Chapter 37

Riku stood in Captain Hook's cabin waiting impatiently for Smee to bring Kairi to the room. He had awoken less than two hours ago and already things were going awry. When he awoke, Maleficent had been there to inform him about Kairi's true condition. It pained him to hear the words come out of her mouth. Kairi was a lifeless puppet without her heart, and it was because of him. He had to do whatever he could to get her heart back. The more he thought about it the more the darkness inside of him festered; especially since he received a new power from Maleficent to control the Heartless. He never felt more alive, but the feeling in the pit of his stomach was growing more than he liked to admit. With everything happening around him he couldn't help but feel the familiar pang of guilt rush through him.

The Jolly Roger was making its way from space back down to Neverland to drop Wendy off on the world. Riku still couldn't believe it when Maleficent told him with one look at Wendy that she wasn't one of the princesses she needed. So much for all that work he put into capturing her as it all ended up being a complete waste of time. Riku began to pace the room as his nerves were beginning to stand on end. Everything was going wrong all at once. Shortly after Maleficent had left, Hook spotted a gummi ship not far off and immediately ordered his men to capture it. Riku would never understand that pirate; always putting his greed above the mission. They captured the ship without much problem and of all people it ended up being Sora's ship; finally a stroke of luck for Riku or at least he was hoping it would have been. Sora was being just as stubborn as usual, telling Riku that he was doing everything wrong and that he was being stupid for going into the darkness.

"He doesn't understand!" Riku mumbled irately under his breath. "While he's been playing hero I've been growing more powerful and even found Kairi… What did he do? Get that stupid Keyblade?"

He wasn't sure why he was complaining to the world about his problems and frankly he felt rather childish for his jealous rage; however, it was swiftly consuming him. As much as he had his moments of guilt he had even more moments of feeling misunderstood. He was doing the right thing; with the power of the Heartless now on his side he didn't have to be afraid of anything anymore. Once he saved Kairi he could go out to find Hinata; then everything would be perfect. He would protect both of them. His heart was twisting with mixed emotions, especially when he heard that Sora had broken out of the brig Riku had him thrown into. Now Sora was on his way to him, he had to get out of there; he just needed Smee to bring Kairi.

"Here she is!" Smee chimed in an annoyingly sing-song voice as he burst into the room holding Kairi.

Without saying anything, Riku rushed over and grabbed Kairi from Smee. After Riku had her in his arms, Smee uncomfortably rubbed his hands together before scurrying out of the cabin to aid Captain Hook with whatever he needed. Riku readjusted Kairi in his arms so he could outstretch one of his hands to summon a Corridor of Darkness. He faced the door that led out to the deck of the ship and closed his eyes to imagine a place to connect to. As his eyes were closed he felt a surge of energy within the room but ignored it, focusing on his own powers. Hollow Bastion was too far away for him to connect to without using too much energy so he thought of the first thing that came to mind; the second star on the right, or London as Wendy had put it. Within seconds the portal was created and he opened his eyes before stepping through.

"Riku?" Hinata's surprised voice came from behind, making Riku freeze.

Slowly, Riku turned hearing his own heart drumming in his ears. Hinata couldn't be there, not now; but there she was standing holding her blades at her sides staring at him shocked and confused. Swallowing in an attempt to coat his dry throat, Riku stammered, "Hinata? What are you doing here?"

Hinata seemed lost for words as she open and closed her mouth a few times trying to catch her mind up with everything happening. She glanced down at Kairi in his arms then back up at his confused eyes. After a couple seconds she breathily laughed and said, "I could ask you the same thing. I came here looking for Sora. We were headed to Traverse Town to look for you… actually."

"Look for me?" Riku repeated softly. He was about to ask more when Sora, Donald, and Goofy burst into the room.

Sora took one look at Kairi in Riku's arms and saw the black portal behind Riku; knowing that Riku was trying to escape he called out, "Riku, wait!"

Without answering, Riku gave one look to Hinata before backing into the portal and bowing his head down. As he disappeared into the portal a black Heartless shaped exactly like Sora sprouted from the ground right in front of Sora, Donald, and Goofy. Hinata immediately sheathed her swords and made her way towards the portal that was somehow still open.

"Hinata, don't!" Sora called out to her as he summoned his Keyblade to take on the new foe.

Briefly stopping in front of the portal, Hinata told him, "I can't just let him leave like that Sora. I'm sorry!"

Ignoring the calls from Sora, Donald, and Goofy she entered the portal and appeared in the Corridor of Darkness. She clenched at her chest as she felt the surrounding darkness seeping into her and aggravating her wound. Seeing Riku walking along with Kairi in his arms towards the light at the end of the corridor she jogged as best as she could to catch up to him. Despite all the rest she had been getting lately her injury was still causing her to be weaker than she liked to admit.

"Riku, wait up!" She called after him as she tried to catch up.

He slowed his pace and looked back at Hinata noting, "I'm surprised you actually followed me."

As Hinata finally reached him she caught her breath and gave him a small smile. "Of course I did."

Riku smiled back, still trying to gather everything that had just happened. Hinata was the last person he wanted to see with how he was feeling and what he was doing; but now that she was in front of him he didn't care about any of that. Even if for that single moment everything seemed right again. Standing side by side they made their way to the light to exit the corridor. They walked in comfortable silence until they entered the light and had to adjust their eyes to their new surroundings.

Gasping at the sight, Hinata looked out at the miles and miles of rooftops that spread out under the starry night sky. They seemed to be standing on a large tower and as Hinata peeked over the edge of where they stood she saw a bright round clock face beneath them. As Riku placed Kairi on the ground and walked up beside her she asked, "Where are we?"

"I think it's called London." Riku told her, looking out at their surroundings equally interested in the new place before glancing up at the round full moon in the sky. He heard Hinata turn around to walk away but he continued to stare at the moon. Reality was beginning to set into him. He was more powerful than he ever thought possible; yet he still felt so helpless. Outstretching his arm he reached towards the moon until the palm of his hand was covering it from his sight then he clenched his hand into a fist as if he was trying to grab it. Pulling his arm back towards him he opened his hand only to find it empty, making his heart sink. Even with all the darkness and power inside him, he still had limitations. Tightly closing his eyes, he abruptly put his arm back down to his side.

"Is Kairi alright?" Hinata asked worriedly, bringing Riku out of his thoughts.

Turning around, he saw Hinata knelt down beside Kairi with her hand on her shoulder. He wasn't sure how to answer her but eventually decided just to give her the truth, "She lost her heart."

"What?" Hinata interrupted, standing up immediately. "How?"

Riku knew the reason but lied, "I-I don't know. It's how Maleficent found her."

Hinata looked back at Kairi and felt her eyes well up with tears. She finally could be reunited with her sister only to find her without a heart. Forcing herself to push away the emotion she asked, "Is there anything we can do?"

"Yeah," Riku smiled to himself that Hinata was already so willing to help, "Maleficent says that if we get seven princesses of pure light together they'll open something called the heart of the world and we can get Kairi a new heart from it… or something like that."

"Is that what Maleficent wanted Jasmine for?" Hinata concluded after she thought about what Riku said for a couple minutes.

Riku crossed his arms and took a couple steps towards Hinata, "Yeah, I think so."

"You didn't hurt her did you?" Hinata looked over at Riku.

Suddenly feeling his heart twang with frustration he bit, "Is that all you care about? We haven't seen each other in days and the first thing you ask is if I kept some promise to protect someone you barely knew?"

"Well did you?" Hinata pried further.

Riku scoffed, "No I didn't." He turned to look back out over London, "And it's great to see you too. Anything else you want to quiz me on?"

Hinata reluctantly left Kairi's side and walked up beside Riku, "No… I'm sorry. I'm really happy to see you. And thanks."

After a moment of tense silence he asked, "For what?"

"For keeping your promise," She told him, "It means a lot."

Riku relaxed his muscles that he was unintentionally keeping tensed; his frustrated outburst was simmering down. Taking a deep breath he asked, "So you were travelling with Sora?"

Hinata nodded, "It wasn't intentional. After I left Hollow Bastion I decided to call my black device thing with the one you gave me and these two chipmunks picked up."

"Chipmunks?" Riku repeated flabbergasted.

Giggling, Hinata continued, "Yeah, the chipmunks were the engineers on Sora's gummi ship and let my ship's navigation to meet them at their next world, Atlantica."

"Engineer chipmunks," Riku said under his breath, "The longer we are away from the islands the weirder things we see."

"I think you're right." Hinata agreed with a smile before remembering the animosity between Riku and Sora. Fidgeting her hands in front of her she asked, "Are you upset that I travelled with Sora? I mean after all the trouble you two are going through."

"No." Riku told her matter-of-factly, "I mean, I was at first; but honestly, I am just glad you're safe. I didn't know when I'd see you again."

"What did you do when we were apart?" Hinata pried, trying to seem nonchalant.

Riku saw through her facade and crossed his arms, "You know, stuff."

"Still as secretive as ever," Hinata muttered under her breath.

"I don't know why you need to know." Riku defended, feeling his emotions rising, "We're together now. Who cares what happened when we were apart?"

"Alright, fine. I'm sorry I asked." Hinata waved her hands frustrated in front of her before taking a deep breath, trying to keep her cool. If she was going to keep them on good terms she needed to tread carefully. It was obvious that Riku was on the fence emotionally. Turning around, she walked back over to Kairi and knelt down beside her. Placing her hand on her shoulder she asked, "How are you getting her back to Hollow Bastion?"

"I was going to summon a portal like I did to get here." Riku informed her.

"Do you just want to take my ship?" Hinata suggested, wanting to make sure Kairi was safe.

"What, and deal with your constant moral nagging the whole way?" Riku bit with his back to her, "No thanks."

Hinata widened her eyes and looked up at Riku. She couldn't believe he said that. Looking saddened back at Kairi she mumbled, "I didn't realize you felt that way."

"Just mind your own business." Riku scolded, he wasn't sure what caused him to lash out suddenly but he couldn't stop himself. His anger was beginning to boil out of control.

Standing up abruptly, Hinata clenched her fists and told him adamantly, "No, I won't mind my own business!" Riku looked back at her both surprised and angered as she continued, "I tried being nice about this but I can't help it anymore Riku, you need to snap out of it! Sora told me everything that happened back at Monstro."

Riku scoffed, "And you're just taking his word for it?"

"It's not like you've done much to convince me otherwise." Hinata pointed out, "Did you really try to steal that small boy's heart?"

"He was a puppet!" Riku argued, turning towards Hinata, "He shouldn't have had a heart to begin with!"

"That doesn't matter, he was a living being!" Hinata defended, "Back in Wonderland we saw living playing cards that had hearts and you weren't trying to take their hearts!"

"I wasn't under any orders to." He countered.

"Is that all that matters to you?" She asked in disbelief, "Following orders no matter the cost? Did you ever stop to think that what you're doing is wrong?"

"You see? This is exactly what I'm talking about!" Riku waved his arms in the air yelling, "I can't even have a normal conversation with you without you nagging me about every decision I've made. Why can't you just leave it alone and just be happy we get to see each other?"

"Because Riku, this path you're following is wrong! Why can't you see that?" Hinata grabbed his arm, desperately trying to get through to him.

"Just leave me alone!" Riku yelled, roughly pushing Hinata away, "All you're doing is getting in my way!"

Hinata stumbled backwards as Riku placed his hand above her chest and shoved her away. Placing her hand over her chest, she grimaced and turned around as her injury stung from the contact. The corners of her eyes stung with tears from both the pain and the emotional hurt Riku had just inflicted on her. Her hand began to feel moist and as she pulled it away from her shirt she widened her eyes when she saw that blood was covering her hand; the wound had reopened. Tightly clenching her fist she cursed under her breath.

Riku immediately turned towards Hinata when he heard her curse and widened his eyes when he saw red liquid dripping down her hand. Immediately all of his bottled rage washed away as he rushed to her side. As he came up beside her he placed a hand on her shoulder and asked, "Hinata, what's wrong?"

Hinata scoffed and shoved his hand away, "What, now you care?"

"Just show me," Riku softly ordered her and when she didn't immediately comply he urged, "Hinata, please."

With a deep sigh, Hinata slowly unbuttoned her blood stained vest to reveal the raw and once again bleeding injury. Riku's mouth gaped open as he saw the wound; he was expecting a cut or bruise but not the deep blackened hole right above her chest. The familiar protective urge began boiling up inside him as he remembered what Jafar did to her.

Firmly placing his hands on Hinata's shoulders to force her to look at him he asked, "Who did this?"

Avoiding eye-contact Hinata answered, "A sea-witch called Ursula. She got me with a cheap shot from a trident. You don't have to worry though, Sora took care of her."

"Of course he did." Riku said irately. Even though he knew Ursula was gone he still felt rage festering inside.

"Donald saved my life…" Hinata whispered causing Riku to look up from her wound to her face before she continued, "According to a girl named Attina I was almost…" She gulped, "She said I was almost dead but then Sora found me and ordered Donald to do a healing spell on me; it wasn't enough to completely heal me but it stopped the bleeding and woke me up."

"I… I almost lost you." Riku tightened his grip on Hinata's shoulders feeling his darkness rising inside of him. "I should have been there to save you. Not Sora."

"What?" Hinata looked up surprised at Riku, "Why would you say that?"

Without answering, Riku placed his hand slightly above Hinata's injury and felt her tense as a green mist began to emanate from his hand. Hinata winced as the green mist touched her skin. It felt as if needles were digging into her. In an attempt to make him stop she shoved at his shoulder but he stood firm.

"What are you doing?" She asked between her ragged breaths, trying to keep her voice under control as she wanted to yell out in pain.

"Healing you…" He muttered, trying to stay focused.

Hinata clenched her hands into tight fists and purposefully dug her nails into her palms to distract herself from the discomfort. She felt every piece of movement of the mist as it spread through her supposedly healing her. Futilely trying to push him away, she let out a small cry of pain, "Stop, you're hurting me!"

Riku momentarily looked up from his hand and assured her, "It won't hurt for long. Just let me finish."

Hinata leaned her head against the stone wall that was behind her and stared at the ceiling, trying to take her mind off the pain. She startled when Riku slightly staggered and placed his free arm on the wall beside her. Looking down she saw Riku breathing heavily and sweating as he continued to heal her.

"Riku, stop," She grated out when a spike of discomfort shot through her, "You're pushing yourself too far."

Riku struggled for breath and clenched his hand against the wall as he argued, "No, I need to do this."

"No you don't," Hinata assured him, beginning to worry for him, "Donald said this would take multiple sessions to heal completely. You can't do this all at once."

"Yes I can!" Riku defended as he clenched his teeth, feeling his energy draining swiftly.

Not sure of how else to get through to him, Hinata reached up to grab his shirt and pulled him into a kiss. She pressed her lips against his and ignored the spike of pain that coursed through her from the sudden movement. At first Riku half-heatedly tried to push her away but he was so weak he gave up without much of a fight. Slowly, his hand over Hinata's wound slid up to behind her neck as he began welcoming the sudden affection. His energy was sapped dry and even kissing was proving too much as he broke the kiss to regain his breath, staggering into Hinata.

Hinata yelped surprised as she caught Riku and was unintentionally pushed against the wall from his weight. Realizing he was exhausted she wrapped her arms around Riku and waited for him to regain his strength. They stood in silence as Riku's heavy breaths slowly regulated.

Once she was certain he was breathing normally she asked, "Why did you do that?"

Riku stayed silent for a moment before reluctantly admitting, "I don't know."

"When did you learn to do that?" She moved on.

"Maleficent healed my knuckles after you left and I learned how to do it." Riku told her. With how weak he was it was harder to maintain his secretive resolve. "I use the darkness to do it."

"The darkness," Hinata repeated, feeling her heart sink. She wanted to press him further but she knew he was in no state for her prying.

Knowing Riku needed to rest, she softly pushed Riku away from her and helped him sit down against the wall. She had never seen him in such a state. It was as if he couldn't do anything himself. As he sat down he closed his eyes and shifted his head to lie on Hinata's shoulder when she sat next to him.

Hinata looked out at the shining homes of London as she pressed her cheek against Riku's head. After a moment of silence she asked, "Are you still upset with me?"

"I don't think so…" Riku answered honestly, feeling himself losing focus, "I guess… I just can't stay mad at you."

She stayed silent at Riku's reply and felt his breaths slow into slumber within minutes; he really had put everything he had into healing her. There was no way she was going to let him create a portal to get back to Hollow Bastion. Taking a deep breath she realized that there was something missing; it was pain. Her wound would usually be protesting in all sorts of ways from all of her movement; however within minutes the pain was gone. Looking down she examined the state of her injury and was surprised to see it had decreased exponentially in size. It was no longer bleeding and was instead a simple rough scab. If anything it was horribly distasteful to look at; however, it no longer was raw and opened. With it in its current state, Hinata would be able to get back into the fray with fighting and helping out. Hinata sighed in relief and leaned into Riku with a smile, thankful for what he had done. She knew that within minutes they would have to once again go separate ways; but in that moment she didn't want to think of anything else but being by Riku's side. All of their disagreements could wait till later.

As Riku slept beside her, Hinata let her mind wander to all the hurtful things Riku had said to her before he saw her wound. She didn't know what had gotten into him. He had never taken that tone with her and it reminded her of his father. She slightly trembled at the thought, Riku would hate to hear that he was akin to his father even if only for a moment; but perhaps it would be worth bringing up to him later. Either way, she knew he had said those things out of anger and had not really meant any of it; however, that didn't mean it still didn't hurt. She took a deep breath, trying to even out her confused emotions about Riku. Looking over she saw Kairi still slumped unnaturally on the ground staring absently at the ground. She hadn't moved since Riku put her there and Hinata suddenly felt embarrassed that she and Riku had kissed in front of her. Hinata couldn't believe that Kairi had lost her heart and she wondered how she had. If Maleficent was to be trusted, which was doubtful, when someone lost their heart they gave into the darkness inside them; but there wasn't an ounce of darkness inside Kairi. It didn't make any sense. Hinata had to find out what happened; Kairi was her sister after all. Feeling her own eyes get heavy, Hinata let go of her better judgement and fell into a light slumber beside Riku.

"Who are you?" A young girl's voice startled Hinata awake.

Trying to catch her mind up with what was happening; Hinata looked around when she saw a young girl with brown curly hair wearing a long blue dress. Hinata lightly shook Riku's shoulder waking him. As he grunted in reply that he didn't want to get up yet she whispered to him, "We aren't alone up here."

Riku forced his eyes open and paled slightly when he saw Wendy standing in front of them with her hands on her hips. As he pulled himself to stand Wendy recognized him.

She gasped, "It's you! What are you doing here in London?"

"You know her?" Hinata asked.

"It's a long story," Riku told her.

"A long story indeed," Wendy crossed her arms in frustration, "You kidnapped me right in front of my younger brothers!"

"You did what?" Hinata shot her eyes back to Riku who was quickly beginning to feel cornered.

"Him and that blonde man, Bedivere I believe his name was." Wendy clarified, then looked at Hinata, "Madam you are with a wanted criminal!"

"I am not a criminal!" Riku defended feeling way too tired to be dealing with the accusations.

"Riku…" Hinata whispered, trying to calm him down but also confused how Bedivere could have helped Riku capture Wendy.

"Are you really going to take her side just like that?" Riku exclaimed, flinging his hands into the air. "You're unbelievable!"

"What?" Hinata put her hands up in surrender, "No, I'm trying to get you to calm down."

"He took me away from my family and had me taken to a pirate ship where they locked me away!" Wendy continued, feeling that Hinata needed to know the truth. When Hinata turned to look at her, she continued. "He captured Peter Pan as well as a boy named… I believe his name was Sora and his friends."

"You captured them? Sora is your best friend!" Hinata turned to look at Riku, surprised when she saw him standing farther away from her holding Kairi in his arms. Her eyes widened as she took a step towards him, "No Riku, where are you going?"

"I already told you, I'm going to Hollow Bastion to save Kairi." Riku bit, his darkness replenishing as anger coursed through him.

"Let me take you on the ship!" Hinata pleaded, "I want to save Kairi as much as you do and you aren't strong enough to make it to Hollow Bastion with that portal!"

"He can't go anywhere unless he can fly." Wendy noted but quickly quieted down when Hinata glared back at her telling her to stay out of it.

"You aren't willing to do what's necessary." Riku told Hinata as he looked down at Kairi in his arms. "I have to do this myself. I owe Kairi that much,"

Hinata knitted her eyebrows in confusion, "What do you mean you owe her? Why would you owe her?"

Without answering, Riku summoned a corridor and right before he walked through he looked over his shoulder at Hinata then turned and disappeared into the portal. Hinata ran as quick as she could but the portal had dissipated before she even took a step.

Hinata let out a yell of anger, "How could I have been so stupid?" She knelt down and buried her face into her hands; she had done it again, let Riku go when she knew he was only going to fall more into darkness without her.

"Is everything alright?" Wendy asked gently as she approached Hinata.

Lifting her face Hinata admitted, "No it's not." Standing up she grabbed her black device off of her vest and concluded, "But it will be." She pressed the beam button on her device but nothing happened. Hinata looked down confused at her device and pressed it again; but once more nothing happened. That's when she realized that she was on a completely different world than Neverland; in fact she had no idea how far Neverland even was. Clipping her device back to her vest she grumbled, "Well this is just great! Not only did I let Riku run off with my sister I also got myself stranded in a whole other world!"

"How are you going to get home?" Wendy asked.

Hinata crossed her arms and sighed in frustration, "I have no idea…" She looked over at Wendy, "How did you get here if you were kidnapped?"

"Oh, Peter Pan rescued me!" Wendy proudly told Hinata then noted, "And I believe that boy Sora was with him."

"Well at least he's safe…" Hinata admitted looking out at London. She had no idea how she was going to get to Hollow Bastion but she was going to do it; she wasn't about to leave Riku in the state he ran off in and she had to get Kairi back, no matter what.

*** Author's Note: Thank you everyone for reading! I really hope you enjoyed this chapter. I wanted to thank everyone for reading this story and for all of the amazing feedback. I am sorry if I don't reply to a review, I have a hard time knowing how to reply; but know that I greatly appreciate every piece of feedback. I hope everyone has a great week! ***