Chapter 5: What Happened?

"Hey, Sora!" Riku called, entering the room. "It's good to see you awake! How are you feeling?"

"Like I'm missing something really important," Sora replied bitterly.

Riku bit his lip, resisting the urge to say something along the lines of 'no duh!' He figured that Sora would just get mad at him for that. And, he didn't want to make Sora mad. Whether Sora remembered or not, his darkness was still around. And Riku knew that Sora's darkness was probably still looking for anything to give it the upper hand. Making Sora mad would just tempt that risk.

Sora sighed. "Other than that, I'm fine!" he laughed.

Riku let out a small sigh of relief, smiling slightly at that. "That's good," he said. "I mean, besides the not remembering and all."

Sora laughed, and then turned to Riku. He paused, eyes slowly forming a glare. Anger bubbled up inside of him. He quickly shook his head, pushing that way.

Why am I angry? he wondered. Did something… happen?

"Riku…" he asked slowly. "What happened? What am I missing?"

Riku grimaced. How could he explain that? "I-I don't think I can tell you," he said quietly.

"Why not!" Sora asked sharply.

"If I told you- you'd," Riku paused, trying to find the right words. He couldn't just tell Sora that he'd freak out. Sora would probably get angry about that. He was still trying to avoid making Sora mad at all cost.

"I'd what?" Sora asked. Riku swallowed, noting the anger in Sora's voice.

Riku sighed. "Remember forever ago, when I was remembering things?"

Sora frowned. Riku was referring to the time shortly after his arrival on the Islands, when he had spent weeks painfully remembering his past. "Yeah…?" he replied slowly, almost scared to hear what Riku would say next.

"I'm not putting you through that," Riku muttered.

"What if my memory works different than yours?" Sora asked.

Riku paused, thinking about that. Considering he was a Replica and Sora was just… normal, their memory could work differently. However…

"I'm not risking it," he told Sora firmly.

Not risking what? Sora wondered. He knew that the remembering process for Riku had been painful because the things he had to remember were painful. If Riku was worried that it would be the same for him…

Then, what happened? How… painful was it?

"Master Riku?" a Vexen Replica asked from the doorway.

Riku frowned. "Yeah?" he asked, turning to the Replica.

Sora watched with curiosity. He still hadn't been able to catch the difference between all the Vexen Replicas, and honestly didn't hope to. He knew, however, that they were basically in charge of Castle Oblivion. It was one of the things Joseph explained when Sora further inquired as to where they were.

He wasn't quite sure what the Vexen Replica and Riku were talking about, but whatever it was, it seemed urgent. He watched as they argued for a second, in hushed voices, wondering what was going on. After a minute, the Vexen Replica nodded and walked off. Riku sighed, and then turned back to Sora, rubbing his head.

"Hey, I've got to go take care of something," Riku said, not sounding like he wanted to at all.

"Alright," Sora said.

"I'll… see you around," Riku muttered, quickly leaving the room to go deal with whatever needed to be dealt with.

Sora sighed once Riku was gone.

"How long will it take to remember?" he wondered aloud. The more he thought about it, the less he felt like actually wanted to remember.

"I've got to remember," he told himself. "Whatever happened was… was huge. There's no way I can just stay clueless."

xxx

"How long do you think the amnesia will last?" Riku asked the Vexen Replica who had been sent to fetch him.

"Sir, please, there are more important things at hand," the Vexen Replica said.

"Alpha can wait a minute," Riku muttered.

The Vexen Replica sighed. "Maybe a couple weeks. It might be possible that we could trigger the remembering process sooner. I couldn't imagine what would trigger it though."

I could, Riku thought to himself, but didn't say anything.

Zexion Alpha caught up to them at that point. "We could always tempt the darkness in him," he suggested. "I'm certain that would trigger something."

Riku quickly shook his head. "We're not trying that. I don't want to be responsible if he falls into darkness again."

Zexion Alpha nodded. "I understand. It is possible that his darkness could be causing the lack of memory in the first place, so tempting it wouldn't be a good idea. We must keep an eye out on his darkness though anyways. It could cause him to remember only what it wants him to-"

"Making him an easier target if it tries to take control," the Vexen Replica said. "The best approach is, it seems, not to meddle and let him remember at his own pace."

"But could we keep his darkness from meddling?" Riku asked, suddenly a bit worried.

"We could try, sir," the Vexen Replica said. "I can take charge of that myself, if you wish."

Riku paused. "What number are you?" he asked.

"I am number 2, sir," the Vexen Replica replied. Riku raised his eyebrows. It wasn't often he heard a number that small. The Vexen Replicas with lower numbers were the ones least loyal to Saix due to their extreme loyalty to the original Vexen. However, quite a few had come to hate Riku for destroying their Master and had either just gone rogue, or joined Saix's side out of spite.

"Thank you," Riku said.

Number 2 nodded, and then was off.

"Come," Zexion Alpha said. "I need to show you something."

Riku rolled his eyes. He knew that. What he was going to be shown, however, he didn't know. Zexion Alpha refused to talk about it until they were out of earshot of ANY possible eavesdroppers. Finally, when he was satisfied that no one could possibly be listening, Zexion Alpha began to talk.

"Remember the other day, when you inquired about the Deactivation process?" Alpha asked.

"Yeah," Riku replied slowly. So that was what this was about. "Quick question though; why did you wait to start talking until you made sure no one was listening?"

Alpha turned to look at him, seeming a bit surprised. After a moment he sighed. "Most of the Replicas would rather avoid mentioning this subject whenever possible."

Riku swallowed. He had learned by now, that if a subject wasn't mentioned, there was always good reason. He knew that the Deactivation process was unpleasant, but he didn't know it was unpleasant enough to avoid mentioning. "Why?" he asked, voice quiet.

"You'll find out soon enough," Alpha said, walking a bit faster.