Kidnapped
Kidnapped
"Sora," Riku breathed, gripping Sora's listless form. "Sora, please wake up." Sora didn't wake up though. He stayed as motionless and lifeless as only death can make a person. Riku didn't want to believe it. He didn't want to believe that Sora was gone forever. He pressed his ear against Sora's chest and hoped that he'd only failed to locate Sora's heartbeat in his wrist, hoped that it was, possibly, just too weak to detect in the wrist, but he had no such luck. Sora was devoid of a heartbeat, devoid of life. He truly was dead.
"No," Riku whispered softly. "Sora…" He gripped Sora tightly, holding him close. He didn't know what to do, didn't know what to feel. He only knew that there was a big ache in his chest. "I shouldn't have let it get this far," he thought, wretchedly. "I should've ended this when I could have. I should've…" He stopped, and suddenly realized something. None of this had been his fault. None of it had been his fault at all. He'd tried his best to make everything right again, and though it hadn't exactly been enough, it still wasn't his fault. All this time he'd been blaming himself for everything that had happened, but he wasn't to blame at all. Twine was. It was Twine that had caused this chaotic mess, it was Twine that had kidnapped Sora, and it was Twine that had taken the life of his best friend. Twine was the cause of everything.
"You," Riku growled, staring up at Twine with venomous eyes. His glare intensified. "How could youdo something like this?" he screamed. "How could you?" Twine gave a cruel smirk.
"You could have stopped it, you know," he said. "You could have stopped it all. All you had to do was give up Way To Dawn, an object, a material thing. I'm sure that would have been a lot better than giving up your friend." Inside, Riku was wincing. He tried to tell himself that this hadn't been what he'd done.
"It's not like I chose some prized possession over my best friend," he thought, but Twine's words where starting to send doubt into Riku. Sora was a person, and Way To Dawn was, indeed, an item, a thing. It would never live or feel, the way Sora had. It was just an inanimate object, and the way things looked now, what with Sora being dead in his arms and Way To Dawn still being in his possession, it rather did seem like he'd chosen the inanimate object over Sora. "Could I have really made a wrong decision somewhere?" Riku thought, but even as he thought it he knew it was wrong. He hadn't come here to secure his right to Way To Dawn. This whole time, Way To Dawn had hardly even crossed his mind. He had come for Sora, not for Way To Dawn, but for Sora. Riku knew he hadn't done anything remotely like choosing Way To Dawn over Sora, and that Twine was just trying to add to the misery he felt right now.
"You know," Twine continued, bringing Riku out of his thoughts, "I'll still be wanting Way To Dawn. Don't think that just because your friend's dead means you're off the hook." He said the word "dead" with force, as if he was trying to dangle this fact in front of Riku's nose, and it only made Riku angry.
"Just shut up," Riku said, his voice bitter. "You're not getting it."
"Well," Twine replied, heaving his sword up so that it was resting on his shoulders, "I wasn't really asking." Twine shot forward so quickly that Riku barely had time to take action. He threw himself down flat against the ground on top of Sora, narrowly avoiding the steel of the sword, and then moved Sora to the crotch of his arm. He stood, and then started running. He really did want to fight Twine, more than anything else right now, but he couldn't at the moment. He'd given Way To Dawn to his replication. He'd had to, for the plan he'd envisioned to work. The plan was going horribly wrong though. He hadn't expected that any of this was going to happen. He hadn't expected that Twine was going to figure out what they were doing. He hadn't expected that he was actually going to need Way To Dawn. He hadn't expected that such a terrible thing was going to happen to Sora.
Now he was in big trouble. Since he'd given Way To Dawn to his replication, that meant that it was going to stay with the replication until the replication gave it back to him. He was sure that the other Riku was bound to get there in a short while, but a lot could happen in that time. Riku was weaponless, defenseless against Twine's wrath, and he was sure that Twine wouldn't hesitate in allowing him to share the same fate as Sora.
As Riku ran, he heard Twine's fast paced footsteps behind him, and he knew that it was only a matter of time before Twine caught up with him. He would have run faster, but with Sora tucked under his arm the way he was, it was hard to run, and he was constantly stumbling. Part of Riku told him to put Sora down, that there was nothing more he could do for him, but he couldn't let himself do that. Whether Sora was dead or alive, Riku couldn't bring himself to leave Sora there while he fled. It was strange though. He felt compelled to try and protect Sora, even though he knew there was nothing left to protect. It was probably on account of the fact that he really hadn't come to terms with the fact that Sora was really gone. He couldn't wrap his mind around it. It had happened so quickly and unexpectedly that he just couldn't believe it.
Now Riku came to the far end of the plaza. He gave a quick glance to the left, but he didn't want to go that way. It would mean leaving the area, and that wasn't something he wanted to do. He had to stay within the plaza until his replication got there with Way To Dawn, so instead of going to the left, he made a sharp turn to the right. This wasn't the best of moves though, as it seemed to put him in range for one of Twine's attacks. He gave a cry as a searing pain tore through his back, and he realized that he'd been hit. He staggered, lost his footing, and fell to the ground. He quickly moved himself onto his back, and to his horror, Twine was right there, his sword held above Riku's head.
"Goodbye," Twine said coldly, and the sword started coming down. Riku put his hand up to try and shield himself, but he knew it was a vain attempt against the unavoidable pain he was about to feel.
A few minutes before this, Kairi and the replication were running as fast as they could across the lower story of the Hall Of Empty Melodies. (A/N: For those of you who aren't complete geeks that memorize every location in the game /yeah, I'm one of them --U/ this is the place where you fight Xigbar in KH2.) Riku's plan had failed, and they knew that something terrible was going to happen if they didn't get back to Riku soon.
"Kairi," Riku called over his shoulder. "Come on. We have to get back to the main plaza."
"I know. I know," Kairi panted, trying to force herself to catch up with Riku. They'd been running all over the place for the last 10 minutes, and she was having a hard time keeping up. "Just go ahead. Get Way To Dawn back to Riku and I'll catch up." At this Riku stopped, and waited as Kairi caught up to him. "No, don't wait for me," Kairi said, surprised that Riku had stopped. "I'll just slow you down. You have to get back to Riku."
Riku gave a small smile and said, "Sorry. I can't do that. You were there when Riku gave me my orders. 'Don't let her out of your sight' were his exact words."
"Well, yeah, but don't you think he'd understand? You could tell him I let you go."
"No," Riku said, shaking his head. "You don't know how angry he'd be if I showed up without you. I do. I have his memories, and let me tell you, it really wouldn't be pretty if I left you here."
"Well…then come on." Kairi took a hold of Riku's wrist and tugged him forward. They didn't have any time to waste. They ran until they got to the Crooked Ascension, the pathway that eventually lead to a mechanism that resembled a large elevator. Each of them felt the other's unease as they both hesitated in front of the pathway. This had been the place where the plan had started to go downhill. This was where Twine had discovered everything.
Before, back when they'd still been trying to lure Twine away from Sora, they'd run to the elevator thinking that it would buy them some time. They thought that they could lose him once they got to the top floor, and then find somewhere to hide for a while. This hadn't even come near working though. When the elevator doors had opened to let them back out, Twine had been standing right there. There had been no time to react.
Twine had reached out and grabbed Riku by the wrist, pulling him forward, and had been about to make some kind of demand, when he stopped. A look of pure anger had come over his face, and with a harsh toss he'd shoved Riku to the ground.
"You think you can fool me with this?" he'd growled. "You really are all fools." He truly had been about to do something to them. He had been about to do something terrible to them, but he seemed to change his mind midway of lifting up his sword. He opened a dark portal behind him, stepped back, and was gone.
As Kairi and the replication stepped into the elevator before them, they each knew exactly where Twine had gone. Once the elevator doors opened again, it would be easy to get to him, to get to Riku. Soon the elevator's doors did open, and when they did Riku and Kairi were on the move again. All they had to do was clear the large metallic-looking area, cross the glowing bridge of light, and finally, finally make it through the alleyway into the district where Riku was.
Once they passed these obstacles, the sight they saw was horrible.
Riku was on the ground, Twine hovering over him with his sword only inches away from him. They saw Sora laying a few feet away from Riku, but neither of them new the terrible fate that had befallen him. They thought that he was simply unconscious.
It was the replication that finally shouted out, "Riku."
Both Riku and Twine looked up to see the replication summoning Way To Dawn and waving it above his head.
"Finally," Riku thought, glad for the interruption. If it hadn't been for this diversion, he'd probably be dead right know. While Twine was distracted, Riku took the opportunity to kick Twine's legs from underneath him. He then jumped up and started running towards his replication, shouting, "Pass it." The replication nodded and tossed Way To Dawn to Riku as hard as he could. It wasn't a moment to soon either. Twine had quickly recovered from his fall and was in hot pursuit of Riku. Riku spun around just in time to block Twine's swift downward thrust.
"Riku," Kairi said, her voice worried as she spoke to the replication, "you've got to go get Sora out of there. He's going to end up getting killed."
"I know," Riku replied. "Just hold on a minute." He'd been thinking the same thing as Kairi, but he needed to wait for Riku to carry the battle a little further away from Sora, so that he would have a little more space to get to him. It was strange though. As Riku eyed Sora's motionless form, he felt that something was wrong. He couldn't put his finger on it, but something didn't seem quite right. He brushed these thoughts aside, however, since Twine gave an unexpected swerve, and this caused the fight to finally start moving more towards the left, away from where Sora was.
"Riku, go." Kairi gave Riku a small shove as she too saw the opening.
"Okay," Riku said, nodding and rushing over to Sora's side. Once he got to Sora he didn't even bother trying to rouse him. He merely moved his arms underneath Sora to lift him, and then he gave a gasp. It was here that Riku realized the awful truth about Sora.
"He's…dead," Riku thought, sullenly. Sora's skin was pale and cold, and he'd stopped breathing. There was no doubt in his mind that Sora was dead. A strange feeling came over Riku as this realization hit him. It wasn't exactly sadness. He was Riku's replication, not truly Riku himself. The grief wasn't his to feel; but seeing this boy dead in front of him made him know exactly how Riku would feel when all of this was over.
"It's going to tear him apart," he thought sadly. "And Kairi…" As he thought of Kairi, he stole a look back at her, meeting her anxious gaze. She was waiting for him to bring Sora back safe and sound, unaware of what had happened. He wished it could stay that way forever, with her not knowing, with her not ever finding out, but he knew it was impossible.
Riku sighed and stood, Sora clutched in his grasp, and started walking back over to where Kairi was. The moment she saw Sora, Kairi knew something was wrong.
"Sora," she gasped, her hands flying over her mouth. She fell to her knees as Riku set Sora down on the ground in front of her.
"Kairi," he said softly. "He's…he's not…" but as she laid a hand on Sora's cheek, he decided that it might be better for her to find out on her own.
"Sora," she whispered, her voice shaking. She seemed to be trying to call out to him, and when he didn't give a response, she tried again. "Sora." He still didn't answer, and she knew she was only lying to herself when she told herself that he would open his eyes if she tried hard enough. She looked up at Riku with tears streaming down her face. "This isn't a dream, is it?" she asked, hardly able to speak from crying.
"I wish I could say it was," Riku replied, looking down at her with sad eyes, "but it's not."
"I…know," Kairi said, giving a small snuffle. She looked Sora in the face, and this seemed to be the thing that sent her over the edge. All of a sudden she was sobbing, burrowing her face in her hands like she couldn't bear to even look at Sora, and Riku wouldn't have blamed her if this were the case. He moved next to her and laid his arm across her shoulders.
"I'm so sorry," he whispered softly.
"I…I…loved him," she sobbed. "I loved him…so much…"
"I know. I know," Riku said, squeezing her shoulder in a comforting manner.
"I don't know what I'm going to do anymore," she whispered, her voice a high-pitched whine. "How are we even going to tell everyone?"
Riku hadn't thought of that. Once again, he was only Riku's replication, but he knew that it would be hard for both Riku and Kairi to tell everyone on their island that Sora was actually gone.
"Hey, you'll get through this," Riku finally said. "It'll be okay."
Kairi continued to cry, and didn't respond, but Riku hadn't expected her to anyway, and didn't press for an answer. Quite a few moments passed, in which Kairi cried harder than she ever had in her life.
"I don't want to believe it," she said quietly, deaf to the clang of weapons ahead of her. "I just want it all to go away."
"I know," Riku said softly. "But it would be better for you if you tried to accept it. You know?" This garnered a notably louder sob from Kairi, and it made Riku feel terrible. He'd only been trying to give her some good advice. "I'm sorry," Riku said quickly. "I didn't mean it like that. I mean…I was just…"
"No," Kairi said, interrupting him. "I know. You were…just trying to help."
"Yeah," Riku replied, resigning to be silent and just leave her to let everything out.
Kairi parted her fingers a bit to look down at Sora. He was still there. He was still dead. Every time she looked at him she felt her whole world being ripped from her, and right now she just wanted to look away, but at the same time she didn't. She wanted to see him. She wanted to look at him and remember how happy he had always made her whenever he was near, but the happiness wouldn't come. The only thing she was aware of right now was how rigid and lifeless he looked. He wasn't breathing. He wasn't moving at all. When she finally did think of the joy he had brought her, it only made her sadder, because she knew she would never feel that sort of joy again.
"I wish I could see him again," she whispered, finally bringing her hands down from her face. She decided she would look at him for as long as she could. She reached out for his hand and clutched it in her own. "The last thing I said to him wasn't really…good."
"Did you have an argument with him?" Riku asked, careful not to sound like she had to answer him.
"No," Kairi said, and she actually smiled. "We weren't arguing. What I said wasn't bad. It just wasn't good either."
"Well, what did you say?"
"I said…'bye.'"
"You said 'bye?'" Riku asked, surprised that it hadn't been a little worse than that. "There's nothing wrong with that."
"Yes. I told you it wasn't bad. It just wasn't good. I would have liked it to be something more…you know…meaningful. Something like…"
It was here that Sora gave a cough. It was small, and it was dry, but it was enough to halt the conversation, and bring all attention to him. Kairi yanked herself from Riku's grasp, moving so that her face was only inches away from Sora's.
"Sora," she whispered, touching his face. She got louder. "Sora, can you hear me?" She turned to Riku, the flow of tears having stopped with her surprise. "Tell me I didn't just imagine that."
"No," Riku replied, his expression just as astonished as hers was. "He…He coughed."
She twisted back around to Sora and placed her fingers at his neck. After feeling around for a bit she shook her head and then moved her ear to his chest.
"Riku," she shouted excitedly. She looked at Riku with such shinning hope in her eyes that he knew what she was going to say before she even said it. "A heartbeat. I found a heartbeat."
"But he's not breathing," Riku said, his voice urgent as he moved next to Kairi to look down at Sora.
Kairi didn't answer Riku. She merely moved her hand underneath Sora's neck, plugged his nose, and pressed her mouth over his. She then began to blow, doing the thing that all the children on Destiny Islands were taught to do at a young age.
What with water being included in living on an island, the adults living on Destiny Islands had wanted to make sure that their children were safe. In case any of the children ever wandered down into the water with no adults around, all of the children had been taught how to swim, and what to do if anyone ever had a "drowning incident." All three of them, Sora, Riku, and Kairi, knew what to do if anyone ever stopped breathing, and Kairi was confident that she could get Sora to take a breath.
"Come on Sora," she thought. "Come on…"
Kairi gave one more breath into Sora, and finally, Sora gave a cough, and then a gasp, and then another cough. After a few moments of harsh breathing, he opened his eyes.
"Sora," Kairi whispered. Tears started welling up in her eyes again. "You're…you're alright." Just as soon as she'd said it though, Sora gave a small groan and his eyes slipped closed. "Sora," she gasped, afraid that she'd lost him again.
"It's okay," Riku said quickly, bringing his hand up to her shoulder. "He's just exhausted. He'll be okay." And Kairi saw that it was true, as Sora's chest continued to rise and fall with his breathing. She let out a sigh.
"I was so worried," she whispered, getting onto her knees. She moved Sora's head onto her lap and looked up at the replication. "We have to let Riku know." At this, the replication shook his head.
"We can't tell him right now," he said. "Not when he's in the middle of fighting."
"But it's because he thinks Sora's dead that he's fighting in the first place."
"Um…Kairi, I think he would still be fighting even if he didn't think Sora was dead." The replication knew for a fact that Riku hadn't taken lightly at all to Twine kidnapping Sora, and that Riku would still want to pick a fight with Twine even if he hadn't tried to kill Sora.
"Oh. Well…okay, you're probably right about that, but you still have to tell him. It must be killing him on the inside." She looked down at Sora, laying her hand on his face. "I know what he's thinking. He probably thinks it's his fault." She stopped to feel his forehead. "He thinks he's the reason his best friend's dead. You have to take that away from him. Otherwise, he won't be able to fight the way he usually does."
There were a few moments of silence, before the replication said, "You really want him to know, don't you?"
"He has to," Kairi said, nodding.
"Okay," the replication replied, standing. "Just stay here, and I'll be right back."
"You can probably just call him," Kairi called after him, as the replication started towards the head of the alleyway.
The replication gave a small wave to show that he'd heard, and Kairi turned to look at Sora. It was here that she burst into tears. It couldn't have been more than ten minutes that she'd thought he was dead. Even so, they had been the worst ten minutes of her life, and now that they were over, she couldn't help but feel overcome with happiness. Sora wasn't dead. He was alive, and it was the best news she could have ever received.
They swung at each other, their swords' shrill clang ringing forward. There was a moment of silence, each of them straining to break the other's guard, before they broke apart, only to once again charge at each other. The only thing Riku was aware of was the total and complete anger that he felt. His anger was really the only thing keeping him going. If it hadn't been for how angry he felt, he was sure that he would be on the floor by now.
He was tired, in every possible way to be tired. Riku wasn't about to give up though. There was no way he would ever let Twine get away with what he'd done. Twine had killed Sora, and that was one of the worst things he could have possibly done. So Riku fought, and it wasn't only to try and avenge Sora, but to protect Kairi as well. There would already be enough heartache over the loss of Sora. He didn't want to lose Kairi too, and he knew this would end up happening if he let himself lose here. So he fought, and fought.
He didn't seem to be getting anywhere, however, since he and Twine appeared to be evenly matched. That was already bad enough, but Riku had a feeling that Twine wasn't even going his hardest on him, and that was worse. It meant that Twine could get stronger at any time he chose, and that he was merely toying with Riku, trying to tire him out. Riku didn't think he could handle a stronger Twine. He could hardly handle Twine as it was.
"This will have to end soon," Riku thought. "It's going on too long." In truth, Riku wasn't looking forward to the end of the battle. He wanted it to come, but at the same time he didn't. With the end of the battle would come having to accept that he was never going to see Sora again. He would have to go through the pain of regret, the pain of guilt, and he really didn't want to have to do that. Since he was in the middle of fighting for his life, he tossed these thoughts aside. He would have plenty of time to think about them later.
As Riku moved to counter one of Twine's attacks, something unexpected happened. He thought that he was finally going get in one of his first hits of the fight, but it wasn't so. Twine had baited him with the opening, so that he could in turn lash out at him. This wasn't at all unexpected. Riku had quite a few wounds from this battle, while Twine had virtually none, so more had been expected to come. It was unexpected, however, when Twine literally hauled out and punched Riku. It was so swift and quick that Riku hardly knew what had happened until he'd already hit the ground.
"You're starting to get annoying," Twine growled, sounding fed up with the whole thing. Riku clenched his fist. That was it.
"Damn you," he hissed. Then he said it again, louder and fiercer, practically screaming. "Damn you. How could you even have the nerve to say that?" He would owe Kairi 900 munny later (450 for each time he'd cursed) but at the moment, he didn't care. He stood and looked at Twine with vicious eyes. "You've taken Sora away from us. All of us," he shouted. He couldn't help but think of all the friends Sora had made across the worlds. "Don't you know how many people are connected to him? How many people care about him?" That was the thing. Twine did know. He knew exactly how many friends Sora had, exactly how many people he would be missed by. He didn't care though. He didn't care the slightest bit. "Why don't you feel anything? Da…" Riku stopped himself before he owed Kairi even more munny. He started again. "You don't feel anything. Why?"
A nasty smirk came to Twine's face, and he even gave a small laugh. He took a step towards Riku, and Riku took a step back.
"Have you forgotten? I'm a nobody," Twine said. The expression on his face as he said this was vague and empty, having no definite emotion. It was the same expression that Riku had seen from Xemnas not too long ago. "I don't feel, or at least I don't feel in the same way that you do." Twine kept getting closer and Riku kept backing away, Way To Dawn ready at his side in case Twine tried something sneaky. "I can do whatever I want without any remorse. I can do anything, without even thinking about how it will affect the person I'm doing it to. I could kick a puppy, I could kill a man, and I could even burn down an entire village, and it wouldn't phase me one bit." Here, the smirk came back. "And that's why I was able to kill the brat so easily."
Something within Riku snapped, for obvious reasons, and the only thing that kept him from charging forward was the fact that he heard his own voice, as loudly and clearly as if he'd actually been talking. He looked to the head of the alleyway that lead to the Brink Of Despair where the voice had come from, and saw his replication.
"Oh yeah," Riku thought. He hadn't exactly forgotten about his replication. It had just taken him a few seconds to register that it was his replication. He hadn't expected him to show up. What he was doing was more than a little important, and the replication should have known better than to try to engage him. After hearing what his replication had to say, however, Riku changed his mind about this.
"Riku, he's all right," the replication shouted. "Sora's alive."
Riku gave a small gasp. At first he was afraid that he'd heard wrong, but in the end he decided that this was the only thing that would have been important enough for the replication to come and tell him about.
"What?" Twine hissed, spinning around to face the replication, the anger in his voice completely contrary to the nuance of his "speech" about not feeling. He furrowed his brows in thought for just a moment before saying, "He would have to have a very strong heart to survive a spell of death. He must really be the Key Blade Master." Riku hardly heard Twine's words for how much awe he was in. "However, that doesn't mean I can't kill him with my bare hands." This, Riku heard, and he wasn't going to let it happen.
As Twine broke into a run across the plaza, Riku ran after him as fast as he could. His replication stepped into a defensive stance in front of Sora and Kairi, but Riku knew that this wouldn't be enough to stop Twine. He would need to do something quickly. Riku tried to get ahead of Twine, but when Twine made it halfway across the plaza and Riku still hadn't caught up with him, Riku did the first thing that came to mind. He dismissed Way To Dawn and sprang forward, closing his arms around Twine's waste and pulling him to the ground.
"Wretch," Twine shouted angrily, striking back with his elbow. He managed to hit Riku in the face, but Riku didn't dare let his grip falter.
"Run," he screamed out. "Take them and go." Riku heard the sound of his replication's footsteps as he ran to, no doubt, gather Sora and Kairi and get out of there.
"Get off," Twine hissed. He twisted around and used the full of his strength to toss Riku off of him. As Twine stood up though, Riku quickly recovered and summoned Way To Dawn. He made to swing at Twine's back while he wasn't looking, but Twine was smarter than that. Riku ended up clashing with Twine's sword, and that was okay for the moment. He just needed to keep Twine busy until Sora and Kairi were out of harm's way. He would concentrate on trying to beat Twine later.
Now Riku's replication passed carrying Sora in his arms, Kairi hastily following next to him, and Twine broke apart from Riku to lash out at them. As Twine ran forward, Riku held his arms out to quickly cast a Dark Shield spell. A wall of white light appeared in front of Twine, blocking him from going any further. Twine was quick to rip through it with his sword, and Riku knew that this wouldn't be like any of the other times that he'd used Dark Shield.
"Great," Riku thought, sending another shield to block Twine's way. "He shouldn't be able to do that." Riku was coming to realize just how much strain the replication spell had really put on him. Normally, nothing, not even the Key Blade, could break through one of his dark shields. Now though, one swipe of Twine's sword was enough to destroy one, but Riku wasn't going to let that stop him. His magic was strong enough to make the Dark Shields, and as long as it was at least strong enough to do that, he wasn't going to stop.
He looked over to where Sora and Kairi were, and as soon as he saw that they were both gone from the district, he finally let the shields fall. There was a bitter silence between the two left in the district. Twine didn't make a move, though the way he gripped the hilt of his sword let Riku know that he was far more than a little angry.
"So this is what you've forced it to come to," Twine said, his voice deceptively calm. He turned to look at Riku. "It was supposed to be Sora that died, but I guess once I kill you it'll be compensation enough."
Riku opened his mouth to respond, but Twine shot over to him so quickly that Riku barely had time to lift his Key Blade up and block. Twine was faster than before, much faster. He was also stronger, as Riku was unable to hold Twine back for more than a couple seconds before having to break away. Riku tried again, looking for a vulnerable spot to strike, but when he found none he ended up clashing swords again. Before he could break away again, Twine pushed him away forcefully, and then cast a spell that Riku didn't think he knew at first.
The words Twine spoke to initiate the spell were different, but the stream of lightning that flew from the palm of his hand was definitely some kind of thunder spell. Riku tried to avoid the attack, but it was too quick to dodge. The lightning hit him full in the chest, and it hurt. It hurt a lot. The lightning didn't stop after a couple seconds as Riku expected. It just kept coming and coming, and he didn't know how much of it he could take. Just as Riku was starting to give up hope that he would make it out of there alive, he suddenly remembered something that he had once been told.
If you're ever stuck in any kind of thunder spell, all you have to do is cast a blizzard spell. You know what happens when water touches lightning, right?
Riku couldn't remember who had taught it to him, (though he had a feeling it must have been Naminé, since it had been her voice that said it in his mind) but at the moment, he didn't care. If it was true, it might just save his life.
He did what he could to bring his Key Blade up in front of him, and then shouted out, "Blizzard." Barrages of ice spouted from the tip of his Key Blade, and as soon as the ice touched Twine, Riku heard an electric, jolting noise, and the lightning surrounding him fell away. As the magic collapsed, there came a cracking jolt that shoved Riku back, almost smacking him against the wall behind him. The force of it landed him on the ground.
Dazed and shaken, Riku managed to make his way back to his feet. As he looked up at Twine, Riku had to suppress a gasp. Twine was looking at him with untapped hatred, full in its bloom. For a moment, Riku was scared out of his mind. He knew everything that Twine was thinking, felt all of the hatred that Twine was aiming at him. He felt like he wanted to run, like he wanted to escape this place before he got himself killed. The feeling only came for a moment though, and then it was gone. He knew that he had to stay there to finish what had been started, he knew that he didn't care that Twine hated him, and he knew, with all certainty, that he would never be scared of Twine.
He looked at Twine without showing anything of what he had just felt, and asked, "Why do you want Way To Dawn?" It was a question that had been pestering him ever since this whole ordeal started. He had thought about it and thought about it, but he hadn't been able to come up with any real reason why Twine could possibly want Way To Dawn.
Twine didn't answer Riku immediately. It seemed like he was measuring whether or not he should tell Riku the reason. He then gave a small laugh.
"I don't think you want to know," he said, his voice slightly mocking. He dismissed his sword. "But if you insist, okay."
A sudden gust formed around the district. Twine lifted his arms to the sky and sparks assimilated in his grasp. Lights danced all around, and Riku felt a sense of tense discomfort that he really didn't like. As Twine started chanting words under his breath, Riku was starting to wonder if he was going to regret ever having asked Twine the question. It was too late to reconsider though. Twine finally said the last word of his spell with a firm shout, and a bright light shone throughout the area. The light was so bright that Riku had to shield his eyes with his hands. When he opened his eyes again, he gave a sharp gasp.
Key Blades of every size, shape, and color surrounded Twine. From what Riku could see, there had to be at least twenty or twenty-five. Each of them was different. Each of them looked powerful. He definitely regretted asking that question. Among the many Key Blades, Riku spied the silver glint of the Key Blade, Sora's Key Blade.
"If you haven't already figured it out, I collect Key Blades," Twine said, the Key Blades drifting at his sides. Riku didn't mention the fact that this thought hadn't ever crossed his mind. "This is my collection."
"And…how did you get them all?" Riku asked, his voice uncertain. He had a feeling he already knew the answer though.
Twine could tell that Riku already knew the answer as well, as an all-knowing smile came to his face as he said, "I get them from various key bearers across the worlds." The Key Blade glided smoothly into his grasp as he said it. "Most of them aren't very willing to hand over their Key Blades, as you already know. I sometimes had to convince them a little. Still, I always ended up with what I wanted." Here the smile fell away. "And yet, you're still standing there, alive. Sora's alive as well, and I still don't have my Key Blade."
"It's not your Key Blade," Riku screamed, annoyed. "And you still haven't told me why you want it."
"Isn't it obvious?" Twine asked, looking at Riku like he was an idiot. "Why do you think I brought out my collection?"
"No," Riku said, shaking his head. "That's not what I want to know. I want to know why you want my Key Blade. Why do you want Way To Dawn in particular? What's so special about it that would make you go through so much trouble just to get it?"
"Ah," Twine replied, his voice pensive, like he was mulling over what Riku had just said. He let the Key Blade slide out of his hand to float with the others around him, and then two different Key Blades drifted into both of his hands. The one in his right hand was a mellow blue, and at its tip, the part that stuck out to make it look like a key, were craggy shards of ice. The one in his left hand was bright yellow, and its tip held a golden thunderbolt.
He held up the blue Key Blade and said, "This Key Blade allows me to control ice. Its bearer was a master of Blizzard Magic." He then held up the yellow one and said, "You've already experienced the power that this one can give me. Its bearer was a master of Thunder Magic." Twine then pointed to Riku's Key Blade and said, "And your Key Blade. It could give me unimaginable power. Paired with the Key Blade it would complete my collection." Here he gave a small laugh. "And to think you barely even know what it does." As he said the last word, Twine tossed his arms forward, like he was throwing something heavy. This was when the onslaught began.
Every single one of the Key Blades came soaring in Riku's direction. He brought his Key Blade up to block the nearest one coming towards him, a green one with a pine tree for a tip, but even as he blocked it a platinum colored Key Blade with an array of stars at its tip tore past his arm, leaving a nasty scratch. Many other Key Blades attacked him at the same time, which was how Riku knew he was in trouble. While he could block one or two Key Blades, he wasn't going to be able to block them all when five or six came flying at him at the same time.
"I've got to do something," he thought, as yet another Key Blade lashed at his legs. This was the problem though. He couldn't do anything. He couldn't dodge all of the Key Blades and he couldn't stop them from coming. It felt like a hopeless situation. However, when he thought about what would happen to Sora and Kairi if Twine really did manage to beat him, it sent a new fire into him. He wasn't going to let Twine destroy the ones most important to him.
With new resolve, Riku pulled his Key Blade up to block the nearest of Twine's Key Blades, and then rushed forward to try and make his way through the barrage and over to Twine. It was just like before though. He still couldn't dodge well enough to keep from taking heaps of damage.
"I need another Key Blade," he thought, dodging the attack of a peculiar looking Key Blade that had a spherical bubble at its tip. "I can't do this with just one." As if sensing Riku's thoughts, the Key Blade was the next one to shove forward and attack him. Riku acted without even thinking. His fingers shot out and curled around the Key Blade's hilt, and he pulled it forward. There was a sound like breaking glass, and through the flying Key Blades Riku saw Twine give a wince.
The Key Blade was his now. There was no force trying to tug it away from him or take it back. It was his. It made him feel good that the Key Blade trusted him this much.
There wasn't all that much time to think about what had happened, so Riku tossed his thoughts to the side for the moment and twisted to the left to swat at a Key Blade that was whizzing towards him. To Riku's surprise, when the Key Blade hit the ground, it stayed there. It didn't jump back up to join the rest of the Key Blades around it. Riku thought that this was strange, but thought that maybe it must have had something to do with Twine running out of magic. As he blocked another Key Blade at his front, Riku noticed that the same thing happened here. The Key Blade fell to the ground and then remained there, unmoving.
Riku had no idea why this was happening. Then it dawned on him. He was using the Key Blade Master's Key Blade. Key Blades had a strange way of "knowing" things, and if there was one thing they knew, it was that if the Master Key Blade knocked them down, they stayed down.
A small grin came to Riku's face. As he slashed through the waves of Key Blades, he knew that it would take a while to knock them all down. Whatever it took though, he knew that he would eventually make it to Twine, and when he did, he wouldn't make any of the mistakes he'd made before, because he knew now that he couldn't afford to make any. If he let Twine beat him, Twine would destroy everything precious to him, and he wasn't just thinking of Sora and Kairi. Twine would literally destroy everything and everyone that he knew, and Riku wasn't going to let that happen.
A few minutes before this, Kairi and Riku's replication were running to make it to the Gummi Teleportation Site. The last time the real Riku and Kairi had been there they had left quite a few heartless without destroying them, so some did appear as the pair made their dash to the Gummi Ship. Fortunately, most of the heartless were either Shadows or, on a few occasions, Neo Shadows, and these things were small enough for Kairi to handle with her Key Blade.
"We're almost there," Riku shouted over to Kairi. She was taking care of a heartless a little ways from him. "Just leave them."
She finished off the Shadow she was working on before looking up and nodding. As she ran over to Riku though, he suddenly gave a small gasp and stumbled a bit.
"Hey, are you all…" she started, but then he fell to his knees. "What's wrong?" she shouted, rushing over to him and placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Listen," Riku grunted, looking Kairi in the eyes. "The spell keeping me here is about to collapse any minute. It usually lasts three days, but Riku's magic hasn't matured enough to cast the full spell." He laid Sora against Kairi's chest and she reached out to grab him, and it was here that it dawned on her what Riku was trying to tell her.
"Wait. Does this mean that I have to get Sora to the Gummi Ship?" she asked, her voice worried.
"Yes," Riku replied. "I'm really sorry, but I won't be able to make it all the way to the Gummi Ship. I'm already starting to disappear." He lifted his right hand up and Kairi gasped. His hand was clear, and transparent.
"You're going to disappear?" Kairi asked. "You're just going to disappear and that'll be it?"
"Well, not in the way that you think. I won't completely disappear. I'll just go back to Riku," the replication explained. "If he ever decides to cast another replication spell, it'll be me that takes the form of whoever he replicates."
"Oh. So you won't disappear?"
"No. Now go, before more heartless show up." Kairi looked down at Sora and then back up at Riku.
"Okay," she said. She hauled Sora's arm onto her shoulders and wrapped her arm around his waist to pull him up. He wasn't all that heavy, but he wasn't all that light either. Before turning to drag Sora around the corner, she looked down at Riku and said, "Good luck with…whatever happens."
"You too," Riku replied, giving a small laugh.
They nodded to each other, and Kairi began to pull Sora along. By the time she had dragged Sora to the Gummi Teleportation Site, the replication had already disappeared in a burst of light.
Riku was making amazing progress now that he had the Key Blade. Each time one of Twine's Key Blades came towards him, all he had to do was knock it down with the Key Blade, and that Key Blade wouldn't come back at him anymore. His progress was starting to show too, as Twine was starting to run out of Key Blades. After Riku swatted his next Key Blade away, he noticed something happening with the remaining ones. He hadn't realized it before, but there were only nine left.
These nine went to surround Twine, and Riku's first thought was, "He's giving up?" He knew that this most likely wasn't the case though, and so he didn't let his guard fall. It was a good thing he didn't, because the next thing Twine did was summon his sword. Riku normally would have been troubled by the fact that Twine had ten weapons to use against him and he only had two, but the fact that he had just won against such a large number of Key Blades had given him a confidence boost. He wasn't so confident, however, that he would do something foolhardy like trying to make the first blow. He would wait for twine to do that, and it seemed that he would.
The Key Blades floated around him in a menacing fashion, and he lifted his sword straight out at his side. At first Riku was confused by this, but he realized just in time what Twine's intentions were. Twine hurled his sword forward, and Riku dived to the side just as Twine's sword came spiraling past. Not having any time to just sit there, Riku jumped to his feet to block Twine's downward thrust. There were a few moments of straining before Riku managed to push Twine away from him.
While Twine was off balance, Riku proceeded to throw a sideways thrust at Twine's left, but two of Twine's Key Blade quickly came up to try and stop him. He easily tore through them, and made it through to Twine. This one hit of course wasn't going to defeat Twine, and so Riku brought his Key Blades back to make another strike. Twine had recovered though, and blocked.
Riku knew that he wouldn't get anywhere just blocking and striking, so he brought his hand up and cast Dark Aura. This sent Twine flying across the district, but the remaining seven Key Blades stayed behind. Riku took this opportunity to try and get rid of them, and managed to take out four. Before he could take care of the last three, they flew back over to Twine, who was on his feet again. Twine looked angry, and Riku was surprised to find that he was actually starting to look tired.
"Am I winning?" Riku thought. He knew that Twine being a little bit tired wasn't going to win him the entire battle, but Twine really hadn't shown any signs of fatigue the whole time. If he was tired, it had to be a good thing.
As if reading each other's minds, they both sprang forward at the same time. Instead of aiming for Twine, Riku aimed to take down the Key Blades. Ducking down and swinging at the same time, Riku took out two, and when he sprang back up he took out the last one. All of the Key Blades were now gone. It was just Riku and Twine.
While he was in the momentum of the attack, Riku brought his Key Blades back down across Twine's chest. To his surprise, he actually drew blood, which didn't normally happen if he was using a Key Blade. It could have been because Twine had lost his Key Blades, what with them being the source of his magic, or it could have been because Riku was using two Key Blades instead of one. Whatever the reason was, Riku didn't care. He pulled back and then thrust his Key Blades forward. This time, dark mist poured forth, as was expected from defeating a nobody.
Riku stepped back, and Twine fell to his knees. He seemed genuinely surprised, and Riku didn't blame him. He himself was surprised that he'd actually been quick enough to do it. The next few seconds were occupied by an awkward silence that Riku didn't feel comfortable in. He kept feeling like something would happen, and that it would turn out that he actually hadn't defeated Twine.
To ward off the silence, Riku asked, "Why Way To Dawn? What made you want it this badly?"
More silence followed, and Riku was afraid for a moment that Twine really wasn't going to answer him. It wasn't something he needed to worry about though.
Twine did eventually answer, saying, "Way To Dawn is a special kind of Key Blade." His voice was oddly calm and level for a nobody that was about to be destroyed. "It contains the powers of darkness..."
"Oh," Riku said quietly, his voice grim. He'd had a feeling that Twine would say this, but that didn't make it any easier to accept.
"…and light," Twine added. At this Riku's eyes went wide with surprise.
"Light?" he choked out. He couldn't believe it. "Light?"
"Yes. Light. With such a powerful combination of light and darkness, it would have been the perfect Key Blade for my collection." Here, Twine stood, and this worried Riku, since he didn't seem to be heeding his wounds very much. "Unfortunately, I'm going to have to start over with my collection. None of these Key Blades are ever going to listen to me again. Not after being touched by the Key Blade." Twine gave a brief glance around the district, and the next thing he did took Riku completely by surprise.
Twine laid his hand on his chest, uttered something that Riku didn't understand, and then all of his wounds healed.
Riku gasped and took a step back. He had little to no energy left. Fighting Twine had taken everything out of him. Trying to fight him now would be impossible. He was going to lose.
Twine gave a cruel laugh, saying, "What? Are you scared?"
Riku couldn't help the terrified look on his face.
"He's going to kill me," he thought. "He's really going to…" Before Riku knew it, before he could make a move even, Twine's fingers were around his neck, and he was on the ground.
"And now I will take what's mine," Twine snarled, moving one of his knees onto Riku's chest and pinning his wrists down to the ground.
"Get off," Riku grunted, but he couldn't do anything. He was trapped.
Twine cast a spell, and Riku gave a scream. A searing pain went snaking up his arm, and Riku knew what was happening. It was the spell that would take Way To Dawn.
"Reflect," Riku cried, remembering what he had done before. Nothing happened. "Reflect," he tried again, a little firmer this time. Still, nothing happened. "Oh no," Riku thought, dismayed. He was out of magic, and Way To Dawn was growing farther and farther away from him. He started trying to tug his wrists out of Twine's grasp, but Twine was too strong for him. In a few seconds, he couldn't feel Way To Dawn anymore. It was Twine's.
"Perfect," Twine said, moving his hand over Way To Dawn. He dismissed it into his possession. "Now for the other one." The pain in Riku's right arm moved to his left arm, and Twine's spell began wear away at the Key Blade.
"Stop it," Riku shouted, desperately calling to his Key Blade. Twine didn't stop, and Way To Dawn didn't come to him.
"Just accept it," Twine said, an air of annoyance in his voice. "It's almost done anyway." As if on cue, the connection Riku felt with the Key Blade was severed. "Well," Twine smirked, his voice sly as he took the Key Blade from Riku's hand. "I guess this means I don't need you anymore."
Twine lifted the Key Blade up above Riku's chest, and the next few things happened so quickly that Riku barely had time to think. Twine thrust the Key Blade down and Riku gave one last, desperate call to Way To Dawn. It came. All astonishment aside, Riku held it up just in time to block Twine's attack.
"What?" Twine was obviously surprised. He removed his hand from Riku's other wrist to push down harder, which in turn gave Riku a free hand. He reached up to the Key Blade, and as soon as he felt its connection he quickly dismissed it. Riku didn't really understand how he'd done it, but he'd managed to reclaim both the Key Blades.
Outraged, Twine gave an angry cry and gasped hold of Riku's wrists. He pinned them to the ground above Riku's head and, holding them there with one hand, summoned his sword. He laid it against Riku's neck, and Riku closed his eyes. As Twine lifted his sword up, Riku thought for sure that these would be his last moments.
Riku was surprised at the large clang that came from his left and immediately opened his eyes. Twine had tossed his sword to the ground. Riku didn't know exactly why Twine had done this, but from what he could tell it had been out of frustration.
"What's the use?" Twine said, his voice bitter. "This is a waste of time."
"Wha…" Riku started.
"Even if you were dead your Key Blade still wouldn't listen to me," Twine interrupted, his voice crude. He released Riku's hands. "There's no point in killing you." He stood and turned his back on Riku, taking a few paces forward before crossing his arms and sighing.
Riku sat up, confused.
"What do you mean?" he asked, not quite ready to stand yet.
Without looking back at Riku, Twine said, "It seems you're one of the few key bearers whose Key Blade I can't take. It's your heart. It's too strong. I can't cast the spell to take the Key Blade and if I kill you your Key Blade dies with you."
"Wait," Riku said, finally making his way to this feet. "Are you giving up?"
"Giving up?" Twine scoffed, turning to face Riku. "Look. I'm actually letting you live. I hardly ever let anyone live after doing any of the things you've done today. I'd be grateful if I were you." When Riku stared at him with a blank expression, Twine said, "Just think of it as me saying never mind."
"What?" Riku asked. "Never mind? I can't believe you just said that. You just put my best friend through hell, and all you have to say is never mind?" he shouted angrily.
"Do you want me to say I'm sorry or something? Because I'm not," Twine replied, his voice annoyed. "I can change my mind, you know."
Riku didn't say anything for a few seconds.
"Just leave," he finally said, his voice cold. It was the only thing he could think to say.
"And who are you to tell me to leave?" Twine asked. Riku knew that he was only trying to be difficult.
"Get out of here," he shouted, trying to sound angry but knowing that he only sounded exasperated and tired. "And if you ever bother us again, I'll make sure you regret it."
"Fine then," Twine replied. "You won't see me again, unless I find a way to get your Key Blade, that is." Riku wasn't quite satisfied with this answer, but he was still relieved to see a dark portal appearing behind Twine. "By the way," Twine added. "I just thought you'd like to know that you're the only one that's ever forced me to bring out my entire collection before."
Riku didn't know why Twine was telling him this. It could have been Twine's way of trying to say something remotely nice to him, but even if it was Riku didn't care.
"Just go," Riku said, not even trying to sound angry this time. Twine nodded, and turned to walk through the dark portal.
Riku was alone now. He waited for a few seconds just to make sure that Twine really had left and that he wasn't just hiding somewhere. Once he was thoroughly convinced that Twine was definitely gone, Riku let out the breath he'd been holding and collapsed onto his hands and knees.
"Finally," he breathed. He couldn't put into words how relieved he was. "Finally." He wanted to just lie there and fall asleep. Standing hardly crossed his mind until he thought of Sora and Kairi. Both of them were waiting for him back at the Gummi Ship, and he couldn't just leave them there. After a few more minutes of catching his breath, Riku pulled himself up to his knees. He looked to the alleyway leading to the Gummi Ship and let out a sigh. Normally, this path wouldn't have been anything hard or strenuous for him to pass at all. At the moment, however, he was so worn out that the short distance to the Gummi ship seemed like miles. Riku knew that he had to get past it though. He gave himself a few more moments of rest, and then he stood. He then began to stumble his way back to the Gummi Ship.
It was cold and lonely on the Gummi Ship. Kairi didn't like the feeling of no one else being there with her. All of the other times that she'd ever been on a Gummi Ship, there had been other people around. Now there was no one on the ship except for her and Sora, and Sora was in no condition to be any form of company at the moment.
Though not without difficulty, she had actually managed to drag him all the way to the Gummi Ship. She had laid him out on the floor and found all of Riku's blankets to pile on top of him. He was resting now, but she couldn't help but worry.
There was a weak, frail look to him that she wasn't used to seeing. She didn't think that she had ever seen him looking this weak. There was a rasp to his breathing, and the color hadn't completely returned to his cheeks. Overall, he was in bad shape.
"He's okay," she kept having to tell herself. "He's going to be all right." Even though she wasn't completely sure of this, she kept thinking it. It helped her not to worry too much about what had almost happened to Sora.
After moving her hands over Sora's blankets to smooth them out a little, Kairi stood and walked over to the front of the Gummi Ship, whose walls were made of glass. As she laid her hand on the glass, she took note of how much smoother and clearer Gummi Glass was than regular glass. It gave her a perfect view of the World That Never Was.
"I wonder how Riku's doing," she thought. "It's been a while since I left him." In truth, it had been about half an hour, and Kairi was starting to get worried. "Of course, I don't really know how long it would take to beat a guy like him." Kairi hadn't been in any major, tough battles before. Sora and Riku wouldn't let her. The only things she had ever fought were Shadows and Neo Shadows, so she had no real knowledge on how long it should have been taking Riku to finish off Twine. "I probably don't even need to worry," she thought. She turned from the glass and returned to Sora's side. "This is probably exactly how long it should be taking." This didn't keep Kairi from worrying though. She was actually very afraid.
It was the thought of Riku losing to Twine that scared her the most. Kairi didn't think she could handle losing Riku so close to almost losing Sora.
"What would happen if Riku really did lose?" she wondered aloud, her voice quiet. She already knew what would happen to Riku, and she didn't want to think about it. She didn't really want to think about what would happen to her and Sora either, but still she had to wonder what Twine's next move would be if he won against Riku. "Would he come for us?" Kairi thought, looking down at Sora. She could think of each time that Sora had protected her, but she knew that if Twine really did come after them, she wouldn't be anywhere near being able to protect him.
"Oh, I've got to stop worrying," she told herself. "If I just wait and be patient, Riku will…" Kairi was suddenly startled by a small chime sounding around the Gummi Ship. It was the tone signaling that someone had used the Gummi Teleportation Site. Kairi breathed a sigh of relief, though she wasn't without her worries. Part of her was certain that it had been Riku that boarded, but part of her was scared that it had been Twine, that he had somehow managed to find the place where they had set of the Teleportation Site, and that he was now on the ship.
Kairi reached underneath the blankets for Sora's hand and anxiously watched the small hatch across the room from them. The Teleportation Site was designed to teleport its user bellow decks, where there was a small ladder. Coming through the hatch was the only way to get into the cockpit, so she watched, and waited. The hatch gave a small click, and then it opened.
Kairi was so relieved to see that it was Riku that she could have cried. She jumped up to help him, since he seemed to be having some trouble lifting himself up from the hatch.
"Riku," she cried, overjoyed. "I'm so glad you're okay."
"Trust me," Riku replied. "I'm much happier that you're okay." And he was.
"I see," Kairi laughed, pulling him the rest of the way in. As the hatch closed behind Riku, the smile faded from Kairi's face. "Riku, you're hurt," she said, eyeing the cuts that lined his arms.
"I know," Riku sighed. "It was pretty rough out there."
"Why don't you just wait over there by Sora?" Kairi said, pointing to the back of the Gummi Ship where Sora was. "I'll go get the first aid kit."
"How is he?" Riku asked.
"Well, I think he's all right," Kairi replied, going to where Riku's tote bag was. "He's slept the whole time though."
Riku went to kneel next to Sora, and was glad to see him breathing. He noted that Sora's face was lightly flushed, and laid a hand on his forehead.
"How long has he had this fever?" he asked, as Kairi came up next to him.
"He's had it the whole time," she said, sitting next to him, the first aid kit in her hands. She didn't seem too worried. "But it's never risen." She set the first aid kit onto the floor. "Now give me your arm." They spent a few minutes in silence, Riku sitting still as Kairi tried to figure out how to use medical bandages and gauze. Much to the discomfort of Riku, she ended up just dabbing his wounds with some alcohol and using band-aids.
"Hey, Riku," Kairi said, her voice questioning as she finished tending to Riku's wounds.
"Yeah?"
"How did you beat Twine?"
Riku had been waiting for her to ask a question like this, and he really didn't want to answer it.
After a few moments of silence, Riku finally admitted, "Actually… I…didn't beat him."
"What?" Kairi asked, alarmed. "You didn't beat him?"
Riku explained to Kairi what had happened, about how Twine had left without actually being beaten.
"But Riku, what if he comes back?" Kairi asked. She sounded scared.
"I know," Riku said, laying a hand on her shoulder to try and comfort her. "I've been thinking about it, and, well, I don't think he's ever coming back."
"What? Why?"
"I guess it's just because there doesn't seem to be any point to coming back," Riku replied. "I mean, why would he go through of the trouble of doing all the things he did, and then just leave? What would be his motivation?"
"To lull you into a false sense of security?"
"No, Kairi, you need to understand. He really could have killed me out there. He didn't need to trick me or anything. If he was going to do anything to me, I think he would have just done it then."
"So…you don't think he's going to come back?" Kairi asked hopefully.
"I'm pretty sure he's not," Riku said, though he did remember what Twine had said about coming back if he found another way to get Way To Dawn. Twine had sounded doubtful when he'd said it though, so Riku hoped this meant he wouldn't find another way.
"Well, I hope he doesn't," Kairi said quietly. There was a long moment of silence.
"Hey Kairi," Riku said after a while. "Let's get out of here."
"It's 5:30 on our world," Kairi said, looking down at her watch. "It took us so long to get here that it would almost be twelve o'clock by the time we got back."
"We don't have to go straight there," Riku replied, standing. "We could find a world that's closer and spend the night there. I think Twilight Town's close."
"But Riku, don't you think we should be getting back home?" Kairi asked, also standing and following Riku to the dashboard.
"We've got some time to spare," Riku replied, typing something into the dashboard's keyboard. "Your parents don't get back until Monday, right? And mine don't really care that I'm gone, and the replication I told you about is taking care of Sora's parents. We could find a place to stay for tonight and then head out early in the morning. We'd get back at a reasonable time. What do you say?"
"Well," Kairi said, thinking, "it would give Sora more time to rest."
"Yeah," Riku agreed. "He probably does need a little time to recover." He suddenly pointed to a small screen above the keyboard. "Hey, the search says that Disney Castle's only a couple hours away."
"Really? It is?" Kairi asked.
"Yeah. I didn't know either, but it's right there. I'm sure they'd let us stay there for the night, especially with all that's happened."
"This is perfect," Kairi said happily. "They'll be able to call for a doctor for Sora, and you too, for that matter."
"What? Kairi, I don't need a…"
"Riku," Kairi said sharply, her arms crossed. "Don't try to pretend like this hasn't taken its toll on you."
"Well yeah, but that doesn't mean that…"
"Yes, it does," Kairi interrupted. "Riku, you're seeing a doctor even if I have to drag you up to one.
"Okay, okay," Riku finally said, going over to another part of the dashboard. "I'll make sure I see a doctor too." He began setting up the Gummi Ship to take them to Disney Castle.
"Good," Kairi said, uncrossing her arms. "I'll just leave you to this then."
"'kay," Riku answered, distractedly. He was having some trouble figuring out how to get the ship to take them where he wanted it to. He had had the same problem last time. He was grateful that Kairi was giving him some time alone to work things out.
Once the ship was flying smoothly and Riku was sure that it was taking them to the correct location, he turned to Kairi. She had gone over to Sora. He went over to her and plopped onto his knees next to her.
"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked her, seeing the frown on her face.
"Oh, it's nothing," Kairi said, looking up at Riku and brightening up a little. She looked back down at Sora. "I just wish he didn't have to sleep on the floor.
"He doesn't" Riku said, seeing the surprise light up in Kairi's face as he did. "There are beds in the back."
"There are beds? Wait. There's a back?"
"Of course," Riku laughed, standing. He went to the back wall of the cockpit and pushed a small button that Kairi hadn't noticed. It turned out that there had been a sliding door there the whole time, and when Riku touched the button the door slid aside to reveal a small stairway. "See? There're a whole lot of things back here. Why'd you think the ship was so big?"
"I thought it was all just machinery," Kairi replied, seeming a little embarrassed.
"Come have a look then," Riku said, beckoning her over.
She joined him in the wide doorway to find that the stairway led down to a long hallway, in which there were four doorways to the left, and four to the right. The doors seemed oddly normal, as they had knobs and hinges.
"Are all of these bedrooms?" Kairi asked.
"No. Some of them are just living rooms, and I know there has to be a bathroom back there somewhere. There are probably a couple of blank rooms too."
"Okay. So which one are we going to put Sora in?"
"Let me go check and find one that's a bedroom." Riku went down the stairs and opened the nearest door to the right. He found that it was only a large common, but the one to the left had a gray-sheeted bed in it. "Here's one," he called up to Kairi.
"Good," she called back. "You can get Sora down there, right?"
"Yeah, no problem," Riku replied, emerging from the stairway.
"Okay," Kairi said, nodding. Riku slipped his arms underneath Sora and lifted him, and then brought him into the bedroom to softly set him down on the bed.
"Kairi, you can go find a room if you want," Riku said, as Kairi pulled the covers up to Sora's chin. "I'll watch him."
"No, Riku," Kairi replied softly, looking up at Riku. "You don't have to do any more. You can rest now."
"But Kairi…"
"Riku," Kairi interrupted him. "You've done all the work here, and I hardly did anything. You deserve to rest. Now go. You find a room, and I'll watch him."
Riku was silent. He hadn't expected Kairi to say that.
"Are…are you sure?" he asked. He wanted to be sure before just leaving.
"Of course Riku," Kairi replied, taking a seat at the edge of Sora's bed. "Just go. I'll take care of everything.
Riku would have tried arguing with Kairi, but he knew that it would be pointless. Whether he stayed or left, she wasn't going to leave Sora.
"Okay," Riku sighed. Kairi must have been able to see how tired he was. He was glad for this. "Thanks."
"Sure," Kairi replied, as Riku turned for the door. Riku searched the rooms until he found another bedroom, and once he entered the room he collapsed onto the bed. He kicked his shoes off and closed his eyes. He was so tired that his worries seemed like distant dreams. He knew that he didn't have to worry about Twine, because it was impossible to use corridors on Gummi Ships, and where they were going there were more than enough protection spells to keep Twine away. The only worry on the very tip of Riku's mind was Sora, but he wasn't too worried about him.
"He'll pull through," Riku thought, pulling himself underneath the blankets. "His heart's too strong." He settled himself down and stared up at the ceiling. When he thought about all that had taken place in the past few hours, he almost couldn't believe that any of it had actually happened. Just that morning he'd been in his home, and now he was on a Gummi Ship headed for Disney Castle. It was strange when he thought about it.
"Well, at least it's all over," Riku whispered softly. He rolled over, and was lulled to sleep by the humming of the Gummi Ship.
To Be Continued…
So what did everyone think? It didn't end too abruptly did it? I didn't want to make Riku defeat Twine, because I wanted him to be like a danger looming in the background. Plus, I might think about writing a sequel if enough people seem interested enough. Sorry about the big wait for this chapter! I know it must have been annoying…sorry… The only thing left for me to write is the Epilogue, and that won't take too long! This is The Mangosity saying, rarely do you ever hear a cat sneeze, but when you do, it's the funniest thing in the world.