Disclaimer: not mine

Chapter 2

Sora saw the first signs of the younger male beginning to regain consciousness four days later. The test results had left everyone confused, even after running a comparison on Sora since they came from the same World. This wasn't Riku, the results simply didn't match what they knew about him, except he was from Destiny Islands too. Other than being too young, the results did match what they would expect until he turned fifteen…the same age Riku had been when he'd opened the door and doomed their home. This guy's results though showed that he'd spent time back on the Islands since then, when Sora knew Riku had never been back.

He was human genetically though…which meant someone had burnt and coloured that mark on his back and that made Sora feel sick, no one deserved that and he hoped the guy had been unconscious for it at least. He was too old to be Riku's kid but the scientists were positive that he wasn't a Replica or some kind of clone. So why did he look like Riku? They were still running over the data gathered from his Heart to see what else they could learn of his origins.

Sora winced as the stranger began struggling against the tube in his throat and the restraints on the bed, body weak from illness and sedation. "Hey! Hey, take it easy. Don't try and fight the tube, let it breath for you," he chided, moving closer, keeping his voice gentle. Somehow this person knew him so…and there it was, he was relaxing.

Sora heard the whimper and leant forward, blocking the strong overhead light with his body. It gave him a perfect view of cyan eyes as they blinked open, seeing the relief in them but then then the other jerked, eyes going wide in fear. Riku had never been scared of him, even when forced to retreat in a fight…but no matter the physical similarities, this wasn't Riku. He began struggling again and Sora winced.

"Easy," he held his hands up, showing they were empty, "you've been very sick. Do you know who I am?"

The Riku look-alike stared at him before his gaze darted around, fear building with what he could see and yeah, the lab in Radiant Garden's castle probably wasn't very comforting.

"No one will hurt you," Sora promised, "as long as you don't try to hurt anyone. I'm going to call and see if they can take the tube out." He quickly pulled out his Gummiphone and made the call.

Thankfully, Ienzo was soon there and checking the monitors, watching the one for the other's breathing, before nodding and agreeing to remove the tube. Sora shifted, forcing himself to be on guard in case he could cast magic with a word or anything. It'd be the perfect time to attack after all, when they'd least expect it. They needed something to call him if he didn't, hopefully he'd be willing to tell them his name, then he'd be able to reassure everyone when he checked in. He hadn't told them about what he'd found yet, not wanting anyone to do anything rash, no matter how much seeing what looked like a younger, more Light, Riku hurt.

The tube was out and Ienzo was giving him ice chips to suck on to sooth his throat, the other staring at them warily. Ienzo shook his head. "You have been unconscious in our care for several days, if we were going to harm or kill you, we would have already done so."

Still, the other boy hesitated, and Sora realised he recognised Ienzo and was…not scared of him, but definitely suspicious. Finally, he accepted the ice, sucking on it, before coughing.

"The irritation in your throat will fade," Ienzo told him. "You swallowed sea water which did not help the infection your body was already trying to fight, likely due to the burns on your back."

That got a confused frown. "B…" he coughed and swallowed. "Burns?" Even his voice sounded like Riku's.

"You weren't aware?" Ienzo asked in concern, looking at Sora who was also frowning, but at least it meant he hadn't felt the burns being made. The scientist pulled out his phone and brought up the image they had taken, showing it to him.

Sora watched him pale, cyan eyes wide in shock, his breathing speeding up. "Hey, calm down," he called as the heart rate monitor began to beep.

"He…he said…" the teen shook his head, eyes clenching shut. He? Xehanort? The real Riku?

"Can you tell us your name?" Ienzo asked, and the teen's eyes snapped open, looking between them in confusion.

He tried to move, jerking against the restraints. "What…Sora?" he looked at him, studying him. "No," he shook his head. "You're not…you're not Sora. Where am I? Is this more of the Dream Worlds?" he still sounded groggy, eyes a little unfocused, probably due to the sedation.

"What do you mean I'm not Sora?" he asked, why would someone think he wasn't himself?

The teen glared at him, eyes narrowing, and Sora felt the Darkness shift in response to his anger, sluggishly though due to his obvious exhaustion even if adrenaline was helping wake him up more. "Because you're not!" he snapped before taking a deep breath, the anger calming some. "You're too old and that's just for starters."

Sora glanced at Ienzo who was observing and…yes, taking notes. "Who are you?" he asked, forcing himself to keep calm. "You think I'm too old? You're too young to be who you look like."

"I'm Riku. Is this part of waking him up?"

"Waking who up?" Ienzo asked.

"Sora. I dove into his Heart to wake him up so is this the next test? Like the questions on the beach?" his head slumped back as he panted, breathing slowly evening out again.

Okay, what? Sora looked at Ienzo who seemed puzzled beneath the veil of his hair.

"Riku, how old are you?" Ienzo asked.

He looked between them, obviously confused and wary. "Seventeen, just," he admitted.

What had Riku been doing when he was seventeen? Xehanort had caught up with him at some point during that year and had made him a Vessel. He'd seen Riku once that whole year, before that had happened, they'd fought as was usual now. The scar on Riku's face had been fresh then, red and ugly, and seeing it had hurt, but not as much as the mad hatred in Riku's yellow eyes. He still didn't know why Riku had turned on them; at first he'd thought it was all Maleficent's doing, twisting up his jealousy over how close Sora and Selphie were. He'd thought Riku would be okay after she was defeated, after they had destroyed Ansem too before he could possess Riku. He still remembered grabbing Riku's hand, begging him to come with him, to come home and for a second…for a second he'd thought…but Riku had wrenched free and vanished into a Dark Corridor. They'd fought together to beat Ansem that day but it had been the last time there had been any comrade between them, after that all of their meetings had ended in violence.

"I'll be twenty in three months," Sora managed to say. He couldn't stop himself from reaching out, touching Riku's cheek where the scar should be, feeling Riku go to jerk back before freezing, staring at him with wide eyes…eyes that were a bit foggy from the drugs still. "Your results aren't even close to matching Riku's." So why…why did something in Sora scream that this was Riku.

"I don't understand," Riku whispered, his eyes falling half closed. He looked exhausted, pale from illness, and Sora found himself feeling bad for questioning him in such a state but there was no choice.

"Riku," he called his name, if that was what he knew himself as then he'd use the name. "The symbol on your back, what does it mean?" he pushed, forcing himself to focus on that.

"Dream Eater," was the mumbled answer, Riku's eyelids fluttering, obviously fighting sleep. "Had to…protec…S'ra…" he trailed off, falling asleep, and Sora looked at Ienzo.

"The sedatives will take time to fully wear off, I am surprised he managed to remain awake that long, although adrenaline probably helped. At least we now have a term to narrow down the search parameters."

Sora nodded; he'd never heard the term Dream Eater before.

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Ansem studied their results, the boy believed himself to be Riku so how was that possible? If he was a Replica then giving him those memories would be possible, especially if the real Riku agreed to help. Then again, both Sora and Ienzo agreed that this Riku had recognised him, and yet the real Riku had never met Ienzo or Zexion. The results they had also didn't match that. The computer beeped and he looked at the screen, finding the term Dream Eater and several search results. He read through the information and then glanced at the boy; the symbol matched the one on his back but there was nothing about human looking Dream Eaters. Nothing about the boy added up and it worried him.

There was Darkness in him, even he could sense that, but it was nowhere near the amount the true Riku held. Could this one be saved? And was that the plan, to distract them from finding the lost Guardians? No, Xehanort wanted them found too, he wanted a final battle to create the χ-blade. Hmm…had this Riku been created somehow to be one of the Guardians? The malnutrition and illness could be designed to engender their pity, to ensure they took him in. Then again, they were all wary of Xehanort's tricks, a Riku look-alike would not easily be accepted by those the real one had wronged for years, especially Kairi and Sora.

He heard something rattle and turned to find the boy was awake, pulling frantically at the restraints, eyes wide and breathing too fast. "Calm down," he walked over. The boy might not remember his last waking due to the sedation.

Cyan eyes locked on him, a confused frown appearing on the boy's face. He opened his mouth but coughed, and Ansem gave him some more ice chips which he sucked on. "Ansem?"

"You know me?" he asked.

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Riku woke slowly, feeling heavy and confused…he vaguely recognised the feeling…the time he'd fallen badly from the treehouse. Hospital had sedated him, kept him out while the swelling around his spine had gone down. He tried to move and found he couldn't. He pulled at his arms, beginning to panic as he realised he was restrained. He fought wildly against them, unable to summon his Keyblade with how foggy he felt…though that was clearing.

"Calm down," a familiar voice called, and Riku managed to turn his head, seeing the approaching man. How? He'd vanished when his machine blew up!

He tried to speak only to cough, his throat dry and scratchy. He sucked on the offered ice chips, feeling the dryness fade. It felt familiar…had he woken before… what was going on? "Ansem?" was it really him?

"You know me?" the man asked. He was dressed in…a white lab coat?

Riku nodded, finding himself feeling tired as the adrenaline faded, slumping back. "You drugged me?" he asked, trying to work out where he was.

"You were kept sedated to allow your body to heal. You nearly drowned, do you remember?"

Riku frowned in confusion. He'd… "Sora!" he yelped, looking around wildly, hearing alarms, feeling his heart racing in terror. He had to be there. He had to have saved him.

"Calm down, Sora is in the shower. He has been staying here, see," Ansem motioned and Riku followed the movement to see a cot against the wall. "Do you not remember waking yesterday? The sedatives may be affecting your memory."

Yesterday…Riku frowned, trying to remember. His head hurt and he tried to rub it only to find his hand barely lifting off the table he was lying on. It wasn't really comfortable but at least it had some padding. "Why am I locked up? What's going on?" he grimaced as he got a hazy image of a man…one he'd seen in Castle Oblivion and…Sora but not Sora…not Roxas either. "Where am I?"

"The Castle of Radiant Garden, more precisely within the main lab. Sora brought you here for medical assistance when you appeared in the ocean of Destiny Islands."

"But…we were at Yen Sid's…" he tried to move. "This…this isn't right…"

"Ansem?" a familiar voice…but there was something off… "You're awake." The owner of the voice moved into view and for a second he thought it was Sora but…no, he was too tall, older, his hair cut almost even shorter than his own, though it still managed to spike up, and there was…a scar on his throat, an old one.

Riku pulled against the restraints, staring at the stranger trying to be his best friend. "What is this? You're not Sora!" he pulled harder but there was no give. For the first time since defeating Xemnas, he really wished he could still use the Corridors, he could open one right under himself then and get away, get back to Master Yen Sid's and find out what was happening.

"Calm down, your lungs are still weak from the infection," Ansem warned. He then looked at the Sora look-alike. "He doesn't appear to remember the last time he woke."

The imposter nodded and then moved closer, and Riku tensed. The stranger trying to be his best friend looked him over. "So you're a Dream Eater?"

Riku jerked, what? How could he… Master Yen Sid had told him that before he dove into Sora's Heart. How could he know? Was Riku back in the Sleeping Worlds?

"You said that's what the symbol on your back means, but we found records and they're all animals, so how can you be one?" he asked, he sounded curious, and Riku stared at him. He knew Sora, his every expression, and this person was so close.

"I'm Sora's Dream Eater," he whispered. "You're not him, I'd know."

"And you're not the Riku I know, too young for starters," Sora shot back, there was something in his voice when he mentioned another Riku…something cold. Sora's voice should never be cold.

"Please…I have to save him."

"Save who?"

"Sora…his Heart was put to sleep; I have to wake him up."

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"Sora…his Heart was put to sleep; I have to wake him up."

Sora stared in confusion, what? His Heart had never fallen asleep. This wasn't Riku but then who was he? Had they tried to overwrite someone, to make them into Riku and just made a mess of their memories instead? But everything in his results said he'd grown up on the Islands…

"Ansem?" he looked at the older man, not sure what to think, only to see him stroking his goatee in thought before moving to the computer. Sora looked back at the teenager, seeing the fear and desperation. The idea of any kind of version of Riku so desperate to save him…hurt. He looked at the restraints and saw the skin reddening from where he'd been struggling. "Do you have a Keyblade?" he asked, and Riku blinked at him. He wasn't sure why he'd asked, Riku falling to Darkness had caused his Keyblade to come to him after all, but this one had Light in him, maybe enough to have one.

"Yes," he answered warily.

Which meant if Sora released even one hand, he'd be able to free himself. Despite everything, he'd never been able to bring himself to hate Riku, hate his actions sure, but not him. Even when trying to kill his one-time best friend, part of his Heart held onto the hope that he would come back. Riku having a Keyblade would suggest that despite the Darkness in him that Sora could sense, he was still on the side of the Light. Could he trust that? There were ways to stop someone summoning their Keyblade though… "Which would be better? Having your hands free or knowing you have access to your Keyblade?" he asked, watching as cyan eyes went wide in horror.

"You…you can…" he stammered, and Sora winced.

"Learned that the hard way," he grimaced. That was not exactly a pleasant memory and he'd been very lucky that between Yen Sid and Merlin, they'd worked out how it had been done and how to reverse it.

Riku stared at him, and Sora realised what he was doing, forcing himself to relax totally, letting him read his Heart. He saw him swallow hard, eyes going glassy for a second before Riku looked away, breathing a little more heavily and Sora noted that the wheeze was gone which was good. "Your Heart…" he whispered. "So much pain but…I don't understand, how can you be Sora?" Riku looked back at him, seeming lost.

"You're not the Riku I know, so that rules out any kind of time travel. According to your test results you've even been back to the Islands for a time."

Riku nodded. "After we beat Xemnas, we all went home till Mickey and Yen Sid summoned the two of us for the exam."

"The exam…you've taken the Mark of Mastery exam?" he asked in surprise, not just by that but the familiar way he spoke of the King and Master Yen Sid, as if he knew them well.

Riku nodded. "We took it together but we were separated. The Organisation turned it into a trap for Sora, that's why I have to get back. They put his Heart to sleep to make him the Thirteenth Vessel, Lea got there in time to stop that but Sora won't wake up."

"Lea?" Sora asked, not recognising the name. He figured the more information this 'Riku' gave freely the better, maybe the answers of what he was and where he was from would be in there somewhere.

"You don't…does the Organisation exist?" he asked tiredly, and Sora nodded. "Know a Nobody called Axel?"

"Wait, are you saying Lea is that psycho's Somebody? And that he saved me...er, your Sora?" That fire obsessed maniac had saved him? Whoever had given 'Riku' those memories was nuts. And yet Riku seemed so sure his memories were real…and he seemed to recognise him as Sora just with more pain in his Heart. What was going on! He was going crazy trying to work it out.

"Axel died to save Sora, well maybe more Roxas, when he was recompleted he saved Minnie from Maleficent and then helped us, he has a Keyblade now."

And another new name. Could someone make such realistic memories of new people? "Roxas?"

That got a completely shocked look from Riku. "You…you don't know Roxas?"

"Never heard of them," he answered.

"But…how?" he seemed completely bewildered by Sora's lack of knowledge.

"Who is it?" he pressed.

"Your Nobody," Riku whispered, and Sora jerked back in horror.

"What?" he hissed, that was impossible! He shook his head. "I've never been a Heartless," he denied.

"You have not, but perhaps another Sora has," Ansem spoke up, and he turned to face him.

"What?" he was kind of getting sick of asking that.

"We know that young Riku here is not a Replica, the Riku you knows son, a clone, or any other method we can discover. Nor is he a time traveller. There is perhaps another possibility, as impossible as it may seem. Could you please tell us exactly what was happening in your last memory?" Ansem asked Riku.

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Riku stared at DiZ….Ansem and then at the so-called Sora. His Heart said it was Sora, but how could that be? Even if he'd somehow time travelled…he seemed very positive he'd never been a Heartless which was wrong. Could he trust anything in this place?

He knew Sora had been in the Radiant Garden Castle before, but he hadn't, it had been one place he hadn't dared to shadow Sora, not while wearing that form. He'd only been inside when Maleficent had been using it as her base and that place had been a mess, but the pipes he could see…they looked like the broken ones from the basement levels so it was possible that they were where they were claiming.

Was it even real? Was this something in Sora's Heart? It couldn't be the Organisation, they'd…returned to their own times or something, he hadn't really been listening once he'd spotted Sora's sleeping form on one of their chairs. Seeing Sora older had him wondering if he'd somehow been sent forward except there was no way Sora would forget about Roxas. And the way they were treating him…like he was the enemy.

"Why?" he asked the man, what could they gain from that?

"My current theory is that you are Riku, just not the one from this reality," Ansem answered, and Riku was peripherally aware that Sora was giving him the same stunned look Riku was. Nice to know they both didn't know what to think.

"Another reality?" Sora scoffed after a few moments.

"Such things have been theorised on many worlds for centuries. It would explain much about him and how his memories do not line up with events as well as the test results."

Sora looked at him and Riku met his eyes. Could this really be another version of his best friend? What could have happened to change him so much? And why…why would he look at him like that? There was one reason and it made Riku feel sick.

"He…your Riku…" he licked his lips nervously. "He's your enemy, isn't he?" he wanted so badly for Sora to deny it but he didn't.

If this wasn't his reality then it could be Sora on the wrong side, except he'd felt his Heart and he was Light. Which meant the Riku here had never clawed his way back from the Darkness. He slumped on the table, closing his eyes. Was it really possible that somehow he was in an alternate reality? And if he was…how did he get home?

TBC…