Riku took a deep breath, enjoying the smell of old books and dust that permeated the mansion's library. It smelled real. Not like the empty smell of The World That Never Was.
He called out for Mickey and heard the mouse respond from somewhere outside. He quickly found a window and stuck his head outside to see Mickey standing on one of the broken columns in the front yard. He was shaking like a leaf and had the keyblade out. Immediately Riku threw the window all the way open and leapt out, knowing that he could take a fall from this height.
As he rolled to a stop he called the soul eater to his hand and jumped up, looking around for whatever threat had found their current base. But there was no smell of darkness, no flashes of silvery white nobodies or shifting shadows. Nothing.
"Help Riku! Get rid of him!" Mickey cried out, holding onto the column with a death grip, the keyblade clenched equally as hard in his other hand. His wide eyes were pointed straight down at the bottom of his column.
"Nyao."
Riku was a bit startled by the sound, but was less bothered as he found the source of it; a large tabby cat sitting in the flowers. Granted, it looked a bit angry, with its ears flattened against its head, and the way it stared up at Mickey.
/Right. Cat. Mouse. Got it./
Had he been the Riku who used to sit on Destiny Island and insist on only believing what he saw with his two eyes, he would have laughed. Or cried. Some sort of reaction. But by now, he accepted that some things should just be taken at face value.
"Shoo. Get out of here stupid cat," Riku shouted, waving his arms out at the cat. It predictably hunkered down, but as Riku got closer it changed its mind and ran off into the forest. He couldn't hold back the sneer that he aimed at the king.
"I don't even want to hear it," Mickey mumbled as he leapt to the ground, the keyblade and soul eater both disappearing again.
To his credit, Riku managed to not laugh out loud. He was good like that.
"So how are the worlds that you've been checking up on?" Having decided that he didn't feel like going inside so soon Riku unzipped his coat and laid down on it. It was warm, still being summer in Twilight Town, and the air was dead still today.
Mickey sat beside him and explained all about the worlds he had found with heartless and Nobodies taking over. It wasn't the greatest news, especially since some worlds Sora had supposedly locked the keyholes in. And now their enemies had discovered a new way to infect worlds.
"And how about you Riku?"
He picked up instantly on the unhappy tone of voice that Mickey used sometimes. It held an echo of his father's voice.
"I tailed a few of the Organization members. One of the highest ranked has taken up residence in Beast's castle. I think there will be trouble there soon. But I still haven't gotten any information on their leader, even a name."
Mickey sighed loudly, obviously meant to draw Riku's attention.
"You should have waited till I came back with the gummi ship. You know what you're risking when you use that much darkness? A little is fine, but you should be more careful."
Riku felt a tingle run up his spine and neck. His cheeks were probably growing red, but he ignored it. There was no point in arguing over this with Mickey. They would just go around and around the subject as they always did.
/I know best what I'm risking./
--It doesn't seem to be bothering you.--
He wouldn't respond. Wouldn't let the voice in his head bait him into doing something stupid.
"I'm sorry Mickey. I'll try and be more patient. But I've seen Roxas."
At this the king's huge ears perked up and he turned to face Riku, ready to hear any new discoveries.
"He really does look a lot like Sora. But they're letting him out of the castle now. Usually with at least one other Organization member. And they've taken him into the other worlds."
Mickey nodded. He opened his mouth as if to ask something, then seemed to decide against it. Then he took a deep breath and looked away from Riku's eyes.
"You know we don't have to hunt him down. Why not try talkin to him? Maybe you can convince him to come with us voluntarily?"
"Oh yeah. 'Hey kid, we want you to give up your life to save our friend who we obviously like better than you, kay thanks?'."
The mouse wilted at this. It wasn't that Riku was being harsh. He was just being truthful.
"I could give it a shot though. Lie to him. Somehow convince him to come with me, maybe bring him back here and together we can take care of him," Riku said with a shrug. Mickey seemed to agree to this and suggested they take the gummi ship to the Organization's world on the next day and hope to catch the boy. Together they went into the mansion and relaxed in the rooms that they had each taken a liking to. Mickey in the library, and Riku in Namine's old room, peppered with sketches.
Without spending more than a minute looking at the disarmingly cute prophetic drawings, Riku raised his hand to the wall and forced dark energy into it, creating a doorway.
--Betraying his trust. Are you sure you can risk that with your last true ally?--
/Yes. Shut up. Get out of my head./
--You need me Riku. Far more than you've ever needed anyone.--
In order to block out the voices Riku pushed himself into the portal, feeling the sensation of the air being pulled from his lungs, and cold whisps likefingertips grazing against his skin. It was always like this. Like drowning. But worse.
With a slight gasp he fell out of the other end of the portal and collapsed against a black brick wall. He was in The World That Never Was. In the alleyway where he and Mickey had met with Diz.
--You know traveling through the dark wouldn't be so uncomfortable if you let me help you. Just a little power can't possibly overcome a keyblade master. Trust me Riku.--
"Get out!"
His voice echoed in the neon soaked world and he involuntarily cringed at the sound. Before he hadleft the alley he could sense the heartless crawling out of their holes. Their scent stuck out even more to him in the blankness of this false world. But he really didn't have time to deal with these small fry.
Running out of the alley and toward the castle, Riku felt their sharp claws catching on his coat. A neoshadow slashed its way out of the darkness and he had to roll to the side to avoid being gutted. The soul eater was in his hand and cutting into the creature before it touched the ground. More crawled up around him, not even emerging fully from the ground before sinking their claws into him, but not hard enough to break skin.
--They want you alive. So they can feed on your heart and savor every last drop.--
He pulled out of their grip and swung his sword through antennae and heads and arms, not caring where he hit so long as he could feel his blade in their flesh.
There seemed to be a never ending amount of them, and so Riku made sure the battle led him closer and closer to the castle. As he sprinted across the courtyard in front of the Memory's Skyscraper he saw a glint of light from somewhere.
/Well. Guess my luck isn't that bad./
The boy named Roxas came out of the pathway that led to the castle with a keyblade in each hand. Riku was a bit surprised to say the least, but couldn't afford the time to wonder about the duel wielder right now. The blond was cutting through the swathes of heartless, a bored expression seeming out of place on his body as he spun and attacked as if his life were at stake.
Riku took care of his share of heartless, backing himself up until he was nearly touching the other boy, as the swarms ebbed back into the shadows at the threat of two keyblade masters together.
"Why were they attacking you?" Roxas turned and seemed to trail off as he finally got a look under Riku's hood. "Who are you?"
/I'll have to apologize to Mickey for making fun of Yensid's disguises./
With no reason to keep it up, Riku pulled his hood down. There was a flash of something in the younger boy's blue eyes and it made Riku uncomfortable.
"You're not with the Organization. And if the heartless were after you then you must not be a Nobody," As he spoke he raised one of the keyblades to Riku's throat, not looking as threatening as he might hope. Riku just couldn't feel any fear at this boy. He was so much like Sora. It felt almost as if he hadn't seen Sora in a long time, and had just forgotten some of the details. But this boy didn't recognize him, and Sora would never do that.
--You tell yourself bold faced lies. The keyblade master has forgotten you and you him. Hmph. So deluded.--
"My name is Riku," he wondered if this Nobody remembered anything from being Sora. "Do I look familiar at all?"
Feeling like he would make the young Nobody more at ease, he released the soul eater and saw Roxas do the same with his weapons.
"I'm Roxas..." He faltered again, his eyes flicking from Riku's face to his coat. Then he just shook his head from side to side.
"You're right though. I'm not a Nobody. But I came here to talk to you--"
Roxas suddenly stepped forward, bridging the space between them and surprising Riku enough that he took a step back.
"No. Wait. You, you do look familiar. Why?"
Standing his ground he let the other approach as close as he wanted. Roxas seemed to be getting more and more frustrated as he glared at Riku. The older boy felt a blush coming on and tried to ignore it.
/Why does he have to look so much like Sora/
"You said you came here to talk to me. Then you know me."
Riku nodded and if anything the boy seemed more upset by this.
"But I don't know you. At least not that I can remember. But you're so damn familiar."
"Listen, if you want to, I can take you away from this place. I'll explain everything once we're somewhere safer."
Roxas just cocked his head to the side in confusion and it almost physically hurt Riku to see the similarities. Not to Sora. But to Shadow. This boy was sharper than Sora, quicker to figure things out. And far less trusting.
"This is the world of the Nobodies. We're safe here." His uncomfortable shifting didn't go unnoticed by Riku.
"You may be. But I have a heart, and the heartless here seem a little more than interested in me," He said, reaching a hand out to Roxas in a distortedmockery of a motion he once did to Sora.
But the Nobody was too smart. He wouldn't be trusting Riku this quickly.
"I can tell you about who you were."
This caught the boy's attention immediately.
"You know something about me before I was a Nobody? Tell me!"
Riku backed up, letting his hand fall. If he couldn't get Roxas to come with him voluntarily, perhaps he could get the boy to chase him instead.
"Tell me now!"
Roxas was clenching his fists at his sides, and was sneering angrily. With that expression on his face, he looked nothing like either Sora or Shadow. Neither of them had ever had that much hate so clearly exposed.
"I will. But not here. After all, if the other Organization members won't tell you about your past, I imagine they won't be pleased if I do it."
As he was about to form a portal and suck both of them out of this world, Roxas grabbed him by the front of his coat and pulled him closer. His beads clinked lightly, and seemed toecho the rain that was beginning to fall.
Roxas's face suddenly lost all its anger, and his eyes were focused on Riku's mouth.
/He can't be thinking that. I'm just being narcissistic./
--He is part of Sora. Perhaps you're not exaggerating anything. You took your pleasures with Shadow, why not try with Roxas as well?--
/Shut up/
But the blond did nothing, frozen staring at the lips that were almost aligned with his eyes. Riku felt his breath on the hollow of his throat, right above his zipper. The boy was close. Very close. The hands holding his coat seemed to loosen up, but remained pressed against his chest.
/I have to say something. Push him away./
His eyes were bright and so large in the dark city. They seemed to numb Riku's mind and body. Even when their lids slowly lowered and drew closer to him. Even when the breath traveled from his neck to his lips.
But even those eyes couldn't keep him from turning his head, letting the boy's lips brush his jaw. Apparently this was enough to break the spell and Roxas pushed him away, his eyes filled with confusion and shame. Not to mention anger. Of course it seemed that his eyes were never without that fiery rage.
"Why? Why do you make me feel like this?" Again, the boy proved to be quite intelligent. And a loose cannon.
Riku barely managed to block the strike of the first keyblade, the second swinging towards his unprotected flank. It hit and he let himself he thrown with the force, rolling quickly to his knees and throwing a dark energy attack at Roxas. He crossed his blades and managed to deflect it before rushing at him again.
Despite the pain on his right side he stood up and blocked all the next set of attacks that Roxas threw at him. But he knew he wouldn't be able to keep this up for long. And in the state he was currently in, he wasn't even sure if he could manage to subdue Roxas enough to take him to the mansion.
The fist to his jaw came as quite a surprise.
As he felt blood start rising up out of his gums he turned to his side and spit it out on the ground. The rain was still coming down lightly, not enough to wash away the red smear he was creating.
"Don't move."
Riku looked up along the two shining keyblades that were leveled at him. His soul eater was gone, knocked away by the force of Roxas's blow.
But worse than the blades was the look on Roxas's face. He'd seen the same expression on Sora at Hollow Bastion. Even Sora's Nobody was powerful enough to defeat him. But why?
/I'm a keyblade master too. Its not like I'm out of my league here./
--But you don't use your keyblade. You're not strong enough to wield the dark keyblade. Only using my powers will you ever be capable. Let me in.--
Slowly Riku raised his hands from where he sat on the asphalt, showing that he was giving up, and was acknowledging his defeat. Roxas kept his blades crossed at Riku's throat. Hoping that the rain and shadows of this world would mask his intentions long enough, Riku slowly let darkness pool around him and begin to suck both he and Roxas into the portal below.
Before their shoes had even sunk all the way in, and right as Roxas realized what was happening, Riku heard a strange whistling sound. As he turned something struck him in the side of the head and he was knocked out instantly, the portal disappearing without having fully formed.
"Roxas! Are you okay?" Axel ran up and retrieved his chakram from next to the unconscious Riku.
The blond just nodded, annoyed as usual by Axel's habit of following him around and keeping tabs on him.
"Who is this guy?" The redhead bent down and looked at the boy's bloodied face. He looked familiar.
"He said his name is Riku," Axel's eyes widened as if he had realized something but Roxas ignored it. "We're taking him back to the castle with us."
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Alright, I'll admit it. I have a bit of a Riku/Roxas habit. I only know of a few others that wholly support that pairing. No worries though, this story will, just like Darkside, be all and all a Sora/Riku fic. But just like Darkside (and real life in my opinion) not everyone spends their whole lives with the person they are meant to be with. So no complaints about alternate pairings that might briefly occur in this fic. Go look at my homepage. Lots of new art posted over at fanartcentral. Later readers!
Please be kind, rewind--er, review.