The Night Within My Eyes

Description: A sequel to Kingdom Hearts II. When a Gummi Ship crashes into Disney Castle, King Mickey calls on Sora and Riku to help a previously unknown world rid itself of some very familiar Heartless. Eventual pairing: RikuxOC, plus some SoraxKairi because they're cute. Rated T because I can't see myself ever writing K.

Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts and its characters are the property of Square-Enix. But you knew that already.

A/N: The middle section of the chapter is a flashback, just in case you couldn't tell. I decided to go the way of many writers and remove it from the main narrative with a section break rather than putting up a wall of italics.

Three

Yuko stood at one of the windows in the large room they had given her, looking out into the garden at the wreckage of the ship. She had never even asked Sydney her name. Now she would never fly again. Reduced to scrap metal and the memories of better days.

Several walking broomsticks wandered about the garden, picking up pieces with arms that did not belong. A pair of small rodents directed them about their work. They skittered here and there, giving orders that, in spite of their lack of ears, the broomsticks obeyed. As she watched, Yuko half-expected Sydney to come charging out and yell at them for touching his "girl" without permission. But Sydney was …

Yuko closed her eyes as sadness overwhelmed her. When the Queen had told her the news, she had refused to believe it, had raged against them until they allowed her in to see him. And then she had sunk to her knees and stared. The little Queen had cried for her loss, but Yuko didn't cry. Not anymore.

Sydney would probably gripe at her for that. What, I'm dead and you can't even spare a tear for me? Thanks a lot, gorgeous. Although he was probably too busy in Heaven to concern himself with her anymore. Surrounded by beautiful women who fawned over his every move, escaping their adoring presence only to fire up his ship and ride the space lanes. Yes, that would be Heaven for her flyboy. And Yuko believed in Heaven, ever since she had witnessed Hell with her own eyes.

A small duck in a red shirt wandered into the garden to converse with one of the rodents. Yuko shook her head in disbelief. What a bizarre place this castle was. The famous King and his Queen were both giant mice. Mice! And the few people she had seen since her arrival were similarly pathetic. Where was the great power that would save her people? How could their documents have been this mistaken? Had this trip effectively doomed those she left behind?

In spite of her immense disappointment upon meeting the little monarch, Yuko had pushed ahead with her mission and asked the King for aid. He had agreed to provide it, but where she had hoped for an army, he had offered a duck, a dog, and two teenage boys. She had simply stared at him, too overcome by shock and despair even to protest. What possible help could such pitiful reinforcements be? In Yuko's view, they couldn't even replace the loss of Sydney much less drive back the forces that threatened to devour everything she knew.

"Trust me," the King had answered, placing a gloved hand over her own. He had smiled at her kindly and gazed into her eyes without any trace of fear or discomfort.

Trust me.

"Trust me, Markul," Devalin said in his soft, soothing voice. "I know what I am doing." Yuko could feel her anxiety melting away at his words. The President's calm, gentle manner could ease fears so effortlessly. She truly believed that he had single-handedly kept their worlds from widespread panic during this terrible time.

But Markul, in addition to being the Commanding Officer of the army, had known Devalin when they were boys and was apparently immune to his gentle reassurance. He scowled, green eyes flashing. "You've got to be kidding! You want me to give up not only Yuko but my best Gummi pilot. For a suicide mission! We've already lost too many people trying to get help. What makes you think they'll succeed where so many have failed?"

Beside her, Sydney commented quietly, "Because I'll be flying this time." But he was smart enough not to say it loud enough for his superiors to hear. Yuko shook her head very slightly at his extreme confidence and kept her peace.

Devalin had come to visit the three of them on the front line, something he rarely did because of the ever-present danger. Even as she stood at ease, observing the two men argue over her next assignment, Yuko kept her "sword" at the ready at her side just in case any of the monsters should rise up through the floor. She could feel Sydney's eyes on her every so often, but she paid him no mind. She had heard what the others said about her, and she had done nothing to stop the whispers. After all, she herself didn't know exactly what she had become.

When the President did not answer his question immediately, Markul pressed forward. "Look, Dev, Yuko is more than just my best soldier. She's a symbol. You can't imagine the effect she has on troop morale. What am I going to tell them if you send her off to die like this?"

"Tell them …" Devalin replied, placing a hand on his old friend's shoulder, "tell them that they must hold the front line so that when their heroine returns with help, she will still have a home to defend. And she will return." He turned his head and smiled at her. "That which makes her a symbol to your men also fuels my conviction that she will make it there alive. She will live, and she will bring us new hope."

"A conviction," Markul grumbled, but Yuko could see that her general was weakening. "A hunch, you mean. You're sending her away from where she can do the most good into an unknown danger on a hunch?"

"She can do the most good by bringing us reinforcements," Devalin corrected, "and no, it is not a hunch. It is much stronger than that. I know she will be all right." He fixed his brown eyes on Markul; they radiated strength and absolute assurance. "Her absence will be hard on you, but it will not be long and it will be worth it."

Outside in the garden, the living broomsticks had removed the last pieces of the destroyed ship. Two more ducks had joined the first, these in blue and green shirts, and they and the rodents talked and pointed about the garden. From their gestures they seemed to be discussing the rebuilding of the area, the reshaping of the topiaries, the reconstruction of the ruined paths.

Inside in her room, Yuko succumbed to the guilt and sorrow that engulfed her. She raised her eyes to the sky, knowing that somewhere out there was her world where the battle still raged without her. One hand lifted and pressed itself against the glass in a silent appeal.

"Devalin," she whispered, "forgive me. I made it here alive, as you said, but Markul was right. It was not worth it."

She turned away from the window and walked back into the welcoming darkness of the room.