Chapter 3: Broken Chains
Riku stared at the shadow as it dissolved into the air, blood staining his platinum silver hair.
Silence filled the small island, wind whistling at the dark waters. His gaze shifted to Sora, his once youthful body now unmoving. The sand shifted at Riku's shoes as he ran to him, slamming down on his knees to see his friend. His gloved hands lifted him up, the many chains and zippers on his clothes rattling from his levitation. Before, they would rattle from him walking, talking, living, and breathing. Now he was incapable to do those things.
"Sora?" his voice pierced through as he shook him. "Sora?" he shook him again.
Sora's eyelashes still remained closer to his cheeks, rather than his eyebrows, eyelids closed and hiding his blue eyes from us. In frustration, Riku set him back down and put his head in his hands. A moment later, he yelled to the sky in pain from the loss of his childhood friend. They took him away from us.
I examined him, and closed my eyes. Tears wanted to fall, but I shook them away. I thought back to earlier. It was a happy moment, and how it could be suddenly destroyed was beyond me. We being reunited seemed to have no respect from fate. I could still feel his hands on me, his hold and warmth… I opened my eyes, the memory tearing at my heart. I walked to Sora, seeing that Namine was also at his side.
I kneeled on the sand, observing him.
"He's not dead." She said quietly, her eyes looking up to meet mine.
"What do you mean, he's not dead?" Riku got up suddenly. "Look at him! He's not moving! He has no pulse he-!"
"Is sleeping." Namine quietly finished.
"But…he's not breathing." I said in confusion, shaking my head at Namine.
"He's sleeping." She insisted.
"Can we wake him up?" I asked.
"No. I already told you, he's sleeping."
Riku slammed his fist against the paopu tree, frustrated.
"If he was sleeping, then he could wake up!" he turned around in an angry daze, ocean eyes shaking.
"His memories have left him." She nodded, placing her hand on his chest to grasp a tiny fragment of light.
"His memories?" I panicked, now sharing the same bewilderment and desire for explanation Riku had.
"Yes." She said, holding it in her hands and showing her joined palms.
Looking closer, I could see a small reflection of the two of us, before on the beach. Sora was there, teaching me to skip rocks. As the rock left my hands, the reflection vanished and returned to its original state.
"I just saw him and I…" I said barely above a whisper.
Namine looked up with interest.
"You what?" Riku asked, looking to me, folding his arms.
"I just saw Sora and me at the beach." I turned to Riku, pointing at the fragment.
"You're shitting me." Riku stated simply, narrowing his eyes in disbelief.
I shot him a look of disapproval.
"No, I saw us. Look for yourself," I gestured to it, as Namine looked up to the two of us, wide blue eyes full of mystery.
He scanned it for a small moment, and seemed to pick up nothing.
Riku rolled his eyes, waving his hand away and turning opposite.
"I'm sure you did." He returned to his previous state of rage and annoyance.
"Did you see us?"
"No. I see a twinkly little thing in Namine's hands; I don't get how the hell you can see anything!" He caustically remarked, looking over his shoulder.
"Riku, calm down-"
"This wasn't supposed to happen! Organization XIII was gone! And now they're here again when we made sure they were finished! They should be gone, wiped out! And now they've just waltzed in, taken Roxas and Xion back to their forces, and on top of that, taken Sora's memories!" he suddenly got into my face, whipping around and yelling at me with a tone he reserved for desperate situations.
"They're supposed to be dead! Cast off into oblivion! Stop acting so calm about it! You don't understand just how damaged and screwed up everything is!"
"Stop yelling at me Riku!" I said, baring my teeth and staring at him like an irritated animal. His volume immediately decreased to silence.
"I know you're upset, so you can stop venting it out on me. You know, if we all started to have a screaming match, no one would have enough energy to actually do something about this." I told him straight toned, looking him dead in the eyes.
"Grow up Riku. This happened, and now we have to do something about it. Don't make it more than difficult than it needs to be. Sora's my friend too."
Namine awkwardly remained on her knees, looking up at us. She seemed to be patiently waiting for the bickering to end.
Her blonde hair in the breeze that had lost half its life, blue eyes pleading to find a solution.
Riku looked at me, hard expression softening into shame.
"Sorry," he offered, extending his arms out.
I stepped into his hold, allowing his hug. His muscles tender around me, making me wish they were Sora's. Was he unable to be revived? What kind of sleep was this? Eternal?
I broke from Riku's hug and turned to Namine, sitting in the sand and allowing my fingers to stroke his hair, brunette, spiky locks.
"What do we do?" I asked.
Namine looked up to Riku and I, blinking gently and placing the shining fragment onto his chest.
"We need to return his memories." She said, looking down.
"H-how?" Riku asked, shaking his head, silver hair around his confused face.
"They're scattered everywhere, across the worlds, anywhere, really." She admitted.
"How many pieces?"
"I'm not quite sure," she answered Riku. "But I know there's several."
"So, should we split up?" I asked.
"No. That's a bad idea," Riku said, getting up and sighing. "We need to stay together, find Roxas and Xion, and bring Sora to life."
Namine nodded.
"We need to take Sora to Twilight Town, where he'll be safe."
