Update Feb 2014: ch45 of ASAS has the original draft of this scene, and ch46 has this scene from a couple different POVs!

Chapter 151: Ten

Riku fingered his lip, which still hurt from biting it earlier, but at least wasn't bleeding anymore. He'd been sitting here for the past who knew how long—it'd been maybe fifteen minutes? Longer?—listening to Alpha and Amaryllis (with occasional input from Vexen) fight over what they were going to do. While they'd come up with a couple of ideas, most of them either revolved around Alpha's insistent "do nothing", or involved killing someone. Usually Xemnas. And those ideas were quickly shot down, which brought them back to doing nothing.

"You don't make any sense, Alpha," Amaryllis said, finally. He sounded really frustrated. "You, of all people, were the most against Saix. And now you just want to do nothing."

"Because this is Xemnas we're dealing with," Alpha replied, calmly. "Not Saix. They're two completely different people. Besides, just… how well, did your and Riku's fight with Axel go? Imagine, if you had that much trouble dealing with Axel, how much harder will it be to fight Xemnas?"

Riku rolled his eyes.

Thanks. I'd just managed to get those thoughts out of my mind.

…

Maybe it would be better if we did nothing.

"Maybe he has a point," Riku said. Amaryllis turned to him. "I mean, maybe we should just do nothing."

"I thought we were on the same side!"

Riku shrugged.

"It's just… maybe it's not a good idea to fight Xemnas."

Amaryllis groaned. "Don't tell me you've given up, too."

"It's just-" He shifted uncomfortably, clenching his hands into fists. He really didn't want to admit it, but- "I could hardly take Axel. He- he wasn't even trying to put up a fight and he was still too much for me. How am I supposed to take Xemnas? How am I supposed to take Xemnas and win?"

"Riku-" Vexen began.

"Truth is, I can't. Okay? I can't." He turned away from them, fixing his eyes on the ground. "Which means we're all doomed, because I'm your secret weapon, and what are you going to do when I don't work anymore? You give up. Alpha's right."

"I haven't given up!" Alpha protested. "I'm just thinking logically here. We can't realistically get the better of this situation. I'm only saying we should cut our losses this round; it's not like I've given up on the Rebellion entirely."

"But there is no Rebellion anymore," Riku said. "They have the Program. They have their Keyblade wielder. We've failed. Hopefully if we just stay out of Xemnas's way, he won't think about us, and he won't kill us."

"Riku…" Vexen began again, but he trailed off.

"No," Alpha said. "We have not failed. The Rebellion is still alive-"

"But we don't have the Program," Riku interrupted.

"Then we get it back."

"What about Roxas, though?" Riku asked. "It can't be good that the Organization has him."

"It's probably not," Alpha admitted. "But there's nothing we can do about Roxas. Nothing short of killing him."

"Which we don't want to do," Vexen added. "Axel is going to be a pain—more so than Xemnas will be—if we kill Roxas. Trust me, Axel is not a fun person to deal with when he's angry. And there's no better way to make Axel angry than to harm Roxas."

"Then…" Riku thought about it for a moment.

What else was there that they could do? Of course, he wanted to give up, but… He didn't want the Organization to have Roxas. Not because it meant bad things for them. Because it meant bad things for him. For Roxas.

Even if the Organization wouldn't—couldn't—be absolutely cruel to him…

Riku still wasn't sure how he felt about it.

So…

"We kidnap Roxas."

Because it isn't fair to him. Bringing brought back from the dead against your will and being forced to serve the Organization isn't fair to anyone.

"Kidnap him?" Alpha asked.

"I thought I just said that it was a bad idea to make Axel angry," Vexen said.

"More like… rescue him," Riku said. "Roxas."

"And how are we going to do that without drawing Xemnas's attention?" Amaryllis asked. "I don't think he—"

"Or Axel," Vexen added.

"—will be happy if we kidnap his Keyblade wielder."

Riku just shrugged, not sure what to say.

"But…" Amaryllis continued. "Maybe if we convince Axel that… I don't know, he and Roxas should join our side or something. I mean, we can finish rebuilding Roxas, can't we?"

"Not without the passwords, which I doubt Axel knows, and I doubt 26 will hand us," Alpha said. He shook his head. "It's too risky a gamble. Not even Luxord would attempt it. We have to let them have Roxas."

"But-" Riku began, but stopped, hearing something. He quickly scrambled to his feet. Namine was heading this way—he could hear her footsteps. Before he could even turn around and say anything to her, though, she threw her arms around him. He made a face, a bit confused and surprised, but shifted and returned the hug.

"Hi," he said.

"Hi!" She pulled away from him, and grinned. "Just wanted to check on you, that's all. It's been a while."

"The raid's not technically over," Alpha said. Namine turned to him, curious. He'd shifted so she could see the computer screen, and now he gestured at it.

"Oh, they're still here," Namine said. She could see a Vexen Replica, and… wait… was that? She moved closer to the screen to be sure. Yes. It looked like it was. "Is that Xemnas? Like, the leader of the Organization?" She turned back to Riku, not sure if she felt shocked or… she had no clue what else she might be feeling. "What is he doing here?"

"Trying to Rebuild Roxas," Riku answered.

"There is no 'try' about it," Vexen said. "He's Rebuilding Roxas."

"Roxas?"

"Their Keyblade wielder, and the reason they were going after the Program in the first place," Alpha said.

Namine nodded, understanding. "Does… Roxas have blond, kind of spikey hair?" she asked, pantomiming the idea of having spikey hair with her hands. "And blue eyes."

"Sounds like him," Amaryllis said.

"That explains a lot…" she muttered.

"Hmm?" Riku asked.

"Oh, I drew a picture of him. About two days ago." She grimaced. "Roughly."

Riku raised his eyebrows. "And you didn't mention it?"

"I had no clue who he was!" Namine replied.

"You didn't even show it to me!"

"It slipped my mind; give me a break!" She shot a half-glare at him. "And who says I have to show you every picture I draw, anyway?"

"Well, you don't- I just…" He paused, flustered. "I could've told you who Roxas was," he muttered, defeated.

Namine's face softened. "I guess you could've, but… again it slipped my mind," she said. "Sorry about that." She glanced back over to the computer screen, frowning. "How'd Xemnas get in here, anyway? I mean, not that I know how tight our security is, but I assumed it was tighter… And… I thought they couldn't do anything without the external."

"Axel betrayed us," Amaryllis explained.

"He wouldn't have gotten the external if someone had put it somewhere safer," Vexen said, throwing a pointed look in Alpha's direction.

"Would you let that drop?" Alpha glared. "I've told you already; it's not my fault. How was I supposed to know that Axel was going to betray us? If I had known, I would've certainly put the external elsewhere…"

"You know…" Namine laughed slightly, trying to lighten the mood. "This actually doesn't surprise me all that much. Axel betraying us and all."

"It doesn't?" Alpha asked. He seemed a bit surprised. Or maybe he was upset… Namine couldn't quite tell—Alpha was good at masking his emotions.

"See?" Vexen smirked. "Even she knows Axel's bound to be a filthy double-crosser!"

"Actually, I'm pretty sure I mentioned it to her," Riku said.

Namine shook her head. "Neither of those reasons," she said, laughing some more. "It doesn't surprise me that he'd go this far to bring Roxas back." She smiled, something feeling warm in her heart. "They are best friends, after all."

Riku gave her a curious look. "How do you know that?"

She shrugged. She honestly had no clue how she knew that. "I just… do."

Vexen slowly pulled out his notebook and started writing something down. Alpha just shrugged, not arguing. Riku continued to regard Namine with a curious look. After a second, though, he grabbed her hand and squeezed it reassuringly.

"Hey," he said, lowering his voice. "Maybe… you should go stay in Hollow Bastion until this is all over. It'd be safer there."

"Riku-" she began.

"They aren't going to kidnap her," Alpha said, plainly. "Or, they shouldn't, anyway. The whole purpose of kidnapping her in the first place was to Rewrite her to get you out of the way so that it'd be easier for them to snag the Program. They have the Program. Why bother attempting to kidnap her anymore?"

Riku opened his mouth to protest, most likely, but closed it again. He looked at Alpha, then back at Namine, and then sighed. "I'd just… feel better if I knew you were safe," he muttered, not meeting her eye.

She stared at him for a second, and then sighed, too, smiling. "I'm perfectly safe here," she assured him, squeezing his hand.

He didn't say anything for a while, his eyes just fixed on her, and then nodded. He shrugged slightly. "Guess you're right," he said. He didn't seem very reassured though.

"I just… can't protect her if I'm not with her. …Probably can't even protect her at all. Probably too weak. Just like I'm too weak to do anything else."

Namine froze, eyes going wide in shock.

"What!?"

Riku stared at her, looking just about as shocked as she was—if not even more shocked. He glanced from side to side, then his eyes focused on her again. "I, uh-" he stammered.

Oh. Of course. She'd accidently overheard his thoughts again, most likely. This could get annoying if it kept up… Then again…

She took a step closer to him, pulling her hand out of his grasp and then reaching up to take his face in her hands. She touched their foreheads together.

What did you just think?! she sent him.

He backed away from her, looking even more shocked than before. "What as that?" he asked. He frowned, the realization dawning on him. "Did you just…"

She nodded, then took his face in her hands again.

Please, Riku, just let me—

"This feels weird," he said, but he didn't pull away this time.

"I know it does," she said. "But-" I need to talk to you, and this seems like just as good a way as any other. Besides, now they can't hear us.

"No, this is too weird," he said. He gently pulled away from her. "I- I don't think I can—"

She let out a long breath, but lowered her hands. She didn't really want to let him get away without telling her what was up, but…

Maybe it was just a fleeting thought, she tried to comfort herself. Everyone has those. Except…

Except it hadn't felt fleeting. And the fear in his eyes and the way he held himself only furthered her suspicions. Not to mention that, for the brief second their minds had been connected, she could feel similar thoughts pulsing at the back of his mind.

"Riku, please, just let me try," she said.

He stared at her a long time, but then nodded. He closed his eyes, and she took his face in her hands yet again, pulling him closer so that their foreheads touched. She took a deep breath in, and he mirrored her actions.

Alright… so… she began.

"What is this, huh?" Riku's mental voice had a touch of humor to it, but that didn't change how scared he felt. "We're telepathic now, are we?"

Seems like it, she replied.

"It's weird."

She almost chuckled at that, but just shrugged instead. She couldn't get too sidetracked.

What's on your mind? she asked, firmly, before he found a way to distract her.

"I just-"

He stopped there, but he didn't need to use words, whether spoken or unspoken. Now that their minds were connected, she could see his fears just clearly. She could see him being thrown across the room by Xemnas. She tried not to shudder as she felt his confidence shatter. Tried not to squirm as his insecurities poured over her.

He was scared because he didn't think he was strong enough.

It's not true, she tried to tell him. You're not weak.

"But-"

Don't argue with me! Everyone has some bad luck every now and then, and it doesn't mean anything. Stop being so hard on yourself.

"No, Namine, I can't."

He pulled away from her again, shaking his head. There were still traces of fear on his face, but she didn't know what he was thinking. The link between their minds had been broken. There was a long moment of silence. Riku didn't say anything, didn't look at her, looked anywhere but at her. Namine wasn't sure what everyone else was doing, but, to be honest, she didn't care that much.

She opened her mouth to say something, but before she could, Riku grabbed her hand and held it up, turning it over a few times as he examined it. She flushed.

"Is this… is this paint, on your hand?" he asked. There was surprise in his voice, and humor, too—he'd managed to mask the rest of his emotions very well. He'd also changed the subject on her.

Namine hastily pulled her hand away from him, trying to wipe the paint off on her dress. How'd she not managed to get that off before she came here? And why hadn't Riku noticed sooner?

"It… might be," she said.

Nope. She wasn't going to admit it.

Riku laughed. He was doing a very good job at masking all his other emotions.

"What are you doing in there?" he asked.

"Like I'm going to tell you!"

"But-"

"You'll see it when it's finished, and that's that," she said, firmly. She scowled at him, not happy with him in the slightest. She should be worried about him. But. They were getting nowhere. There was no way she'd be able to get any more out of him—or convince him that what he was thinking wasn't true—after this. Certainly not after this.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I'll be heading back to my room." She didn't try very hard to keep her frustration out of her voice. "I need to go finish with what I was working on!"

She left, before anyone could say anything.