This chapter got kinda big, and took me forever to write. I am really
really sorry for the delay, but I got a part in my school play, so
rehearsal plus school are taking up way too much of my time. Updates are
gonna be few until summer, but they'll probably be big like this one. If
this chapter doesn't flow well, I'm really sorry, but I wrote it over the
span of about 2 or 3 weeks. :::bows::: sorry readers, I'll try and be a
better writer soon.
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Riku stood with his forehead leaning against the window of the cabin on Hook's ship. His breath was fogging up the glass until he could no longer see the stars and planets that were passing by. He sensed the approach of his lover behind him, and didn't start when his soft hands slid around his waist.
"What's wrong Ku?"
The aqua eyes peered out into the distance before returning to the ground.
Shadow sighed and leaned against the taller boy, tightening his hug on him from behind. He could feel Riku's back swell up with each breath as his own dark chest moved.
~Don't look so gloomy my boy.~
Shadow stumbled back as Riku abruptly stood up straight, his eyes becoming hard and focused.
"What's up?"
"Ansem is back."
'Where have you been?'
~I had some, business, to attend to.~
'What kind of business?'
Shadow's bright yellow eyes blinked as he watched Riku concentrate. The dark creature let out a 'hmph' before sitting down on the hammock with his legs crossed and watching the beautiful boy in front of him.
Riku pressed his mind against the intruding force of Ansem's spirit. Suddenly he felt and heard and saw memories from Ansem's mind. The other being in his mind retreated and let out an angry snarl.
~What do you think you're doing.~
'I want to know what you've really been doing. Now, tell me where Kairi is.'
~How did you know.~ Even with his mind intruded on, Ansem remained calm and in control.
'I saw her. Now tell me, where is she?'
~I don't think you want me to...~
Shadow leaned forward, trying to discern what was happening in Riku's mind as the boy's fists clenched angrily.
'What have you done to Kairi!?!'
~I have done nothing. Come to the shadow world and I'll show you.~
"Come on Shadow. We're going." The obsidian form of a portal spread out from Riku's legs and Shadow stepped forward into it, slowly falling through the floor. Riku still wasn't used to the feeling, it was like voluntarily throwing yourself into a quicksand pit.
Riku's heavy blue boots touched onto the solid floor of the shadow world and he could feel the tug of the keyhole behind him. Before Shadow even landed Riku had started running through the darkness. Sensing as far as he could, he felt Ansem's powerful presence ahead.
"Where is she Ansem?!" Riku skidded to a stop as the man with the long white hair turned to face him. He smiled as usual, his over confident smirk.
Ansem pointed with one long gloved finger to the floor and the darkness rose up into a globe. It flickered for a second, and Ansem's orange eyes narrowed. Finally the black orb showed what Ansem had seen. Kairi lay on the ground, motionless, her eyes closed and her face emotionless.
"No..." Riku placed his black gloved hand on the globe and the image of his friend.
"Is she dead?" Shadow sounded genuinely concerned, although his eyes were glued to Riku, and not the image of a girl.
"No, but she has no heart. I have been communicating with Maleficent, and she is going to bring Kairi to you." Ansem smiled evilly and walked up behind Riku to place a falsely comforting hand on his shoulder.
"So that you can kill her."
"What?!?"
"You said yourself," Ansem walked slowly around Riku, letting his hand trail on the boy's shoulder. "That heartless deserve no mercy, or did I mishear you." Ansem slid his arms around the boys shoulder and over his chest. He put his lips next to the wary boy's ears and let his hand slide down to lay over the boy's heart.
"Perhaps I could let you join her. Then we wouldn't need her to complete the keyhole, I could just....borrow...your body."
Riku winced as he felt a burning on his left chest. Ansem's fingers slowly pressed against the boy's yellow shirt, and began to sink through till they reached skin. Then they dug even deeper. Tears began to form in Riku's eyes from the pain and he bit his lip to keep from screaming out loud.
"Calm down Riku. You'll be with the girl soon enough." Ansem pushed farther toward the boy's heart until he heard a dangerous snarl nearby. His calm orange eyes glared up at Shadow, who was standing with his dark keyblade at hand.
"Leave Ku alone, or else."
"Or else what, boy?" Ansem's hand stopped digging into Riku's flesh, but he still held the boy in his tight embrace.
A sword pressed against Ansem's back, another against his throat, and Shadow began to slowly walk forward.
"Or else we'll destroy you here, and you'll have no need for Riku's body anymore." Shadow smiled and reached to his side. There was a black rope coiled up and hung on the boy's black belt. Ansem just raised an eyebrow as Shadow pulled on the rope hard. Something far away let out a growl before the darkness revealed an enormous heartless. It's dark horn was sparkling with energy, and the black rope was secured around it's neck. The purple Behemoth took a step forward, and everyone felt the shudder of the ground beneath them.
"This big guy's under my control for now. So I would let go of him before I decide to tell this guy to attack." Shadow stood with confidence as his copies also grinned and pressed their blades against Ansem's skin. The white haired noblemen looked unhappy, but eventually withdrew his hand from Riku's chest and disappeared into the darkness.
Shadow ran forward, his copies fading away and the behemoth returning to it's home in the darkness. He caught Riku as the boy fell to his knees, clutching at the invisible wound in his chest. Riku coughed and his silver hair fell in front of his face as he threw his head forward. Shadow gently moved his hair aside and took the frightened boy's face in his hands.
"Come on Riku. Let's get out of here. We can't trust Ansem here."
Riku nodded and Shadow helped him gain his balance again before the two ran for the keyhole. They slipped through and found themselves on the clocktower. Shadow melted through the floor, taking Riku with him to the pirate ship.
As they arrived in their cabin, Shadow could no longer hold up both himself and Riku and fell with the other boy to the floor. .
"What's wrong?" Riku asked in a hollow voice.
"Just using up a lot of energy lately. Going here and there using the portals, and keeping control over a Behemoth takes a lot outta ya."
Riku stared at the floor, but his hand hovered over his heart. "Thank you." He practically whispered.
"Don't worry. We'll get Kairi back. And we'll fix her too."
"How? Is there any way to turn someone back once they've become a heartless?"
"I don't know for sure. But if there is a way, we'll find it Ku. I swear." Shadow slid his hand over Riku's and took a firm hold over it, his comforting smile easing the boy's pained expression.
"Heartless, keyholes, keyblades....there has to be a connection. I don't think it was just a coincidence that Kairi's heart is gone when Sora and I are the keyblade masters."
"Hmm..." Shadow put his chin in his hands and furrowed his brow in thought. He crossed his legs and hmph'ed again, thinking even harder. Then his yellow eyes flashed brighter and he snapped his fingers. Riku just cocked his head at his lover's strange behavior and sat up on his knees, waiting for an explanation.
"Why don't we see exactly what happened when Kairi lost her heart?"
Almost before he could finish his sentence, Riku leaned forward and took Shadow's mouth into an insistent, happy kiss. Letting go, Shadow began to lean forward to extend the lovely feeling of the kiss, but Riku was already standing up. The dark boy sighed and stood up, his dark chains jangling from his waist.
Riku walked to the nearest wall of their cabin and placed his hand against it. The wood swirled together as blackness seeped from the wall, turning it into a black, reflective wall. The boy's soft aqua eyes hardened in concentration as he willed the shadows to do his bidding.
After a shimmer, the wall showed a rock cave, gray and dark, with a hole on the top through which black clouds could be seen.
"The secret place?"
The image showed a boy in red, with wildly spiked brown hair running through the entrance of the cavern.
"Sora." Riku let his hand rest against the image on the wall, stroking the picture of his friend's face. Shadow's face became impassive as he glared at his colorful form, running into the center of the cave before stopping and looking surprised. The image retreated and showed a door on the cave wall and a girl standing in front of it. Her eyes were half lidded and she turned around, far too slow for a girl her age.
"That door. I've seen that door before." Riku remembered challenging Sora to go into the cave many times, dared on further by the roaring of the wind passing through it's channels. They had never known what the door was there for, but Riku sometimes felt drawn to it, and it would flicker into something....different sometimes.
"Sora...." Kairi's soft voice sounded like it was a million miles from her body as it echoed in the cave softly before being drowned out by an explosive roar. The door flung itself open, and the familiar wisps of black and purple from the shadow world rushed in with the force of a hurricane. Kairi's light body was thrown forward and Sora extended his arms to catch her. But she passes straight through him, disappearing.
Riku felt his breath catch. He had ordered the darkness to show him the very second when Kairi lost her heart. Sora was blown from the cave, and the darkness receded from the wall, leaving the creaking wood of the ship behind.
'Sora...he took Kairi's heart.'
~I told you boy, that you didn't want me to show you what happened to the girl.~
'Why didn't you tell me in the first place.'
~I have been in your mind all this time Riku, I know for a fact you wouldn't have believed me even if I had told you.~
Riku's eyes shifted as he realized that Ansem was right. The man knew as much about Riku as he himself did. It caused an involuntary shiver to run through Riku's body.
"We have to get Kairi's heart back. Sora took it away, maybe he knows how to get it back to her. All we have to do is bring him Kairi's body, and he'll give her her heart back."
~Do you honestly think that Sora would be willing to do that? Why not talk to him first, and let Maleficent safely bring Kairi here to the ship. If you think that Sora really will revive the girl, you can come back through the shadows and take her body with you to the keyblade master.~
"Shadow, do you have enough energy to move us one more time?"
"With a little bit of your help, it'll be a sinch." Shadow winked and came up to stand beside Riku. He took the boy's hand in his and closed his eyes, drawing energy from the overabundance that was within Riku now. The floor turned once again into a gaping black hole, and both boy's commanded it to take them to the location of the keyblade master.
After a moment of weightlessness as they fell through the shadows, both boys felt their feet land on something....squishy. Riku's eyes flew open and he let out a soft ewww. Shadow picked up one of his feet and looked incredulously at the pink goo that stuck to the bottom.
"Yuck, this stuff is-" Riku clamped his hand over Shadow's mouth and took a step back, till they were hidden in the shadow of a nearby archway. Riku pointed over to what looked like a small wooden ship, lodged in the same pink goo they had landed in. Shadow followed the finger with his eyes and saw Sora, his two animal companions, and an old man and a puppet. Then the shadow's eyes trailed over their surroundings, and realized what the mysterious white triangles were.
Mumbling something unhappily, Shadow sagged against Riku. The boy let his hand slide away from Shadow's mouth as he sensed the boy shielding himself from view. Leaning up till his mouth was against Riku's ear, Shadow whispered quietly, "We're inside something's mouth."
Riku looked around and nodded his agreement.
"And that doesn't bother you the slightest bit." Shadow's voice raised in pitch and Riku tried to get him to be quiet again before shaking his head back and forth to show that the mouth's of larger creatures didn't frighten him as much as it seemed to his companion.
"Why me..." Shadow muttered before paying more attention to their target, and less to the teeth that were bigger than him.
Riku's eyes focused on the small puppet, who was wondering away on his own.
"I have an idea."
"Huh?"
Riku just smirked before tugging Shadow along the wall of the whale's mouth until they reached the entrance to his throat. Riku pushed Shadow behind him, through the opening, then let the darkness slide away so that he could be seen. The puppet was hopping along on the ship, but quickly saw that a boy had just appeared in front of him. The strange silver haired boy smiled to him, before darting off into the depths of Monstro. Pinocchio was interested, and took off to give chase, ignoring his father and the three newcomers who had befriended him in Traverse Town.
Sora looked around him on the boat, and realized that his company, a small puppet, had disappeared.
"Gepetto, where did Pinocchio go?"
The kind old man turned his spectacled eyes this way and that, but he couldn't find where the puppet had wandered off to.
"I do hope Pinocchio is all right."
Sora grinned and placed his keyblade over his shoulder. He sent a quick glance towards his companions, who groaned in the knowledge of what he was up to.
"C'mon guys, we'll go find him." Sora leapt off the wooden ship lodged in Monstro's mouth and landed in the water that filled up the cavernous place. His yellow shoes made a disgusting squishy sound as he ran over the whale's tongue and into the creature's throat.
Riku watched from his veil of shadows as Sora entered through the archway. His beautiful boyish features were in clear view as the keyblade master attempted to find the lost puppet. He pouted in an adorable expression and bit his lower lip as he spun his body around, looking at the walls of the whale's throat and the numerous entrances the puppet could have taken.
Shadow kept his sharp eyes on both of the keyblade masters, one soaked in darkness, the other sprinkled in light. Shadow's golden eyes narrowed as he picked up the slightest move of his lover. Riku's tongue darted out and licked over his lips, his sea hued eyes glued to the body of the younger brunette. Shadow scowled and stepped out of the wall, coming up behind Pinocchio and pushing him out of the darkness beneath the archway to the stomach.
"Hey Pinocchio, Geppetto is worried sick about you. We should go back."
The puppet didn't worry much about the strange force which had propelled him forward, but instead shook his head back and forth. Sora was taken aback by the small boy's disobedience. Pinocchio turned and began to run through the archway.
"Wait up Pinocchio. This is no time for games!"
Riku stepped forward, and the three adventurers immediately looked toward him. Pinocchio did as well, before running up to stand next to him. His wooden eyes looked critically into the face of the silver haired boy he had given chase to. There was something in them that he had never seen before.
"What's wrong Sora, I thought you liked to play games." Riku gave Sora his most seductive smirk and Sora's jaw hung open.
"After all, you and I have played plenty of games with each other." Riku shifted his footing, flexing his muscles like a cat, languidly stretching as he let his arms fall to his sides and his head cock in a sexy way.
Sora gulped and took a deep breath.
"Riku....what are you doing here?"
Shadow slid up behind Riku, glaring daggers at the boy who couldn't even see him. 'I'll teach him from trying to steal my Ku away from me.' Exerting the barest bit of dark power, Shadow slid it against Riku, who was too preoccupied to notice. Then the dark figure waited for his perfect chance.
"I've come to get you Sora. To take you with me."
Sora kept his eyes carefully on Riku. There was mistrust deep inside the boy over his best friend. The looks he was giving him, they were so familiar. Just like.....When Riku finished what he was saying, to Sora's horror, his blue-green eyes flashed a bright yellow. 'He's.....just like.....the other one.....'
Shadow removed his influence before Riku could notice and took a seat in the background to watch his handiwork. Sora looked nervous and tense, as if ready to put up a fight. 'Perfect.'
"H-Have you found Kairi?" The boy tried to change the subject, and forget the frightening vision he had just had.
~Perhaps you should ask him if he wants her whole, or just part.~
'Get out of my head. I know what I'm doing.'
~Of course. I wouldn't want to be an impolite houseguest. But I thought I'd tell you, that I have used the shadow world to communicate with my dear puppet. She has Kairi's corpse--~
'Body. It isn't a corpse. I will save her.'
~Of course. My mistake, I apologize. Maleficent has her body and is transporting it to Hook's ship. It will be there when you return.~
"Maybe. With no thanks to you. You've been too busy saving everyone else's hides, instead of worrying about the important ones."
'Get out Ansem. I'm busy. I'll talk with you later.'
~Of course. Be careful when dealing with the keyblade master, he may turn on you.~
'Sora wouldn't do that. Now get out!'
"Come on Pinocchio." Riku bent down and took the puppet's hard wooden hand in his. Turning, he threw back over his shoulder, "If you really care about Kairi, catch me and I'll tell you."
As soon as he had disappeared through the next doorway, Riku picked up the puppet and fazed through a wall, the blackness dripping along the walls from where he had gone through. Shadow followed, carefully keeping his eye on the heartless that were beginning to emerge from the floor and walls behind them. They could sense both keyblade master's hearts, splitting into two groups, one attacking Sora's group as soon as they entered the room.
Shadow drew his dark keyblade and took a swing at the requiems and operas that flew around his head. Blocking their magic attacks with his gloved hands, Shadow leapt forward and swiped at them with the keyblade, knocking them all out of the sky in the one swing.
Riku and Shadow faded through a wall into a large open space. The round room had platform like pieces on all the walls, and the ceiling seemed to rise up to some part of the whale. Riku put Pinocchio down on the ground and took a step back to stand next to Shadow.
"Whatcha planning to do with him?"
"Easy. He's got a heart right? We let a heartless take his, and then we find out how we can get it back."
"Ah, so like an experiment to see if it will work with Kairi, huh?"
Riku nodded and looked around, using Ansem's powers to sense for the nearest heartless.
"There's a big one up above us Shadow, do you have enough energy to bring him here?"
Shadow grinned and reached forward, taking Riku's face in his hands. He pulled him close, the movement becoming familiar and pressed his lips to Riku's. Riku opened his mouth to his shadow lover and pressed his tongue into the warmth, feeling a tingling throughout his body as he did so. The black tongue pressed lightly against his, soaking up the power of the darkness that the body held. Shadow pulled away, looking less irritated and powered up.
Pinocchio watched in wonder as a dark version of Sora suddenly appeared. Riku had been making some weird faces for the last few minutes, but he had thought nothing of it. Now the dark Sora, with his eyes glowing a soft golden color, leapt high above them, disappearing into the hole.
"Who was that?"
"No one for you to be concerned about." Riku snapped as he felt Shadow approach the large heartless above them. He could feel their energies clashing, the heartless a huge lumbering beast, and Shadow a quick flash of power and retreat.
Sprinting forward, he grabbed Pinocchio out of the center of the room and ran to the side. A huge jelly-like heartless fell from the ceiling, it's two huge tentacles swinging around and trying to catch Shadow, who darted around on the creature like it was a jungle gym. The heartless made a dent in the floor where it landed, and then turned it's attention to the two who were hiding near the wall. With Shadow forgotten, the heartless opened up it's gaping mouth and reached for Riku and Pinocchio.
"Chow time." Riku tossed the light wooden body into the air where the tentacles caught it and quickly brought the puppet into the cage mouth of the heartless.
"Help me! Somebody!" Shadow suddenly looked nervous and leapt into one of the walls, as footsteps came rushing towards the room.
'No. He found us before we could finish.' Darkness shot out of Riku's hand and melded itself into the dragon sword as Sora ran into the room, keyblade blazing. The duck and dog followed, but stopped behind Sora, watching his back.
"Well Sora, how about you show me how good you've gotten?" Riku ran towards the heartless, keeping it occupied with harmless slashes of his dragon blade. Sora ran into the battle, intent on saving the poor puppet who was imprisoned. Riku kept a watchful eye on Sora's moves, and the abilities of his keyblade. Each strike injured the enormous heartless who's aim and power were quickly decreasing as the keyblade master hacked away at it.
~For someone you swear is kind and good, he fights like a demon.~
'I said to get out of my head. And Sora is only being so vicious because it's a worthless heartless.'
~Such a friend, would you call Kairi worthless to her face as well.~
'Get out.'
~I must wonder, would Sora be as cruel to Kairi, knowing that she was without a heart as well.....~
'OUT!'
Riku let the dragon blade dissolve in his hands as Sora thrust his keyblade one final time into the beast. It slowly dissolved as well, leaving Pinocchio thankful to the brunette. Sora bent down and patted the puppet on his head before looking at Riku. The two had once again been fighting side by side, but Sora looked suspicious of Riku. A few feet grew to a few miles between them.
"Gawrsh, where'd he go?" The strange dog creature looked around, scratching it's head. Riku looked around and realized that Pinocchio must have slunk off while he and Sora had been staring each other down.
"I'll find him." Riku ran past his best friend, giving him a thumbs up as he passed.
'Riku's changed. I feel...different around him. Like I get the creeps just talking to him.'
Sora let the shiver run down his spine before calling to Donald and Goofy. They took off as well, searching for the lost puppet.
Riku whistled for his companion, and Shadow emerged from a nearby wall, running at full speed.
"Shadow we need to get that puppet and take it's heart."
"No prob Ku. I got a plan." The two sprinting boys came to a large room that rose into the air like a column.
"There he is." Riku pointed up at the puppet who was scrambling up the platforms in the whale. He seemed scared, although rightly so considering someone had just tried to feed him to a heartless.
"Right. I'm gonna go get another heartless, you keep him in that upper chamber till I can get it to you."
Riku nodded and sprang up onto the first squishy platform. He still didn't like the way the creature's inner flesh felt against his shoes. 'Man, I gotta clean these when I get home.' Riku ran forward, leaping forward onto the next highest platform. Pinocchio saw this and gasped, doubling his speed. But the puppet's legs had no chance of carrying him fast enough away from Riku's pursuit.
Riku grabbed onto the next platform and heaved himself up onto it. Not wasting a minute, he dove forward and caught one of the puppet's heals. He let out a scream as he was picked up and hung upside down.
"Oh just shut up will you. We need your help to save a friend of mine." Pinocchio sniffled and his lip quivered as he tried to use a puppy dog face to get out of his situation. Riku wasn't affected, and took a strong hold on the puppet before leaping up into the whale. The wind and suction carried them upward till they were thrown into another round chamber.
Riku threw Pinocchio down to the ground before inspecting the new chamber. There was a foul smelling green liquid that ran around the outside, and Riku guessed that it wouldn't be very healthy to step in, and wisely stayed towards the middle of the room. He could sense the dark movements in the walls and turned to see Shadow emerge.
"Have you found one yet?"
"Yes, it's right above here, but it's putting up quite a fight. If you can keep the puppet here I'll be able to send it down soon."
"No problem."
Shadow smiled and gave a quick salute to the keyblade master before fazing into the wall and traveling up into the next part of Monstro. Riku looked at Pinocchio, who was shaking in fear, and sneered at him.
'This worthless puppet. He better help us to find a way to get Kairi's heart back.'
A soft sound caught Riku's ears, and he called upon the shadows in the floor to show him what was making the sound. The blackness rippled for a second before showing Sora and his two companions climbing rapidly up the platforms and heading for the room he was in right now.
There was no way that Riku would be able to find out how to return the puppet's heart at this rate, Shadow had not even returned with the heartless yet. Summoning more of the darkness, Riku pushed it deep into the puppet. He froze, his limbs going taught as the shadows intruded into him and paralyzed him. Then they took over fully, and his body fell to the floor, limp and unconscious.
'Well, not the way I had hoped, but maybe I can do something with this situation after all.' Riku picked up Pinocchio's light body and tossed it to the other side of the room, on one of the platforms he was surrounded by. That way Sora would have go through him to get to the puppet.
The opening in the front of the chamber blew open and Sora, Donald, and Goofy came flying through, their weapons at the ready. Riku just smiled and stood calmly in the center of the room. Sora's bright blue eyes looked hesitant as he approached.
"Riku, what's going on here?" Then the brown haired keyblade master's eyes found the limp body of Pinocchio. Sora took a step forward, preparing to go after the puppet, but Riku took a step to the side, ready to block his way.
"What's wrong Sora? Why should you care so much for a puppet without a heart?"
Sora and the others gasped. Jiminy cricket leapt from one of Sora's pockets and hopped over to Pinocchio, as Riku watched in amusement. The cricket pushed and pleaded with the puppet to wake up, but the darkness continued to have a hold over him and he did not move.
Riku watched this all with a smirk, until he realized that Sora had run over to where the puppet was while he wasn't looking. Suddenly, the darkness began to seep out from Pinocchio's body.
'What?' Riku tried to force the shadows again to do his bidding, but something was stopping him. The puppet slowly woke up, and everyone else sighed with relief. Riku's fists clenched in anger as he watched Sora cheer for the puppet.
"Sora."
The keyblade master turned to his name, an innocent look sweeping briefly over his face, before the suspicion returned. Riku could sense from Sora that he didn't trust him. He could also feel the battle raging on above them. Shadow was trying to subdue the huge heartless, and was doing a decent job. He would be ready to send him down soon. But the whole plan was ruined now.
"Riku. What's made you change like this?"
"Who says I'm the one who's changed? At least I've been out trying everything to bring back Kairi."
"Why do you keep bringing that up Riku?" Sora pleaded with his friend, but seemed to be keeping his distance. Riku smiled and let his anger fade away, after all, he had seen that Sora had stolen Kairi's heart. 'Why would he want to find her when he's the one who did that to her.'
Riku extended his hand, keeping his eyes locked with Sora's.
"Come with me Sora. We can all be together again, just like before."
Sora felt a cold chill run through him. The way Riku was smiling at him, he looked almost.....hungry. Sora took a step back towards the safety of Donald and Goofy, and the keyblade appeared in his hand. He slowly shook his head back and forth.
"I see. You turn on me just because of some useless puppet." Riku practically growled at him, before letting the invitation of his hand drop. Finally he could feel that Shadow had won over the heartless and was waiting for a signal to drop it down.
Sora stood with his keyblade ready for attack, but soon Riku was taking slow steps backwards.
"It's too bad Sora, that you chose to be against me. We would have been good together." Sora started at the double meaning, and his eyes went wide as a black circle formed behind Riku, and the silver haired boy walked through.
"Wait a second Riku!" As Sora ran forward, he heard a horrible shriek and looked up to see a huge heartless falling from the ceiling. His pursuit of his friend would have to wait for now. Drawing out the keyblade, he ran forward, beginning the battle even while his mind was far from it.
Riku stepped out of the shadows and found himself once again on Hook's ship.
~I'm sorry Riku.~
'Don't pretend. Get away, I'm not in the mood to deal with you right now.'
The shadow world opened again and Shadow stumbled through, panting. Trying to keep up with Riku was like racing after the wind.
"You know......maybe you should.....try taking the bus sometime."
Riku's mouth barely twitched into a smile but was gone in an instant. He began to pace back and forth across their room, his fists clenching every now and then angrily.
Glass shattered and Shadow jumped off of the floor, his whole body tightening up. When he looked towards Riku, the boy's fist was stuck directly out the window of the cabin. Blood was slowly dripping from the wound, turning the window into stained glass.
Running to his lover's aid, Shadow carefully pulled his hand from the broken pane. Pieces of glass were imbedded in Riku's glove, most only nicking his skin enough to draw blood. Excruciatingly careful, Shadow removed the black glove and the shards from Riku's hand before looking around for something to bandage it with. Reaching over, he grabbed one of the curtains and ripped it down from the ruined window, wrapping it around Riku's injured hand.
"Thanks." With that muttered, the two were intruded on by a knock at their cabin door.
"Come on in." Shadow yelled, as cheerily as he could. Riku slipped his black glove over as much of his bandaged knuckles as he could, although part of the bandage was still visible. He wisely put this hand in his pocket for the time being.
A tall dark figure entered the room, the horns betraying its identity. Maleficent strode to the center of the room, her figure never jarred as she flowed rather than walked across the floor. Then she opened up her black and purple cloak, revealing a small girl in her arms.
~'Kairi.'~
"Here is the last princess of hearts."
Riku didn't wait for an order and took the light burden from Maleficent. Kairi was still sound asleep, or so it would seem to anyone who saw her in this state. Her eyes were closed, but Riku still reached forward and brushed away a stray piece of hair in her face. He placed her on the bed, carefully, as if not to awaken her.
"So this is Kairi." Shadow walked over to look at her, mumbling softly.
"Thank you Maleficent." Riku's eyes never left Kairi even as he spoke to the witch.
"I made a promise. Now Riku, will you be staying with us?" The woman's voice was smooth and conniving, and Riku knew it. But he had no where else to go, and was stuck with Ansem anyway.
"I will."
"Wonderful. Now, to make life easier for you, I have a gift."
Riku finally turned to face the woman, and saw that she had a small ball of green light in her hand. He and Shadow both looked between the energy and the woman, skeptical of a gift from the dark woman.
"It will give you the power to control the heartless." Riku decided to take a risk and reached out to seize the orb. His body began to glow and feel warmer, and more powerful as the green energy flowed into him.
Without anyone noticing, Maleficent had slipped out of the room. Riku stood there, feeling the new power within him. But something was wrong. The power felt vaguely familiar.
Shadow came up to Riku, bringing him out of his contemplation with a clearing of his throat.
"So, umm, you can, I guess, control the, um, heartless now, so I guess I'll just, um, you know." Shadow motioned with a jerk of his thumb towards the wall and began to turn towards it. The shadows opened a portal for him, but Shadow felt something snag onto his hood and hold him in place.
Riku gently turned Shadow around and pulled him into a brief hug.
"How could you think that Shadow?" Riku mumbled into the soft dark hair he had his face pressed into.
"Well, my only real purpose was to protect you. I figured you wouldn't want me hanging around now that you can actually control the heartless."
Riku gently pulled Shadow's face away from his shoulder and placed a kiss on the boy's forehead.
"I would never let you leave me Shadow." Then the two had their lips pressed together before either realized they had done so. They stood, Riku bending his neck down to reach his lover's mouth, and his silver hair fell into the black spikes of Shadow's, moon rays cutting through the shadows of midnight.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Riku stood with his forehead leaning against the window of the cabin on Hook's ship. His breath was fogging up the glass until he could no longer see the stars and planets that were passing by. He sensed the approach of his lover behind him, and didn't start when his soft hands slid around his waist.
"What's wrong Ku?"
The aqua eyes peered out into the distance before returning to the ground.
Shadow sighed and leaned against the taller boy, tightening his hug on him from behind. He could feel Riku's back swell up with each breath as his own dark chest moved.
~Don't look so gloomy my boy.~
Shadow stumbled back as Riku abruptly stood up straight, his eyes becoming hard and focused.
"What's up?"
"Ansem is back."
'Where have you been?'
~I had some, business, to attend to.~
'What kind of business?'
Shadow's bright yellow eyes blinked as he watched Riku concentrate. The dark creature let out a 'hmph' before sitting down on the hammock with his legs crossed and watching the beautiful boy in front of him.
Riku pressed his mind against the intruding force of Ansem's spirit. Suddenly he felt and heard and saw memories from Ansem's mind. The other being in his mind retreated and let out an angry snarl.
~What do you think you're doing.~
'I want to know what you've really been doing. Now, tell me where Kairi is.'
~How did you know.~ Even with his mind intruded on, Ansem remained calm and in control.
'I saw her. Now tell me, where is she?'
~I don't think you want me to...~
Shadow leaned forward, trying to discern what was happening in Riku's mind as the boy's fists clenched angrily.
'What have you done to Kairi!?!'
~I have done nothing. Come to the shadow world and I'll show you.~
"Come on Shadow. We're going." The obsidian form of a portal spread out from Riku's legs and Shadow stepped forward into it, slowly falling through the floor. Riku still wasn't used to the feeling, it was like voluntarily throwing yourself into a quicksand pit.
Riku's heavy blue boots touched onto the solid floor of the shadow world and he could feel the tug of the keyhole behind him. Before Shadow even landed Riku had started running through the darkness. Sensing as far as he could, he felt Ansem's powerful presence ahead.
"Where is she Ansem?!" Riku skidded to a stop as the man with the long white hair turned to face him. He smiled as usual, his over confident smirk.
Ansem pointed with one long gloved finger to the floor and the darkness rose up into a globe. It flickered for a second, and Ansem's orange eyes narrowed. Finally the black orb showed what Ansem had seen. Kairi lay on the ground, motionless, her eyes closed and her face emotionless.
"No..." Riku placed his black gloved hand on the globe and the image of his friend.
"Is she dead?" Shadow sounded genuinely concerned, although his eyes were glued to Riku, and not the image of a girl.
"No, but she has no heart. I have been communicating with Maleficent, and she is going to bring Kairi to you." Ansem smiled evilly and walked up behind Riku to place a falsely comforting hand on his shoulder.
"So that you can kill her."
"What?!?"
"You said yourself," Ansem walked slowly around Riku, letting his hand trail on the boy's shoulder. "That heartless deserve no mercy, or did I mishear you." Ansem slid his arms around the boys shoulder and over his chest. He put his lips next to the wary boy's ears and let his hand slide down to lay over the boy's heart.
"Perhaps I could let you join her. Then we wouldn't need her to complete the keyhole, I could just....borrow...your body."
Riku winced as he felt a burning on his left chest. Ansem's fingers slowly pressed against the boy's yellow shirt, and began to sink through till they reached skin. Then they dug even deeper. Tears began to form in Riku's eyes from the pain and he bit his lip to keep from screaming out loud.
"Calm down Riku. You'll be with the girl soon enough." Ansem pushed farther toward the boy's heart until he heard a dangerous snarl nearby. His calm orange eyes glared up at Shadow, who was standing with his dark keyblade at hand.
"Leave Ku alone, or else."
"Or else what, boy?" Ansem's hand stopped digging into Riku's flesh, but he still held the boy in his tight embrace.
A sword pressed against Ansem's back, another against his throat, and Shadow began to slowly walk forward.
"Or else we'll destroy you here, and you'll have no need for Riku's body anymore." Shadow smiled and reached to his side. There was a black rope coiled up and hung on the boy's black belt. Ansem just raised an eyebrow as Shadow pulled on the rope hard. Something far away let out a growl before the darkness revealed an enormous heartless. It's dark horn was sparkling with energy, and the black rope was secured around it's neck. The purple Behemoth took a step forward, and everyone felt the shudder of the ground beneath them.
"This big guy's under my control for now. So I would let go of him before I decide to tell this guy to attack." Shadow stood with confidence as his copies also grinned and pressed their blades against Ansem's skin. The white haired noblemen looked unhappy, but eventually withdrew his hand from Riku's chest and disappeared into the darkness.
Shadow ran forward, his copies fading away and the behemoth returning to it's home in the darkness. He caught Riku as the boy fell to his knees, clutching at the invisible wound in his chest. Riku coughed and his silver hair fell in front of his face as he threw his head forward. Shadow gently moved his hair aside and took the frightened boy's face in his hands.
"Come on Riku. Let's get out of here. We can't trust Ansem here."
Riku nodded and Shadow helped him gain his balance again before the two ran for the keyhole. They slipped through and found themselves on the clocktower. Shadow melted through the floor, taking Riku with him to the pirate ship.
As they arrived in their cabin, Shadow could no longer hold up both himself and Riku and fell with the other boy to the floor. .
"What's wrong?" Riku asked in a hollow voice.
"Just using up a lot of energy lately. Going here and there using the portals, and keeping control over a Behemoth takes a lot outta ya."
Riku stared at the floor, but his hand hovered over his heart. "Thank you." He practically whispered.
"Don't worry. We'll get Kairi back. And we'll fix her too."
"How? Is there any way to turn someone back once they've become a heartless?"
"I don't know for sure. But if there is a way, we'll find it Ku. I swear." Shadow slid his hand over Riku's and took a firm hold over it, his comforting smile easing the boy's pained expression.
"Heartless, keyholes, keyblades....there has to be a connection. I don't think it was just a coincidence that Kairi's heart is gone when Sora and I are the keyblade masters."
"Hmm..." Shadow put his chin in his hands and furrowed his brow in thought. He crossed his legs and hmph'ed again, thinking even harder. Then his yellow eyes flashed brighter and he snapped his fingers. Riku just cocked his head at his lover's strange behavior and sat up on his knees, waiting for an explanation.
"Why don't we see exactly what happened when Kairi lost her heart?"
Almost before he could finish his sentence, Riku leaned forward and took Shadow's mouth into an insistent, happy kiss. Letting go, Shadow began to lean forward to extend the lovely feeling of the kiss, but Riku was already standing up. The dark boy sighed and stood up, his dark chains jangling from his waist.
Riku walked to the nearest wall of their cabin and placed his hand against it. The wood swirled together as blackness seeped from the wall, turning it into a black, reflective wall. The boy's soft aqua eyes hardened in concentration as he willed the shadows to do his bidding.
After a shimmer, the wall showed a rock cave, gray and dark, with a hole on the top through which black clouds could be seen.
"The secret place?"
The image showed a boy in red, with wildly spiked brown hair running through the entrance of the cavern.
"Sora." Riku let his hand rest against the image on the wall, stroking the picture of his friend's face. Shadow's face became impassive as he glared at his colorful form, running into the center of the cave before stopping and looking surprised. The image retreated and showed a door on the cave wall and a girl standing in front of it. Her eyes were half lidded and she turned around, far too slow for a girl her age.
"That door. I've seen that door before." Riku remembered challenging Sora to go into the cave many times, dared on further by the roaring of the wind passing through it's channels. They had never known what the door was there for, but Riku sometimes felt drawn to it, and it would flicker into something....different sometimes.
"Sora...." Kairi's soft voice sounded like it was a million miles from her body as it echoed in the cave softly before being drowned out by an explosive roar. The door flung itself open, and the familiar wisps of black and purple from the shadow world rushed in with the force of a hurricane. Kairi's light body was thrown forward and Sora extended his arms to catch her. But she passes straight through him, disappearing.
Riku felt his breath catch. He had ordered the darkness to show him the very second when Kairi lost her heart. Sora was blown from the cave, and the darkness receded from the wall, leaving the creaking wood of the ship behind.
'Sora...he took Kairi's heart.'
~I told you boy, that you didn't want me to show you what happened to the girl.~
'Why didn't you tell me in the first place.'
~I have been in your mind all this time Riku, I know for a fact you wouldn't have believed me even if I had told you.~
Riku's eyes shifted as he realized that Ansem was right. The man knew as much about Riku as he himself did. It caused an involuntary shiver to run through Riku's body.
"We have to get Kairi's heart back. Sora took it away, maybe he knows how to get it back to her. All we have to do is bring him Kairi's body, and he'll give her her heart back."
~Do you honestly think that Sora would be willing to do that? Why not talk to him first, and let Maleficent safely bring Kairi here to the ship. If you think that Sora really will revive the girl, you can come back through the shadows and take her body with you to the keyblade master.~
"Shadow, do you have enough energy to move us one more time?"
"With a little bit of your help, it'll be a sinch." Shadow winked and came up to stand beside Riku. He took the boy's hand in his and closed his eyes, drawing energy from the overabundance that was within Riku now. The floor turned once again into a gaping black hole, and both boy's commanded it to take them to the location of the keyblade master.
After a moment of weightlessness as they fell through the shadows, both boys felt their feet land on something....squishy. Riku's eyes flew open and he let out a soft ewww. Shadow picked up one of his feet and looked incredulously at the pink goo that stuck to the bottom.
"Yuck, this stuff is-" Riku clamped his hand over Shadow's mouth and took a step back, till they were hidden in the shadow of a nearby archway. Riku pointed over to what looked like a small wooden ship, lodged in the same pink goo they had landed in. Shadow followed the finger with his eyes and saw Sora, his two animal companions, and an old man and a puppet. Then the shadow's eyes trailed over their surroundings, and realized what the mysterious white triangles were.
Mumbling something unhappily, Shadow sagged against Riku. The boy let his hand slide away from Shadow's mouth as he sensed the boy shielding himself from view. Leaning up till his mouth was against Riku's ear, Shadow whispered quietly, "We're inside something's mouth."
Riku looked around and nodded his agreement.
"And that doesn't bother you the slightest bit." Shadow's voice raised in pitch and Riku tried to get him to be quiet again before shaking his head back and forth to show that the mouth's of larger creatures didn't frighten him as much as it seemed to his companion.
"Why me..." Shadow muttered before paying more attention to their target, and less to the teeth that were bigger than him.
Riku's eyes focused on the small puppet, who was wondering away on his own.
"I have an idea."
"Huh?"
Riku just smirked before tugging Shadow along the wall of the whale's mouth until they reached the entrance to his throat. Riku pushed Shadow behind him, through the opening, then let the darkness slide away so that he could be seen. The puppet was hopping along on the ship, but quickly saw that a boy had just appeared in front of him. The strange silver haired boy smiled to him, before darting off into the depths of Monstro. Pinocchio was interested, and took off to give chase, ignoring his father and the three newcomers who had befriended him in Traverse Town.
Sora looked around him on the boat, and realized that his company, a small puppet, had disappeared.
"Gepetto, where did Pinocchio go?"
The kind old man turned his spectacled eyes this way and that, but he couldn't find where the puppet had wandered off to.
"I do hope Pinocchio is all right."
Sora grinned and placed his keyblade over his shoulder. He sent a quick glance towards his companions, who groaned in the knowledge of what he was up to.
"C'mon guys, we'll go find him." Sora leapt off the wooden ship lodged in Monstro's mouth and landed in the water that filled up the cavernous place. His yellow shoes made a disgusting squishy sound as he ran over the whale's tongue and into the creature's throat.
Riku watched from his veil of shadows as Sora entered through the archway. His beautiful boyish features were in clear view as the keyblade master attempted to find the lost puppet. He pouted in an adorable expression and bit his lower lip as he spun his body around, looking at the walls of the whale's throat and the numerous entrances the puppet could have taken.
Shadow kept his sharp eyes on both of the keyblade masters, one soaked in darkness, the other sprinkled in light. Shadow's golden eyes narrowed as he picked up the slightest move of his lover. Riku's tongue darted out and licked over his lips, his sea hued eyes glued to the body of the younger brunette. Shadow scowled and stepped out of the wall, coming up behind Pinocchio and pushing him out of the darkness beneath the archway to the stomach.
"Hey Pinocchio, Geppetto is worried sick about you. We should go back."
The puppet didn't worry much about the strange force which had propelled him forward, but instead shook his head back and forth. Sora was taken aback by the small boy's disobedience. Pinocchio turned and began to run through the archway.
"Wait up Pinocchio. This is no time for games!"
Riku stepped forward, and the three adventurers immediately looked toward him. Pinocchio did as well, before running up to stand next to him. His wooden eyes looked critically into the face of the silver haired boy he had given chase to. There was something in them that he had never seen before.
"What's wrong Sora, I thought you liked to play games." Riku gave Sora his most seductive smirk and Sora's jaw hung open.
"After all, you and I have played plenty of games with each other." Riku shifted his footing, flexing his muscles like a cat, languidly stretching as he let his arms fall to his sides and his head cock in a sexy way.
Sora gulped and took a deep breath.
"Riku....what are you doing here?"
Shadow slid up behind Riku, glaring daggers at the boy who couldn't even see him. 'I'll teach him from trying to steal my Ku away from me.' Exerting the barest bit of dark power, Shadow slid it against Riku, who was too preoccupied to notice. Then the dark figure waited for his perfect chance.
"I've come to get you Sora. To take you with me."
Sora kept his eyes carefully on Riku. There was mistrust deep inside the boy over his best friend. The looks he was giving him, they were so familiar. Just like.....When Riku finished what he was saying, to Sora's horror, his blue-green eyes flashed a bright yellow. 'He's.....just like.....the other one.....'
Shadow removed his influence before Riku could notice and took a seat in the background to watch his handiwork. Sora looked nervous and tense, as if ready to put up a fight. 'Perfect.'
"H-Have you found Kairi?" The boy tried to change the subject, and forget the frightening vision he had just had.
~Perhaps you should ask him if he wants her whole, or just part.~
'Get out of my head. I know what I'm doing.'
~Of course. I wouldn't want to be an impolite houseguest. But I thought I'd tell you, that I have used the shadow world to communicate with my dear puppet. She has Kairi's corpse--~
'Body. It isn't a corpse. I will save her.'
~Of course. My mistake, I apologize. Maleficent has her body and is transporting it to Hook's ship. It will be there when you return.~
"Maybe. With no thanks to you. You've been too busy saving everyone else's hides, instead of worrying about the important ones."
'Get out Ansem. I'm busy. I'll talk with you later.'
~Of course. Be careful when dealing with the keyblade master, he may turn on you.~
'Sora wouldn't do that. Now get out!'
"Come on Pinocchio." Riku bent down and took the puppet's hard wooden hand in his. Turning, he threw back over his shoulder, "If you really care about Kairi, catch me and I'll tell you."
As soon as he had disappeared through the next doorway, Riku picked up the puppet and fazed through a wall, the blackness dripping along the walls from where he had gone through. Shadow followed, carefully keeping his eye on the heartless that were beginning to emerge from the floor and walls behind them. They could sense both keyblade master's hearts, splitting into two groups, one attacking Sora's group as soon as they entered the room.
Shadow drew his dark keyblade and took a swing at the requiems and operas that flew around his head. Blocking their magic attacks with his gloved hands, Shadow leapt forward and swiped at them with the keyblade, knocking them all out of the sky in the one swing.
Riku and Shadow faded through a wall into a large open space. The round room had platform like pieces on all the walls, and the ceiling seemed to rise up to some part of the whale. Riku put Pinocchio down on the ground and took a step back to stand next to Shadow.
"Whatcha planning to do with him?"
"Easy. He's got a heart right? We let a heartless take his, and then we find out how we can get it back."
"Ah, so like an experiment to see if it will work with Kairi, huh?"
Riku nodded and looked around, using Ansem's powers to sense for the nearest heartless.
"There's a big one up above us Shadow, do you have enough energy to bring him here?"
Shadow grinned and reached forward, taking Riku's face in his hands. He pulled him close, the movement becoming familiar and pressed his lips to Riku's. Riku opened his mouth to his shadow lover and pressed his tongue into the warmth, feeling a tingling throughout his body as he did so. The black tongue pressed lightly against his, soaking up the power of the darkness that the body held. Shadow pulled away, looking less irritated and powered up.
Pinocchio watched in wonder as a dark version of Sora suddenly appeared. Riku had been making some weird faces for the last few minutes, but he had thought nothing of it. Now the dark Sora, with his eyes glowing a soft golden color, leapt high above them, disappearing into the hole.
"Who was that?"
"No one for you to be concerned about." Riku snapped as he felt Shadow approach the large heartless above them. He could feel their energies clashing, the heartless a huge lumbering beast, and Shadow a quick flash of power and retreat.
Sprinting forward, he grabbed Pinocchio out of the center of the room and ran to the side. A huge jelly-like heartless fell from the ceiling, it's two huge tentacles swinging around and trying to catch Shadow, who darted around on the creature like it was a jungle gym. The heartless made a dent in the floor where it landed, and then turned it's attention to the two who were hiding near the wall. With Shadow forgotten, the heartless opened up it's gaping mouth and reached for Riku and Pinocchio.
"Chow time." Riku tossed the light wooden body into the air where the tentacles caught it and quickly brought the puppet into the cage mouth of the heartless.
"Help me! Somebody!" Shadow suddenly looked nervous and leapt into one of the walls, as footsteps came rushing towards the room.
'No. He found us before we could finish.' Darkness shot out of Riku's hand and melded itself into the dragon sword as Sora ran into the room, keyblade blazing. The duck and dog followed, but stopped behind Sora, watching his back.
"Well Sora, how about you show me how good you've gotten?" Riku ran towards the heartless, keeping it occupied with harmless slashes of his dragon blade. Sora ran into the battle, intent on saving the poor puppet who was imprisoned. Riku kept a watchful eye on Sora's moves, and the abilities of his keyblade. Each strike injured the enormous heartless who's aim and power were quickly decreasing as the keyblade master hacked away at it.
~For someone you swear is kind and good, he fights like a demon.~
'I said to get out of my head. And Sora is only being so vicious because it's a worthless heartless.'
~Such a friend, would you call Kairi worthless to her face as well.~
'Get out.'
~I must wonder, would Sora be as cruel to Kairi, knowing that she was without a heart as well.....~
'OUT!'
Riku let the dragon blade dissolve in his hands as Sora thrust his keyblade one final time into the beast. It slowly dissolved as well, leaving Pinocchio thankful to the brunette. Sora bent down and patted the puppet on his head before looking at Riku. The two had once again been fighting side by side, but Sora looked suspicious of Riku. A few feet grew to a few miles between them.
"Gawrsh, where'd he go?" The strange dog creature looked around, scratching it's head. Riku looked around and realized that Pinocchio must have slunk off while he and Sora had been staring each other down.
"I'll find him." Riku ran past his best friend, giving him a thumbs up as he passed.
'Riku's changed. I feel...different around him. Like I get the creeps just talking to him.'
Sora let the shiver run down his spine before calling to Donald and Goofy. They took off as well, searching for the lost puppet.
Riku whistled for his companion, and Shadow emerged from a nearby wall, running at full speed.
"Shadow we need to get that puppet and take it's heart."
"No prob Ku. I got a plan." The two sprinting boys came to a large room that rose into the air like a column.
"There he is." Riku pointed up at the puppet who was scrambling up the platforms in the whale. He seemed scared, although rightly so considering someone had just tried to feed him to a heartless.
"Right. I'm gonna go get another heartless, you keep him in that upper chamber till I can get it to you."
Riku nodded and sprang up onto the first squishy platform. He still didn't like the way the creature's inner flesh felt against his shoes. 'Man, I gotta clean these when I get home.' Riku ran forward, leaping forward onto the next highest platform. Pinocchio saw this and gasped, doubling his speed. But the puppet's legs had no chance of carrying him fast enough away from Riku's pursuit.
Riku grabbed onto the next platform and heaved himself up onto it. Not wasting a minute, he dove forward and caught one of the puppet's heals. He let out a scream as he was picked up and hung upside down.
"Oh just shut up will you. We need your help to save a friend of mine." Pinocchio sniffled and his lip quivered as he tried to use a puppy dog face to get out of his situation. Riku wasn't affected, and took a strong hold on the puppet before leaping up into the whale. The wind and suction carried them upward till they were thrown into another round chamber.
Riku threw Pinocchio down to the ground before inspecting the new chamber. There was a foul smelling green liquid that ran around the outside, and Riku guessed that it wouldn't be very healthy to step in, and wisely stayed towards the middle of the room. He could sense the dark movements in the walls and turned to see Shadow emerge.
"Have you found one yet?"
"Yes, it's right above here, but it's putting up quite a fight. If you can keep the puppet here I'll be able to send it down soon."
"No problem."
Shadow smiled and gave a quick salute to the keyblade master before fazing into the wall and traveling up into the next part of Monstro. Riku looked at Pinocchio, who was shaking in fear, and sneered at him.
'This worthless puppet. He better help us to find a way to get Kairi's heart back.'
A soft sound caught Riku's ears, and he called upon the shadows in the floor to show him what was making the sound. The blackness rippled for a second before showing Sora and his two companions climbing rapidly up the platforms and heading for the room he was in right now.
There was no way that Riku would be able to find out how to return the puppet's heart at this rate, Shadow had not even returned with the heartless yet. Summoning more of the darkness, Riku pushed it deep into the puppet. He froze, his limbs going taught as the shadows intruded into him and paralyzed him. Then they took over fully, and his body fell to the floor, limp and unconscious.
'Well, not the way I had hoped, but maybe I can do something with this situation after all.' Riku picked up Pinocchio's light body and tossed it to the other side of the room, on one of the platforms he was surrounded by. That way Sora would have go through him to get to the puppet.
The opening in the front of the chamber blew open and Sora, Donald, and Goofy came flying through, their weapons at the ready. Riku just smiled and stood calmly in the center of the room. Sora's bright blue eyes looked hesitant as he approached.
"Riku, what's going on here?" Then the brown haired keyblade master's eyes found the limp body of Pinocchio. Sora took a step forward, preparing to go after the puppet, but Riku took a step to the side, ready to block his way.
"What's wrong Sora? Why should you care so much for a puppet without a heart?"
Sora and the others gasped. Jiminy cricket leapt from one of Sora's pockets and hopped over to Pinocchio, as Riku watched in amusement. The cricket pushed and pleaded with the puppet to wake up, but the darkness continued to have a hold over him and he did not move.
Riku watched this all with a smirk, until he realized that Sora had run over to where the puppet was while he wasn't looking. Suddenly, the darkness began to seep out from Pinocchio's body.
'What?' Riku tried to force the shadows again to do his bidding, but something was stopping him. The puppet slowly woke up, and everyone else sighed with relief. Riku's fists clenched in anger as he watched Sora cheer for the puppet.
"Sora."
The keyblade master turned to his name, an innocent look sweeping briefly over his face, before the suspicion returned. Riku could sense from Sora that he didn't trust him. He could also feel the battle raging on above them. Shadow was trying to subdue the huge heartless, and was doing a decent job. He would be ready to send him down soon. But the whole plan was ruined now.
"Riku. What's made you change like this?"
"Who says I'm the one who's changed? At least I've been out trying everything to bring back Kairi."
"Why do you keep bringing that up Riku?" Sora pleaded with his friend, but seemed to be keeping his distance. Riku smiled and let his anger fade away, after all, he had seen that Sora had stolen Kairi's heart. 'Why would he want to find her when he's the one who did that to her.'
Riku extended his hand, keeping his eyes locked with Sora's.
"Come with me Sora. We can all be together again, just like before."
Sora felt a cold chill run through him. The way Riku was smiling at him, he looked almost.....hungry. Sora took a step back towards the safety of Donald and Goofy, and the keyblade appeared in his hand. He slowly shook his head back and forth.
"I see. You turn on me just because of some useless puppet." Riku practically growled at him, before letting the invitation of his hand drop. Finally he could feel that Shadow had won over the heartless and was waiting for a signal to drop it down.
Sora stood with his keyblade ready for attack, but soon Riku was taking slow steps backwards.
"It's too bad Sora, that you chose to be against me. We would have been good together." Sora started at the double meaning, and his eyes went wide as a black circle formed behind Riku, and the silver haired boy walked through.
"Wait a second Riku!" As Sora ran forward, he heard a horrible shriek and looked up to see a huge heartless falling from the ceiling. His pursuit of his friend would have to wait for now. Drawing out the keyblade, he ran forward, beginning the battle even while his mind was far from it.
Riku stepped out of the shadows and found himself once again on Hook's ship.
~I'm sorry Riku.~
'Don't pretend. Get away, I'm not in the mood to deal with you right now.'
The shadow world opened again and Shadow stumbled through, panting. Trying to keep up with Riku was like racing after the wind.
"You know......maybe you should.....try taking the bus sometime."
Riku's mouth barely twitched into a smile but was gone in an instant. He began to pace back and forth across their room, his fists clenching every now and then angrily.
Glass shattered and Shadow jumped off of the floor, his whole body tightening up. When he looked towards Riku, the boy's fist was stuck directly out the window of the cabin. Blood was slowly dripping from the wound, turning the window into stained glass.
Running to his lover's aid, Shadow carefully pulled his hand from the broken pane. Pieces of glass were imbedded in Riku's glove, most only nicking his skin enough to draw blood. Excruciatingly careful, Shadow removed the black glove and the shards from Riku's hand before looking around for something to bandage it with. Reaching over, he grabbed one of the curtains and ripped it down from the ruined window, wrapping it around Riku's injured hand.
"Thanks." With that muttered, the two were intruded on by a knock at their cabin door.
"Come on in." Shadow yelled, as cheerily as he could. Riku slipped his black glove over as much of his bandaged knuckles as he could, although part of the bandage was still visible. He wisely put this hand in his pocket for the time being.
A tall dark figure entered the room, the horns betraying its identity. Maleficent strode to the center of the room, her figure never jarred as she flowed rather than walked across the floor. Then she opened up her black and purple cloak, revealing a small girl in her arms.
~'Kairi.'~
"Here is the last princess of hearts."
Riku didn't wait for an order and took the light burden from Maleficent. Kairi was still sound asleep, or so it would seem to anyone who saw her in this state. Her eyes were closed, but Riku still reached forward and brushed away a stray piece of hair in her face. He placed her on the bed, carefully, as if not to awaken her.
"So this is Kairi." Shadow walked over to look at her, mumbling softly.
"Thank you Maleficent." Riku's eyes never left Kairi even as he spoke to the witch.
"I made a promise. Now Riku, will you be staying with us?" The woman's voice was smooth and conniving, and Riku knew it. But he had no where else to go, and was stuck with Ansem anyway.
"I will."
"Wonderful. Now, to make life easier for you, I have a gift."
Riku finally turned to face the woman, and saw that she had a small ball of green light in her hand. He and Shadow both looked between the energy and the woman, skeptical of a gift from the dark woman.
"It will give you the power to control the heartless." Riku decided to take a risk and reached out to seize the orb. His body began to glow and feel warmer, and more powerful as the green energy flowed into him.
Without anyone noticing, Maleficent had slipped out of the room. Riku stood there, feeling the new power within him. But something was wrong. The power felt vaguely familiar.
Shadow came up to Riku, bringing him out of his contemplation with a clearing of his throat.
"So, umm, you can, I guess, control the, um, heartless now, so I guess I'll just, um, you know." Shadow motioned with a jerk of his thumb towards the wall and began to turn towards it. The shadows opened a portal for him, but Shadow felt something snag onto his hood and hold him in place.
Riku gently turned Shadow around and pulled him into a brief hug.
"How could you think that Shadow?" Riku mumbled into the soft dark hair he had his face pressed into.
"Well, my only real purpose was to protect you. I figured you wouldn't want me hanging around now that you can actually control the heartless."
Riku gently pulled Shadow's face away from his shoulder and placed a kiss on the boy's forehead.
"I would never let you leave me Shadow." Then the two had their lips pressed together before either realized they had done so. They stood, Riku bending his neck down to reach his lover's mouth, and his silver hair fell into the black spikes of Shadow's, moon rays cutting through the shadows of midnight.