By: Naela
Summary: A being tied to Sora is awakening and now more than ever the Keyblade Master is needed. Only, no one seems to know where he is. How are Riku and Kairi tied into all of this and who are the Non-Existent Ones?
Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or any of its characters. They're all property of Squaresoft and Disney.
Chapter Two: It's You
Glancing up, Riku held his arms open and parted the clouds, revealing the meteor shower and illuminating the field. The soft lighting allowed him to make out the faint shapes of the creatures below him. More importantly, he wanted to see the dual keyblade wielder fight.
Below him, the hooded boy was surrounded by a fiery, purple symbol that had somehow warded off the Heartless. This symbol, the sign of the Heartless, Riku couldn't understand why Sora would be using the Heartless' own symbol against them, but if it worked then he wouldn't question it. The hooded boy was staring up at him now, their eyes met briefly, and Riku smiled. He reached up and tugged on the black cloth, letting himself be blinded by the light, but in that brief moment of peace he saw him. He met the actual gaze of his best friend before he pulled back as the light began to pain him. He quickly tied the blindfold back on and rubbed his forehead to ease the pain.
Glancing back down, he saw that the hooded stranger was still gazing at him. His lips moved and echoed a question that Riku had asked only a day ago.
"Where's Sora?"
Even Sora would never ask a question about where he was. Riku knew this and felt his heart sink once again. The person below him wasn't Sora.
He glanced down again and saw that some of the Heartless had leapt into the air. The fighter paused before leaping into the air as well and bringing himself onto their level. He slashed at the airborne Heartless, cutting many of them in half and gaining more height in the process. As he reached the peak of his jump, the fighter twisted his body around and threw his one of his keyblades at four Heartless that had managed to jump higher than him. He caught the weapon in his free hand before landing on the ground again.
The purple flames were gone now, and there was only the army of Heartless and the lone fighter. The way he held his keyblade, the fighting style and even his moves, they were all too familiar. If this man wasn't Sora then he had to be someone who'd been close to him and that thought made him smile. He was close to finding him.
A flicker of movement caught his attention. Glancing down below, he saw that the fighter had backed into the building and was staring up at him. He allowed the other to see his smile and was surprised to see the fighter jump onto the side of the building and begin running up its side, mercilessly slicing apart any Heartless that had been foolish enough to get in his way.
As the unknown fighter got closer to him, he held his arm back and threw one of his keyblades. Riku wondered if the fighter was trying to attack him by using the same move as before.
No, that wasn't it, the throw was too wide, and having seen the fighter previously execute a similar move with such stunning accuracy, he found it hard to believe this man would throw such a pathetic attack. The answer soon came to Riku and he leapt off the building, falling face first. He snatched the keyblade as it came into reach and was startled to recognize it as the Oblivion.
The other continued running up the building, not even hesitating as his foot landed on the slick surface of the giant screen. Riku winced as he came directly in front of the same screen. The image of Kairi flickered beneath them as they passed each other, exchanging significant looks. Riku's eyes fell on the Kingdom Key that the other had taken out as a replacement for the weapon he'd given up. He had to tear his eyes off the screen when he sensed a Heartless coming at him. Bringing the Oblivion in front of him, Riku easily hacked through the Heartless and its followers.
The ground came at him sooner than he'd anticipated, and to land without breaking any bones would require a great amount of concentration. It was a difficult task with a legion of Heartless breathing down his back. Twisting around, Riku forced his legs forward and managed to cut through another of the Neo Shadows in the process. His feet hit the ground in an intense explosion of pain that reverberated through him.
He didn't have the time to stop and let the feeling pass as five Heartless came at him. He jumped back, missing a swipe at his gut and he retaliated with a swing of the Oblivion. The Heartless fell away, breaking apart like a stream of water caught by the pull of gravity.
The other Heartless had met a similar fate when they met the sharp part of his keyblade.
The ground beneath him seemed to vibrate, and that presence was behind him now. Riku continued fighting the Heartless in front, and the back of his leg brushed against the rough fabric of a leather jacket. He began moving forward and manoeuvred a group of the Heartless in the other direction. Now he was facing the other fighter and saw that he had done the same thing.
Growling as he sensed an attack from behind, Riku leapt into his air, and in that moment when he was up in the air and away from danger, he could see the sweeping mass of darkness. He contemplated a magic spell. He thought against it, a spell would only drain him, and he would need every ounce of energy he had.
There was no way they could take them all on.
The fighting continued, Riku didn't know how much time had passed, but the feeling in his arm made it seem as if it'd been hours. He switched the Oblivion to his left hand and bought it down on another Heartless. It seemed as if no matter how many he cut down, it didn't do much against the sea of shadows. His senses warned him of another attack from behind, so he turned around. There was a brilliant flash of light that penetrated his blindfold. Riku stumbled backwards and nearly dropped the Oblivion as a sledgehammer of pain slammed against his brain. He continued moving backwards, reminding himself not to make himself an easy target for the Heartless, but he could he no longer feel their presence.
It was just him, the hooded man and. . . "Mickey!" he felt the name escape his lips.
The mouse, his only companion during those years of loneliness while locked up in Kingdom Hearts, jumped down from the hood of a car. In his hand, Riku noted was the Kingdom Key.
Glancing back at the dual keyblade wielder, Riku hesitated and ran towards the mouse. "What are you doing here!? And how did you do that?"
Mickey held up his keyblade and grinned. "A keyblade's designed to not only seal keyholes but also to ward off darkness. I just sorta abused its second purpose."
Riku felt himself grinning at the understatement and quickly glanced back at the boy. He was standing there, holding the two keyblades by his side with his hair still covering his eyes.
"So you're a keyblade master?" he asked.
The other shrugged and slowly approached them. "To tell the truth," he said. "I wouldn't know."
Riku shook his head--even his voice sounded like him. "You know Sora?"
The other hesitated before answering and finally nodded. "I know of him," he replied.
The silver haired boy raised an eyebrow. "Know of him?" he repeated. He raised a hand to his forehead. "Okay, another question then, how did you get your hands on the Oblivion?" He glanced over at the other keyblade the boy held in his hands.
"In fact, how did you get your hands on Mickey's Kingdom Key?" he demanded. He turned to face the mouse and saw that the Kingdom Key that he was holding was the one that Sora should have had. "What's going on here?"
"Riku, just calm down," Mickey said. He held out the Kingdom Key. "This is for you by the way."
"Me?" Riku questioned. The Kingdom Key in Mickey's hand disappeared in a blaze of light and reappeared in his. He held the weapon up, studying it. "Why in the world are you giving it to me?"
"It's about time you started acting as the true keyblade master," Mickey replied. He walked over towards the hooded boy and nodded at him. "And it'll be important for you two to stick together."
"Are you sure about this?" the hooded boy asked. "Handing my key over to him? Is he capable?"
"You gave him the Oblivion before," Mickey pointed out.
"Yes, but the Oblivion is different from the Kingdom Key: it unlocks hearts, the Kingdom Key controls keyholes."
"I think I'm gonna agree with my hooded friend here," Riku said, approaching the other fighter and shoving the keyblade into his arms. The boy fumbled before catching the weapon. "I'm not cut out to wield a Kingdom Key."
Mickey shook his head and sighed. "You make things too complicated, Riku. Just have a little faith."
"Just take it."
Riku turned to face the hooded boy and nearly jumped as the Kingdom Key was thrown back to him. He caught it easily and glanced quizzically at the stranger.
"Fine," he said and willed both the Oblivion and the Kingdom Key to disappear. "Now, how about answering some of my questions?"
"Sora? I--" The hooded boy promptly shut his mouth and turned his sharply towards the TV Tower. Riku didn't question what was wrong. He could already feel it.
"Mickey…?" he said slowly. The mouse said nothing and Riku glanced up at the TV Tower. Enshrouded by a dark mist, he could barely make out its shape. Beneath him the ground began to vibrate, but it would have been undetectable had Riku not trained himself to sense these things. Soon the vibration grew into noticeable shaking that had windows and cars rattling.
"The darkness within there. . ." the hooded boy said softly, still gazing at the building. "It's reacting to what His Majesty has done."
Mickey nodded. "Yes… this is my fault."
Riku tried to take a step back and found it nearly impossible. He glanced down and saw that the ground was writhing, covered in a black ooze that was spreading. It slowly snaked up his boots, covering them entirely. Grimacing, he yanked himself free of the substance.
"Get out of here," Mickey said, turning to face them.
Riku nodded and glanced at the stranger. The fighter bent his knees, readying himself, and jumped, easily cresting the top of the nearest building. Riku began to follow his lead when he turned to face Mickey and found the mouse trying to make his way through the ooze towards the TV Tower.
"Mickey!" he shouted after him. "What. . . ? What are you doing?!"
The mouse didn't look at him; he just continued walking.
"No!" Riku began running towards the mouse when Mickey made a quick gesture. A ball of white light pounded against his chest, knocking him into the air. He flailed as he began descending and slammed against a stone roof. He gasped and took in a deep breath of air, trying to regain his senses.
There were footsteps, and soon the hooded boy came into view. The stranger glanced down at him before directing his gaze elsewhere. Riku shot up and ran towards the edge of the building when a blazing light caused him to stop and bring his hands up to his eyes. The light faded out and darkness soon took dominance of the night.
Ignoring the pain, forgetting about the icy pain of darkness, Riku reached out with his senses and saw it. The TV Tower was gone. There was only a crater, a black void with a bottomless drop. He quickly shut his senses, blocking out the pain, the darkness.
Turning to face the hooded stranger, Riku grabbed him. "What happened?" he demanded. "Tell me!"
The other shoved him away with greater strength than Riku had anticipated. He stumbled back a few steps and steadied himself. The fighter glanced back towards the pit and shook his head.
"People sacrificing themselves just to help others, noble, beautiful, and always saddening," he said. "Your friend filled himself with light and released it. He destroyed his own body with that light."
"My friend?" Riku growled. "Wasn't he your friend too? Sora."
"You're getting angry at me?" the other questioned. "When I had nothing to do with what he did? Besides, why get angry? For all we know, he could still be alive. His Majesty does have a way with surprising people."
Riku allowed himself to fall back into a sitting position. The anger that he had felt was gone now, it had ebbed away into hollowness. The stranger was right, there was no point in getting angry. It wouldn't help anyone, but he couldn't help but feel irritated how indifferent this other person was.
"Are you Sora?" he mumbled. He began doubting his original presumption.
". . . Maybe."
Riku's head shot up. "Maybe?" he questioned. "How can it be a maybe? It's either you're him or you're not. There's no in between."
"I've been searching for him for years now," the other said. "I'm no closer to finding him now than I've been before, but sometimes I begin to wonder about things. . . "
The hooded man glanced up at the sky. "The meteor shower's over now," he noted. "That means the barrier to this world's collapsed."
Riku stood up and approached the man, without thinking he slammed his fist against the other's cheek and stood back, waiting for an attack. None came; there was only a soft chuckle as the other brought a hand to his face.
"Stop avoiding my questions."
"I can't answer questions when I have none myself."
Turning away from him, the stranger pulled off his hood and glanced momentarily at what had been left of the TV Tower. "I think it'd be best if we leave this place," he said.
Riku felt his stomach tighten as he caught a glimpse of the hooded boy's face. Grabbing his shoulders, he whirled the other around and pulled off his blindfold. He saw him clearly. The bright blue eyes, the jaw line, the nose. . . his hair was unusually light but everything was the same.
"You are Sora."
Pushing himself away, the hood boy smiled slightly. "Perhaps," he replied. "But I've been calling myself Enigma--that's what most people call me."
"Fine, whatever," Riku mumbled as Enigma began leading the way.
He struggled to hide his elation. You might call yourself Enigma, but to me you're Sora. I've finally found you.
Hmmm. . . Sora or not? Oooooh what a mystery. Of course all shall be revealed in later chapters. Yes, more Riku just as I said before. Next chapter introduces a not-so-new character that some of you seem to love or hate, there seems to be no middle ground. On the name "Enigma" well I was grasping for a meaningful name and then I thought up of the Engimatic Man and just decided to use Enigma. Yes I know, the Dual Keyblade Unknown isn't really the Enigmatic Man but let's just forget about that little fact for now. Ok, whatelse am I forgetting? Is suddenly thrown backwards by a chucked tomato. Yes. . . Mickey, well a certain beta reader of mine (DEJA VU!!) flayed me for that little incident and I'm sure I'll get a few flames for that. Eep! Anyway, review please and stay tuned for the next chapter!!
SPECIAL THANKS TO:
Deja Vu for beta reading!
Cat: I'm hoping to make things twisty soon!
aerol_amie: I hope this is a good enough update for ya!
Cynthia Chen: Glad you liked the summary, it was a splurge of the moment type thing. ^_^