Now it's finally time to save Roxas, haha.

Chapter 15: I Need You

The door clicked opened softly when Axel picked it open. The little house was dimly lighted with an eerie feeling. Riku stepped inside after Axel and looked around the small house. He shuddered silently at the atmosphere. Cloud placed a hand on Riku's shoulder and looked him in the eyes. He gave Riku a determined look, frowning slightly. Riku smiled back, trying to tell him he was okay.

"I'm fine," Riku said.

Cloud nodded and walked passed him along with Leon. They walked quietly through the hallway, checking every corner to see if Xaldin or Xigbar were going to appear. Axel stopped abruptly and turned around to looked at Riku.

He pointed to the end of the hall. "The room that Roxas is in is to your left. The rest of us are going to find Xigbar and Xaldin. So go and make it fast."

Riku nodded and separated from the group. He watched them disappear around a corner and then continued on his way. He turned to his left and found the room. The doorknob twisted open easily and Riku entered into a darken room. He caught himself before he nearly fell from the stairs. He let out a relieved sigh as he walked down the stairs, his hand against the wall for support. There was no light, but eventually his eyes adjusted to the dark. As he reached the bottom, he felt like he was in a dark pit. It was going to be hard trying to find Roxas in the dark. His eyes wandered the darken room as he walked forward.

Riku stopped and examined the room. "Roxas?" he called out in a whisper.

He started walking again, but the sound of chains made him stopped. He became alert, getting himself ready for anything that was going to appear before him. It was when he heard a quiet call that he swiftly turned around and tripped over something. He landed with a thud and coughed.

"Who's there?" called out a familiar voice.

Riku looked up, his eyes adjusting to silhouette. "Roxas?"

"...Riku?"

Roxas' voice was hoarse when he called out to Riku, which made him worry. Riku scurried to his feet and hurried to Roxas's side, touching his cheek as he brought himself to sit next to him. He could already tell that Roxas was in tatters.

Riku stroked Roxas's cheek. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah...But what are you doing here?" Roxas asked.

"To come and save you. Axel helped us get here."

"What? Axel? Why?! I told him not to bother and getting you involved too."

"But I wanted to."

"No...If you knew the truth, you wouldn't want to help me."

"Truth? You mean...that you killed Sora?"

"How-?!"

"Axel came to me after you were captured and told me everything. Even after all that, I still wanted to come and save you."

"Why? I don't...I don't deserve this. It's better that I...die."

"Sora died for a reason and that was because you needed a heart. Now you have one, don't waste your effort or let Sora's death be in vain."

"But...I killed him. I killed your..."

"Is that what you're so upset over. Look, somehow Sora came to me when I was in the hospital. He doesn't blame you. He's already forgiven you and I forgive you too. I don't blame you for anything, so Roxas, you have to forgive yourself because no one else blames you for what happened. I'm not...I'm not going to sit and let you die. I'm not going to let someone else who's important to me die again. I need you, Roxas. More than you ever know."

Riku could feel the trickle of warm water splattering against his hand. The quiet sobs of Roxas made his heart throb in anguish. Riku leaned over and hugged him tight.

"I'm not going to leave you behind. Let's get you out of here. You deserve...a much better life," he whispered in Roxas's ear.

Roxas nodded slowly, even though Riku couldn't see his nod. Riku searched around and found that Roxas was tied to the wall with chains. It locked up his arms and legs. Frowning to himself, Riku searched his own pockets and found a pin. As he found the locks to the chains, he hurriedly went to unlock it. Roxas could hear the sound of chains clinking against each other and then the sound of a lock unlocking. He turned to face where he thought Riku was.

"You know how to pick locks?" asked Roxas, amazed by Riku's skill.

"Err...just a bit," replied Riku.

It was then that they heard a loud gun shot from above. Roxas was startled and quickly grabbed onto Riku's arm. Both of them looked up towards the door as it opened it and loud footsteps were heard coming down the stairs. The grip on Riku's arm tightened as the footsteps came closer and stopped at the bottom of the stairs. An outline of the dark silhouette stood at the bottom of the staircase, staring right at them. A small chuckle escapes from the lips of the dark figure.

"You really think you can get him out of here? You have nothing and your other friends are already having trouble trying to fight against Xigbar," came the voice.

"Xaldin..." whispered Roxas.

Riku scooted closer to Roxas, frowning as Xaldin came closer. The lights flickered on, revealing a smirking face and a very new lance that was being held by Xaldin. Just then, a knife darted across the room and across Xaldin's face, missing him by a few centimeters. Xaldin's eyes glanced to the side and Riku's gaze followed suit. Riku noticed two other people were in the basement and he shocked to find them battered up as well.

"Larxene and Marluxia, hmph, looks like you two got free from chains," mumbled Xaldin.

"Don't underestimate us," replied Larxene.

Riku looked over his shoulder towards Roxas, who happened to be looking at the other two with sympathetic eyes. When Roxas noticed Riku's gaze, he turned his attention towards him.

"Other two who tried to take over the Organization. They failed though. I was brought in here after them," explained Roxas.

Riku gave a curt nod. At the sound of metal clashing against each other, both of them looked over to the where Marluxia and Larxene were fighting with Xaldin. Riku gave a small smile. This is our chance! His hands reached over to grab Roxas's.

He wrapped them firmly around Roxas's hand and whispered, "On the count of three, we'll run for the exit. One...Two...Three!"

Riku got up and sprinted towards the stairs, dragging Roxas along behind him. A lance came flying at them. Riku grabbed hold of Roxas and pulled them to the ground. The lance flew over the heads and slammed against the wall. Getting up again, Riku started running once more, pulling Roxas along. Xaldin was about to go after them, but Marluxia and Larxene grabbed hold of him once more, distracting him from his pursuit. Riku and Roxas got of the dark basement and began running down the hall. Voices were heard from the main room. Riku stopped and leaned against the wall, peeking over the edge to see other members standing in the middle of the room.

"Who are they?" asked Riku.

"The other members," replied Roxas.

"Other members? But Axel said that there would only be two of the members watching over you."

"They must have sounded the alarm."

"Shit!"

"Stairs! We'll go up."

Now it was Roxas's turn to tug Riku along. They ran for the stairs, heading towards the second floor. As they ran, someone was coming down and without looking, both of them knocked into each other.

"Ow," muttered the other.

"Wha-? Axel!" hissed out Riku as he caught Roxas in his arms before he fell all the way down the stairs.

"Oh, looks like you two were safe," said Axel grinning.

"You said two only!"

"Huh? Ooh! You mean about the members...Yeah, looks like they sounded the alarm. Sorry about that."

"You can't apologize now! Anyways, where's Cloud and Leon?"

"Those two are setting up the time bombs. Now that we have the whole crew here, we can bury them all."

Axel gave a thumbs up and Riku slapped it away. He frowned at Axel and pointed up, but just then, footsteps were head. They looked down and saw the other members of the Organization approaching.

"Less talk, more running," commanded Riku as they started running the stairs again.

Gun fires went off and bullets went passing by them as they ran. Axel was running ahead and turned a corner suddenly. Riku and Roxas followed after him, only to run into more members. A young man with blond hair that was spiked up stood before them.

"Ugh, Demyx," mumbled out Axel.

"Looks like Zexion was right about you taking this way," he said while smiling.

"Shit, I forgot about him. Of course he would have known."

But as Demyx was about to attack, a loud thud was heard from behind him. Demyx fell the ground unconscious. It was Cloud that stood before them with a large sliver plaque in hands.

"This came in handy," he muttered in amazement.

Riku was about to thank him when a loud explosion was heard. There was some screams and then the sound of the stairs crashing. Orange lit up the whole house as fire began to quickly eat up the house.

"Looks like the time bombs went off," said Leon who appeared from behind Cloud, "Let's get the hell out of here."

The others nodded and began following Axel who led the way out, but then the roof came crashing down, blocking their only exit. They were soon going to be buried along with the other members if they didn't find a way out fast. Roxas tugged on Riku's shirt and pointed to a window. It was the only exit left, so even if they were on the second floor, it was better to have broken bones than ending up dead. Cloud and Leon kicked it open and were the first to jump out. Riku and Axel stood on both sides of the window, allowing Roxas to go next. Roxas placed his feet on the window sill and was about to jump when a click and a gun shot came from behind him. He turned to see Xigbar, bleeding from head to toes pointing a gun at him with a grin on his face.

"Roxas!" screamed Riku.

Roxas closed his eyes, allowing the darkness to envelop him. Everything felt heavy like he was carrying a heavy burden and the last thing he heard before he blacked out was Riku calling out to him.