In The Shadows

Riku was on his knees, panting as the darkness around him tried to take him. Maleficent stood over him with approving eyes as he struggled. It finally disappeared and he knelt there for a short while, letting his senses come back to him

"This power, it's... a lot," he said. He got up and squeezed his hands into fists.

"With time you will learn to control even more, but first you must release yourself from all distractions." Maleficent turned towards the window, her eyes glinting in the sunset. she pet the crow on her shoulder.

"What do you mean by distractions? You said you would help me find Kairi-"

"Not her silly boy, I told you I would see to her. It's that girl that you were with before. Akari, that is her name right? I am curious as to why you have taken such a liking to her"

Riku's mouth opened and his eyes narrowed. He tried to speak but no words came from him. How did she know? Maleficent had only met her once, and that moment was brief, and he had only seen her a handful of times since then. Had he really been thinking about her so much that Maleficent was picking up on it? What would she do to her if she found her again? Her powers of darkness were nothing to take lightly.

She turned back to him and Riku stiffend.

'She's like me. Somehow, I feel connected to her. I can't explain it."

"I want her on our side," She said. "Maybe then you can focus on fine tuning your abilities".

Riku was pretty sure she wanted her for something else. "And what if she chooses not to? She didn't seem to like the idea of me joining up with you in the first place."

"Oh, I am sure you will find a way." Her words were laced with danger. "If you can't find one, be sure that I will." She stroked her staff and green smoke appeared around it, casting the room into what looked like a lightning storm. A scene played out over Riku, and he stood staring at the images it left across his vision. Akari, trapped in a cell, defenseless, sobbing in a corner and chained to a wall, screaming as another blast of something hit her.

'Fine." Riku gritted his teeth and looked away. "I will find a way." He stalked out of the room, his chest rising and falling in quick succession. He wanted Akari to come and be with him. It wasn't a lie, and at one point he had tried to ask her to come along, but he could feel that something was awry. Maleficent wanted her, and he knew first hand that it wasn't for the greater good.

He entered his room and threw himself on the bed, rubbing his hands over his face in frustration. He couldn't bring her here, he did not want to put her in danger, but he needed to get Kairi back. Riku's heart was heavy as the scene from Maleficent played over in his mind, again and again until he drifted off into sleep.


My dreams were not pleasant. I had been wandering in darkness the whole time, trying to find a way out of the endless abyss. "Well this just sucks." my voice seemed to echo throughout the dark "Why can't I wander in the light? I'd take rainbows and sunshine over rocks and dead trees any day." Great. Now I was talking to myself. I sighed and sat down on a sandy shore of a beach, praying that I was not losing my mind. I was joined by a familiar presence, my heart skipped a beat. "RIKU!" I sat straight up. The boy with the white hair looked at me and laughed.

"I never thought I would see you here." Riku sat down next to me

"Yeah well, my mind isn't always a fun place to be, and it seems to wander down dark paths sometimes." I stared at him. "Thank you for helping me out." I said. He smiled and I laid back down, putting my hands behind my head using them as a pillow. Riku laid down next to me. His eyes bore into me.

"Is everything ok?" Riku asked, concerned. The darkness sickness had overtaken me again. I felt drained, I pulled on my shirt sleeves, making sure the new additions to my skin were covered.

"Is it that obvious?" I laughed. " I'm just doing my best to help Sora." Riku blushed.

"Yeah, Sora can use some help every once in a while." He laughed. I caught myself staring at him again, he was so laid back and light hearted. His defenses completely down, but when I actually focused on the boy, I could tell he was diving head first into danger.

"Are you ok Riku? He didn't answer

Sighing, I raised my hand up to the sky, there were no stars here, just a full moon and clouds. Riku grabbed my hand and lowered it. Looking over to him, I expected him to let go, but instead his eyes met mine and he squeezed it. I could feel the heat rise in my cheeks. We both looked away and laid there for a long time. Peace. I felt a connection through this boy that I barely knew. Could he maybe feel the same?

"Come with me Akari." He said breaking the silence at last. "I won't let you get hurt; you will be safe I'll protect you." This again. Was he ever going to stop pursuing me? I opened my mouth and closed it. Could I go with him? It was getting harder to say no.

Riku continued to look at the sky. I wanted to, so badly, to say yes. I didn't want the protection, I wanted to be close to Riku. I wanted to learn more about this person that I felt connected with, to know his heart, his fears, what made him happy, and to share memories with him. I wanted to unravel everything about him. I felt my heart give a jolt. But what about Sora?. He might not need me, but I couldn't just abandon him. I had finally found a friend here. I was torn in two, I felt like my heart could explode. A question suddenly came to me.

"Riku, that's not possible. This is just a dream after all. Isn't it?"

"Of course it is" He let go of my hand. I could feel the annoyance growing in him. How could I feel HIS emotions? I thought I was good at reading people, but not that good, and it was just a dream… right? The aburtness of his words caused my heart to feel a weight that was not there before. Riku stood and I followed

"Riku I'm sorry." He turned and looked at me, a smile clear on his face. I could not believe his mood swings. What was happening? He walked over to me and wiped a tear from my cheek. I wasn't even aware that I had been crying.

"It's ok, I'll be back for you." He walked away, and I could not move.

"Riku wait!" I yelled. He waved over his shoulder, and a light engulfed me,

"Until next time-" His voice echoed. And I was ripped from my sleep

"Good mornin'." Goofy said as I rubbed sleep from my eyes. So it was a dream… Why did it seem so real? I asked myself. Maybe it was better to dwell on those thoughts later. We were close to landing in a new world, and I needed all my focus on the task at hand.

OLYMPUS

The place we landed in was hot, and the writing on the walls in the courtyard was in another language.

"It looks like Greek." I had learned about it in school when I was younger, but I didn't find a lot of interest in it so I didn't know much.

"Well come on, let's go through those doors, maybe Kairi and Riku and the King are somewhere in there." Sora trudged on through the heat.

Through the doors we went, only to find what we least expected. A small round goat man. Sora went to say something but was interrupted by him

"Could you move that pedestal? I'm trying to spruce up for the games." I looked at my friends, who shrugged their shoulders and walked towards the giant block. I stayed planted, leaning up against the wall and crossing my arms

"Hey, aren't you going to help?" Sora said, I could hear the protest in his voice, but I just laughed.

"I don't think anyone could move that block. Especially not me, considering I am half the size that you are. So I'll let you try to your heart's content." I grinned

Sora glared at me, and his friends started pushing the block only to find that it wouldn't budge an inch, not even a centimeter. I had to give them kudos for at least trying.

"It's too heavy." Sora finally gave up.

"Since when has that ever been a problem…. Oh." Phil said, turning around with a surprised look on his face. "What are you doing here? This is the Coliseum. Hero's from all over are going to be coming here to fight in the games. What are four pipsqueaks like you doing in a place like this?"

"We're heroes!" Donald said angrily

"And we are not pipsqueaks!" I furrowed my brow and added to the fire

"You're standing right in front of a hero, he's the Keyblade master." Goofy said

"That runt?" Phil pointed towards Sora

"Hey, I've fought plenty of monsters." Sora said defensively

"You better watch it goat man." I said lowly, I could feel bitter feelings rising in me, but it was not darkness. more like over protective feelings. He then turned to me and glared.

"And what are you going to do about it little lady? Your half the size he is!"

I summoned my glaive but before I could come close to Phil, I felt Sora, Donald, and Goofy tackle me.

"GET OFF!" I yelled, Phil did not get to make fun of my friends. we had fought hard to get here.

"Akari calm down, it's fine, let's deal with this calmly." Sora was my voice of reason. I took a deep breath and Donald and Goofy got off the pile. "Are you ok?"Sora whispered.

"I'm fine why?"

"Because I've never seen you act like this." It floored me. Sora was completely right. I didn't know what had gotten into me but it unnerved me a little bit. Maybe I was just warming up around them, maybe it was darkness eating away at me from the inside.

"Yeah, I'm ok. Sorry Sora." I said as he got up off of me. He took my hand and helped me up. Phil looked a little nervous when I finally stood. I made a growling sound and he coward. I laughed to myself before talking to him again. Sora watched me nervously.

"If you can't move the pedestal, you're not a hero." Phil said flatly

"Ok, if this is the way it's going to be, I want to see you move it." I smirked

"Fine I will." Phil walked towards the block, but when he tried to move it, it wouldn't budge for him either "Ok fine, it takes more than brawn, so let's see what you can do." About time he admitted it.

Phil disappeared for a little while. Sora sat down against a wall and I slid down next to him. Sora yawned.

"You're not tired are you?" I asked poking him in the ribs. Sora laughed.

"A little nap would be nice." Stretching he leaned his head against the wall, and it was not long before light snoring noises came from him.

"Wow, that was fast, didn't he sleep on the ship?" I asked Donald and Goofy

"Well, he was really worried about you." Donald said

"Yeah, he kept making sure you were ok." Goofy said. I looked at Sora's sleeping form. It wasn't his job to worry about me, he had a hard enough time worrying about Kairi and Riku… Riku. He crossed my mind again. What was with him? Why was he wandering in the darkness? He made my dream seem so real, yet he was so distant.

Sora's head fell to the side against my shoulder. I smiled to myself, leaning my head against the wall and letting the comfort of his warmth wash over me.

He stirred in his sleep and woke up not long after. The door opened and he stretched, getting to his feet. I stood as well and Phil entered the room.

"You ready kid? Let's see what you got."

"Are you guys coming?" He asked. I nodded

"We will watch from the sidelines. Now show him how strong you are Sora."

It didn't take long for Sora to smash all the barrels that Phil put up. "Arkari!" he called to me. He waved me down and I trudged down the stairs to where he was in the arena. He had just set up more barrels and he grinned wider when I stepped onto the stone platform. "Here, you should practice," he said.

"But this training session was set up for you." I stared at him.

"Didn't you say you wanted to learn? To get better at fighting? Well, here is your chance!" Sora was so ecstatic. I summoned my glaive, tapping him in the head as I did so.

"Hey." He rubbed the spot. "You are supposed to be aiming for the barrels."

"I know, but it's fun to catch the keyblade master off guard." I laughed

"That's the only time." He laughed back. "Now go, it's your turn." he said. I nodded and walked up to the closest bunch of barrels. Taking a deep breath, I swung my glaive sideways, slashing the first line. I tried to run through different tactics that Sora had told me about as I moved on. I swung my blade over my head and then down, not pausing before I turned around in a full circle, taking out most of the barrels that were surrounding me in the process.

"Jump up on that platform!" Sora said, pointing up a tall wall. I flushed. The wall was high up, and I was almost positive that I wouldn't make it. I would wind up falling down flat on my back, looking like an idiot. "That is if you can, you are pretty short." I could hear the chide in his voice. The push for me to do it.

"You know, you better watch what you say around me. You are not much taller than I am!" I said irritated.

"That's the point right?" Sora put his arms behind his head and gave me the goofiest grin he had. I turned away and looked up the wall again. I had to do this. I couldn't just keep holding back for fear of something bad happening. I had to push forward. I had to prove I was worth something.

I stepped back a few feet and got a running start. I jumped right before the wall and stretched my hands up. I felt my fingers graze the top of the ledge, but I couldn't grab it. I quickly fell down and gravity took control, but I landed on my feet in a crouch, quickly stood up and turned to Sora.

For some reason I was expecting to see disappointment there, for not being able to jump the wall, for not being good enough, but he smiled at me. "You got this, give it another try."

I sighed and nodded. Staring up at the wall an idea formed in my mind. If I was not strong enough yet to make the jump, then I would improvise. I just hoped that my plan would work. I backed up again, but this time I threw my glaive at the wall. I was pleasantly surprised when the blade dug into the spaces between the stone and stuck out of the rock. I charged the wall again, and this time I used my glaive like a step. I jumped up onto the stick and used that to jump again onto the platform.

I sat there, stunned that I had actually made it up the wall. Yes, I was well versed in my 'ninja' training, no, I was not good at running up walls yet, and I was half expecting to miss the glaive, or fall off completely. "That was amazing!" Sora said, jumping up onto the ledge,, his face beaming. The rush was exhilarating. All I ever wanted was to improve and excel in my training, so that I could protect those that mattered to me.

"Thanks." I yawned and stretched

"Now look who is sleepy," Sora said. I laughed,

"You think that all the sleep I got on the ship would be enough, I guess I'm just not used to so much adventure." I was not going to let being tired get in the way of my good mood.

Still smiling at Sora, I made my way to the edge. Sora jumped down, and I glanced over the side of the platform. It was not that high up. I jumped down off the edge. Cake compared to the Wonderland landing.

We made our way back to the inside of the building and met up with Phil

"You did well, but you still aint heroes." He said

"Oh come on." A defeated Sora whined

"You wanna be heroes? Start with this." Phil gave Sora a spell to use. Thunder. Just like all the other spells though, I could not use them. I felt a little ashamed of that. I did not know why it was just me that could not use them, and Phil had not the slightest idea either. I would have to pick Leon's brain when I saw him again.

I stifled a sigh as we trudged our way back outside. Someone had appeared there, stopping us in our tracks.

"Who are you!?" Donald exclaimed. I didn't like the look or feel of him. His head was on fire, and I could feel his darkness. It made me sick.

"Hold it fuzzy, you want into the games right?" He placed his hand on Sora's shoulder. I contained the urge to smack him, considering how much trouble I had caused earlier with Phil. Plus a pass to the games appeared in his hands out of nowhere. "I'm counting on you Shorty." He said to Sora before disappearing. Sora looked at me.

"Look, we can get in now!" He was so excited. I didn't want to crush his spirit so I smiled. knowing full well that whatever he was holding in his hand could be extremely dangerous.

"I'm glad for you." I said. "Didn't his parents ever teach him not to take candy from strangers?" I whispered to Goofy, who scratched his head.

"I know what you mean, but I can't bring myself to tell him it's a bad idea."

Not long after, Phil let Sora, Donald, and Goofy into the prelims. I had declined. I didn't need to prove myself a hero. I knew I was far from it still.

"Aw, I wish you could come with us." Goofy said apologetically.

"No, it's your guy's time to shine, I'll cheer you on." I smiled sweetly. The first round was cake, which I knew it would be. Those three had come a ways since we first met in Traverse Town.

Phil met them in the arena, the surprise of their improvement clear on his face. My attention snapped in another direction. I felt something hostile, and then a tall man named Cloud walked past my group of friends. Even Phil could tell how restless he was.

"You might end up facing him." He said. I shuddered. I could feel the pull of his sadness, and it made me even more uneasy. but happy care free Sora shrugged it off

"On we go!" he said, and I took my seat in the audience. The arena setting was huge. There were steps upon steps that lead to overhangs at the very top. I started to climb. When I finally neared the top I turned around. The view was spectacular.

"It looks like you have had some more practice." I heard a voice say from above me. "Your reflexes have gotten way better. You should have said something back in Wonderland, I wouldn't have gone so easy on you." I turned to see Riku sitting on a ledge above me. He turned his head and smiled at me .

"I am trained to protect a prince." How many times was I going to have to say that? Sighing, I looked down at the coliseum. I had climbed all the way up here, up to the top. The feeling was freeing, being able to see everything. One glance at Riku made me sit up straighter.

"A prince huh? He can't protect himself?" More jealousy in his voice? I caught myself laughing before I could stop.

"Noct doesn't really need protecting. He has friends that help with that. Plus he is pretty powerful on his own. I guess I'm more of a keeper. I stay in the shadows, take out threats, gather information. They say I protect him and the royal family, but I'm used more on their missions to be silent, and deadly." I finished, and Riku was staring at me. "They are like brothers to me. Noctis and his friends."

"So you are a ninja." Riku replied flatly. I shook my head.

"No way." I said, rummaging in my pocket for the black piece of cloth that Riku had given to me. "I guess I don't have rabies right?"

"I think that is still left to be determined." Riku laughed. "You do some crazy stunts sometimes."

"Well here, I washed it." I handed it back to him.

"Sit still for a minute." he said. I could feel him pulling on my hair. I sent chills down my spine. "You can keep this, just remember to think of me when you see it." He said, tying a knot at the base of my braid. I ran my fingers along it and brought it over my shoulder.

"Are you sure? I thought it was your good luck charm."

"Well, I guess I'm pretty lucky to have met you, so now it's your turn to have it." I could see his cheeks turn pink as I looked up at him.

"Why are you up here and not down there having fun?" He asked, changing the subject.

"I'm just trying not to be a burden to anyone." I said after a long silence. "I feel like I can't do much right now."

"Do you ever wonder if you were made to be something more?" He said, glancing out over the coliseum. He was watching his friend with sharp eyes.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Like, maybe you were brought here for a reason. Something bigger than just making a few friends and fighting darkness. Maybe a bigger purpose." He finished, trailing off

"I didn't know you were such a deep thinker." I replied, trying to wrap my head around what he was getting at. "I don't know. Most days I feel so worthless. I'm by no means great with that stick I am stuck with, I have a darkness that is eating away at me, my purpose in life was ripped away from me in a matter of minutes, and now I am here. Doing what? Making new friends to replace the ones I have lost? Where is my loyalty?." I said, being brutally honest with myself. I could not say that it did not hurt.

"I think you have a bigger purpose. You shouldn't be so hard on yourself." Riku said. I sighed and grabbed some handholds on the wall, hoisting myself up higher and higher. Riku followed, somewhat reluctantly. We made it to the ledge of the overhang. "Did you have to pick a spot so high up?" He said. I was closer to him now and I could see some nervous fear in his eyes. He gulped

"Riku, are you afraid of heights?" I asked. I saw his mouth open and close.

"N-NO! I just like the ground." He stuttered. I laughed.

"It's ok to be afraid." I stated. He looked at me bewildered. "I'm afraid sometimes."

"Of what? tripping over yourself?" He asked. I knew he was trying to get back at me for laughing at him.

"Of losing the people I care about." I said softly, swinging my legs back and forth

"I guess you could say that I am afraid of that too." His arm brushed against mine. I glanced over at him and he leaned in closer. heat rose in my chest and I cleared my throat, trying to think about anything but how stupid I looked with my goofy smile, and wind whipped hair.

"What is your bigger purpose in life?" I asked him, bringing the conversation back around. He sighed and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his legs.

"I don't know yet, but I want to figure it out together," I blushed. I could not help it. I felt my heart soar at the thought of being wanted, of being needed. The feeling was stomped out almost as quick as it came as I watched Sora train. Why did this seem so familiar? Fuzzy images of a coast with a moon overhead presented themselves in my memories. Riku must have seen me frown. He stood

My heart sank. Why was I so great at sabotaging myself? "Don't look so downhearted. I'll be around. I told you that before." He gave me his hand to help me up. I took it, standing inches from him. He was a bit taller than me. My head was barley to his chin. I made a mental note of his smile, imprinting it close to my heart.

I gasped as he pulled me closer. His breath was warm against my neck and he put his arms around my waist. "I'll be here, when you are ready to join me." he whispered in my ear, and within seconds he had pulled himself away and was gone. I felt a cold gap where he had been standing seconds ago. The goosebumps were still raised on my skin. I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts.