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Riku's Report #2: Elder Force

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And then...

...darkness...

Can you really fall if there's no direction?

There was no sense of time, or space... one could feel both acrophobia and claustrophobia, here, in the never ending darkness. A light, a shining star, erupted in the gloom, but it was far away, far behind... long ago... something...

...nothing...

I...

He couldn't distinguish thought from action. Here, in this nothing world, engulfed by shadows, feeling them swirl about them - tangible? - was there anything? A past... a present... a future... nothing, here, not even a now. He cries out, and the darkness swallows his voice before he can make a sound.

He will look about him. He looked about him. He looks about himself, feeling shadows of his action preceding and following his own. A wave of his hand takes place now, or had already happened, or is about to happen - or did he wave it at all? -... but he hasn't the senses to see...

Where am I...? Darkness... through the door... there is nothing but darkness...

And another mind answered, darker, stranger... and yet painfully familiar...

Open your eyes, and see.

There was an audible thud as Riku fell, landing hard on the cold floor. His eyes watered, and he shut them against the sudden light about him - even a dim lighting was agony after pure darkness. There were sounds - after the sheer nothingness, a whisper was as grating as a jackhammer. He groaned, shaking his head in an attempt to clear it...

Slowly, the distant sound grew meaning... that's right, words...

"At last."

Riku lifted his head, in a vain attempt to reclaim himself from the darkness. A black haze tinged with red clouded his vision, and the motion caused everything to fade away to a distant blackness.

- - - - -

When he woke again, he was alone. The first thing he saw was turquoise - streams of something wafting up from the edge of whatever he was on.

Groaning, he drew himself up to a kneeling position, closing his eyes as the world swam before them. Riku hesitated only a second before forcing his body to his feet, swaying dangerously as directions reasserted themselves in his disjointed mind. "Where am I...?" The fogginess in his mind evaporated the instant he noted where, exactly, he was... or rather, where he wasn't.

Smooth, cold stone spread away beyond him, a steep cliff into nothing. In the distance rose rocks, or platforms... Riku gave a little cry, backing up a few steps from the edge and into the center, casting about desperately for any sign of the dear and familiar. Everywhere around him was an expanse of emptiness or platforms just like his. For just a second he stumbled, taking a step forward to balance himself, and spread his arms wide, adopting his classic defensive stance to mask it. "Sora!" he screamed, hoping against hope for a reply. "Kairi!"

Their names bounced back at him in mutilated form, a mocking echo.

For the first time in his life, Riku felt utterly and completely alone...

He hung his head, defeated, and closed his eyes. Where are you?

I don't even know if you're alive...

There was a click above him, and Riku glanced up.

Magnificent and poised, the picture of malevolence... she was a figure comprised entirely of edges. Her cloak swirled about her, seemingly in motion even when she was perfectly, unnervingly still... the only thing that seemed to follow him were golden eyes that glittered with cold intelligence.

"Who are you?"

Her voice had an odd accent - every word perfectly formed, her annunciation precise, her diction perfect. There was no warmth in her tone, as she addressed him. "One who would lend you aid... if you will accept it." The click had been of her staff striking stone.

Riku's eyes narrowed, and he drew back. The creature - she couldn't possibly be human, didn't feel human, laughed. "Afraid?"

"What, of you?" Riku laughed, though he didn't feel as confident as he wished he did. The dark figure raised her head regally, arching one thin eyebrow. In one simple gesture, she managed to convey all the mockery and smugness of the world... "Get real." He crossed his arms, staring up at the figure above him with all the bravery he could muster.

"I am real," she replied softly, her voice almost gentle... in the way that a scorpion is almost delicate. "Would you rather I lie to you, as you are to me?"

"No. I'd rather a straight answer."

The dark witch's lips twisted in a slight smile. "Come, then."

- - - - - -

Maleficent could not be called beautiful in the ordinary sense. She could not be called motherly, nor affectionate. She could not be called benevolent. There was no kindness in her heart, the only potential exception being towards her raven familiar, Diablo. Yet... she could be called fair in her dealings, something rare in even the most kind-hearted of people. She was by nature impartial in all matters aside her own, dealing with any situation logically first, emotionally second. Maleficent was one who could see and listen to reason other than her own ideas, provided it was presented to her with the same cold, calculated reason she herself used. She did not demand love, praise, even affection... merely respect, fear, loyalty, and common sense.

Moreover, Maleficent kept her promises, whether they were of good or ill intent, mutual destruction or benefit.

There was quite probably no one besides her raven who had ever come to know her quite as well as Riku.

As the days passed, or, more correctly, as time passed - he no longer saw sun or moon, stars or sky - she kept to her promise. No matter what, she never lied to him, never told him a direct untruth, and Riku followed her for that. She showed him how to harness the darkness incarnate, how to embrace what was given him. She aided him in his quest to

reunite with his friends... and in return...

In return, he fought for her, using the dark to further his own powers, and her own. "I seek dominion over this new darkness, these Heartless, that overwhelm the worlds, and you seek your friends. Aid me with the one, and I shall aid you with the other. And lo! The goals of you and I even coincide..."

He had done so, faithfully, and slowly, she poured darkness over him, tempting him with visions of power, fleeting wisps of something far more, and the knowledge that he, too, would one day become thus.

And she, too, had faithfully kept her bargain, sending out on black wings her eyes and ears, and looking out through the crystal sphere atop her staff through the worlds, seeking hints of Sora and Kairi. Her promise had been to aid Riku in his search, and she had.

She had not, however, promised to reveal her findings... until it suited her own dark purposes.

And when she found them, she smiled, arching her head high. "Servants of vanished King... friend of fallen boy. Fortuitous as your union be, how much more so for me..."

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"My dear boy," Maleficent crooned, gliding into his room. "I bring you news, tidings of good and ill..."

Riku, who had been staring listlessly at the wall, sat up. "What happened? Kairi? Sora? Are they okay?"

"The boy you call Sora... yes, he is fine. Far more so than you, it would seem."

"Explain," Riku demanded, folding his arms.

"Listen well," Maleficent instructed, with a sweep of her arm. An image flashed across the crystal ball atop her staff. "Behold your childhood friend, the boy with whom you swore never to part. See? New friends follow him wherever he goes. I wonder if he still needs you..." Sora's picture vanished.

"Yeah, so? I made 'friends', too," Riku pointed out, unconvinced.

"But of course, Riku... of course you did. You could not wander the worlds alone... not without an initial guide."

He nodded, satisfied. "Exactly my point."

"Very well," Maleficent said with a gracious bow of her head. "I am certain you know him far greater than I do... for while I merely know people's hearts, you know his soul..."

"Where is he?"

Maleficent smiled, truly smiled. "I will show you."

- - - - - -

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. If I did, Light Yagami would not be the one to speak Riku's lines.

I saw the name Mamoru Miyano when I was researching Riku. Anyone who knows me at all knows that I've religiously followed Death Note since the first manga was translated over into the US, and I know the voice actors of the cast by heart... hardly surprising. Yes... this is Light's seiyuu as well as Riku's... rather entertaining, if you watch the subtitled cinematics involving Riku knowing this. (And yes, I know who voices who... at least, the important roles, in my opinion.)

Another entertaining side note - the Japanese voices for Spike Spiegel and Faye Valentine were in the DK movie, and sang a duet about colored bananas. It pays to know your actors, kiddos, if you want a cheap giggle.

Here's a few other things I discovered as I looked at a few of the other characters...

If you like Riku's English voice, watch Simon in Seventh Heaven. Same person.

As for Sora, his English VA was in Cole in Sixth Sense, and his Japanese counterpart voiced Haku in Spirited Away. Miyu Irino, his other voice actor, had worked with Haley Joel Osmont before, as he voiced the Japanese dub for Cole in Sixth Sense... the same role that Sora's English actor had played. Odd how things come full circle, no?

Kairi's English voice actor was on Malcolm in the Middle a lot, and starred in Ally McBeal. She was also Suri in Dinosaur.

Billy Zane, Ansem's voice actor, (cough if you want to, oh people who know the plot beyond KH1) also was in Back to the Future, along with a lot of other films. He was Brodi in SSX Tricky - beyond that, he has no other video game roles.

A good deal of the original Disney actors had died, and had sound-alikes for KH - Maleficent (As mangled as her lines were) was voiced by Susan Blakeslee, who was another one of those 'been in everything' people. This includes Powerpuff Girls, Cow and Chicken, and the Oracle in God of War.

Now if you're anything like me, you're going to go over a few things, trying to see similarities in the characters... hehe.

Sora: I see dead people...

Riku: I will create a new world, over which I intend to rule as a god for quite some time.

Ansem: Live to surf, surf to live.

Kairi: Look at all the Aladars!

Welcome to the fun of voice mix'n'match.