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. Pairings: 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: In this chapter, each segment in italics denotes a change in POV. And in time since they don't happen concurrently. I really love how this one turned out. Enjoy.

Twenty-Four

Cera, do you have a spare piece of paper and something to write with?

Yeah, Yuko, just let me find them.

As she walked, Yuko practiced firing balls of darkness from her hands the way Riku had taught her. After several hours of practice, she could easily move the darkness around within her body, but she still had trouble releasing it from her palms. It wasn't until she nearly took her own head off with an accidental frustrated wrist flip that she realized she could throw the darkness like she threw her knives. With a bit more practice, she was able to form the darkness into the shape of knives and hurl them at the Heartless that tried to stop her approach. She noted with satisfaction that she didn't even need to pull out Moonlight Arrow for some of them.

She had been walking without stopping since before dawn, so when she crested a hill and saw the fortress looming up in front of her, she sat down in the grass to take a short break. Idly, she wondered if she would even have to go down there or if, assuming she waited long enough, he would come to her.

Dear Riku,

Please forgive me for leaving you a letter like this instead of saying it in person, but I'm afraid of my own weakness when I'm around you. You have such control over my heart that a single word from you could tear down all my resolve and uproot all my plans, and I can't let you do that. I'm very sorry, and I ask for your forgiveness.

"Riku?"

He opened his eyes blearily to see Kairi's worried face hovering over him. Her hair was still messed up from sleeping, and her eyes still had a touch of puffiness around the edges. Something in her expression sent shockwaves of dread through him, jolting him completely awake, and he quickly sat up from the makeshift bed of blankets.

"She's gone, isn't she?" he asked, his voice hoarse with sleep.

Kairi blinked in surprise and then nodded. She held out a folded piece of paper. He took it and saw his name written on it in small, neat printing. "I found this on her pillow," Kairi explained.

"Did you read it?"

"Of course not," she answered. "She left it for you."

I am leaving, on my own, for the fortress. I can't allow you and Sora and Kairi to risk yourselves any more for my sake. Ienzo's arrival today showed me just how dangerous I am to all of you. I am a creature of darkness, no matter how much I long to be in the light with you, and I think I've finally accepted that. Even and Ienzo know how to manipulate me, how to use the darkness in me to make me a liability to the rest of you. I can't let that happen in a battle, not in one where any weakness could cause our entire defense to crumble.

She turned her head slightly as the portal of darkness opened only a few feet from her. He stepped out and stared at her with his hands on his hips. He seemed far less composed than the last time she had seen him.

"You and your little group are getting to be quite annoying," he said in a biting tone. Then, he looked about at the emptiness surrounding them. "Where are they?"

"I left them behind," she explained, getting to her feet. She faced him and gazed bravely into his cold blue eyes. "Even, I've decided to let you study me."

His eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Oh yes? And why this sudden change of heart?" He smirked at his joke.

Yuko sighed gently and replied, "Because I finally understand that I can never again return to the light and that by fighting against darkness, I am hurting those I care about. So I've come back to you, back to the darkness." She crossed her arms and stated strongly, "But I won't fight for you, not against my own friends."

"That's fine," he replied easily with a small wave of his hand.

"And I want you to let Sora and the others evacuate the refugees. You have me now; you shouldn't need them."

Even smiled at her, and she suppressed a shiver. "If those are your terms, then I accept, my dear."

Please do not come after me. I am going with a plan, one that should make the task you and Sora still have much easier. Wait for my signal - you will recognize it when you see it - and then come to the fortress. If my plan works, you will only need to clean up the bits that I have missed. Even if it doesn't work completely, it will be something. I will have done my part to help you.

"I don't like this line about a signal," Kairi said, pointing to the letter that Riku had let her read.

"I don't either," he replied. "It has an ominous feel to it."

As they sat together and worried, others in the cabin had begun to wake up as well. Cera had risen and started to make some breakfast while Reno had started to put some of the blankets away and sort out which bags would go on which backs.

"All right, Cera," Reno said, causing Riku and Kairi to look up. "What did you do with them?"

"With what?" she asked. "And keep your voice down. People are still asleep."

"You know what."

"No, really, I don't."

He held up a bag that seemed lighter than the others. "My materia bombs. They aren't here. What did you do with them? You threw them out, didn't you?"

Riku's heart dropped through the floor. Had Reno just said bombs? He looked at Kairi to see that she had thought the exact same thing.

Cera laughed lightly. "No, but I sure would like to. I don't know why you keep them. They don't even work."

"No," he corrected with a frown, "they don't work right. They definitely work though."

"They're still trash."

"I worked for ages on them!"

"Doesn't change the fact that they're trash."

"Wait a minute!" Riku had quickly crossed the room with Kairi at his heels. He took Reno by the arm and demanded. "What bombs?"

The older boy blinked at him, confused by his stern expression. "Materia bombs. They work on magic. Hit them with a spell, and they explode with a much stronger spell of the opposing element." He shook his head and began pawing through the bag again, double-checking their absence. "They're just prototypes, though. They don't work right. They're far too strong to actually use. I've been working on them in my spare time to see if I can get their potency down to something safe. As they are now … well, say you hit one with an ice spell. The resulting fire explosion would take out … oh …" He cocked his head in thought. "… two or three city blocks."

Kairi released a small screech, and Riku whispered, "Oh no …"

"What's wrong?" Cera asked, taking a few steps into the room with a skillet in one hand and a dishrag in the other.

Riku looked into her kind brown eyes. Somehow his throat forced out the words. "Yuko's gone. With the bombs. To the fortress."

The skillet clattered to the ground.

Finally, I want to tell you that I do love you, even though I said I didn't. Hopefully, I'll be able to talk to you alone sometime this evening and explain, but if I don't have the opportunity or if I can't bring myself to say it, I wanted you to at least know it here. I love you, Riku. As much as a battered, aching, empty heart can.

Even's eyes flickered to someone behind Yuko, and she suddenly felt hands around both of her upper arms, holding her in a grip of iron. She jerked her head up and stared into Elaeus's stony face.

"What -?" she started.

"Don't worry," Even assured her without a trace of warmth in his voice. "We won't kill you. I do need you alive to study you. However, I don't necessarily need you conscious."

He nodded to Elaeus, and her world went black.

Please give Sora, Kairi, and Zell my love.

Good-bye.

Yuko