Chapter 163: The Separation
Riku stepped out of the dark corridor and into Hollow Bastion. Of course, he emerged right in the middle of Aerith's living room. "Whoops!" He laughed, nervously. "I- I totally meant to use the door. I swear."
Yuffie caught her tennis ball, rolled her eyes. "Uhhuuuh, suure."
"I did!"
"What brings you here, Riku?" Aerith asked, patiently. She was sitting on the couch opposite Yuffie.
"Well," Riku shifted slightly. "I was actually wondering if I could ask you a favor…"
"Yes?"
"Uhm," he cleared his throat. "Can I- would- would it be possible if I could… stay here for a week?"
Yuffie dropped her tennis ball, too busy staring at him to catch it properly. Aerith blinked a few times.
"Uh… yes," she said, finally. She nodded for emphasis. "Yes, you can. Just you? Not Namine?"
"No- no, just me."
"May I ask why?"
"Well… uh-" Riku's breath was tight in his throat. He really didn't want to discuss Namine. The less he thought about her, the less he could miss her. And the less he could worry if everything actually was alright after that fight they had, even though Namine didn't seem mad anymore. "Can I sit down?"
"Of course," Aerith said, chuckling slightly.
Riku sat down on the same couch as Yuffie, though at the other end.
"You and Namine didn't get in a fight, did you?" Yuffie asked, throwing a meaningful glance in his direction.
Riku gulped. Just what he didn't want to think about. But that wasn't why he was here. "Well, no, that's not- not exactly-"
"It is about Namine," Aerith said. She sounded like she knew. Like she was positive she was right. The confidence in her voice, and the understanding in her eyes—
Riku squeezed his eyes shut for a second. No. He didn't have to tell the truth. So what if it was about Namine? They didn't need to know that.
He shook his head, swallowed. "No, it's not- that's not it," he told them. "It's not- I just had to get out of Castle Oblivion for a while." That wasn't exactly a lie. "It's, uhm… a lot of stress." And neither was that.
Good.
"Why didn't Namine come, then?" Yuffie asked. "I thought you two did everything together."
Riku shrugged, trying to play it like it was nothing. "She wanted to stay behind," he explained. Lied really. "Which she can if she want. It's not like I make her decisions for her."
"Well, I'm not sure if it'll be any less stressful here," Aerith laughed. "The Heartless levels have gone down lately, but they still show up enough. That, and we're working on restoring the town again, and that's… well…" She trailed off.
"That's alright," Riku said. "I don't mind fighting Heartless. But…" He frowned. "You're trying to restore the town?"
"We've been trying since we got here, months ago," Yuffie said. "And we were doing good until the Heartless started ruining all our work."
"It's hard enough repairin' the damage the Heartless do, let alone actually rebuildin' the town while we're at it!" Cid said, making his way down the stairs. He paused at the bottom, leaning against the railing. "Now that the Heartless have stopped showing up so often, we're trying to get back to work. It's not going so well, though."
"He and Leon can't agree on anything," Yuffie whispered, leaning over so only Riku'd hear.
"Are you sure you want me staying here, then?" Riku asked.
"Of course!" Aerith assured him.
"You can probably help," Cid said. "And if not, so long as you stay out of the way, there shouldn't be a problem."
"Also, it is my house, and I'm allowed to say whether or not he gets to stay, regardless of all that," Aerith said. She smiled. "You can stay if you want to, Riku."
"That'd be great," Riku said. "Thanks. Ahh… where's Leon?"
"In the kitchen!" Leon called, gruffly.
"Cookin'," Cid explained. "He just likes it to be nice and quiet and not talk to anyone while he's doing it, so he can't be distracted and mess anything up. Not that he would mess anything up." He raised his voice at the end, likely so Leon could hear him.
Leon didn't respond.
"Sometimes we take turns so Aerith doesn't have to cook all the time," Yuffie added. "Cid'll cook most of the time, but Leon does occasionally, and I- well, I can't cook. Not well, anyway. I can make grilled cheese sandwiches!"
"And you make wonderful grilled cheese sandwiches," Aerith insisted.
Yuffie beamed.
Cid was about to say something, but another dark corridor opened, stopping him. Riku turned, confused, wondering who could be wanting to visit Aerith's house and could use a dark corridor to get there. It was probably someone he knew. It was—
It was Alpha.
Riku couldn't help but groan. Alpha was one of the last people he wanted to see right now.
"What are you doing here?" he asked.
"You were supposed to tell me you were leaving," Alpha replied, folding his arms across his chest.
"I did!"
"No, you sent Joseph to tell me that you'd left. Those are two completely different things."
"Excuse me," Aerith said. "Uhm… who are you?"
Alpha turned to her, and his eyes lit up, and he immediately uncrossed his arms. "Ah, forgive me and my lack of manners." He bowed slightly. "I am Alpha. Zexion Replica. First one made, but, that should be given."
Cid raised his eyebrows. "And why are you here?"
Aerith waved her hand to shush him. "Hang on, Cid. Introductions first. I don't see why we should be rude, either." She smiled, pleasantly. "I'm Aerith. That's Yuffie."
"Hi," Yuffie waved, seeming only slightly interested.
"And that's Cid."
Cid raised his hand in a partial wave. "Hello."
"And Leon's in the kitchen, and doesn't want to be disturbed," Aerith finished. "Now, like Cid asked, why are you here?"
"I'm here to make sure you know exactly what Riku's here for," Alpha said.
Riku suppressed his groan as quick as he could, but Alpha still caught it.
"So you haven't told them?" he asked. He sounded amused—almost like he had expected this to happen. That would explain why he was here though, wouldn't it?
Riku sighed, shrugged. "I don't see why it matters, so long as I stay here a week," he said.
"You lied to us?" Yuffie asked. She sounded pretty offended, though Riku wasn't sure if he should trust that she actually was, and that she wasn't just pretending to be offended.
"It matters," Alpha insisted. "I need someone to make sure you don't come back before you're supposed to. And that especially includes no sneaking back. Even if no one notices, it'd still ruin everything."
"I wouldn't do that," Riku muttered. He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, eyes darting away from Alpha and to the floor.
Alpha chuckled. "Obviously you don't know what you're like when Namine's having a meltdown."
"Why is it so important he stays here?" Aerith asked.
"Because we are testing to see if his presence—or lack thereof—has any effect on Namine's meltdowns," Alpha explained. "If he were to return, it'd ruin the experiment."
"What, you think he's causing 'em or something?" Cid asked.
"I believe it may be possible, and that there's no harm testing," Alpha said.
"But what ground do you stand on? To say he's causing 'em?" Cid scratched his chin, eyes narrowing in thought as he studied Alpha. "You have teh have a reason."
"I believe Namine is hypersensitive to Riku's emotions, and that his emotions, especially the negative ones, are triggering the memories in her data which, in turn, trigger her meltdowns."
Cid's brow furrowed in concentration.
"So you're sayin Riku's emotions are causing her meltdowns," he said, finally.
"Yes. That is what I said."
"You could've said it in a way that was easier to understand," Yuffie protested.
Alpha raised his eyebrows at her, but didn't say anything.
"An' how exactly does separating Riku an' Namine test this?" Cid asked.
"Well, we won't be able to get conclusive results in just one week; we'll have to try this same experiment later, possibly multiple times," Alpha said. "But the idea is that, if she doesn't have a meltdown when he's gone, then he's… possibly the cause. Of course, it'd be easier to tell if we separated them for a month, but—"
"That's not going to happen," Aerith laughed. "To be honest, I'm surprised you got them to agree on a week."
"Exactly."
"It wasn't that hard," Riku mumbled.
"You'd think there'd be more efficient ways to test this, though," Cid said.
"This is the only way we can test it with the resources we have, however," Alpha said.
"You really think he's right?" Yuffie asked, turning to Riku.
Riku shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe. He could be." He swallowed. "I'm not taking any chances. I don't want her hurting. Her safety means more to me than anything."
Aerith turned to him, brow creased with concern. "But if this theory is proven correct…" she began. She trailed off, almost like she was afraid to say it.
"I know," Riku said. It didn't bother him. Really.
At least, he'd tell himself that.
"So, I trust you understand why Riku needs to stay here, then?" Alpha said.
Cid nodded. "Yeah."
"Think so!" Yuffie chimed in.
Aerith said nothing.
"And you'll keep him here?" Alpha asked.
"We can certainly try!" Cid replied, laughing slightly.
"I won't go back," Riku sighed. "I already said I wouldn't…"
"Thank you," Alpha said. "I'll be on my way, then." He opened another dark corridor, and was gone.
"Are you really sure about this?" Aerith demanded, rounding on Riku immediately once Alpha was gone. She sounded worried, if not appalled. "From the way it sounded, if he's right and you really are causing her meltdowns, then the only way to stop them—"
"Is to never see her again," Riku finished. "I know."
"You'd really do that?" Cid asked. There was a note of surprise in his voice.
"Riku, you don't have to," Aerith said, quickly, before Riku could answer Cid. "Really. I know we promised we wouldn't let you go back, but- but if you don't want to do this- if you want to go back. I'm not stopping you."
Riku shrugged. "Like I said, her safety means more to me than anything. I'd do anything to keep her from hurting."
"Even never seeing her again?" Aerith asked.
"Yes."
Aerith started to say more, but she paused, bit her lip, and then got up and headed to the kitchen, probably to help Leon or something. Riku didn't mind. He didn't much care, either. He was just happy he didn't have to talk about this anymore. It made him uncomfortable.
But he'd do anything to keep Namine from hurting.
Anything.
"I take it Riku's staying for dinner, then," Leon said, from the kitchen. He wasn't speaking very loud, but Riku heard him without a problem.
"Yeah, seems like it," Aerith replied.
Leon was silent.
Aerith lowered her voice. "We don't have enough pork for him, do we?"
"Not unless someone wants to share…"
"It's alright!" Riku called. "I don't need to eat."
Aerith poked her head out of the kitchen, frowning slightly. "No, Riku—" she began.
"I'm not even hungry," Riku said. "Don't worry about it."
Aerith stared at him for a moment. "You sure?" she asked. "I can always fix you something else."
"No, it's fine. It's not like I even need to—"
A dark corridor opened, stopping him there. Riku sighed and rubbed his head. Great, what did Alpha forget? Or was it Joseph?
"Namine?" Cid asked.
Wait, it was Namine?
Riku turned around, and, sure enough, it was her.
"I'm confused," Yuffie said.
"I'll only be here for a sec," Namine said. "I need to tell Riku something."
He raised his eyebrows. "What do you need to—"
She came over and kissed him on the cheek, stopping him there. He blinked a few times, stunned. More than stunned. She'd never- he'd- he'd never…
To be honest, Riku had no clue what to do with his emotions right now. His heart had skipped a beat or three, and the ability to form coherent thought seemed to have left him.
"It'll be alright, okay?" Namine told him, gently. "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine."
He didn't respond at first, still caught up in the pounding of his heart and the feel of her lips against his cheek. He'd never been—
She'd never done that before. Why now, all of a sudden? It was so… random. Not that he minded. It was… nice. It felt… nice.
It felt… wait. She'd said something to him, hadn't she?
"Uhhh… yeah," he said, nodding. Hopefully that was a valid response. "Okay." He looked over at her. She was smiling, cheeks tinged red, and she giggled slightly. He flushed. He was probably grinning like an idiot. "Um-" he began, but didn't have the chance.
Namine straightened, cleared her throat, and turned in… ah, Cid's direction? Riku wasn't sure and didn't feel like checking at the moment.
"Take care of him," Namine said, sternly.
Riku flushed even redder. He really didn't need… He could take care of himself. Really. But he didn't have the heart to tell Namine to stop. Though he was a little embarrassed, he was actually touched. Namine was worried about him. Not that she should be… but… it was sweet of her.
"We will," Cid said.
Namine nodded. "You better."
Riku glanced up at her. Her brow was furrowed, eyes narrowed slightly, definitely trying to look threatening. He suppressed a chuckle. It was only working so well. Her tone however, was spot on. Even he was scared. Slightly.
"Is that all?" he asked, trying not to smile.
She nodded, flashing a grin at him. "Besides, of course, please don't spend the entire week agonizing over whether or not I'm okay."
"I- I won't."
She beamed. "Good. Because I'll be fine," she told him. She squeezed his shoulder reassuringly. "Oh. And uh…" She bent over, so she was close to his face. His heart leapt, but he tried to contain himself. It's not like anything was going to happen. He was being stupid. "Kill the yellow ones first," she whispered, squeezing his shoulder again, before pulling away.
He frowned. What did that mean? "Kill the… what?" he turned around to inquire her farther, but she was already halfway through the dark corridor.
"See ya!" she called, and was gone.