Chapter 186: A Friendly Duel

Joseph lead them through the halls, surprisingly, not in the direction of the Main Room. Riku cast a glance over at Namine, trying to remember why she'd come with. If Axel was here… and it wasn't a good thing… it could be dangerous.

She smiled at him. He smiled back.

"Oi!" Joseph called. "Stop staring at each other and let's go!"

"Sorry," Riku mumbled, focusing his eyes forward again. He was grinning.

Namine giggled.

They were obviously getting close, because now Riku could hear Axel. Well. Not Axel. Vexen, whom he assumed was talking to Axel.

"Why in the worlds does Xemnas need me?" Vexen asked. "His Program is perfectly functional!"

They turned the corner, and there Axel and Vexen were. Standing in the middle of the hallway. Vexen had his shield summoned already, likely anticipating a fight. Axel had his chakrams out, though, so maybe he couldn't blame Vexen for anticipating that fight. Oh, and Roxas was here! He had his Keyblade summoned—it was a different Keyblade than the one he'd had last time…—and was twirling it in his hand, clearly bored.

"Heck if I know why he wants you!" Axel said, laughing a little. "I'm just following orders."

Oh was that why he was here? Riku grimaced. He wasn't so sure if he cared enough to help Vexen—

"Roxas!" Axel called.

"Riku!" Namine shouted.

He turned to her, though his brain knew that was the exact opposite way he should be looking. His ears at least registered the sound of Roxas swinging his blade down, and he was somehow able to get his own blade up to block in time.

Riku looked at Roxas, then back at Namine. She rolled her eyes, but was smiling a little. And she wasn't hurt—though how could she be, when he'd blocked the blow? Joseph was giving him a very definite what-the-heck-was-that? look.

"Riku, what are you doing here?" Vexen asked.

Riku would've turned to him, but it was farther than he wanted to move his head.

"I- uh, Joseph said you needed help?" he said.

"I thought you—"

"Roxas, lay off him a little, will you?" Axel said.

"Aw, c'mon, Axel!" Roxas laughed, slowly forcing his weight on Riku, trying to break his defenses. "What's a little friendly duel gonna hurt? You just keep going with the mission!"

Riku frowned at Roxas. Something seemed… different about him? Though, last time they'd interacted, Roxas hadn't been much more than a blank sheet. Now he had memories and personality again. Of course he'd be different.

Roxas backed off, then, snapping into his fighting stance immediately. Riku slowly sunk into his. He didn't exactly wanted to be here. He'd rather still be with Namine…

He turned and flashed her another smile. She smiled back at him, before her eyes went wide.

Riku just barely managed to dodge out of the way of Roxas this time. He looked up, and his eyes went wide, too, as Roxas chucked his Keyblade at him. He brought up his blade to block. Roxas's blade hit with more force than he'd expected, though, and he grunted, stumbling back.

Roxas's blade flew back to his hand, and he caught around the middle. Riku frowned at that. Since when did you—

"Don't get yourself killed!" Namine called. She sounded worried. "Please!"

"I'll try not to!" Riku told her. He was laughing, for some reason. He blocked Roxas, turned and grinned at her again.

"Riku! Focus!" Joseph shouted, exasperated.

Riku just kept laughing.

"Roxas, go a little easier on him!" Axel called. It sounded like he was laughing, too.

The room got very hot all of a sudden. Axel'd sent a large blast of fire in Vexen's direction. Apparently they'd started fighting, too. Riku winced and jumped out of the way of the backlash of Axel's attack, and then had to block Roxas again.

"I thought you were worried about me fighting him!" Roxas laughed. He jumped back, stabbed at Riku.

Riku jumped to the side, brought his blade down. Roxas blocked it, counterattacked. Riku took a couple steps backwards, blocking each of Roxas's strikes. At this rate, Roxas was going to back him into the wall.

He shot a look over at Namine. Grinned. He was having so much trouble keeping his mind off of her. He just wanted to be alone with her again. Sitting next to her… breathing her air… as she grinned up at him, giggling—

"Oh my gosh, Riku, he's gonna kill you!" Namine called. She wasn't exactly giggling, but she didn't seem too worried, either.

"He said it was a friendly duel!" Riku said, turning his attention back to Roxas. He ducked out of the way of the next swing, and took a stab at Roxas. Roxas parried it without a problem.

"Hey!" Joseph piped up. "Maybe I should take Namine out of here, yeah? So she can't get hurt?"

"I'm sure I'll be—" Namine began.

"So we're not in the way," Joseph continued, without dropping a beat. He lowered his voice, directing this next bit at Namine, but Riku still heard it regardless. "So Riku can focus."

Riku flushed. It wasn't that he couldn't focus! He just… was focusing on the wrong things? Was focusing on Namine… the thought of them…

He looked over at her, and she smiled at him.

"Please don't die," she said, meeting his eyes. "I—"

"I know!" he laughed, still grinning. "I'll be careful!"

Joseph dragged her off before she could say anymore. Riku found himself a little disappointed… but now she couldn't get hurt. That was a good thing.

Or he told himself that. Sure, it was great that she wouldn't get hurt, but now he felt like smiling less. Now the air around him felt more serious. His heartbeat echoed in his ears.

He rolled out of the way of Roxas's next attack. He botched the roll, though, and it took him longer than it should've to get himself straightened and on his feet again. When he looked up, he was surprised to see Roxas imitating his stance. And, even stranger, he couldn't pick out a single thing wrong with it.

He shook his head, trying to not think too hard about it. He was already spacing out over Namine… He couldn't afford to let this distract him any further.

They circled each other for a moment, and Riku couldn't help himself.

"How are you doing that?" he asked.

"It's not hard!" Roxas replied, grinning, smugly.

"Let's see how you fight like that, then!" Riku called.

Just because he could imitate the stance didn't mean he could—

Except he could fight like that. Exactly like Riku. Roxas'd rushed forward and executed a combo, all while imitating Riku perfectly.

Thankfully, Riku'd fought Real Thing enough to be able to anticipate his own attacks used against him, and he was able to block. But that didn't make him any less surprised.

"Holy…"

Roxas just chuckled, smirking.

"Did you see that!?" Vexen shouted.

Riku looked over at him, wondering who he was talking to. Or what he was talking about… But Vexen's eyes were fixed on Roxas. No surprise. Well, it was a surprise that Roxas had been able to imitate Riku's attack pattern perfectly, but not a surprise that it surprised Vexen.

"Of course I saw it!" Axel laughed. "Hey Roxas? Do the- the- the—" he threw his chakram at Vexen "—thing!"

Riku turned to Roxas, dreading this a little. Roxas waited until Vexen'd blocked Axel's chakram. Then, in one swift movement, he chucked his Keyblade at Riku, like he'd done earlier.

Riku rolled out of the way this time.

Roxas caught his Keyblade, and twirled it under his fingers.

"How did you—?" Vexen began. "How is- that shouldn't be—ack!"

Axel'd thrown another large amount of fire at him. Vexen was able to block almost all of it with his shield, though.

This could be a long battle…

Unless.

Riku took a step back and threw himself into Dark Aura.

Vexen yelped. Axel swore. Roxas dodged out of the way of the first strike, but Riku was fairly certain the next one hit. And the next one.

Riku's feet touched the ground, and he grinned, feeling smug.

Roxas was kneeling on the ground, probably in pain.

But then he laughed.

Axel jumped backwards and out of the way.

Riku should've taken that as a cue to get out of the way, too, but all he could do was stare. Roxas straightened and then he launched into Dark Aura. (Well, it looked more light than dark, but the attack was otherwise the same.)

Riku swore and rolled out of the way. And rolled again. And again. And again and again and again. And then he jumped out of the way of all the pillars of darkness—no, pillars if light that shot up from the ground, signaling the end of the attack.

Roxas touched the ground, grinning.

Axel was laughing.

Furious, Riku threw himself at Roxas, shoving darkness into his blade and bringing it crashing down. Roxas jumped out of the way, and then immediately repeated the attack, but with light.

"Idiot—Riku!" Vexen called. "He's going to keep doing that! Stop giving him a larger arsenal of attacks!"

"I- oh." Riku frowned. "Yeah, I should've. Thought that… through."

Unfortunately, he hadn't been doing a lot of thinking since this battle had started.

Roxas laughed and pulled the attack again. Mid-air, though, an icicle hit him and knocked him to the ground. He rolled out of it and was on his feet within seconds, but now he was glaring.

"Alright, what's with all this fighting?" he demanded, looking over at Axel. "Just grab him and let's go!"

He seemed impatient.

"That makes two of us," Riku muttered.

He didn't want to be here. He wanted to be with Namine…

Riku shook his head, trying to clear it.

"Easier said than—ng—done!" Axel called, as he skidded backwards. Vexen'd thrown some sort of attack at him. It looked ice-based.

It wasn't working too well.

As much as Riku wanted to focus, he couldn't. He kept seeing Namine in his mind's eye. Smiling. Blushing. Looking up at him, and… and the feel of her lips—

No!

No, he had to focus.

Roxas was rushing at him.

He'd better block…

But Namine. And—

And was that blood?

That brought him to his senses quickly. There was a sharp pain in his shoulder… but he wasn't bleeding. Roxas was.

In fact, Roxas wasn't just bleeding, he was on the ground. Blood was starting to pool around him. It'd already stained his cloak.

Riku took a step back, looking down at his blade. Yup. Bloody.

Roxas groaned and pushed himself up, staggering a little, using his Keyblade for support. There was a large gash in his side, from the looks of it. His cloak kept getting in the way, though. He slowly took his fighting stance, eyes narrowed.

"I'm gonna—hey!"

Axel'd picked Roxas up and slung him over his shoulder. Roxas kept protesting, but Axel said nothing. He just looked at Riku, eyes filled with fury.

"I- I didn't mean to-"

Axel looked over at Vexen.

"You were in the World that Never Was?" he asked.

"What?" Vexen was clearly too shocked to answer that.

"Axel, put me down!" Roxas shouted.

Axel ignored him. "You were there, right?"

"I- yes!" Vexen nodded.

"You took the external back, didn't you?"

Vexen nodded again. "I- I did. Yes."

"Right." Axel looked over his shoulder at Roxas, who was still struggling and protesting, not to mention still bleeding quite a bit. "Can we use your Repair Program?"

"What? Why would we—"

"Good frik, Roxas! Shut up! You're gonna struggle yourself to death!"

"I'm—"

"Can we use it or not!?" Axel shouted, trying to be heard over the still struggling Roxas. "I'll- I won't report you to Xemnas."

"What!? Axel!"

Roxas was ignored again.

"Really?" Vexen asked.

"Yeah."

Axel seemed a little uncomfortable, but he glanced over at Roxas again, and his face hardened into determination.

"Let's go" Vexen said, banishing his shield and starting off.

Axel followed him.

After a moment, Riku slowly followed, too. He figured he might as well make sure Roxas turned out okay. It's not like he'd meant to injure him…