Chapter 73: crueL

Needless to say, he was in a very foul mood when he returned to the Main Room. Many people asked if Namine was okay, but he hardly heard them. He was only focused on one thing: Larxene L. Currently, she was on the other side of the room, trying to get Joseph away from her. He was whacking her with his wooden sword repetitively and shouting insults at her.

Riku scowled, and quickly made his way over. No one got in his way. Well, no one except a random Berserker (which was quickly disposed of).

"Jerk!" Joseph was shouting. "Lousy, filthy, good for nothing-" He emphasized each insult by hitting her with the sword. She kept shooting lightning bolt after lightning bolt at Joseph, but he was miraculously avoiding all of them.

"You're just an old hag!" Joseph laughed, as he dodged another lightning bolt.

"That's it!" she screeched. "I have had enough of you-" she shoved Joseph aside. He landed on the ground hard, dropping his wooden sword. She smirked and picked it up. "Oh look," she sneered. "You got another one. How- ah!"

Riku grabbed her by the wrist, tore Joseph's sword away from her, and then twisted her arm. She gasped in pain, but bit her lip to stifle it. He glared, fury burning in his eyes. Swiftly, he drew his blade and aimed it at her throat. She flinched away.

"What did you do to her?" he hissed.

"Oh, nothing serious," Larxene L replied with a laugh. The laugh was very tentative, though. She eyed Riku warily. His eyes narrowed, and ever so slowly, he brought the tip of his blade closer to her neck, piercing her skin slightly; just enough to draw blood.

"I- I swear-" she stammered. "Only a bit of lightning, th-that's all. Nothing more. I- I wouldn't have done anything to actually harm her!" She laughed then, though it was nervous. "That would have been stupid!"

"I don't believe you," Riku spat. "And I've had enough experiences with lightning to know that you can't knock anyone unconscious with it!"

A jolt of lightning shot through him, then, and he gasped, letting go of Larxene L. She smirked. Riku took a few seconds, gasping and spluttering, trying to get his breathing under control. It hadn't been… a big bolt of electricity, though. And it didn't hurt as much as he was used to. That was a relief.

"Of course you can!" Larxene L sneered, sounding all too excited, now. "If you just manipulate the electrical current on which the lightning flows and say… send it to a slightly critical part of the brain, well," she laughed. "It can knock anyone out! Or do something more fatal, if you were to put enough lightning into it."

Riku, not at all liking what he was hearing, struck. However, his blade was blocked by 37's shield. His eyes widened in shock, wondering how 37 had gotten there so fast. His shock was quickly replaced by anger, though, as he realized this was the second time 37 had done this to him.

He gritted his teeth and put more force on his blade, watching with small amusement as 37 struggled to keep his weight back.

"Why are you trying so hard to protect her?" Riku spat. "And why her? What makes her different from all the other Larxene Replicas?"

37's eyes narrowed. "I don't see why it matters to you," he said slowly, shifting slightly so he was in a better position. He then quickly shoved Riku back and shot an icicle at him. The icicle hit him full on and knocked him to the ground, sending his blade flying out of his reach.

Panic shot through Riku and he quickly fought to get to his feet again, or at least get his blade back. However, before he could do either, a foot was placed firmly on his chest, pinning him to the ground. Larxene L laughed. Riku glared up at her with hatred and—something else, was boiling in his gut. Something else, something he didn't like to think about, this was why he got rid of them, this is why he killed a Larxene the moment he saw them—

"Leave him alone!" Joseph screamed, rushing forward. Larxene L glanced over at him and rolled her eyes. She sighed, unpinned Riku, and then reached out and stopped Joseph with her hand. He squirmed for a moment, but she threw him back. While he was reeling, she sent a lightning bolt at him, which knocked him off his feet. He didn't get back up.

Larxene L turned her attention back to Riku. He had rolled over onto his side while she had been dealing with Joseph. She kicked him hard in the stomach, forcing him to roll back onto his back. That terrible thing reared its ugly head inside him again, and he stayed very still, squeezing his eyes shut.

Larxene L bent down and hissed in his ear: "You're scared of me, aren't you?" There was laughter in her voice as she said this, and it sent a shiver down Riku's spine.

"I am not," he replied forcefully, around clenched teeth and ragged breaths. She only laughed and kicked him again.

"Don't lie," she spat. "And don't forget we still have access to all your memories. I know how you feel—"

"Shut up!" he yelled.

She shot a bolt of lightning at him.

This one was more like he was used to—sending excruciating pain through every inch of his body. He wanted to scream but he bit his lip, trying to hold back the broken mantra that wanted to leave his mouth every time this happened. That terrible, vile thing within him flared up in him again, and he tried to beat it down. He wasn't scared of her, he wasn't—

At least it was over, within a few agonizing seconds. During those agonizing seconds, 37 summoned a large amount of Berserkers and sent them on everyone else in the room.

"It was so nice of Saix to at least grant you the ability to summon them," Larxene L called.

37 snorted. "Nice? It took a fair amount of convincing," he replied, and then sent an icicle over at an unsuspecting 19. The unsuspecting 19 let out a gasp of shock and turned to yell at 37, but a Berserker demanded his attention before he could actually say anything.

Riku quietly grabbed his blade, trying not to draw attention to himself. Larxene L noticed him, though, and sent another lightning bolt at him to stop him. He let out a choked shout of pain, falling back to the ground and dropping his blade.

"Don't move," Larxene L commanded. Riku squeezed his eyes shut, trying not to think about how familiar this was, trying to pound down the memories that roiled in his head.

This wasn't then, though. This was now and he was fine and he needed to get up and attack her already—

Fumblingly, muscles aching and unpleasant memories boiling in his veins, Riku reached for his blade again.

He managed to close his fingers around it, but his victory was short lived. Larxene L brought her foot down on his hand. He yelped in pain and dropped the blade, which she quickly kicked across the room. She brought her foot down again, hard. White hot pain shot through his arm as a few of his fingers snapped; he had to focus really, really hard to avoid screaming.

"Is Alpha distracted?" Larxene L called to 37, her eyes not once leaving Riku's face. She was enjoying every second of him trying to contain his pain.

"Unless he can take down four Berserkers at once, yes," 37 replied.

Larxene L grinned, and then glanced over at Alpha. Sure enough, he was surrounded by Berserkers. While she was distracted, Riku quickly sat up and started to cradle his injured hand. Before he could, though, Larxene L grabbed him by the wrist with one hand, and then forced him to the ground with the other. She sent a few small jolts of lightning through him, and then placed his hand on the ground. She uncurled his fingers from the fist they were trying to make and spread them out, being as rough about it as possible. Then she summoned one of her knives and drove it through the center of his hand, pinning it to the ground.

"Just in case you get any ideas about getting up later," she sneered, and then grinned and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, yanking him upwards.

"What- what do you w-want with me?" Riku stuttered, his words coming out slurred. Lightning was surging through his brain at the moment. Not a lot, but just enough to be disorienting. He could feel his thoughts trying to go fuzzy.

"For you to be quiet, just for a few minutes," Larxene L hissed in his ear. "So that I can capture your precious Namine, and 37 can take care of the Program while everyone else is distracted," she giggled then, absolutely thrilled by the idea. "Oh, relax kiddo," she assured him as she dropped him back onto the ground. "I promise I'm not going to hurt her…" She grinned wickedly. "That much."

Riku opened his mouth to yell at her, but she was already gone.

Besides, everything hurt too much.

And his consciousness was getting fuzzy, anyway…