Riku sat in the shadows with his arms crossed. Shadow stood closely by,
watching the battle ahead. The darkness surrounded them and kept them
hidden from the brunette who ran by.
"Geez. You'd think taking Jafar down would be the only thing he cared about." Shadow sneered at his mirror image as he ran by, chasing the vizier around the circular room.
"Well, he does at least keep asking about me and Kairi." Riku whispered.
"Yeah. Until he finds out about another keyhole he can go unlock."
Riku sighed heavily and hung his head. He had been searching with Maleficent for Kairi, and been watching Sora in his adventures. It was true that Sora would ask about them, but he also took everyone else's problems more seriously.
~Don't let the boy cloud your mind Riku. Once you find Kairi and the other princesses, then I will regain my body and you will have yours. The three of you can go anywhere you'd like.~
Riku's concentration was broken as he heard a horribly pained scream. Sora had defeated Jafar it seemed.
"Genie! I wish to be an all powerful genie!"
The humorous blue blob in the air pointed to Jafar and looked away as a spark of pink and purple magic shot into the vizier. Jafar's body jolted with the energy running throughout his body.
Suddenly, he crashed through the floor of the room and a whole appeared. Sora and the others ran forward, peering down into the hole. There was lava pouring in from everywhere, and a platform stood in the middle of the ocean of magma. Before plunging down, Sora began to run towards the keyhole and where Riku and Shadow were hiding.
'Can he see us?'
~No, he must be coming for the princess. If he takes Jasmine away, we shall never be able to open the final keyhole.~
Riku took the warning and forced the darkness through the ground until it was under the princess. Without the approaching hero's noticing, the darkness surrounded the princess.
"Jasmine!" Aladdin ran up to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. But she wouldn't wake up.
"Don't worry Aladdin. I'm sure she's just been knocked out, we have to defeat Jafar before he comes back for her."
Shadow took a few steps forward, walking behind the real Sora as he ran toward the gaping hole in the room. Turning to Riku he saluted and slid straight through the floor. Riku didn't know why Shadow enjoyed following Sora around and watching him as much as he did, but he could do whatever he wanted. 'I have a job to take care of.'
Riku stepped from the darkness and it slipped away from the princess. Jasmine opened her eyes and immediately turned to where there was the sound of fighting.
"Aladdin?" Jasmine stood up and took a few steps down from the inlet of the wall where she had been dropped by Jafar. Peering into the hole, the red light from the lava and fireballs below shone into her eyes and she held up her hand to protect her eyes. Then she heard footsteps behind her and turned to see who it was.
Riku's dragonblade came down on the back of the princesses neck and she fell unconscious to the floor. Picking up the girls light body, Riku let himself be pulled through the puddle of darkness growing at his feet.
When his eyes opened again, he was in a dark castle. The walls were overgrown and had large columns. At the end of the short corridor was a circular room. A table was set up in the center, and numerous shadows stood nearby. Riku recognized a few of them, but knew little about them. He shifted the burden on his shoulder and walked past the figures who turned to look at him.
After a few trips up and down lifts, Riku arrived at the keyhole chamber. On the walls were six blue glass containers. The seventh lay farther in the chamber, reserved for the final princess, facing the enormous keyhole.
Five beautiful girls were silently sleeping inside their coffin like boxes. Approaching the empty one, Riku pulled it open with the darkness that pervaded the entire castle. He stood up the Arabian princess next to the young blond girl who had been brought a short while before.
"So Ku, who do you think is the prettiest in the bunch?" Shadow slipped his arms around Riku from behind and rested his head on the taller boy's shoulder.
"You really shouldn't sneak up on me you know." Riku tossed back playfully as he walked away from the light embrace.
"Normally I couldn't." Shadow quickly caught up to Riku and walked with him to the lifts.
"I would have been able to tell you were there from a mile away. But this place," Riku nodded to the castle passing by them as the platform rose to the dark corridor he had entered, "This whole place reeks of darkness from that keyhole. Even with Ansem's powers I can't sense you out specifically."
~I'm sure if you tried hard enough you could. Now, Maleficent wishes to speak to you, she'll send a messenger soon if you don't go to her.~
Riku walked through the false wall and the horned witch turned to greet him with her usual smile and hard eyes.
"Good job Riku. You managed to capture the sixth princess of heart."
"You should never have left the job in that fool Jafar's hands. He almost messed the plan up completely."
"And then the keyblade master wailed on him." Shadow smirked at the frown on Maleficent's face.
"Yes. He allowed the darkness to take over him. His need for power did him in."
~She writes her own eulogy.~
"Yeah, well, just one more princess to go." Riku pushed the conversion in the direction he wanted and stepped closer to the tall woman.
"Ah yes. You kept your promise, and I will keep mine." Waving her long fingernails over the table, a light shone and a small image of Kairi appeared.
~'Kairi'~
"You look surprised Riku."
"What's the catch," Riku looked from the image of his friend to the old witch, "Why are you doing this for me?"
"I think of you as a son Riku. You kept your end of the bargain, and I will keep mine." Taking just one slow step forward, Maleficent reached out and cupped the side of Riku's face in her cold hand. Riku slapped it away and took a step back.
Shadow stepped between the two, holding a dark version of the keyblade in his hand, in a threatening way.
"Hahaha. What is this Riku? You don't trust me so you send out your faithful little pet?" Shadow snarled and bent down, ready to take a swing at the woman, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him. Riku shook his head back and forth.
"That's what I thought. Now, Captain Hook will be taking you to the girl. Bring her back here once you obtain her."
Riku took Shadow's hand and turned toward the strangely dressed sea captain. He smirked down at the two.
"You should know now, this won't be a pleasure cruise. If you're on me vessel, you're going to work."
"Sure, whatever." Riku muttered and began to follow the man to what was inevitably his ship.
"And Riku." Maleficent's cold voice broke through the air and commanded a sense of respect. Riku stopped, but would not turn to her.
"Stay away from the keyblade master."
Shadow watched as Riku seethed, but didn't let his temper escape.
~Maleficent is an idiot. She doesn't realize that she is being used. Soon Riku, you will be able to teach her a lesson.~
'It better be soon. I'm getting tired of that old bitch and I will make her pay for everything she's been sending at Sora.'
~But who will make Sora pay for the pain he is inflicting on the heartless, just poor people who have lost their hearts.~
'They don't deserve pity.' Riku could practically feel Ansem smirking.
~As you wish.~
Shadow poked Riku's arm to stir him from his internal conversation. Then he just laughed and pulled the silver haired boy onto the enormous pirate ship. Riku's jaw hung open as they climbed aboard the comfortable looking vessel.
"Ar. You two stay out of our way. Ya may go anywar below deck. Stay there until we reach where we're heading."
Riku turned and walked through one of the doors leading to a set of cabins. Had he any respect at all for the captain, he probably would have acknowledged the command.
"You're going to get us kicked off this boat ya know?" Shadow smirked and jumped into one of the hammocks, swinging back and forth. Riku climbed into the hammock below his and leaned his head back on his arms. His green eyes slowly closed as he tried to rest, he'd been doing everyone's errands lately, and using the darkness was starting to strain his body.
Soft lips pressed against Riku's and he lazily lifted his eyelids. Shadow was half way phased through the hammock above his and was holding onto it to keep from falling down.
"Ku..why don't we have some fun?" The boy fluttered his dark eyelashes over his golden eyes suggestively.
Riku just sighed and smiled up at the figure hanging above him.
"I'm too tired right now. Maybe later." Shadow pouted at this and let go of the hammock.
"Oof!" Shadow landed right on Riku's stomach, causing him to make a very interesting noise. The dark boy straddled Riku and leaned down, pressing his lips more urgently to Riku's. After a moment of hesitance, Riku ran his gloved hand through Shadow's spiky dark hair and opened his mouth into the kiss.
Shadow purred happily and ran his tongue along Riku's, savoring the texture and taste. Riku's hands slid down to Shadow's shoulder and pushed him away.
"What's wrong Ku?"
"Something's coming."
Shadow slid off Riku's stomach and stretched out his hand. The shadow keyblade formed in his hand again, not as powerful as a real keyblade, but very effective.
Riku concentrated on what was left of his control over the darkness and put his hands together. The darkness flowed through him and a hilt appeared in his hands. The dark blue and red dragon blade grew out from the hilt and curved wickedly. Riku took a fighting stance and stood with his back to Shadow. They had had their fair share of heartless attacks, they kept on coming for Riku's heart, especially when they sensed that he was weak.
From the floor two points rose up and Riku and Shadow took a step away from them. The points were blue and jagged, and were soon joined be a set of antennae. The creatures rose up out of the ground, two of them. Each carried an enormous dark sword, and had a hole in the shape of a heart in their chest.
"Invisibles." Shadow mumbled and took a deep breath. "They're tough heartless. Some of the toughest. Take them out fast before they cast their attacks." Shadow ran forward and jumped over the head of the nearest Invisible, slashing downward with his keyblade. But the Invisible hovered up to meet him on it's tiny wings and blocked his attack with its own powerful blade.
Riku turned from watching his friend as the other heartless lunged at him. Riku leapt away from the jagged sword then braced himself and ran back at him. His dragonblade cut through the air before hitting one of the Invisible's legs. It looked down silently at the damage down to it before floating backwards and raising it's sword high.
"YAH!" Shadow swung his keyblade heavily and it cut through the weakened Invisible. It was now in half. Panting slightly, Shadow turned to see Riku and his opponent. The Invisible raised it's sword high and plunged it into the ground.
"NO!" Shadow ran forward but the purple orbs were already circling around Riku. The silver haired boy looked around him, realizing that this must be the attack Shadow was talking about. Suddenly, his whole body felt like it was on fire. He cried out and fell to his knees, dropping the dragonblade. Purple orbs spun around him, electrocuting him with black lightning.
Riku opened one of his eyes and squinted around, trying to find where the heartless had gone, but he couldn't see anything but the sword which was still imbedded in the ground.
"Riku!" Shadow reached out to help Riku up but one of the orbs turned on him and he was flung back across the room. His back hit the wall with a thud and he slumped onto the floor. Shaking his dark spikes back and forth, Shadow's eyes focused again and he saw Riku shuddering in pain. He stood up and summoned the shadow keyblade to him and took off towards the Invisible's sword.
Riku tried to use the darkness to escape from the attack, but his whole body was being attacked, as if the Invisible's attack was happening inside his body. Shadow swung the keyblade and knocked the blue sword out of the ground. Suddenly the pain was gone and Riku looked up to see the Invisible reappearing. It picked up it's fallen blade and rushed towards Shadow. Sounds of metal clashing against metal filled the room as the two shadow creatures dueled. Finally Riku's trembling knees allowed him to stand up and he forced the darkness around him into the shape of the dragonblade.
Shadow held up his keyblade, trying to force back the larger heartless and it's jagged sword. Then the pressure stopped and the Invisible stumbled backwards, it's head sliced straight through. Riku stood behind him, pulling the dragoblade from where it had gotten stuck in the Invisible's head.
"You said you wanted to have fun, huh Shadow?"
"Oh yeah. That was a blast." Shadow winked at Riku before helping him walk back to the hammock, since the silver haired boy was still weak from the incredible attack.
"What was that attack?"
"Invisibles know strong magic, that was their strongest attack. Their sword is used as a base, and they are able to use the magic from the sword to enter the body of an enemy."
"It was inside me?" Holding his aching ribs, Riku's looked wide eyed at Shadow for an explanation.
"Yeah. Those orbs constrain the body of the enemy while the Invisible enters it and uses the darkness in that person to attack themselves. Seeing as you have a lot of darkness in you now that you have Ansem's powers, it did a lot of damage."
Riku sat there, staring quietly at the floor. 'So I have you to thank for this.' Riku blinked a few times and tried again. 'Ansem? Where are you?' But still no response.
"I can't seem to talk to Ansem."
"Why?"
"I don't know. I can still feel his presence in my mind, but it's..." Riku tried again, harder to contact the being within him.
"Maybe he's too busy doing something to be able to communicate." Shadow suggested helpfully. "Don't worry Ku. I'm sure he'll be back. Why don't you get some rest now, you look terrible."
Riku gave a small smile at seeing Shadow's wide grin and let himself relax into the hammock. Shadow rolled onto his side and curled up against Riku. He let his arm hang over the dark boy's shoulders and drifted into a light sleep, rocked by the movement of the ship.
"Geez. You'd think taking Jafar down would be the only thing he cared about." Shadow sneered at his mirror image as he ran by, chasing the vizier around the circular room.
"Well, he does at least keep asking about me and Kairi." Riku whispered.
"Yeah. Until he finds out about another keyhole he can go unlock."
Riku sighed heavily and hung his head. He had been searching with Maleficent for Kairi, and been watching Sora in his adventures. It was true that Sora would ask about them, but he also took everyone else's problems more seriously.
~Don't let the boy cloud your mind Riku. Once you find Kairi and the other princesses, then I will regain my body and you will have yours. The three of you can go anywhere you'd like.~
Riku's concentration was broken as he heard a horribly pained scream. Sora had defeated Jafar it seemed.
"Genie! I wish to be an all powerful genie!"
The humorous blue blob in the air pointed to Jafar and looked away as a spark of pink and purple magic shot into the vizier. Jafar's body jolted with the energy running throughout his body.
Suddenly, he crashed through the floor of the room and a whole appeared. Sora and the others ran forward, peering down into the hole. There was lava pouring in from everywhere, and a platform stood in the middle of the ocean of magma. Before plunging down, Sora began to run towards the keyhole and where Riku and Shadow were hiding.
'Can he see us?'
~No, he must be coming for the princess. If he takes Jasmine away, we shall never be able to open the final keyhole.~
Riku took the warning and forced the darkness through the ground until it was under the princess. Without the approaching hero's noticing, the darkness surrounded the princess.
"Jasmine!" Aladdin ran up to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. But she wouldn't wake up.
"Don't worry Aladdin. I'm sure she's just been knocked out, we have to defeat Jafar before he comes back for her."
Shadow took a few steps forward, walking behind the real Sora as he ran toward the gaping hole in the room. Turning to Riku he saluted and slid straight through the floor. Riku didn't know why Shadow enjoyed following Sora around and watching him as much as he did, but he could do whatever he wanted. 'I have a job to take care of.'
Riku stepped from the darkness and it slipped away from the princess. Jasmine opened her eyes and immediately turned to where there was the sound of fighting.
"Aladdin?" Jasmine stood up and took a few steps down from the inlet of the wall where she had been dropped by Jafar. Peering into the hole, the red light from the lava and fireballs below shone into her eyes and she held up her hand to protect her eyes. Then she heard footsteps behind her and turned to see who it was.
Riku's dragonblade came down on the back of the princesses neck and she fell unconscious to the floor. Picking up the girls light body, Riku let himself be pulled through the puddle of darkness growing at his feet.
When his eyes opened again, he was in a dark castle. The walls were overgrown and had large columns. At the end of the short corridor was a circular room. A table was set up in the center, and numerous shadows stood nearby. Riku recognized a few of them, but knew little about them. He shifted the burden on his shoulder and walked past the figures who turned to look at him.
After a few trips up and down lifts, Riku arrived at the keyhole chamber. On the walls were six blue glass containers. The seventh lay farther in the chamber, reserved for the final princess, facing the enormous keyhole.
Five beautiful girls were silently sleeping inside their coffin like boxes. Approaching the empty one, Riku pulled it open with the darkness that pervaded the entire castle. He stood up the Arabian princess next to the young blond girl who had been brought a short while before.
"So Ku, who do you think is the prettiest in the bunch?" Shadow slipped his arms around Riku from behind and rested his head on the taller boy's shoulder.
"You really shouldn't sneak up on me you know." Riku tossed back playfully as he walked away from the light embrace.
"Normally I couldn't." Shadow quickly caught up to Riku and walked with him to the lifts.
"I would have been able to tell you were there from a mile away. But this place," Riku nodded to the castle passing by them as the platform rose to the dark corridor he had entered, "This whole place reeks of darkness from that keyhole. Even with Ansem's powers I can't sense you out specifically."
~I'm sure if you tried hard enough you could. Now, Maleficent wishes to speak to you, she'll send a messenger soon if you don't go to her.~
Riku walked through the false wall and the horned witch turned to greet him with her usual smile and hard eyes.
"Good job Riku. You managed to capture the sixth princess of heart."
"You should never have left the job in that fool Jafar's hands. He almost messed the plan up completely."
"And then the keyblade master wailed on him." Shadow smirked at the frown on Maleficent's face.
"Yes. He allowed the darkness to take over him. His need for power did him in."
~She writes her own eulogy.~
"Yeah, well, just one more princess to go." Riku pushed the conversion in the direction he wanted and stepped closer to the tall woman.
"Ah yes. You kept your promise, and I will keep mine." Waving her long fingernails over the table, a light shone and a small image of Kairi appeared.
~'Kairi'~
"You look surprised Riku."
"What's the catch," Riku looked from the image of his friend to the old witch, "Why are you doing this for me?"
"I think of you as a son Riku. You kept your end of the bargain, and I will keep mine." Taking just one slow step forward, Maleficent reached out and cupped the side of Riku's face in her cold hand. Riku slapped it away and took a step back.
Shadow stepped between the two, holding a dark version of the keyblade in his hand, in a threatening way.
"Hahaha. What is this Riku? You don't trust me so you send out your faithful little pet?" Shadow snarled and bent down, ready to take a swing at the woman, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him. Riku shook his head back and forth.
"That's what I thought. Now, Captain Hook will be taking you to the girl. Bring her back here once you obtain her."
Riku took Shadow's hand and turned toward the strangely dressed sea captain. He smirked down at the two.
"You should know now, this won't be a pleasure cruise. If you're on me vessel, you're going to work."
"Sure, whatever." Riku muttered and began to follow the man to what was inevitably his ship.
"And Riku." Maleficent's cold voice broke through the air and commanded a sense of respect. Riku stopped, but would not turn to her.
"Stay away from the keyblade master."
Shadow watched as Riku seethed, but didn't let his temper escape.
~Maleficent is an idiot. She doesn't realize that she is being used. Soon Riku, you will be able to teach her a lesson.~
'It better be soon. I'm getting tired of that old bitch and I will make her pay for everything she's been sending at Sora.'
~But who will make Sora pay for the pain he is inflicting on the heartless, just poor people who have lost their hearts.~
'They don't deserve pity.' Riku could practically feel Ansem smirking.
~As you wish.~
Shadow poked Riku's arm to stir him from his internal conversation. Then he just laughed and pulled the silver haired boy onto the enormous pirate ship. Riku's jaw hung open as they climbed aboard the comfortable looking vessel.
"Ar. You two stay out of our way. Ya may go anywar below deck. Stay there until we reach where we're heading."
Riku turned and walked through one of the doors leading to a set of cabins. Had he any respect at all for the captain, he probably would have acknowledged the command.
"You're going to get us kicked off this boat ya know?" Shadow smirked and jumped into one of the hammocks, swinging back and forth. Riku climbed into the hammock below his and leaned his head back on his arms. His green eyes slowly closed as he tried to rest, he'd been doing everyone's errands lately, and using the darkness was starting to strain his body.
Soft lips pressed against Riku's and he lazily lifted his eyelids. Shadow was half way phased through the hammock above his and was holding onto it to keep from falling down.
"Ku..why don't we have some fun?" The boy fluttered his dark eyelashes over his golden eyes suggestively.
Riku just sighed and smiled up at the figure hanging above him.
"I'm too tired right now. Maybe later." Shadow pouted at this and let go of the hammock.
"Oof!" Shadow landed right on Riku's stomach, causing him to make a very interesting noise. The dark boy straddled Riku and leaned down, pressing his lips more urgently to Riku's. After a moment of hesitance, Riku ran his gloved hand through Shadow's spiky dark hair and opened his mouth into the kiss.
Shadow purred happily and ran his tongue along Riku's, savoring the texture and taste. Riku's hands slid down to Shadow's shoulder and pushed him away.
"What's wrong Ku?"
"Something's coming."
Shadow slid off Riku's stomach and stretched out his hand. The shadow keyblade formed in his hand again, not as powerful as a real keyblade, but very effective.
Riku concentrated on what was left of his control over the darkness and put his hands together. The darkness flowed through him and a hilt appeared in his hands. The dark blue and red dragon blade grew out from the hilt and curved wickedly. Riku took a fighting stance and stood with his back to Shadow. They had had their fair share of heartless attacks, they kept on coming for Riku's heart, especially when they sensed that he was weak.
From the floor two points rose up and Riku and Shadow took a step away from them. The points were blue and jagged, and were soon joined be a set of antennae. The creatures rose up out of the ground, two of them. Each carried an enormous dark sword, and had a hole in the shape of a heart in their chest.
"Invisibles." Shadow mumbled and took a deep breath. "They're tough heartless. Some of the toughest. Take them out fast before they cast their attacks." Shadow ran forward and jumped over the head of the nearest Invisible, slashing downward with his keyblade. But the Invisible hovered up to meet him on it's tiny wings and blocked his attack with its own powerful blade.
Riku turned from watching his friend as the other heartless lunged at him. Riku leapt away from the jagged sword then braced himself and ran back at him. His dragonblade cut through the air before hitting one of the Invisible's legs. It looked down silently at the damage down to it before floating backwards and raising it's sword high.
"YAH!" Shadow swung his keyblade heavily and it cut through the weakened Invisible. It was now in half. Panting slightly, Shadow turned to see Riku and his opponent. The Invisible raised it's sword high and plunged it into the ground.
"NO!" Shadow ran forward but the purple orbs were already circling around Riku. The silver haired boy looked around him, realizing that this must be the attack Shadow was talking about. Suddenly, his whole body felt like it was on fire. He cried out and fell to his knees, dropping the dragonblade. Purple orbs spun around him, electrocuting him with black lightning.
Riku opened one of his eyes and squinted around, trying to find where the heartless had gone, but he couldn't see anything but the sword which was still imbedded in the ground.
"Riku!" Shadow reached out to help Riku up but one of the orbs turned on him and he was flung back across the room. His back hit the wall with a thud and he slumped onto the floor. Shaking his dark spikes back and forth, Shadow's eyes focused again and he saw Riku shuddering in pain. He stood up and summoned the shadow keyblade to him and took off towards the Invisible's sword.
Riku tried to use the darkness to escape from the attack, but his whole body was being attacked, as if the Invisible's attack was happening inside his body. Shadow swung the keyblade and knocked the blue sword out of the ground. Suddenly the pain was gone and Riku looked up to see the Invisible reappearing. It picked up it's fallen blade and rushed towards Shadow. Sounds of metal clashing against metal filled the room as the two shadow creatures dueled. Finally Riku's trembling knees allowed him to stand up and he forced the darkness around him into the shape of the dragonblade.
Shadow held up his keyblade, trying to force back the larger heartless and it's jagged sword. Then the pressure stopped and the Invisible stumbled backwards, it's head sliced straight through. Riku stood behind him, pulling the dragoblade from where it had gotten stuck in the Invisible's head.
"You said you wanted to have fun, huh Shadow?"
"Oh yeah. That was a blast." Shadow winked at Riku before helping him walk back to the hammock, since the silver haired boy was still weak from the incredible attack.
"What was that attack?"
"Invisibles know strong magic, that was their strongest attack. Their sword is used as a base, and they are able to use the magic from the sword to enter the body of an enemy."
"It was inside me?" Holding his aching ribs, Riku's looked wide eyed at Shadow for an explanation.
"Yeah. Those orbs constrain the body of the enemy while the Invisible enters it and uses the darkness in that person to attack themselves. Seeing as you have a lot of darkness in you now that you have Ansem's powers, it did a lot of damage."
Riku sat there, staring quietly at the floor. 'So I have you to thank for this.' Riku blinked a few times and tried again. 'Ansem? Where are you?' But still no response.
"I can't seem to talk to Ansem."
"Why?"
"I don't know. I can still feel his presence in my mind, but it's..." Riku tried again, harder to contact the being within him.
"Maybe he's too busy doing something to be able to communicate." Shadow suggested helpfully. "Don't worry Ku. I'm sure he'll be back. Why don't you get some rest now, you look terrible."
Riku gave a small smile at seeing Shadow's wide grin and let himself relax into the hammock. Shadow rolled onto his side and curled up against Riku. He let his arm hang over the dark boy's shoulders and drifted into a light sleep, rocked by the movement of the ship.