Now, one with Roxas. Who is probably going to show up in quite a few of these, because, seriously? Somebody, please, just talk to the poor boy.

Resurface

"I'm going to set Kingdom Hearts free!" Roxas yelled. "Then everything can go back to the way it was!" His head lowered, voice tight with pain. "Me, and Axel, and..." He stuttered, and his voice was even more quiet when he went on. "...and her can go on having ice cream together..."

Riku looked at the Keyblade in his hand, still able to faintly see the outline of a girl with black hair. "Her? You mean Xion?" He kept his tone level, almost conversational, not willing to let Roxas see how hard it was to recall. He had a lot of practice getting things back from the edge of his memory, after all. "It's a struggle just to remember the name now, isn't it?"

And he understood, oh, how he understood how much it hurt to lose someone so important. To forget them. It had been almost a year since Sora had gone to sleep. A year Riku had been fighting to remember his best friend's face, his name, whenever he was away from DiZ and Naminé too long. And whenever he was with them, trying not to think about how still Sora was, how much it was like when Kairi had lost her heart. So he knew very well how quickly pain turned to desperation, willingness to do anything to get them back.

And if Roxas was destroyed, Sora would never wake up. Riku lowered the black Keyblade to his side, subtly shifting his weight to be ready for an attack. "Either way, I can't let you go doing anything crazy."

Roxas lifted his head. "I have to find this Sora person, and freeing Kingdom Hearts is the only way!" His voice was rising again, almost hiding the pleading quality that had snuck in. "I want Xion back. I want my life back!"

Riku shook his head, wondering how Roxas had gotten that idea. "If you try and make contact with Kingdom Hearts, the last thing you'll get is your life back." He turned his head slightly, enough to see the heart-shaped moon without letting Roxas out of his sight.

Unbidden, the words tumbled out. "But if you want to meet Sora, I can take you."

"...What?" The word was barely a whisper, Roxas frozen where he stood.

Because as desperate as Riku was to have his friend back, for Sora to finally move and wear one of those stupid grins, he found he didn't want to force Roxas. Especially not since Roxas acted... like he had a heart. Even with DiZ's repeated claims that Nobodies were empty shells that didn't have hearts and thus couldn't feel anything, somehow Riku wouldn't be surprised if his friend had the one Nobody that did. They had already broken most of the rules just by being able to coexist. If Roxas hadn't been found by the Organization, if he and Sora had actually...

"I'm giving you a choice," Riku said. Which had backfired horribly with Xion, but... Riku didn't think he could face Sora if he had to physically drag Roxas back. "You want to find Sora? Fine. If it means you don't get yourself destroyed by the Organization, I'll take you to him."

"But... Kingdom Hearts..." The hood turned, looking up at that strange moon. "I have to free Kingdom Hearts... I promised..."

Riku grimaced. "We can do that later. After you give Sora his memories back."

"No!" Roxas shook his head, slashing the Keyblade in a motion that was more frustration than threat. "I have to do it now! Before I forg–!" He choked off the word.

"Before you forget?" Riku finished, keeping his voice calm and face blank.

"Shut up!"

And Riku did. Roxas was struggling with something. And maybe, if Riku let him reason it out, this wouldn't have to end as badly as he'd feared.

"I need... I need to find Sora. She said she was going back to Sora." Roxas shook his head. "I promised her I'd free Kingdom Hearts. I have to do that while I –" He stuttered again. "I still remember. Once I do that, I can go find Sora. Then I'll find her, too."

Riku, please, you have to stop him! I didn't mean for this!

Riku glanced at the Keyblade in his hand, feeling the faint humming resonance that echoed Xion's voice. Masking his surprise, he looked back at Roxas, who hadn't seemed to notice Riku's lapse. "Trust me, finding Sora is much easier than taking on the Organization. Don't try to pretend that's not what this would really be. So..." Riku held up Xion's Keyblade, offering the handle to Roxas. "Come with me."

Roxas hesitated. "We... can eat ice cream together again?" he asked, whisper trembling with hope.

And Riku found he couldn't lie. "I can't promise you it'll work out that way." At this point, even Naminé wasn't sure Roxas would survive giving Sora's memories back. Xion... who could say? "But I do know if you try to free Kingdom Hearts now, you'll just be throwing yourself away. Then there's no chance at all."

Roxas stayed frozen a minute longer, then started walking over. Riku forced himself to relax, to let his guard down and not seem like a threat. The Nobody stopped arms' length away, close enough now that Riku could faintly see his face, so much like Sora's. Different, too, though; Sora had never looked like that, with so much doubt, hope, and confusion all warring on his face. "I won't forget?"

"You might," Riku admitted.

"That's not good enough!" The Nobody's face twisted as anger took over.

"Maybe not," Riku said, still holding onto his calm. "But I can only give you a chance."

Roxas frowned, clearly not happy with that answer. "Xemnas won't get Kingdom Hearts?"

"No," Riku said firmly. "That I can promise."

Mouth pressed to a tight line, Roxas reached out with one hand, laying it over Riku's to wrap around the Keyblade. "Okay. Take me to Sora."