AN/ well, you can thank my sister for this chapter. she was the one that insisted i write it, and plotted the entire thing out for me (well, except the beginning and some of the end. All of Namine's... memory-ness was my idea)

Chapter 13: Spooks and Sweets

Namine was flipping through the pictures in her sketchbook, growing more and more curious by the second. Half of these she didn't remember actually drawing, and the rest barely made sense. Even the ones that made sense she didn't understand. Those ones, they were pictures of Riku, in different Worlds. She would draw them randomly throughout the day, and each time, as she drew the picture, she got the feeling that she was drawing exactly what Riku was seeing. Which was really odd...

She paused at one picture, looking at it. It was one of the ones she couldn't remember drawing. It was her and Riku, but Riku looked different. His eyes were more angry, his face almost gaunt. She herself was also different. The look on her face was… sad… or, guilty, she dared to think.

What confused her, among other things, was why she had drawn herself this way. She didn't remember this. And, usually, most pictures she had drawn of her and Riku they were both smiling. Riku was smiling in this picture, though it almost looked strained. Almost though.

She was brought out of her confusion when she heard the unmistakable sound of a Dark Corridor opening. Riku was back. She smiled softly to herself and put her sketchbook down before heading outside.

xxx

Riku returned to Traverse Town after searching through three different worlds and finding absolutely nothing. He would have continued onto the next world without stopping, but he had run out of potions.

So, after stocking up on potions, he was about ready to leave again when-

"Leaving already?"

Namine stood behind him. He smiled slightly. "Yeah," he replied.

"Oh… well… I was wondering…" Namine said slowly. "Would it be okay if I… came with you?"

"What?" Riku asked, a bit taken aback by the question.

"Please! Just this once!" she pleaded.

"N-no! It's too dangerous," he told her. She stood there a second, thinking hard. After a moment of pondering she said sweetly:

"I won't be in danger if you're there to protect me."

Riku was speechless for quite some time. He didn't know what to say in response to that. Finally, he asked: "You-" he paused, having to clear his throat. He tried again: "You trust me that much?"

Namine nodded. "Of course I do!"

He slowly smiled, the thought warmed his heart. Namine smiled back at him.

"Alright," he said. "I guess you can tag along."

xxx

The world they arrived at was rather… different. It was dark, and for lack of better word, spooky. It was the dead of night, only light coming from the full moon that hung above them. It was Halloween Town.

"We stand out…" Namine said after a moment, looking at their surroundings. They were both wearing bright clothing, and so standing out in a dark world such as this wasn't hard. Riku shifted into Dark Mode. Namine looked at him with a dejected scowl. "I stand out…" she said.

Riku chuckled. "You'll be fine," he told her.

"Hello?" someone asked (said someone's name was Sally, but, as usual, they didn't know that.) "Who are you? I haven't seen you before…"

Riku was about to say something, when Namine spoke up:

"We're not really from around here…" she said slowly. "Do you think you could help us blend in a tad?"

Riku stared at her, suddenly regretting letting her tag along. Sally was very nice, however, and agreed to lend them a hand, almost instantly setting to work on putting something together for Namine to wear. Riku bit his tongue and went along with it, as he couldn't stop it now.

"My name is Sally," Sally said. "What are your names?"

"I'm Namine!"

"Riku" he muttered, not quite sure exactly how he felt about the entire situation. Half of him wanted to just get out of here, and continue searching for Sora. But, the other half of him, the STRONGER half of him, was content with staying here with Namine. If this was what she wanted to do… he just couldn't bring himself to say no.

"What brings you to Halloween Town?" Sally asked, sewing something together.

"We're looking for someone," Riku said, leaning up against a nearby wall. "Have you seen anyone new around here?"

Sally shook her head. "No one but you and the Heartless."

"The Heartless? When did they show up?"

"Not long ago now."

Riku scowled, not liking the idea of Heartless at all. They had been in most of the worlds he had visited, sure, but there were some where the Heartless hadn't reached yet. He glanced over at Namine, who was sitting patiently waiting for Sally to finish. If the Heartless were here, that meant Namine would be in danger. What am I worried about? he thought, taking a deep breath to calm himself. The heartless are no big deal. I can handle them. Can't let my guard down just because Namine's here…

Namine and Sally were talking about something. What, exactly, Riku didn't know, as he had stopped paying attention. I wonder where Sora is… he thought. The idiot, I don't get what his problem is. I wish I could understand him sometimes. He let out a breath. Dangit Sora! Where are you?

He was pulled out of his thoughts quickly. "Finished!" Sally had announced, and now she and Namine were staring at him.

"What?" he asked, clueless. After a second it hit him. "Oh! I'll… go wait over there…" he turned and walked a couple yards away, and then sat down with his back facing them. He picked up a stick and began doodling in the dirt as he waited for Namine to change.

"You can look now," Namine called after a couple minutes.

"Finally," Riku muttered, standing up and turning around. Whatever annoyance that had bubbled up inside of him fell to the floor when he saw her. At first, he was shocked, as he had seen Namine wearing only one thing in his entire life. But then he slowly smiled as he got used to the change, and started liking it.

Her dress was plain, grey, and simple like her old dress, falling to about her knees. A tattered black witch's hat sat upon her head, and she now wore a pair of black boots. Small, pure white angel wings were attached to her back. "What do you think?" she asked, shuffling her feet nervously. "Is it okay?"

"You look wonderful" he said.

"Thank you," she smiled, blushing and glancing down at her toes.

A brief moment of silence passed.

"You two said you were looking for someone, right?" Sally asked.

They both nodded.

"Maybe you should ask Jack. He might know who you're looking for."

xxx

Sally led them to the town square. "Shh," Sally whispered as they entered. "They're rehearsing for this year's Halloween."

Riku and Namine exchanged glances, but remained silent and watched. Riku would glance over at Namine from time to time, still trying to get used to her change of clothes. It was different, but in a good way, and she looked nice.

"And now," the mayor announced. "Allow me to introduce the Master of Terror, King of Nightmares, Jack Skellington!"

Jack rose dramatically out of the well in the center of the square and then struck a pose. Namine looked at Riku, wondering what the heck was going on. He shrugged, a sort of "just go with it" gesture. He had learned to stop questioning the worlds he went to.

"Jack, that was wonderful!" Sally said, heading over.

"Why thank you, Sally," Jack said, jumping down off the well. He noticed Riku and Namine. "Ah! And who do we have here?"

"I'm Riku."

"Namine."

"Nice to meet you!"

"They said they were looking for someone," Sally explained. Riku and Namine both nodded in agreement.

"Yeah," Riku said. "He's got spiky brown hair, and wields a key-shaped blade. Have you seen him?"

"Now that you mention it…" Jack said slowly, scratching his head. "I think I have seen someone like that somewhere…"

"Where?" Riku asked, just as Namine asked: "When?"

Jack stood silent, thinking hard. "Yes!" he exclaimed after a moment. "I remember now! He showed up about the same time the Heartless did."

Both Riku's and Namine's eyes got wide. Riku looked angry, while Namine seemed more shocked. "I should have known," Riku muttered angrily. "Sora's siding with the Heartless. I knew something was up!"

Namine bit her lip, quite worried. Sora… what are you doing?

"Is this Sora a friend of yours?" Jack asked. Namine quickly nodded before Riku could say anything.

"Well, I'm sure it can't be that bad," Jack told them with a laugh.

That's what you think… Namine thought to herself. "Is Sora still here?" she asked aloud.

"Hmm," Jack scratched his head again, thinking. "I think I remember him leaving. He couldn't find whatever he was looking for, it seemed, and left in a hurry."

"Which means Kairi isn't here either…" Riku sighed. "We should probably head off then. No need to-" he paused, noticing a bunch of Heartless appear off to the side. "Nevermind," he muttered, drawing his blade. Everyone turned to see what he was looking at.

"Stay back!" Jack called, shooting a ball of fire at one Heartless, getting rid of it.

Riku jumped into battle.

"Stupid heartless," he muttered, hacking through a few Search Ghosts. He shot a Dark Firaga or two and then continued killing them with combos. Jack was of some help, killing off plenty of heartless with his magic.

"Stupid Sora," Riku muttered, slashing a few more heartless. "Why is it that I have to go around and clean up your messes? All I want, is to-"

"Riku!"

He turned on the spot. "Namine!" he gasped. He glared up at Oogie Boogie, who had a hold of her. "Let her go!" he shouted.

Oogie Boogie laughed manically. "Come and make me!" he taunted, before leaving, Namine in tow.

Riku's fists clenched as anger boiled up inside of him.

"Come on!" Jack said. "I know where we can find him!"

xxx

"Let go of me!" Namine screamed for what felt like the hundredth time, trying to pull herself out of Oogie Boogie's grasp. She finally managed, and ended up falling flat on her face. Her head immediately started hurting.

"You're more trouble than you're worth" Oogie said. "Maleficent better be rewarding me big time for this one. Finding one of her princesses and all."

Princess? Namine thought, slowly pushing herself into a sitting position. What in the worlds is he talking about?

And as soon as she thought it, Riku (who had just entered the scene) asked the same exact thing. Except, he was demanding to know the answer from Oogie, instead of just wondering like she was. Oogie, however, gave no straight reply.

Namine tuned out by this point. It wasn't that she didn't want to listen to the conversation; something else had simply grabbed her attention. Her nose, which hurt like heck, was bleeding. She tried to wipe some of the blood away, though it didn't quite help. She quickly checked her forehead, which also hurt like heck, but was thankful to find that it wasn't bleeding.

She looked up, watching the intense battle for a second. Riku had, not surprisingly, started a fight, and was currently beating the crap out of Oogie Boogie. She sighed, again wiping her bloody nose. He was fighting. Because of her.

A small pang of guilt shot through her, accompanied with a sense of déjà vu. Something like this had happened before. Where someone she cared about had been fighting for her. Fighting when they didn't have to be. She looked up at the battle, and for a second saw Riku fighting someone else, and anger shot through her at that unknown person. The anger died down quickly though.

She rubbed her head, as subtle flashes of something close to memory rushed before her eyes. She winced, as she watched an odd, twisted battle take place. Well, that what she was seeing in her mind's eye.

The battle between Oogie and Riku ended, as did the warped memory in her head. However, there were still a couple other flashes of memory there. She continued rubbing her head, hoping they would stop.

"You okay?" Riku asked, kneeling down next to her.

At that, the memories stopped. But the pain didn't.

"My head…" she mumbled, looking up at him. His eyes widened at the sight of her nose and he bit his lip.

"Here," he said, handing her a potion. "Drink this."

"Better?" he asked when she was done. She nodded.

The pain was definitely gone. Namine wiped the blood away from her nose, actually managing to get it all this time. Riku reached out and squeezed her hand.

"You okay?" he asked again.

"I'm fine," she laughed. He smiled.

"Sora's obviously not here," Riku sighed. "We should head back to Traverse Town. Get some rest."

Namine nodded, allowing Riku to help her to her feet. She thought about mentioning the odd, twisted memories she had seen, but then thought against it. She didn't need to worry Riku anymore than she already had.