It was tiresome, but eventually they were all gone—for now.

"I think we got them all…" The King said, catching his breath. Riku was about to agree, when he saw a dark figure move in the shadows.

"I wouldn't be too sure about that…" Riku brought up his weapon and started to sneak up on the figure. When he was close enough, he ran up to it, and brought down his Keyblade hard on the Heartless—

WHACK!

"OWWW!!"

THUD!

Riku took a step back in surprise.

He had DEFINITLY not expected a Heartless to yell out in pain. Riku stared at the figure, which was now seated on the ground. His eyes had adjusted a bit to the Darkness, and he could make out that it wasn't a Heartless.

It was a person!

"Are you ok?" Riku asked, extending his hand out to the person. The person laughed softly. By how their voice sounded, he could tell the person was female.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She took his hand, and allowed him to help her up. Once she was standing, Riku could faintly make out that she was slightly shorter than he.

"I'm real sorry about that…" Riku apologized. To be honest, he had no idea why he was being so nice. The figure laughed again.

"That's ok, I'm used to getting hit in the head with oversized keys on a daily basis." She joked. Riku smiled, and he could've sworn that she was smiling too.

"Riku? Where'd you go?"

Riku turned to see the King looking around for him.

"I'm over here!" Riku called, getting his friend's attention.

King Mickey walked over to where the two were. "Who's this?" he asked.

"Someone I just met." Riku said, wanting to leave out the part of him attacking her. He turned back to the girl standing next to him. "I'm Riku, and this is my friend, King Mickey." The King nodded and smiled. The girl smiled back.

"I'm Raemond."

The flashback ended in his memories.

That was such a long time ago. He could barely recognize her, now.

"Raemond…it's really you…" Something in his eyes brightened further and he watched her smile. Relief washed throughout him. She was okay after all!

"Riku!" She rushed over and hugged him tightly, so very relieved he was alright. He hugged back, hesitantly at first, as if he were afraid that, if he touched her, she'd disappear, like a dream. But she didn't. And the coldness he felt so long ago was almost comforting as he felt it right now.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy, however, didn't understand this reunion and stood there, utterly confused.

"Hey, what's going on here??" Donald asked demandingly, crossing his arms and stamping his foot.

The two ignored the mage, though, as they pulled away and just looked each other over.

Just then, Xed shoved Riku backwards, hard, almost making the teen topple over. She crossed her arms as the trio gasped, shocked.

"Riku!" Sora cried.

"Why, you jerk?" The brunette demanded, not looking angry in the least bit but very hurt and upset. The emotion shone strangely in her eyes, emptily and hollowly but certainly there under the layers of grey. "Why did you leave me?"

The silver haired teen looked down and away, in Sora's general direction. He knew that this question would be brought up. He simply didn't want to answer it. "It had to be done." His voice was full of shame.

The pain in the girl's eyes intensified. "You broke my heart…"

His heart ached with more passionate guilt, this time not receding. He wanted to apologize, to say that he was sorry, and that he is sorry, but he couldn't bring himself to press forth those words. Nothing he could say could ever truly express how sorry he was.

The trio standing on the sidelines still hadn't the slightest idea what was going on.

The Keyblade scratched his head, before his azure eyes lit up. "Oh, I get it!"

"You do?" Goofy asked, still looking confused.

"Yeah!" Sora grinned. "You're Riku's girlfriend, aren't you?"

"What?!" Both older teens quickly snapped their heads towards the brunette. Donald and Goofy laughed, along with Sora.

"A lot sure has changed in a year, Riku!"

"Shut up, Sora!"

"Aw, you're blushing! Ahyuck!" The knight giggled.

The silver haired teen rubbed his face, as if to try and wipe the flush from his skin. "Cut it out!" Glancing over at Xed, he could see she had turned away too, covering her cheeks with her hand, a faint blush peeking through her fingers.

When they all calmed down, Goofy looked back up to the ceiling.

"Uh, whoops, sorry about your ceiling, Xed…"

"It's okay. I'll fix it later." She assured him, smiling a little.

"We should go check on the Gummi ship and make sure it's okay." Donald quacked, walking past Riku and out of the open door.

"Wait for me, Donald!" Goofy ran out after him. Sora started to go after them, but turned around to face his friend.

"Uh, are you coming, Riku?" He asked, looking between he and Xed.

A little hesitantly, "Yeah, I'll be right there."

"Okay." He gave a little wave, before walking outside.

The two teens looked at each other for a moment. Both had so many questions to ask, so many things they had both been dying to know, but neither had the courage to speak their minds. Seeing each other was so extremely surreal, almost dreamlike.

Riku parted his mouth, but ended up saying nothing. He pressed his lips together in a frown, and walked out. Xed only stood there, silently and sadly, as he left without even saying goodbye.

As soon as he was gone, a swirling mass of black and purple opened up behind her. She didn't need to turn around to know who it was. The strong, overbearing scent of roses clued her in.

"Marluxia." She announced stiffly, not much as a greeting but more as an acknowledgement.

"Xedramon." The pink haired man smirked coyly. "I couldn't help but detect your unhappiness. Whatever is the matter?"

"You know just well, Marly." She walked by him and crossed her arms. "You're so nosy, I'm sure you heard the whole thing."

"Mind your tongue, Number XIII. I am your elder."

"Don't remind me."

He grinned. "What did you expect? You're not the heart he was expecting."

The brunette stopped walking, and looked down. As much as she'd hate to admit it, his words hurt her deeply. Though she was turned away, the man easily detected the sadness reflected upon her face.

"Maybe…" she said quietly, "our friendship could be renewed…"

Marluxia chuckled.

"Oh Xedramon, you poor, naïve child…" She felt his hands on her shoulders, gently but firmly gripping them. His breath was right at her ear, the close proximity making her look down in intimidation. She could sense him sneering.

"He doesn't, and would never care for a Nobody. Nobody does."

She felt the cold rush of a portal opening behind her, and felt the man's presence disappear as he left.

And she stood there, looking down with arms tightly crossed, trying to keep herself together as she was left alone to her own thoughts.

000000

Marlykins is such a jerk :(

Next chapter to come out in a few days. Sorry for the bit of the wait, there.

Reviews would be greatly appreciated.