Chapter 42: Thoughts of You

"You'll want to go through that door," Joseph said, pointing.

He, Riku, the Lexaeus Replica, 19, Alpha, and Marluxia Replica Amaryllis were gathered around a map of the World that Never Was that Alpha had found somewhere. Namine had gone to hang out in her room, not interested in sitting in on a boring meeting. Riku couldn't blame her.

"I thought you weren't supposed to be here…" Amaryllis muttered, glancing at Joseph.

"29 said I could help with planning!" Joseph replied. "Even if I'm not allowed to go…" He sounded very distraught about this, but then a devilish grin grew on his face. "Well, not yet, anyways," he added.

No offense Joseph, but I really don't want you coming no matter what… Riku thought with a sigh. You'd probably be in the way. Even though you seem to know so much about this…

Why did Axel have to tell HIM everything?

"Why that door?" Riku asked.

"Well, because that one," Joseph pointed at a different door. "Is booby trapped. Though I suppose you could use this one," he pointed at another door. "It's a bit more direct, but you have to sing a song to get through it. No one will be expecting you if you do go that way, though."

Riku groaned slightly. This was more complicated than he had expected it to be. And if it was more complicated, that meant it was going to take longer.

Which means I'll be away from Namine longer… he thought. And then shook his head, slightly surprised by that thought.

What am I thinking? It's not THAT bad. It's not like I'm going to die if I'm away from her for over an hour. I'm not some lovesick puppy.

Though I bet Joseph would like to argue about that…

He pulled himself out of his thoughts and quickly returned to the conversation. The Lexaeus Replica was going over battle strategies at the moment. They hoped to avoid fighting if at all possible, but they still needed to have a plan if such fighting was necessary.

"We'll be able to take a few of Saix's ranks," the Lexaeus Replica said. "Though if possible, we must avoid fighting. We do not need the Organization to know we are there."

"Why not?" Riku asked, feeling a bit embarrassed.

"Well, it would be one thing if Saix had his own headquarters and we were infiltrating that," Alpha explained. "But this is the Organization's Headquarters we're infiltrating. We aren't trying to pick a fight with the Organization, we're just trying to pick a fight with Saix."

Riku nodded, slowly understanding it.

The Organization was powerful. Handling just Saix was one thing. But dealing with the entire Organization? That would be hard. The Organization was ruthless. Well, so was Saix, but the odds of actually running into him were slim.

"Anyways…" Amaryllis muttered. "Continue with the plan."

"All that's left until we reach Saix's computer room is a few doors and this staircase," the Lexaeus Replica said, pointing.

Joseph shook his head. "You want to take that staircase!" he said, pointing at a different one. "The other one is used by everyone over there. The Organization and the Replicas both. I mean, a few of you might to be able to walk by unnoticed, as long as someone who isn't particularly good with faces runs into you. But there's no way Riku could get through there unnoticed."

"That reminds me, don't they have security cameras over there?" 19 asked. "Won't we be noticed anyways?"

Amaryllis rolled his eyes and pulled up his hood, effectively hiding his face.

"Oh, right…" 19 muttered.

"Not really," Riku said. "I don't have an Organization cloak."

"We will just have to fix that problem, then!" Joseph laughed.

"You don't have an Organization cloak," Riku replied, glancing over at him.

"Well, I don't need one," Joseph said simply. "Everyone knows me! Besides, I'm not coming with you, so it doesn't matter."

Riku frowned.

"We'll get you a cloak later," Alpha said. "I'm sure there are a few spares lying around."

"In the meantime, can we go over the plan again?" 19 asked. "I think I missed a few portions of it…"

The Lexaeus Replica just shrugged and proceeded to go over the plan again.

Riku groaned.

xxx

I wonder how much longer Riku's going to be… Namine found herself thinking, and then paused, a tad confused. Not so much as towards the thought itself, but more towards the feelings that had accompanied it. For a second, she was almost… annoyed by the fact Riku was taking so long.

She shook her head.

"Weird…" she whispered.

I have no idea what that just was… she sighed. I've never really been annoyed at him before, except for stupid reasons, and then… it's not really annoyed. Besides, even if I really WAS annoyed now, I don't have reason to be.

She set down the pencil she was using and picked up a different one.

I really should ask him about this Rebellion thing. I still don't quite understand why he's leading it… though… I don't think he does either.

There's still a lot of questions I need to ask him…

We just never seem to have the time to talk.

She paused: that wasn't at all the right statement. They had plenty of time to talk.

I just… never think about asking him these questions when we DO talk, she concluded finally. We're always talking and laughing about other things that the questions never cross my mind. Not until it's too late, and we're interrupted by something.

Whether it's Saix, a meltdown, Joseph, or one of the Vexen Replicas…

But… I guess I don't mind.

She sighed, and then gasped in surprised as she glanced over her picture again. She hadn't quite been paying attention to what she was drawing, though that wasn't entirely a new thing. She drew and got lost in her thoughts frequently, and the pictures that came out as a result often surprised her.

But this one?

This was more than surprising.

She slowly set down her pencil.

It was a picture of Riku, as they typically were, but this one was different. In every picture she had drawn of him, he was typically smiling, or at least had that cocky sneer he got during battle. In this picture, however, Riku sat in a corner, in dark mode, knees hugged tightly to his chest, casting a very hurt looking glare over his shoulder.

Namine shuddered.

She never drew Riku upset. Never. And just how upset he looked in this picture killed her.

Especially considering the fact that pictures like this (that she didn't really pay attention to as she drew) tended to be weird and prophetic and actually ended up coming true.

She didn't want this one to come true.

The thought of this one coming true scared her to death.

There was a knock on her door, startling her.

"Hey," Riku called. "Can I come in?"

The lightness in his voice surprised her, as she almost expected him to sound as upset as he looked in this picture. She shook her head to clear that ridiculous thought.

"Yeah," she said.

The door opened and Riku walked in. She started to tell him about the picture, and then paused. In contrast to the picture, he looked happy. Annoyed, maybe, but still smiling.

She didn't want to ruin his mood.

"What's up?" she asked instead, flipping to a blank page. He took hardly any notice to that and shrugged.

"We're heading off soon, and I figured I'd say goodbye before I left," he replied.

She laughed, and then slowly frowned, realizing something else.

"You're… wearing an Organization Cloak…" she said slowly.

Riku rolled his eyes and glanced down at the cloak, discomfort clearly present on his face. "It's to help us sneak into the Organization's headquarters unnoticed," he explained. "I don't really like the idea though… these cloaks are uncomfortable."

Namine laughed slightly. "Sorry," she said.

Riku shook his head. "Not your fault," he replied, and then sighed. "I should probably get going. Someone's going to complain if I delay the mission much longer. I shouldn't be gone too long, though."

"Alright," she laughed.

He slowly turned. "See ya," he sighed, waving.

"Wait a second," Namine called, setting her sketchbook aside.

Riku turned back to her, and then laughed when she hugged him.

"Just in case," she whispered.

"Afraid I won't come back?" he laughed. "Don't worry. We can handle any of the Replicas Saix sends after us, and the plan if we run into an Organization member is literally just to get the heck out of there as fast as we can. I'll come back."

Namine laughed too, feeling incredibly embarrassed now. However, her embarrassment faded when Riku wrapped his arms around her, holding her close. They stood there for a moment, saying nothing, neither of them moving. Finally though, almost reluctantly, Riku let go of her.

"Hey, I gotta go," he whispered.

She nodded and let go of him, and he grinned.

"I'll be back before you know it," he assured her, turning to leave.

"Good luck!" she called after him.

He didn't respond.

Namine sighed and sat back down on her bed. After a second of thinking, she grabbed her sketchbook. Her thoughts drifted over the picture she had drawn a few minutes ago, but she pushed them aside and started to draw something else.

Something happier.