Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon, nor do I own Kingdom Hearts. I'm just a rather creative person with an overactive imagination.

Elemental Hearts - Inside/Outside

Chapter 8: Reflection, Pt 2

"Cura!"

The green leaves of the healing spell burst from the tip of Kouichi's long staff as it thrust up into the air, converging on Riku. The silver-haired boy grinned a bit as the minor wounds across his arms and torso disappeared, but craned his head back to shout at his companion. "Don't wear yourself out on my sake, you got it?"

Kouichi nodded in response, still gripping the staff in his hands. He wasn't particularly well-practiced at healing spells - Mickey had only started him on it a few days before, bypassing some of the so-called 'easier' elemental spells in order to teach something 'in tune with his natural energy' - but he was going to use everything he could to help his friend. Since he couldn't fight particularly well and knew he wouldn't stand a chance against this 'Xantha' fellow, he was going to heal whenever Riku needed it.

And he was needing a lot.

It wasn't exactly that Riku was outmatched, since that had always seemed (and Mickey had always assured him that it always was) virtually impossible. It was just that this…Xantha…character was a bit too much of a match. They were countering each other's every blow, which would have been fine, except that Riku still had a normal human's limitations and stamina, and this 'Xantha' guy didn't seem to.

Not to mention, the surrounding hoards of Heartless throwing in attacks while the silver-haired warrior was distracted weren't helping either.

"Cura!"

Xantha smirked at Riku, blocking another attack in the joint between his knife and his club. "Helpful fella, isn't he? It's really kinda cute."

Riku snarled. "Shut up!"

"Ooh. Touchy." Xantha's eyebrow quirked in curiosity. "You're kinda possessive, huh? Almost as bad as the bandana-boy, his brother, who's just a few therapy sessions short of paranoid. Pretty funny."

Riku did a double-take at that, right into Xantha's elbow, the force of which sent him crashing onto his knees. He sat up and spat a bit of blood, rubbing his busted lip with his hand.

"Riku-kun…!"

"Don't heal!" Riku snapped back, not exactly harsh, but commanding and serious. "Don't waste your energy, Kouichi! It's just a cut, I can handle it!"

The dark-haired boy bit his lip, but nodded in understanding and pulled back, clutching the Staff close to his chest defensively. The knuckles gripping the weapon were white with tension, and his hands shook just a bit.

Xantha smirked. "I think he's scared."

"I thought I told you to shut up." Riku spat, pulling up on one knee just long enough to launch into a hard, thrusting attack. His left leg, pulled up tightly beneath him, acting as a spring to propel his body forward with an extra boost of speed.

But before his Soul Stealer blade could even come close to hitting Xantha, a line of Heartless leapt in the way and killed his momentum enough for the older teen to block. Riku cursed under his breath. "Damn!"

"You're going to have to do better than that." Xantha giggled a bit in a maniacal manner, twirling his machete expertly. "A lot better, lover-boy."

Riku snarled and jumped back several long steps, sliding back to just in front of Kouichi. He took several deep breaths, trying to calm his heart a bit. "He's tough…really tough."

"Riku-kun…" Kouichi reached out slowly and put a hand on the other's shoulder. "I can…I can take over if you need me to."

"No." Riku's voice was low and almost harsh, but there was a definite gaze of compassion in his blue eyes. "Listen, Kou, I've seen you fight. I know you can hold your own. But this guy is tough for me. You can't take him alone."

"Neither can you!"

"I know." Riku blew out through his teeth, his blue eyes scanning. Xantha seemed perfectly happy to let the two talk as long as they needed to - indeed, he seemed to be enjoying it quite a bit, like he was watching some entertaining show, which made the silver-haired boy even more annoyed. "But I can hold him off. I think you should get out of here."

Kouichi looked horrified. "Riku-kun!"

"Auw, c'mon," Xantha snickered, "let the kid fight. I've been wantin' a crack at him for a while now."

Riku growled a bit, now determined that getting Kouichi out of here was the best idea. He reached back with his free hand, keeping the Soul Stealer in place, and grabbed the dark-haired boy by the back of his collar.

"H-Hey!"

"You gotta get out of here." Riku hissed, pulling the smaller boy to the side and towards the Heartless wall. "Get out and get the King, he can help."

Kouichi stumbled as he moved, his head ducked down. "B-But…"

"Firaga!" Riku blasted three weakling Heartless out of the way and gave his companion a hard shove. "Go!"

Kouichi stumbled forward, right through the hole Riku had made. Xantha's expression suddenly changed from amused to angry as he slammed his foot into the ground. "That's not the name of the game!"

Vines shot from the earth around his foot and snapped through the air towards Kouichi. Riku saw them halfway through and pounced, bringing the Soul Stealer down on the vines, slicing them clean in half. "Nice try!"

Kouichi stumbled, his foot caught not by vines, but by a Heartless. He turned in mid-fall and struck out with the Staff, evaporating the Shadow in question, and hit the ground on the other side of the wall. He squirmed out of the Heartless's grip and scrambled to his feat. "Riku-kun!"

"Get moving!" Riku shouted, unseen in the depths of the mob. "Find the King, Mickey, hurry!"

Kouichi hesitated just a moment longer, but when the Heartless turned to eye him almost hungrily, his mind was made up for him. He turned on his heels, picked up the Staff, and ran, hoping beyond hoping that the King was somewhere nearby.

( - ) ( - ) ( - )

Mickey raced through the streets, blasting every Heartless that came into his path. The boys hadn't been where he left them, back in the back alley, carefully hidden where the Heartless would have rarely gone. This was not unexpected, given the nature of your average teenager, but it didn't make it any easier on him when it came to finding them.

"Riku! Kouichi!" He shouted, pausing just a moment to gaze around the street for them. "Where are you? Riku!"

A Neo-Shadow burst out from the darkness of the black wall in response to his call. Mickey leapt back and slashed at it with his Keyblade several times before it finally disappeared.

And, as the dark smoke of the Heartless's demise cleared, another voice echoed down from the end of the long alleyway. "Mickey-san!"

"Kouichi!" Mickey snapped his head towards the sound and darted down the cobbled alleyway. "Kouichi, here!"

After a moment, a dark shape rounded the corner of the alley. Mickey jumped back, his weapon bared, expecting a Heartless, before he realized that the dark shape was topped off with a tuft of blue-black hair. Kouichi was sliding backwards on the force of a spell, his staff held out in front of him defensively, the black clock that he wore for protection rustling around him to hide his body's real form.

"Fira!" A blast of flame shot from the center of the staff, evaporating the first Heartless it hit in a puff of black smoke. "Fira!"

Mickey, after pausing only a moment in a sort of proud admiration of how quickly the boy had mastered his first (and currently, only) offensive spell, dash forward and brought his Keyblade down on the mob of Heartless following his friend.

Kouichi sighed in visible relief. "Mickey-san."

Mickey gave the boy a sideways grin, but it soon turned serious once more. "Are you all right? Where's Riku?"

"He's…Riku's in trouble." Kouichi gasped a bit, trying to get his heartbeat to slow down, putting a hand to his chest. "There's this…guy, somebody I've never seen before, but the Heartless follow him. They do what he says, and he's really strong. I'm not sure how long Riku can hold out.

The King whistled slightly. It had been a long time since he'd met someone who was even half as strong as Riku. This was serious.

"Well then, come'on!" He piped, pushing past the boy in a confident, yet polite and encouraging, manner. "Let's get moving! He's going to need our help!"

( - ) ( - ) ( - )

Riku hissed, sliding back a few feet from Xantha's snapping vines. He could feel the Heartless practically breathing down his neck, chattering wildly, after his blood, his Heart…

"Getting a little scared there, are yeh?" Xantha smirked and giggled a bit, sounding drunk on the power of having someone else at his mercy. "I don't blame yeh, buddy. Looks like you're really out of your league here."

Riku smirked, despite the growing pain of an open shoulder room. "You need to get your eyes checked. I'm in a league of my own."

Xantha also quirked his mouth into a smirk, and Riku cursed. He'd seen through his bluff. That meant that the only chance he had right now was for Mickey to arrive, but he couldn't even know if Kouichi had…

"Riku!"

The cry rang out just seconds before a small black-and-red cannonball flew over the wall of Heartless, rotating rapidly. It uncurled a moment before it hit the ground, revealing large yellow shows, a long golden Keyblade, and big, friendly-looking round ears.

Riku sighed in relief. "Mickey."

The King twisted around and winked at his friend brightly. "I guess I can't leave you two alone at all, can I?"

Riku grinned back, but his eyes narrowed. "Where's Kouichi? Isn't he with you?"

"He's on the other side of the wall - safe, don't worry." Mickey shifted his weight into the balls of his feet and shifted around to face the black-haired teen. "We've got bigger fish to fry, now. This is the middle of a fight!"

Xantha locked eyes with him and raised an eyebrow in consternation. "What the hell? Another of those stupid keys? And what's with the rat?"

"Rat!" Riku exclaimed, taking the comment against the King as a personal affront. "Watch your tongue!"

He lunged at Xantha, jumping nimbly over a small Shadow that tried to prevent him from doing so. The black-haired teen blocked the attack, catching it in the junction between his two weapons and pushing the silver-haired boy back.

"You call that an attack? Please." He rolled his eyes. "You're just rehashing your old stuff."

Riku spat off to one side. "Like you're doing any better?"

Xantha's smirked widened slowly. "A lot better, wing-boy."

Before he could really understand what was implied by his opponent's words, something yanked at Riku's ankle and pulled the foot out from under him, causing the silver-haired boy to fall flat on his back. A pained glance downward revealed that 'something' to be a violently-green vine, protruding from the cobblestone streets to squeeze his leg in a death grip.

"Try all you want to get away." Xantha giggled manically, his conniving smirk returning once more in confidence. "But it won't work. My vines are as strong as a steal chain. You're not getting away from me!"

He lunged forward, machete raised and about to come down on the boy sprawled in front of him. Riku grunted lightly and reached for his own blade, but the Soul Stealer was too far away for him to reach and the vine bound too tightly for him to get it off…

Mickey slashed at the Heartless, spinning in mid-attack to find his friend in danger. "Riku!"

"Riku-kun!" Kouichi gasped from beyond the dark wall, his blue eyes widening in horror as the blade grew closer and closer. "Riku-kun!"

"No helping him now!" Xantha crowed, coming in for the attack. "Now, DIE!"

Without anything else to do, Riku uselessly lifted his bandaged left arm to block the attack as best he could, with the vane hope that perhaps the bone of his arm would stop the blade before it reached his body…His eyes clenched closed, prepared for the crippling pain as the limb was half-severed away…

A blinding light seared past his eye lids, and the next thing he heard was Xantha's voice. "What the bloody hell?"

It was followed by Kouichi's gasp, from much closer than before. "Riku-kun!"

Riku snapped his eyes open. The Heartless were gone, fleeing from the light, the wall of them had basically evaporated, which explained why Kouichi was now only a few feet away and hurrying closer every second. Mickey, too, was free from his duties of attack and racing to his friend's side.

But, most surprisingly, the blade of the machete had been stopped, but not by Riku's arm. Or, should we say, not by Riku's arm alone.

There was something new mounted there, a concave green disk made of a thick, strong metal that Riku had never seen before. It was sturdy, yet light, and felt almost as though there was nothing there at all, not even the smooth, reflective surface where Xantha's machete was now held in a perfect counter.

The older teen's face was contorted in rage and shock. "What the hell?"

"Back off!" Riku was momentarily surprised by Kouichi's harsh tone, and then even more so as the end of the Staff shot straight over his head and caught Xantha under the chin with an obviously-painful shock. The tall dark-haired boy stumbled back, clutching his face and crying out in pain.

Kouichi took a deep, steadying breath, as though that one action had taken far too much out of him, then pulled the staff back and dropped down next to his friend. "Riku-kun, are you all right?"

"Huh?" Riku blinked once, still mildly in shock from seeing his otherwise gentle companion react in such an aggressive way, took a while to respond. "Oh, yeah…fine."

Kouichi's eyes softened with a soft sigh of relief, before they fell on the green item and widened a bit again. "Riku-kun, that shield…"

"Argh!" Screamed Xantha, pulling his hands away from his now bright-red chin, glaring knives with diamond-laced blades. "You little bastard! You're gonna pay for that one! Heartless!"

There was no response, unless you consider a cricket creak a response.

Mickey's light-hearted chuckle rang through as the King stepped forward from behind the attacking teen. "There's no Heartless around anymore. They all ran off scared. Looks like it's just you and us, now."

Xantha snarled at him over his shoulder. "Stay out of this, rat."

"Rat?" Kouichi sounded just as insulted as Riku had a few moments before. "He's not a rat!"

Mickey had to smile.

"Like I care." Xantha snapped, and twisted his wrist. "I'll still take you down!"

Vines shot from the sleeve of his robe, aimed directly at the two boys. Riku, yanking the remains of the vines from his leg, grabbed Kouichi by one shoulder and pushed in front of the other boy, raising his new shield. The silver surface shown, just long enough for the vines to disappear inside, then glazed over. A second later, it shimmered again like a disturbed pool of water, and the vines snapped back out, flying across the battlefield and barreling towards their former wielder.

"What the freakin'…" was all Xantha could get out before his own weapons slammed into his shoulders and sent him flying. Vines, master and all flew across the cobbled streets, barely missing Mickey as he jumped out of the way, and crashed through the wall of the nearest building.

"You got him!" Kouichi beamed excitedly.

"Yeah…no kidding." Riku blinked at his new tool once more before a serious expression crossed his face. "But let's make sure it's for good. Come on."

He was on his feet again in an instant, snatching up the Soul Stealer before the trio darted over to the now-clearing debris. The wing-shaped sword and the Keyblade both aimed at the apex of the dispersing dust, waiting for an attack of some kind, as Kouichi hovered just behind as a second line of defense.

But nothing happened. Xantha was no longer there.

"What the heck?" Riku exclaimed, lowering his blade. "Where the hell is he?"

Mickey shrugged, bouncing into the rubble to stand exactly where their opponent had landed. "He ran off. Looks like you scared him, Riku?"

"I scared him?" Riku lifted an incredulous eyebrow. "No way. He's got something else up his sleeve, just you wait."

"Maybe." Kouichi said softly, reaching up to touch the other's tense arm in a gentle, caring manner. "But you did a really good job, Riku-kun. You reflected that attack your first try."

"I didn't." Riku lifted the shield. "This thing did it on its own!"

"But it needed you to do that."

Mickey's eyebrow perked curiously. "How'dya know that, Kouichi?"

Kouichi blushed lightly, obviously not meaning to draw attention to himself, and looked down at his feet. "Well, it's jus that…I've seen that shield before. I think it's from the same place as my…Staff. I guess I just figured it'd work the same way."

"Seems like a good guess to me." Mickey grinned brightly, rocking back on his heels. "And that means Riku can't get rid of it, neither, seeing as the Staff just refuses to leave you alone!"

The black staff trembled a bit, as did the shield, almost like they were resonating with each other or agreeing to Mickey's statement, or both. Riku jumped at the strange feeling, but gave a sheepish little smile as Kouichi began to giggle.

However, their time of peace was cut short rather quickly, as the sound of massive chattering built up behind them and started to get closer and closer. The unmistakable sound of the city's resident Heartless, the ones that hadn't been scared away by the light of the Shield's arrival, racing back to find out what had happened to their brethren and to their marketplace.

"Time to go, boys!" Mickey piped, and took off with a hop, skip and jump to get a little extra power. The two young men wasted no time in agreeing and quickly took off after him.

"Hey, wait a second, Mickey! Where the heck did you run off too?"

"Later, Riku, later!"

( - ) ( - ) ( - )

Beryl sneered at the sunlight refracting in from through the thinnest layers of crystal. She hated windows, especially the ones in this place. No matter how her spells at away at it, the bloody castle seemed determined to be as bright and shiny as possible. At least now the spectrum of colors was in somewhat pleasing dark shades, rather than the dancing pastels that blasted girl seemed so fond of.

Her tall heels clicked against the smooth floor as she advanced steadily down the hall, anticipation growing. At the end of the hallway rested her prizes, the Legendary Weapons that she had retrieved, alone. They were hers to bind, now.

Sure, she hadn't been able to gather them all, but five out of ten was a very good number, especially when you considered that she had taken one of their owners along with the initial snag. The boy was in cold stasis, frozen in the moment of time that she had snatched him, unconscious, from the Corridors he floated through so aimlessly. He couldn't know that his world was long gone, he didn't even know that he'd been her crowning achievement, posed there with his Item in place like a grand statue.

Yes…She was almost there now. She paused just a moment to relish the feeling of the smooth purple doors before she pushed them open with both hands.

And then she stopped. And stared. And then…

She screamed bloody murder.

TBC…

Riku's new weapon is the Metaru Defender, also known as the Steel Shield, and yes, it's one of the Ten. For those of you asking, "What took the shield so damn long?" wait until you hear the rest of Beryl's screaming in Chapter 15 of KoEH. Then you'll get it.