AN: I'm very sorry, but I haven't played the game for months. So, please forgive me with my descriptions of The World/The Castle That Never Was, because they're probably very off :P
RECAP:
"That's actually another reason why I want to go through with this mission," you spoke up. "I didn't realize I wanted it, but now I know, I HAVE to do this, Riku. To stop people like him hurting others."
"Yeah...I get that now." He stroked your hair and hugged you a little tighter before letting you go. "Come on Ryx," he said, standing up and offering you his hand.
"Where are we going?" you asked in surprise.
"To the main area. We've been in here for a while."
You were almost out the door with him when he stopped you abruptly. "You do realize I called you Ryx several times and you didn't even notice?"
"Oh, I noticed. But it sounds nice coming from you."
"Good, that means I don't have to die a horrible, painful death." You started chasing him after he caught sight of the death glare on your face.
STORY STARTS:
That night, you woke up feeling thirsty, and you grudgingly forced yourself out of Riku 's arms to go to the main area for some water. Ever since Kaori had turned up it had been too crowded and messy in your bedroom for you, Kairi, and Kaori to stay in, so you and Kairi decided to take turns staying with Riku or Sora each night. Obviously, you stayed with Riku and Kairi stayed with Sora.
On the way back from the main area, you heard muffled sounds coming from your own room. You quietly pushed the ajar door open and went over to the bed, knowing what to expect.
Kaori was sitting there, curled up in a fetal position, and sobbing softly. Sighing a little, you wrapped her in a tight hug. "You dreamt about Xehanort's Heartless and Ryu again?" you whispered, and she nodded.
You were still slightly surprised that Kairi never woke up when Kaori had these dreams, which was almost every night. 'At least,' you thought as your sister cried, 'that jerk didn't hurt her in any other way…thosememories gave me horrible nightmares.'
"Ryx?" Kaori looked up at you tearfully. "How did you get over it?"
Taken aback, you answered, "Get over what?"
"What Xehanort's Heartless did to Ryu…and to you…how did you move on?"
"Kaori, I haven't 'moved on' at all. I don't think I ever will either."
"But you don't act like it!"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, for one you don't get nightmares like I do-"
"Don't get nightmares?" you repeated incredulously. "I used to get nightmares almost every night, Kaori!"
"You do?"
"Hell, I'm surprised Riku hasn't broken up with me just for that, at first I'd keep him up half the night when I get them!"
The look on her face was priceless. Not that you were joking. "You…you never told me that," she whispered, drying her eyes. "Then again, you wouldn't tell anyone, would you?"
"Yeah, that's true."
"And you're not as cheerful as you used to be before," she continued, "and you snap at people more often, and you get irritated really easily, and you don't like most people touching you or hugging you…"
"Okay, I get it, I've changed," you laughed. "Get some sleep, you'll feel better in the morning."
"Thanks, Ryx." She hugged you one last time before diving back under the covers.
"We're here," Riku said as the ship landed. Nobody moved. "And…we're still in here because…?" you asked.
"Are you absolutely sure you want to-" Sora started to say.
"Yes, for the millionth time!" You jumped out of the ship and the rest hesitantly followed.
After running around the deserted town for a long time, you finally stopped to catch your breath. "You two doknow what you're doing, right?" Kairi asked Sora and Riku.
"Sure! All we have to do is get to the castle!" Sora said.
"Which will be when, exactly?" Kaori asked.
"We'll find it. How hard can it be?" Riku scoffed. Mere seconds later hundreds of Nobodies rose out of the ground. There were so many different kinds you couldn't even count them all. They swarmed around you, swaying hypnotically. "Yeah, I think you jinxed us, Riku," you commented.
Roxas got out his two Keyblades, Oathkeeper and Oblivion, while Kairi got out her Destiny's Embrace Keyblade in one hand and created a ball of energy in the other. "You four go ahead. Roxas and I can take them on."
"Are you sure?" Sora asked worriedly, but Riku grabbed him by the arm. "Come on, they can take care of themselves!" he exclaimed dragging him away.
You, Riku, Sora, and Kaori ran down the seemingly never-ending streets. Soon, you reached a looming skyscraper with broken neon signs hanging of it. "Memory Skyscraper," Riku muttered. "That means we're getting close to the Castle."
"So, the Keyblade warriors have finally arrived."
You spun around to see a black-and-purple portal opening up to reveal the Nobody form of Xehanort's Heartless. "Is that An…Xehanort?" Kaori whispered to you.
You shook your head. "That's Xemnas. His Nobody."
"It is not often that we are graced with the presence of the Princess of Darkness," he said, so slowly that you wanted to slap the words out of him. "Why do you waste your time with these fools? You could have power, strength, hundreds of Nobodies at your command. These two," he pointed at Sora and Riku, "they ruined my chance of regaining my heart…ruined my chance of regaining my emotions. With your help, I can get that chance once again. Join me, and I will give you everything you've ever wanted, and more power than you can imagine.
You stared unblinkingly at a neon sign that was blinking on and off in the distance. "Uh, Ryx?" Riku nudged you lightly.
"Hmm? Sorry, I zoned out at 'waste my time.' Do you have any idea how slowly you talk?" You got out your Broken Piece's, and next to you Sora and Riku got out their Keyblade too. To Riku and Sora's surprise, even Kaori summoned weapons. "Sincewhen could you use katanas?" Sora cried.
"What, you thought she didn't have a weapon? She's my sister!" you exclaimed.
"Can you use them?" Riku asked, seeing as Sora were too stunned to talk.
"Of course!" she replied. "And I wanna fight this guy - I couldn't even try attacking Xehanort's Heartless, smashing this guy is the next best thing!"
At that Riku pulled you away from the scene, yelling out that you'd be back as soon as possible. Before you left Kaori gave you a huge hug. "Good luck," Kaori said. "I love you!"
You smiled and hugged her back. "Love you too, sis."
You and Riku left, and she and Sora started fighting Xemnas. "She's actually got a good point there, about fighting Xemnas," you commented as you finally reached the entrance to the Castle. "Too bad I can't stay back and fight him too!"
Soon enough you and Riku had reached the rooftop of the Castle. There was an amazing view of a colossal, off-white moon in the night sky. If you hadn't been scared out of your mind about what was about to happen, you probably would've been excited to see Kingdom Hearts for the first time. "You got the keys?" you asked, and Riku nodded, fishing all six of them out of his pockets. Awkwardly, you took three of them and twisted them around in your hands, ready to point them at Kingdom Hearts.
"Are you sure you're ready?" he asked once again.
"Let's just do this, okay?" He sighed and pointed the keys at the heart-shaped moon, with you doing the same. Beams of light flashed out from the keys, in the same way light blasted from the Keyblade when Sora shot an Organization member. They joined to form a single beam that hit Kingdom Hearts right in its centre. Kingdom Hearts started to glow eerily, getting brighter and brighter until you were forced to shut your eyes. Eventually you opened your eyes again and saw something forming in the air directly in front of the moon, although you couldn't make out what it was.
It began to shape itself into a dark, shadowy circle that stood out in contrast to the dazzling moon behind it. Tinges of light began to show in the blackness, and soon it formed a border. The darkness seeped into the empty space inside, resulting in a jagged heart about the size of your palm, made with pure darkness swirling inside and framed with thin strings of shining light. Links of light and darkness were attached to the top of it. Kingdom Hearts at last ceased its glow, and the finished keychain gradually floated down to hover in front of you. Only hesitating for a second, you took it with a surprisingly steady hand. "Pretty," you said softly.
"You would find darkness pretty," Riku said, rolling his eyes.
"Oh, shut up. There's light too!"
"Whatever, Your Highness."
"Do not call me that," you glared, and he laughed at the look on your face. Without warning he spun you around and kissed you roughly, grabbing your waist and pulling you closer. Nearly three minutes later, you looked him in the eye as you pulled away. "What was that for?" you murmured.
"That might've been the last kiss we'd ever have," he said quietly.
"Riku…"
"I said 'might've', didn't I? Besides if anyone can survive this, it's you."
You reached up and kissed him lightly. "You better stay back," you whispered. "The King said you could get hurt if you stand too close." He nodded briefly and, after a moment's hesitation, let you go and walked away so that he was at the other end of the roof.
You turned away from him so that you were facing Kingdom Hearts again. Thousands of questions ran through your mind: where you supposed to make your weapon disappear when the light started taking its effect? Would you get a new Keyblade altogether, if you made it out alive? Could you keep the keychain? Would your personality change back to the way it used to be? Ignoring the voices in your head, you took a deep breath and attached the keychain to your Broken Pieces, bracing yourself for the pain that you knew would come.
Immediately an orb of light appeared out of nowhere and whirled around your front, near your heart. You felt a harsh stinging sensation as you watched the light pulling darkness out of your chest, involuntarily flinching. Having no idea how the light was sucking darkness out of you, you hoped that you would be able to put up with the pain.
As soon as you thought that, the darkness seemed to resist, and it was almost like there was a tug-of-war going on between it and the light. The light was winning, and as more and more darkness was forced out, the stinging turned into a horrible hurting that grew and grew. It felt like, as the King had said, you heart was being ripped apart, and like someone was stabbing you all over with red-hot knives. Your body was overcome with pain and you fell to your knees, clawing at your hair as the pain pulsed through your whole being. Every part of you was shrieking to stop the pain. You felt like screaming like there was no tomorrow.
So you did.
Riku's POV
'This doesn't seem too bad,' you thought hopefully, watching an orb of light drawing out the darkness from Maryx. You could see her flinch, but other than that she seemed fine. 'Maybe she'll get through this after all…'
Soon, though, those thoughts were firmly dashed when you saw her bending over and grabbing her hair. She began trembling all over, and fell to her knees. Only a few seconds later the screaming started. Every shriek felt like a blow to your heart.
"She wants me to stay back, she wants me to stay back," you chanted under your breath, unable to rip your eyes from the torturous scene in front of you. It was fairly obvious now that she was crying. She clutched at herself everywhere, arms, legs, head, chest, stomach, in what appeared to be an attempt to try and block something. Minutes passed, and not for a moment did she stop sobbing or screaming.
'I can't take this anymore!' You ran to Maryx and before you had even reached her you winced at the force of the light. It was an unstoppable power, alternating between pulling you forward and pushing you back. You pushed forward and knelt down next to Maryx, and you felt like someone had stabbed you in the heart when you saw her face. Helplessness and pain was written all over it. You'd never seen her hurting so much before, not even with Xehanort's Heartless.
Not knowing what else to do, you put your arms around her and held her tightly.
Your POV
'I can't take much more of this!' Eyes squeezed tightly shut, you hardly even noticed how hard you were screaming or crying. The only thing you were aware of was the unbearable agony. Just a few inches in front of you, the orb of light was sucking up the darkness harder than ever, drawing it in at an alarming rate. That didn't help your situation at all.
Suddenly you felt two strong arms wrap around you, and you managed to open your eyes wide enough to see Riku holding you securely. 'Is he out of his mind?'
"I'm not leaving you like this, so don't tell me to leave!" he said.
The orb suddenly started vibrating like crazy, but not all of the darkness had been absorbed. Then it moved closer and closer to your chest, and you realized that in was about to enter your heart and destroy the darkness from within.
It flashed brightly before it entered, and the pain escalated to an unbelievable level. Black spots started staining your vision. 'If I die now, at least this pain will end!' you thought hysterically.
Riku, realizing how much this was hurting, held you even tighter, saying incoherent words in your ear, trying to ease the suffering, but it barely helped. The black spots got larger and the pain became even worse. Your voice was hoarse from screaming and you couldn't even breathe anymore.
The last thing you were aware of before the pain suddenly stopped was Riku saying something in one more attempt to calm you down.
"I love you..."
Then your eyes shut and you slipped into darkness.