AN/ This is a special chapter! Yay! It's loosely based off a prompt which was like "what would your characters do to finish the story if you vanished all of a sudden" and I'll link you to the post and my initial thoughts about it on the blog

But besides being loosely based on that prompt this chapter is largely just a present to me where I said "frik the rules" and had fun. (No regrets. Except maybe that that one joke didn't turn out as good as initially intended...)

OH AND ONE MORE THING I'M SORRY I wrote this about a month ago meaning I was at the Desolation of Smaug Premiere "at the time" but I honestly didn't go see it last night I saw it a month ago jsyk

Ch119 ~ what really happened

(we went back and fixed it later)

"…probably can't," Alpha was saying. Namine attempted to focus her concentration on that instead. "Why would the Organization waste time and energy going after Namine when they have Roxas and he's just as capable of… y'know. Killing you." He looked directly at Riku. "We've been over this."

"We have," Namine agreed, but her voice cracked a little. "I didn't like this discussion," she added, to cover it up.

She didn't like the discussion because they'd discussed the chances of her being rewritten. One of her other nightmares.

"They aren't going to kidnap her." Alpha's voice. In her head. "…the whole purpose of kidnapping her… to Rewrite her to—"

"Are you saying… that he'd Rewrite me to—"

To kill Riku.

She bit her lip. She could feel the memories pounding in her—

Wait a minute.

Her tense shoulders slumped, and she narrowed her eyes into a confused squint. She sat there for a moment, crinkling her nose, but nothing changed. Her mind was empty—at least, of memories, anyway.

"Namine?" Riku asked, worried.

"Ah…" Namine dragged the word out, still confused. "…it stopped." She said, after a moment.

Alpha looked up from what he was doing, eyes wide. "The meltdown? That quickly?"

"Well it didn't like… stop…" Namine explained, wiggling her fingers in front of her as she searched for the words. "It… uh… …I ran out of memories?" She shrugged. "Like, uh… well."

She was saved from having to explain—at least for the moment—because Joseph suddenly came running into the room, screaming incoherently at the top of his lungs. He shoved past three different Vexens and one of the Marluxias before launching himself over one of the couches, running across one of the tables, and then finally stopping himself against the couch Alpha was sitting on.

"We've lost contact with rar!" he gasped, panting for air.

"That!" Namine said, pointing at him. "That is what my problem is!"

"Since when do you need rar to prompt your meltdowns?" Alpha asked.

"Since this one was only happening for Plot Purposes and no other reason, meaaaaning it was a little… clunky?" Namine shrugged. "Or it will be? Maybe it won't be. I don't know. We won't know until we get contact back again."

"What do you mean we've lost contact?" Riku demanded, getting to his feet. "We don't just lose contact with her! Does she have a friend over?"

Joseph shook his head.

"Been playing a lot of video games?" Riku asked.

"She hasn't gotten any new ones recently, so no," Joseph replied.

"Sleeping?"

"Nope. It was way too sudden for that. Also we get warning about sleep and don't actually completely lose contact with her when she is sleeping."

Riku threw his hands up in the air. "Then what happened?"

"I don't know!" Joseph replied, throwing his hands up in the air, too. "I figured you might know?"

Riku shook his head, looking horrified. "Has something happened to her?"

Joseph just shrugged and shook his head again. "I don't know."

Riku raked a hand through his hair, distraught. "She hasn't like… died?"

"We would've noticed," Namine said. "We definitely would've noticed if she were… yeah. We would know." She nodded once. Then nodded again.

Riku bit his knuckle, pacing back and forth. "She's probably not dead… but what if something else happened to her?" he mumbled around his hand. "What if… or if… …anything could've… especially with how she's… and there's…"

"Riku." Namine got up, grabbed him by the arm to stop him from pacing, then pulled his hand away from his mouth. "You're going to bite that finger off…"

"I'm sure it's nothing to serious," Joseph said, grinning.

"Then why'd you run in here screaming like that?" Riku shouted, rounding on him.

Joseph took a step back. "Because….?" He shrugged, slowly, looking guilty. "I was worried too?"

"She should get back to us soon," Namine said. "…right?"

Riku sighed, rubbed his forehead. "Yeah, hopefully."

X

Meanwhile with Shad

"Ugh how much longer?" he groaned, pacing back and forth. The seconds couldn't tick by fast enough. "What was it supposed to be? Four, five—"

Wait.

He paused, straightening. There was a sudden… emptiness in the back of his mind. And not a bad emptiness, like his lack of connection with Sora—though that was still absent—but a good emptiness.

Slowly, a grin spread across his face.

"Fuck yeah," he whispered, and vanished.

xxx

He reappeared in, well, he wasn't sure what world it was. He just knew it was the world where Sora was currently staying. If rar wasn't here to stop him, then rar wasn't here to stop him. He could see Sora.

He found Sora—and, unfortunately, Cloud—sitting near a wall that looked like it was surrounding a Castle. Or a town? But weren't there supposed to be moats around those sort of places? There was no moat here, just a lot of dirt and grass.

Cloud was sitting on a nearby rock, working on something with his hands. It almost looked like he was carving something out of wood. Sora was sitting on the ground near the wall, a phone held to his ear. He wasn't talking, just listening.

Sora's Shadow slowly snuck up to Sora. Cloud was too engrossed with his woodwork to notice, and Sora had his eyes closed. He reached out, a smile growing on his face, and tapped Sora on the shoulder.

"Boo," he whispered.

Sora dropped the phone, jumped about three feet in the air, and quickly scrambled away from him, kicking up a bit of mud as he did so. His Shadow couldn't help the grin that spread across his face.

"Wh- what are you doing here?!" Sora demanded, straightening. "It's- it's not-" He frowned, hard. "I- I thought it was your wolf that- Disney Castle. And. It's not even time yet?" He squinted.

Sora's Shadow dropped to the ground, placing his hands on either side of Sora's knees. He leaned forward, keeping himself in not-quite Sora's personal space.

"We've lost contact with rar," he said, with a smirk.

"Oh." Sora's face went blank. He blinked a few times. "And you came to tell me?"

"More like… I came to bug you because she couldn't tell me no."

He smirked a little wider, running his tongue over the side of his lips.

Sora grimaced. "Oh…"

He scooted backwards a little. His Shadow immediately lunged forward, so he was nearly on top of Sora, and their noses were bumping together. Sora's breath quickened. His own heart started racing.

"Wh- what are you doing?" Sora stammered, leaning back as far as he could to put distance between them.

"Bugging you."

X

and suddenly Sora's POV!

"Well can you not?" Sora snapped, scrambling further backwards.

"What's the matter?" his Shadow laughed, inching closer.

"Y- you're freaking me out!" Sora gasped. It was hard to breathe, and he didn't like how his heart was racing, nor did he like the sly and way-too-pleased grin on his Shadow's face.

"Oh?"

In a flash Sora found himself pressed up against the wall, his Shadow's fist gripped around his shirt. Sora let out a groan of pain, but it was quickly lost. His Shadow pressed his other hand against his chest, pushing him into the wall.

"I'm just getting started…" his Shadow whispered, leaning in close so his mouth was by Sora's ear.

Sora's eyes went wide. "Let go of me!"

"Oh, so we're starting that now, are we?"

"Starting!?"Sora tried to shove his Shadow off of him, liking this position a lot less than their previous one. "We- we don't even- you don't- I- I said let go of me!"

"Why?" His Shadow's voice was quiet, almost impossible to hear, except they were way too close to each other. He rested his forehead against Sora's cheek, his breath hot on Sora's neck. He chuckled, lightly. "Am I making you uncomfortable?"

Sora squirmed under him. Yes he was uncomfortable. Yes. Their proximity was weird not to mention unwanted, and the fact that it made his stomach get butterflies only made it worse.

His Shadow just laughed again, enjoying himself. He nuzzled his face against Sora's neck, and Sora went rigid, knees shaking. He bit his lip to avoid making any noise, but it was hard. This felt… nice. Except- no. No that was his Shadow. The boy- being… person… thing that had repeatedly tried to drag him into darkness, beat him, hurt him. His face stung at the memory.

And now his Shadow was trying to… seduce him. Into darkness? Or he hoped that was going to be the end result of this if it continued, though nagging information in the back of his head told him otherwise.

"Wh- what's all this about, any- anyway?" he stammered, cringing. He couldn't even speak straight. Whatever his Shadow was planning on, he seemed to be succeeding. Between where his Shadow was and his warm breath and body heat and how Sora could feel his heart pounding through their chests—

Between that- between that and—no. It was entirely that. He couldn't think straight because of it and it was awful. He shouldn't be enjoying this—not that he really was. Exactly.

"Well, without rar here…" his Shadow murmured, pushing him harder into the wall and pressing their bodies together. "No one can stop me…"

"Maybe you should think twice about that."

Cloud pulled Sora's Shadow off of him, and Sora let out a sigh of relief, slumping to the ground. The air around him was easier to breathe. He wasn't pinned, his lungs weren't constricted, and his heart was—

"I wasn't going to hurt him!" his Shadow screamed.

The scream pierced the air, pierced Sora, like an arrow to his heart or a blow to his stomach. He couldn't breathe again. Those six words had choked all the air from his lungs.

In that split-second following the scream he felt what his Shadow felt. He felt the fury and the pain at the fact that Cloud would even suggest such a thing as hurting Sora. Hurting him. He felt the embarrassment and the anger at the fact that such words had even slipped from his Shadow's tongue. Because those were words he was not supposed to say not supposed to admit to and—

And underneath it all, Sora felt something else that made his stomach churn. Because buried underneath all those emotions was a slight hint of… no. It was absurd. His Shadow—the boy who laughed at him and mocked him and beat him and hurt him—couldn't possibly be capable of that emotion. Especially not towards him. It was… absurd! It was…

Painful.

Sora clutched his chest.

Cloud was frowning down at Sora's Shadow, eyes narrowed in confusion. "Then…" he began, slowly. "If you…"

He didn't finish the question, but Sora had a good feeling he knew what it was. "If you wouldn't hurt Sora, then… what?" What would a Shadow do if not hurt their host? Maybe Sora knew the answer to that question. He didn't want to though.

The sight of his Shadow bent over with his forehead touching the ground and his fists balled around the grass and shaking—it was too much. Too awful. Too painful. It made him want to retch. How could someone regret six words so much?

And if his Shadow really hadn't been intending on hurting him…

He didn't want to think about it.

And, thankfully, his Shadow vanished—disappeared from the world like he tended to do—so Sora didn't have to look at him anymore.

"I've never known a Shadow to…" Cloud began, sitting back down on his rock. Then he shook his head.

Sora didn't say anything. The less he dwelled on this, the better. If he didn't think about it, he couldn't admit that—no. He wouldn't think about it.

X

aaaaaand back to Riku!

Riku stopped his pacing at the distinct sound of a dark corridor opening. Just what he didn't need right now. Interruptions. He looked up to see who it was, and immediately scrunched his face in disgust. It was 37 and L.

"What are they doing here?" he asked.

"I was actually wondering the same thing," L said, crossing her arms and turning up her nose. "We're, what, ten chapters too early? Were we even supposed to show up for that?"

"Has Sora been to Disney Castle yet?" 37 asked. He looked as displeased to be here as L did.

"No," Riku replied.

"Then we shouldn't be here!" L said.

"I agree with you on that one…" Riku muttered. "Any reason why you are here?"

"Joseph said it was important," 37 answered, nodding at the boy.

Joseph shrugged. "I figured maybe if we started doing things we could get rar's attention?" he said, smiling sheepishly.

Riku groaned. "Joseph there are more effective ways to do that and we aren't even at this part yet!"

"So?" Joseph rolled his eyes. "What's the problem with getting it written sooner?"

"Rar was really looking forward to the Disney Castle sequence, though," Namine said, looking up from her drawing. "If we really want to get her attention then we should go tell Sora to get started with that."

"Have we lost contact with rar?" 37 asked, brow furrowed with suspicion.

"It's just a blip," Riku said, firmly. "She'll get back to us before the day is out. Maybe she's focusing on some notafic stuff or something. It wouldn't be the first time."

"But we've never completely lost contact with her!" Joseph argued, pouting.

"Wait, if rar's gone…" L said, slowly, then turned to 37. "We could always, y'know, just. Leave."

"Or I could kill you now," Riku suggested. "Get it over with."

They both sent him a really dirty look.

"Riku, no," Namine said, grabbing him by the arm. "You don't need to kill her."

"Well it's going to happen before Dead Inside's over," he replied. "I don't see the problem in getting it done with now."

"I do," L said, crinkling her nose.

"Besides, what happens when rar comes back?" 37 asked. "How would she respond to find out you'd killed L?"

"She'd understand." Riku chuckled. "Better than she would you two running off."

37 glared. "Ah… she'd have to find us first," he said.

"Pff! You can't hide from her!"

"Lexaeus has managed."

Riku opened his mouth to argue, then closed it. 37 had a point there…

"Regardless!" Namine said. "You two should go. Doesn't matter where, so long as you're not here."

"She has a point…" 37 said.

"What a waste of time," L groaned.

And they were gone.

"That really wasn't one of your best ideas, Joseph," Namine said, shooting a look at him. "It didn't take a lot of convincing to make them leave, but what if we hadn't been able to? What then?"

"I was hoping to get rar's attention!" Joseph replied, a whine creeping into his voice.

"What for?" I asked, yawning.

"Rar!" Riku exclaimed, immediately scooping me up in a hug. "I was so worried!"

I stood there for a second, a little confused, before returning the hug. "I was… just… at the Desolation of Smaug premiere?" I said, slowly.

"Oh," Namine said, then added: "He assumed the worst."

Riku let go of me. "Well-"

"You were just at a movie?" Joseph asked, face scrunched up in something between confusion and a pout. "But we completely lost contact with you!"

"Well, between hanging with friends, it being midnight, and being completely engrossed in a movie for two and a half hours…" I shrugged. "I dunno. Movies are really distracting though…"

"But we completely lost contact with you," Riku repeated. "Completely."

I shrugged again. "Heck if I know! …nothing bad happened while I was gone, right?"

Riku, Namine, and Joseph exchanged looks before they all shook their heads.

"No, nothing bad!" Joseph said.

I frowned, not sure if I believed it. "Maybe I should check on Sora…"