Chapter 4: Intense Situation

They had been walking for a while.

"You want to go home, huh?" Sora whispered, looking at Riku.

Riku shrugged. "Yeah," he replied. "Don't you?"

Sora shook his head. "Not like this. I've gotta fix the problem with my darkness first. Kairi can't see me like this." He stopped, letting out a small groan. After all he had said and done…

"I suppose that's true," Riku said, pulling him out of his thoughts. "But what do you plan on doing?"

Sora took a second to think about that. He had no idea what he was going to do. He just knew he had to figure out how to control his darkness. He had no idea how he was going to do that. "Umm…"

"You don't know, do you?" Riku asked.

"No…" Sora replied slowly. Riku raised his eyebrows, and Sora just shrugged, thinking about it more. Eventually, he came to the conclusion: "I need strength… and not the strength the darkness gave me. I need something stronger than that. I need to be stronger than that. And then the darkness can't overtake me."

"And where do you plan on finding this strength?"

Sora sighed. "I don't know…" he whispered.

Riku rolled his eyes. "Of course you don't," he muttered under his breath.

"Hey!" Sora said, glaring at Riku. Riku just laughed. Sora continued to glare. "Well, what do you suggest I do?"

"You're asking me?"

Sora nodded.

Riku shrugged. "I don't know!"

Of course… Sora thought bitterly. He frowned. No, I can't think that… It's not like I was expecting him to know. I'm getting mad at him over nothing. I—

Sora stopped suddenly, and Riku turned. "Sora?" he asked, worry creeping into his tone. Sora was on his knees, clutching his head in pain.

I'm not mad at Riku! Sora told himself frantically. I'm not—

The darkness was attacking him in waves, quickly attempting to get a hold of him while he was down. Sora was doing his best to fight it, but he was growing tired.

"Sora!" Riku shouted, watching in horror.

"I won't give in!" Sora cried desperately. "I won't fall to the darkness again. I won't- I won't…" His words slowly fell to a moan of pain, which then rose into a scream of terror. Riku clapped his hands over his ears.

Sora flashed into dark mode and back out of it, collapsing to the ground as he did so. He continued screaming and writhing in pain.

Riku continued watching in horror, hands firmly over his ears. He didn't know what to do. He couldn't just let Sora keep hurting like this….

But… what CAN I do?

The most sensible thing he could think of was to get Sora to Castle Oblivion. But… using a dark corridor probably wouldn't help Sora at all, right? Sora'd said so, and Riku knew they weren't the safest things to any non-Replica, but…

Speed's more important, Riku decided, going ahead and opening a dark corridor. He pulled Sora up, slinging one of Sora's arms around his shoulder, ready to drag him through. It wasn't easy. Sora kept screaming, which, hurt Riku's ears, and the writhing didn't help Riku keep a hold of him.

"C'mon," Riku hissed through clench teeth, dragging Sora through the dark corridor. "Just… hang in there."

Sora went silent, the moment he passed through the dark corridor. Riku cringed, suddenly regretting this idea. However, it was pointless to turn back now, they were already halfway there.

"Sorry," Riku muttered, dragging Sora the rest of the way through.

Unseen by either of them was a sliver of shadow that tore itself from Sora's body.

xxx

"Hey, neato, you found him!"

Riku turned. It had been Axel who had spoken. Axel was leaning against a nearby wall, grinning at him.

"Now what?" Axel asked. Despite the grin on his face, his tone was completely serious.

Riku frowned. He never talked to Axel often. There was always a Replica (usually Joseph, for some reason) who passed messages between them. He never understood why, but, whatever. It didn't matter to him.

"Why do you care?" Riku demanded. He didn't see why Sora would be of any interest to Axel.

"Just trying to help you, sheesh," Axel laughed, putting his hands up in a defensive position.

"Help me?" Riku scoffed.

Axel rolled his eyes. "Now that your friend Sora's around, the Organization will stop at nothing to turn him into a Heartless. And, from the looks of things, they may not have much trouble doing so."

Riku slowly scowled. "What are you talking about? Why would the Organization want to turn Sora into a Heartless?"

"Simple," Axel replied, taking a few steps away from the wall. "They get his Nobody."

"And why would they want that?" Riku asked, still not getting it.

Axel looked at Riku in disbelief. "Man, you're slow!" he said. Riku's scowl darkened. "It's your friend's Keyblade they're after," Axel explained. "Every Heartless slain with the Keyblade releases a captive heart. That's what the Organization really wants."

"What for?"

"I'm not telling!" Axel laughed. Riku glared. Of course.

"Then why did you tell me the rest of that?" he asked slowly.

"Look, just keep an eye on your friend," Axel said, walking past Riku. He opened a dark corridor, and started to step through, but then paused. "Oh, by the way," he called over his shoulder. "Saix finally realized what a stupid idea killing Roxas was. I wouldn't be surprised if he tries to get back into Castle Oblivion sometime soon. He'll need the Replica Program."

Riku nodded. That, at least, he understood. Axel, having said enough, left.

xxx

Sora slowly sat up, rubbing his head. His first thought was: Where am I…? He glanced around, not recognizing anything. All the walls were white, and, even the bed beneath him was.

His second thought was: How did I… get here…?

He couldn't remember.

Realizing that, Sora began to panic. He couldn't remember… anything. Well, that was a lie. He could remember fuzzy glimpses from his childhood, and as he thought about it more, things that had happened roughly four months ago, like time on the Islands with Kairi, Riku, and Namine. But, outside of that, there was a large portion of his memory that was just… blank.

He remembered being on the Islands, and then… something happened. Something that he felt absolutely terrible about. He remembered being scared… and hurting… and then… nothing.

"Would you like some ice cream?"

Sora turned, and found a boy sitting next to him, holding out a popsicle.

"I'm Joseph, by the way."

Sora nodded, and slowly took the ice cream. He didn't eat it though. "Where… am I?" he asked slowly.

"You're in Castle Oblivion," Joseph replied.

"And… how did I get here?"

Joseph laughed a bit. "Riku brought you, don't you remember?"

Sora shook his head. "I don't… remember… anything, really," he said. "I remember being on the Islands and then…" He shrugged. "Nothing."

Joseph frowned, taking a bite of his ice cream.

Sora slowly took a bite of his ice cream, too, and then frowned. "What is this?" he asked.

"Sea salt," Joseph replied with a grin.

"Huh…" Sora muttered, slowly proceeding to eat the rest.

xxx

"Riku!" 29 called.

Riku looked up from his conversation with Alpha. "Yeah?" he asked. They hadn't really been talking about anything interesting, just discussing possible things Saix might do to get into Castle Oblivion. Sure, it was probably important, but Riku didn't care that much.

"Well, Sora's awake…" 29 began.

"Great!" Riku said, but the look of worry on 29's face stopped his excitement. He swallowed. "What's… what's wrong?" he asked.

"Joseph informed me that Sora appears to have a case of amnesia," 29 explained, and now his face became a little more apologetic.

Alpha looked up at the mention that. "Really?" he asked. "How intriguing…"

Riku frowned, turning away. "So… he doesn't remember?" he muttered, mainly to himself. He turned back to 29. "Do you know how much he doesn't remember?"

"Not exactly," 29 replied. "Joseph only told me a little bit of what's going on, but he said that the last thing Sora says he remembers is being on the Islands. In Joseph's words, which are most likely a quotation of Sora, 'When everything was still happy'."

"That's…" Riku rubbed his head, trying to wrap his mind around it. "That's everything! How can he not remember all that?"

"Who knows," Alpha replied, with a wave of his hand. "I suppose we're done here, so, maybe you ought to talk to him. There's a chance 29 left something out, or that Joseph did."

"I told you everything Joseph told me," 29 said firmly. "But, it is definitely possible Joseph left something out. He is only 12."

"Right," Riku sighed. "I'll go talk to Sora, then."