[It appears that you have found your friend]
"Huh? Yeah, I did."
[Take heed, that thing is not your friend, it only serve to weaken and blind you.]
"What?"
[It is the Organization's puppet, a tool created from your own memories.]
"Riku's not a puppet!"
[Believe what you will, but if you truly wish to find your friends, I can assure you that that all who stand in your way would see you destroyed. Best would be wise to erase them first.]
"..."
Sora focused his emotions, feeling a few dark presences farther away, and one familiar one that was close. His body was covered in deeper cuts that weren't treated, the area around it starting to numb with bruising. Still, a determination lit within Sora's eyes. At he looked up at the door that separated him from his best friend, for a moment he paused, placing his hand on the door, wavering between pushing onward.
"You alright?" Jimmy popped out.
Sora took a deep breath, "Yeah Jiminy, Riku's my friend, I can't just leave him alone. But...I don't get it. Riku and I...we both want the same thing. Both of us want to help Naminé out. How come we're fighting each other? I mean, Riku and I have argued about stuff in the past, but..."
The cricket only smiled, patting Sora's cheek knowingly.
Sora gasped slightly at the touch, smiling as he feel Jiminy's support easing that pain in his heart.
Once Sora pushed on through, his best friend was there waiting for him, radiating anger.
"Take the hint... I told you to go home." He said sternly.
"Riku..." Sora murmured, his confidence slighting, but he couldn't waver, not now. Sternly he spoke again, "Not until I rescue you and Naminé."
Riku scoffed in disbelief. "I don't remember ever asking you to rescue me."
Sora tried to reason, "Riku...what's going on? You're being mean."
"Still the same Sora," Riku chuckled bitterly. "You're acting like nothing's changed. Or did you forget again? You're the one who abandoned me after all."
Sora's eyes widened for a moment as he clutched his heart, still fresh with the memory. "Riku...I-"
"Remember back on the islands? Do you have any idea how painful it was to be trapped there every single day with no way to get to her?!" Sora winced at his tone, looking away. "Did you ever even think about her!? How she must have felt unable to go home?!"Riku gripped his fist, glaring at his friend. "Give it up. I'm not going back to the islands-for anything. Not you, or the rest of those losers."
Those words cut through directly into Sora's heart, but he simply gritted his teeth, clutching his chest as the good luck charm in his pocket felt heavy."Riku...I know about how you were lost within the darkness. I know that you were probably terrified, I know I was, but we need to stop fighting, there are dangerous people in this castle. People that would want to hurt us, they've got Namine!"
Riku scoffed, now with a smile on his face that shot right to his heart, "Who do you think helped me find her?"
"What?" Sora's eyes widened in disbelief as Riku sneered in amusement.
"The power of Darkness helped me find her, but using it came at a price." Riku explained walking towards Sora who took a step back."He told you already didn't he? That within this castle, to find is to lose, and to lose is to find. Tell me, do you even remember what they all look like? Our friends from the island?"
"Of course I rememb-" Soras eyes widened as something flashed in his mind, a girl with red hair, a familiar smile fading away he was overcome with a sudden sadness as he clutched his heart, trying to recall her name...His mind so focused on what he'd lost that he hadn't realized that Riku had already summoned his weapon.
"Ah!"
Sora was slashed back not having enough time to summon a barrier. He struggled to get up, his entire body shaking as Riku then kicked him down, smirking as he stood over him.
"Don't feel bad. That's what this castle does to you after a while. It's good. You forget all the useless stuff and remember for the first time what really matters. I remembered it, Sora. I now know the one thing that is most important to me. Protecting Naminé. Nothing else matters, not a thing."
"Nothing...else matters?" Sora murmured under his breath, raising his head with eyes filling with a fury of emotion. "What happened to you?"
"What happened?" Riku scoffed, raising his weapon to deal a final blow. "I think you already kno-"
"NO!" Sora abruptly yelled out. "What happened to you? Why are you acting like our friendship never mattered, why are you so determined to find Namine alone when she was our friend?!"
Riku gritted his teeth together in anger, hesitating. "Because you're the reason she disappeared in the first place!" he gripped his weapon, attacking Sora again, but the boy summoned another barrier around him, this time stronger as Riku was knocked back.
"Riku! Just talk to me!" Sora pleaded on his knees, pleading desperately. "Tell me what I did and we can save her together!"
"You..." For a moment, Riku wavered, he could feel the same overwhelming joy with him as he did with Namine as he recalled that memory. For a second, he remembered that night under the meteor shower, that star good luck charm...no...not a star...it was-
"ARGH!" A strong aura of darkness erupted from Riku as he pushed away those feelings. "Together-right. So like you Sora," Riku sneered. "always trying to worm your way into my heart!" Riku rushed towards Sora, jumping to slash down, destroying the barrier, but Sora jumped back, firing off power fire magic that blazed around Riku, dealing heavy damage alongside a powerful thunder spell that hit Riku directly.
Sora stared at Riku, both exhausted from their battles. Riku lifted himself up using his sword, gritting his teeth together. "Hmph, so you forgot that, too? No wonder you're acting like nothing happened..." He muttered.
"I won't give up on you Riku." Sora promised as he watched as Riku disappeared within the darkness once again.
"Does it hurt, Naminé? Watching your two childhood friends fight all because of you?" Axel remarked."You have my most sincerest sympathies."
Naminé picked up her head up, glaring at Axel furiously as to two stood in front of the crystal ball. "Don't pretend like you care."
Axel feigned his offence, "Pretend? Come now Namine, we both know that I care about Sora's well being. After all, if he wasn't in this castle, what else would we play with?" He smirked at the end as Namine turned her gaze back towards the crystal ball reaching out in shock as she saw Sora collapse. She flinched back as she saw the cricket jump out of his hood in concern, causing something dark to resurface where her heart should have been.
Axel mused to himself, "What to do? Your hero is soon to be wiped from existence. But I believe there is a certain promise that he made you. Isn't that right, Naminé?
Naminé looked away, the only concern being towards the person reflected within the crystal ball.
"Hm," Vexen took a step back for a moment, looking over the data he'd complied. "Truly fascinating..."
"Anything worth sharing?" The hooded man appeared from behind Vexen, removing his hood to revel pink locks that framed a handsome, sinister looking face.
"Marluxia." Vexen greeted, but his eyes were still on the data. Discovering that within the memories, lay within a world that was new to Sora, as the boy had only been to the worlds of darkness, why was this world appearing within his memories?
"Vexen, I was informed by Larxene that your project was a failure, the replica must be destroyed immediately." Marluxia noticed something out of the corner of his eye, an open file on Number 13...
"Hm, very well."
There was a brief, rather confusing silence; usually the scientist would be throwing a tantrum over the failure of one of his more passionate projects. The calming contrast was...unpleasant, to say the least.
"You seem to be taking this rather well." Marluxia remarked, placing a hand on his hip.
"According to this data, it appears that the boy may be more important than previously anticipated."
"Oh?" Curiosity peaked within Marluxia as Vexen glanced back at him.
"How do you want to proceed?"
Marluxia glanced at what the scientist was working on, the bodies resting on the tables nearby, covered in white sheets. "I've been entrusted this castle and Naminé by our leader. Sora is simply a side project that may be the key to further the Organizations plans."
"The key you say? Care to enlighten me on such a matter?"
"Hm, all in due time Vexen." Marluxia mused as he crossed his arms. "But tell me, what is it that you intend to do with that card?"
"The replica can only go so far," Vexen smiled to himself, "perhaps the subject will require more adequate motivations. I believe this requires a field test of sorts." in his hand he held a new card that held memories that were native to Sora's heart.
"Vexen, you cannot win against Sora."
"Please." Vexen scoffed, locking the monitor. "The only victories we must obtain are for our leader this is merely an observation." he walked past Marluxia with little thought but then turned something as he seemed to recall something. "If I may request something, do well to keep Axel from the boy, if my suspicions prove correct then his involvement may prove to become a hindrance."
Marluxia mused for a moment, placing a finger over his lips with a sly smile. "My lips are sealed, friend."
Omake:
Sora's feet hit the sand first, looking around to see that Riku was looking out over the ocean.
"Took you long enough."
Sora pouted, crossing his arms as he looked away.
"What's wrong with him?"
Kairi just sighed in exasperation, side glancing Riku with disapproval. "Why don't you ask him?"
"Hmph," Riku huffed as he placed his hands on his hips in slight annoyance. " Sora?"
His friend glanced towards him but yowled as Riku pulled his cheeks with a cheeky smile on his face. "Why are you acting like such a baby?!"
Sora swatted him away, "I am not!"
"Oh yeah?" Riku mused in amusement as Kairi just face palmed her forehead in annoyance at her two friends. "Whatever, just though you kids should know that it's finally ready."
"REALLY?!" Both Kairi and Sora asked in excitement as Riku chuckled.
"Yeah, no thanks to you two. Suppose that that means we've just got a few more things to do before we can ship out."
"I get to name it!" Sora called out raising his hand up abruptly. "I call it." his tone grew more defensive as his excitement bubbled up.
Riku laughed, "You call it? I did almost all of the work."
"Yeah, but you didn't call it. Dibs." Sora smirked sticking his tongue out.
"It doesn't count."
"Does so!"
"Doesn't."
"DOES."
"KAIRI." They both then turned towards their red haired friend who just chuckled as she played mediator again.
"The usual, right?" She sighed, though held a smile on her face.
...
"All right, I'll be the judge." Kairi called out from the platform overlooking the entire course. "The usual rules apply: Take any route you want... First one to tag that tree and make it back here wins."
"If I win, I'm captain!"
"You can't just add stakes." Riku commented, but was ignored.
"And if you win..." Sora began to say, as it was tradition, the captain would name the ship.
"I get to share the paopu with Kairi." Riku abruptly said looking directly outward towards the course the used to race on when they were children.
Soras voice faltered for a moment as he felt his heart stop for a moment; his thoughts running back to what Tidus said earlier.
"Deal?" Riku asked turning towards the course with a smile on his face. "The winner gets to share a paopu with Kairi."
"Wha... Wait a minute…" Sora stammered out as he felt dizzy all of a sudden.
"Okay. On my count!" Kairi called out nearby them.
Sora tried to pull himself together as Kairi shouted go and Riku sprinted ahead of him. He was always a few feet behind Riku, the older boy always intentionally running ahead of him while Sora trailed just behind him.
They jumped up, and towards the star and on the way back, Riku couldn't help but notice Soras struggling expression. Suddenly, as they were climbing the rocks, Riku couldn't help as he used his dark aura to jump a little higher, the ripples shaking the ground slightly. He could hear what was probably a larger rocks splashing into the water as he jumped with ease towards the marker.
From the top, Sora was nowhere in sight, probably still struggling to catch up."C'mon Sora, I thought you were stronger than that!" He shouted out as his hand was on the star, he turned to sprint to the end of the race where Kari was waiting, bouncing on her toes.
...
Just as Sora was about to catch up to his best friend, he lost his foot hold against the rocky path, the more recent storm probably causing them to shift as the last thing he saw was Riku's back as he fell into the water below. As he crashed into the water, he could feel that his head had hit something, under the seas the darkness of unconsciousness threatened his life. He only heard the muffled sounds of crashing waver under as he sank, looking up he saw the bubbles escape from his mouth; His life line, dancing upwards towards the light of the sun, distorting under the tides.
...
For a split second, Riku laughed happily as his best friend was no where close to him. Just before he reached the finish line atop the wooden, panic set in as he saw that Sora was nowhere in sight. Immediately, he ran towards where her friend ran alongside him, he heard Kairi run up with a concerned expression on her face as she could recognize the worry on his face. She ran towards the edge of the cliff, scanning the waters until...
" Sora!" She called out as loud as she could scamming the waves until she saw the red of Sora's jumpsuit. He wasn't far off but disappeared until the waves again. Riku ran past her as she called out, jumping in without hesitation.
...
Riku's body grew heavy the further he swam, the ocean dragging Sora down further as he was running out of air. He reached out desperately, once, twice, before he grabbed onto Sora's hand pulling him close, forcibly sharing his own breath so that his best friend's lung's wouldn't fill with water. He then furiously swam to the surface, the air hitting his lungs as Riku coughed harshly.
Kairi was already waist up as she helped both of her friends to shore, all three crashing on the ground as Sora lay unresponsive. Exhausted, Riku just watched as Kairi gave him mouth to mouth resuscitation. For a moment, time seemed to slow down, the two's heart racing as Sora didn't move. Riku sat up, just about to touch his friend's face just before Sora flinched curling up as he hacked up of what remaining sea water was left. Curling his knees into his chest as eventually his breathing evened out. Kairi placed her hand on his head, gently petting him as a sort of reassurance, gazing at him in relief as Sora reflexively placed his head to her side. While Riku could still feel his heart beating rapidly at the chain of events, breathing heavily as he glanced towards the crown necklace around Sora's neck; a dark, remorseful feeling almost bubbling to the surface.
" 0...against...3." Sora chucked with a smile on his face, out as he rested on his back against the warm sand.
/Notes/
-Sora's magic getting strongerrr, also really trying to be a good friend. Poor boy.
-Welp, looks like those memories are getting really arranged. :3
-SORA IS A GOOD BOY. WTH RIKU. (Me playing COM)
- Hmmmm, I wonder what Vexen is up to. :3c
-Fuck those rocks, I hated the rocks in the race, but I'd be damned if I'd allow Riku to win. So I just kept restarting the Gawd daymn race until I beat him. Almost all times, I failed because I couldn't get Sora to jump on the rocks properly. This is what came of it. ( Also getting to 50 on the destiny island took me over 90 hours, at least the way I did it. :T)
- I try to keep the Omakes and chapters connected. Just a heads up.