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 Six: Remembrance
There was a waterfall that drained into a lake, and located behind it was a small crevice. It had been merely a small nook, but after Riku's impact into the rock face, it'd become a shallow cave. No one would have noticed the change. The incessant downpour of water hid the cave like a shimmering blue shield.
He was half buried beneath a pile of rocks, small little boulders that poking at him, and he'd been like that since his arrival on the new world. It wasn't because Riku had been rendered unconscious from the impact. It was because Riku couldn't find the will to move his body. He lay prone on his side with one arm stretched out and his head using it as a pillow.
The sprays of mist dampened his hair, and it only took a few hours before his entire body was drenched. He sneezed a few times and could almost feel his organs tearing apart. He couldn't muster the effort to wince at the warmth that pooled around his stomach.
Internal bleeding… throbbing headache… darkened vision… fractured ribcage.
Riku had always wondered how it would feel to die slowly.
It was day, and beyond the waterfall was a clear blue sky with clouds that parted for rays of sunlight to flood the world.
I wish I could have seen Kairi at least once before I…"Hmph… and they call me a lazy bum."
It took him a few seconds before the voice finally clicked in his mind and all the memories of what the words 'lazy bum' meant to him. Slowly, he brought his eyes up and only saw a steady stream of light that obscured every detail of the world. Riku narrowed his eyes, forcing them to focus. His vision blurred at the strain, and over the loud din of the roaring waterfall, he heard the sound of feet scraping against wet rock.
At first he was just a blob of black against a backdrop of infinite white, but as the blob neared it took on a form until it became the figure of a boy. Riku watched as the boy stopped before him but all he could see was the yellow material that the boy's shoes were made of.
"Hmmm…" The boy backed away a few steps and leaned forward, his hands resting against his knees as he stared right into Riku's face.
"Well… actually you really don't look that well," the boy remarked and straightened. "I guess crashing into a planet without using a protection spell will do that to you, huh?"
He walked a few steps away from Riku and stopped. Glancing over his shoulder at the silver haired boy, he grinned toothily at him. "But does that mean you're giving up already?" he asked. "Come on, I thought you were stronger than this."
Walking further away, the boy disappeared from sight. Riku heard the clear rattling of metal, and the boy appeared in his field of vision again, this time holding a pair of keyblades: the Kingdom Key and the Oblivion. Stopping, the boy laid both keyblades on the ground beside Riku and leaned forward again. "The keyblade's cool and all," he said. "But you've got a better weapon… your heart."
Leaning forward, the boy pressed his hand lightly against Riku's chest, over his heart. A soft green glow surrounded the boy's palm and fingers. That glow spread from his hand to Riku's chest and swelled across the silver haired boy's body. Closing his eyes, Riku felt a wave of ease wash over him.
Opening them again, he saw the boy tugging at the rocks that pinned his body. The boy grunted and cast a meaningful glance towards him. "Come on and help. I can't do this all by myself!" the boy exclaimed.
Nodding, Riku pushed himself off the ground, and rocks began to tumble off his body. The boy stepped back as Riku wriggled himself free. Once he was able to stand, Riku brushed himself off and turned to face the boy, examining him. The boy stared back, frowning slightly, and glanced from left to right as if not realizing that he was the object of Riku's attention.
"Huh?" the boy vocalized. He lifted an eyebrow. "Do I have something on my face?"
"Sora," Riku said and saw the boy frown at him.
"Yeah?"
"This isn't real, is it?" he asked.
Sora smiled sadly at him and nodded.
Turning away from the illusion, Riku squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head. "Then I don't want to see you!" he snapped.
"Riku…"
"GO AWAY!"
There was silence as moments passed. Sighing heavily, Riku slowly turned and recoiled at the amber coloured eyes that stared back at him. Ansem smiled at him. Riku backpedalled, squeezing his eyes shut and shaking his head furiously.
"You're not real!"
He came up against the wall and forced himself to open his eyes. There was nothing, no Sora, no Ansem. He saw no one, but he certainly could see. Riku blinked and held his hands in front of him, seeing them in clear detail for the first time in years. The cave around him was dark and misty, but he could still see it! Running out of the cave, through the waterfall, and into open space, he grinned at the landscape that greeted him.
He could see!
He could see… Hollow Bastion.
Riku's grin fell, and he felt his heart creeping into his throat. Swallowing hard, he nearly retreated into the cave as memories of his battle against his best friend resurfaced. Sora had had no intent to kill him during their duel, but Riku had had every intention to kill him.
Ducking back underneath the waterfall, Riku lowered his head. There were hundreds of worlds, and out of all the worlds he could have stumbled into, it had to be here. Stepping back, his foot thudded against the keyblades on the ground, and the gentle nudge sent the Kingdom Key scattering across the rocky floor.
Bending over, he picked the Oblivion and willed it to disappear. The keyblade vanished from sight, and Riku picked up the Kingdom Key. His grip on its handle turned his knuckles white.
"My strongest weapon…" Riku murmured. He held a hand against his heart. How could it have been possible for an illusion to pick up solid objects or for it to cast healing spells and remove the blindness in his eyes?
He thought of his best friend and what he would have done in a situation like this. Sora, no matter what the situation, never backed down.
"Didn't know you thought of me that way."
He turned and saw Sora again, appearing as if he hadn't aged a day since the last time they'd seen each other. He was sitting on the mound of rocks that Riku had been buried under only minutes before.
"Didn't I tell you to go away?" Riku asked. While he fully knew that the boy that sat only a few feet away from him was an illusion, part of him wondered if the spectre was more than just that.
"You thought of me," Sora pointed out. "And poof, here I am again."
"So I'm crazy," Riku muttered. "Guess I hit my head a little too hard."
"I don't know," the boy said. He hopped to his feet and slowly circled Riku. Bringing a hand up to his chin, he smirked. "You seem ok to me. I didn't heal you for nothing." He stopped directly behind Riku and saw the silver haired boy whirl about, his eyes wide open.
"Illusion's can't heal people!" he exclaimed.
"If I'm not real and you're seeing me, then that makes me an illusion." Sora reached up and rapped his knuckles against Riku's forehead. "See, I'm not tangible!"
Stepping back as Sora withdrew his hand again, Riku reached up and touched the spot that Sora had rapped on. Though Riku had seen it, he hadn't felt it. He felt certain that Sora's knuckles should have made contact with his forehead. Sora's fist had been close enough for Riku to clearly see the lines of the boy's palm.
"Fine," Riku agreed. "You're an illusion, but the fact that I'm talking to you indicates that I've gone crazy."
Sora paused, his eyebrows knitting together and creasing his forehead. "You have a point there."
"I feel so reassured now." Glaring at the Kingdom Key, Riku willed the weapon to dissolve.
The apparition approached the shield of water at the cave's entrance and held his hand out. Though he was not tangible, the illusion was strong enough for Riku's mind to twist his surroundings so it would compensate for Sora's presence. He truly did look like he had a hand stuck into the water.
Sora pulled his hand away from the water and faced him. He noted Riku's scowl and grinned sheepishly. "Guess you're little angry, huh?"
"Now how did you guess?" Riku retorted. He walked up to the boy and swiped his hand through him, watching his hand pass through Sora's chest like a knife cutting through water.
Patting his hands against his chest, Sora checked to make sure that he was still whole. Looking relieved, he cast a smirk towards Riku. "Well, that was weird."
Riku placed a hand against his forehead and closed his eyes. He tried to dampen his senses as he felt a headache beginning to form. "You're telling me. What in Hades am I going to do now?"
"What do you mean?"
"How am I going to get off this world?" He looked towards the illusion, hoping vainly that the boy might have an answer.
The boy shrugged and saw Riku's disappointed look. "Why don't you just go over to Hollow Bastion?" he suggested. "I mean, they may not be key bearers, but at least they know something about travelling in between worlds, right?"
"No," Riku stated firmly. "I won't go to them for help. The people there probably know me and hate me and would kill me before they helped me."
"So you're giving up already?"
"NO!" Riku exclaimed. He slammed his fist against the rock wall and felt the burning sensation of pain flare up his arm. "I'm not giving up either."
"Then what are you going to do?" Sora asked. He gestured beyond the waterfall. "Over there is your hope of getting off this planet, and you want to search for me, right? Well just take that risk."
Riku held his throbbing hand up and stared at the ruined leather. Sighing, he dropped his hand and nodded. "I'll go."
Grinning, Sora pumped a fist in the air. "Good luck!" Glancing past the entrance, Sora's grin became a sly smile. "Remember those times we used to race back home?"
Riku knew immediately what the apparition was implying and felt his own smirk beginning to form. "Yeah…"
Sora inched closer to the entrance. "On the count of three… One… two…"
"Three!" Riku hollered, and he took off at a run.
"Wha--?!" Sora immediately ran after the silver haired boy. "You cheater!"
Ahead, Riku laughed.
Riku was leaning against the large pair of double doors, kneeling forward, his hands on his thighs as he took in deep breaths. It'd been a while since he'd let himself simply run for the fun of it, and he had to admit that he wasn't just smiling because he'd won. He never realized how much he'd missed racing against Sora, even if the one he had raced against was just an illusion.
"You won only because I let you."
Riku jumped and nearly let out a small yelp at the sudden appearance of Sora at his side. Only moments before he'd been watching the illusion struggle to clear the floating platforms of the path to castle. The sudden physical exertion made Riku groan as he felt a wave of nausea taking form. He leaned forward and glared at the boy.
"What?" Sora questioned. "It's true!"
"Right," Riku muttered. He took in another deep breath, steadying himself. "The only thing that really matters in the end is that I won and you didn't."
Sora shrugged. "Believe what you want," he said and grinned. Turning to face the doors, he held his hand against the ornate wood and frowned. "So… why are we just standing here? Can't you go in?"
Riku shook his head. "No, I haven't tried yet." He looked embarrassed as he avoided Sora's eyes. "I just wanted to catch my breath just in case…"
The illusion nodded. "Okay, you all caught up?"
"I guess I'm ready as I'll ever be," Riku replied. He leaned forward against the door, placing his weight against it and pushing it open. The door swung inward, moaning loudly enough that Riku was sure he had everyone in the castle to his presence.
Creeping into the main room, he saw that it was empty, though he heard the clear footsteps of a group of people that must have heard his entrance. Ducking behind a pillar, he watched as four people entered the room, all glancing about wildly. They fanned out, walking about the lower area and spotting no one. One of them, a girl, approached the pillar that Riku was hiding behind and leaned against it.
"Weird," she said. "I was sure I heard something."
There was another girl, an older one dressed in pink, who nodded. "Me too," she placed a hand on her abdomen and glanced questioningly towards her companion.
Staring at her without turning his head, the man, a blonde, nodded towards the door. "It's open," he pointed out. "Someone obviously entered."
"'Nother goddamn Heartless," muttered a man who was significantly older than the blonde. He spoke with a cigarette in his mouth and was surprisingly comprehensible.
"Wonder where it disappeared to?" the younger girl asked. She moved away from the pillar and began running up the stairs, glancing about in search of the elusive shadow. "Not up here!"
"Forget it," the younger blonde said. He approached the door and closed it. "If the Heartless shows up, we'll be ready for it. Let's not waste time searching for it."
"Squall's gonna have a heart attack when he finds out," the younger girl pointed out.
All eyes were directed to her, and Riku took this chance to duck into another room. Glancing back, he saw no one had noticed his escape, and he turned, walking straight into another man's chest. He fell backwards and glanced up. He flinched when he realized that he was staring at the sharp end of a sword. Its owner looked just as menacing with his nearly expressionless face and muscular build.
You have thirty seconds to explain yourself before I pull the trigger," the swordsman said, his finger hovering over a gun trigger attached to the sword's hilt.
Pulling all fear from the surface, Riku made himself stare straight into the older man's eyes. "I'm not here to hurt anyone," he said. He hoped he'd sounded sincere enough. "I uh… need help…"
The expression on the man's face didn't change, though Riku did notice that his index finger was hovering dangerously close to the trigger. Riku closed his eyes, preparing himself for the worst, and heard the sound of a door being opened. There were light footsteps and a sudden gasp.
Riku glanced up to see a woman dressed in blue with long dark hair at the door, her hand still on the doorknob. She looked quizzically from Riku to the swordsman and back to Riku again. She raised an eyebrow and gave the swordsman a questioning glance.
The swordsman sighed and lowered his weapon. He relaxed from his defensive stance and stepped back, still eyeing Riku wearily.
"What is it, Rinoa?" he asked.
The woman quickly composed herself. "Cloud told me to warn you that there was an intruder. They thought it was a Heartless, but from the looks of it, I guess not."
"Found him sneaking around… well, actually he bumped into me," the man replied.
Rinoa smirked at Riku's heavy blush and slowly approached the swordsman's side. "Well then… welcome to Hollow Bastion," she replied. "Do you… want to get off the ground first?"
Keeping silent, Riku quickly got up. "Thanks," he muttered.
"Now, do you want to explain why you're here?" the man questioned.
Riku glanced at the woman, who gave him a supportive smile, and then towards the hard gaze of the man. "I… well…kinda dropped from the sky." He waited for their reactions and saw the two exchanging glances before Rinoa held up a hand.
"Wait," she said, "I think I'd better go get the others. Why don't you two meet us in the library?"
The man gave her a brief nod, and she left the room. Riku stared questioningly at the man, who gestured for him to go forward. "Library's over there, down the hall."
Nodding, Riku headed in the direction the man had gestured and entered the vast book filled room. The man didn't let him pause to see the types of books that the place contained and instead gestured towards a table.
"Sit," he commanded.
Riku sat while the man leaned against a shelf. The two waited in silence, and moments later the woman entered the library, followed by the people she'd promised to gather. All of them stared questioningly at him before they took their spots.
"Who's he?" the young girl from before questioned.
"He hasn't told us yet," the swordsman answered. He glanced towards Riku, prompting him.
"I'm Riku."
Most of the people in the room wore blank expressions though the brown haired man, the woman in pink and the young girl all appeared surprised.
"Riku, as in Sora's friend?" the woman in pink asked.
He glanced up at her. "You know Sora, too?"
She nodded and smiled. "He was a very strong boy."
"So you haven't seen him since he defeated Ansem?" Riku already knew what her answer would be.
The woman nodded and frowned, detecting the troubled look on the Riku's face. "Why? What happened?"
Glancing from one face to another, Riku's eyes landed on the supportive gazes of both the woman in pink and the woman in blue. Their smiles were almost motherly, giving him the strength to continue with his recounting of the past events. "He disappeared a while ago," he replied. "No one's been able to find him since."
"Wait," the swordsman said. "You're the same Riku that helped Maleficent back then."
Now all gazes were staring at him warily. Riku lowered his head to the floor.
"Squall, let him explain," Rinoa said softly. She approached his side and placed a hand on Squall's shoulder. "Please, Riku, continue?"
"Go on." Riku glanced up to see that it'd been the spiky haired blonde who had spoken.
"Start at the beginning," the woman in pink urged. "What happened in Kingdom Hearts?"
"I didn't really see the battle," Riku admitted. "But it began with Ansem taking possession of my body…"
They'd left the library and left Riku sitting stiffly in his chair. The woman in pink, Aerith, had reassured him that they were only going to discuss his situation and try to find a solution. In the meantime, he should just entertain himself by reading a book.
Riku decided not to mention the fact that he could hardly read past fifty pages in a book. He politely nodded at her and watched them file out of the room. He glanced up when the door opened and held a hand to his forehead when he saw Sora entering.
The illusion crossed his arms across his chest. "What? You don't like my company anymore?"
"You're an illusion," Riku replied. "What will the others say when they see me talking to you? It's bad enough that I know I'm crazy, but I don't need them thinking that, too."
"Let them think…" Sora stopped as he stared down at his body. He stared quizzically at Riku and saw that the silver haired boy was just as confused. The lower half of his body, from his feet up to his torso, was nearly transparent.
Riku approached the illusion, his arms held out but unable to do anything. The illusion was fading away, and it stared up at him, looking almost in pain. Riku didn't care if the boy was just some apparition. He still had Sora's face.
"There's something… that's breaking… I can't let… see…" Sora never got the chance to finish. The rest of him faded away.
The silver haired boy took in a deep, steadying breath and placed a hand to his heart when he sensed the sickening darkness wrap around him. The Oblivion and Kingdom Keys materialized in his hands, and he turned, scanning the room with all of his senses.
The library was empty save for himself and the books, but the presence was still there, still pulsating with amazing strength. Riku circled around, slowly pivoting with one foot and scanning the area with all of his senses. He could detect the presence, but all his other senses were saying otherwise. Stepping forward, Riku slowly approached one of the bookshelves and peered behind it, weapons raised. There was no one. Stalking along the sides of each bookshelf in the library, Riku still found nothing.
Frowning, his gaze went up the stairs to the second floor. That was the only place he hadn't checked, and if memory served him right, there was another door leading into the library up there. Approaching the stairs, he went up one step at the time, pausing at each step to scan the room before going up to stopping on the next step.
On the last step, he stopped and peered into the second floor, from his position he couldn't see anyone, but he knew that there was a large possibility that there could be something hiding behind those bookshelves. Turning his head to scan the lower floor, he flinched as something black fluttered into his field of vision. He glanced up only to have his vision become obscured by the black object. It bounced off his forehead and slid down the bridge of his nose.
It was balancing precariously on the tip of his nose. With a violent shake of his head, the object fell and fluttered gently to the floor. Staring at it, he saw that it was a feather. It was an incredibly large feather, one that could on belong to the wing of an incredibly large bird.
There was more movement out of the corner of his eyes. Riku snapped his head around to see more black feathers showering down on him. His back, Riku realized, was turned to the second floor. His eyes widened as he felt the presence, stronger and pounding harder at him. It was directly behind him. Whirling, he came face to face with the sharp point of a silver blade. His eyes trailed down to the hilt of the weapon to see the hands, gloved in black, wrapped around it. Darting his eyes upwards, he saw the smirking face of a silvery haired man.
Of course, it wasn't the silver hair, the maniacal gleam in his eyes, or the fact that he was wielding a sword longer than his body that gave Riku the hint that this man wasn't normal. It was the huge, black wing that he had on his back.
Riku stepped back, clumsily descending onto the lower step. The other warrior made no move to stop him; he only raised an eyebrow, challenging him to make the first move.
Holding up both keyblades, Riku swung his left keyblade, the Oblivion, in a wide arc, knocking his opponent's long blade aside. Running forward, Riku glanced up to see the warrior hold up his free hand. A blast of dark energy hit Riku in the chest, knocking him away. He flew backwards, smacking his head against a step.
Ignoring the pain, Riku glanced up to see the warrior leap beside him, feathers flying everywhere. He twisted his sword in his hand until the tip was facing downwards and pressed it against Riku's chest.
"I'm disappointed… Keyblade Master." The warrior smiled, tightening his grip on the hilt.
Don't scream. Don't scream. Don't scream.
Riku was silent as the sword was driven into his chest.
So I've been told that this was an evil ending to a chapter but uh… I felt like being evil. Hmmm ok well, really it was just to keep you guys in suspense for the next chapter which I'm gonna be posting reeeeal soon to make up for not posting in the past few weeks. I apologize (I REALLY AM SORRY!!!) for the lack of updates. Two weeks ago I was busy, this week was just a freak combination of being extremely busy and not to mention the lack of an Internet connection. Next week will most likely be busy too… actually the entire month and the next month will be busy. Sigh… well at least I have summer vacation to look forward too then it'd be daily updates… well not daily but pretty close!! Don't fret about the busy schedule! I WILL update as often as I can and I'll try to keep it once a week like I usually do.
Oh and to comment about this chapter? Hmmm I actually had some fun writing it, but the next one will be murder. Whoops… bad pun. Heh, but this is the start of a small little arc in the fic, one that I will enjoy writing. ^_^
SPECIAL THANKS TO:
Victorious Light (Destiny): Thanks for reviewing, glad to know that you haven't forgotten about the fic. And I completely agree with you about characterization, I just CANNOT stand fics with characters that are OOC. Though I have some doubts about how I'm writing Riku.
Chibigenius: Ah, glad to see that you've updated, but really, no one's obligated to. ^_~ It's just fun to write up replies to the reviews left behind. I'm pretty honoured that you like Enigma--considering your little reputation with original characters and I am worried that I might have turned Enigma into a Marty Sue, or Gary Stu… or whatever you call them male types. Enigma is really a fun character to write considering his different reactions to different characters and I'm glad that you've picked up on that. Also, you've gotta tell me some of your theories someday!
Justagirl: The next chapter's here!!! Please don't kill me! Heh, I have a feeling that you will after this one. Goes to write her will.
Refugee: I don't think you should really concern yourself over reviewing a silly little fic when you've just been in an accident!! I didn't really get a chance to say this earlier and I'm betting this is a little too late but I hope you're doing fine. ^_^
Unknown: Thanks! Yes, I've really based a lot of stuff on Deep Dive… I just can't get stop watching it!
Dragonmaster Dyne: Yes, the KH writers really missed out on a lot of potential stuff… but ah well, what we have is good too. Let's hope that the sequel will be even better. Ooooh and I'm glad that you liked this chapter. Hmmm an epic, I dunno about that but I do have a few things planned. *G*
Cynthia Chen: LOL!!! I never had a chapter described as being juicy… or lovable. O_o
Koorino Megumi: AH!! You're so wonderful for beta reading for me, again! And I'm glad to know that I've put some character into Enigma… I wouldn't worry about your theories, they're not too far off… Also yes, I love being cruel with Riku and waving carrots in front of his face. *G*