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-Eight

I never dreamed it would turn out like this. Four of The Five gone. Old friends found. New friends made. Success so close I can almost touch it. And a hand lovingly holding on to mine.

Yuko smiled sideways at Riku as they climbed the stairs to the third floor. His eyes were darting about, watching intently for any Heartless that might appear. They had only met a few on the second floor, but no one doubted that their number would increase the higher they climbed. When he wasn't fighting, Riku had kept a firm grip on Yuko's hand, acting almost possessive of her. She didn't blame him, though, not after what she had just put him through. She would make it up to him later.

A sly grin formed on her face as she thought of all the different ways she could make it up to him. Cut it out, Yuko. Save the lechery for when you've saved the world.

Riku caught the grin before she could wipe it from her face. He lifted an eyebrow at her. "Do I want to know what you're thinking?" he asked quietly so that Sora and Kairi, walking in front of them, would not hear.

"Do you remember when I apologized for 'making' you love me, and you said it sounded like I had seduced you just for the fun of it?"

"Yeah."

She smirked at him with an unmistakable gleam in her eye. "I was just thinking that it might be fun to try after all."

His normally pale face flushed, causing her to bite her tongue to keep the giggles down. After a moment of serious blinking and throat-clearing, he replied, "Who are you, and what have you done with Yuko?"

She did laugh at that and took a moment to stop and throw her arms about his neck. "I'm still here," she told him brightly. "I'm just remembering what it feels like to be happy, that's all. I've been such a dark, depressed ball of doom for so long that I had forgotten. That's okay, isn't it?" She smiled up into his face and saw her answer in his love-filled eyes before his lips had even moved.

"It's wonderful," he told her softly and leaned in closer. He would have kissed her if Sora's voice hadn't interrupted them.

"Um, guys, I'm glad for you and all, but Zell had a point."

Yuko buried her face in Riku's shoulder and laughed as he turned his head and addressed his friend who was standing at the top of the stairs with his hands on his hips. "Aw, c'mon Sora. I was only gonna kiss her 'til she couldn't see straight. You should try it with Kairi."

To everyone's surprise, Sora did not immediately turn purple. Instead he answered seriously, "I intend to. After we beat Even. Now come on. Once we're finished here, we'll get you two a room and you can do whatever you want to her."

It was Riku's turn to blush, and Sora grinned from ear to ear at the sight of it. Yuko stood on her tiptoes and whispered in Riku's ear, "I think he got you."

"I think he did," Riku replied, his smile returning. Then, before Sora could say anything else to embarrass them, Riku swept Yuko up in his arms - receiving a surprised shriek in response - and carried her the rest of the way to the third floor.

In spite of Sora's firm belief that Even would be waiting for them on the top floor, he still wanted to explore just about everywhere before they got there. So, just as they had done on the first and second floors, they took their time on the third floor, poking around and investigating anything that looked even remotely interesting. "You wouldn't believe the stuff you can find to use for synthesis," Sora had said in defense of their time-wasting activities. Yuko was so happy to be with them again that she didn't really care one way or the other.

Until she started looking through some random papers on a random desk in a random room. They were yet more scientific notes, done in a sloppy scrawl that Yuko assumed was Even's. Her eyes traveled lightly over the words and diagrams, not understanding a bit of it, but then one name jumped off the page and made her gasp.

Shiva.

She gathered up the pages in her hands and began to read in earnest. Why was Even interested in one of the guardians from their old myths? Wasn't he a scientist? Shiva was just a fairy-tale. Why would he care about her?

Sora wandered up to her; he had noticed the intense concentration on her face. "Whaddja find?"

Yuko lifted her head to answer but stopped suddenly. The darkness inside her was raging. Screaming. Calling out … a warning? She shut her eyes and focused on it. It sensed its own kind. A massive influx of darkness tinged with furious revenge. Coming in right next to her and Sora.

"Look out!" she cried, throwing herself at the younger boy just as a portal appeared and a blade sliced through the air where they had been standing. They looked up from the floor to see Even towering over them, a sword in one hand, a huge ice-covered shield in the other, and all the fires of Hell burning in his face.

"I didn't mind Dilan or Braig," he hissed at them. "Even Elaeus can be replaced. But Ienzo! The boy had such a fantastic mind, so much potential. And you killed him!" He swung the sword at them with a mad cry, and they tumbled in opposite directions.

"Wait a minute," Sora spluttered, rising to his feet. "You're not supposed to fight us now. We're nowhere near the top."

"I don't think he cares, Sora," Yuko told him. She flew past the furious apprentice and out the door to the hallway, grabbing Sora on her way past. Kairi and Riku, who had been looking in other rooms, quickly joined them. The four of them gathered together, weapons ready, senses on full alert.

Even appeared in the doorway, his eyes glittering with anger. He swept a contemptuous gaze over them. "This has gone on long enough," he said in a low growl. "I will no longer allow you children to interfere with my plans. It ends …" He lifted the sword up and away from his body until it was level with the ground. " … NOW!"

With one fast sweeping motion, Even brought the sword around in an arc in front of him, and a sheet of ice sprang from his blade and flew towards them. They scattered. Yuko rolled when she hit the ground and somehow managed to end up on her feet. She looked up to see Sora already flying at Even, Keyblade extended. Even blocked his attacks with his enormous shield, but Sora kept thrashing at him, much to Yuko's confusion. Then she saw Riku trying to come up behind the apprentice to attack his undefended back. Unfortunately, Even saw him as well, and he sliced his sword at Sora while bringing the shield around to face Riku. Both boys leapt away to safety.

Yuko quickly threw a few daggers of darkness at Even to distract him. He blocked them, as she expected. Somehow they would have to get him out of that doorway. Otherwise they would never have a chance of hurting him at all much less defeating him.

Sora ran forward for another assault, but Even shot another stream of ice from his sword, directly at Sora's legs. The boy could not move in time, and the ice trapped him in place. Even immediately attacked him, but with the shield rather than the sword, pushing down on Sora who pushed back with his Keyblade. With his legs encased in ice and the pressure from above, Sora's body began to buckle, and Yuko knew it was only a matter of time before his bones cracked. Riku came to his aid, slashing at the small space of Even's side that had been exposed. As Even moved the shield to protect himself, Kairi sent a small burst of fire at the ice, melting it enough that Sora could break free. The water pooled around him on the ground.

The sight of the water brought a sudden memory to Yuko's mind. The only time Zell had managed to beat her in a water war. What had he called that tactic? The ole bait and switch?

With a loud cry designed to attract Even's attention, she flew at the apprentice. She swung her Keyblade wildly, like a foolish amateur, and the momentum threw her off-balance. Yelping in surprise, she fell hard on her backside directly in front of Even and stared up at him with shocked, terrified eyes. He grinned down at her, a hungry predator. Still staring stupidly, she backed up on her hands a little away from the door. When his sword came down to slice her in half, she rolled rather than defend herself and then continued to retreat while remaining on the ground, looking scared and helpless. He stabbed at her again and again, missing her by seeming inches each time, too caught up in the thrill of destroying the helpless prey to realize how far she had pulled him from the doorway.

Sora's and Riku's double attack on his now-exposed back alerted him to how badly he had miscalculated. He whirled immediately to defend himself only to have Yuko jump up, her fake fright gone, and shower him with knives. For the next several minutes, the three Keyblade wielders danced around him, avoiding his increasingly desperate sword thrusts and pouncing on his weak spots whenever they presented themselves. Kairi did her part by countering his ice spells with blasts of fire and occasionally sending an arrow at his feet or past his head, causing him to jump and twitch in alarm. By the time he was visibly hurting, he had abandoned all calm and was wildly swiping at them with no aim or forethought.

Then, just as Yuko was thinking they only needed one or two more good hits, Even cried out and raised his sword high above his head. A rainstorm of small, sharp icicles descended on them, filling the entire hallway. Sora and Yuko focused all their attention on blocking the frozen projectiles while Riku jumped to Kairi and shielded them both with a thin aura of light. The distraction allowed Even to retreat several steps and call up a portal. He stepped backwards into it, growling like a trapped beast, and promptly disappeared.

"Blast!" Yuko yelled, watching the last of the dark vapors fade away.

No one said anything else for a long moment. They all knew how close they had been to ending it.

"Well," Sora said finally, "ready to go up to the next floor?" He smiled at them, his cheerfulness dissolving the bad mood that had threatened to take over. Taking Kairi's hand, he started walking in the direction of the stairs, swinging his Keyblade as he went.

Riku walked up to Yuko's side and held out his hand for her to take. She hesitated a moment, her eyes straying to the room where she had seen those papers and the name from a piece of her world's folklore. Something about it bothered her, but she had no idea why. Sighing, she shook her head to clear away the worry and took Riku's hand. Whatever it was, it probably wasn't important.

Together, she and Riku followed Sora and Kairi to the next floor.

A/N: Even's sword/shield combo was inspired by Cao Ren of the Dynasty Warriors series. I just thought he deserved something sharper than a big shield.