Chapter 230: really hard

Kairi's footsteps echoed all around her. The place was empty by now. No Nobodies. No Heartless. No people…

She wasn't sure where Riku would be, or what the chances of finding him were, but they seemed higher than the chances of finding Sora. She thought she maybe recognized where she was right now. And she thought that if she just headed this way, then catching up to Riku wouldn't be so hard. She was at least confident she could make it to where she'd last seen him.

As luck would have it, she did find Riku. She ended up coming at him from a different angle than she'd initial expected but, hey. She found him. That's all that mattered.

Correction. What was happening when she found him was all that mattered.

Riku was on his knees. His head in his hands. And—was that Namine?

No!

Kairi stopped trying to process the scene and rushed forward. She threw herself at Namine, sending them both to the ground. Before Namine could recover, Kairi had the sense to pin her to the floor. Had she really been trying to…?

"WHAT WERE YOU DOING!?" Kairi screamed.

She couldn't believe it. Couldn't. Namine'd been trying to kill Riku. Namine had been trying to kill Riku. And Riku wasn't even doing anything about it! Well… that was something she could believe. But that wasn't the point.

Namine was the kindest girl Kairi'd ever known. She wouldn't harm a fly, as far as Kairi could tell. She wouldn't kill someone. Especially not Riku. She cared about Riku too much. And yet…

Here they were.

Kairi, forced to pin Namine to the ground.

Namine, growling and shoving against Kairi's chest, in hopes to get her off.

Riku, behind them, crumpled into a sobbing mess.

Namine'd just tried to kill Riku.

Which meant they'd been too late. Riku'd been too late. Namine'd been Rewritten.

"Get off me!" Namine shouted. She continued pushing against Kairi, but to no avail.

Kairi was suddenly very glad Namine hadn't been big on tickle fights—or any sort of play fight. That meant she didn't know any of Kairi's weaknesses. If this had been Sora, she would've been screwed. He'd probably have managed to push her off and pin her already, honestly.

But this wasn't Sora.

This was Namine.

And while that was a good thing in terms of Kairi having a possible advantage, it was a bad thing for basically every other reason.

"What were you doing?" Kairi repeated, as calmly as possible. Her voice shook—but she wasn't sure if she was angry or about to cry. Maybe it was both.

"Get off me!" Namine screamed back, pounding against Kairi now. "Get off me! I'm supposed to kill him and you aren't going to ruin this!"

Kairi cringed at those words. Before she really thought about it, she slapped Namine across the face.

Her fingers stung. Namine's face contorted into a snarl.

Kairi bit her lip. She didn't regret it. Not really.

"How can you say that?" she choked. Her blood was racing with adrenaline. With fury. But there were tears at the edge of her vision. Seeing Namine like this was horrible.

"She- she was Rewritten," Riku gasped, from behind her. Kairi straightened a little so she could turn and look at him. He'd collapsed completely, his entire body against the floor. His eyes were squeezed shut. His hands curled to fist by his head. As he continued, his words slurred with tears. "She's not…. she's not Namine anymore… she's not…"

That was all he could get out before the sobs hit again.

Kairi chewed her lip for a moment. Then it occurred to her that she was hardly pinning Namine down anymore, and she turned to fix that problem—

—only to be met with a fist to her jaw.

Kairi reeled backwards, and then she was on the ground. She rubbed her jaw, grimacing. When had Namine learned to punch? That'd been a good punch.

In the time it'd taken Kairi to recover and appreciate the punch, Namine'd gotten to her feet. She bent down to pick her blade, taking her sweet time about it. Kairi thought about getting up to prepare for Namine's next attack, but Namine's movements made her reconsider. Namine didn't look like she was going to attack soon. She looked like she was dragging this out on purpose.

Kairi swallowed and scrambled over to Riku. He was in an awful state, whimpering and crying. Kairi chewed her lip again, then threw up a Cure for him. It occurred to her only after she'd cast it that Riku probably hadn't needed a Cure. He didn't appear to be physically harmed. He was just… shaken up. Shaken up in ways a Cure couldn't fix, and Kairi couldn't blame him for.

Seeing Namine like this was…

Kairi shook Riku by the shoulder. "C'mon. Get up," she urged. "C'mon Namine's coming this way you have to fight her!"

Riku just shook his head. "I can't."

"Why not?"

"I can't."

Kairi gritted her teeth. She'd expected this, but it didn't make it any less frustrating.

"Riku—"

"I can't!"

Kairi grunted in annoyance.

"Is that all you can say!?"

"I can't fight her Kairi please don't make me please—nnGH." He cried out in pain, his whole body going rigid. Kairi frowned for a moment, unsure of why he was screaming. Then she saw the electricity dancing across his skin.

She opened her mouth, but then something hit her in the back.

Her heart jolted to a stop. Her thoughts jolted to a stop. Her whole body was on fire.

Then, as quickly as it came, the pain left. Well, the searing agony of the initial blow left. She was still a little tingly, and her skin still burned in places. It wasn't nearly enough pain to stop her, though.

The force of the blow had knocked her to her hands and knees, but she gathered herself up. "Riku, please," she gasped—one last time before she got up to fight Namine herself. One last attempt at pleading with him.

A hand closed around her arm. Namine's grip, though much tighter and crueler than normal. With a strength Kairi didn't know Namine possessed, Namine threw her to the side. Another jolt of lightning went through Kairi. Enough to force her body to collapse and stay down.

Namine didn't even send a glance Kairi's way. Her attention was solely focused on Riku, and she pinned him to the ground with a foot. She aimed her blade at his chest.

"C'mon," she whispered, tauntingly. "C'mon, Riku. Fight me. You heard her. Get up." She kicked him in the side, and he cried out. "I said get up, you worthless piece of—"

"CUT IT OUT!" Kairi cried, throwing herself at Namine again.

Namine was prepared this time.

She sidestepped. Her fist connected with Kairi's eye. Kairi couldn't help the scream that left her mouth. She staggered, and Namine swung again. Her knuckles hit Kairi's mouth this time, and Kairi's teeth jangled with the impact.

Kairi punched back. It felt like she hit Namine in the chest—not very effective. She quickly pulled her arm back before Namine could grab it. Jumped backwards to further get out of Namine's way.

She could hardly see out of her left eye, but she could see enough to catch Namine's fist as it swung at her again. Kairi twisted, hard enough that it probably should've snapped Namine's wrist. It didn't, and Namine didn't seem to be in pain, either.

She grabbed Kairi by the neck with her free hand, and squeezed. Kairi choked, spluttered for air. She dropped Namine's fist. Watched in horror as Namine summoned her blade. Kairi could feel the tip of it pierce her stomach.

"I said stay out of my way," Namine hissed.

And she threw Kairi back.

xxx

It'd been a surprise—though not quite a relief—when Kairi had shown up and directed Namine's attention elsewhere. Riku'd sighed when the pressure of the blade left the back of his neck, but the sigh quickly became a sob. The sob soon became multiple, and Riku buried his face in his hands and curled in on himself.

This couldn't be happening.

He couldn't fight her. Couldn't hurt her. Could hardly move from this spot on the floor, even when Kairi begged. She begged and pleaded but he refused to get up. He couldn't get up. Couldn't fight Namine.

He didn't move when the first—second?—lightning bolt hit him. Didn't move when Namine kicked him in the side and commanded him to. Didn't move when he heard Kairi and Namine fighting. He couldn't.

He couldn't bear the weight of this situation. Living it was much worse than fearing it, and he hadn't given himself much time to fear it. He'd been so adamant—it wasn't going to happen. Except it did. And here he was, unable to stop his blubbering tears and find the strength to get up. Some hero he was.

Kairi yelped as Namine threw her to the ground. Riku waited for her to get up, but she didn't.

He raked his hands down his face. His instincts told him to move. To make sure Kairi was okay, or, at least, out of Namine's line of fire. But he didn't.

So another lightning bolt hit him. Then another. He screamed and dug his teeth into his tongue, trying to keep the memories the pain summoned at bay. They were the last thing he needed right now.

Granted… if he could trigger a Meltdown in Namine…

No. He couldn't do that to her. Not even now.

It's not like it'd save her, anyway, it'd only save him. She was a lost cause. There was no going back from being Rewritten.

"Aren't even gonna try, are ya?" Namine asked, laughing.

Riku opened his eyes to look up at her. She had one hand raised, poised to throw another bolt of lightning. There was a grin on her face. The one she got when she was really excited about a drawing—but she wasn't excited about a drawing now. She was excited about hurting him.

The thought made Riku sick to his stomach, and he was sure he would've puked had there been anything in him.

"That's alright," Namine said. "We can keep this going for a while."

The grin on her face doubled, and she threw the lightning bolt.

One.

Two.

Three total, she threw. Right in a row.

Riku could feel his body convulse, as the lightning surged through his veins and shook him like a ragdoll. It was a familiar feeling, unfortunately, not that it made it any better. In fact, it was worse, because it wasn't Larxene giggling above him. It was Namine.

She was using his weakness against him. The weakness he'd laid bare on the floor in front of her. Trusted her with. He'd never hated himself for being weak more than he did now.

It took him a moment, but soon he realized he wasn't just screaming in agony. There were words in his screams, words he dreaded to hear himself say.

"Namine please don't do this. Namine please you know how much this hurts. Namine please stop it. Stop it stop it I didn't do anything wrong."

Then there was a pause. A relief. It was only when he heard Kairi yelp in pain that he realized she'd taken a blow for him. Riku opened his eyes again and pushed himself up enough to gauge the situation.

Kairi on her knees, facing Namine, but bent over as her body shook with the electricity.

Namine sneering down at the both of them. She didn't look happy to see Kairi, but she also wasn't attacking, either.

"How can you do this?" Kairi gasped. Her voice shook and cracked. Riku wasn't sure if it was the after-effects of the lightning—entirely possible—or just from the emotion of the moment. "How can you enjoy this? He's your best friend and best friends don't hurt each other. They don't enjoy each other's suffering, trust me! Trust me they do not. Namine, you—"

"He's not my friend," Namine interrupted, with a scoff. "I hate him."

Riku whimpered. Squeezed his eyes shut. Tried to keep breathing, though it felt like something was blocking his lungs.

"I don't think you mean that," Kairi said.

"Yes! I do!" Namine replied.

"Namine—"

"I do! I hate him!" The malice in her voice was clear. "He's weak and he's stupid and he disgusts me."

Her words were like blows. Riku clutched at his hair and tried not to scream. The result was a sound similar to a strangled cat leaving his throat. This was too much. This was too painful.

"Namine I don't think you mean what you're saying," Kairi argued.

"I do to! And I mean every word!" Namine shouted. Riku supposed she must've thrown Kairi to the side somewhere in there, because there was her foot in his side again. It couldn't be there if Kairi hadn't been moved.

"Now get up," Namine hissed. "Get up and fight me. Fight me!"

"I can't," Riku told her. "I can't I can't."

"I can kill you right now, if you'd prefer." He felt her move, her weight shifting until she was either squatting or kneeling next to him—he still didn't open his eyes to see. He didn't need to. He could feel her hot breath in his face as she spoke. "I really could. But I at least want a good fight out of you!" She straightened, kicked him in the side again. "So get up and fight me!"