Riku slowly got to his feet, eyes fixed on the door in front of him. Sora regained his breath and rolled over onto his stomach, before also standing. He came to stand beside Riku, holding his stomach gingerly.
"Is that…" he said quietly.
"Yeah." Riku breathed, and stepped back.
The hallway was long and thin, and had thirteen doors lining it.
I. II. III. IV.V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. X. XI. XII. XIII.
"Okay, this is weird." Sora stated, and then paused. "Hey, look at that."
He pointed to the door marked XI. It was slightly open, and hanging slightly off its hinges. Stepping over to the door, Sora and Riku exchanged glances. The brunette took a deep breath, and pulled it wide open. Inside it wasn't a room, it was a crystal mould, much alike to the ones that held the seven princesses of Heart at Hollow Bastion three years ago.
This one was empty.
"Thirteen doors." Sora said, blue eyes wide.
"To hold thirteen people." Riku replied, and they both suddenly felt very cold.
--
"Where are you going?" Riku asked as Sora started running down the length of the hallway, eyes scanning along the numbers on the doors. The Keybearer didn't answer, and then stopped at the end of the hallway. Chasing after him, Riku realised he had come to the door marked XIII again.
A determined line set on his face, Sora lunged forward and pulled the door open. Riku's aqua eyes widened as they both found themselves face to face with another crystal mould. This one wasn't empty.
Sora gasped as a red light shot out of his body, and straight into the sleeping Roxas's chest.
--
"This is bad, what if it was number Eleven was the one who broke into the Library?" Aerith questioned, following Leon's quick strides across the Grand Crest.
"He might know-"
"No."
Leon shook his head, activating one of the lifts. "If it was him,
we would know."
"But Leon, we have to be more careful-"
"Hey! Wait for me!" Yuffie cried, running up to them. "You guys are mean! You left me all alone to clean up that mess-"
"Did you find him?" Leon cut her off, frowning with irritation as the lift came to the edge of the platform.
"Well, no…" Yuffie sighed, and Aerith patted her back sympathetically.
"He's
been gone for too long," Leon murmured. "Something's definitely
wrong."
The ninja rolled her eyes and punched him softly in the
arm. "Well, duh. Thankyou Captain Obvious."
They stepped onto
the lift and he leant against the rail, thinking quietly.
"Has Cloud contacted us yet?" he asked Aerith. She shook her head softly.
"He only just got to the Island last time he sent us a message. I don't know if he's found Sora yet, though."
Yuffie grumbled something under her breath and hung her head back.
"This stinks," she scowled, and held her stomach, looking queasily over the edge of the lift. "And I don't feel well."
"You never feel well on these lifts." Aerith chided, and Yuffie was about to snap a reply when Leon cut them off.
"Look!"
Turning, the girls stared towards where he was pointing.
"I don't see anything." Yuffie mumbled, squinting. As the lift reached the platform, Leon shot off first, running along to the rail and kneeling down.
"Look." He beckoned them forward and Yuffie shrugged at Aerith, joining him at the rail.
"It's bent, see?" Leon tapped the pole for emphasis, and Aerith gasped.
"Something must have hit it!"
"Something heading straight over the edge." Yuffie noted, and the three peered over the rail into the mist.
Leon smirked triumphantly and stood, heading down the Great Crest to activate another lift.
"Down we go." He said, and Aerith followed. Yuffie groaned and trailed after them onto the lift.
"I hate you guys." She whined, squeezing her eyes shut as the lift lurched and then descended at an increasing speed.
Leon just rolled his eyes.
--
"Damn it, Sora! Wake up!" Riku shook the brunette's shoulders roughly. After the light had entered the supposedly asleep Roxas-clone, Sora had blinked, shuddered, and then fallen unconscious. Riku glared around him, looking for something to wake the other teen up. There was a splintering sound, and when Riku looked up he could see the Roxas clone falling out of his crystal mould, the jewels breaking and snapping around him so that they couldn't support his weight anymore.
His limp body hit the ground beside Sora's, and Riku resisted the urge to roll his eyes.
"Oh come on! What am I meant to do? I can't carry both of you back to the castle!" He shook Sora's shoulders once more. "SORA! Wake up!"
"Need some help?"
Riku turned sharply, aqua eyes fixing on the three figures stepping off the lift that hovered just above the waters skin. The brunette male who spoke smirked, and Riku felt himself smirking back.
--
"Ugh."
Sora opened his eyes, wondering where the hell he was. Sitting up, he saw Riku leaning back against the edge of the four-poster bed, watching him patiently with a bunch of papers in his hand.
"Took your time." He muttered, seemingly irritated by something.
"Yeah… where am I? Wait! What about Roxas? That was him wasn't it?" Sora shot out of the bed, got his legs tangled in the sheets, and face planted into the floor. This seemed to brighten Riku's mood, and he was grinning as he helped Sora to his feet.
"Slow down, I was planning to do all the hurting!"
"What?"
Riku rolled his eyes, and dropped the papers he was holding onto a nearby table. "You were stupid enough to collapse on me, idiot. I think I have the right to hurt you for being so reckless."
Sora
scowled at him and planted his hands on his hips. "That makes no
sense, Riku."
"I'd hate to break up this little lovers tiff
of yours, but blondie's awake."
Sora quickly turned to see Yuffie leaning against the doorway with a grin on her face.
"Yuffie!"
"Lovers tiff?" Riku mumbled under his breath.
Sora ran over to her and they hugged.
"Blondie? You mean Roxas?" Sora asked, and Yuffie nodded.
"So it really was him." Riku said softly, and shoved Sora's shoulder softly to make him step out of the room.
"Let's go visit him, maybe he can tell us what the hell is going on."
Yuffie led them to the room down the hall and Aerith greeted them at the doorway, holding a bowl of warm water and a towel in her hands.
"He has a monster of a headache." She explained, sidling past them and disappearing down the hall. Sora entered quietly, looking towards the bed where he could see Roxas sitting with his back facing them, looking out through the stain glass window. The cut glass shone different colours over his face as he turned to look at them, a stoic expression on his face.
"Sora." He said, as the brunette approached.
"Roxas? Is it really you?"
Roxas glanced from Sora to Riku, and then nodded. "Yes. Sort of."
Riku
frowned. "Sort of?"
Yuffie shrugged. "He can't remember
everything."
The bed sunk a few inches as Sora dropped onto it besides Roxas.
"What do you remember?" he asked, blue eyes meeting blue.
"I remember you, and Riku. I remember Namine and the Keyblade and the King." He paused and looked away. "I remember the organization, but no names. Only glimpses of faces…"
"Oh." Sora looked away as well, casting a glance at Riku who was leaning against the bedpost, frowning.
"How… how are you here?"
Roxas looked up at the question. "I don't know. Maybe I'm not really here at all…" he sighed and flopped backwards onto the bed. "Maybe we've all gone mad."
Riku turned and left the room.