AN: Well, now it's leaning more on Riku's side of the story *hugs Riku* *fans: but we want Sora!* well you can't have him *make a face* *fans: pull out a gun* o.O Ok never mind just continue... O and this one is a little shorter than the first one.
Disclaimers: I still don't own anything except Mariha. *Mariha feels special* Well, i made her up, i don't really own her *Mariha: that's rigth! i own my own life ~.^*
Dreams
A six-year-old Riku was standing on the little island off the beach of Destiny Island, the one they came to everyday to play on. He was leaning against the paopu tree and someone was sitting down beside him. It wasn't Sora or Kairi, and it defiantly was not Wakka, Tidus, or Selphie.
"Isn't the sun set beautiful," said the person beside him, "Some day, we'll get off this island and have a real adventure."
Riku nodded.
"Riku, why do you always compete with Sora for everything?"
"Because it's fun beating him," he replied with a smile, "Sides, it gives me something to do. I mean, I like this island and it will always be my home but, sometimes it seems like a prison."
"I know what you mean." The person stood up and walked to the edge of the mini island. Riku guessed that they were around his age, and he noticed that the person was a little shorter than he was.
"Riku, you've been the bestest friend I could of ever imagined. Thank you."
The person turned to face him but Riku couldn't see their face because of the sun in his eyes; they were standing right in front of it. Suddenly, a giant wave came up and washed both Riku and the person of the little island into the water.
Riku opened his eyes under water and looked around for his friend. There! Slowly sinking down deeper and deeper. Riku tired to swim down but the current pushed him to the surface. But just before his broke out above the water, he saw eyes, full of terror, then darkness...
"No!" Riku woke with a start. He got up and looked around him.
Still here, it was all a dream, he thought.
"Riku!" Mariha came running over to him, "I heard you shout. Are you alright?"
"Yeah, it was just a dream," he replied.
Dream, he thought, who was in my dream?
"Oh, ok," said Mariha, "Anyways, check out what I found!"
She held out a sparkling clear crystal the size of a fist but in the shape of a diamond. Riku took a closer look as she handed it to him. It was warm in his hand and he noticed that the centre was glowing dimly.
"It has a strong magic within. I think it might help to get us out of here," she said excitedly, clapping her hands together.
"Magic?" said Riku, puzzled, "But how do you know?"
Mariha hit her forehead with her hand. "Oops! I totally forgot to tell you," she said, "I can use magic! I taught myself how to use it since there was really nothing else to do, but it has come in handy!"
She smiled cheerfully. Riku had never seen someone so energetic and cheerful, not even Selphie, a girl that hung out with them on the island sometimes was as cheery as Mariha was. Did hid presence, the presence of another person really lift her hopes sky high?
"Ok, so how is this thing supposed to help us?" asked Riku holding up the crystal. He couldn't see how this shiny little piece of rock could help them at all in escaping Kingdom Hearts, their prison in darkness.
"If I'm correct, which I almost always am, this is a Tela Crystal. Combined with my magic, we'll be able to teleport out of here!" she replied.
"I see," said Riku handing the Tela Crystal back to Mariha, "Are there anymore?"
Mariha shook her head, "Not that I could find, they seem pretty rare," she said, "But I think one should be enough."
"Great!" exclaimed Riku, hopes flying, "So when can we go? Now?"
Mariha's smile vanished, "Even with the Tela Crystal, I'M not strong enough yet to teleport ONE person let alone two. It'll take me weeks to prepare, and even then, I don't know how far it is to the outside worlds so I don't know how much power I'll need exactly."
Riku sighed. Now he wondered if they'd ever get out of here. But Mariha's glumness was quickly replaced with cheerfulness again as she hopped down and got right into Riku's face as he was still sitting on the ground. He blushed. The same uncomfortable feeling came over him again but he couldn't move an inch. He seemed to be frozen in place, just as he had the day before.
"But don't worry!" she said, smiling warmly at him, "at least it's a start!"
They looked into each other's eyes as Mariha held her smile. She has a beautiful smile, thought Riku then almost shook his head, as he realized what he was saying to himself, No, what are you doing! Then, as if sensing his discomfort, or something like it, Mariha got up and skipped away yelling back over her shoulder: "I'll see you later! I have to check something right now!"
Riku just sat there for another moment. Every time she did that, got that close to him, he got that feeling of discomfort. But it was Mariha! She was so easy to be around! Why was it that when she got just a little bit nearer he would go all crazy?
O well, he thought, we both seem to be the best thing that ever happened to each other in this place. At least she's good company.
He smiled to himself, sure Mariha was kind of goofy, but he was somewhat amused by it and enjoyed her company nonetheless. He yawned, then with some effort, got up and decided to do some exploring.
~*~
Simba walked into the cave at the top of Pride Rock with Sora, Donald, and Goofy following behind.
"Simba!" said a beautiful lioness as she trotted up to Simba, "You've returned!"
The lioness came right over to Simba and they nuzzled noses. Sora guessed that the lioness had to be Simba's mate. He smiled and thought about Kairi.
"I'd have never gotten here if it weren't for Sora." He moved aside so the lioness could get a look at the visitors properly.
"Welcome Sora," she said, "My name is Nala. Please come in, I'm sure you have lots to talk about."
Sora followed Nala and Simba into the cave, and Donald and Goofy weren't far behind.
~*~
Riku walked through the darkness of Kingdom Hearts, passing many strange formations of what seemed to be like a toadstool of darkness. There was no sun, moon or stars in the sky, just the ever going black abyss and the only form of light that enabled Riku to see where he was going were little slits of a glowing blue essence that were on the black toadstools. Riku didn't dare ever touch one, but they were everywhere. But, the more the merrier since it created all only light in the black hole they were trapped in.
Sometimes Riku wondered why it was there, the glowing blue light. It wasn't that bright, but it was still there. Wasn't Kingdom Hearts supposed to be complete darkness? It was the home of the heartless; they themselves were also pure darkness. So why would there be even a little bit of light? Riku figured it couldn't be real light, maybe an energy this world needed that just so happened to glow. After all, the eyes of the heartless glowed as well, and in a dark ally, that would be all you would see of them, their eerie glowing yellow eyes.
He continued to walk, not really going in a certain direction but making sure he would remember the way back, slashing away the odd shadow heartless that dared challenge him with his blade; it was a razor sharp blade shaped like a bat wing. It was the only thing he had, even though he had received it from the darkness, but using it against the darkness settled any guilt he had in using it.
Soon, Riku came to a sort of forest of the black and glowing toadstools, only there stems rose higher up, over his head to make the appearance of warped trees. He walked in, following a path that seemed to lead into the centre of the forest. In a small clearing at the end of the path, there was a perfectly circle jet black rock with a pretty much flat top. It was rounded like a sphere at the bottom and the top was about 2 feet up off the ground. Overall, it looked like half a sphere that had fallen from the sky and stayed there.
Sitting in the very centre on the top of the black sphere was Mariha. Her back was to Riku and she was fiddling with something in her hands. Riku couldn't see what it was but he didn't think anything of it.
"So this is where you ran off to," he said coolly. Mariha jumped, not noticing he was there until now but she turned and grinned.
"Ah! You've found me," she laughed, "I guess this isn't a secret hiding spot anymore."
Riku climbed up onto the rock to sit beside Mariha, "What were you doing?"
"O, nothing," replied Mariha quickly, stuffing something into her pocket. Before Riku could ask anything else Mariha jumped off the rock, drew her sword and pointed it at Riku.
"Ever since you got here, I've been wondering," she smiled slyly and it startled Riku for a moment. The brightness in her eyes disappeared and was replaced with an almost evil glare, "Wondering if I am as good as I think I am. Come on Riku! Lets have a fight! I need to measure out my skills with someone worthy."
Riku sat on the stone in surprise but then sighed.
"You don't know who you're messing with," he said, jumping down and gripping his own weapon with the blade of a bat wing. He put on his game face and looked at Mariha strait in the eye. Not a shred of fear was within them.
"Lets see what you got!" called Mariha challengingly. She charged, sword tip aimed right at Riku's heart. He blocked the assault easily and she jumped back.
"You'll have to do WAY better then that to even come close to beating me," Riku said, confidence once again brimming in his eyes as they had when he would fight Sora back on their island.
Riku lunged and with great speed and strength, brought his weapon done onto Mariha. His speed was matched though, as she blocked then tossed his aside. Riku was surprised at Mariha's reflexes and strength but all she did was shoot him a threatening glace and the real party started. They went at it like no tomorrow; blocking, attacking, receiving blows on both sides though they were always matched. It was almost too even.
Once, Riku had her down and he relaxed for a second, bad idea. Mariha saw the opportunity to turn the tables and did. She jumped up so quickly, Riku though she had disappeared for a second. She backed him up against the half sphere rock, her sword at his throat.
"Am I doing better now 'O Great One?'" she panted, dark eyes unblinking.
Riku couldn't do anything but stare. Her eyes, they gave him a brief vision of his own, himself, hungry for darkness and power. It clouded his mind now. He lost all sense of where he was, for he was lost within his own mind, as it mocked him. He kept seeing the images flash by. His island, the heartless, Sora... Kairi... Ansem. The evil being, Ansem, who had manipulated him and took him over to the darkness, promising power. Instead he got grief, pain and despair. Now, the darkness was growing, consuming him once more. He couldn't escape. He couldn't fight it.
"Stop!" he said as he fell to his knees, eyes wide though he only saw the darkness through them, "Stop it!"
He suddenly felt something around him, but it wasn't the darkness.
"Riku? Riku, what's wrong?" It was Mariha. She was shaking him a bit, trying to bring him to his senses.
"Riku, wake up!"
He looked up. The evil thing in Mariha's eyes was gone. She looked at him, eyes now full of concern.
"Hey, are you awake?" she said again as Riku realized that he was staring at her, which could easily be mistaken for him being lost still.
All, his senses were clear he grabbed Mariha's shoulders which caused her to jump in surprise.
"Mariha," he started, but he couldn't say anything more.
"Are you alright?" she said, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have been so aggressive..."
Riku still said nothing. He was awake, and aware, but he was still in shock. He couldn't believe his eyes. A second ago, Mariha looked like she was actually going to kill him. It looked like she had been controlled by the darkness or something and it sent her out to kill him. He knew it was ridicules but still, that look in her eye shouldn't have been there.
He stood up, he was in a form of panic, and his head was hammering so many theories, so many questions onto him. He couldn't stand it. He needed to get away.
"Riku? What are you -?"
He ran. He didn't let her finish. He ran as fast as he could, blindly through the warped forest. He heard her call, Riku heard Mariha call out to him and he knew she was confused. I don't understand it either, he though but he didn't stop running.
Finally, when his legs would not carry him any further, he collapsed and leaded his back against one of the tree like toadstools. He was so confused. What am I doing, he thought in frustration, why am I running? Why am I running from a friend? She couldn't have been darkness. No, she accepted me as a friend even after I - he stopped short, more frustration toward himself arising, I didn't tell you...
Mariha was in total puzzlement. Riku looked at her like she was some sort of evil monster. Why did he run? What caused him to be stricken down with that fear she saw in his foggy eyes? At first she though it was her mind playing tricks on her, showing him staring blankly into nothingness. But it was real, though she didn't understand why. His face turned pale despite his already pale skin.
What had she done to cause Riku this fear? So many questions she wanted to ask, but Riku had run. He had run from her and she dared not follow. He saw something, he must have, that made him flee. Something really horrible...
Her mind was made up. She was going to look for him. She couldn't just leave him out there on his own. Sure he could take care of himself, but could he do it if his mind was confused? She had to straighten this out, she put her sword into it sheath, and then started out in the direction she saw Riku run.
Riku was here again, back on his island. It was that same dream. Leaning on the paupo tree looking out at the setting sun. The other person was there at his side, just like last time.
"Isn't the sun set beautiful?"
His dream must have become clearer, he could tell now without a doubt that the voice belonged to a girl. He looked down to see the girls face, but it was a fog in his mind. Fine then, he thought to himself, take your time, keep me guessing.
"Some day we'll get off this island and have a real adventure."
Without thinking Riku nodded. He surprised himself. Even though this dream was exactly the same as the first, he seemed to almost forget what was going to happen next until it was already upon him, and he reacted automatically.
"Riku, why do you always compete with Sora?"
Riku opened his mouth to reply then stopped short. What would happen if he changed the dream by doing something different?
"Riku?" He didn't look at her but some how he felt the girl's eyes on him. His stream of thought broke.
"O sorry," he said, "I was just thinking."
"Well that's new," joked the girl with a laugh.
"What's that supposed to mean?" he replied.
"O nothing," she said and got up and walked over to the edge of the mini island they were on, "I've been thinking too lately."
He knew what was going to happen.
"Riku, thank you, you've been the bestest friend I could have ever imagined. I'll never forget you, please don't forget me."
Right on cue, she turned as the giant wave sprung into the air. He still couldn't make out her face, but he could see now, that she had short brown hair that was wavy and went down to about the middle of her neck. Something sparkled around her neck but Riku took no notice. He was running to her, trying to grab her hand before the wave came crashing down.
He reached out and grabbed but just missed as the wave swept them into the water. He saw it again, though he didn't want to, but he couldn't stop himself from looking. Terror stricken eyes; darkness...
Riku woke with a start. He hadn't realized that he had fallen asleep, and had no idea how long he had been sleeping for, but where was Mariha? Was she looking for him? His head was now cleared, he knew it was only the darkness playing with him, trying to manipulate again as it had done in the past. He knew what to do now he needed to find Mariha.
He got up and his thoughts were answered when he heard a scream. Mariha! He darted toward the sound. Not far, he spotted Mariha in a tangle of vines. He relaxed but suddenly became aware that the vines were moving, trying to strangle Mariha who was caught in them. The think black vines wrapped around her from her toes to her waist, but they were quickly wrapping itself higher and higher. On the tip of the vine holding her, the tip that was growing up toward her head, had a little head along with a mouth filled with skinny needle like teeth. It was a type of heartless.
Riku grabbed his sword and begun cutting away at the vines of the heartless that started creeping toward him. They came at him and no matter how many he cut, more and more kept coming. Riku gave up trying to defeat the heartless this way and jumped over them to make his way over to where Mariha was trapped.
Then, the vine holding her captive rose up, out of reach from Riku. It's head momentarily stopped its climb to Mariha's head to turn and shoot Riku a mocking smile, showing all of it's skinny pointed teeth.
"Riku..." Mariha said in a faint voice. The vines were squeezing her so hard she was having difficulty breathing. The heartless' head was now creeping around her shoulders, readying it's teeth for the treat it was about to get.
Riku ran under Mariha who was being held in the air by the heartless and tried to jump and cut it. But it just rose higher. Riku then looked to his side. That's it! He was looking at the core, a large round bud that was glowing slightly. That was what gave the heartless its energy. He needed to destroy that. Riku lunged for it; the heartless was now at Mariha's chin, opening its mouth wide.
Riku extended his arm to cut the core in half when a smaller vine whipped at his unprotected arm. He grunted in pain as the cut began to bleed.
Riku, she though, eyes staring to flutter close, she was running out of air the heartless was squeezing her so hard. She was helplessly captured. She couldn't help him. Powerless; she hated that. She was totally powerless to save herself, or Riku.
Ignoring the sting of the blow, Riku continued to charge until his sword came down on the core and cut it in two. The heartless around Mariha seemed to scream and wilted into nothingness. She fell into his awaiting arms as he struggled to keep them both standing. He sat himself down slowly against a toadstool tree, still holing on to Mariha who didn't seem to have the energy to stand on her own.
The lack of air had forced her unconscious, but when her eyes shot open, she was gasping for air.
"Wha -" she began and looked up to see Riku's face above her, "Oh!" She sat up frantically.
"Are you ok?" Riku asked.
Mariha nodded. Riku sighed in relief and relaxed. He leaned back further against the tree behind him and closed his eyes.
"Mariha," he began, "I'm sorry I ran. I just was, confused for a second. I didn't mean to bolt away like that."
He opened his eyes to await her response.
"I'm the one who should be sorry," she said, "I should have never asked you to fight..."
"Hey," he said smiling at her, "Don't worry about it, k?"
"I'm sorry," she said.
"I'm sorry too," he replied and she smiled back at him.
AN: Well, there is! Chapter 2 now finished! *Dances the 'Chapter 2 is finally finished' dance* hee hee, as you can see, I'm not bothering with any cliffhanger ending at the moment. It's all pretty boring right now... but if you care enough to stick around, it gets better! Please R&R! (If u don't, I might not continue with the story! *fans cheer* o.O ok never mind then, I'll finish it weather u review or not! *fans groan* ^-^
Disclaimers: I still don't own anything except Mariha. *Mariha feels special* Well, i made her up, i don't really own her *Mariha: that's rigth! i own my own life ~.^*
Dreams
A six-year-old Riku was standing on the little island off the beach of Destiny Island, the one they came to everyday to play on. He was leaning against the paopu tree and someone was sitting down beside him. It wasn't Sora or Kairi, and it defiantly was not Wakka, Tidus, or Selphie.
"Isn't the sun set beautiful," said the person beside him, "Some day, we'll get off this island and have a real adventure."
Riku nodded.
"Riku, why do you always compete with Sora for everything?"
"Because it's fun beating him," he replied with a smile, "Sides, it gives me something to do. I mean, I like this island and it will always be my home but, sometimes it seems like a prison."
"I know what you mean." The person stood up and walked to the edge of the mini island. Riku guessed that they were around his age, and he noticed that the person was a little shorter than he was.
"Riku, you've been the bestest friend I could of ever imagined. Thank you."
The person turned to face him but Riku couldn't see their face because of the sun in his eyes; they were standing right in front of it. Suddenly, a giant wave came up and washed both Riku and the person of the little island into the water.
Riku opened his eyes under water and looked around for his friend. There! Slowly sinking down deeper and deeper. Riku tired to swim down but the current pushed him to the surface. But just before his broke out above the water, he saw eyes, full of terror, then darkness...
"No!" Riku woke with a start. He got up and looked around him.
Still here, it was all a dream, he thought.
"Riku!" Mariha came running over to him, "I heard you shout. Are you alright?"
"Yeah, it was just a dream," he replied.
Dream, he thought, who was in my dream?
"Oh, ok," said Mariha, "Anyways, check out what I found!"
She held out a sparkling clear crystal the size of a fist but in the shape of a diamond. Riku took a closer look as she handed it to him. It was warm in his hand and he noticed that the centre was glowing dimly.
"It has a strong magic within. I think it might help to get us out of here," she said excitedly, clapping her hands together.
"Magic?" said Riku, puzzled, "But how do you know?"
Mariha hit her forehead with her hand. "Oops! I totally forgot to tell you," she said, "I can use magic! I taught myself how to use it since there was really nothing else to do, but it has come in handy!"
She smiled cheerfully. Riku had never seen someone so energetic and cheerful, not even Selphie, a girl that hung out with them on the island sometimes was as cheery as Mariha was. Did hid presence, the presence of another person really lift her hopes sky high?
"Ok, so how is this thing supposed to help us?" asked Riku holding up the crystal. He couldn't see how this shiny little piece of rock could help them at all in escaping Kingdom Hearts, their prison in darkness.
"If I'm correct, which I almost always am, this is a Tela Crystal. Combined with my magic, we'll be able to teleport out of here!" she replied.
"I see," said Riku handing the Tela Crystal back to Mariha, "Are there anymore?"
Mariha shook her head, "Not that I could find, they seem pretty rare," she said, "But I think one should be enough."
"Great!" exclaimed Riku, hopes flying, "So when can we go? Now?"
Mariha's smile vanished, "Even with the Tela Crystal, I'M not strong enough yet to teleport ONE person let alone two. It'll take me weeks to prepare, and even then, I don't know how far it is to the outside worlds so I don't know how much power I'll need exactly."
Riku sighed. Now he wondered if they'd ever get out of here. But Mariha's glumness was quickly replaced with cheerfulness again as she hopped down and got right into Riku's face as he was still sitting on the ground. He blushed. The same uncomfortable feeling came over him again but he couldn't move an inch. He seemed to be frozen in place, just as he had the day before.
"But don't worry!" she said, smiling warmly at him, "at least it's a start!"
They looked into each other's eyes as Mariha held her smile. She has a beautiful smile, thought Riku then almost shook his head, as he realized what he was saying to himself, No, what are you doing! Then, as if sensing his discomfort, or something like it, Mariha got up and skipped away yelling back over her shoulder: "I'll see you later! I have to check something right now!"
Riku just sat there for another moment. Every time she did that, got that close to him, he got that feeling of discomfort. But it was Mariha! She was so easy to be around! Why was it that when she got just a little bit nearer he would go all crazy?
O well, he thought, we both seem to be the best thing that ever happened to each other in this place. At least she's good company.
He smiled to himself, sure Mariha was kind of goofy, but he was somewhat amused by it and enjoyed her company nonetheless. He yawned, then with some effort, got up and decided to do some exploring.
~*~
Simba walked into the cave at the top of Pride Rock with Sora, Donald, and Goofy following behind.
"Simba!" said a beautiful lioness as she trotted up to Simba, "You've returned!"
The lioness came right over to Simba and they nuzzled noses. Sora guessed that the lioness had to be Simba's mate. He smiled and thought about Kairi.
"I'd have never gotten here if it weren't for Sora." He moved aside so the lioness could get a look at the visitors properly.
"Welcome Sora," she said, "My name is Nala. Please come in, I'm sure you have lots to talk about."
Sora followed Nala and Simba into the cave, and Donald and Goofy weren't far behind.
~*~
Riku walked through the darkness of Kingdom Hearts, passing many strange formations of what seemed to be like a toadstool of darkness. There was no sun, moon or stars in the sky, just the ever going black abyss and the only form of light that enabled Riku to see where he was going were little slits of a glowing blue essence that were on the black toadstools. Riku didn't dare ever touch one, but they were everywhere. But, the more the merrier since it created all only light in the black hole they were trapped in.
Sometimes Riku wondered why it was there, the glowing blue light. It wasn't that bright, but it was still there. Wasn't Kingdom Hearts supposed to be complete darkness? It was the home of the heartless; they themselves were also pure darkness. So why would there be even a little bit of light? Riku figured it couldn't be real light, maybe an energy this world needed that just so happened to glow. After all, the eyes of the heartless glowed as well, and in a dark ally, that would be all you would see of them, their eerie glowing yellow eyes.
He continued to walk, not really going in a certain direction but making sure he would remember the way back, slashing away the odd shadow heartless that dared challenge him with his blade; it was a razor sharp blade shaped like a bat wing. It was the only thing he had, even though he had received it from the darkness, but using it against the darkness settled any guilt he had in using it.
Soon, Riku came to a sort of forest of the black and glowing toadstools, only there stems rose higher up, over his head to make the appearance of warped trees. He walked in, following a path that seemed to lead into the centre of the forest. In a small clearing at the end of the path, there was a perfectly circle jet black rock with a pretty much flat top. It was rounded like a sphere at the bottom and the top was about 2 feet up off the ground. Overall, it looked like half a sphere that had fallen from the sky and stayed there.
Sitting in the very centre on the top of the black sphere was Mariha. Her back was to Riku and she was fiddling with something in her hands. Riku couldn't see what it was but he didn't think anything of it.
"So this is where you ran off to," he said coolly. Mariha jumped, not noticing he was there until now but she turned and grinned.
"Ah! You've found me," she laughed, "I guess this isn't a secret hiding spot anymore."
Riku climbed up onto the rock to sit beside Mariha, "What were you doing?"
"O, nothing," replied Mariha quickly, stuffing something into her pocket. Before Riku could ask anything else Mariha jumped off the rock, drew her sword and pointed it at Riku.
"Ever since you got here, I've been wondering," she smiled slyly and it startled Riku for a moment. The brightness in her eyes disappeared and was replaced with an almost evil glare, "Wondering if I am as good as I think I am. Come on Riku! Lets have a fight! I need to measure out my skills with someone worthy."
Riku sat on the stone in surprise but then sighed.
"You don't know who you're messing with," he said, jumping down and gripping his own weapon with the blade of a bat wing. He put on his game face and looked at Mariha strait in the eye. Not a shred of fear was within them.
"Lets see what you got!" called Mariha challengingly. She charged, sword tip aimed right at Riku's heart. He blocked the assault easily and she jumped back.
"You'll have to do WAY better then that to even come close to beating me," Riku said, confidence once again brimming in his eyes as they had when he would fight Sora back on their island.
Riku lunged and with great speed and strength, brought his weapon done onto Mariha. His speed was matched though, as she blocked then tossed his aside. Riku was surprised at Mariha's reflexes and strength but all she did was shoot him a threatening glace and the real party started. They went at it like no tomorrow; blocking, attacking, receiving blows on both sides though they were always matched. It was almost too even.
Once, Riku had her down and he relaxed for a second, bad idea. Mariha saw the opportunity to turn the tables and did. She jumped up so quickly, Riku though she had disappeared for a second. She backed him up against the half sphere rock, her sword at his throat.
"Am I doing better now 'O Great One?'" she panted, dark eyes unblinking.
Riku couldn't do anything but stare. Her eyes, they gave him a brief vision of his own, himself, hungry for darkness and power. It clouded his mind now. He lost all sense of where he was, for he was lost within his own mind, as it mocked him. He kept seeing the images flash by. His island, the heartless, Sora... Kairi... Ansem. The evil being, Ansem, who had manipulated him and took him over to the darkness, promising power. Instead he got grief, pain and despair. Now, the darkness was growing, consuming him once more. He couldn't escape. He couldn't fight it.
"Stop!" he said as he fell to his knees, eyes wide though he only saw the darkness through them, "Stop it!"
He suddenly felt something around him, but it wasn't the darkness.
"Riku? Riku, what's wrong?" It was Mariha. She was shaking him a bit, trying to bring him to his senses.
"Riku, wake up!"
He looked up. The evil thing in Mariha's eyes was gone. She looked at him, eyes now full of concern.
"Hey, are you awake?" she said again as Riku realized that he was staring at her, which could easily be mistaken for him being lost still.
All, his senses were clear he grabbed Mariha's shoulders which caused her to jump in surprise.
"Mariha," he started, but he couldn't say anything more.
"Are you alright?" she said, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have been so aggressive..."
Riku still said nothing. He was awake, and aware, but he was still in shock. He couldn't believe his eyes. A second ago, Mariha looked like she was actually going to kill him. It looked like she had been controlled by the darkness or something and it sent her out to kill him. He knew it was ridicules but still, that look in her eye shouldn't have been there.
He stood up, he was in a form of panic, and his head was hammering so many theories, so many questions onto him. He couldn't stand it. He needed to get away.
"Riku? What are you -?"
He ran. He didn't let her finish. He ran as fast as he could, blindly through the warped forest. He heard her call, Riku heard Mariha call out to him and he knew she was confused. I don't understand it either, he though but he didn't stop running.
Finally, when his legs would not carry him any further, he collapsed and leaded his back against one of the tree like toadstools. He was so confused. What am I doing, he thought in frustration, why am I running? Why am I running from a friend? She couldn't have been darkness. No, she accepted me as a friend even after I - he stopped short, more frustration toward himself arising, I didn't tell you...
Mariha was in total puzzlement. Riku looked at her like she was some sort of evil monster. Why did he run? What caused him to be stricken down with that fear she saw in his foggy eyes? At first she though it was her mind playing tricks on her, showing him staring blankly into nothingness. But it was real, though she didn't understand why. His face turned pale despite his already pale skin.
What had she done to cause Riku this fear? So many questions she wanted to ask, but Riku had run. He had run from her and she dared not follow. He saw something, he must have, that made him flee. Something really horrible...
Her mind was made up. She was going to look for him. She couldn't just leave him out there on his own. Sure he could take care of himself, but could he do it if his mind was confused? She had to straighten this out, she put her sword into it sheath, and then started out in the direction she saw Riku run.
Riku was here again, back on his island. It was that same dream. Leaning on the paupo tree looking out at the setting sun. The other person was there at his side, just like last time.
"Isn't the sun set beautiful?"
His dream must have become clearer, he could tell now without a doubt that the voice belonged to a girl. He looked down to see the girls face, but it was a fog in his mind. Fine then, he thought to himself, take your time, keep me guessing.
"Some day we'll get off this island and have a real adventure."
Without thinking Riku nodded. He surprised himself. Even though this dream was exactly the same as the first, he seemed to almost forget what was going to happen next until it was already upon him, and he reacted automatically.
"Riku, why do you always compete with Sora?"
Riku opened his mouth to reply then stopped short. What would happen if he changed the dream by doing something different?
"Riku?" He didn't look at her but some how he felt the girl's eyes on him. His stream of thought broke.
"O sorry," he said, "I was just thinking."
"Well that's new," joked the girl with a laugh.
"What's that supposed to mean?" he replied.
"O nothing," she said and got up and walked over to the edge of the mini island they were on, "I've been thinking too lately."
He knew what was going to happen.
"Riku, thank you, you've been the bestest friend I could have ever imagined. I'll never forget you, please don't forget me."
Right on cue, she turned as the giant wave sprung into the air. He still couldn't make out her face, but he could see now, that she had short brown hair that was wavy and went down to about the middle of her neck. Something sparkled around her neck but Riku took no notice. He was running to her, trying to grab her hand before the wave came crashing down.
He reached out and grabbed but just missed as the wave swept them into the water. He saw it again, though he didn't want to, but he couldn't stop himself from looking. Terror stricken eyes; darkness...
Riku woke with a start. He hadn't realized that he had fallen asleep, and had no idea how long he had been sleeping for, but where was Mariha? Was she looking for him? His head was now cleared, he knew it was only the darkness playing with him, trying to manipulate again as it had done in the past. He knew what to do now he needed to find Mariha.
He got up and his thoughts were answered when he heard a scream. Mariha! He darted toward the sound. Not far, he spotted Mariha in a tangle of vines. He relaxed but suddenly became aware that the vines were moving, trying to strangle Mariha who was caught in them. The think black vines wrapped around her from her toes to her waist, but they were quickly wrapping itself higher and higher. On the tip of the vine holding her, the tip that was growing up toward her head, had a little head along with a mouth filled with skinny needle like teeth. It was a type of heartless.
Riku grabbed his sword and begun cutting away at the vines of the heartless that started creeping toward him. They came at him and no matter how many he cut, more and more kept coming. Riku gave up trying to defeat the heartless this way and jumped over them to make his way over to where Mariha was trapped.
Then, the vine holding her captive rose up, out of reach from Riku. It's head momentarily stopped its climb to Mariha's head to turn and shoot Riku a mocking smile, showing all of it's skinny pointed teeth.
"Riku..." Mariha said in a faint voice. The vines were squeezing her so hard she was having difficulty breathing. The heartless' head was now creeping around her shoulders, readying it's teeth for the treat it was about to get.
Riku ran under Mariha who was being held in the air by the heartless and tried to jump and cut it. But it just rose higher. Riku then looked to his side. That's it! He was looking at the core, a large round bud that was glowing slightly. That was what gave the heartless its energy. He needed to destroy that. Riku lunged for it; the heartless was now at Mariha's chin, opening its mouth wide.
Riku extended his arm to cut the core in half when a smaller vine whipped at his unprotected arm. He grunted in pain as the cut began to bleed.
Riku, she though, eyes staring to flutter close, she was running out of air the heartless was squeezing her so hard. She was helplessly captured. She couldn't help him. Powerless; she hated that. She was totally powerless to save herself, or Riku.
Ignoring the sting of the blow, Riku continued to charge until his sword came down on the core and cut it in two. The heartless around Mariha seemed to scream and wilted into nothingness. She fell into his awaiting arms as he struggled to keep them both standing. He sat himself down slowly against a toadstool tree, still holing on to Mariha who didn't seem to have the energy to stand on her own.
The lack of air had forced her unconscious, but when her eyes shot open, she was gasping for air.
"Wha -" she began and looked up to see Riku's face above her, "Oh!" She sat up frantically.
"Are you ok?" Riku asked.
Mariha nodded. Riku sighed in relief and relaxed. He leaned back further against the tree behind him and closed his eyes.
"Mariha," he began, "I'm sorry I ran. I just was, confused for a second. I didn't mean to bolt away like that."
He opened his eyes to await her response.
"I'm the one who should be sorry," she said, "I should have never asked you to fight..."
"Hey," he said smiling at her, "Don't worry about it, k?"
"I'm sorry," she said.
"I'm sorry too," he replied and she smiled back at him.
AN: Well, there is! Chapter 2 now finished! *Dances the 'Chapter 2 is finally finished' dance* hee hee, as you can see, I'm not bothering with any cliffhanger ending at the moment. It's all pretty boring right now... but if you care enough to stick around, it gets better! Please R&R! (If u don't, I might not continue with the story! *fans cheer* o.O ok never mind then, I'll finish it weather u review or not! *fans groan* ^-^