Hollow Memories.

Riku stumbled out of the door, it wasn't the most fun way to travel but he was not going to complain. He straightened himself out and looked at were the door had taken him to. It looked so familiar, but not in a good way, this was the one place that he never wanted to go back to, not if he could help it. After a moment it clicked were he was.

"This is Maleficents castle! How'd I end up here? Someone must have bought me here while I was sleeping. But who?" Riku turned around to leave but noticed that the door was gone, he was stuck here.

"What you see is not real. It's the world of your memory." The mysterious voice said, Riku put his hands on his hips and sighed, he was wondering when this voice would speak again.

"My memory?" This was something that he didn't understand, weren't memories supposed to be in your head.

"The things you remember of Maleficents castle from your time there. Those memories became a card and that card made this world. The things you see- you've seen them before, haven't you?" The voice said. Riku looked down at his hands, only moments ago he held that card and it wasn't even that big, so how did Maleficents castle fit inside of it, there was no way that was possible, he played with this question for a moment before he spoke up again.

"Yeah…so what now? Am I supposed to learn something while I'm here? Maybe run into someone I know?" As soon as he said that last sentence Riku paused, there was only two people in the entire world that he wanted to see but he didn't know if they wanted to see him.

"Ordinarily…yes. You would meet the people in your memories." The voice said.

"Ordinarily?" Riku asked him back, but all he got was silence, a deadly silence that he knew all to well.

"Hey! I'm asking you a question!" Again, he was treated to silence. Riku clenched his fists together and stared at the ceiling. "Fine, but it had better be you I run across next, voice. I'm sick of talking to thin air." the voice had left him a present though, Riku looked up to see a card come floating down towards him, Riku grabbed it in his had, It was a gold card with a picture of a key on it, he looked at it for a moment before he began to run down the corridor. He had spent a lot of time in the castle so he knew his way around pretty well, although he wished that he could just forget about this castle and everything in it.

He turned to corner to see himself come face to face with a small group of heartless, Riku backed up against the wall, he had no way of defending himself as he had no weapon. One of the heartless bounded straight towards him. Riku closed his eyes and threw his hands up in front of his face and waited for the heartless to hit him, but it never did, slowly Riku opened his eyes and saw the heartless sprawled across the floor, I his hands he held a weapon. Riku looked at the weapon; it was the same one he had used when he was fighting for Maleficent, a blade called Soul Eater. Riku lowered the weapon so it was level with the heartless, the heartless before him flinched but didn't back away and one by one they charged at Riku. Riku bought his blade up and swung down upon the heartless, dodging attacks when needed and striking when he found the time right. It only took him a few minutes to destroy the heartless, Riku sighed and lowered the blade, and the blade then shone a black light and vanished. Riku looked at his hands and smiled. For some strange reason he knew that the blade would appear whenever he needed it.

Riku then continued his run around the castle, trying to find anyone who could help him. Along the way he destroyed random heartless that stood in his way and just as he had thought, when he wished it his blade would appear. Riku stopped in front of a door to take a rest. He looked at the door and noticed that it had a picture of a key on it, just like the card that the voice had left him. Riku took the card out of his pocket and held it up to the door; at once he card began to glow and floated over to the door. The door opened and Riku took a step inside.

He found himself in a room that looked all to familiar to him, Riku sighed and lowered his head.

"It's like he said-everything's just how I remember it. Even this room…"

"It must be nice being back in you old bedroom. Think of all the memories…" Riku's head shot up from the floor as he glared forward.

"You again. Sorry, but these memories I could do without. Maleficent gave me this room." Riku's voice was filled with hatred and bitterness.

"So she did. And you lived here, tempted of the darkness she offered. You cast away your home, your friends, everything…but at least they gave you a nice room." Riku had heard enough of this voice's taunts and lost his temper.

"Shut up!" Riku turned to leave the room when he noticed a card on the desk, he walked over to it and picked it up, and it looked just like the other one except it had a picture of a heart on it. Riku then left the room behind him and he also tried to leave the memories.

He ran back out into the corridor and tried to find a way out of this nightmare, he was beginning to get annoyed with the voice telling him what he had done wrong and of all the things that he threw away, he knew that already and he didn't like being reminded. Riku was to deep in his thoughts that he didn't notice a giant dog like heartless wearing armour in front of him and Riku ran straight into it. Riku hit the floor with a thud, brushing his silver hair out of his eyes he got to his feet and stared right at the heartless.

He used to be able to control the heartless, so he knew how to destroy it. Riku closed his eyes and soon enough his blade came to his hands, he had no idea were it came form but at this moment in time he really didn't care. Riku the launched himself at the heartless and tried to land behind it, he got to it and landed a shot straight onto its back, the heartless growled in pain before it vanished. Riku's blade disappeared and he noticed that the heartless had been blocking the door he needed to find. Again he used the card and again the door opened.

"No one here, either…There's nothing but heartless in this castle." He then shouted out. "Voice! I Know you're watching-so explain this. Where are the people from me memories? Tell me!"

"Are you sure you want to see them?"

"Of course I do!" Riku yelled back

"But you cast them aside. To reach the outside world, you passed through the door to darkness. Behind you, you left family, friends, home-everything-all in pursuit of darkness." The voice taunted.

"But I cast that aside, too!" He protested.

"Then what do you have to show for it? First your home, then the dark. Your heart only knows how to throw things away. It's empty, like that room. Like your memories. That's why no one is in the castle with you. Your heart is hollow except for the darkness you couldn't quite shake off." The voice then began to laugh at him.

"You're full of it! I rejected the darkness!" Riku then noticed a door right in front of him had just appeared, Riku walked towards it and pushed it open, as he entered the door, the voice had one last thing to say to him.

"Ha, ha ha…did you really now?"

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