Sorry these chapters are late, I spent a lot of time editing them since they were very important.


Inverted Sky: KH Chain of Memories

Chapter 24: Castle Oblivion part XXIV

Riku slowly stepped through the doors with a sigh, to which he gazed out to the white hallway in front of him. In the middle of which, Sora stood in silence with a hand over the left side of her face. "Hey." he called out, slowly approaching the teen with a small smile.

As the brown-haired girl turned to him, a smile curled her lips as well while removing her hand. "Hey." she returned with a wave of this hand.

"Looks like you made it without any issues." Riku said in a way that showed his confidence in his friend.

Coming closer though, he could tell Sora looked a bit off. She seemed to be keeping herself turned to the side, as if to prevent him from looking directly at her face. But due to this clear attempt at hiding the left side of her face, the boy's attention was naturally drawn to this area. Once she couldn't avoid his eyes any further, Sora finally gave in and faced her friend with a shrug. After doing so, Riku started to notice the ever so faint intersecting scars on the left side of her face. While they were nearly invisible, they were only seen because of the girl's desire to keep them hidden.

Her having been in the process of healing them when the boy walked in; 'I should have just acted natural...he probably wouldn't have even seen them.' she mused to her with a small pout forming on her features.

However, with a slow shrug of his shoulders, Riku merely smirked and looked to the side. "Well...for the most part." he added, as if pretending he didn't see anything.

Smiling sheepishly, the brown-haired girl nodded in response and scratched the back of her neck. "Yeah, I did drain my magic pretty heavily, before getting ambushed almost immediately afterward." she stated while letting out a heavy sigh.

Yet she quickly gained a grin across her features and waved a hand dismissively. "But nothing I couldn't handle. I've almost fully recovered now." Sora continued, sounding prideful.

Listening to her talk though, Riku could quickly tell there was something else she wanted to talk about. But remembering that they could be watched at any moment, she likely didn't want to say it aloud yet. The boy then offered his friend a nod of his head, along with a slightly wider smile. "Of course." he uttered out confidently.

As the two shared a gaze of understanding, they quickly turned toward the doors as they opened. Stepping through was a somewhat exhausted Kairi, yet she very swiftly perked up when seeing her two best friends waiting for her. "You guys made it!" she called out happily, rushing over to the pair.

Both of whom embraced the auburn-haired teen in a hug, upon which they each looked to one another with a smile. Thanks to Sora not trying to hide her face, Kairi didn't notice anything wrong with it. Though, it was more likely that she was distracted by the sense of unity each of them felt. The three feeling as if everything they went through this whole journey, was to make sure they would never be apart again. And with these thoughts in their minds, they all smiled to one another in a wordless understanding.

Thanks to the tender moment between the trio however, they didn't notice Mickey, Donald and Goofy all coming through the door as well. Each of whom just blinked a few times to the scene in front of them, before smiling softly as a result. "Gawrsh, they're almost just like us when we started our journey." Goofy spoke, leaning down to his two friends so he could whisper it to them.

The other two nodded their heads in agreement, though Donald quickly crossed his feathered arms. "They still have a long way to go before they can complete with the Three Musketeers." he claimed, keeping a confident smile.

"I'm sure they'll get there. The three of us did after all." Mickey said while holding his hand out in front of him.

Seeing this, Donald and Goofy placed their hands over his before they lifted them up in unison, all while saying; "All for one, and one for all."

Finally noticing the other trio's arrival thanks to this declaration, Sora, Riku and Kairi turned their attention toward them. "You guys made it too." the former of the group said with a wide smile.

"Yep...and if we're all here, it means we've beaten everyone in the way of us rescuing Namine." Mickey claimed as he gained a smile of his own.

Giving a nod in agreement, everyone slowly turned their gaze toward the next set of doors. Of which were further up a set of stairs, and looked to be a similar shade as the ones that were in the entrance hall. As they each made their way toward these doors, the six could tell that the final room would be beyond these doors. But before they even made it halfway, a corridor of darkness swirled in front of the group. This caused everyone to immediately pause and ready themselves for whomever this could be.

As Riku's replica step out though, Sora blinked briefly while slowly gaining a smile. Kairi, Donald and Goofy all appeared surprised by this arrival, as no one told them about this individual. But while Mickey seemed to have a neutral expression, Riku's demeanor almost seemed to match his counterpart's. Their eyes were narrowed and deeply intense as they seemed locked onto one another. While the replica briefly glanced around to the others in front of him, he seemed very determined toward Riku himself.

The replica then lifted a hand out and pointed a finger toward Riku, all as his eyes seemed to blaze with anger. "You and me...right here, right now." he declared in a firm tone.

"The winner is real, while the loser is the fake." the silver-haired replica continued, his voice almost being a growl.

Riku blinked briefly to this, yet he could tell just what kind of emotions his counterpart was feeling. Though his expression was one of pure rage, the look in his eyes was that of confusion, desperation and despair. With a silent sigh, he slowly nodded his head in understanding. "I didn't want it to come to this, but fine...lets do it." Riku said while summoning his blade, the replica immediately doing the same.

"Whoa whoa whoa! Hold on you two!" Sora called out, stepping between the pair quickly.

"Stay out of this Sora!" the replica called out angrily.

"I don't care what you have to say! You can't understand what it's like to be fake! And beating him is the only way I can prove that I am real!" the replica yelled in his fury, pointing toward Riku once more.

"So just back off and let me do this!" he continued while turning his expression of pure rage toward her briefly.

Seeing this made Sora freeze up for a moment, to which she had to be pulled away by Kairi. The auburn-haired girl having just recovered from her shock of seeing two Rikus. Yet she seemed to have pieced together what was going on after listening to everything said, but she also didn't appear to like any of this. However, she kept pulling Sora away, knowing she would likely do something rash if unchecked. As the others followed these two to the side though, Mickey paused while looking to Riku for a few seconds.

"Are you sure about this, Riku?" the mouse questioned in a worried tone, sounding very unsure about this fight.

The teen himself merely nodded his head slowly in response, but it was all Mickey needed as he returned the gesture. The king then turned toward the others while ushering them to continue moving back, giving the pair more space. "I know this isn't what we want, but it is what they both want. And we have to at least respect that." Mickey spoke while looking to everyone, the brown-haired teen in-particular.

Sora herself gazed toward him for a moment before turning toward the pair, slowly shaking her head. "This just feels wrong." she said silently in a nearly voiceless manner.

"It shouldn't be like this." Sora continued, clenching both hands into fists.

Despite these words, both Riku and his replica rushed toward one another. The sounds of their clashing filled the hall around them, the two simply attacking with everything they had. Even with the exhaustion of their previous fights, they aimed to defeat the other no matter what. Yet as Sora watched all of this, she felt herself becoming angry. Not toward the pair engaged in battle, but toward herself. 'I have to stop this. I have to do something.' she thought as her eyes narrowed slowly.

'Even if he won't listen to me...I have to say something. No...I have to make him listen to me. I have to make him understand!' Sora declared inwardly, to which her eyes briefly flashed yellow.

In this instant, the brown-haired teen suddenly seemed to appear in the middle of the two, just as they slashed toward one another. Despite the darkness surrounding their blades, she caught their weapons with her bare hands. With the shock of this, Sora was able to then pull their matching Keyblades from either of their hands. "I won't accept this." she stated silently, her hair covering most of her face.

"Tch! Get out of the way Sora! I won't let yo-" Riku replica began furiously, but was cut off as Sora lifted her head.

Tears of sadness and agony filled her eyes, despite the extreme determination seen in her expression. "No!" she called out, her voice echoing even more so than normal.

"I've had enough of you claiming that you're not real, and that you need to prove that you are! It doesn't matter where you came from! You're you and you have your own heart!" Sora yelled as all her emotions poured out from her voice.

The replica's eyes widened heavily from this as he was once again left speechless from her words. This allowing the girl to continue on as she turned fully to face Riku's counterpart. "You have his memories and appearance, so what? You have a similar mindset as him, so what? You've created a path of your own that isn't his, that already makes you different and unique." she said, gesturing to Riku himself from over her shoulder.

"You're already real enough! Beating Riku won't change anything!" the teen continued, sounding as firm as possible.

While speaking, Sora could see the replica's eyes begin to soften. It letting her know that she was getting through to him...until she wasn't. The girl suddenly feeling a sharp pain shoot through her, as Riku replica stabbed a blade of concentrated darkness into her stomach. Gasping in shock, the others called out Sora's name and rushed forward. But the brown-haired girl just held a hand out to stop them, particularly to Riku, as he was right behind her.

"Stop trying to win me over." the replica growled angrily as he glared at the girl.

"I'm a fake...a phony...a nobody!" he declared, yet there was a clear sadness in his eyes.

"I don't have a place in this world...and I never will." the silver-haired boy whispered, both eyes leaving Sora's as they drifted down.

Yet they soon lifted back up as the girl gently took one of his hands into hers and gave a soft smile. "Then find your place with us. Find it with friends." she said in a gentle manner, despite the wound in her stomach.

Hearing this made the replica freeze and just stare in shock; "With...friends?" he echoed back silently.

"Yeah...and you have your first one right here." Sora claimed while offering the boy's hand a gentle squeeze.

Tilting his head down in thought, the blade of shadow disappeared rapidly as all tension left his body. Noticing this, the brown-haired teen smiled a bit wider as she released his hand and pat the silver-haired boy on the shoulder. "Now...we simply need a name for you." she stated with a wink and soft giggle.

The replica blinked many times to this, his eyes shifting to the wound he made, obviously wanting to help Sora as quickly as possible. But as he looked to it, there was no injury, no blood, not even a hole in the coat. This confused the boy somewhat, yet he just let out a breath as he should have figured that even such a wound wouldn't be much of a problem for Sora. As he looked to Sora once more, the brown-haired teen simply gave a smile and wink. "It's alright, you can have whatever name you'd like." she claimed softly.

Though Riku replica gave her a long stare and heavy sigh, he slowly gave a nod in response. "A name, huh?" he started silently while briefly tilting his head down in thought.

At the same time, the others started to approach, now that they could feel the tension in the air lift. While there did seem to be a bit of mistrust toward the replica, no one made any aggressive moves. Even as Kairi approached and began casting healing magic on Sora, there wasn't any hostility coming from the auburn-haired teen. When Riku replica lifted his eyes toward the others, there was clear guilt in his expression. Yet he slowly turned toward Sora once more as he spoke once more; "You're not afraid I'll come up with a cooler name than yours?" he questioned in a somewhat teasing tone and small smile, him trying to help Sora in lightening the mood.

Noticing this, the brown-haired girl briefly smiled before huffed to the boy and crossing her arms. "Fat chance, my name will always the coolest." she declared quickly and confidently.

"I don't know about that." the replica hummed as a slightly wider smile curled his lips.

"But I'll give it a bit of thought." he continued while shrugging, his gaze slowly shifting toward the doors leading to the next floor.

"For now though...lets go save Namine." he claimed, to which Sora nodded in agreement and stepped up next to him.

Though, as the others moved up beside the two, they all blinked a few times as the doors ahead of them slowly opened. This revealing the blond girl herself, as she sluggishly approached the group. Both her eyes looked vacant of any light, making it clear something was wrong. "Sora..." she whispered while reaching out to the teen.

Said teen quickly moved forward with her own hand extended, yet but swiftly stopped as Riku's replica grabbed her by the shoulder. "Don't touch her. That's not Namine." he claimed quickly and firmly.

"You should have disguised your darkness better, you practically reek of it." the replica continued in a near growl, his eyes narrowing on 'Namine'.

After a brief pause, the image of the blond girl shimmered before disappearing. This revealed Marluxia in its place, to which the man gazed at Riku's replica with a narrowed gaze and silent huff. "You just had to get in the way at the very end, didn't you?" he muttered with a clearly annoyed tone.

"You all just had to ruin everything. All my work...all my plans..." Marluxia continued, yet it seemed as though he was speaking about people other than those in front of him.

"What do you mean?" Sora questioned, somewhat confused by this sudden shift in demeanor.

Marluxia looking almost as though he was downtrodden, frustrated, and even a little angry. It being a heavy contrast to his normally confident, self-assured, and smooth mannerisms he usually showed. But as the man looked to Sora, he just smirked and snapped his fingers. This creating a pool of blackness directly under the girl's feet, and caused her to fall into it with a gasp. As the others called out for Sora once again, they could only grasp at the fading darkness, unable to follow after their friend.

"I'll be borrowing her for a few moments." the pink-haired man stated before vanishing, just as both Riku and his replica slashed at him with their blades in unison.


And there you have it, this time...the plan falls apart around Marluxia. But how? And why? Stay tuned to find out more. Anyway, I hope all of you enjoyed this version of how Riku's replica turned. I decided to limit his and Sora's interactions to a degree, as I felt like each progressive meeting would have led to more and more negative feelings. So by making fewer, but more impactful meetings, it made more sense for things to turn out this way. Until next time.