Chapter 15: The First Letter

Sora and Riku were making their way to the main room of Castle Oblivion. Riku's face had been bandaged, and re-bandaged, because he kept picking at the bandages. He was picking at them now.

"Riku," Sora said, sending him a glare.

Riku flinched a bit, and pulled his hand away from his face. "Sorry."

A Vexen Replica walked past them. Riku frowned slightly at him.

"Something up?" Sora asked.

Riku scowled at the Vexen's back. "Yeah. He was… limping… um." Riku muttered something foul under his breath, then threw the door open to the main room. "TRAITOR!" he shouted.

Everyone looked up at that moment, each glancing around to find this traitor. Riku cleared his throat loudly and pointed in the direction of the Vexen Replica he was referring to. Most, but not all, of the Replicas jumped to their feet. A few pulled out their weapons.

Joseph came from nowhere and jumped onto the traitor's shoulders, effectively catching him off balance. Joseph began laughing maniacally.

"He has way too much fun…" Sora muttered.

Riku shrugged in response to that. He waited for a moment, until the traitor managed to throw Joseph off.

"That's my cue," he mused, drawing his blade. He rushed forward, pinning the traitor to the wall. "Did Saix send you?" he asked threateningly.

"Nice to see you, Riku," the traitor Vexen Replica sneered.

"Likewise, 14," Riku replied. "Now what are you doing here?"

Vexen Replica number 14 remained silent.

"You should kill him!" Joseph shouted. "He's got a lot of guts to be showing his face here again after what he did! Oh forget killing him! Can I take a whack at him?" He had pulled out his wooden sword by this point. "Please? I want to— hey!"

29, who had made his way over to the commotion, had yanked Joseph back.

"You aren't killing anyone," he said plainly, and then turned to Riku. "14 said anything yet?"

"He's being silent, as usual," Riku replied. "Should I kill him?"

"Please don't!" 14 cried, terror clearly evident in his voice. "Saix didn't send me!"

Riku raised his eyebrows. "Then who did?"

"It was- the Organization—" 14 gasped.

"There's a difference?" Sora asked, a bit surprised, but was ignored.

"And why did they send you?" Riku asked.

14 laughed nervously. "I was supposed to gather data on Sora," he said.

"What!" Sora gasped. "Why!"

14 shook his head, going back to remaining silent, and Riku sighed.

"We're not going to get any more out of him. Should I let him go?"

29 shrugged. "It's up to you," he muttered, dragging Joseph off.

"You should kill him!" Joseph cried. "Kill that filthy traitor! Kill— ow!" His cries were silenced by 29 flicking him in the ear. "That hurt!" he whined. He was probably exaggerating.

"If you would like," one of the Marluxia Replicas said, approaching Riku. "I'll take care of him."

Riku shrugged. "Sure," he muttered, shoving 14 over to the Marluxia Replica. The Marluxia Replica quickly escorted him off.

"Why would he be collecting data on me?" Sora demanded, turning to Riku.

Riku shook his head. "I have no idea. I don't understand what the Organization's doing half the time. If I can, I'll ask Axel next time I see him, alright?"

"Whatever," Sora muttered. "But what was that about? What did he do?"

"Pretended to join us, and then nearly handed the Program over to Saix," Riku replied. "We barely managed to stop him."

"Is this something to do with the Rebellion?" Sora asked. "I haven't been seeing much of that while I'm here…"

"I know…" Riku muttered. "Saix has been quiet lately. A bit… too quiet…"

xxx

They were sitting on the Paopu tree in complete silence as they watched the sun set. Or, the sun was setting, anyway. They may not have actually been watching it set. Namine was completely focused in a picture she was drawing, while Kairi seemed lost in her own thoughts.

"Hey, Namine?" Kairi said, breaking the silence between them.

"Hmm?" Namine asked, looking up from her picture.

"Are you worried about Riku?"

Namine paused for a second. "Well… no…" she replied after a moment. "He can take care of himself, you know."

"Fair!" Kairi laughed. Her bright mood vanished near instantly. "I'm… I'm worried about Sora," she said. "I hope he's alright, but, there's no way of knowing, huh? Just hoping." She laughed. It was only a little bitter.

"Maybe you could write him a letter," Namine suggested.

Kairi laughed again, a little less bitterly this time. "You really think it would do any good? Would- would it even reach him? I dunno where to send it!"

"Toss it in the ocean. Late fate take it to him!"

Kairi rolled her eyes. "Namine, that seriously isn't going to work."

"But, it might," Namine argued, grinning. "Look, here." She tore a blank page out of her sketchbook, and handed the paper to Kairi, along with a pencil she wasn't currently using. "Go on! It can't hurt to try."

Kairi sighed. "I guess not," she agreed, snatching both paper and pencil from Namine.

xxx

Sora,

I don't even know what I want to say, but, Namine suggested I write you a letter, so here I am. Writing a letter. I honestly don't even know if it'll reach you, but, I sure hope it does. Somehow. Magically. Who knows.

Anyway, I'll keep it short and simple.

I miss you. A lot. I don't know where you are, but I wish you'd come home already, and, I hope you're okay. You BETTER be okay, Sora!

If you can write back, that'd be great. But, honestly Sora, I'd rather see you come home. Got it?

Just come home.

- Kairi

xxx

He sat on the shore of a place known as the Dark Margin. This place, the Realm of Darkness, was the only place he could currently take physical form completely. In any other World, he was stuck to the simple form of a shadow. It sucked.

It didn't matter, though. Soon enough he'd be strong enough to form himself fully out in other Worlds. Soon enough he wouldn't have time to sit around and slack off anymore.

"Better enjoy it while it lasts," he laughed to himself. Then the waves brought something up to hit his foot. He looked to see what it was.

It was a bottle, complete with a message. He grinned.

"Well, it's probably not for me," he said, to no one, as he plucked the bottle out of the ocean. "But frankly, who gives a damn?" He uncorked the bottle and shook the message out.

His eyebrows shot up as he read over it.

"To Sora, eh?" He laughed, louder now, and the sound echoed through this empty place. "Maybe I was wrong."

He read over the letter again, a little more carefully this time.

"Kairi…" he muttered to himself, testing out the sounds of her name. "Kairi, Kairi, Kairi… I know the name. I do! Just… where from?" He rubbed at his eyes, mind churning as he tried to dredge up the memory from inside him. Hard to do with a memory that wasn't entirely his to begin with, but… Aha!

He grinned triumphantly. "That's right! She's Sora's best friend, and his strongest tie to the light. O-ho, this is about to get real interesting…"

He slowly crumpled the letter up into a ball and tossed it back out to sea, where it was destroyed by the waves.