Author's Note: So, I have a working computer. I have working internet. I have all my notes. Why did this chapter take so long? Well, I'd like to offer a valid explanation, but the best I can come up with is that I was doing other stuff. Yeah, yeah, I know – slacker. But I wasn't really slacking. I was even doing other related stuff. Like a Kingdom Hearts music video and some fan art and a drawing of Tai. Haven't posted any of that online either, but I will soon. Anyway, here's the long awaited tenth chapter. Enjoy! Review for cookies.

Disclaimer: All I have to do is kidnap some Square-Enix executive, and then…

Chapter Ten

She leaned over him, resting her hands on hr knees as she did so, wisps of silvery hair falling in her face. "So you made a new friend," she said, smoothing his hair back affectionately. She tilted her head to the side to observe the faceless sprite child behind him. "And what's her name?"

Riku turned to face his companion, smaller than him, dark haired and nothing else. She barely had shape, no color; she was washed out, like a watercolor painting that had fallen in a puddle. He knew it was strange, this obvious visage of half-existence, but he couldn't startle himself into alarm. And yet, he could see that she was smiling, despite the absence of any features that aloud for expression at all.

"This is --," he answered his mother finally. The name was familiar, flowing, but he knew that he had said nothing, and he couldn't really think of her name, either.

But his mother only smiled amusedly. "--," she repeated, "my, such a pretty name."

The floor beneath Riku was filthy. Even in his state of half consciousness, he could feel the grime beneath his fingertips. The substance under the dirt was cold and smooth – a metal of some sort, he realized somewhere in the back of his still reeling mind. Reluctantly forcing his eyes open, he pushed himself carefully into a sitting position.

It took a moment for his vision to clear, but no shock registered as the iron bars that surrounded him came into focus. It blended with the rest of his luck just fine. Funny, though, he mused bitterly. None of my other demons came looking for me.

Testing the leg that had "discovered" the faulty step, Riku found that the injury was a superficial one. Only a slight, dull ache lingered to remind him to regard his footing more closely in the future. His head hadn't taken to the wood half so well. Blood caked the entire left side of his face and neck, and a sharp pain screamed at the slightest disturbance of the wound.

He tilted his head back carefully, judging the distance that he had fallen. Rusty iron bars hindered his sight, but the gap in the ceiling was more than large enough for him to locate. No one had moved him since his battle with gravity. Hazy light filtered through his unexpected doorway ten feet straight above him. Luck had been nice enough to save him from any broken bones, anyway.

But logically, he couldn't have fallen through the bars. Not that Castle Oblivion necessarily made sense, but his captor would have to know he was there, had to at least place the top of the cage over him. Furthermore, the one who set the trap knew he would try to pass through that door.

Riku hated to blame Tai, and the sound of her footsteps may have been coincidence, or even a trick. Tai had never given him a reason to distrust her – she'd spent quite a lot of time looking after his injuries, she was a good companion, and she'd never so much as asked for more information about him than he had of her. In many ways, she'd been a far better friend over the past week or more than he had been to those dear to him for years. Still, there was something inherently untrustworthy about the little shrew, and instinct wouldn't rule her out.

But there were far more crucial matters at hand – like how the hell he was going to escape his iron prison. His eyes were adjusting, now, and he could dimly discern the outlines of his surroundings. He'd only entered this room once in his life, of his own free will, then, and briefly at that, but he wasn't quick to forget a room where people gambled with their lives and worse.

The whole place was laid out like a casino, lined with slot machines and roulette tables, and covered in the trappings of one dead. Even in the feeble moonlight, he could make out the shapes of motionless, skeletal bodies and scattered bones. If his captor was present, he wasn't revealing himself, but the islander didn't imagine he would hide for much longer. He didn't credit this particular being as having much patience.

Perhaps half an hour passed, seconds ticking by at a dragging pace, punctuated by each fruitless effort at escaping the cage. Then the black-lights flicked on, the bleached bones and painted trappings sprang to life with a glow that was almost festive amid the macabre. A metal door clanged heavily against the stone walls, and a hollow chuckle echoed from above.

Riku watched as his captor lumbered down the winding, iron staircase. There was nothing to this being. He was made up of a coarse, off-white sack that glowed an eerie green under the black-light, and his substance was built of crawlers – spiders, beetles, worms – all these things and fear.

Riku hadn't worried about the Boogie Man since before he'd started school. He'd stopped believing in all those ghouls and goblins so long ago that he could hardly believe that they had ever felt real to him. It was just his luck to be staring his childhood terror in the face, now.

"Well, what do ya know!" The breath that rushed from the sack's cavern of a mouth was musty and stale, and the eyes that studied him were black and empty. "A fly caught in a web!"

"Save it, Oogie," Riku spat. Real or not, fearing the Boogie Man wasn't going to help him.

"Boy, you best be learnin' how to talk to Mr. Oogie Boogie!"

"Oh, please!" The islander nearly groaned. "What're you gonna do? Gloat me to death?"

"Good idea. I could slow roast you and make a stew with your bones while I'm at it."

"Mmmh, tasty, but no. Come on, I know you're a gambling man. Let's make a wager."

The sack seemed to consider this suggestion a moment. "What kind of wager, hmmm?"

"Preferably one where I get a chance to leave. Sure, the cage is cozy, but I'm a little pressed for space."

Oogie cackled thunderously, tilting his head back. Gambling always suited his fancy, but more so when life and death were involved. "A dice game! If you win, I'll open the cage." He chuckled ominously. "But if you lose, now, well, that could get messy."

"Eh, a dice game?" Riku's lips twisted in a grimace of distaste. "Whatever happened to a good ol' fashioned battle of wits? We could just swap riddles or something. C'mon, first to stump the other wins."

"A battle of wits ain't gamblin', boy!"

"Of course," the islander muttered. "That would've almost been fair of you."

"It's not about fair, neither; it's all chance." The sack of ghoul straightened to his full height, smirking down at his prey. He stood nearly twice Riku's length and at least three times his width – impressive to someone who was up to being impressed. "Take the roll or leave it."

"I'll take it," Riku sighed.

"Good. Now, call a number."

"Call a number? I get one chance in eleven?"

"One in eleven is still a chance!" The emptiness of those black eyes danced with glee. "What's your call, hmmm?"

"Alright, fine. Gimme the dice. If the chances are that slim, you're not rolling for me." Riku slid a battered wrist through the bars. Bruises and blood glistened strangely amid the neon glow, and he could hear Tai bitching at him in the back of his mind.

The two cubes materialized out of nowhere, tumbling into the cup of his palm. Bone, he thought. That figures. He folded his fingers over the detestable objects, pulling his arm back into the cage. Shards of fate rested in his hand, but that didn't mean he trusted it in the least. One in eleven – he'd have rather taken his chances in a lair of rabid badgers.

"Alright," Riku said slowly. "Seven's supposed to be a lucky number. I'll call that one."

"Seven? Is that your final call?"

"Yeah. I mean, my funeral, right? I'll stick with seven." Riku sighed heavily, giving two shakes to the dice before opening his palm. They tumbled carelessly from his hand, striking his shoe just below his ankle and clattering across the metallic floor.

The first stopped just within reach – five dots on its palely glowing face just barely visible in the darkness – but the other rolled deeper into the shadows. "Ah, shit!" Riku growled, scrambling across the filthy surface. Hunching his shoulders, he leaned over the errant die. "Tough luck, Oogie. I win."

"Liar!" thundered the nightmare.

The islander whipped around, fists clenched and teeth grit. "Listen up, you son of a bitch! I played by your slanted rules, and I still fucking won! Now, let me the fuck out!" His voice grated and cracked, and a burning sensation spread down his throat. He was sure he was damaging his vocal cords, but that hardly mattered, given the situation.

"I never seen no seven!"

"Then bring your ass in here and look for yourself!"

"Boy," the Boogie Man nearly roared, ripping the door from its hinges, "if you lyin' to me!"

Riku scrambled back out of his enraged captor's path, hands scraping across the dirty floor. Oogie lumbered past, steps slow but powerful. The form hunkered over the errant die, oblivious to the islander sprawled across the ground beside him.

Riku felt the cold steel of his blade slit the palm of his left hand and grasped at the sword frantically. He rolled onto his knees, driving the weapon into his enemy's back. The sack gave way easily, the cloth shredding as Oogie whirled to face his attacker. Only insects and arachnids poured from the gaping wound, a testament to the lack of substance of a childish fear.

"No!" The sack swung frantically at his assailant, but his limbs were already going limp, deflating like a balloon. "What is this? That's not part of the game!" His voice was splitting, now, turning to the chirping of bugs.

"Screw the game! A 'gamblin' man' should know better than to drop his guard."

The shrill myriad of voices seemed almost to laugh as the pests skittered by, emptying the sack. "The Darkness will have you, yet!" they shrieked.

"Let it try," Riku answered. He climbed to his feet, brushing the vermin away with a look of bitter distaste. "I'm ready."

The islander kicked the empty husk of the Boogie Man aside and bent to retrieve the scattered die, really seeing it for the first time. Two black dots stared back from its pale surface like a pair of hollow eyes. Funny – he guessed he'd won after all.