Friends and Foes

A hooded figure stood alone facing a dark wall. He was alone and staring in to space, obviously lost in thought. In the centre of the room was a crystal ball but it was cloudy. The hooded figure was interrupted by the arrival of someone he knew. This other person suddenly appeared in the room and he to was wearing the same kind of hood. He had short, spiky red hair and an unhappy look on his face. The hooded figure lowered his hood and turned around. His hair was a dark grey and was long on the left side of his face, in completely covered his eye. This boy wore a look of amusement on his face.

"Don't I even get a hello, Lexaeus?" The grey haired boy said, the red head was spared an answer by the appearance of a very irritable person with long blonde hair. He went and stood by the red head. He also wore a hood. The three people ion the room were obviously part of the same group. The blonde haired one spoke up.

"What's going on, Zexion? I demand an explanation." He spoke in a very irritable voice. The grey haired boy seemed to take this rudeness as an insult.

"Nice to see you too, Vexen. You know, it's deplorable…the organization used to be the rope that binds us. And now it's full of kinks." He smirked, the blonde on, Vexen, took a step forwards.

"How dare you!" The red head put a hand on Vexen's shoulder.

"Let it go, Vexen. Zexion, tell us, what did you detect?" He asked the boy. Zexion, as the others had called him closed his eyes and returned to his train of thought he was on earlier.

"Visitors. I picked up two scents in the castles lowest basement. One of them was Maleficent, but-"He was cut of by Vexen, who laughed at this.

"Absurd. The witch is gone, she cannot return from the realm of darkness of her own volition." Zexion sighed and flicked a piece of hair out of his eyes, he must do that a lot as it must be hard to see.

"If you'd let me finish…" He was angry at the fact that he had been cut off but was acting rather cool about it, the way he did that gave Vexen and Lexaeus the creeps. Zexion continued. "The scent belonged to a very convincing double. But I can't say much more beyond that, since the would be Maleficent is no more, our other visitor saw to that."

"Who is it?" Lexaeus had finally spoken up, he normally just let them argue for a moment but he was interested in this.

"I don't know…but the scent was very similar to the superiors. Exactly similar, if I may say."

"Rubbish!" Vexen spoke in a very angry tone, Zexion smirked at him.

"Fact Vexen. Now what shall we do?" Zexion asked. Vexen thought about it for a moment before he spoke up again.

"Let us bide our time and see what develops." And with that, the three men wearing cloaks looked into the crystal ball. The ball was now clear and the three of them watched a young boy look around the lobby.

This boy was Riku.

Riku was lost. He had been walking the same corridor for hours. His hands were still on his stomach as that was what hurt the most, his wrist also hurt from fending of Ansem's attack. Riku stopped as something caught his attention.

"Something…smells kind of funny…what is it? It's so familiar." Riku sniffed the air for a moment longer before he figured out what the smell was. "Darkness, the scent of darkness. Whats happened to me…the darkness even seeps into my senses." Riku sighed and looked at the floor until a figure appeared in front of him.

"Don't worry, Riku." The king was standing in front of him, but something was not right.

"Your Majesty! What happened to you? You're all…fuzzy." He was right; the King seemed to be flickering in the light.

"I can only send a little bit of my power here. But I have a request." Riku was taken a back.

"A request? From your Majesty?"

"Riku, don't let go of yourself just because darkness has a hold on you. Fight the darkness inside you! It won't be easy…but don't forget. Even in the darkest dark, there's always a little light." The king's voice was filled with reassurance, the kind that Riku needed. But something the King had said confused him.

"Light…within darkness?"

"You and I have seen it! The far-off, welcoming light inside the door to darkness…the light of kingdom hearts, Riku-It'll show you the way. Please don't give up. Believe in the light. That's all I ask."

"Okay…I'll try my best." Riku smiled, it was the first time he had smiled in a long time.

"And I'll try to find a way to reach you. I promise." The King extended his hand and Riku went to shake it, but his hand just passed through him.

"You're an illusion?! My hand passes right through you." Riku stared at his hand, the King just smiled at him.

"But we shook hands, in our hearts we're connected, you and me."

"Yeah…I guess so."

Riku smiled at the King, for the first time since he had stepped foot inside this castle, he felt like he had a friend, he didn't feel alone.

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