Jazzerman here, I do not own any of these characters, they are owned by their respected companies, as many as there are. You've heard this crap before. I DO own the OCs. If you'd like to use them in a fic, just tell me.

Am I Heartless?

Part 5

As the fight raged on Sora and Riku resorted to using their combined efforts to perform Eternal session, demolishing nearly half of the Heartless upon the combo's finishing move. Donald continued to use his magic to attack the Heartless and defend himself and Goofy, who was his shield to bash any Heartless that got near him. Orin was slashing with his newly acquired claws. However Orin wasn't really fighting because he was being threatened by the Heartless, he was fighting to let out his emotions all at once. Orin felt fear from the Keyblades, anger at the Heartless for chasing him all this way, even the very weapons he was using to use to fight the Heartless filled him with disgust.

With combined efforts of the five fighters the Heartless were soon defeated. Riku and Sora sent their Keyblades away and swapped looks of smug appreciation as they shook hands. Kairi heard no more sounds of battle and walked out to see that everyone was alright. She ran over to Sora and Riku and hugged them both.

"Woah, what was that for?" Riku asked, despite himself he was glad to get a hug from Kairi.

"Just glad to see you both are okay." Kairi said, wiping a worried tear from her eye. "Worrying about you both is going to make me old before my time..."

Sora scratched his head and looked around. "Hey what's with Orin?"

Orin was slumped down onto the sand, his right arm was twitching and spasming as if it wanted to continue to fight even though the Heartless were all gone. Orin quickly ran to the shore and began to vigorously scrub his arm with the cool seawater.

"Maybe... Maybe it's just that black smoke the Heartless give off when they're destroyed... Yeah..." Orin said, his voice was shaky and desperate. He clearly did not want to believe that this was really his arm. "The smoke's just adhered to the sweat on my arm... It'll wash off."

Again and again Orin scrubbed his right arm with his left and each time his did not show any improvement a little more of his hope eroded away. In the back of his mind he knew that even if the smoke had become attached to his arm that wouldn't explain why he had claws. Orin he was now franticly raking his arm with his fingernails and was shaking with fear as he grew more desperate to prove to himself that this wasn't arm. It just couldn't be.

"Orin stop! You're hurt yourself!" Kairi cried as she ran over and shook him by the shoulders, taking care not to touch his bare flesh. She had learned not to do that from last time and if she had done that now in his unstable frame of mind Orin could very well attack her. "You're going to be okay."

Orin stood up and turned to face Kairi, he raised his black clawed hand up to give her a good look at it. "Look at my arm Kairi! I'm not okay!"

"We'll try to help you but you have to calm down." Kairi said, looking Orin in the eye. "I promise okay?"

Orin hid his face with both his hands and sank to this knees on the sand in front of Kairi. His clawed hand felt cool to the touch and the claws that touched his skin were sharp as razors. If Orin had actually put any pressure at all on his claws they would've broken the skin with no difficulty. Orin narrowed his yellow eyes as he looked over his clawed hand in disgust. In a moment of anger he punched the sand with it, sending a small amount of sand flying from his fist's impact area.

"Kairi?" Orin asked as he looked up to the young lady who stood in front of him.

"Yes Orin?" Kairi responded.

"Do you think I'm a monster?" He asked, lifting up his arm as if to remind her that he had it despite the fact that she could see it quite easily from her position.

Kairi smiled and shook her head. "No I don't think you're a monster. A monster wouldn't bother to ask that question. I think you're a nice person who has something wrong with him and we'll try to help you get better." Kairi then turned her head to look over at Riku, Sora, Donald, and Goofy. "Right guys?"

"Of course we will." Goofy said, answering for the group. "But where do we start?"

"I think we should go to Radiant garden." Sora said. "If he's wearing the emblem that Ansem used to brand the Heartless there might be something in Ansem's computer."

"Good idea Sora." Riku said, resisting the urge to tease Sora by saying something like; 'I can't believe you came up with one of those.'

"Our ship is just over there in the cove." Donald quacked. "We could go to Radiant garden."

"Thanks. I'm sorry for any inconvenience." Orin said meekly, even though he still felt a little down about his arm he really was grateful that these people were willing to go out of their way for him.

"Nah, it's okay Orin." Goofy said. "If we can help ya we will."

"Thanks Goofy." Orin said. He suddenly felt a sharp pain in his arm as a dark haze surrounded it. As this haze lifted everyone was surprised to see that his arm had returned to its original human state. Orin held his arm to his chest, squeezing his hand and wrist trying to reassure himself that they no longer looked like something that belonged on a Heartless.

Riku wisely decided to postpone the 'talk' he said he would have with Orin. He didn't seem like he could take it at the moment. He would talk to him when the time was right.

At that moment Tidus, Selphie, and Wakka ran up to the group. Seeing them up this early on a weekend was a rarity.

"Hey dudes, what's up?" Tidus asked.

"We're heading to Radiant garden for a little while." Riku said. "We'll be back in a while."

"Please tell our parents for us that we're going to be going out of town. Our friend needs us and we promised we'd help him." Kairi added.

Wakka sighed. "Well... okay. But ya owe me one. I'll be getting the fifth degree from each of your parents ya know..."

Riku chuckled quietly at the thought of his mother and father chewing Wakka out about all this. However the waiting hell storm Riku would face once he got home made even his iron nerves quake. Better to get this over with as soon as possible.

"Come on, let's get going." Donald quacked, he was getting a little impatient from all this standing around. "I'm sure we'd all like to get this over with as soon as possible."

The gang readily agreed. The faster this trip was over the better. Riku, Sora, Kairi, Donald, Goofy, and Orin all turned and headed to the Cove where the Gummi ship was parked.

"Bring us back something!" Selphie called to them as they rounded the corner of the Shack.

"Something cool!" Tidus added.

Wakka shook his head at Tidus. "C'mon... You two are coming with me."

Tidus asked, not pleased with the prospect of having to help Wakka deliver news like this to three sets of parents.

"Misery loves company." Wakka said as he headed towards the dock, followed by Selphie and a very terrified Tidus.

---

After boarding the Gummi ship and taking off for Radiant garden Orin looked out at the stars. Sora and Kairi were with Donald and Goofy on the bridge, He and Riku were in the interior of the ship with Riku. Personally Orin would've preferred hanging out with Kairi or Sora to the white haired boy. Riku got out of the seat he was sitting in and walked up behind him.

"Makes you feel real small doesn't it?" Riku asked.

Orin nodded. "Small and insignificant. Like the life and actions of one person don't really matter."

"I don't know about that." Riku said. "If that was true for everyone then what me and Sora went through meant nothing. And I know for a fact that that's not the case. What we went through was for everyone. If we hadn't defeated Xemnas and Xehanort we wouldn't be here talking right now."

Riku noticed that Orin's muscles tensed at the sound of Xehanort's name. Clearly Orin knew something about Xehanort. Riku would have to be subtle if he wanted to get info out of Orin or he'd risk destroying the trust Orin had built up for him.

"What were things like before Xehanort destroyed Radiant garden?" Riku asked as he turned to look at Orin in the eye.

Orin refused to return Riku's gaze, his eyes seemed to bore straight through him. "It was a very peaceful place. There were lush gardens and parks everywhere and Ansem the wise made sure the people were taken care of. It was a great place to grow up."

Riku smiled. "Sounds like it. What did your parents do for a living?"

Orin walked over and sat back in his chair. "My father was the one who cleaned Ansem's lab after he was done with them. He and Ansem were old friends and he trusted my father a great deal. He even allowed me to come with my father and help him clean the lab sometimes."

"So your father was a janitor?" Riku responded in a smug tone as he leaned against the wall.

Orin laughed. "Yeah I guess you could say that."

"What else do you remember?" Riku asked.

"I hate to admit this but there are gaps in my memory after that. I just remember waking up a few weeks ago and after that the Heartless started chasing me."

"You mentioned a dark rocky beach, how did you get there?"

Orin sighed and leaned his head back on the chair's headrest, this explanation was going to be a little long winded. "I remember after I woke up I fled Xehanort's lab and found this door. I wasn't sure what was the deal with it because it didn't seem to lead anywhere. But then suddenly it just opened without any provocation. On the other end was the beach. I went through but as soon as I did the door vanished and that's when the Heartless began to chase me."

'A door?' Riku thought as he crossed his arms. "Could it have been the door to darkness?"

"Have you ever been to that beach?" Orin said, jarring Riku from his thoughts.

Riku hesitated as memories of being locked behind the door after he was possessed by Ansem, Xehanort's Heartless and again when he and Sora destroyed Xemnas. But after a while the white haired youth answered. "Yeah, I have."

"It was a beautiful place despite the short time I had to admire it." Orin said, a small smile appeared on his face as he recalled the dark beach. "I always did like being outside on clear nights when the moon was full. Something about it soothes me." Orin shook his head and laughed to himself. "Kinda silly huh?"

"Not really." Riku said. "I think we all used to look up at the night sky at one time or another when we were young."

Orin nodded his head but something still troubled him. "Riku, what do you think of me? Do you think I'm human or a Heartless?"

Riku blinked and coughed as he collected his thoughts. "What do you think?"

Orin looked absently at the ceiling of the Gummi ship. "After what happened when the Heartless attacked us this morning I'm not sure anymore. I mean, I can hear Hearts, I have antennas, and I have this mark on my chest that refuses to be hidden... These are characteristics of a Heartless. But at the same time I've never heard of a Heartless that could talk or had a sense of self."

Riku closed his eyes. He knew of one Heartless that had both of those things. Ansem, the seeker of Darkness. So much about Orin didn't make sense, because he seemed like a mixture of Heartless and Human. Riku couldn't tell where one started and the other ended. Still there was one thing that did separate Orin for any Heartless Riku had seen. Provided it wasn't some sort of trick. "You forgot something Orin."

"I did?" Orin blinked, turning to look at Riku once again.

"No Heartless has ever asked questions like this." Riku said. "Nobodies would sometimes ask them, but Heartless would never bother."

"Thanks Riku." Orin said. "But you didn't answer my question."

Riku looked out the window. "Hey look, you can see Radiant garden out the window."

Orin was a little annoyed that Riku didn't answer him but pushed the feeling aside as he looked out to see his home world. He felt a pain in his heart as he laid eyes on the castle that was now decaying like a nightmare in morning sunlight. He remembered when that castle was a sight of beauty, to see it now and in this condition was quite a blow.

The first thought that came to Orin's mind was 'How long have I been asleep?'

Sora and Kairi both came back from the bridge at that moment. Both very excited to see the friends they had there once more.

"We'll be landing soon. Aren't you excited Orin? You'll be home again!" Kairi said, grinning ecstatically at the thought of her newest friend in a more cheerful mood. However Kairi's hopes were dashed when she saw the somber look on his face. She looked out the window and saw he was looking at the castle that was steadily growing larger outside. "You used to live there didn't you?"

"In the castle? No," Orin said flatly. "It's just that the castle didn't used to look like this."

"Don't worry. Leon and the others are working on restoring the town. I'm sure they'll fix the place up better than it used to be once they're done." Sora explained.

Orin nodded, his antennas wiggling at only half their normal speed, whether because it was because of his mood or because they were finally tired no one knew. "I hope so."

Orin and the others watched as they began their decent to Radiant garden, formerly known as Hallow bastion.

To be continued...