Chapter 21: Whispers of Darkness

Namine found herself in Castle Oblivion. "Of all places…" she muttered, and then gasped, a wave of pain hitting her hard. Images flickered through her mind. These walls. More than that…

Faces, yelling, pain, confusion. But pain, mostly pain. Axel, she thought she saw. Larxene. Vexen. Sora? Pain. Darkness. Fear. It was impossible to make it all out—worse than any other memory meltdown she'd had before. Everything blurred together, the images the voices the feelings.

She thought she was going to be sick.

"Namine!" someone called, sounding rather surprised.

Somehow, that voice managed to cut through the memories for a split second. Namine opened her eyes, seeing a boy about twelve kneeling next to her.

"Who-?" she managed to ask, but nothing more. The memories were rising up again.

"Sorry, I'm Joseph!" the boy laughed, and then frowned. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"Y-yeah," Namine said, struggling to fight the memories off.

For some reason, she wanted to talk to this boy.

He didn't seem to believe her insistence that she was fine, but he didn't say anything.

"How- how did you know my name?" Namine asked. The words were a bit uneven as they came out, but they came out surprisingly well considering the fact she had a ton of painful memories pounding against her skull. Still, she was managing to push them aside.

"Riku talks about you a lot," Joseph replied. "Especially recently. I think he misses you a lot. Me and Sora were considering shoving him through a dark corridor back home, or… your home. Not my home. This is my home. Anyways, I'm sure he'll be happy to see you! He should be back soon."

Namine smiled slightly.

"Riku is here…" she muttered.

It was impossible for her to hold back the memories any longer, and she just collapsed.

xxx

Present time

Riku stepped out of the dark corridor and glanced around. He was in Castle Oblivion. Everything seemed to be alright. He frowned. Even his head was beginning to clear.

Was all of that… just nothing?

I could have sworn something was wrong.

"Riku!" Joseph shouted, running up to him and grabbing him by the arm. "C'mon you need to see this! C'mon, c'mon, c'mon!" Joseph tried to drag him, but Riku stayed firmly put.

"Joseph, I don't have time for this," Riku said with a groan. "I need to figure something out."

"No! You really want to see this Riku!" Joseph insisted. "This is really exciting!"

"What is it?" Riku asked.

"It's a surprise!" Joseph laughed.

Riku groaned. "Fine, whatever," he muttered, allowing Joseph to drag him off.

The sooner he saw whatever it was Joseph wanted him to see the sooner he could figure out what was going on.

"C'mon Riku!" Joseph said, as he continued to drag him through the seemingly endless halls of Castle Oblivion. "You should be more excited than that! Though… maybe not…" Joseph slowed down slightly. "29 said she'd be alright, but I'm not quite sure. And I'm really sorry! I mean, it's not my fault, but I still feel bad. She just collapsed, I didn't-"

"Who did?" Riku asked, stopping in his tracks. "Who are you talking about?"

Joseph burst out into a grin, as if he had a great secret.

"Joseph, this isn't funny," Riku said sternly. "Tell me what's going on!"

Joseph dragged him about another two feet and then paused. "Go on," he laughed, gesturing at the door they were standing in front of.

Riku frowned at Joseph, and then opened the door. Joseph practically shoved him through after that, apparently really excited.

Riku started to say something about that, but instantly paused.

In the room was nothing more than a single bed.

And in that bed was Namine.

She was sound asleep.

But she was here.

A smile slowly spread across Riku's face.

"I told you that you wanted to see this!" Joseph laughed.

"Yeah…" Riku muttered, too happy to be annoyed anymore.

"So… umm… is she going to be okay?" Joseph asked, sounding nervous.

"What?" Riku said, pulling himself back to reality. "Oh, yeah. She'll be fine. I mean, what happened before she collapsed?"

"I was talking to her," Joseph replied. "She seemed a bit out of it though… and in pain. But she insisted she was fine."

"Of course she did," Riku laughed. "Yeah. She'll be fine. She might not wake up for a while, but she'll be fine."

"Okay!" Joseph said, sounding much happier. "Do you want me to leave you alone?" He sounded as if he was teasing as he said this, but Riku didn't notice.

"If you want to," he shrugged.

"I think I will," Joseph muttered, heading out. "Oh! But before I go, do you want me to get you anything?"

"Actually… yeah," Riku said. "Can I have a chair?"

"Sure thing!" Joseph laughed, running off.

xxx

"Yeah sure," Sora muttered. "Just leave me with a giant Heartless, I don't mind one bit, no, not at all."

Thankfully, the Trickmaster hadn't been hard to kill. It had actually been a bit easier after Riku left, but only because he didn't have to focus for the both of them (and he wasn't about to tell Riku that). He fished the star shard out of his pocket and sent himself back to Castle Oblivion.

A Vexen Replica was standing in front of him when he arrived.

"Hello again, kind sir," the Vexen Replica said. "Would you like some tea?"

Sora frowned at the randomness of that question. "Umm… no thanks…" he muttered.

"Alright then," the Vexen Replica shrugged, and then walked off.

"Sora!" Joseph called, running over. "Was 6 bothering you?"

Sora shook his head. "Has Riku left yet?" he asked.

"I don't think we could get him to leave now if we tried," Joseph laughed.

Sora paused in shock. "What do you mean?" he asked, sounding a bit frantic. "Did something happen?"

Joseph just continued to laugh. "Namine showed up," he replied. "I think Saix tried to kidnap her. Well, it probably wasn't Saix. He doesn't do any dirty work unless he has to. He probably sent a Replica after her or something." He shrugged. "Anyways, Namine ended up here, and then she collapsed… Riku hasn't left her side since."

"Oh," Sora said. That was a better outcome. "Wait, she collapsed!?"

Joseph nodded, and then shrugged. He looked just as worried, and a lot confused. "Yeah, I don't really know? 29 said she'd be okay, though, and Riku acted like the best thing to do was let her sleep it off."

"Well, I'm glad she'll be okay," Sora said, feeling relieved.

He thought about asking Joseph where she was—because it'd be nice to talk to her—but then he thought better of it. There was no sense in going when she wasn't even awake. And… maybe it'd be best to let her and Riku have some time alone?

He could talk to her later.

"Anyway!" Joseph said. "I'm gonna go. I think 19 offered to get me ice cream? It's kind of unlike him, though, so I'm gonna go double check. Oh—you wanna come? Or I guess me 'n you can just go alone, if 19 doesn't wanna…"

"I'll pass," Sora said. "Thanks anyway, though."

"Well, sure! Least I can do is offer." Joseph gave him a wide grin and a salute, then ran off.

Sora stayed where he was, pondering some things.

It was… good, that Namine was here. Maybe less good that Kairi was all alone on the Islands, though.

Then you go back and see her, he thought to himself, annoyed. Before, just as annoyed, following up with: No, I can't, because my darkness…

He sighed. His darkness. What was he going to do about that?

Going from world to world smashing Heartless didn't really seem like it was doing any good. Maybe he needed to try something else? And… maybe he needed to try it alone…

It wasn't that he didn't appreciate Riku's help, it was just—

"Hey, behind you!"

Sora jumped, startled out of his thoughts. Then he tensed. It was that shadow again. He recognized the voice.

If I ignore him, he'll go away, Sora thought to himself. I'm NOT looking!

"What, too scared?" the shadow laughed.

At that, Sora turned around, growling.

About twenty feet away him stood a dark figure, pitch black—the shadow! Sora couldn't make out any distinct details, or a face. He knew the shadow was grinning at him, though. It was like he could feel the amusement as if it were his own.

The shadow burst out laughing.

And all though it was twenty feet away, Sora could hear the laughter as if they were only two feet apart.

Sora's eyes narrowed into a glare.

"Catch me if you can!" the shadow taunted, before turning around and taking off at a dead run.

Without thinking, Sora took off after him.

The shadow was fast. Freakishly fast. Sora could hardly keep up with him. He ran through the halls of Castle Oblivion, turning so frequently that Sora was starting to believe that he had no idea where he was going.

The shadow was only playing with him.

Soon enough, Sora was out of breath. He paused a second, and the shadow paused in front of him, laughing maniacally. He only waited a second for Sora, then started running again.

"Get back here, you!" Sora shouted, starting to follow.

Someone grabbed onto his arm, holding him back. Sora turned to see who it was.

It was Joseph.

"Uhh, Sora?" Joseph squinted at him. "There's… no one there."

Sora turned.

The shadow was gone.

"Dangit…" Sora muttered.

"Are… are you okay?" Joseph asked. He looked really worried.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Sora told him. He tried to sound like he actually meant it.

Either Joseph bought it, or he decided not to press. "If you say so," he said. "You… sure you don't wanna go get ice cream?"

Sora shook his head. "No, I don't." He wanted some time to sort out his thoughts, and spending time with Joseph would be immensely counter-productive to that.

"Drat," Joseph muttered. "19 didn't wanna go after all, so…" He sighed dramatically, but otherwise headed off, leaving Sora be.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Sora turned back around to study the way that shadow had run off to. "Just who the heck is he, anyway?" he wondered aloud.

That's another reason maybe I need to do this on my own, Sora thought. I want to figure out who that shadow is.

And, if I'm the only one who can see him, the only one who can hear him, and the only person that knows he exists… It'd be kinda awkward to drag Riku along with me.

So… Maybe I SHOULD just go it alone from here on out…

He wanted to talk to Namine first, though. And he'd have to let Riku know, too, about the change of plans.

But the more he considered it, the better the idea seemed to sound.