Chapter 9: Memories of the Past

"You must hate me…" were the first words out of Sora's mouth when Riku walked into the room.

Riku paused, confused. "I don't hate you…?" he said slowly.

"Why!" Sora shouted, turning to Riku with tear streaked cheeks. "Why do you not hate me? How can you not hate me? After all I said to you! After all I did! You must be furious with me!"

Riku frowned. "Uh, do you want me to be mad at you?" he asked.

"No! I mean- I just- I don't understand! I've seen how angry you get! And I did a million things worse than what anyone else did to you, so how is it that you aren't mad at me?"

Riku stared at Sora for a second, truly confused now. And then he laughed.

"What are you talking about?" he asked, running a hand through his hair. "'Things worse than what anyone else did to me'—ha!" He laughed again, at the absurdity of it all. "Sure, you beat me up, and you said some mean things to me, but, Sora. D'you think the Organization was nice to me, in the other universe? D'you think I didn't hear worse insults from Real Thing? And I'm sure—" He fumbled a second, not wanting to say her name, not wanting to drag up the memories. "I know I got beat up plenty worse in the other universe, too. So, really, Sora…"

Sora stared back at him, jaw dangling open.

"I- Oh," he said. "I- I guess I never thought about it?" He looked Riku up and down with a look between sheepishness and… concern?

Great. Now Riku wished he hadn't said anything. It was his own fault, but if Sora started pressing about his past, Riku swore—

"So… you're not mad…?" Sora asked.

Riku sighed, a bit in relief, a bit in exasperation. "No," he said simply.

A comfortable grin slowly spread across Sora's face, and he quickly wiped away his tears. "That's good, then," he said. "Um… I'm still sorry about all the things I said though…"

"It's fine," Riku answered.

"And I'm sorry for kicking your butt, too," Sora continued.

"It's fine," Riku repeated.

It was in the past, and Sora's darkness was largely to blame and, again: Even if it had kind of sucked at the time, Riku had a lot of other things to worry about now. And in hindsight, was positive he'd been through worse. (He also seemed to have more of his memories than he had three months ago, more memories of Castle Oblivion, but… that was another story.)

Sora lowered his head, clenching a fist in front of his heart.

"We should… probably do something about my darkness, huh?" he whispered.

Riku shrugged. "If that's what you want."

"Got any ideas?" Sora asked, looking up at him hopefully.

Riku shrugged again. "Nope. But I'm happy to help you figure things out, if you want."

Sora looked first relieved, then guilty. He lowered his head again.

"Sorry I'm uh… keeping you from going home."

Riku rolled his eyes. "It's not you—I'm stuck here until this stupid Rebellion is over, anyway."

Now Sora looked up at him in shock.

"Wh- Don't you miss home, though?"

"Well, yeah," Riku answered, hugging his arms over his chest. "I miss Namine, and I miss Kairi, and… Everything about the Islands I guess. But like I said, I'm stuck here until the Rebellion's over." Then he thought about that a little more. "I mean… it probably wouldn't hurt, though, to at least drop by home, and let them know we're okay?"

Sora shook his head.

"No, no. I mean—I miss home too, but." He grimaced. "I just… I don't wanna go back with my darkness still like this."

"That's fair," Riku said.

"And, besides—Kairi probably hates me," Sora muttered, turning away.

Riku jolted, taken aback. "She does not," he said.

"You don't know what I did to her, Riku. The things I said…"

Riku admitted he didn't, but… It can't have been that bad, right? But then again, Sora had said some pretty awful things to him when the darkness was messing with him, and just because he didn't mind didn't mean Kairi wouldn't. (And maybe it had hurt Kairi more, since she and Sora were closer, had known each other for longer…)

Still.

"Sora," Riku began, but didn't get a chance.

A Vexen Replica poked his head in the room, demanding Riku's immediate attention regarding a problem of some sort.

Riku sighed. "This will only take a minute," he told Sora. "And then we can—" but he doubted they'd get anywhere about Kairi, and he wasn't sure what to say either. So instead he went with: "We can start brainstorming ideas about your darkness, I guess."

The sooner they got that done, the sooner Sora, at least, could go home.

xxx

"Are the preparations complete?"

Vexen Replica Number 37 didn't bother turning around. It wasn't hard to tell that it was Saix who had spoken, for two reasons. One; Saix had that dull monotone voice that was easy to distinguish from the rest of the Replicas that 37 worked with daily. Two; it was impossible to use a dark corridor to access this room, and he and Saix were the only two people with a key.

"No," 37 replied as calmly as he could. Normally, he wouldn't have minded. However, it had been only twenty minutes since Saix had given him this task, which would usually take at least an hour. "I've told you before, it is much harder to edit the Program from any computer but the main one. And the main one is still in Castle Oblivion."

"Let me know immediately when they are," Saix said, leaving.

"Of course I will, sir," 37 muttered. He typically wasn't bothered by Saix, which is why he had remained on this side of the Rebellion. The side where, technically, everyone should be, but they had all decided that working under Saix was a major issue and they rebelled. Well, not everyone, but quite a few people.

The Rebellion aside, Saix was being rather annoying about this specific assignment.

I guess I can't blame him for wanting to make Deactivating Replicas easier… 37 thought, typing a few things in on the keyboard. After the fiasco with Roxas…

Then again, it wasn't like Deactivating Roxas would have been any better than killing him, with the Program in the state it was now. They wouldn't have been able to Reactivate him. He would have just been dead weight.

37 considered calling Saix back in to tell him this, but then decided against it. Saix probably wouldn't care—being able to Deactivate Replicas with a snap of his fingers would save him the trouble of having to attack them, after all. 37 hoped there'd be no more senseless killing, of course, but… It wasn't his business, or his problem. He was in no danger of Saix killing him, since he was one of the few remaining Vexens who knew how to work the full Program (and the only one willing to do it for Saix), and really, that was all that mattered.

37 paused a moment in his typing, drumming his fingers against the keyboard aimlessly as he mulled over some of the other things he had to worry about.

Or, that Saix had to worry about, but needed 37 to take care of.

We still have to find a replacement for Roxas, he mused, sighing. And I have no idea where we're going to. It's not like we can just rebuild him—or even build a new Replica, with a Keyblade. We can't build any Replicas without the Main Computer, and that's in Castle Oblivion…

At least the Rebellion can't do anything with it, even though they have it. I've locked them out of the Program, and Saix and I are the only ones who know the password.

Now if only we could get our hands on the Main Computer, again…

37 sighed. That was a task for another day, though. Right now, he had to finish this one.