The Eleventh Hour

By Lynx (of Organization VI)

Rating: Uh, T for Teen, I guess.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or its characters; they belong to Disney and Squeenix, respectively. No money's being made, le cry.

Summary: For Riku, his future was the same as his past.

Notes: Basically, a much more lengthy expansion on a drabble I wrote a month or so back. A lot of the ideas, theories and reasoning I need to credit Rebmakash for, because she's the smart one and thinks up all the cool stuff. I just add a lot of words onto it.

There will be KH2 SPOILERS APLENTY in this fic, so be warned.

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Chapter Three – THE THIRD HOUR

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TICK

Nearly two weeks later, the armored figure still did not return. But things did get worse.

Sora again forgot the names of some of the friends they visited in Agrabah. Chip and Dale forgot one of the new gummi routes they were working on, and had to start from scratch. Riku realized there was a space of two months during the time he'd traveled with King Mickey that was now completely blank.

The memory loss crept back into battle as well, particularly doing a huge fight outside the castle walls that involved all six of them. As Kairi was about to be struck by a massive Heartless she was parrying, Donald raised his staff to protect her with a reflega spell...but hesitated on the actual word. It had slashed her in the side, and it was only a quick mega-potion from Goofy that kept her from permanent injury.

Riku had never seen Sora so furious. He knew that he wanted to yell at Donald (What were you doing? You saw what was coming! She could have been killed!) But Sora couldn't yell at his old friend like that. Especially with Donald's unusually profuse apologies (I'm sorry, Kairi! Sora! I didn't mean to, I just couldn't...I'm sorry!)

But even that didn't disturb Riku the most. It was the things that had begun disappearing.

It wasn't much; just little things. Three Keychains were missing from Sora's collection. A page from Winnie the Pooh's storybook seemed to be gone, but nothing was torn out. Some old files from Tron's database couldn't be found.

When one of Jiminy's old journals completely vanished, Kairi suggested they get together and "talk about it."

So the next night, the six of them met after dinner in the library of Radiant Garden's castle. There was still plenty of light from the windows to flood the leather-covered table where they gathered, but twilight was coming fast, so they lit several candles. Aerith brought up tea and cookies for them, which they were all grateful for. But once the door was shut and the six were left alone, the food seemed a little superfluous.

King Mickey began. "Well, it seems we've got a big problem on our hands. Folks have been forgetting important things, places and people."

"And some stuff's gone missin' too," Goofy pointed out.

"Right. Now, we don't know whether all this stuff's connected, but it sure does seem like it."

Sora folded his arms over his chest. "But the problem is, we don't know what's causing it. So we don't know how to stop it."

"It could be a Heartless messin' with our heads," Donald suggested.

"But it'd have to be a really powerful Heartless if it could make everyone forget things," Kairi said. "Even more powerful than Xehanort's Heartless."

Riku felt a lump form in the back of his throat at the name, and he tried to change the subject. "I think we're jumping to conclusions. Now let's think backwards...has something like this ever happened before?"

The six thought about it for a moment, although Sora thought aloud. "Memories going missing...and records of those memories disappearing as well..."

The answer struck the King first, and struck him so hard he leaped out of his chair. "Castle Oblivion!"

Riku could've picked up the mouse and hugged him for how obvious it was. "Of course, that's right! If we could find Castle Oblivion again, it might have some answers for how we fix this."

Sora looked crestfallen. Riku understood why: for Sora, Castle Oblivion was nothing more than a big hole in his life; a lost year he could never get back. The mention of the place also seemed to depress Kairi, although for different reasons entirely. "Do you think it's actually safe to go back there?" he ventured.

"Since the Organization no longer controls it, I think it should be okay," Mickey said.

"Maybe they even left behind some clues, since the King said they were doin' memory experiments," Goofy offered.

"Well, if it'll help us figure out why we're losing our memories, then we'll have to risk it," Sora finally said, looking determined.

"Do you think we can even find it again?" Kairi asked.

"I'll ask Chip and Dale to start tracking for it with the data we have," Mickey assured her. "Unless it's completely disappeared too, we should find it again. Let's get to work!"

------

A few days of careful preparation followed the castle's discovery on the gummi world map. It was located on a world lost in shadow, bordering on the edge of the realm of darkness as Twilight Town was. In fact, Castle Oblivion's world was not far from Twilight Town. It was a small world; easy to miss unless specifically looked for.

With a safe gummi route secured, the six took the Highwind down the empty black path, with Sora and Donald piloting. There were far fewer Heartless and Nobody ships to hinder them, but a sense of unease still permeated the ship, and little was said on the trip there.

Once they approached the world, nothing was said at all until the ship transported them down to the world's surface.

The Highwind was not off the mark. Before them stretched the remains of a long dirt path, now overgrown with weeds. At the end of the path stood the castle, seeming to grow out of the jagged cliff in all directions.

It had been many years since Riku had last seen it, but he could still see the differences. Some of the top towers had fallen off, and the stone walls were cracking under years of neglect. Most of the windows appeared smashed. The sight reminded Riku of Heartless, and he wondered if any were still left inside.

"I wonder how we came to this castle in the first place," Sora said with some solemnity.

"After we closed the door to Kingdom Hearts the first time, you three must've been sent to one of the worlds close to the realm of darkness...a world in twilight," Mickey explained. "And the Organization might've had a hand in bringing you here, too."

"Gawrsh, do you suppose anyone actually still lives here?" Goofy asked in a nervous voice.

Kairi responded, "I don't think so. This entire world feels empty."

When no one else moved, Riku began walking towards the entrance. "Come on. We didn't come all this way for nothing."

The others followed him up the path. But with each step Riku took, he felt something heavy tugging his heart down. He hated this place just as much as Sora did. But there was something else...something hunting him not just in his past, but in his future. The thought made him shiver, and he stopped once he got to the castle door.

Sora gave him a small nudge. "Let's go."

Riku swallowed hard. With the five behind him, he gripped the handles and opened the door.

TOCK

The door was before him, and the five behind him. He was ready.

"I have seen what lies beyond here, and it is everything we have ever wanted to know," Xehanort gritted between his teeth, as if trying to convince himself most of all. "If you look deep enough and long enough, you'll see it, too."

The air around them was cold and damp from the castle basements. Even the makeshift implantation of technology; wires and consoles strewn about to monitor their discovery, couldn't seem to warm the small space. And with his hands against the door, Xehanort felt it was the coldest of all, although he knew it lied.

And yet, even at this point of no return, there was hesitation in the ranks.

"Master Ansem would want to see," Dilan stated.

Xehanort's hands clenched. "He will. He'll see more than he ever wanted to see."

He removed his hands from the door's surface, and the worn wood faded into nothing. A sound like a toneless, pulsing rhythm echoed up into the chamber, reverberating up though their legs as if the earth itself had let out a deep breath. The heart of the world.

The other five apprentices couldn't help themselves. They stepped forward and looked into the abyss.

Something cold rushed out of the black all at once, knocking the six men off their feet. It felt like an ocean had flooded from beyond the door and drowned the room, throwing their senses in all directions and causing the consoles to short out. Xehanort was lost in the sensation, and couldn't hear the other apprentices' screams (Where am I? I can't see! I can't see!) The first plunge was always the hardest.

Then the flood subsided, leaving the chamber in a cold darkness never before experienced. But the darkness didn't hinder Xehanort's sight. He could see the others slowly get to their feet, wisps of darkness clinging to their clothes and hair like smoke or gossamer.

Braig spoke first, his voice full of astonishment. "I can see!"

Elaeus echoed him in a similar tone. "I can see everything..."

"Yes..." Xehanort encouraged them, his eyes gleaming. They will see as I see! They will do as I say!

"I want more," Ienzo begged, starting to slide back towards the still-open door.

"Slowly," Xehanort warned, blocking his path. "Too much too soon, and it'll swallow you whole. You've seen what can happen yourself."

"But we need to know," Even added. "It's right there, just waiting for us!"

Yes...it is waiting for you.

"But we can go no further in this state," Xehanort explained, almost coaxing in his apparent despair. "To see the greatest darkness, we'll need to strip off all useless things that are formed in light. Our cares, our fears, our bodies, our memories..."

"Mere intrusions," Dilan insisted.

"We don't need them."

"We don't want them."

It was working, just as he knew it would. Yes. Yes.

"We can do what no one else can."

"We'll succeed where Master Ansem failed."

It was like a mantra now, and Xehanort couldn't differentiate their voices anymore. Behind him, the black and open pit seemed to come alive: yellow eyes opened in twos, tens, dozens and dozens. The shadows scuttled out of the darkness with feeling antennae and grasping claws. Before, they had been careful to keep these things and their artificial counterparts in containers and behind bars. But now they crept all over the machinery that had once monitored them.

The others just watched as the shadows found them and descended upon them. They didn't struggle as claws sunk into their chests and pulled free hearts that had already lost their glow. They just smiled.

Xehanort's smile was the broadest of all. Just as I told them.

He swept away from the door and past his former cohorts, feeling rather than seeing their bodies begin to fade from existence. Some of the shadows followed him, as if hanging on his every thought. He knew that much larger shadows would follow him soon after.

Now the only one left to deal with was his old master.

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