Silver Linings

Chapter 23: "No More Waiting."

A/N: It took almost another whole month, but I've finally got the next chapter figured out! Word of advice: if you ever need to feel really, really INSPIRED,watch Gurren Lagann.

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Hollow Bastion: Borough...

Riku and Lambda tumbled through a Dark Corridor and landed on top of a pile of Heartless. Reacting quickly, Riku cut them apart to reveal a woman in a pink dress who had been seconds away from having her heart stolen. Riku helped her stand up and asked her, "You're...Aerith, right?"

Aerith straightened up to try and peer under Riku's hood, but the darkness under the hood was the same sort of Darkness that created his Black Coat in the first place. It ensured that the wearer's face was totally obscured as long as the hood was up. "Yes, I am. But who are you?"

Riku hesitated. "I'm...well, I'm not with Organization XIII."

"That's not what I asked you to...look out!" Aerith pointed behind Riku at another group of Heartless.

Lambda took action. "Summoning Lux Sanctus. IDEA Engine linked. Murakumo, activate. Terminating all targets." Now fully armored, Lambda unleashed a barrage of swords that destroyed all the Heartless with a satisfying poppity-pop-pop sound. "Well, at least I'm still strong enough to deal with those weaklings, even if I only have a tiny bit of Darkness to power Murakumo."

"Speaking of those weaklings," Riku added, "Those weren't the usual kinds of Heartless, were they?"

Aerith shook her head. "No. When Sora unlocked another World Gate, there was a flash of Light that destroyed all of those. But then these versions started showing up. Cid thinks they're coming from Ansem's computer."

"That would explain the glowing lines on them," Riku agreed. "So what's the plan for dealing with them?"

"Cid thinks he can create a program with everything we'd need to delete the MCP coordinating the attack, but normally we'd send Sora to deliver it, and he's not here."

"MCP...that rings a bell. But yeah, Sora is still headed for...where is he now, Lambda?"

"Scanning...found. He's in Olympus Colosseum. He seems to be taking the same path he took in the first sweep of the worlds, but why?"

"It's 'cuz the worlds closed all their gates all of a sudden!" Cid interjected.

Riku whipped around to face the inventor. "Geez, stop sneaking up behind me!"

Lambda noted, "Well, that explains why he didn't follow the clues we gave him. It's not that he didn't figure it out. But if this keeps up, the Heartless will overrun everything before he can get back to Twilight Town, where we opened a path to Organization XIII's hideout."

"Really, who are you two?" Aerith insisted.

Cid scoffed. "I'll do the introductions. That kid'll never work up the nerve on his own. But this is time I could be spending on writing that program, y'hear? She's Lambda, who popped up from some other universe or something.

"Another universe?" Aerith marveled.

Cid waved her off. "Eh, stranger things have happened. He's Riku. The same Riku who Sora's out to find. He got in a spot of trouble and now he looks like Ansem, so he thinks Sora will attack him on sight or something. So Riku and his girlfriend here have been going to a lot of trouble to help Sora without letting Sora know he's helping."

"Well, couldn't you just explain what happened, then show him? Why would you put it off longer?" Aerith wondered.

"That's what I asked him," Lambda replied. "It makes no sense to hide it, especially in these circumstances." She turned and flicked Riku's nose. "You know, dear, there's following your heart, and then there's being an idiot. It's time to stop running away - is Sora really that scary?"

Riku looked down at his feet. "All it took was one look and my bravado just shattered. I don't think I can do it."

Lambda thought for a moment, then replied with a teasing grin. "Well, there's something you told me about once that always works in situations like this. 'Giving up already? C'mon, Riku. I thought you were stronger than that!'"

"You...you're right." Riku straightened up. "It's time for a new plan. No more running away. No more waiting. Let's go to Sora!" With a confident thrust of his hand, Riku summoned a Dark Corridor, then swept Lambda up into a bridal carry and marched through, entirely unimpeded by the Realm of Darkness' attempts to hold him back or throw him off course.

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Olympus Colosseum: Coliseum (Ruined)...

Sora clasped his hands behind his head in satisfaction. Another world, another set of friends saved! "So, Phil, are we real heroes yet?"

"Let's see... You're not...tall enough, not...seasoned enough..."

The newly-reinvigorated Hercules clapped Phil on the back, accidentally sending the pint-sized satyr sprawling. "C'mon, Phil, even you have to admit they've earned it."

"Well, I don't see a picture of those rookies up in the stars, do you?"

Megara looked up and gasped. "Actually..."

Overhead, the sun had just set behind Mount Olympus, showing off a blaze of stars. And a bunch of them swirled around until they settled into a highly detailed connect-the-dots image of Sora, Donald, and Goofy! In case there was any doubt of the divine approval being communicated here, the whole image was briefly filled in with full color.

Phil's jaw dug another few inches underground as Sora, Donald, and Goofy jumped for joy and cheered.

...And then a Dark Corridor showed up, ruining the moment. Sora immediately summoned the Kingdom Key and got into a battle stance, but relaxed a bit when he saw the newcomer's arms were full.

"Riku! I haven't even dismissed Murakumo! I could've cut you!"

"Nah, I'm stronger than that."

Donald and Goofy, overhearing this, were gobstruck. Sora recovered a few seconds faster than them; just enough to yell, "RIKU?!"

"Yeah, it's me...well, sort of. There was this - OOMPH!" Riku was interrupted by Sora tackling him with a totally non-manly hug, complete with tears streaming down the younger boy's face.

Between sobs, Sora gulped out, "Riku, where were you?"

"Well...I was avoiding you. I didn't want to be found."

"But you did leave that box of clues for us, right?" Goofy wondered, having regained some composure.

Riku smirked. "I was worried you guys didn't even know those were clues, but it looks like there was a good reason for going this way first. Yeah, that was me...no, it was us. Sora, I'd like you to meet Lambda. Technically, her designation is Lambda-11...but artificial life-form or not, Lambda's my girlfriend. We met in the Realm of Darkness and we've been together ever since...and then we ended up, well, together-together."

"Well, congratulations, Riku!" Donald cheered.

"Nice to meetcha, Lambda! I'm Goofy! This is Donald, and I guess Riku must've told ya about Sora, right?"

Lambda nodded, "Yes, Riku and a few others told me everything I need to know about Sora."

Riku looked down awkwardly. "Speaking of Sora...are you going to cry into my coat all day?"

Sora continued to sob, but managed to get out, "I looked for you! I looked everywhere for you!"

"I told you...I didn't want to be found. Here's why." Riku removed his hood.

The shock of seeing Ansem's face, hearing Riku's voice coming from Ansem's mouth, actually stopped Sora from crying. "But...Ansem?"

"No, it's still me. I had to use the Power of Darkness to its fullest, and to do that, I had to take the form of Ansem, who gave all that Darkness to me."

"Can you change back?" Goofy wondered.

Riku sighed, "There's probably a way, but I don't know how. And until we sort out this mess with Organization XIII, I'm still going to need the Power of Darkness."

Sora yelped, "That's right! The Organization...they kidnapped Kairi!"

Riku nodded seriously. "I know. That's why I left you the box of clues; I couldn't wait for you to just end up in Twilight Town, not if Kairi's in danger. But now that I think about it, if I'm with you, we could just take a Corridor of Darkness right to the Organization's homeworld, rather than bother with the route we set up in Twilight Town."

"Then let's go!"

"I'd love to, but your friends in Hollow Bastion need your help again..." Riku relayed the problem to Sora.

"Oh no...Tron!"

Riku tilted his head; who was Tron? Well, at least Sora knew what was going on, then. "Don't worry. We'll make a quick stop in Hollow Bastion, fix that problem, then we'll storm The Castle That Never Was." Riku turned back toward the Dark Corridor, which had been open the whole time.

Donald yelled, "Wait! What about the Gummi Ship?!"

"Oh, yeah, I almost forgot! We can't just leave that here. Riku, you go on ahead. We'll catch up in the Gummi Ship!"

The local residents of Olympus Colosseum had been watching on the sidelines while Pegasus doggedly prevented any of them from interfering, but now the flying horse stood aside and allowed Meg to speak. "So, is the touching reunion over? Well, you go get 'em, tiger...s. A hero's work is never done and all that, right?"

"Right! Don't worry, we'll be safe! And we'll come back someday! I gotta defend my championship in the Games!"

Riku chuckled. "It's good to see you haven't changed much, waterworks aside. See you soon, Sora!" He and Lambda walked hand in hand through the Dark Corridor.

As the portal closed, Lambda's voice echoed, "Murakumo, deactivate. I almost forgot...!"

Sora, Donald, and Goofy gave one last cheeky grin to Hercules and their other friends, then teleported back to the Gummi Ship to set a direct course for Hollow Bastion.

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Hollow Bastion: Borough...

Riku looked left and right as he and Lambda exited the Dark Corridor, but he only saw a few techno-Heartless wandering about. "If this is like every other time, then this is the part where..."

"Well, how'd it - Gah, let me go!" Cid struggled to free his collar from Riku's iron grip.

"You won't get the jump on me this time, Cid. The plan worked, by the way. Sora's on his way here to help, and then I'll bring us to Organization XIII's stronghold. I guess we'll leave Sora's Gummi Ship with you."

"You can count on me for anything about Gummi Ships! But watch out, the Claymore Defense System I set up went out of...DODGE!" Cid shoved Riku into Merlin's house, leaving Lambda to backdash away from a sparking Claymore energy sphere that tried to target her.

She rushed into the house and slammed the door. "They got hacked by the MCP, I guess?"

Merlin griped from a seat at his workshop table, "It serves this fool right for essentially creating a robot army. Robot armies never work as intended and you know it."

The two old-timers firmly turned their backs on each other. "Ah, stuff it. I've got an MCP Eradication Program to complete."

"Well, work faster, then!"

"We'll defend the town until it's ready," Riku offered. "Do you think it'll be done before Sora gets-"

BAM! The door opened and slammed to admit Sora into the house behind the "Great Ninja" Yuffie.

"Guess not," Lambda noted.

"Don't worry, we'll handle it!" Sora asserted. "I'll go into the system again and get things straightened out with Tron. Can you send the program later?"

Cid nodded sharply. "Yep! Tell Tron to wait at the I/O Tower for the transfer. Now get going! Leon's holding down the fort at the computer room, but who knows how long that'll last!"

Riku shooed Sora out the door. "Go on, Sora. Your friends are waiting." Everyone present waved him off, including Donald and Goofy.

Lambda shoved the dog and duck outside, where they landed in a heap. "You're going, too!"

"Sora! Wait for us!" The Disney Castle duo charged off down the street.

Lambda shut the door. "Before we go, I want to ask how Namine's doing. We'll be heading to the World That Never Was soon...how do I know what it's called? Anyway, Kairi's being held there, so this is Namine's best chance to fuse back together."

Merlin chuckled. "She already left to do just that, my dear. You should thank her when you see her again; she's been using her power to keep the Organization's spies from discovering your work in Twilight Town, rewriting their reports and obscuring their memories."

Riku was a little worried for Namine's safety, but very impressed by her foresight and help. "Really? I'll be sure to thank her, then. In hindsight, Xigbar must have known about that. But is he listening in right now?"

Merlin chortled merrily. "Not if he knows what's good for him! He's run afoul of my traps several times now."

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Meanwhile, in The Castle That Never Was...

Xigbar ran and hunched over a sink, harshly scrubbing his good eye to remove the disgusting image of Sai'x giving Xemnas bedroom eyes and moving in for a tender kiss... "Argh, screw that wizard! Why would he even suggest that!? No way! As if!"

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Back with Riku...

Merlin cautioned, "You won't be able to return to The World That Never Was through a Dark Corridor. Xemnas has secured his fortress against you, although even I cannot discern the means he used. However, the portal you maintained will still work. After this fight, make haste to Twilight Town!"

Riku nodded. "Sure. But right now, we've got some Heartless to slay. C'mon, Lambda!"

"Affirmative. Switching to Battle Mode."

"...Oops."

"No big deal! I was going to do that anyway. Summoning Lux Sanctus."

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Defeat all of the Heartless!

After fully arming themselves, Riku and Lambda charged out Merlin's door and straight through a group of Strafers. The yellow-lined, computer-generated Heartless moved in highly predictable clockwise circles and only occasionally attacked with homing ring-shaped lasers, which could be blocked at any point on the circle to negate the projectile. The only problem was the Claymores, which forced the pair to stay on their toes.

Well, Lambda was always on her tiptoes inside her Battle Mode leg blades anyway...which might explain why Riku was the first one to be launched into the air by a Claymore. Far from becoming vulnerable to a follow-up attack, though, Riku recovered his balance in midair and used the extra height for a counterattack. "Dark Break!"

"Save some for me! Spike Chaser!" A line of swords poked out of the ground one by one, starting at Lambda's feet and ending underneath a large, purple Devastator. The Heartless survived the first hit, but it couldn't survive Lambda's favorite hovering, juggling Sword Summoner combo. She landed leg blades-first on a red-lined Magnum Roader, knocking it off its single wheel.

Riku cut through the hapless Heartless and five of its fellows with Zantetsuken - these foes were so weak that they popped before he could see if the instant-kill effect worked this time or not.

Soon there was a lull in the fighting. The Heartless seemed to be drawn toward the old castle; Sora must have had the MCP worried. Riku pointed in that direction. "Let's head off the Heartless at the castle!"

"I'll go with you," came a calm male voice from Merlin's doorway. "The name's Leon. I'm going to bring the completed MCP Eradication Program to the computer room. I'm no pushover, but I'd appreciate your help to get there." Leon waved a CD to make his point, while hoisting a decently-oversized sword with a gun for a hilt in his other leather-gloved hand. There was a keychain dangling off the handle of the gun, but it was just for decoration.

"Sure, Leon, I can do that," Riku agreed. "Let's go!"

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Reach Ansem's computer room while protecting Leon!

It turned out that Leon didn't need much protecting. Before moving on, the gunblade wielder channeled a massive amount of mana into his weapon and coated it with an aura of energy, more than doubling the length and power of the blade.

Riku groaned. "Aw, man, I thought my Bladecharge was original! Well, I guess I should practice it more." He glanced at Lambda, who gave him a gentle smile beneath her Battle Mode visor. Then he pumped his desire to protect that smile into Soul Eater, activating Bladecharge with less than half the delay from the first time. "Alright, Leon, let's get them!" The two warriors charged forward and carved a path through the throngs of data Heartless in their way.

Lambda tried to keep up with them, wondering aloud, "If I'm the living sword around here, then how come I'm the only one who can't make a huge energy sword to swing around?" She compensated by providing projectile support from the back lines. Giant lightsabers were cool and all, but Lambda always had the longest range with her own swords. Most of the Strafers and Magnum Roaders in the group's path didn't last long enough to be destroyed by the Bladecharge users. Before long, the three of them had carved through all the Heartless and reached Ansem's secret lab.

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Ansem's Study/Computer Room...

When the warriors arrived in Ansem's high-tech computer room, they were surprised to find that Aerith was the only one on guard. Leon asked her, "Wasn't Cloud here when I left?"

Aerith replied sadly, "He didn't say why he was leaving, but you know how he is."

Leon facepalmed. "Ugh. Well, the Eradication Program is complete. Now we've got to get the system to load it..." He walked up to the terminal and pressed a few keys, only to be greeted by a loud beep and a synthesized voice.

"You are not authorized to use this system. User control has been terminated indefinitely. This is your final warning." Leon banged the sides of the keyboard in frustration.

Aerith gracefully stepped over to the keyboard. "Leon, can I try?"

Leon shrugged and handed her the CD. "Well, I don't see how you could make things worse than this..."

"Here you go!" With a cheerful smile, Aerith daintily inserted the MPC Eradication Program CD into a slot that was obviously designed for CDs and let the disc slide into the drive. A whirring sound could be heard as it spun up to the proper speed.

"What?! User! What are you loading?" The MCP's unusually worried tone made Riku smirk from his spot on the sidelines.

"Don't talk with your mouth full!" Aerith chided the terminal. She turned to Leon and pumped her fist in celebration. "It worked!"

"If by 'worked' you mean it made me look stupid," Leon grumbled halfheartedly. "Well, it's all up to Sora now."

Riku spoke up. "Don't worry. He's got this."

Indeed, the terminal started reacting almost immediately. Pop-ups moved around the screens randomly, saying things like "ERROR MCP MUST RULE ALL" or "MCP ERADICATION 50% COMPLETE" or "FAILED TO DELETE EXECUTABLE 'TRON'." Finally, the screen turned blue and informed them that "A new OS is being installed to replace the MCP, which was deemed corrupted and has been permanently deleted. Please wait while the system backs up important data files..."

Riku was impressed. "Okay, I knew Sora worked fast, but this is ridiculous."

Lambda reminded him, "He's inside a computer. Of course he'll get his tasks done faster; the world in there probably moves in machine time."

Right on cue, a massive red device on the opposite wall of the room hummed to life, un-digitizing Sora, Donald, and Goofy in a spray of blue lights. Leon looked over and congratulated them, but Sora looked sad.

"We deleted the MCP, but Tron vanished."

"Hey, is this thing working? Can you hear me?" A new voice came from the terminal's speakers.

Sora ran over to the terminal. "Tron! Are you okay?"

"I'm better than just okay! I had to jump into the Core to get a new setup working. All the problems the MCP caused should be fixed now. I'm sorry if I made you worry."

Yuffie barged into the room. "Everything's calmed down in town! Great work, you guys!"

"The system should be fine now. It'll be what it was meant to be: a system designed to help you, the Users. And I've found a special program here; a hologram of the town as it looked when it was first built! Step outside and see!"

The terminal suddenly shone with way more Light than the various screens should have been able to produce. Yuffie immediately grabbed Aerith's arm, who grasped Leon's hand, who grabbed Riku's wrist, who caught Lambda around the waist, while Sora, Donald, and Goofy clung to her legs. All of them were dragged outside by Yuffie's boundless enthusiasm.

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Outside...

By the time the defenders of Hollow Bastion got themselves untangled from each other at the balcony of the Castle Postern, Tron had come through on his promise. Sora stared wide-eyed at what the town looked like before the Heartless came.

The half-rebuilt town was covered in a hologram of a massive, opulent city. The castle was connected to the city by a road leading north. Clean streets weaved through several open-air gardens on the west side of the city.

The east side of the city had nice-looking suburbs and a massive, multi-leveled display of fountains, fed by an extensive system of utilities such as a power plant and drainage system that ran beneath the whole city, though even the work areas were clean and pretty.

The whole city was ringed by a tall wall that didn't proclaim "Keep out" so much as "This place is worth protecting", and outside the wall was a huge garden of beautiful flowers in every color of the rainbow. The air seemed to shimmer, both with effect the hologram and the abundant Light that used to bless this place.

Leon murmured, "That's right..."

Yuffie yelped, "How could I have forgotten?!"

Far away, Merlin stormed outside and away from Cid, only to stop and gaze in wonder. "...I would like to ascertain when the town got such a drab name as 'Hollow Bastion'..."

Eventually, the hologram flickered and vanished.

Aerith turned to the pair and trio of world-travelers. "You know, this town had another name once."

Sora asked, "Really? What was it?"

With a faraway smile, Aerith replied, "Radiant Garden."

Leon grimaced, but a little less so than usual. "That's what the Restoration Committee wants to restore, and perhaps even surpass. I'm sure we'll all work harder than ever to make that vision a reality someday."

"Well, duh!" Yuffie was getting pumped. "I'll start by fixing up our membership cards with the town's real name! I'll be right back!" She poofed into smoke, then immediately poofed back. "I'm right back! Here, you guys! Welcome to the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee!" She passed out cards to Sora, Donald, and Goofy, and two more for Riku and Lambda. "Um, you are the Lambda Riku mentioned a while back, right? I just want to make sure I got the right card."

"Yes, that's me." To Riku, she giggled and added, "It's a good thing you didn't tell her my full name. I don't think it would have fit on this card. 'Hello, my name is Boundary Interface Prime...darn, ran out of space.'"

Riku laughed louder than he had in a while. With a teasing smirk, he asked, "Oh, so you can make fun of your name, but I can't?"

"Well, it's my name," Lambda pointed out

"Good point." Riku turned to address Leon. "Anyway, Sora and I have to go. Kairi's out there waiting for us, and we have to deal with Organization XIII."

A voice came on over Lambda's external speakers. "Don't worry about your Gummi Ship, Sora! It's in good hands!"

Lambda yelped, "Cid, did you hack into my communicator?!"

"It wasn't that hard; this Ars Magus stuff isn't too different from my Magitek. Don't worry, though; all I could do was learn the frequency to call you. Your security's a tough nut to crack, kid! Now go stick it to the Organization for us!" Cid disconnected with an audible crackling sound.

Riku nodded, realizing too late that Cid couldn't see or hear him. "Right. Merlin says we'll have to go through the portal we made in Twilight Town, so that's our next stop. Ready, Sora?" Riku formed a Dark Corridor.

"You know it!" Sora charged through ahead of the others, followed by Donald and Goofy.

Lambda gazed after them. "Will they end up in the right place?"

Riku groaned. "Ugh, that's just like Sora; always rushing in without thinking about the danger. Well, the Darkness has nothing on him. Let's not keep him waiting, then." Hand in hand, the pair set off into Twilight Town.

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A/N: Done! I'm still keeping up with a chapter per month!

I was asked by one of my reviewers whether any significant divergence from canon would take place soon. We have been pretty closely following the canon storyline so far, but how's this for you? Things will go further off the rails from here. Try as it might, the World can't make Lambda or those around her keep following Xehanort's script.