To Destination-Eden-
Warmth. That was first thing to penetrate the mist around his mind. The feeling of being warm. Not the warmth of battle, of sweat running down his back that quickly cools off and leaves chills to shake his bones, but one that reached deeper, that seemed to slowly melt the ice that had gathered in his limbs over the years.
He hadn't been warm in ages.
He wanted it to stay this way, forever enclosed in warmth.
Sleep. It seemed so sweet.
To keep his eyes closed, slowly drifting away, non caring.
When was the last time he had slept, really slept? Not just a light doze, ready to jump to his feet and defend himself against a Heartless every moment. And when was the last time he had rested so comfortable?
The feeling of a soft quilt above him, probably feathers, for once not stone (at least he hoped it had been stone, but it had felt way too alive to be comfortable) as a bed, but a comfortable mattress.
Felt like heaven.
Just a moment...
Kingdom Hearts was definitely not warm, and he was fairly sure there also were no beds around.
With a start his lids snapped open staring into absolute blackness and his body reacted without conscious thought, throwing the cover back and jumping to his feet.
At least he tried to.
The moment he was upright his world started to spin, blood pounding in his ears, blotches of bright red and yellow staining the darkness in front of his eyes. He took a unsteady step forward, trying to find his balance, but stumbled over a object in his way. He fought against gravity for a few precious seconds, before he fell forward with a hoarse curse. The youth hit the ground heavily, barely managing to get his hands under him to avoid falling onto his face. He heard glass break, somewhere close to him, something scraped against his bare side, leaving a burning scratch behind and he absently noted that he must have been naked.
The young man staid on the floor, breathing heavily and trying to get his bearings. Through the beating of his own heart he picked up the sound of feet against wooden floor, hurriedly getting closer, two people, one light, the other heavier. Urgent voices whispering with each other.
Coming closer.
The muscles in his shoulders tensed.
Two, he could deal with that.
The chance that those two would want to harm him in any way was unlikely. After all they had had ample of opportunities as he was out cold.
But still...years of living as a hunted were firmly engraved in his being.
He wouldn't take any chances.
Even if he was out of his self induced prison, it didn't mean that he was not in danger.
Out of Kingdom Hearts.
The fact had not really registered with him up to now, as he heard the voice of a woman, high pitched in a exclamation of shock and concern as she saw him on the floor.
Humans. Words in his language.
Not the hiss of Heartless.
Free.
Not a dream that he left.
He was free again.
Elation and relief flooded through him. A faint smile ghosted over his lips.
Finally.
He didn't even mind as delicate hands closed over his shoulders, ushered him upwards and onto the bed again. Deft fingers set to work on his hip, the warm tinkle of healing magic barely registering, nor the concerned words that were spoken to him.
Free.
Still lost in the worlds but free!
No longer enclosed, no longer on the run. No longer hoping that maybe he would be found. No longer did he have to cling onto the thin straw that the door would be opened from the outside.
He was free to travel. To fight against the Heartless from the outside.
Maybe managing to find the final door and defeat them once and for all.
And maybe, with a bit of luck, he would find him.
The travelling between worlds may prove a problem, but he was sure that---
A light slap to his face brought him out of his thoughts. Once again he reacted on impulse, grabbed onto her wrist and twisted it sharply.
He heard a hiss of pain, somewhere close he heard the steps of the other, the scraping of metal against wood and he got ready to defend himself, but the steps faltered as the woman spoke up, strained but determined.
"Natas, stop it. It's alright."
A short silence, before she spoke up again.
"I am sorry, I had to slap you. It was necessary. You were going into shock. Would you please let me go?"
Reluctantly he let go of the thin wrist, and he heard a sigh of relief from the woman. Shock his ass, but it wouldn't do to alienate the inhabitants of this world right from the start.
"Where am I?"
He stumbled over the words slightly, his voice rough and harsh to his own ears. Unused to speaking, he coughed loudly, his throat hurting.
"Here, drink."
Something cold and smooth was pressed against his lips and he greedily swallowed the liquid, soothingly running down his parched and dry throat. Gods, he was fairly sure he had never tasted something so good as this simple water.
He made a sound of protest as the glass was removed.
"Later. If you drink too much you will just vomit it up again."
The glass was set down somewhere near to him, clinking against wood. He made a mental note of it, so that he would be able to reach it later, and turned into the direction he had heard the woman speaking, repeating his question.
"We call it Eden."
The first time the other had spoken, his voice deep and rough, rumbling like thunder, and heavily laced with sarcasm. That must have been Natas.
"Eden...?"
The name sounded strange on his tongue, though he believed to have heard it before somewhere. Now if he could just remember...
"You will see soon enough for yourself."
See...
"What about my eyes?"
He was still blind, and for a moment fear surged through him that he would be so permanently, that the darkness of Kingdom Hearts had damaged his eyesight beyond repair.
"I have put a blind spell on you. Your eyes are hyper sensitive to light, I don't know why. Without the spell the light would damage your sight gravely."
Gentle fingers travelled over his face and he closed his eyes as she trailed them over his lids.
"It should get better with time. A blindfold will work fine in a few days. You should try to slowly get used to light again. But now enough of small talk."
A slender hand was placed onto his chest and pressed him back into the sheets.
"You still need a lot of sleep. I will bring you some food later."
The rustle of sheets as she stood up, covers gently drawn over him. A small part of him wanted to protest, didn't like being treated like a little boy, while the larger part just told him to shut up and enjoy the novelty of being cared for.
He heard them move towards the door, quietly speaking among themselves.
"What're your names anyway?"
Both stopped, the rustling of clothing as one of them turned.
"Natas is the name of my companion and I am Elodrion. And you are?"
For a moment he was at loss, his name, a name he hadn't used for a long time. What was it again?
"...Riku?"
More of a question that an answer, but it seemed to be enough for Elodrion.
"A pleasure to meet you Riku."
~*~*~*~
Days passed in a blur, consisting of nothing more than sleeping and eating, slowly regaining his strength. Riku had wanted to leave the next time he woke up, but Elodrion forced him back into the bed, by the sounds of it enraged that he would even suggest something like that, reminding him of his mother in her outrage and straight refusal to even entertain the thought of leaving him out of her care. Just like her.
Bitterness crept into his heart at the thought. His mother...how was she anyway? All that time he had not bothered to think about her, if she was well, how she had dealt with him suddenly gone. If he had told her what has happened so long ago? Did she worry for him? Was she still alive? Returned to Destiny Island or still lost in the worlds, just like he?
Had Destiny Island even been restored?
Riku did not know.
Even the good natured bickering and story telling of his care takers did not help to lift his mood, rather firmed his resolve to leave as soon as possible. The two of them were survivors of a destroyed world, stranded on Eden.
And as it seemed not the only ones.
Through the constant splatter of rain he sometimes heard voices outside, the crying of kids, bitter laughter and sometimes the clash of weapons.
A refugee camp, as Elodrion told him once. Whoever stranded in this world had settled here. The native inhabitants weren't friendly ("Creepy faced freaks", how Natas had put it), didn't welcome those that tried to save their life in their world and so the survivors had to settle close to the territory of the demons, how she called the Heartless. Daily fights against them was common and the camp had set up guards to keep the inner circle of it save.
But still, nearly no day passed without someone lost to them. And with every day there seemed to be more Heartless.
As things stood this world wouldn't exist much longer either.
Rikus fingers closed over the pendant of the keyblade, the sharp corners of it digging into his palm, the blade itself had vanished as he lost consciousness days ago, and he had not bothered to call it back into existence for now.
He would not let it come that far.
He would defeat them once and for all before this world would perish.
~*~*~*~
Something woke Riku that night, no sound, but for the constant splatter of the rain against the window plane, the rumble of thunder and crash of lightning drowned everything out.
No, not a sound.
More, like a feeling .
Coldness that was not there before, that slowly seeped in between the cracks and gaps of the house, that chilled you to the bone.
Silently he rolled out of his bed, bare feet softly moving over the icy floor.
Something...was here.
Tensing, he took a few more steps, carefully manoeuvring around the obstacles in his way, heading towards the door.
He felt his lashes scraping against the cotton blindfold and silently cursed that he still was as good as blind. For a moment the young man considered to just remove the fabric, it was night after all, but abandoned the idea as a lightning brightened the room around him, the stark white light even penetrating the black strap of cloth that shielded his eyes and made them water.
No, it wouldn't do.
He would have to live with the disadvantage of being blind in a enclosed space, with barely no room to move.
The fingers of his outstretched left hand encountered stone, and he turned to lean against the wall, head resting against it. If he was not mistaken he now should be across the window, two steps to his left the closet in which Elodrion kept her bandages and herbs, to the right about one step to the door that lead to the corridor.
Enough space for him to fight.
He took a deep breath and tried to calm down, even out his breathing and his heartbeat that thudded madly in his chest.
His fingers tightened around the grip of the keyblade (funny, he couldn't even remember calling it to his hand) as he listened.
The beating of the rain against the window, like hundreds of tiny fingers drumming against it, the far of rumbling of thunder, deep, revibrating through ones stomach, his own breath, soft drawn out sighs, the whisper of claws through cotton sheets, the snake like hiss that repeated one word over and over again.
"Keyblade!"
I am not afraid.
A step forward, keyblade arcing upwards. He felt it encounter something solid, tearing through it with a sickening wet sound. A small body got flung backwards with a hiss, tearing glass and wood down to the ground with it.
No time to be future concerned about it.
Air ghosting against his bare legs, a sharp downwards thrust and the dying scream of a Heartless broke the silence in the room.
The scurrying of feet against wood, five of them left, maybe six.
Two fast slashes and another one was dispatched off, a second pushed back.
Somewhere downstairs sounded a woman's scream and in the distance the frantic ringing of the alarm bell could be heard, distant and weak under the rolling thunder.
Riku charged forward again, the keyblade singing through the air in a wide arc, hitting at least thrice, before he twirled around, weapon neatly severing through the creature at his back.
A short laugh spilled over his lips.
Easy, after all these fights in Kingdom Hearts, those little Heartless were barely a challenge.
He more felt than heard the creature moving right at his back. The white haired man lashed out again, sure that he would strike this Heartless down too. His blade encountered something hard, a tremor running through the steel up to his arm, penetrated it for a few inches, before getting stuck.
"SHIT!"
The closet. Fucking shit. That little beast of a Heartless had tricked him, lured him away from his small fighting space.
He tried to yank the blade free, but before he managed to dislodge it, two small bodies threw themselves against him, pulling him to the ground.
He cried out in pain as claws shredded his skin, a pair of small hands clutching at his throat, choking him, while another scrambled towards his chest.
No way!
He struggled, trying to throw them off. Wherever they touched his skin coldness and numbness started to spread, and he felt blood running freely down his skin on more than one place. Riku managed to get one leg under the Heartless above him and kicked upwards sharply, managing to dislodge one and kick it in the darkness behind him. The one still at his throat hissed in anger, its breath carrying the smell of blood and decay. He grasped it blindly, felt something under his hand which he supposed was the head and dragged his nails over it until his fingers encountered the Heartless' eyes and pressed mercilessly. Gooey liquid squished past his fingers and a ear piercing wail of pain came from the Heartless.
The grip loosened and he used it to throw the creature completely off. Without stopping for breath he jumped forward, shoulder painfully hitting the wood of the closet. Rikus hand closed over the handle of the still stuck keyblade and yanked it free, barely managing to get it up and deflect the coming blow in time. Still propped against the wood he let the strike slide off the metal of the blade, while pushing forward at the same time, tearing a long scratch in the arm of the creature, before embedding itself in its torso. The fair haired fighter felt the body of the Heartless dissolve around the keyblade.
One of those little demons left.
Where...?
Small whimpers and hisses, right in front of him. He snarled and jumped to his feet, his weapon coming down hard on the last of his opponents.
His breathing came heavy, heartbeat loud in his ears.
That had been too close for his liking.
Downstairs he could hear the sounds of fighting, the wails of the Heartless. Sometimes he even thought that he could see the amber glow of hearts, that rose through the ground, through the fabric of his blindfold.
Natas and the others would be able to deal with the remaining fiends, he probably would be more of a nuisance than a help if he tried to feel his way downstairs and fight with them. His free hand balled into a fist and he felt anger welling within his heart, hot and bitter.
He was so useless.
Useless like this, blind and enclosed in this room.
Easy to sprout great tones here.
Save this world! All worlds!
Yeah, right!
Endangering people with his presence was more like it. Those Heartless, they were after him. Keyblade, keyblade...they knew that he had it, that the means of their destruction were near.
And they would not stop to destroy the threat.
So leave than.
What...
Leave, nothing is holding you here. Stop putting your mission off.
I don't even know where I shall start...
But you know what we want. Let me lead you.
I wont succumb to you! Never again! I will not fall twice!
Riku, I thought you had learned. At least you told me that. Your goal is to defeat the Heartless. Mine is to reign over them.
But to both our goals leads the same road. Let us walk it together. After all there is no black or white, just varying shades of grey.
I do not trust you.
I never asked you to trust me.
I might be lying.
But do you have any other choice? You have no way of transportation and how high are your chances of finding a gumi-ship here and that they will lend it to you?
With me at your side, with the dark keyblade in your hand, you will be able to travel through the worlds again.
My strength would be yours again.
I do not want nor do I need your strength.
So sure?
What is your decision? I helped you once. You are free from Kingdom Hearts.
I offer to help you again.
~*~*~*~
"Riku? Riku are you alright?!"
An empty room was all that greeted the healers concern. The interior was a mess, chairs and table overthrown, the closet damaged and opened, clothes and various items strewn on the floor. Through the open window rain fell onto torn sheets, the wooden frame beating against the wall with every cold gust of wind. The woman hurried towards the window and leaned out, trying to see if she might catch sight of the missing young man.
Nothing.
With a curse she threw the window shut, pointed ears twitching in irritation.
"Idiot. Empty headed dumbfuck. I wont stitch him back together this time."