AN/ Wow! we've finally hit the Big Sequence! Magik's side of this is in her fic, Remnants, starting in ch61. (Forevermagik13 is her full username, in case you aren't aware of that yet). No, you don't have to read it to understand what's going on, so if you don't want to, you don't have to. There is a reason we wrote it this way, after all.

Oh, there are also minor spoilers for magik's fic in this chapter, and I suppose I am obliged to inform you of them.

But, finally, without further adieu, please enjoy my favorite sequence.

Chapter 11: It Begins

Riku wasn't in the bed next to Namine when she woke up that morning. He wasn't in his bed, either, not that she'd expected him to be. This wasn't exactly strange, of course. It wasn't like he'd never gotten up before her before, but…

"I'll kill her."

The words he'd said last night. Hissed in her ear as he clutched her like a lifeline. The thought made her blood run cold all over again. She tried to reassure herself. He'd been half asleep, of course, when he'd said it. He was probably just downstairs.

She clutched to that optimism like it was a balloon that would get away the moment she loosened her hold on its string. Slowly, she got up, got dressed, and headed downstairs, heart pounding with anticipation of what she might—or might not—find when she got down there.

The sight she was greeted with when she reached the bottom of the stairs nearly confirmed her worries. Aerith, Leon, Yuffie and Cid were all at the table, eating breakfast. Riku was nowhere to be seen. Namine swallowed. She opened her mouth to ask where Riku was—because maybe he was just on a walk, or doing rounds of the town, or…—but Leon beat her to the question.

"Where's Riku?" he asked.

The blood drained from Namine's face. The optimism didn't just slip from her fingers, it shattered around her.

"What- what do you- do you mean he's not here?" she demanded. Her heart pounded in her throat.

"I will. I'll kill her."

The words rang in her ears. The images swam in her mind. She had to clutch the stair railing to steady herself.

"So he's not asleep?" Yuffie asked.

"Namine… is something wrong?" Aerith asked, over Yuffie.

"Oh no. Oh no oh no." Namine's grip tightened on the railing. It was hard to get air into her lungs. "I thought I'd have- I thought I'd have more time I thought… I thought he wouldn't…"

And she'd been a fool to do so. She knew him too well. She knew him way too well. He wanted revenge—of course he did—and he had the power to take it. The darkness flooding through his veins… A monster in the back of his mind, biding its time, waiting for the right moment. She'd seen it before, and she knew what fed it.

"Riku, please, I'm fine!"

"A quick death… that's all I wanted…"

A hatred for Larxene, harbored in his chest for months.

The power to go after her.

"Namine." Leon's voice was calm. Stern. "Where's Riku?"

The images—so familiar now, after seeing them so many times—repeated in her head.

Darkness stained walls.

Riku, bathed in darkness—she hated to see that smile on his face.

A figure, cowering in the corner—she thought she knew who it was, but she didn't want to admit it just yet. Didn't want to believe it.

"I- I have to go," she said, and opened a dark corridor around herself.

Why had she waited so long to do something?

xxx

Finding her hadn't been too hard, not that he'd expected it to be. She ended up being in the World that Never Was, or, what looked like it used to be the World that Never Was. The place was in ruins, and darkness stained the walls.

He took a deep breath in, savoring the taste of darkness that filled the air. It was almost as if he could pull from it, too, and not just from the darkness that filled in his own veins.

Larxene was in the remains of the Grey Area, sitting on one of the few couches left, looking a little distressed. The sight brought a smile to Riku's face. She was haggard looking, hairs out of place, her cloak torn. She jumped to her feet when she spotted him. The glare of her golden-green eyes—when had they gained the golden tint?—and the sneer of her lips were harsher than usual, sharper, and they should've made Riku cringe. All he did was grin wider.

There was something… off about her. Like she didn't quite have it all together.

Darkness sang in his veins, and he nearly laughed from the thrill of it all. She was slipping. He'd come prepared to face her at her top form, but he wouldn't have to. Oh, it was his lucky day.

"What do you want with me?" she spat.

The way her body tensed was subtle. She was preparing to fight, she just didn't want him to know that. It was a pity he knew her so well.

"Hmm?" her voice flared with annoyance. "Look, it's not my fault Xehanort got to Marluxia, so I don't know why you felt the need to hunt me down. And alone? Really?" She snorted. "I thought your whole little group worked differently than that."

Riku held up a hand, grinning. "Okay. Hold up." He wasn't sure why this was so amusing. It just was. "I have no idea what you're talking about, and I don't care, either." He was just happy to be here, preparing to fight her. Mainly for his revenge, but it'd been a while since he'd had a good battle, too. He'd been thirsting for one.

Larxene's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean you don't know what I'm talking about? You were there."

Riku considered her a second, then burst out laughing. "Oh! I see! You've mistaken me for R… for… someone else."

The words Real Thing buzzed on his tongue, but he swallowed them. He'd let her guess. It'd be fun to make her guess. Make her remember who he was.

"You're not Riku?"

She didn't sound like she believed it.

Riku couldn't keep the grin off his face.

"Well, I am, in a way. But, I suppose, from your perspective… no. I'm not."

She studied him long and hard, eyes narrowing into a deeper glare with each passing second. Laughter bubbled at Riku's lips. He didn't say anything more, just watched as the gears turned in her head.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, finally. She scoffed, and it was angry. Her face contorted with disgust, like he was a piece of gum she wasn't particularly happy to see on her shoe. "That Replica Vexen built. Hmph."

Riku's grin just widened further. Any wider and it'd split his face in two.

Larxene summoned her knives, but she summoned them lazily. "Listen, I don't have time for you right now. So if you want to save yourself the trouble, and the pain while you're at it, just scoot on out of here. I've got more important things to—"

"IT'S NOT GOING TO END LIKE THAT!" Riku roared. His grin fell. His voice shook. His body trembled. Blood pounded in his ears, and the darkness quickened in his veins, surging through him, feeding on his fury.

"I can take you," he hissed, his voice dropping to a normal level. "I can fight you, and I can win, and I can make you pay."

Larxene laughed, her normal harsh laugh. Riku shivered at the sound of it.

"I'd like to see you try," she called. She threw the lightning bolt before he could blink—had this been any other time, that would've been all took. One lightning bolt, then he'd be down.

But not this time.

He threw up a wall of darkness to catch the lightning bolt, stopping it long before it could hit him. Once the lightning was neutralized, he tossed the wall aside, and then threw a new blast of darkness at Larxene. It knocked her backwards. She cried out in shock… and anger.

Riku summoned more darkness to his fingertips, donned Dark Mode. Dark Mode wasn't a necessity, of course, but he couldn't resist the familiarity of it in this situation. Nor could he resist the way his skin tingled, as if just wearing it made him even stronger. The strength was intoxicating. He could win the battle with it. He could do so much more than just win.

He threw another blast of darkness at her, and then another, and another. She was quick, but she didn't avoid all of them. She couldn't get a single attack in edgewise, he made sure of that. He felt pretty confident he could take at least one lightning bolt, but he wasn't stupid. He knocked her back with darkness every time she neared him.

Soon she was yelling and swearing with frustration. Riku savored the sound of it—this was going so much better than he could've anticipated. Any moment she'd be on the ground. On her knees. Begging him to quit.

He jumped back, well out of her reach. He crouched down, using his whole body as a conduit, gathering darkness between his hands. He could feel how it warped the air around him, as it grew and spiraled. He waited until it seemed to distort the lighting of the room, and then released it—

The force of it sent him skidding backwards.

The strength of it threw Larxene against the opposite wall.

Riku giggled with excitement. He had her. This was perfect.

She moved to get up, but another blast of darkness kept her down. Riku made his way towards her, slowly, drawing the whole process out. Larxene kept struggling to get up, and she was swearing something awful. He just threw darkness every time she moved, keeping her down with the repeating blasts.

He couldn't relent now. She never had with him.

"C'mon," he whispered, leaning over her, grinning widely. He pulled more darkness into his hands. Relished in the moment as a brief bit of fear flashed through her eyes.

"Let's see what it takes to make you scream."

xxx

"KAIRI! Kairi!"

Kairi looked up from the game of cards she and Sora were playing. It had been one of their favorites when they were kids, and they hadn't played it in, well, a long time. Long enough that both of them had all but forgotten the rules, anyway.

"Is that Namine?" Sora asked, with a squinty frown up at Kairi.

"Sounds like it." Kairi got to her feet and hurried to the door to let Namine in before she alerted the whole neighborhood. She couldn't help but chew her lip—what was wrong? And, more importantly, if something was so terribly wrong, why had Namine bothered with the front door?

Kairi hardly even got the door open before Namine started talking, very quickly.

"HE'S GONE HE'S DONE IT HE'S DONE IT."

Kairi grabbed Namine by the shoulders. "Okay. Okay, slow down, Namine," she said. "Calmly, now, tell me what's wrong."

"Riku went after Larxene."

Namine's eyes were wide with panic, with terror, and she trembled as Kairi held her.

Kairi blinked. She had no idea what that meant.

"Uh."

"THE NIGHTMARES I WAS HAVING."

That got Kairi to understand. Her brow furrowed immediately with concern, and a little bit of anger.

"You didn't tell him about those?"

"I WAS GOING TO THIS MORNING!" There were tears in Namine's eyes. "I- I should've known better, I- I should've told him sooner I should've told him I just. I don't know. I thought waiting a few more hours wouldn't hurt. I thought—"

"Well, what's done is done," Sora said. He sounded a little frustrated, though, which earned him a startled look from Kairi. Now wasn't the time to deal with it, though, Kairi told herself. Riku was the bigger problem, here.

"We- we need to stop him," Namine gasped. "We- we need to- OH NEVER MIND." She wrenched away from Kairi. "I'll go by myself!" Darkness sparked at Namine's fingertips, preparing to from a dark corridor, Kairi assumed. "It'll be—"

"Oh no you don't!" Kairi grabbed her by the arm. She wasn't sure if it canceled the dark corridor out, but she hoped it would shock Namine enough to delay her forming it. "Sora! Star shard!"

"Uh-huh!" He tossed it to her, and she caught it with expertise.

Just because Namine had insisted that Kairi not talk to Riku about the matter didn't mean Kairi hadn't prepared. Riku was her friend, too. She'd respected Namine's wish to try and stop him herself—partially because she hardly even knew what was going on—but she wasn't going to let him do something stupid and dangerous, and given Namine's previous failure to stop him…

"I'll hold down the fort," Sora called. "Let your dad know where you are 'n stuff."

Namine glared, trying to wrench herself away from Kairi again. Kairi was quite glad she'd learned a few things from Tifa about hand to hand combat, because otherwise Namine'd have probably pulled out of her grasp by now.

"Kairi, that's- that's not necessary," Namine said. "I can—"

"Too bad." Kairi activated the star shard.

She wasn't quite sure where it dropped them off, but wherever it was was a mess. There was plenty of smoke in the air, and it looked like a few things were—or had been—on fire. She did spot, within moments, a group of very familiar people. A little too familiar. A smile tugged on her lips. Seeing the other universe's Kairi was a little bit of a surprise, but definitely a pleasure, despite the circumstances.

"Well great!" Namine shrieked. "We have no idea where we are! And we're- we're nowhere near Riku, or Larxene! You should've just let me form a dark corridor—"

Kairi grabbed her very tightly by the wrist to prevent her from trying to form a dark corridor again. "Tifa told me once that star shards take you where you need to be, not where you want," she explained, slipping the star shard into her pocket for safe keeping. That done, she gestured at the Other Kairi, to prove her point. They were at least in the right universe. "Besides, I don't like those dark corridors anyway."

Namine looked like she wanted to say something, but she never did. She also looked like she was going to be sick. Thankfully, for the moment at least, she didn't do that either.

"What's going on with Riku and Larxene?" the Other Kairi asked, having reached them.

Namine sent a glance at her. She seemed to calm a little, at least past anger, but she was trembling again.

"He's- he's gone and gotten it into his head that he needs to- to kill Larxene," Namine explained, tripping a little over the words. Her voice was tight with emotion. "Your Larxene. The one who- who…" She spluttered, then grunted—or growled, though Kairi had a hard time believing Namine growling—with annoyance. She'd gone a shade paler.

"Has he found her? Do you know?" Namine—well, not Namine. The Other Namine—asked. There was genuine worry, and urgency, in her tone. Her eyes shone with understanding.

Namine—the actual Namine. Kairi's Namine?—shook her head. "No. He just went tearing off and by the time I'd told Kairi…"

The Other Namine didn't let her finish. "Then we need to get moving," she said. She looked like she might be sick, too, and whipped her head around as if looking for someone.

"We?" Namine about squeaked with surprise. Then she groaned—no, that was definitely a growl. "Oh, this would've been so much faster if I'd gone by myself!"

"They can help," Kairi said, annoyed. The Other Namine knew Riku, too, didn't she? It wouldn't hurt having her. It wouldn't hurt having any of them. Extra hands would be nice. Kairi was pretty sure she and Namine alone could hold Riku, but what about this Larxene he was going after? She was dangerous, wasn't she? Too dangerous to trust that they could handle her and Riku without help, certainly.

I wish Sora would've come… oh, but he has his reasons. His parents, for starters. If he's having difficulty explaining other worlds to them, certainly another universe would be too much. …does Sora even know there's another universe? Well, he must know, but has he met anyone from it?

Come to think of it, has Namine met anyone from—no, now is not the time!

"What's going on now?"

Kairi's heart skipped a little at the voice. Sora. No. No, not Sora. This universe's Sora. Goodness, he was tall. And was that Riku with him? His hair was atrocious!

Not that our Riku's is any—stop with the bunny trails already, Kairi! Stay focused!

"No time to explain!" she said, before she could distract herself further, or before she could say anything to embarrass herself. She was normally better than that, but being near this universe's Sora was putting her on edge. "They already know what's up." She nodded at the Other Namine and Kairi.

"We need to go save Riku from himself, it would seem," the Other Namine said, so quietly Kairi barely heard her.

"Well, we're somewhat caught up with Marlynort…" Sora—the Other Sora—began.

Kairi raised her eyebrows, not sure what in the Worlds a Marlynort was, but… oh, there wasn't time to ask! She tightened her grip on Namine's wrist. Namine was struggling enough that Kairi was worried she might try and slip off again.

"Not all of us need to go," the Other Kairi said. "Namine and I can go. And Riku."

Kairi wasn't sure when—or why—the Other Riku had been added into the mix, but alright. It couldn't hurt. Could it? There wasn't time to protest, either. They needed to go!

If at least, before Namine manages to break from my grasp and goes tearing off on her own!

The Other Sora and Kairi finished discussing a bit more plans. Kairi bit her lip to keep herself from yelling to hurry it up. Finally the Other Kairi turned to look at her and Namine.

"Well, let's go," she said.

She looked determined. Both Namines looked a little queasy, and a little angry. The Other Riku looked like he might be a little confused, but he said nothing about it. Kairi pulled out the star shard again, and nodded.

"Let's go," she agreed.