Chapter 118: I'm glad you're alive

Footsteps made Riku look up, and he found Namine in the doorway. She hesitated only a moment, and then she bounded over to him, throwing her arms around his neck.

"I'm so glad you're okay!" she said, clutching him tight.

"I- Thanks?" Riku replied, blinking a couple of times in surprise. He hugged her back on reflex, though his mind still spun to take this all in—the tremor in her voice, the tightness in which she clutched him. They'd talked like five minutes ago. Why hadn't she brought it up then?

"I was so so so terrified," she continued, squeezing him one more time and then pulling away. She kept looking him up and down, and there was some sort of quiver in her lip. Riku couldn't help but gape at her. His heart felt in his throat.

"Huh?"

Namine didn't look at him. She tucked her hair behind her ear and then let her hands fall into her lap, staring at them as she spoke. "I mean I thought you were dying! And worse than that I could- I— Well…" She choked there, playing with her fingers, like she didn't want to say it.

"What?" Riku pressed, leaning in to look at her a little better.

Namine slowly took a deep breath. Then she pulled her feet up onto the bed and sat cross-legged, turning herself to face him.

"Okay." She took another deep breath. "Promise not to freak?"

Riku raised his eyebrows, bewildered by that particular request.

"Um, sure. Promise."

"So um, I can… sort of…" Namine wrung her hands, and though she looked in Riku's direction, she wouldn't quite meet his eye. "I can see what you're doing, sometimes? Usually I just draw a picture and it's like 'oh, this is what Riku was doing at the time I drew this'—"

"I… think I knew that," Riku interrupted.

"Oh…!" Namine looked up at him, meeting his eyes in surprise for a moment. "Right. Well." She swallowed, looking embarrassed, a little nervous. There was an uncomfortable expression on her face. "This time it was like—I mean it's never happened before this time," she said quickly, as if to reassure him. "But this time I could, like, see it through your eyes."

Riku's eyes widened in understanding.

"Oh."

Now the way she was acting made a little more sense.

"It was kind of like a meltdown," Namine continued, her voice getting strained. "Except I knew it wasn't a meltdown. I knew it was real and I- I could feel your pain—" She clutched at her chest, fist curling around her dress, looking harried. "And it- it hurt. It was so bad and I—"

There was a catch in her voice, and it was clear she was starting to panic.

Riku worked his mouth a moment, something unfamiliar boiling inside of him, but he knew he did not want her to start freaking out.

"Namine."

"I was so scared," she gasped, her voice like a whisper. She was bent forward, near over double, still clutching her chest like she was the one who'd been hurt. "I thought you were dying and- and then Tifa and Leon brought you back and you were—"

"Namine."

"—and it was probably just what Aerith did but when I couldn't feel the pain anymore I thought maybe you had died for real? And I—"

"Namine!"

He was loud enough to get through to her this time. He reached out, grabbing her gently by the shoulders. She looked up at him as he reached out to hold her, her grip on her dress slackening.

"Listen," Riku said. He had to fumble for the words, but: "I'm- I'm fine now. See?" He squeezed her shoulders. "I'm not dead."

This seemed like a good thing to say, and he wasn't sure what else to do otherwise. Seeing her so upset and—and the tears glistening in her cheeks, her watery eyes staring at him. It was hard to see her cry, and the gears of his mind were spinning like crazy trying to comprehend it. Why she was crying. She was crying for…

For him.

She was crying for him.

Because she was scared for him, worried about him, about his well-being. Riku blinked rapidly a few times, his own eyes feeling warm and wet. Something, something yanked in his chest but he didn't recognize the feeling at all, so he couldn't identify it.

He just knew it was suddenly hard to breathe, and he could feel tears starting to fall. He held them back on instinct, but that didn't change the roiling inside of him.

He couldn't recall the last time someone had cried for him. He wasn't sure if anyone ever had.

It was hitting him, all of a sudden—all of it. The things Kairi had said, completely seriously. That she'd have put up with Castle Oblivion for him. Because they were friends. Everything Aerith had done for him, said to him. She hadn't needed to heal him, but she had anyway, because she cared even though she really had only barely known him.

Namine, here, now. Trembling, sniffling in his grasp. Crying over him.

It was so foreign and strange and he wasn't sure what to do, but—

"It's okay. I'm alive. I'm still here," he repeated to Namine, who was nodding and sniffling a little less.

"I know," Namine said, nodding a little more firmly. "I know, and I am so so so grateful." She was still crying, as she looked up at him, but there was such happiness on her face.

Riku wasn't sure what to do, not with this situation and definitely not with the things he was feeling, but he…

He smiled back, his chest tight.

"M- me too," he told her.

xxx

Joseph leaned over his book, turning the page earnestly, completely enraptured. It was honestly a really cool story.

He didn't want to pull his head up from it, but the sound of feet on the stairs made him tear his eyes away. It was Aerith, this time, so Joseph hoisted himself onto his knees so he could see over the low couch.

"How is he?" Namine asked, just as Kairi said: "Is he okay?"—the two of them speaking on top of one another.

"He's alright," Aerith answered. She looked tired, but she smiled at them all. "He'll need lots of bed rest, though, if he's going to recover in full. Namine, Kairi, if you two want to go up there and keep him company—I don't think he's entirely happy about this agreement, and I'm sure he'd welcome the distraction. I definitely don't want him up there sulking all by himself."

Joseph laughed to himself, well-familiar with how antsy Riku was. He bet Riku absolutely hated being on bedrest. He met eyes with Toby, who was smiling a similar smile, thinking similar thoughts.

Kairi stood up, but Namine put a hand out to her. "Actually," she said, standing up herself. "I'd like to talk to him alone for second. If, like, you don't mind." She asked as if she anticipated Kairi's answer.

"Pfff, why would I mind." Laughing, Kairi waved her hand through the air and plopping back down on the couch.

Namine went up the stairs.

Joseph sighed dramatically, closing his book. "Guess I gotta go deliver that message to Castle Oblivion now, huh?" he said, moving to return the book to its spot on the shelf.

"You can take that with you, if you'd like," Aerith offered.

"Oh!" Joseph spun around in surprise, barely believing his luck. His face was split with a wide excited grin. "Can I?"

Aerith nodded. "I'd like it back eventually, but yes, you may." She smiled knowingly. "That's one of my favorites."

"It is really good," Joseph agreed, clutching the book to his chest a moment. Then he snapped to attention, saluting. "I'll be sure not to lose it!" he swore.

Toby held up his book, high in the air so Aerith could see. "Can I keep this one?" he asked. "Or, uh, borrow it?"

Aerith laughed and nodded again. "Go ahead."

"NEAT!" Joseph said, and he reached down and pulled Toby up by one arm. He waved at everyone in the room, though, that was just Aerith and Yuffie he was saying goodbye to really. "We'll see you guys again, I'm sure!" he said. "And I'll definitely see you again, right Kairi?"

Kairi nodded back at him, grinning a grin that wasn't exactly unlike a grin Joseph had seen on Sora. "Duh!"

Joseph beamed. "Later!"

He waved energetically then opened a dark corridor. He stepped through, and Toby followed after him.

Almost immediately after he stepped out into the main room—no surprise—29 came rushing up.

"Joseph!" he exclaimed, grabbing Joseph by the shoulders. "There you are! Are you alright? Where were you!?" His grip loosened and his expression softened from concern to confusion as he looked between Joseph and Toby a few times. "And where's… Namine…?"

"Well, some things happened?" Joseph said, not sure where else to begin. "I'm fine. We're fine. Namine's fine too—she stayed in Hollow Bastion. It's, uh, a lot to explain? It'd probably be better if I explain to everyone at once, so I don't have to repeat myself like twenty times."

29 considered him with raised eyebrows for a moment, then sighed and let go of Joseph, straightening. "Alright," he said. "Let's go gather everyone who needs to hear." He paused a moment, looking down at Joseph curiously. "And… who, exactly, needs to hear?"

Joseph thought hard about that. "Let's see… Alpha and Amaryllis, for sure."

"Vexen?" Toby suggested.

Joseph nodded in agreement. "Yeah. He'd probably wanna know. Otherwise I think that's everyone who needs to know immediately."

So, they gathered everyone they needed and ducked into the nearest empty room in order to have this meeting. It was easiest.

There weren't enough chairs to accommodate enough of them, so they all stood standing as they talked.

"Alright, so, what did you want to tell us?" Alpha asked. Per usual, he sounded like he had better things to do with his time.

To change his mind about that, Joseph started with: "Um, it's about Riku," and he made a face. A face like it wasn't good news. Of course, it wasn't good news, and it wasn't hard to summon the face, but some of this was for show.

"About Riku?" Vexen repeated, in surprise. "Of course, that would make sense, but—"

"Where is Riku?" Amaryllis asked, suddenly.

"Hollow Bastion," Joseph answered. "Here, let me start at the beginning. It's a lot to explain."

He took a deep breath—probably deeper than he needed—and launched into the explanation.

"Riku went to Hollow Bastion to see Aerith while Namine took me and Toby to Destiny Islands. That's only kinda related, but what really matters is, well," he paused here though. He wasn't sure Namine would want him mentioning the bit where she'd felt like she was—no, she definitely wouldn't want him too. "WELL, it's a lot to explain, but to make it short we went to Hollow Bastion to meet up with Riku and when we got there we found out Riku'd been hurt bad? Like, super bad. Like, he nearly died?" Only the knowledge that Riku was fine made it possible to say. "He got in a fight with something."

((He got in a fight with Sora, but, that wasn't something they needed to know either.))

Alpha laughed hollowly. "Like that's new," he said.

"No, him picking fights he shouldn't definitely isn't new, but Alpha that doesn't mean you should—" Vexen stopped rather abruptly, like he'd fully processed everything. "Wait a minute, HE NEARLY DIED!?"

Joseph grimaced and shrugged apologetically, not sure what else to do.

"I mean, he's fine now," Joseph said. "He's very not-dead."

"You said he was still in Hollow Bastion?" Amaryllis pressed.

"Um, yes," and here came the part Joseph didn't want to relay. He knew exactly how Alpha was going to react, and wasn't looking forward to it. Oh well. "Like I said, it was super bad, so uh. Well. Aerith—she's a friend we've got there. Or that Riku's got there. She's a healer." He swallowed and continued. "Aerith says he needs bedrest for, um… a while. Because it's super bad and he has to heal and stuff."

"Exactly how bad did you say…?" Vexen began.

Alpha didn't give him the chance to finish.

"Wait are you serious!?" he shouted.

Joseph held his hands up in surrender.

"Hey, don't shoot the messenger!"

"We're nothing without him!" Alpha continued, raving.

"We can manage for a few days," Amaryllis argued, calm, the voice of reason.

"Can we!?" Alpha demanded, rounding on Amaryllis. "What if they attack? What if Saix sends a raid? Him not being here is the BEST time for them to attack—"

"If he doesn't take time to heal," Amaryllis said firmly, "then he won't be of any use to us at all."

Alpha opened his mouth to say more—Joseph wasn't sure if he gave up or started protesting more because that all was lost in Vexen rushing over to him and grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him.

"Joseph, please, how badly did Riku get hurt!"

"Bad! Like I said!" Joseph answered, his voice a little strained. Mostly from the being shaken. 29 put a hand on Vexen's shoulder, and taking a deep breath, Vexen dropped Joseph.

"I don't really wanna describe it in detail," Joseph said very sincerely—it was true. Just thinking about it made his skin crawl. Seeing Riku like that… "But he was, um, bleeding a lot and it seemed like Aerith only barely saved him?"

He shook his head, not liking the thought. Then he realized what he'd just told Vexen, and frantically started waving his hands through the air.

"BUT LIKE! You can't go see him or anything he needs rest and sleep and stuff, not you or anyone bugging him!" That was mostly just to keep Vexen away, because Joseph knew Riku'd hate it, but in order to make Vexen feel better he added: "Like, honestly, why do you think they sent me away?" (It was a lie, but it seemed to make Vexen reconsider his disappointment.)

"I suppose you're right," he relented, though he still looked like a grump about it. "I just wished the Repair Program here did work on him, then this wouldn't be such a big deal. Ugh, what were the odds we'd write in two completely different codes…" Grumbling to himself, Vexen headed off.

Joseph watched him go for a moment, then turned his attention to Alpha and Amaryllis—who were still arguing, though in significantly hushed voices. Joseph cleared his throat, then looked to 29.

"Welp, Aerith let me borrow this cool book so I'm gonna go finish reading it," he declared. "Bye!" He headed out quickly to avoid any more pestering questions from Alpha, grabbing Toby on the way.