Chapter 21: Decisions, Decisions

Groaning deeply, Riku opened his eye and grimaced deeply. The headache that had plagued him earlier had not yet faded and was now worse than ever. A profound ache had settled deep in his body and every movement sent it pulsing harder through his bones.

"Ugh... dear lord that hurts..." Riku grunted and squeezed his eyes shut. With a heavy tremble he turned on his side and fought off a wave of nausea that rose up in his throat. When it finally passed he lifted his head a bit and looked around the room.

Once again he saw a "guest" standing there watching him passively. That werewolf Howler was gone and now a Sorcerer Nobody had taken his place. It calmly stared back at him with its arms crossed. There was a jet black dragon tattoo coiled around its left arm and it was sitting in the chair next to the window.

Long seconds passed in silence as Riku decided whether or not he wanted to say something. He head was pounding and every part of his body hurt—did he really want to deal with this right now? Sighing heavily, Riku forced himself up to a sitting position. He gritted his teeth as the room started spinning around him. Closing his eyes the teenager waited until his stomach settled before sitting up straighter. Opening his eyes again he turned to address the Nobody.

You are awake.... would you like to know what happened? The Nobody questioned in a deep mental voice. Riku merely nodded in assent, there really wasn't much else he could do at this point.

Narrowing its eyes slightly the Nobody leaned back in the chair. My name is Xuzai and I am a Dark Shade... a servant of Xavath the Dragon of Darkness. The journey towards becoming the Dragon of Twilight is shrouded in mystery and not much is know about the actual process. So as a result several of us were sent here to watch over and make contact with you, the Sorcerer began.

Shinkiro is the main messenger sent to guide you and we were mainly here as back up in case something happened. As I'm sure you know things have... changed. The creature within you is not the same as the one within Xavath and Polaris. It is quite different and we are not sure exactly what it is. The effects on your personality are the same, but it should not have been able to take over your body like that. Most unusual, Xuzai reflected pensively.

Riku frowned slightly at its tone of voice. How could it be so calm and nonchalant about all this? This was his life they were oh-so-casually tossing back and forth.

Evidently the Nobody picked up on his irritation and its eyes widened. Getting angry clouds judgment and blocks perception. It will only cause confusion and slow us down. To solve these current problems we must remain calm and look at the situation from every possible angle to avoid another incident such as happened before. Xuzai looked him up and down in a subtle reminder of Riku's current condition. When the teenager didn't respond to that the Dark Shade continued.

After the battle with the keyblade user Zanier you fell unconscious due to a blow on the head from Sora. Your friends took you back to your room to rest. Howler explained who he was and why he was here in Destiny Islands to the adults and then everyone went to bed for the night. It was around midnight when the dragon inside of you seized control of your body and started its rampage. The house you live in was damaged before you... or rather that creature, made its escape outdoors and into the forest. Xuzai paused for a moment and stared towards the door. Riku followed his gaze but didn't hear anything. Apparently nobody was coming because the Dark Shade turned back and continued to speak.

The Keyblade Master, Sora, was in no condition to fight and stayed behind while Kairi, Howler, and Shinkiro chased after you. I then appeared to help keep you pinned down and a rather vicious battle ensued. After knocking you down, Shinkiro picked you up and held you in place as Kairi blasted your heart with light. That apparently was enough to put an end the dragon's rampage. You collapsed afterwards. Another Nobody Dark Shade known as Xaltair appeared and together we went back to inform your parents about what had happened. When they returned with us we then brought you, Kairi, and Shinkiro over here to the hospital. Shinkiro was severely weakened by the same attack that knocked you unconscious. Xuzai added simply.

The darkness outside has lasted for a couple days now. The skies are clear and marked by only a few clouds. The moon shines brightly throughout the hours, but the sun refuses to rise, Xuzai added and punctuated this statement with a nod, evidently finished with his explanation.

Silently, Riku absorbed this information before heaving a sigh. Wearily he rubbed the bridge of his nose. This was wearing him out physically and emotionally. More than anything Riku wanted this all to just go away. He wanted to wake up and have it all be some twisted, terrible nightmare.

But this isn't going to go away... Riku pursed his lips and closed his eyes tediously. He was just too tired to fight anymore. Worn out, Riku lay back down and adjusted the pillows to help cushion his aching head.

"Fine... whatever. What happens now?" Riku questioned. Xuzai cocked his head and gave him a strange look. The Dark Shade had apparently picked up on his tone of voice.

We wait for you, Shinkiro, and Kairi to recover and then we begin searching for the Twilight Dirge. It is a book, a journal, written by the very first Dragon of Twilight. It is said that he or she documented every step of the process. Unfortunately, the book is now lost and the knowledge within has slipped out of our grasp as well. We must leave Destiny Islands to search for it. Staying here will only expose you and everyone here to more danger. Xuzai explained to him and stretched out his hand. A small opaque pink cube appeared, floating in his grasp. Within it a thick, leather bound book appeared.

Many holograms exist of the book, as well as a couple paragraphs on how to find it, but the overall puzzle remains unsolved, Xuzai waved the cube and image away. Standing up, he leaned over Riku's body, narrowing his eyes as he appraised the teenager. You still have much damage from the battle with... Xemnas. Xuzai corrected himself after a moment. Riku took note of the slight hesitation that came before the Nobody pronounced the Organization leader's name.

We cannot afford to wait too long, though, Xuzai warned him. Frowning at that admonishment, Riku brushed it off and gave a shrug. "I'll be fine. I've dealt with far worse injuries. Just give me a couple days and I'll do just fine," he declared coolly. The Dark Shade narrowed his eyes and gave him a hooded look, but chose not to comment on it.

Rubbing his forehead again, Riku tried to ease his pounding headache. He was laying down with his head on the pillow, but it wasn't really helping him any. Suddenly his mind caught up and made sense of what Xuzai had just told him.

Shooting back up to a sitting position, Riku's eyes widened as he latched onto one phrase Xuzai had uttered.

"You have to wait for me, Shinkiro, and Kairi to recover?" Riku questioned emphatically. Xuzai crossed his arms and didn't reply. Gritting his teeth, Riku fought down the urge to grab the creature and shake the answers out of it.

"What happened to Kairi? Was she hurt?" Riku interrogated as dark wisps curled up from his hands. The Dark Shade glanced down at this action and let out a breath that was not quite a sigh.

Kairi... the Princess of Heart... came here to see how you were doing. Her intentions were not to hurt you so I hung back and allowed her to do as she wished. Things were fine until she reached out to touch you. Immediately you grabbed Kairi and a coil of darkness wrapped around her arm. I don't know what the creature within you did, but apparently there was some mental... trauma that accompanied the physical attack it inflicted on her, Xuzai stated it in the same irritatingly calm voice.

Riku clenched his fists and swung his legs over the left side of the bed. Bending over he fumbled around and finally found his clothes neatly folded underneath the hospital bed.

What are you doing? You cannot be getting up just yet. Xuzai disappeared and then reappeared right in front of him. You need to rest. There will be plenty of time to see her later, he continued, holding out a hand to stop Riku from going any farther. Knocking the Sorcerer's hand out of the way, Riku brushed past and started to pull on his clothes. Again Xuzai tried to stop him by standing in his way.

You must rest. The effects of using that much darkness have greatly weakened you and have even plunged this world into darkness, Xuzai explained waving a hand towards the window to show the moonlit night outside. To be safe we must... The Dark Shade was in the middle of speaking when Riku loomed over him, his turquoise eyes flashing dangerously.

"Get out of my way or Destiny Islands won't be the only one feeling the effects of my power." Riku let his threat hang in the air and Xuzai stared back at him before shaking his head and moving aside. Satisfied, the lanky teen pulled off his hospital gown. Grabbing his undershirt, Riku pulled it over his bare chest and then slid his black shirt, then his lighter yellow vest over it. Xuzai gave a disgruntle mutter and turned away in disgust.

Hearts hold such feeble emotions... fine... she's down on the right.

Ignoring the Dark Shade's tone, Riku decided to forgo his socks and just slid his bare feet into his shoes. Stuffing the laces down into the sides he winced and clutched his side as a flare of pain shot up through his body. Taking a deep breath he pushed through it and headed out the door.

The hallway was dark and empty. Peering into some of the rooms Riku could see that most of the patients were sleeping. He hadn't checked the clock and didn't want to bother to stop and find one now. Riku had to force himself to slow down and carefully check the name tags beside every doorway. Then, suddenly, the familiar voices of his friends caught his attention. Riku hesitated and came to a stop just outside the door. The teenager leaned forward and realized that Sora and Kairi were talking. For a moment he considered leaving them alone to finish, but ultimately his concern won out.

Stepping up the door, Riku could see Kairi curled up on the bed with Sora sitting in a chair next to the bed. Roxas and Namine were standing over near the window. Once again Howler was nowhere to be found, but that could wait until later. Knocking lightly on the door a silence fell as everyone turned to look at him.

Kairi's eyes widened and Sora jumped to his feet. A smile burst out across his face and then slipped slightly as he rubbed his spiky hair.

"Um... Riku?"

All four were giving him some pretty funny looks so Riku nodded and gave them a forced smile.

"Yeah, it's me.... really me. That creature that took over my body earlier hasn't said a word since. I think he's upset at something," Riku commented feigning a light tone of voice. Roxas leaned over and whispered something to Namine. Shortly afterwords both Nobodies disappeared. Sora glanced over at where they had been standing and then looked back to his older friend. Shuffling uneasily he motioned to the chair behind him.

"Why don't you sit down? You look like your in pain." Sora observed with a critical eye. Riku nodded a thank you and took a seat in the chair. He couldn't quite muffle the sigh of relief that came as he slumped down in the chair.

By now Kairi had shifted her position and raised the back of her hospital bed up so that she could see her friends better. The look in her eyes bothered Riku more than anything though. She was looking at him as if she expected her friend to leap over and attack. Then again after everything that had happened so far this week Riku couldn't really say that he blamed her. Still it was troubling to see her staring at him in such a way. His unease must have shown on his face because Kairi cleared her throat and looked away down to her bed sheets.

"Do... do you remember what happened?" Kairi's voice was barely above a whisper. She kept trying to hide her left arm from his view, but Riku could still see red, blistering welts peeking out from behind her fingers. It looked as if something... or someone had grabbed and burned her.

Glancing down at his own hands, Riku gave a miniscule grimace. It was obvious that Kairi didn't want him to see the damage that he... or rather that dragon... had done to her. So he wouldn't comment on it directly .

Lifting his head, Riku finally caught Kairi's eyes and nodded slightly to show that he understood what had happened to her.

"No. But that Nobody... sorry, that Dark Shade, Xuzai gave me a summary of what happened." Riku paused for a moment to let that sink in. "So I know everything..." he added looking back and forth between his friends. Upon hearing that Kairi swallowed hard and gripped the bedsheets tightly. Her gaze slipped away from his once again, but she stayed silent.

"After falling asleep up in my room I woke up... somewhere else." Riku frowned at that bland description. Shaking his head he corrected himself, "It was a dark, empty space where I came face-to-face with the creature that took over me earlier. It showed me my heart... a heart of darkness with light dancing around it. Sometimes both elements would come together, but it happened so quickly that I couldn't really get a good look at it," he explained.

Leaning back in his chair, Riku rubbed his temple as his headache increased.

"It was a huge oriental type dragon with gray-blue scales that spoke to me. It said that the Dragon of Twilight can channel the power of Shadow's Veil and Kingdom Hearts. So apparently what I'm going through is a lot different," Riku paused for a moment as he thought about what Xuzai had told him. That could wait until later though.

"It didn't get into the details, but apparently he did something bad and the Dragon of Darkness and the Dragon of Light at the time punished him for it. The Heartless and Nobodies were also growing in number at the time and there were new worlds in between light and dark that needed oversight. So they cursed the dragon to keep him from hurting other people again. Shadow's Veil or Kingdom Hearts normally choose a person to represent them, but this new position was different. So after finding a heart with the right qualifications they bind this... this creature to the person so that he can test them and see if they're qualified to be the Dragon of Twilight," Riku stopped and took a deep breath to make sure he was getting all of this right.

Running a hand through his hair, Riku let out a deep breath before continuing, "Apparently he has the power to read hearts. If a person can use the power of light, darkness, and is up to snuff, then he gives them his power. After that I assume they then become the Dragon of Twilight," he summed up for them.

Sora made a face at that. "But what if they don't pass its... his tests? What if they aren't good enough?" He pressed urgently.

Suddenly Kairi spoke up. Her eyes were still staring down and her voice trembled when she spoke, "He consumes their heart... he literally devours it... but all the hearts he's eaten are gone for good. There's no way to bring them back... ever." She had her arms crossed to shelter her injured arm from view and now she pulled them even closer to her body.

Sora looked over at his friend, clearly wanting him to deny it. Riku, however, looked away and refused to meet his gaze. He didn't know if it was true or not, but it wouldn't be very surprising if it was. The Keyblade Master opened his mouth to say something else, but was interrupted by a knock at the door. Everyone turned around to see Howler leaning into the room. With a curt nod the werewolf switched his attention to Riku.

"Sorry to interrupt, but Shinkiro has come around as well. He and Xuzai would like to speak to you about what happens next," Howler explained to them. When Sora moved to get up the werewolf hesitated.

Standing tall the teenager stood firm and crossed his arms. "Whatever they have to say they can say with all of us in the room," Sora determined.

Howler shrugged at that, "Don't look at me... I'm just the messenger here," he clearly stated to absolve himself of any responsibility.

That was enough for Sora apparently. He turned to Riku with a cheeky grin and flashed them a thumbs up. "See there? We just need to take this one step at a time and not get paranoid about anything," he said in a calm reassuring tone.

Riku frowned and didn't answer. Once more he looked over at Kairi and she actually flinched when she saw him watching her. With a tight grimace, the teenager quickly looked away, but the pain that stabbed at his heart like daggers couldn't be taken care of so easily. Sitting up he climbed to his feet and silently turned towards the door.

This is all my fault... every time I'm around my friends they get hurt. I knew that I was right before... I never should have let Sora convince me otherwise, Riku closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again he had made his decision.

Sora raised an eyebrow, but Riku had his face set angrily to ward off any questions. Howler moved aside so that he could pass and the tall young man was about to leave when a soft voice spoke up.

"Riku?"

Kairi's gentle, fearful voice pulled at his heart strings and forced Riku to stop.

"Your going to leave aren't you? Just like you did before?"

Riku flinched at her words, but didn't turn back to face her. He could feel Sora's gaze on his back also

Kairi took a deep shaky breath before speaking again. "I can tell... I can tell by the look in your eyes. Its just like before when you talked about building the raft and leaving the islands." Kairi's deduction was spot on and Riku didn't bother to deny it. There was no point.

Sora reached out and rested a hand on his shoulder, but Riku shrugged it off and set his jaw stubbornly.

Kairi let out a cry of frustration. "I can understand you being upset, but why? Why would you leave us again?" she demanded of him. Riku finally turned around, his eyes dark and troubled. Still he didn't respond to her probing questions. Her eyes were begging him for answers and she shook her head in frustration at his silence.

"Sora went through so much to find you and bring you back home... and now your just going to throw it all away? Why! Why are you doing this to us again! I thought we were you friends! Friends stick around and help each other, they don't just run away when things get tough!" Kairi sharply accused him.

Riku stood up straight and motioned towards the windows, "Run away? Run away? Look at the darkness outside, look at the damage done to my parent's home... or better yet, look right down at the mark on your arm... I think that should be more than enough of an answer for you," he said in pinched tone of voice.

"I never even wanted to come back here... I only did it because Sora managed to convince me that I truly deserved to come back home to my family. Now, though, I can see that I was right all along. I never should have come back here. No matter how hard I try, I always bring my troubles with me. I've gotten you, Sora, my family, and now all of Destiny Island involved in this matter. That's not fair to you or anyone else and I'm not going to allow it to happen anymore," Riku stated his eyes flashing with determination before he turned and left the room.

Howler stared after him and then looked back at Sora and Kairi. The werewolf stood there for a moment and then headed out to follow Riku.

Kairi looked away in disgust as tears started to stream down her face. Sora's eyes softened as he watched her. Walking over to her he sat down next to her and put his hand over hers.

"Don't worry Kai... I'll talk some sense into him. You know how impulsive Riku is. Right now he's frustrated, confused, and upset... he just needs time to stop and think for a moment about what he's doing. I promise I won't just let him leave us again," Sora promised. Looking up at him, Kairi's teary eyes begged him to do something. With a confident smile, Sora squeezed her hand and then stood up. Hurrying out the door he rushed off to go and catch his friend so he could talk to him.

AN: Hello! This chapter is all about Riku and his troubles. Sorry for taking so long, but trust me I'm working on fixing that. Hope you liked the chapter and I'll try not to take so long. Anyway, I'm sure you were surprised by the ending. But will Riku actually leave is the question. Hmm, well we'll just have to wait and see what happens won't we? :)

I might through Kazana back into the mix in the next chapter and you can be sure that we'll be getting back to see how Nazairah is handling the death of her parents. So much trouble and so little time in which to get it done.

Thank you so much for reading and I'll trying not to take so long next time! (Yes I know that I always say this but I really mean it!) The chapter is proofread, complete, and posted for you to enjoy!

So with that done please review!!