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.

Twenty-Seven

Sora and Riku lay side by side on the ground, panting.

"That was … harder than … I remembered," Riku gasped out. He lifted a hand and tried to wipe away the sweat that poured from his forehead.

"You're … nuts," Sora offered. "You … know that … right?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. Just wanted … to make sure … you knew. 'Cause - oof!"

Giggling madly with happiness, Kairi tackled Sora and promptly drove what little breath he had left from his lungs. The boy flailed a bit before giving up, and he draped one tired arm around her shoulders as she attempted to hug him to death. Riku tried laughing at him but found he didn't have the energy.

The sound of feet by his head made him look up into Zell's smiling face. "Hey, that was awesome, you guys! Insanely reckless and stupid, but awesome all the same." He prodded Riku gently with his foot. "But you can't take a nap now. We still have a crazy SeeD to find before she turns us all into barbeque."

Yuko! Riku sat up and immediately clutched his head and groaned. "Too fast. Ow." He successfully resisted the urge to fall back down on the ground and hung his head between his knees instead. "I wonder if this is what a hangover feels like," he commented to no one in particular.

"Dunno," Zell answered him cheerily. "Never had one. Reno?"

"Now why," the red-head demanded, "would you assume I would know something like that?"

"Oh, I dunno. Maybe because you're filthy rich. Didn't you used to spend your weekends partying until you passed out?"

"None of your business."

"Aha! So you did!"

"Boys," Cera chided, "the barbeque, remember?" She knelt down and lifted one of Riku's arms around her neck so that she could help him stand. Once she was satisfied he was all right, she turned to the task of prying Kairi off of Sora. After rescuing the Keyblade Master, she carefully dusted off her jeans, picked up her rifle, and confidently strode through the archway towards the front gate.

Reno sighed happily to himself. "What a woman." Grinning like a fool, he trailed after his girl, and the rest of the party followed.

Once inside, Riku took a moment to look around the fortress's interior. It was surprisingly dull. After the odd, flowery décor of Castle Oblivion and the harsh, blinding rooms of The Castle That Never Was, this place looked almost normal. The simple, straight hallways were lined with doors that opened into large rooms. The stone walls of the hallways were mostly bare although every so often someone had hung a mirror or a small tapestry - probably Ienzo since Riku couldn't see Even taking the time or Elaeus caring. He and Sora began to wander and peek into doors. The rooms themselves had been decorated differently but all for obvious reasons: living quarters, kitchen, exercise room for Elaeus, and tons and tons of rooms dedicated to experimentation and research.

"Okay," Sora said after several minutes of exploration. "Where are the stairs? Let's get climbing."

"We're here for Yuko first," Riku reminded him. "She won't necessarily be on the top floor." His nerves began to strain again. Where was she? This place was so huge. Where should they even start to look?

Sora grinned at him in that cheerfully annoying way of his. "I betcha she is. Either that or she's on the floor directly below. Regardless, we'll need to find the stairs. She's not going to come to us."

"Riku?"

He turned quickly at the sound of the voice. There at the end of the hall, coming down a set of stairs …

"Yuko!"

He took off at a run towards her as Kairi laughed, "You were saying, Sora?" and Sora just grumbled in response.

As soon as he reached her, he pulled her into a tight hug, not caring in the slightest what the others thought of his uncharacteristic display of emotion. She was there. She was alive. He hadn't lost her. She hadn't … He dug his fingers into her back, suddenly terrified of what would happen if he let her go again.

"Riku," she said softly, settling into his neck and shoulder, "I'm so sorry. It was so stupid of me. I never should have … I'm sorry."

"Don't …" he choked out, the fears he had held back beginning to overwhelm him, "Don't ever do that again. Never." He shuddered violently and fought to keep everything in check. He was not going to cry. But all of the stress, the worry, the terror, it was all crashing down on him and threatening to send him into uncontrollable sobs.

"I won't," she soothed him. She tightened her own grip around him. "Never again." Her hands traveled lightly over his lower back as if to smooth away his shaking. "I won't leave you again. Ever."

Still fighting to get control of himself, he buried his face in her hair and tried to breathe. His arms pulled her to him as tightly as he could, so tightly that he thought he might be hurting her, but she didn't complain. She just held him in return, resting with her head on his shoulder and her hands tracing comforting circles on his back. When, several minutes later, he had finally managed to calm himself down, he raised his head and looked down to find her already gazing up at him, as if she had read his mind. The kiss they shared was short and soft, but it sealed a silent promise that neither needed to speak to understand.

When they stepped apart and turned to face the others, Yuko moved so that she stood slightly in front of Riku and pulled his arms around her waist so that he still held her. The action made him inhale sharply in surprise. Since when had she initiated such casual closeness? Something had changed in the brief amount of time they had been apart, and he liked it. He liked it very much.

"I owe you guys an apology, too," she was saying.

"You sure do," Zell answered with his normal grin. "What, did your brain take a vacation or something? Why'd ya go and do something so stupid?"

She lowered her eyes. "I'm sorry. I let the darkness get the best of me. I'm sorry for my weakness." She lifted her head again with a confused look. "But why are you all here? Didn't you tell them about the bombs?" she asked Reno.

He had slipped his arms around Cera and held her much in the same way that Riku held Yuko. "Sure I did," he replied to her question. "But lover-boy there didn't care a whit. Came flying over to save you like a man possessed."

Riku felt himself start to blush, but the grateful smile Yuko gave him, her head tilted back so that she could see him, banished the embarrassment. She leaned a little more into him, and he briefly tightened his hold on her in response. But then her brow furrowed, and she turned back to the others. "But why the rest of you?"

To everyone's surprise, Sora laughed. "What, you think Riku's the only one willing to risk his life for something he loves?" He gave her a wide grin, one of the ones Riku knew she often found irritating, and said, "We wanted to come. You're worth saving, you know."

In Riku's arms, Yuko sagged slightly, but he could tell she wasn't sad. Just overwhelmed. "Yeah," she replied quietly. "I think I finally do know." After a moment of comfortable silence, she straightened and said, "I heard the fight with Elaeus. You beat him, I'm assuming?"

"Sure did!" Sora answered happily. "Took some doing, but we did it. And now we only have two apprentices left."

Yuko smiled slyly. "One."

Everyone blinked at her. Riku moved her body so he could see her face better and asked, "One? What happened to the other one?"

She grinned at him. "I defeated Ienzo."

"All by yourself?" Sora cried with just a bit too much disbelief.

She turned her head to him and mock-glared with narrowed eyes. "What? You're the only one who can fight, o bright and shiny Keyblade Master?"

"No no, that's not what I meant," he said quickly, throwing up his hands in defense. "I know you can fight. I've seen you. You fight as well as a guy … uh …" His mouth opened and shut a few times in horror as he realized what he had just said. "Um," he finally managed, "I didn't mean that either." He smiled sheepishly at Kairi who was shooting him death glares.

Luckily for Sora, Yuko burst into laughter, effectively rescuing him from the hole he had dug for himself. "If you could see the look on your face …" she teased, mimicking what Sora had said to Dilan. The memory sent Sora and Riku into rounds of laughter with her as the others looked on, confused.

"So," Sora began after they had composed themselves again, "are we ready to finish off the last guy and free these worlds for good?"

"No, wait!" Yuko said. She reached into her belt and pulled out three small greenish balls. "Someone should take these out of here," she explained quietly. "Somewhere safe."

She looked to Reno who had brightened at the sight of his bombs. "Sure, I'll do it." He stepped forward and took them from her hands. "At this point, I think you guys'll do fine without us, so Cera and I will head back to the camps and wait for the good news." He turned to his friend. "Zell? You gonna come, too?"

Zell leveled serious eyes on his old friend. "Well, Yukes? What do you think?"

She considered him for a long moment before answering, "Yeah, I think you should go. The four of us will be able to finish this."

He nodded, smiling. "Then I'll see you later. And when it's over, we'll all go visit Vinnie. Although," he commented to Reno with a huge grin on his face, "I don't know if I should go after all. Wonder if we can trust the future of our worlds on a pair of lovey-dovey couples? Soon as I turn my back, I bet they'll go all rabbity on us."

Reno laughed brightly and slapped the blond on the back. "You're just jealous! Man, you need a girlfriend." He turned his sparkling blue eyes to them. "Good luck, guys. We'll see you later."

"Good luck," Cera echoed, giving them each a bright smile. "Smack that jerk a couple of good ones for us, okay?"

"Yeah, what they said," Zell finished, hooking his thumb at his two friends. Suddenly serious, he closed the distance between himself and Yuko and drew her into a hug. Then he kissed the top of her head, found her eyes with his own, and said, "You be careful, okay?"

"Sure, Zell."

He lifted his head, and his blue eyes rested on Riku. "And you, take care of my girl."

Riku nodded with a smile. Zell nodded back and released Yuko, giving her a small push to go back to Riku's arms. With a final easy wave, he turned and began walking back to the entrance of the fortress, Reno and Cera following hand in hand.

"Well," Sora said when they had disappeared from sight. "You guys ready?"

The other three just nodded to him and smiled. They were ready all right. Ready to end it, once and for all.