Author's Note: I'm a little sketchy on where exactly Ansem is; it's somewhere between Kingdom Hearts and Destiny Island. Don't ask what on earth a lab boy is, but I couldn't think of a better job to call whatever it is Aleck does(well, he's also a sex toy, but people just don't say that out loud. Ansem rapes Riku also, so it wouldn't help in the differentiation of the two who are pretty much twins) The setting is kind of sparse because I'm not sure where they ought to be but the general area is the city where Deep Dive takes place.
"Ansem!" Aleck shouted and fell short of tackling Ansem in greeting. He looked at Ansem's wounds. Aleck yanked bandages out of his pack.
"They're all red…" Ansem remarked.
"Sorry," Aleck apologized, "That's all I have at the moment."
He started wrapping Ansem's wounds. Ansem felt rather foolish getting bandaged up by Aleck.
"Aleck…" Ansem began.
"Fought off two mobs. Cleaned the place and it smells like roses. Kept all files in order," Aleck said as he continued bandaging. Ansem laughed.
"You always get everything in order," Ansem remarked.
"Kissing bandages is no fun," Aleck murmured.
"…Don't say that's why you came to this rift in reality," Ansem mumbled.
"Course not," Aleck laughed, "Shall we go back to Hollow Bastion?"
"No," Ansem said. Aleck stopped wrapping and tied a knot.
"Then where?" Aleck asked.
"There's business to attend to," Ansem replied.
"Can I come?" Aleck asked, his face lighting up.
"Yes…we might not ever come back," Ansem said.
"I'd rather die by your side than waiting for you," Aleck said.
"That's a good boy," Ansem patted Aleck's head. He led Aleck along. The deluded puppet followed its master's control of its strings.
"Everything is so strange," Riku murmured. He sat down on the sidewalk of a city he didn't know the name of. Ansem was gone, but so was everything else…Sora…Kairi…
Something strange…a peculiar presence…one aura felt pure and yet evil, though not truly evil…the second aura felt simply evil…
"So that's Riku…" Aleck remarked. Riku rose, looking at Aleck, but giving a moan of disgust at Aleck's companion.
"What do you want?!" Riku demanded.
"You do look like the boy, but you don't have the same spark in your eyes," Ansem remarked.
"We just need to borrow you for a short while," Aleck said, "Or should I say a short spell?"
Ansem gave Aleck a look of disapproval for the bad joke. Aleck laughed sheepishly. When you're your only critic for witty things to say to you adversaries, good jokes are hard to devise. Riku simply stared.
"Either way, you're never seeing anyone you hold dear again," Ansem said with a cruel laugh. Aleck lifted his sword sheathed, for he simply needed to knock Riku out.
"It's not going to be that easy!" Riku brought out a keyblade. Aleck flung his sheath aside. The two clashed. Aleck skillfully used his blade, making a few good nicks on the keyblade. He maneuvered around Riku and hit Riku on the nape of his neck with the hilt of his sword. Riku fell to the ground.
"Rather good for a lab boy," Ansem remarked.
"Just waiting for the day you wished for my assistance," Aleck grunted as he picked up the limp Riku.
"Get the Keyblade. I'll carry him," Ansem ordered. Aleck cautiously picked up the weapon and followed Ansem. The keyblade didn't seem to like him. Carrying it made his hand sting, but Aleck wouldn't complain.
After locking Riku up, Ansem began to explain to Aleck his plans.
"You're going to go undercover as Riku. I need someone to keep track of Sora besides and indicative trail of dead Heartless and whatnot," Ansem explained to Aleck.
"But you said we don't have the same eyes and we don't sound the same," Aleck said, "And the Keyblade isn't being cooperative."
Aleck was quite sure he wouldn't be able to fool Sora that he was Riku, but then again, Kairi did ask him if he was Riku. Aleck being eighteen and Riku being sixteen weren't the same height and were in different stages of puberty. Aleck sounded like an adult while Riku was almost there. Aleck didn't know how Riku acted either, having never met the boy until now. Aleck assured himself that Sora, in a team with a duck and a dog, couldn't possibly be smart enough to figure it out.
Ansem looked at the growing rash the keyblade was giving Aleck. Strange it didn't transport itself back to its master. Perhaps the strange boy would become yet more useful to him.
"I'll think of something," Ansem replied. Aleck's head jerked up. At the entrance to the alley, a young man with bright red hair looked at the two. He was in a long black coat.
"What did you hear?!" Aleck demanded. Ansem kicked Aleck aside.
"Work on your social skills, boy," Ansem gave Aleck a nasty look, "It doesn't matter how much one hears, one will always deny."
"So friendly strangers…" the man murmured. He eyed the keyblade in Aleck's hand. Aleck glared back at him.
"What business do you have with a giant key?" Aleck asked.
"It looks like one I saw a blonde kid use," the man replied.
"More wielders…" Ansem murmured.
"Are you two the monster beating type?" the man asked, "White monsters have taken over the slums."
"Which way?" Ansem asked.
"So you are the slaying type!" the man shouted, "I'll explain on the way!"
He grabbed Aleck's free hand and dragged him along. Ansem ran alongside with the red haired man.
"What is the rush?!" Aleck demanded, not fond of being pulled along.
"The crazy white things have taken over and no one can beat them except people with crazy giant keys. Strange world we live in, huh?" the man explained, "By the way, my name is Axel."
"Uh-huh…" Aleck nodded as he was dragged along, his arm beginning to itch and tingle from the keyblade.
"You must have a name for them besides crazy white things," Ansem said, looking at Axel who didn't seem particularly smart.
"Eh…" Axel gave Ansem a sidelong sheepish glance, "Well, should I call them 'zippery' also?"
"What happens when they attack people?" Ansem asked.
"I don't bother to look when I am worrying for my own well-being old man!" Axel shouted.
"I wonder…" Ansem murmured as he ran.
"They're like Heartless…but white…and not cute…" Aleck mumbled.
"Well, go on, Keyblade Master Riku," Ansem nudged Aleck onward. Aleck held the keyblade up to attack. The nameless monsters danced around him. He wasn't a wielder of the keyblade. What a peculiar boy. Ansem watched the spectacle.
"So his name is Riku?" Axel asked.
"For all intents and purposes, yes," Ansem replied.
"And who might you be? His father?" Axel tried to think of a possible relation.
"He works for me," Ansem replied. Aleck felled the nameless monsters. Aleck dropped the keyblade. His arm hurt too much. The red sore began to disappear. Aleck picked up the keyblade up and put it in his pack.
"Doesn't seem like a keyblade master," Axel said.
"Not everyone is perfect," Ansem replied.
"I saw a keyblade…" a voice said. Aleck whirled around to see a young man in a black coat. His face was not visible because his hood went too low. Something about him seemed not human.
"Of course you did," Aleck remarked flatly.
"Are you Sora? You do not look like Sora," the young man said.
"I'm Riku," Aleck said.
"Oh…there was another boy…he had a keyblade like Sora, but he didn't talk," the young man said.
"Who is that boy?" Ansem asked.
"My deranged friend. He's looking for Sora and that's all I know," Axel replied.
"If you're Riku, do you know where Sora is?" the young man asked.
"…no…" Aleck stared at him.
"Hey Riku! Sora-boy! We're leaving!" Axel shouted.
"Axel, my name is not Sora-boy," the young man said.
"I fail to know you real name and nor do you seem to reveal it," Axel banged the young man's head.