Axel looked up at the pod with a blank expression on his face, looking at the Riku Replica "sleeping" within the chamber. He could hear Naminé scribbling something in her notebook all this time, never once glancing towards the replica.
"Feeling guilty?" Axel asked half jokingly.
The sound of scribbling never wavered.
"Floor 6." Jiminy commented writing in his journal as Sora limped through the door. There was no way to count the days within this castle, so both of them had to rely on every huge set of doors. "How many floors do you think this place has?"
But his friend didn't respond.
"Sora?"
Jiminy jumped out of Sora's hood, concern growing as he saw Sora's face twisted in emotion, frozen.
"Riku?"
Jiminy flinched in surprise as he looked to see a familiar silver haired boy in a yellow tank top with a black "X" over it walking towards them with a smirk on his face.
"Is...is that really you?"
"Not happy to see me?" Riku chastised mockingly.
Sora tensed up, looking at his friend in guilt. "What are you talking about?!" Sora's words were heavy with emotion.
"That's why you're in this castle right? Because you were looking for Kairi and me right?"
"huh?" Sora glanced at him in confusion for a moment.
"Hmph. Spare the excuses." Sora was taken aback, at his tone. "I bet that you had all but forgotten about us."
Sora's eyes widened, hurt in his eyes, "Are you crazy?! C'mon. I came all this way looking for you, Kairi, and Naminé! I was worried sick when the islands disappeared!"
Riku narrowed his eyes, "But you're not anymore, right? Now it's only Naminé that you're looking for. You don't care about us. Just like you never cared at all about anyone else's feelings besides your own."
"What?" Sora winced slightly at Riku's words, sending a sharp pain through his chest.
"Hmph. I knew it. Never even gave it a thought, did you? Just cuz you want to see Naminé doesn't mean that she wants to see you."
"Wha..." Sora was taken aback, "Did I... Did I do something? Is it my fault? Riku..." He glanced towards his friend, looking for any sort of answer.
"You should ask your memories...why Naminé disappeared from the islands. Remember that, and you'd know."
Sora gasped as darkness enveloped Riku as he donned an armor of darkness.
"Go home, Sora. I'll care for Naminé. Anyone who goes near her...goes through me!"
In one swift motion, Riku summoned a dark weapon and slashed down at his best friend, Sora reacted quickly, casting a barrier to block Riku's attack
"What's wrong with you?! We're supposed to be friends!"
Riku was thrown back by the barrier, landing on his feet, gripping his weapon tighter. "Please, Sora. Since when have you ever cared about me? Naminé's not the only one who's sick of looking at you. So am I!"
Riku attacked again, but Sora kept his barrier up as Riku dealt powerful strikes against the shield, cracking it with every attack.
"Riku, stop it!" Sora pleaded as the barrier broke a moment later. Riku dashed forward again but Sora evaded tumbling out of the way, hesitating as he saw Riku glare at him with anger in his eyes.
"I don't want to fight you!" He pleaded as Riku dashed at him again. Reflexively, he lifted his hands feeling a prickling at his fingertips, releasing a powerful bolt of lighting that hit Riku directly.
"Arg!" Riku grunted as he fell to the ground, his weapon disappearing, static still sparking around his body. Sora caught his breath, almost falling to his knees as he realized what he did, eyes widening.
"Riku!" Sora immediately ran towards his friend, almost within grasp, but was knocked back as Riku suddenly unleashed a powerful darkness, knocking him back. Sora lifted his head to see Riku glaring angrily at him, holding his arm due to the heavy damage dealt. Sora's eyes widened as he saw the familiar darkness that had teleported Axel and Larxene in the past surrounding his friends feet.
"Riku! Please wait!" Sora called out, Riku had disappeared within the darkness, out of reach. He feel to his knees, sighing heavily as Jiminy sat on his shoulder.
"I don't understand..." Sora murmured
"Hmmm..." Jiminy pondered for a moment as he stared at the space that Riku once stood. "Sora, I know... You're thinking Riku isn't your friend... But that's just not true."
"Huh?" Sora glanced at Jiminy who hopped onto Sora's outstretched hands, standing on his palms.
"I know he said some awful things to you back there... But the Riku I saw when I was traveling was worried sick about you."
"He...was?"
Jiminy nodded, "Yup, but he was also hanging around some bad folks. It wouldn't surprise me if something happened to him while he was so close to the darkness, maybe that along with this castle has him just as confused as us."
"So..he just forgot?" Sora asked, his eyes brightening a little.
"Well that's my guess, but Sora...we can't figure out a way to help Riku with that frown on your face. If we can work together and keep our head up, why, I'm sure he'll be back to his old self in no time." Jiminy placed his hand on Sora's comfortingly, "He's still your friend after all."
Sora wavered for a moment, glancing away at Jiminy, something dark lurking in his eyes before he sighed away the dark memories. He smiled brightly after few seconds, even though he there was still a sharp pain in his heart, placing Jiminy on his shoulder.
"You're right, no matter what, we'll bring everyone home."
"Congratulations Naminé, you're one step closer to bringing Sora to you. Isn't that nice?" Larxene remarked as the petite girl sat in front of her. "Aw, why so glum? Is there something that's been troubling you? Are you feeling awful about tinkering with Sora's memory? Or maybe you-"
"Cut it out, Larxene."
The nymph looked back, unimpressed as the Replica walked towards them. "Naminé doesn't want to remember Sora."
Larxene smiled knowingly, "Oh, is that so?"
The Replica ignored her, kneeling down in front of Naminé to catch her gaze. "Don't worry. Whatever's hurting you, I'll make it go away." He said as he took out the good luck charm with a smile on his face, "Don't you remember? I promised that I'd always protect you." The replica felt fondness glancing at his most precious friend, but his heart sank as she didn't even lift her head to look at him. "If you're worried don't be, I'll handle Sora." he noticed her flinch slightly at their friend's name, infuriating him slightly as he gripped the charm tighter. "See ya." He murmured as he walked towards the door out of the room.
Larxene couldn't hold back her cackling as the replica left the room. " That's just amazing! It's almost like you completely made his heart from scratch. Nice touch with the good luck charm. I didn't know you could use memories to transform objects like cards into keepsakes. You used the same trick on Sora, right? You changed Kairi's good luck charm with your magic, didn't you? It won't be long before Sora forgets about Kairi completely, and then he'll be-"
Naminé gripped her notebook at those words. "He won't forget."
"Hm?"
Naminé lifted her head slightly, "No matter how much I change his memory, Sora will never forget Kairi. Memories of me- More false memories of me will just make his feelings for Kairi even stronger than before."
"So? That's your incentive," Larxene smirked, "do a good job rewriting Sora's heart and you just won't be that girl's shadow anymore, you'll be your own little person just like you wanted. Unless," Larxene pressed her lips into a knowing smile, tapping her cheek thoughtfully as she could almost see Naminé squirm in her seat. "that's what you want us to think."
"Whatever, but you should know," Naminé glanced up at Larxene, a semblance of anger flashing in her eyes as the woman still smiled. "One way or another if you step out of line, you'll be left all alone again." Larxene chided, laughing in amusement as she disappeared into a void of darkness, leaving Naminé alone in the picture that Naminé drew. The one with the four friends, now with Kairi scratched out in red, leaving only her and Sora within the picture as she glanced at the cage always placed over her head.
/Notes/
- Thundara was the spell used.
- Makin' Namine more twisted
- Sora doesn't have cure yet :T