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: Elaeus's outfit is inspired by Sabin Rene Figaro of FFVI. Seemed appropriate.
Twenty-Six
"Can I ask a question?"
Riku turned to look at Sora. They had paused a moment at the top of the hill, all looking solemnly on the intimidating fortress that loomed before them.
"Why," Sora continued when no one answered him, "are these things always massively huge and scary-looking? And why is the bad guy always at the very top?"
Riku sighed gently at his friend. His nerves had been pinging from the stress and worry their entire way here, but somehow Sora had managed to ease him with his child-like questions. He smiled slightly, a bit of his old competitiveness reappearing. "He's not always at the very top. I fought Ansem on the first basement of Castle Oblivion."
Sora fixed scrutinizing blue eyes on him. "Yeah, but you had to climb to get there."
"True," Riku replied, remembering those twelve agonizing basements, "but my point is there were still thirteen floors above me."
"Doesn't matter. He was at the top of your climb."
"After I fought him, I didn't need to climb anymore. That's like saying something you're looking for is always in the last place you looked for it. What, you're gonna keep looking after you find it?"
"If he had been in the bottom basement, you still would have had to climb twelve floors to get out."
"Would you two knock it off?" Kairi interrupted angrily. Her eyes glinted in a frightening way that made Riku shrink back a bit. Clearly, he wasn't the only one worried. She spun around on her heel and started walking down the hill. Riku heard her mutter, "I swear. Boys are so stupid."
"Uh-oh, someone's in trouble," Reno laughed as he passed them; the red-head was in a fantastic mood having filled several Heartless with holes on their way there. He twirled one pistol around his finger as he walked after Kairi. Cera and Zell followed him, the girl smiling and the boy shaking his head.
Sora and Riku exchanged sheepish glances and hurried to keep up with them.
They saw Elaeus long before he was in earshot. How could they not see him? He stood in the archway of the fortress's outer wall: a giant of a man with fiery hair as bright as Reno's, wearing only a loose pair of white pants bound around his waist with a purple sash. He waited for them with arms crossed over his bare chest and a glower planted firmly on his harsh face.
Zell, Reno, and Cera hung back a bit as Sora and Riku walked up to him with Kairi slightly behind. He lifted his chin as they approached and said in a deep, rumbling voice, "You are not welcome here. Leave."
Riku faced him bravely. "Where's Yuko?" he demanded.
Elaeus smiled slightly but without a trace of humor. "Inside. She came willingly." He repeated, "Leave."
"Not without Yuko," Sora replied, dropping into a more attack-ready stance. "And we have some other unfinished business with you guys. Like getting you the heck off of this world."
Elaeus raised one eyebrow in curious amusement. It was the first trace of emotion the man had displayed. "You wish to fight me?" He asked the question straight, without the usual underlying arrogance that Braig and Dilan had shown. It made Riku shiver with cold. Elaeus didn't need arrogance.
Sora's Keyblade flashed into his hand in response, and Riku quickly followed suit. Behind him, he heard the sounds of Reno's pistols and Cera's rifle being cocked and knew without turning that Zell had lifted up his fists and Kairi had fitted an arrow to her bow. Elaeus slowly ran his eyes over all of them with calm detachment. Then, he lowered his arms to his sides.
"Very well then. Let us proceed."
Two swirling spirals of darkness suddenly appeared at the ends of his arms and disappeared just as quickly, leaving his hands clutching two large battle axes. He cut the air in front of himself several times as a warm-up and then lowered his body into a ready stance. One bare foot ground itself into the dust below him, gaining a solid purchase from which to attack or defend as the situation warranted.
Riku swallowed in anticipation and tightened his grip on Way to the Dawn. Elaeus's face wasn't emotionless anymore. He now glared at the two boys with a fierce anger and hatred.
Beside him, Sora whispered, half in confirmation, half in disbelief, "You beat this guy's Nobody on your own?"
"Well," Riku admitted, "it wasn't easy. And the King kinda helped."
Sora turned wide eyes to him briefly. "Details that would have been nice to know beforehand, Riku!"
Riku did not have the chance to reply, for with an earth-shaking cry, Elaeus attacked.
Yuko wandered through the halls of the fortress, wondering in which of the many rooms she would find Even. All she had to do was goad him into a fight. He would eventually hit her with one of his spells, and rather than try to avoid it, she would embrace it, letting it cover her and the hidden bombs. And then, it would be over. Everything. It would all be over.
How ironic that I once thought I was the only one of the three of us left alive, and now I'll be the only one to die. How would they take it? Vincent would understand. If he had been there, he probably would have insisted he do it instead. Better he stayed on Midgar then. This way, he could make Zell understand why she had done it, and this way, Luci would not have her heart broken.
But Riku will. Yuko ground her teeth at the unwanted thought. Riku was strong; his heart would heal with time. And he would have had his heart broken anyway. It had been such a pretty lie - that he would wait, that someday they would be together - but it had been a lie all the same. Even though being with him and falling in love with him had lessened her pain, a small part of her had always craved death. Ever since she had faced death in the machine, she had known she would let it take her once she had saved her worlds. Once she had accomplished the task for which the Keyblade had chosen her.
She took a moment to peek into a darkened room just to make sure Even was in fact not in it. Then she continued down the hallway until the next room. She sighed. Surely Ienzo would have noticed she was no longer in her cage. Why hadn't the two of them confronted her yet?
A sudden rumbling froze her feet. Her heart jumped to her throat. She had felt rumbling like that before as she fled the fortress, bleeding from gashes that would leave permanent scars. Elaeus was attacking someone.
"Your friends are here," a gentle voice said from behind her. She whirled to find Ienzo smiling at her in his friendly yet dangerous way. "How curious that you should escape and be wandering the halls just as they show up. Was this a coordinated attack I wonder?"
She lifted her chin and told him truthfully, "They aren't here because of me. I told them to stay away."
"Oh, I think they are here because of you," he answered easily. "Although I believe your other statement." He cocked his head and listened for a moment. They could hear the great man's bellowing now, and the floors and walls of the fortress shook every so often. Yuko watched him, not knowing what to do next. She couldn't use the bombs anymore, not if the others were here as well.
After several long tense minutes, Ienzo dropped his eyes to hers and held out a hand. "Shall we go see them?"
"Look out!"
Kairi's warning came a split second too late. The ground shot up before Riku and Sora, sending both boys flying backwards into the dust. Coughing from the dirty air, Riku wiped blood out of his eyes. One of the smaller rocks must have cut him that time. He grimaced and quickly wiped the blood on his pants.
Next to him, Sora moaned. "Why does he keep using that attack?"
"I dunno. Maybe because it works?"
They saw the huge axe spinning at them at the same time and leapt in separate directions as it buried itself in the ground between them.
"All right," Sora growled. "That's it. I've had enough of this." He found Riku's eyes through the swirling dust. His own eyes flashed with anger and determination. "Riku, stay back!"
"Sora, what - ?"
But Sora ignored him, beginning a long crying crescendo that ended in a blinding flash of light. When Riku lowered his hand from his eyes, he saw Sora had transformed into a yellow outfit and now held two Keyblades. The younger boy hurled himself at Elaeus and began slashing with insane speed.
"Drive Form," Riku murmured to himself. "Right."
Kairi dropped down next to him out of nowhere and quickly applied a Potion to his bleeding head. Riku thanked her briefly, all the while keeping his eyes on Sora. His blades flashed in the sun as they whirled and stabbed. Sora was definitely doing damage to Elaeus, but the enormous apprentice was also managing to block quite a few of the attacks and even get several of his own off which Sora thankfully blocked or dodged. Watching the two fight, Riku realized Sora would tire out before he had finished Elaeus off, and then he would be a sitting duck.
Quickly, Riku emptied his pockets and gave all of his items to Kairi. "Here. Pay close attention and heal me whenever you can."
"What are you doing?" she asked, concern shining in her already-worried eyes.
"I'm going to help him."
"When he's in Drive Form?" she nearly squeaked. "He'll slash you to pieces!"
"Which is why you're going to heal me," Riku patiently explained. He captured one of Kairi's hands and squeezed it gently. "We don't have any time to waste, Kairi. We have to end this. Now."
She took a deep breath and nodded. Giving her hand one final squeeze, he jumped up and ran to help Sora.
"You don't want to see them?" Ienzo asked lightly when Yuko did not move.
"I do," she answered. "But forgive me if I don't exactly trust you."
He laughed and lowered his hand. Taking a small breath, he opened his mouth to comment further, but a huge tremor surged through the building and forced both of them to struggle for their balance. Once it had passed, Yuko listened carefully for the sounds of the battle, but they had ceased. Ienzo smiled at her, clearly thinking the same thing as she was.
It was over. But who had won?
Slowly, he lifted his hand again. A portal appeared just slightly behind him, beckoning to her. Swallowing the lump in her throat, Yuko stepped over to Ienzo and took his hand. He gently pulled her through the portal …
… and out into the front courtyard. Yuko blinked several times from the sudden bright light of outdoors. When her eyes had finally adjusted, she lifted them to the front archway. Her heart sank. There stood Elaeus, back to them, arms crossed as if nothing had happened.
Ienzo wandered up to his comrade and got his attention with a slight cough. "There was a disturbance out here?" he questioned.
"There was," Elaeus answered solemnly. "But I took care of it." He motioned with his head to the area outside the fortress's walls.
Yuko did not want to see, but her feet moved on their own, bringing her into the archway. She gasped sharply when she saw the bodies lying scattered about in the dust. Without thinking, she ran to them.
"Reno, Cera," she whispered, finding them first. He lay with his head on her chest, the ground beneath him stained with pools of deep red, her head partially crushed and her pretty face demolished. "Kairi." A deep cut slashed her open from hip to shoulder. "Zell." Another crushed head and a broken neck also. Yuko shuddered and choked from the horrible sight and the overwhelming sorrow that flooded her. Lifting her eyes - painfully dry even though they ached to stream with tears - she cast them about, searching for the two she had not seen. Where were Sora and Riku?
Slowly, over the sounds of her own dry sobs, she heard the crying of someone else in deep distress. Turning her head, she saw them sheltered against the wall: a bloody, broken Sora being cradled in Riku's arms as he cried.
"Riku!"
His head shot up at the sound of her voice, and she had to hold back a small scream of surprise and fear at the sheer loathing in his fierce green eyes.
"You," he hissed. "What are you doing here? Come to finish what your friend started?" He held Sora closer to his body as if to protect him, even though Yuko could see the sweet bubbly boy would never protect or need protecting ever again.
"Riku, I -"
"You left us," he accused, anger lighting up his face and turning it into something terrible. "You betrayed us!"
"No! I … I told you I had a plan. I told you to stay away."
"Stay away? And leave you here alone? What kind of friend would do that?" His still-wet eyes narrowed. "Oh, yeah, that's right. Your kind."
Yuko fought for breath. The despair from her friends' murders, the shock of Riku's harsh words, the guilt for her own actions, they squeezed her throat closed and pushed against her chest with devastating force. As she gasped and choked, Riku gently laid Sora onto the ground and stood. He wiped the tears from his eyes before fixing them once again on her in fury.
"Well, here I am," he mocked her, holding out his arms. "Come finish me off. Present me as a gift to your new allies." He flicked his wrist, and his Keyblade flashed into life.
"No, Riku," she tried, "I'm not … they're not …" But Riku refused to listen. He flew at her with a deep-throated cry, and Yuko barely had enough time to call her own blade to defend herself. She was so upset, so confused, that he had her on the ground in a matter of seconds, his blade pressing against her neck.
"It's all your fault," he whispered, his eyes filling again with tears. "Sora. Kairi. All the others. Your fault." He pushed a little harder, and Yuko felt the pain, felt her skin begin to tear.
Sadly, she gazed up into his eyes. Those beautiful green eyes that had once held so much love and understanding. Now she could see only suffering and terrible hate. If the heart behind those eyes truly did not love her anymore, then perhaps she should die here. Not as a sacrifice to save her world but as a means to ease Riku's suffering. As an exchange for Sora and Kairi. She shut her eyes and let Moonlight Arrow disappear. She waited.
But instead of beheading her, Riku lifted his weapon and stood up. "Bah," he spat, "you're not worth soiling my blade for. Pathetic."
Slowly, Yuko rose to her knees. Well, if he wouldn't …
He snapped around when she recalled her Keyblade, thinking perhaps she would finally fight him, but when she carefully turned the tip of the weapon towards her own chest, he relaxed. And smiled. "Huh, maybe you aren't so worthless after all. Go on, then. Pay your debt."
She closed her eyes. How had it come to this? She had planned on dying, yes, but to protect them. So that the war would end quickly with only one more casualty: herself. They would all live and love her in memory. She would be there in the world of light in their thoughts and their conversations. How had it all gone wrong? Riku was the only one left, and he hated her now. Why couldn't she protect anyone? Why?
"What's the matter?" his harsh voice bit through her thoughts. "Stop making me wait!"
Wait.
We're friends, right? Nevermind, I don't need to hear you say it now. I'll wait.
I'm sorry. … Don't be. It's okay. I don't mind.
I don't love you. … I don't mind. I'll wait.
At that moment, I knew, Yuko. I knew that you and I have a future together, and that all we need is time.
I'll wait.
Yuko opened her eyes. And realized how badly she had played the fool.
She lowered her blade slightly and lifted her gaze to the silver-haired person in front of her. In a low voice, she said, "Riku would never say something like that to me."
His eyes widened, and in that moment, she saw it. Peeking out from underneath long, silver bangs. Blue eyes.
"You're not Riku!" she hissed. In one fluid movement, she dismissed Moonlight Arrow and pulled out a fistful of knives. Crying out in fury, she hurled them at the fake-Riku, and they sent him stumbling backwards until he hit the wall. They lodged in his arms and legs, pinning him into place. As he gasped and whimpered in pain, he changed, returning to his real form.
Yuko rose to her feet and gazed triumphantly at Ienzo. He lifted his head to her, his uncovered eye shining in fear. She could see him struggling to find something to say, a way to patch together the illusions she had shattered. She quickly brought her Keyblade back to her hands and aimed it directly at the center of his chest.
He threw his head back and screamed, and the world dissolved. As the last of his breath faded away and his body began crumbling into dust, the hallway where they had originally been standing resolidified around them. Yuko waited until all the black mist had vanished before beginning to retrieve her knives. As she did so, she could think of nothing other than what a complete and utter fool she had been.
Riku, please be okay. I'm coming to find you, and you won't have to wait anymore.
A/N: Yes, I prefer Master Form to Final Form. I just don't like floating. I absolutely hated Neverland, and don't get me started on the flying carpet battles.
So, let me answer some questions before you ask them. Why didn't Ienzo just kill Yuko himself? Well, I don't know what his weapon is. Does anyone (other than the KH people who aren't telling)? So I had him do what he does best: mind rape. And since it was all an illusion, Riku's Keyblade was also an illusion. He could make Yuko's brain think she was in pain, but he couldn't exactly make it think it just had its head cut off. Hence his need to have her kill herself. Which backfired. Heh.