Chapter 88: Dwelling on a Nightmare

"Stop messing with it!"

Riku glanced over at Namine. She was glaring at him. He had been messing with the bandages on his hand. Again.

"Sorry," he muttered, glancing away.

He didn't like it when she frowned.

He started to finger the bandages again, but stopped himself. Instead, he picked at one of the loose strings of the couch. She continued talking, though he listened with only half an ear. She was still working on showing her pictures to him (since they kept getting interrupted) and was currently explaining the lengths she had gone through to finish one of them. Apparently, it had taken a lot of work.

He looked over at it. The picture did look incredibly detailed. However, he was having a hard time caring.

His mind was on… other things.

Specifically, his mind was still on the nightmare he had, though it had been a decent amount of time since he had woken up.

The loose string he was messing with came loose another couple of inches. He made a face, but it wasn't entirely the string that he was upset with.

Well… no… it wasn't the nightmare he was still thinking about.

It was the moment when his nightmare had ended that he was thinking about it. Namine had called out to him; calmed him down...

The loose string came out of the couch. Riku stared at it for a moment, and then wound it around his finger a couple times.

Namine…

I- I guess it's funny that she calmed me down. Usually I'M the one who's calming HER down…

And- and then-

When I woke up…

He shifted slightly at the thought.

Upon waking up, he had freaked slightly. It had been a bit of a surprise for him to wake up with his head in Namine's lap. Especially considering he had no recollection of being moved into that position or what had led up to it. It wasn't really like he minded or anything, he just hadn't been expecting-

He quickly unwound the string from his finger. It was starting to cut off his circulation. He grimaced, and then paused, realizing something. Namine had stopped talking. He looked over at her. She was drawing.

"Weren't you talking?" he said, slowly.

She shrugged. "I had a picture I wanted to draw," she said. "Besides, it's not like you were listening…" She frowned.

"I- I'm sorry-"

She shook her head, stopping him. "No, it's fine!" she laughed. "I wasn't frowning at you, I was frowning at the picture. See, look." She turned it to him, so that he could see. He looked at it, frowning slightly, too.

"That's-" he began.

"Axel and 37," she finished. "But it's weird, because the way it's coming out, it's like Axel's got his hand in 37's pocket... Which… can't be-"

The sound of an opening dark corridor interrupted her. Everyone turned to the center of the room, where Axel now stood, one rather large grin on his face.

"Look what I managed to snag from 37," he said, tossing something to Riku.

Riku caught it, a tad clumsily; he wasn't used to catching things with his left hand. He glanced down at it. It was a key.

"Key to the computer room," Axel explained.

Namine raised her eyebrows. "That would explain it…" she muttered.

Riku frowned, wondering what she was talking about. She gestured at her picture. He glanced at it, then looked at the key, then at Axel, then at the picture again. He blinked a time or two.

"How did 37 not notice?" he asked, regarding Axel with a curious look.

Axel's grin widened. "You're welcome."

Riku frowned. That hadn't answered his question at all. After a moment he sighed. It really wasn't worth pressing the matter.

"Any other news?" he asked.

Axel's grin slowly fell. He scratched his head a bit nervously.

"Saix is changing his strategy," he said, voice quiet. "All efforts will be redirected to capturing Namine."

"What?" Riku demanded, his voice cracking slightly. "Why!"

"I don't know!" Axel said, turning away slightly as he did so. "But whatever he wants her for, it can't be good!"

Riku scowled, skeptical. "You're lying."

Axel refused to look at him. "On the bright side," he said. "There shouldn't be any more actual raids, from the sounds of things."

There were a few cheers around the room, but most everyone was more curious about what Axel had said previously.

About Namine.

"Axel…" Riku said firmly, fists (well, fist, his right hand wasn't entirely functional) clenching slightly. "What does Saix want her for?"

Axel glanced up at him, scratching his head again. "Do you remember why she was originally created?"

Riku raised his eyebrows. "Yeah, 'cause for some stupid reason, the Organization thought that they could use her to contr- oh." The word caught in his throat as he realized what he was saying. He swallowed, and then frowned. "Saix isn't seriously going to try that again, is he? I mean, why would he want-"

"Saix wants you dead," Axel interrupted.

Stunned silence filled the room.

Namine let out a small gasp.

It felt like something had just stabbed her in the chest.

Saix… wouldn't…

Would he?

"Are you saying…" she said, voice shaky. "That he'd Rewite me to-" she swallowed, unable to finish that thought. She glanced over at Riku, swallowed again, and then laughed nervously. "But he- he couldn't, right?"

"You saw what he did to Tulip," 19 said, voice grim. "He could easily do the same to-"

"It's not going to happen," Riku interrupted, his voice rough but certain. "I won't let it."

No one said anything after that.

Namine gripped the edges of her sketchbook tightly, trying to hide the fact that her hands were trembling.

She was terribly shaken. Just the thought that it was possible for her to be Rewritten—to be completely changed so that she wasn't even her anymore—It was a scary thought. Especially considering what Saix wanted to change her into…

He wanted to Rewrite her so that she would fight.

So that she would kill.

Kill Riku.

And, to make it worse, she would likely be Rewritten so that she wanted to.

She shuddered at the thought.

Riku grabbed her hand, gently. She glanced up at him, a bit surprised. He smiled at her.

"It's okay," he assured her.

She swallowed.

Okay…? she thought, slowly.

How is this okay?

I know you said that you'd protect me, that you'd keep this from happening, and I trust you- but-

I'm still scared.

Slowly, he frowned.

"What's wrong?" he asked, worry creeping into his tone.

"I…" she began, but paused. She wasn't sure how to say it- if she even wanted to say it at all… she was starting to think that she didn't want to say it. Well… she wanted to tell Riku what was wrong, but-

They were in the main room.

Everyone else was listening.

She gripped the edges of her sketchbook tighter. She was downright shaking now.

Why am I freaking out so much?

I- I just- I don't want to-

I don't really want to- I-

Riku gripped her hand firmly, steadying her as best as he could with his bandaged hand. Her heart started pounding, and tears were starting to form in her eyes. She turned away, ashamed. She couldn't stand to look at him, not when he was looking at her like that.

A look filled with overflowing compassion.

A look filled with so much worry that it hurt.

And when all that compassion and worry was directed at her, she wanted nothing more than to just tell him everything that was wrong; tell him everything that was on her mind, no matter whether or not he could actually do anything no it. Just… the comfort of him knowing was enough.

"Namine?" he whispered.

She bit her lip, preventing herself from actually saying anything.

Riku, I want to tell you, I swear! I just-

I want to talk to you alone…

So I should just ask you, right?

But I-

I just don't know!

I…

She frowned then, an idea occurring to her.

An idea that might just work…

But…

She gasped and clutched her head. Suddenly Riku's arms were around her, protecting her, holding her close.

"Again!" he said, voice choked.

She nodded miserably, ignoring the hurt that surged through her as she did so.

"You just had one!" he groaned, almost desperate.

Before she could say anything in response to that, though, he formed a dark corridor around them both.