Chapter 10--Looking In A Mirror

A/N: Sorry for the delay again, but my muse kinda abandoned me for a while there and I just couldn't get anything done! Now, I'm gonna admit right from the off that I don't like how this chapter turned out, but I don't really want to change it becuase I have future scenes in mind that kind of require this chapter to stay the way it is. Also, I've started re-rewriting my previous fics so that they're more consistent with this one as well as future fics. I've already finished the first chapter, and I'm going to be merging all of the previous fics into one called "Hikari." When I get that up, I want you to take that fic as the "official," because it'll make more sense that way with future fics I'll be writing. Mizu's changed a lot, physically, mentally, and just about any other way you can possibly think of. And I've finally made some decisions about her past that are at odds with some things I've written before, but I'm not gonna say what they are, and in any case, some of them won't be revealed in "Hikari." I am writing an FF7 fic showing Mizu as Cloud and the others knew her nine years ago, but this is written assuming that Kingdom Hearts is somehow consistent with all the other Final Fantasies, and I know that's a big assumption to make and incredibly difficult to prove, but I kind of need to make that assumption, or a lot of my work in making these fics will just completely fall apart and wind up as a total waste of time as I'm trying to get the fics consistent with the games and -:sighs:- yeah. Anyway, since I'm doing like 20 projects at a time here, you know there's going to be delays in this one, I apologize for that, and I'll do my best to be more consistent. And so you're warned, I might have a job soon, so that's gonna cut down on my time as well, and that'll mean even more delays, and I'm sorry about that, too, but I want to actually be able to buy Christmas presents for people this year instead of jaming up even more of my time with drawing/artsy projects for them. I know that sounds like a stupid excuse, but I also really need to save up for college, moving out, getting a car, and the rest of the "leaving the nest" shit. So, sorry for any further delays, I'm doing my best here, and thank you for understanding, I really appreciate it! Huggles to all of you!

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"What the," Riku exclaimed, somehow catching the "hell" he severely wanted to add on the end of it. He stared at the apparitions, face blank in amazement, eyes slightly widened. "What are you supposed to be?" he managed to get out without using any of Mizu's foul language.

"Yeah, really," Mizu echoed, hands on her hips. She had joined up with him just a few moments ago when he'd left Traverse Town, and she wasn't at all amused by the sight that greated them now.

"Surprised?" one of the others sneered. "I guess you would be."

The other two stepped closer, giving Mizu and Riku a clear view of them. The others looked exactly like Mizu and Riku, only there was one significant difference: Mizu's copy was very obviously a guy.

"I bet it's not every day you meet your twins," Riku's other said with a cocky smirk that was a perfect duplicate of Riku's own.

"Oh, lordy, you have got to be bloody kidding me," Mizu groaned, staring into the sea-green eyes of her other. "Is this some kinda sick joke?"

"Too shocked to speak?" Riku's clone said to him. "This should come as a relief, then: I'm a replica of you that Vexen made."

"What," Riku mocked, returning the smirk and crossing his arms arrogantly, "you mean a fake me?"

"I didn't mean 'fake,'" his clone shot back, apparently with the same quick temper that Riku had. Mizu gave her copy a look that said, "So you have to deal with this too, huh?" and earned a shrug from the other. She sighed and shook her head as Riku's clone continued with his ego-rant. "Just because you're real doesn't mean you're better! We share the same body and the same talents."

"It's the same for you and me, Mizu," the other replica said. "Only with some minor adjustments."

Mizu and her clone said "Obviously" at the exact same time, in the exact same tone, with the exact same rolling of their eyes and amused smirk. Riku and his clone shot them a look that said "Knock it off," causing them to stiffle laughter behind their hands in identical movements. Riku and his clone rolled their eyes, and returned to scowling at each other.

"There is one easy way to tell us apart, though," Riku's clone continued as if nothing had happened.

"Aside from the obvious," Mizu's clone muttered under his breath, causing Mizu to either choke back a laugh or get Riku mad at her, but she wound up doing something in between, jamming a fist down her throat and choking on her smothered giggles. Riku's clone plowed on as though there hadn't been an interruption.

"Know what that is? Unlike you, I'm not afraid of anything."

"Are you calling me a coward?" Riku snapped, hands clenching into fists. Mizu quickly grabbed him by the arm to stop him from pouncing on the clone and pounding him into a bloody pulp, all traces of mirth gone in a lightning-quick change of mood.

"You are a coward," the clone retorted, seeing that Mizu wasn't about to let go any time soon. "You're afraid of the dark! The darkness inside scares you witless."

"Look," Riku snapped, still struggling against Mizu's grip, "I-- "

"Calm down!" Mizu snapped, running right over his words.

"But I'm different," Riku's clone continued. "I embrace the darkness. I can make it do whatever I want." The clone did that uncanny echoe of Riku's cocky grin again, glaring right into Riku's eyes. "In other words... I can wipe the floor with you!"

"I'd like to see you try," Mizu spat, then yelped and let Riku go as her clone's fist smashed into her face. "You fight dirty too, huh?" she asked, dancing back a few paces and wiping her blood from her split lip. She licked it off of her hand as a feral grin crossed her face, and she dropped into an offencive crouch. "This is gonna be so much fun..."

Riku jumped back as his clone swung at him with a sword identical to the Soul Eater, and watched as it swished harmlessly over Mizu's head. His eyes locked back onto his opponent, and he barely caught Mizu lunging at her clone like a striking cat as he brought out his Soul Eater to parry another attack.

Mizu's not-so-significant other twisted out of her way at the last minute, drawing out his knives and aiming a slice at her exposed side. She somehow managed to writhe away from it in mid-air, having anticipated that exact move, and pulled a small kunai out of somewhere, throwing it expertly at her copycat. He caught it deftly, and she took the brief moment of his distraction to swipe his feet out from under him and dance out of range, narrowly avoiding an answering swipe as he went down.

Riku knocked back his fake with a kick to the gut, and aimed a slice at the other's head, only to have it blocked by the replica Soul Eater. He jumped up just in time to avoid the clone's attempt to knock his feet out from under him, and snapped another kick into his face. It connected, the clone's nose breaking audibly and blood spurting all over the place, sending him reeling back onto his heels.

Mizu pulled out Matataku, her favorite blade that was somewhere between a long knife and a short sword, and aimed a horizontal slice at almost point-blank range at her clone's eyes. He leaned back out of the way and aimed a stab with his Kirameku - a slightly shorter knife with a curved blade - at her bandaged stomach, aiming for a spot that he must have known was tender and vulnerable. Mizu lurched back out of the way, flinging a small shuriken at him in the process.

Riku blocked and parried, trying to anticipate the other's moves, only to realise that they were his moves. He gritted his teeth, growling low in his throat in frustration, then did something he would never have considered if he had been fighting anyone else. He dodged the next few blows, closing in on his clone, and slammed into the other with his shoulder, knocking the breath from not-Riku's lungs and laying him out flat on his back.

Mizu ducked under a slice from her other and head-butted him hard in the gut, driving the breath from his lungs. But her clone doubled over, regained his breath with a speed that amazed her, and punched her hard in the sore spot under the bandages. The spot the Cure materia could never completely mend...

Mizu had a hard time catching her own breath as her gut was now throbbing painfully in time with her pulse, and earned a fist in her nose for her efforts. She staggered back, certain her nose was broken again, and fumbled to find her Cure materia to fix it before she wound up flat on her own back. She needn't have worried - when Riku's replica was prone, he dove right in to help her, catching the other in the back of the head with the hilt of Soul Eater.

"Are you okay?" he asked, laying a gentle hand on her shoulder. She nodded, then cast a level 2 Cure spell on herself, hoping that the wound in her stomach would close more this time and wincing as her nose mended itself, then wiped blood from her face with the back of her hand.

"I am now," she said, sliding Matataku back into it's sheath. Riku patted her shoulder absently, turning to grin maliciously at his clone, who had rolled over onto his stomach and begun climbing to his feet.

"Hey, fake," Riku taunted. "I thought you were gonna wipe the floor with me."

"Go on, laugh," the clone snarled back, now on his knees. "I'm still new. I'll get stronger and stronger, just you wait. It won't be long before I surpass you. Next time we fight, you're finished!"

"Sorry," Riku spat, readying the Soul Eater, "you had your chance. I'm finishing you first, right here!"

Riku lunged at his clone, but the other, Mizu's clone, jumped in and knocked him back with a wave of dark energy that melded with a similar blast from Riku's clone. Not-Mizu helped him to his feet, but the clone managed to stand under his own power, and laugh scornfully as Mizu ran to Riku's side, checking to make sure he was all right.

"It's nice to have darkness on my side," the clone laughed, walking slowly towards Mizu and Riku. "How could you be so scared of something so thrilling! You're missing out."

"Shut up!" Riku and Mizu snapped at the same time, but the clone only laughed more.

"So now the coward is playing tough guy. That's cute. See you next time, Real Thing. Try not to miss me."

Riku's clone wrapped his arm around Mizu's clone's waist, and they turned, retreating down the hall. Mizu's clone threw a lewd and very suggestive wink over his shoulder at them, then wrapped his arm around the waist of Riku's clone, laying his head on the other's shoulder as they walked away.

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A/N: Can you get point-blank range with knives? O.O