"Riku!"
Riku looked back. Mickey was running toward him, a panicked look spread across his face.
"Don't!"
Riku shook his head. "Mickey, please. I just want some time alone by myself. … I promise I won't do anything immediately… stop worrying and just go and kill some more Heartless, or something."
Mickey stayed, watching Riku wearily. "Riku… this, we need to do this. I'd…" Riku held up his hand to silence the King. The King paused. Riku looked his way and continued walking into the ongoing darkness, one hand akimbo while he rested his blade onto his shoulder. Mickey watched him retreat, and sighed to himself.
"Mickey."
Mickey looked back to Riku's direction. He couldn't see Riku amid the darkness, so he concluded that he was a considerable distance away from him.
"Yes?"
"Are we 'Guardians?'"
Mickey blinked dumbly, but didn't answer his question.
"Okay, thanks," Riku walked further into the darkness without saying any more.
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Riku ran his fingers through his hair. His bangs strew over his face, hiding his eyes from the darkness. His hair which normally shined and had a sleek luster in even the dimmest light had a dead hue to it now, in complete darkness. Riku wondered what his eyes looked like in the darkness. The one thing Riku prided himself in appearance was his brilliant green eyes, but now it was overlooked, much like Mickey's own vivid eyes that seemed easy to get lost in in the lighter parts of Kingdom Hearts. Riku often wondered where the small amount of light from certain areas came from. Did the door have light seep into the nooks and crannies of the door? If so, where exactly was the door?
Riku recalled Mickey's cryptic message. Something along the eyes of if you become evil, you can spare your sanity and get the fuck out of this hellhole. Riku, who was clearly always the adventurous type, even more so than Sora, contemplated his limited options. Should he, or shouldn't he? If he were in total control of the Heartless, he could keep the Heartless from leaving Kingdom Hearts, right?
Riku was afraid of asking Mickey anymore questions. Mickey's paranoia wasn't worth toying with, and if he did indeed asked the new questions floating around in his head, it would be clear to Mickey that he was leaning towards the idea of opening the door, whether he was or not. But what was he going to do? If he wanted to kill himself, but Mickey opposed to it, Mickey killing Riku was clearly out of the question. And Mickey would never even think about killing himself. Riku sighed and smiled to himself. He stood back up and walked around, hoping he could encounter Mickey at some point. Using his blade as a walking stick, Riku blindly groped around the area.
After getting nowhere pretty slowly, Riku gave up on walking, sat himself down, and called out Mickey's name instead.
"Mickey? MICKEY!"
Riku waited at the same spot, tapping his foot in a steady tempo as he occasionally called out Mickey's name. Minutes turned into hours as Riku waited patiently.
Is he ignoring me? Riku thought to himself. Oh, no, nevermind… I hear footsteps now…
Small clicks drummed on the hard ground, getting louder and louder as they came nearer and nearer. Riku walked up to where the noise came from, only to be met with a pair of golden eyes. Dismayed, Riku whipped out his weapon and stabbed the creature. HP balls scattered everywhere, illuminating the remains of the Heartless' carcass and Riku's feet. Feeling a little luckier, Riku gathered the small HP balls together and walked around the Kingdom, in hopes of locating Mickey, with the HP balls as a source of light.
Pow.
Riku stumbled onto the ground, and the HP balls he carried fell and bounced into randomized locations around him. By instinct, Riku got up quickly and held out his blade in front of Mickey's face. Alarmed by Mickey, he put down his sword and glared.
"Mickey?" Riku said rhetorically.
"I know exactly what's on your mind, and I will not allow it," he growled. "Your intentions are only evil; you're going to have to get past me to do jackshit."
"Mickey, I don't want it… I… I wanted to know more about Kingdom Hearts and what I'm doing!" Riku protested. Riku knew Mickey was biased and often refused to admit he was wrong, but continued arguing anyway.
"I told you all you need to know. I wish I could kill you right now… but the outcomes may be deadly…" Mickey shrugged. The lime green light shadowed Mickey's face and danced in his eyes. From the dark hue of his eyes, his eyes looked blue in the light… this reminded Riku of someone special he knew. Riku continued staring dumbly into Mickey's eyes. "… You need to understand your responsibility better, Riku…"
"… What are you going to do about it?" Riku gazed into Mickey's eyes, feeling a bit cocky in doing so.
"I'll maim you. I'll maim your arms so you can't attempt suicide, but keep you strong enough to take care of yourself."
"Well, I can still sit there like a sitting duck and have Heartless kill me…" Riku shot back bravely. That was when Mickey's deadly grimace turned into a worrisome frown.
"No…"
"Mickey…" Riku still didn't completely understand the effects of dying, but he assumed he understood the gist of it. Die and you get to control the Heartless. If Riku was able to control the Heartless, wouldn't he be able to keep them from coming out of Kingdom Hearts and harming others? He grinned. Oh course! "Mickey… I don't see what's wrong. If either of us controlled the Heartless, we can keep them from killing anyone or anything. You see, this is an obvious catch 22. Kill ourselves, relive as the king of Heartless, go back home and keep the Heartless in Kingdom Hearts. Simple! We're gonna die anyway, so why wait?"
Mickey shook his head. "You stupid bastard! You obviously don't know a thing about it!"
Riku scoffed. "You're just arrogant – you know I'm right. Now, excuse me while I go kill myself…"
"NO! DON'T!"
Riku winked at Mickey. He held his blade up to his neck and dug a deep gash into his throat. Riku let his tongue loll out of his mouth as he attempted to breathe, but to no avail. Riku died, right in front of a helpless Mickey. As the effects of the Heartless life consumed Riku, his beheaded body slowly connected back with his head and his sword morphed into a rather thing, yet large Keyblade. Riku didn't look all too different from when he was under the control of Ansem, looking only a tad bit more intimidating.
"BASTARD!"
Riku looked up to Mickey and smiled. "Mickey!" he said as if Mickey was a friend Riku hadn't seen in a long amount of time. Mickey grimaced at his forced enthusiasm. "Hi!"
As Mickey raked his mind for a caustic response to his optimism, Mickey both felt and heard shuffling of many footsteps. Heartless started swarming in back of Riku, eyeing Mickey hungrily. From tiny baby shadow Heartless to fierce Heartless Mickey had never seen, the Heartless dotted the horizon and darkness of Kingdom Hearts. He gulped.
"Don't worry… I won't kill you…" Riku assured Mickey. "But… one wrong move… and I swear I'll kick your ass. Or… rather, my new friends are going to do so." Riku took his first glance behind his back, trying his best not to look surprised at the legion of Heartless. "Now Mickey, you won't be so stupid to resist, are you?"
Mickey felt a million sets of eyes on him. Mickey, faltering at the attention, could only manage a nod. Riku grinned.
"Good…" Riku smiled an open-mouth, tooth bearing grin – one that reminded Riku of Sora's own victory beam whenever he managed to defeat Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie all by himself back in Destiny Islands. He would used to always regard Sora's training and battling from his signature spot – the paopu tree. Sora's clumsy grace, Sora's determined bravado, and other ironic and odd traits he possessed was what attracted Riku to him.
"Uh, Riku?" Mickey said timidly, soft enough for only Riku to hear but loud enough to interrupt his brief flashback. He was huddled shyly next to Riku's feet, looking at him from above. "I'll… want me to help you find the door?" he offered bashfully.
"Oh…" Riku was somewhat disappointed Mickey caught him off guard. "Um, sure…" Riku cleared his throat and turned back to his horde. "Hey… can you guys stay here? We're going to try to find the door… alright? Uh, you guys can roam around Kingdom Hearts… but you guys can't go out of it, okay?" Riku was met by glazed, yet obedient stares. He shrugged and walked away, trying to find the door, Mickey following quickly behind him.
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I know, that was a totally different from the original chapter 2, but I think this chapter offers insight and clarity. By the way, I am also aware I don't build on the Riku/Sora relationship… I will try to do so in the other chapters, but I have no definite guarantees. However, once Riku actually MEETS Sora again, I will build on the relationship a little more :)