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 descriptions in this chapter may seem out of whack, but I did them on purpose. Nobodies don't look exactly like their true selves after all (even Xehanort and Xemnas aren't identical). And as for Vincent, well, wait and see.
Nine
On the walk to the camp that Devalin and his staff had set up, several more Heartless attacked them, but the newcomers disposed of them easily. Sora and Riku, in fact, did not even bother to join in, allowing Donald and Goofy to fight instead. Kairi helped out as well, using the magic that Donald had taught her in the few days that they had waited at the castle. Based on an argument Yuko had overheard, the other girl had also once used a Keyblade, but apparently Riku, who had given it to her, could not call it again and she could not summon it herself.
While the speed at which her new allies killed the Heartless comforted Yuko, several other things worried her. Walking next to the President, she asked him, "Devalin, what are you doing here? Why aren't you on Luca? And why are there Heartless here in the camp?"
He sighed gently and answered her first question. "I'm here because I'm leading our forces now."
"Leading them?" she echoed in astonishment. A feeling of dread began to fill up her insides. "Where is General Markul?"
Devalin refused to look at her, focusing instead on the large courtyard they approached and the group of tents that had haphazardly been set up within it. "Markul was captured by the enemy."
Yuko's feet stopped. She stared at the older man, stunned. "No …" she whispered. If he had been captured, then that meant … She closed her eyes in pain both from her own grief for her superior and for the sympathy she felt for Devalin in his loss. After her return from the machine, several soldiers had added a vial of poison to their equipment to use in case of capture. Markul had been one of them, declaring he would rather die than allow the enemy to turn him against his own people.
The others had stopped moving when Yuko had, and they gazed at her with confusion on their faces. Devalin took her hand and gently pulled her along with him. "Come," he said softly. "I will tell you more in a moment."
He led her to a large tent in the center of the camp and pulled open the flap so she could enter. She stepped into a makeshift strategy room. The table in the center had several maps strewn across it and a handful of markers showing enemy and ally locations. She also recognized a stack of the reports she had written, sitting on one of several chairs scattered randomly about the area. She had submitted those reports soon after taking a prominent place on the front line; they described in detail the types of Heartless she had encountered and how best to engage them.
Devalin bade the others to come in and make themselves comfortable. As they did so, he pulled Yuko aside so they could continue to talk.
"What happened?" she demanded in as low of a voice as she could manage. "How was he captured?"
"Two days ago, he took a group of new recruits out to train," he answered. His words seemed forced, as if only half his mind concentrated on speaking them. "Dilan attacked from nowhere. He took almost all of them prisoner. Only a handful managed to escape and report back to me."
"I see." She looked away from him at a spot beyond the canvas of the tent. Her anger grew, and she directed it at the phantom image of Dilan in her head.
"Yuko," Devalin said softly, reclaiming her attention. She looked back to see his eyes shining in sorrow. "Most of the new recruits had no business being there. They were young, idealistic men and women who knew their homes were dying and wanted to protect them even though they had no talent in doing so. Yuko …" he hesitated, clearly in pain. "One of them was Vincent."
Yuko staggered. Vincent? No, he was supposed to be safe. Kept away from all the danger so he at least would survive. His face rose up in her memory. The boy who had sneered at her and Zell with such contempt for their antics. The young man who had smiled at her secretly from the background whenever she reported to Devalin. The chocolate eyes that shared her grief when they spoke of Zell. "I'll protect you, Vincent. I promise." "I don't need you to protect me, Yuko." "Well, I'll do it anyway."
They were all gone. Zell, Sydney, and now Vincent.
Two days? Yuko's head shot up at the realization. Two days ago, she had been … "That mouse. That stupid, meddling, IDIOT mouse!" she exploded. She clenched her fists tightly as her anger boiled over into full-blown rage.
The others stared at her in shock. "Yuko," Devalin said, taking a step back, "calm down!"
"You don't understand!" she shouted. "He kept me there for three days! I could have been back in time! I could have saved him! It's all his fault that Markul and Vincent and all the others are dead. I could have saved them!"
"Stop it," Devalin ordered her. "Stop it this instant." The cold power behind the command made Yuko pause long enough for him to continue, "It is in the past now. Anger will not serve any purpose except to make you fight poorly. And I do not think you could have saved them, Yuko." She fixed the fire of her eyes on him, but he ignored her. "You are our best defense against the creatures that invade us, but you are nowhere near good enough to fight The Five on your own. If you had been present at the training, which I doubt, do you really think you could have beaten Dilan and all his accompanying Heartless?"
She clamped her teeth together, knowing the answer but refusing to accept it. Instead, she stalked past him to the opening of the tent.
"Where are you going?" he demanded.
"Out," she answered shortly. "You don't need me to decide strategy. Just tell me where to go and I'll go. Until then, I'm going out!"
She thundered out of the tent and into the courtyard, not stopping until she had reached the giant fountain in the center of the square. The water had not flowed in it for months, and it sat there, empty and dry. Just like my eyes. She pressed her fists against the sides of her head, trying not to scream from the mixture of grief, rage, and guilt.
"Yuko?"
She whirled around and met Riku's cool green eyes. They gazed at her in concern. "Are you okay?"
"Go away!" she shouted at him. Although part of her was glad he had followed her, the majority did not want him or anyone else to be near her anymore. No one. Never again. "Leave me alone!"
He watched her for a moment without words; then, he nodded once to say he understood, turned, and walked back to the others. She followed his retreat with her eyes, feeling both sad and relieved. Go away from me. I only bring death to those who stay.
The sound of laughter behind her pulled her from her thoughts. Startled, she spun around, looking for the source of the noise. On the other side of the fountain, a man stepped out from the shadows.
"Oh dear," he drawled. "Had a spat with your boyfriend, did you? Poor little thing." He grinned.
Yuko took a step backwards. The person in front of her was quite a bit taller than she was and painfully skinny. He wore a long brown coat over a red shirt, jeans, and cowboy boots, and he had pulled his dirty blond hair back into a ponytail. One yellow eye leered at her; the other remained forever closed behind a thick, jagged scar.
"Braig," she whispered.
"That's right," he replied, taking slow steps closer to her. "So good to see you remember me."
"What do you want?" she demanded with more courage than she felt. His answer froze her in fear.
"You." He grinned at the shock on her face. "That's right, sweetheart. I've come to invite you to join us. Even's decided you'd make a nice addition to our little family."
Yuko recovered quickly and scoffed at him. "I'll never join you. Get out of here."
He shook his head and clucked his tongue, feigning disappointment. "Now, now, don't be so quick to shut me down. Think about it a minute. You belong with us, kid. Far more than you do with them. Or haven't you told them how much darkness you have in your heart?"
"I said get out of here!" she yelled. She summoned her Keyblade and crouched down into an attack stance. Even if he had put his slimy finger directly on her greatest fear, she refused to give him the pleasure of seeing her suffer.
He just laughed at her. "Such spunk! No wonder you've been giving our lines so much trouble. But the thing is, I'm not about to take no for an answer. Y'see, although Even was totally pissed off when you broke his precious machine, he and Ienzo are both very interested in you and that toy of yours. So they asked me to come get you, and here I am." He stretched out his arms dramatically, exposing the two dangerous-looking guns at his sides. "With an order like that, I'm not gonna go back empty-handed. Now, are you coming or …" He narrowed his eyes and slid his lips up over his pointed teeth in an evil smile. "… are you going to be difficult?"
Yuko swallowed repeatedly, trying to return some moisture to her dry throat. "I'd rather die than go with you," she rasped.
This answer seemed to please him. He lowered his hands and gripped the handles of the guns. "Thought so." In one fluid movement, he drew his weapons and fired at her.
Yuko lifted her blade in a feeble attempt to defend herself and braced her body for the pain. But before they could hit, a figure dashed in front of her and swatted down the bullets with ease. She took several steps back in surprise.
"Sora?"
The boy did not turn to her but fixed his eyes on Braig instead. As Yuko stared, Riku ran up beside her with his blade also at the ready. The apprentice blinked at the three of them in confusion.
"Well, well," Sora said with a lilt of mischief in his voice, "if it isn't The Freeshooter."
Braig frowned. "Huh? Do I know you, kid?"
"Nah, but I know you. And you talk nearly as much as Xigbar did."
"What?" Braig appeared to think this over for a moment before shaking his head. "Whatever. Move outta the way. I don't have time for you and your rambling."
"Rambling?" Sora asked, a wicked grin on his face. He tightened his grip on his Keyblade and said pointedly, "As if."
Although Yuko didn't understand the significance of the simple words, Braig reacted as if Sora had struck him. He stepped back, speechless for once. Many seconds passed before he managed to find his voice. "Well, I see the girlie has found a couple of decent allies. Very interesting." His eyes found Yuko again, and they drilled into her. "Think about what I said, sweetheart. You know on which side you truly belong." A swirling vortex of darkness appeared behind him; he stepped backwards into it and vanished.
Sora rested the end of his Keyblade against the ground. "Man, I hate it when they do that." He turned around at last and smiled at Yuko. "Are you okay? We came out when we heard you shouting."
"Yeah," she managed. "I'm okay." But inside, her emotions whirled and tumbled. A heart full of darkness, surrounded by death. What if she was doing more harm than good by staying here? Sora and Riku could fight in her place now. She was free to … No. She was not free. The Keyblade would not let her do what she wanted.
Because all she wanted to do right now was join those she loved in death.
"Yuko?" Riku touched her shoulder gently. She met his eyes and watched his face form into a smile. "Let's go back in," he said. When she didn't move, he added, "Whatever he said, it isn't true."
"Yeah," Sora interjected. "Those guys are always trying to mess with your head. They did it to me constantly."
Yuko closed her eyes and sighed. "No," she admitted. "It is true. And that's what makes it hurt so much."
Their eyes asked for more information, but she ignored them. Instead she turned and began walking back to Devalin's tent. She had to finish this fight. Then, hopefully, the Keyblade would set her free.
A/N: Yeah, I know Braig/Xigbar is a "surfer" dude, but with those guns I just had to put him in cowboy boots and jeans. And come on, can you really see him in a Hawaiian shirt and Speedos with a board under his arm? Gah!