Disclaimer: not mine

Made a name oops in ch2 that I've now fixed so now, when someone is mentioned and causes confusion in this chap it isn't a mistake.

Chapter 3

Sora watched Riku lick his lips, obviously nervous, even as he asked if they were enemies, and Sora couldn't bring himself to answer…which was an answer in itself. He seemed genuinely distraught at the idea of them on opposite sides and Sora wasn't sure how that made him feel. What had made this Riku choose a different path? How had he come back when the Riku he knew just kept walking deeper into the Dark? Of course, that was if he accepted Ansem's theory…he wasn't called Ansem the Wise for nothing though.

If this Riku really did fight for the Light, had been taking his Mark of Mastery exam…would he be willing to stand with them as a Guardian? Would anyone be willing to chance fighting alongside him? He hated being so torn over what to do.

He listened as Riku cautiously explained the basics of what he remembered before waking in the lab. The idea of having a Nobody…it made him shudder. How had he become a Heartless? For a second he wondered if their roles were reversed there and he had fallen so far to the Darkness as to separate Heart from body but that didn't seem to line up with Riku's desperation to save him. It…it was everything he wished the Riku he knew felt, to be such close friends as to risk everything to save him. It would never happen, he knew that, but he could still dream. If Riku was seventeen, then he would have been sixteen, why would Master Yen Sid be putting them through the exam so young? It sounded like it had played right into Xehanort's plans but at least Lea had managed to save that Sora from becoming a Vessel…that was an even worse thought than being a Heartless/Nobody!

Could Ansem be right, could this truly be a Riku from another reality? How had he crossed between them if he was…and how did they return him? They couldn't keep him, it wouldn't be right, and who knew how Riku would react when he found out about a younger, Lighter, version of himself.

Sora sighed silently, he wanted to believe Ansem but it was dangerous to latch onto any explanation without more facts. He could still be a trap after all. He watched Riku try to shift on the exam table, wincing at the pull on his wrists. The restraints were padded to a point but he'd struggled against them earlier, enough to hurt himself. Sora reached out and touched his hand, Riku immediately stilling, staring at him warily. Sending a little healing magic into the limb was as easy as breathing and Riku blinked at him even as he did the other wrist.

"Thanks," Riku murmured.

Sora didn't know how this Riku would be with healing magic, but it didn't matter, those restraints would keep him from casting. "Keyblade or hands free?" he asked again since they'd gotten distracted. Even if Ansem was right, they didn't know enough about him to trust him free.

It was obvious Riku wanted the restraints gone but the idea of being cut off from his Keyblade… well it wasn't something anyone would want. A Keyblade came from the wielders Heart and to be cut off from that, Sora knew what it was like, and it wasn't fun. He'd been badly wounded at the time, but he still remembered the sensation of something being missing, almost like a lost limb, but his Keyblade had been cut off by an enemy, against his will. The theory was that if the wielder agreed to it then it wouldn't feel that bad though.

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Riku was surprised when Sora healed his wrists, he hadn't expected that with how hostile he was being. And then he'd made the offer again, to have access to his Keyblade or to have his hands free. The thought of being cut off from the Keyblade kind of scared him, it had become such an extension of himself, in a way Soul Eater never had been. To give it up, even temporarily (hopefully)…what if it was all a trick and he remained unable to summon it? Was it worth the risk to have some mobility?

If he could believe them, then yes, he'd take the offer to have some freedom, to prove to them he wasn't the enemy. But how could he be positive any of it was real? How did he know the Organisation hadn't grabbed him like they had Sora and tossed him into a created world? After all, when he thought the exam over, a lot of what he'd seen shouldn't have been possible…like seeing Minnie, Mickey, Donald, and Goofy. Their World had never fallen to Darkness so couldn't have been one of the Sleeping Worlds. And neither had the Tower and yet they had appeared there too.

"Is there any way to prove this is real and another reality?" he asked cautiously.

"Hmm…you are wary of some kind of created World or illusion?" Ansem asked, and he nodded.

"There were at least two so-called Sleeping Worlds during the exam which, when looking back, couldn't have existed. One was Master Yen Sid's Tower and the other had Mickey, Donald, Goofy and some others who couldn't have been there."

"I see, yes, that does make things more difficult."

"So how do we prove your theory?" Sora asked, obviously as wary of Riku as he was of him, even with his Heart insisting it was Sora.

"That may take some thought. I suppose meeting others that you know in your own reality won't prove it?" Ansem looked back at him, and Riku shook his head.

"Not when I saw Queen Minnie and Mickey in the so-called Sleeping Worlds," Riku told him. He hadn't thought twice about their presence when he should have, should have listened more to that nagging notion that something was very wrong. Then again, he'd been in Sora's dreams so what else could he have done? "Can't you just send me home?" he had to go home, he had to see that Sora was awake and unharmed.

He didn't want to consider it, but he'd seen Roxas...had seen Anti-form, he knew Sora held Darkness within him, everyone did to some extent. That they had said his Heart was sleeping deep in the Darkness worried him, would that Darkness have affected Sora? Had they saved him from possession to lose him to the type of Darkness Riku himself had once welcomed? He had to get back and see for himself that Sora was fine and if he wasn't then he'd help him, if he could live with his Darkness then surely Sora could learn too. And maybe…maybe that armour had kept Sora himself safe from the Darkness.

"Of all the methods of travel we know of, I know of no way to cross between realities, until meeting you I believed them solely the realm of fiction. I can task the computer to begin research into the matter which I will give as much time to as I can spare; however I cannot guarantee results, especially with no knowledge of how this was done in the first place."

Riku nodded, if this was real then at least he was willing to research ways to get him home. Honestly…it was feeling all too complicated to be fake, all of the Sleeping Worlds had been simple in comparison. He looked at Sora, seeing the flickers of conflict in him, and he felt so sad…how horrible must it be for him to be on opposite sides to his Riku?

"I'd prefer my hands free please," he told Sora who blinked but then nodded.

"Alright, this will feel uncomfortable but it shouldn't hurt. If it does then speak up immediately and I'll stop, you'll just have to keep the restraints on instead," Sora told him firmly, and Riku nodded. Sora placed one hand over his Heart and the other on his forehead and then Riku gasped as magic surged through him. The only reason he didn't try and fight was because it felt like Sora and he instinctively trusted Sora more than anyone else.

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Ansem watched as Riku's eyes rolled back in his head, his body glowing, the glow creeping across his body until it centred over his Heart and then sank in. He had seen Sora after his own Keyblade had been sealed, he'd been like a ghost, but he had been unwilling. Hopefully it would not affect Riku so badly, the poor boy was going through enough as it was and his body was still recovering. He had questions about his condition, if Riku worked with the Light then how had he gotten into such horrible physical condition?

Riku sagged on the padded table, panting, as he regained his senses, and Ansem was interested to see the conflicting emotions on Sora's face. How hard must it be to be faced with what the boy he had grown up with could have been? To know they hadn't been destined to be enemies? Sora looked at him and Ansem nodded, moving to undo the wrist restraints.

The boy slowly lifted his now free arms, rubbing his wrists and flexing his hands. He then very slowly sat up, every motion telegraphed as he stretched, popping his spine. He could only move so much with his ankles still secured but no mention of releasing them was made.

"Well, now that you're conscious, a meal would not go amiss." With that he left, hoping the two would talk while alone. The boy could hardly remain living secretly with them until…if…they found a way to send him home. And he would need a Keyblade wielder to stand up for him or else he may find himself treated as if he was the local Riku.

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Sora sat down on a nearby stool, watching Riku move around a bit more once Ansem was gone. Theoretically, with his hands free he could cast, though the restraints on his ankle would limit the magic, but all he was doing was getting comfortable. When they were kids Riku always slept on his side, he wondered if this Riku did too, which meant his ankles still being locked down would keep him from sleeping truly comfortably. But…he couldn't let him loose, not yet.

"How did you get a Keyblade?" he asked suddenly, and Riku stared at him.

"When I was five, a man came to the Islands. He had me hold his Keyblade and said something…I don't really remember what, but he told me not to tell anyone. Not like I knew it was a Keyblade back then. Two years the Islands fell to Darkness and I was an idiot so you…my Sora…ended up with the Keyblade instead."

That sounded very familiar, and Sora stared at him. He had Darkness in him…could he have… "Maleficent?" he asked tightly, and Riku nodded.

"I woke up in Hollow Bastion alone, she promised to help me find you and Kairi. It didn't help that I'd had several years of Xehanort's Heartless whispering to me from the shadows already. So when she arranged our reunion in Traverse Town and you were happily fighting beside Donald and Goofy, with no clue where Kairi was either…"

"Wait, who's Kairi?" Sora asked, and then watched as Riku's eyes became wider than he'd ever seen, his jaw actually dropping.

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Mickey frowned, checking his phone. He knew Sora hadn't wanted to go back but he'd been the best choice, a native was more likely to pick up on the source of something that didn't belong and he was a Keyblade Master. Still, he would have expected more than the single message by now. If he hadn't at least messaged again tomorrow, he'd go after him.

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"You're joking, right?" Riku managed to ask but Sora just frowned. How could he not…? He'd assumed but Ansem didn't seem to know him so maybe… "Ansem said this is Radiant Garden?" he asked to clarify, and Sora nodded. "When you would have been five, did this World fall to Darkness?" Surely it had if the Organisation existed and since no one had asked him what he meant when he'd mentioned it and even Xemnas before.

"It came close, but no. Your version did?" Sora asked, and he nodded.

"Kairi's from here, when the World fell she landed on the Islands, you were her first friend. She didn't remember anything from before, we were told it was probably due to trauma. But…Kairi's one of the Seven Princess, unless Maleficent didn't collect them all here? Then again it was the Keyhole here that she needed them all for…" ugh, where were Master Yen Sid and Mickey when he needed them? They'd be better at figuring it all out.

"Here? Never learnt the proper name of the World she was using as her base back then, and I've only ever really seen her in passing on different Worlds since. I don't know what went on between her and Riku but he changed so much. I thought when I beat her, when we worked together to beat Ansem, that everything would be okay," Sora admitted.

"But it wasn't," Riku grimaced. "Your Riku helped you beat Ansem?" he asked in confusion.

"Yeah, he tried to possess him but we stopped it, Riku didn't like it so we fought him together. Once it was over he vanished into a Corridor before I could do anything and I didn't see him again for months, when I did… do you mean you and your Sora didn't?"

"I guess you were luckier than us…than me…Ansem took my body after Sora beat me in a fight. They fought and Sora won, thought he'd killed me. That was when he became a Heartless, he used Ansem's Keyblade on himself to free Kairi's Heart from his own where she'd somehow taken shelter when the Islands fell. She woke up in time to watch him fade away," Riku admitted, shuddering. He was so glad he hadn't seen that; would he have had the strength to hold Ansem back if he had?

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Sora listened to the younger Riku speak. Ansem's results were clear, his Heart was his own, he wasn't a Vessel…but hearing he'd been possessed by the Heartless version of Xehanort…well. He had fought the possession to protect this Kairi, had helped seal the Door to Darkness even knowing it would mean being trapped on the other side. Why? Why had this Riku been able to fight the Darkness when his best friend had fallen to it? the only difference was being a trio of close friends, one of them a Princess of Heart, rather than two close friends inside a loser group, at least until Sora had started paying more attention to Selphie.

He was still considering things when Dilan appeared with a meal for them both. He watched Riku eat, almost picking at the food in disinterest despite having been unconscious for so long. He had the feeling the malnutrition wasn't just lack of good food while with Maleficent, in the Realm of Darkness, and wherever else he'd been over the years, but also a lack of interest….and maybe concern over what was in it. Sora finished his own meal and moved closer, carefully sitting down on the bed beside Riku who stiffened, eyeing him. Sora then took a bit from each item to prove it hadn't been tampered with.

"It's safe," he told him, and Riku blinked.

"Oh," he murmured. Okay, so Riku hadn't been worried the food was tampered with. He then covered his mouth and coughed, and Sora passed him the ice chips. Riku took them to suck, a hand rubbing his chest.

"Sore?" Sora asked, and Riku nodded. "You were very sick, I brought you here because you could barely breath. The saltwater dunk didn't help, but you were already sick."

"I've been a bit tired but I figured after the fight with Xemnas that was normal. We had a few weeks at home and then left for the exam," Riku admitted.

"Well, if you've been basically going non-stop since the Islands fell, you're probably worn out," Sora offered. "Your unexpected dip was just enough to tip you over, sooner or later you would have gotten sick."

He was shocked when Riku slowly slumped against him, shivering slightly. He lifted his hand carefully to press the back of his hand to Riku's forehead, checking his temperature. Maybe still a little warm? "Okay, you need more sleep," he murmured.

"M'fine," Riku argued, and Sora found his lips twitching, even as he eased Riku back down onto the bed, automatically trying to turn on his side but unable to.

No matter how different this Riku seemed, he couldn't unchain him but maybe…he moved to the nearby cabinet, finding what he needed. He ran a short chain through a ring on the table end and then attached those cuffs to Riku's ankles, undoing the previous restraints. The chain gave Riku the ability to roll onto his side, blinking sleepily. He would still be unable to use magic with them on so there was no threat. He then grabbed a blanket and settled it over Riku.

"Why?" Riku asked.

"Just get some sleep, we'll talk more later," Sora told him.

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Even looked up as Sora joined them, looking very unsettled, unsurprising given their master's theory on the look alike's origins. He was carrying one empty tray and one with a bit less than half of the contents left. It was an insane theory…and yet it fit everything they knew. Fascinating.

"You look exhausted," Master Ansem commented as Sora collapsed onto a chair.

"Not as tired as he is. He's asleep again, I changed the leg restraints so he could sleep on his side. They've got that in common, gave him a blanket too."

"He was incredibly ill, it's unsurprising that he is still exhausted," Even pointed out.

"Go get some proper sleep in a guestroom, we will keep watch on him. And please contact someone to at least let them know you are here," Ienzo pointed out.

Sora hesitated before nodding and leaving for a guestroom, leaving them to their work.

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Sora woke, disorientated, before he remembered where he was and flopped back on the bed. He stared up at the ceiling, mind spinning with everything he'd learnt since saving Riku from the sea. He reached out to the table and picked up his phone, staring at the screen before bringing up his contacts, thumb hovering over Mickey's name. How was he meant to explain everything?

The King was his friend and had only faced Riku in a fight once and that had not exactly gone well. Though he'd never seemed to hold a grudge. Still, Riku had mentioned Mickey by name and not title, suggesting they were friends where he came from.

Sora sighed and hit dial, waiting as it rang and then Mickey's image appeared, the King obviously worried and that made Sora feel bad. After everything they'd been through together, he hated upsetting the King.

"Sora! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he promised. "But I found the source of the weird reading you sent me to check out. It's…complicated."

TBC…