Chapter 10- Acceptance
As Sairu's eyes opened, his vacant gaze was extinguished; the shining gleam of determination shone in his eyes once more. The King sensed his stirring and turned to face him, a look of concern and relief adorning his features. "Sairu? Are you okay?" the King asked hopefully. As Sairu groggily rose to his feet, he turned to face the King, with a look of tranquil calm upon his face. "Just fine, Your Majesty" he said, smiling. The King took a sigh of relief, taking this as a sign he was alright, but was curious as to how, considering how he was before he put him to sleep. "What happened? Did you make a decision?" the King asked again. At this, Sairu stood up straight, and looked down on the King, still smiling and said "I have. Someone told me it was easy to desire for revenge, but the best option was to accept what happened, and rise above it" Sairu responded. At hearing this, the King was now even more curious as to who helped him, but was satisfied that Sairu was alright.
"Wait, we're in the next room. Where's Riku?" Sairu then asked, realizing that Riku was nowhere in sight. "He's in there. He seems to be doing okay. I've lent him some of my power to aid him in there" the King explained as he gestured to the room behind him. Sairu nodded in understanding, but then the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end, so he turned around to see a bizarre- looking figure, his face obscured by red bandages and black belts obscuring his left eye, leaving only his golden right eye visible as well as his mouth, revealing a smooth tanned face. "So you have awoken. That is good to see" the figure said, relief surprisingly evident in his voice. "Hold on. Who are you?" Sairu asked, suspicious of this enigmatic individual. "You may refer to me as DiZ. You have nothing to fear; I have no intention of doing you harm" DiZ introduced himself, sensing Sairu's suspicious aura.
"Why do I have a hard time believing that?" Sairu said, more to himself than DiZ before him. "Your suspicions are understandable; encountering an unfamiliar face in a place such as this would prompt anyone to keep themselves on guard" DiZ added. "How long have you been here?" Sairu asked, his suspicions adamant. "I have been with Riku since before Riku arrived in Castle Oblivion. I was the one who gave Riku the card that brought him here. You ended up here for a different reason" DiZ continued to explain, earning Sairu's curiosity. "What do you mean by that?" Sairu asked. "Your resolute desire to find your friend brought you here to the castle to locate that friend. Not long after, Riku arrived and you began your journey through memories from there" At hearing this, Sairu came to fit the pieces together: because of Zexion's presence in the castle, his heart drew him here unintentionally, and Riku was drawn here too because of DiZ, who seemed vaguely familiar to Sairu for some reason. As he turned to the King, he himself looked DiZ over thoughtfully, which Sairu assumed meant the King seemed to know him as well.
"What is Riku doing now? Where is he now?" Sairu asked DiZ. "Riku is due to meet Naminé, then he must make a choice" "Naminé? Do you know her?" Sairu asked suspiciously. "It appears you have made contact with her. That girl is more trouble than it's worth..." DiZ said offhandedly, though Sairu heard that comment, gritting his teeth as a result. "Ok, so Riku has to make a choice. What would his choices be?" King Mickey asked, sounding suspicious himself now. Seeing the King join the conversation seemed to alert DiZ, who stood silently for a minute, pondering if he should tell them as they were Riku's friends or keep it quiet. But he concluded that he had no choice but to tell them. "Very well... I shall tell you..." DiZ said after his reverie.
Meanwhile, Riku's journey through Twilight Town now brought him to a seemingly abandoned mansion on the outskirts of the woods. "Maybe Naminé is here..." Riku pondered aloud, and then an all too familiar voice called out. "Hold it" he said, and as Riku turned around, he was greeted by the Replica, who eyed him with a dirty look. The Replica approached Riku, and said, having noticed "Hmph. You've changed. Your own darkness- it doesn't frighten you anymore" he said in a condescending voice. Riku was undeterred by this and asked "How can you tell?" "Because I'm you" the Replica simply said. "No, I'm me" Riku retaliated. This seemed to take the Replica back slightly, who directed his gaze to the floor.
"'I'm me', he says. Must be nice, being real. A fake like me could never get away with saying that" he said, sounding spiteful. "That's right, I'm a phony, a fake!" he then exclaimed hatefully. "The way I look, the way I feel, everything I remember! And even this newfound power!" and he became enshrouded in a sinister blue aura, which took Riku by surprise. Once the aura faded, the Replica continued venting its frustration "I thought by finding some new strength, I could finally be someone- someone who's not at all you! But... nothing changes... I'm still just empty! Everything about me is borrowed. As long as you're around" The Replica then summoned his sword, and yelled to Riku "I'll never be more than a shadow!" Once he finished, Riku drew his own blade, the Replica crackling with dark energy, and the battle began.
The Replica's fury at questioning its own existence fuelled the dark strength he had, and with the power he stole from Zexion, the Replica's strength had soared beyond Riku's expectations, proving to be a worthy adversary more than once. Considering their identical method of fighting, the two were evenly matched. At his strongest, Riku was still able to catch up to the Replica's level, but suffered critical attacks from his doppelganger more than once. As they fought, the Replica's fury began to blind him, attacking relentlessly with apparent intent to kill, losing all sense of rationality. With that, Riku blocked the seemingly endless barrage of attacks, waiting for an opening. When he did so, he concentrated his darkness within his blade, and immediately struck with an agile, yet incredibly powerful swing. Once the attack connected, the Replica was thrown back, where he fell to the ground on his back, struggling to breathe as darkness surrounded his form. The Replica's face, once contorted with pure rage and jealousy, now bore an expression of tranquil calm.
"So... it's over" he said as he laid there, gazing up at the sky, then he scoffed "Hmph. Death doesn't frighten me. Good riddance to a phony life" he said as if it didn't matter whatsoever. "My heart was never real. I'm sure even what I'm feeling now is probably all fake" "What are you feeling?" Riku asked in a comforting voice as he looked down upon the Replica. "What happens when a fake dies- one like me? Where will my heart go? Does it disappear?" "It'll go somewhere" Riku said reassuringly. "Maybe to the same place as mine" Hearing this, the Replica gave a short chuckle and smiled, and said, as the darkness began to consume him "A faithful replica until the very end. That's... okay" With those final words, the Replica's body was consumed by the darkness, never to be seen again. Riku simply stood there, gazing at the spot where his doppelganger laid, and took his leave, continuing his search for Naminé.
Elsewhere, Sairu and King Mickey were trying to process what DiZ just told them what Riku had to choose. If they were telepathic, Sairu and the King would have sensed each other think the same thing: that they hope Riku makes the right choice. After considering his words, Sairu then felt compelled to ask a burning question: "DiZ, who exactly is Naminé? Can you tell us?" At hearing this, DiZ merely lowered his head, and spoke after a moment "Naminé is a unique entity, with the ability to rewrite the chains of memories that exist inside our hearts. Owing to this most unique ability, Naminé's power was highly sought after by the Organization. Particularly, a member of the Organization, Marluxia, I believe he was named, intended to use Naminé's power for his scheme to overthrow the Organization" At hearing this last bit, Sairu realized something and said "Wait. When we encountered Zexion earlier, he stated that Marluxia was the keeper of this castle. Also, he said that he was defeated by Sora" "Sora's in the castle?!" King Mickey exclaimed in surprise.
"Indeed. For you see, Sora was a necessary component of Marluxia and his cohort, Larxene's plan to overthrow the Organization. Their intention was to use Naminé's ability to rewrite Sora's memories, and gradually break him down into a puppet for them to control. With Sora as their puppet, they would pit him against the Superior and defeat him to gain the leadership that Marluxia so coveted. Thankfully, Naminé escaped their clutches and revealed the truth to Sora; through such information, Sora broke away from their plans and defeated them both" DiZ explained, having witnessed the events from afar. Hearing that Sora took care of the traitors seemed to relieve Sairu and King Mickey, until DiZ resumed speaking "Once Marluxia was defeated, Naminé gave Sora a choice: to keep his altered memories of the castle and discard his original memories, or regain the memories he lost, and forget all of his journey throughout this castle, including Naminé herself. It may please you to know that Sora and his companions opted for regaining their original memories, and have now been put to sleep for a prolonged period of time so Naminé can reconnect their chains of memories" Hearing this served to shock Sairu and the King, but considering who Sora was, they silently agreed Sora made a noble sacrifice to regain his original memories.
After some time traversing Twilight Town, Riku eventually discovered an unusual room that was bathed in a soft white glow, with an unusual flower-like monument at the centre of the room. Standing cautiously behind it was a blonde haired girl in a simple white dress, eyeing Riku warily. At this, Riku concluded after all his searching, this was Naminé. "Are you Naminé?" Riku asked as politely as he could. "Yes" she answered as she approached him. "I see... That was you..." Riku said, sounding surprised as he realized something. "Huh?" Naminé said. "Forget it. Nothing" Riku hurriedly said. "Please... Come this way" Naminé said, turning to the flower monument at the centre, and then, as Riku looked at it, he noticed what looked like a person inside. As he looked at it, he noticed, to his surprise, it was Sora.
"Sora!" Riku said as he ran to it. Then he turned back to Naminé and asked "What have you done to Sora?" "Nothing" Naminé quickly replied. "He's just asleep. To get his memory back" she added hastily. Riku looked at her with a confused expression, and seeing this, Naminé explained to Riku what happened to Sora, and he, Donald and Goofy have now gone to sleep to regain their memories. After some time Riku summarized "So Sora chose to forget about this castle...and get his old memories back?" "You have a choice to make, too" Naminé replied. "Why me, too? No one's messed with my memories" Riku asked, confused. "It's not your memories. It's your darkness. In your heart there is darkness, and in that darkness is Ansem. He may be at bay for now- but eventually he'll wake, and he will take over you just like he did before. But I have powers you can use. With my powers, I can put a tight lock on your heart. That way, Ansem could never come out from inside you" Naminé explained. "What happens if I let you do that? Will I forget everything like Sora?" Riku asked uncomfortably as he kept his hand on his chest. "I'll have to" he said ponderingly. "The darkness in you will be sealed tight just like your memory. You'll stop remembering the darkness. You'll go back to how you were. Riku, please choose" Naminé said. At this, Riku turned to look at the sleeping Sora inside the pod. "He doesn't even look worried. Will I sleep like that too?" he asked. "Yes" Naminé responded. After hearing this, Riku's confusion dissolved as he spoke again. "Figures. Sora always did as he pleased. Whatever we'd be doing together, he'd find a way to slack off. Even trying to leave the islands- I did all the work on the raft by myself. That's it. When this slacker wakes up, I'll tell him off. Sairu and I told him to take care of Kairi and here he is just taking a nap! But I can't chew him out like he deserves- if I've been asleep" he said, wagging his finger like a teacher to a pupil. At hearing hi words, Naminé realised what Riku's decision was. "I don't need my heart locked. I'm ready- I'm going to fight Ansem" "but what if his darkness overtakes you?" Naminé asked, worried. Yet Riku simply answered "If that happens, then the darkness will show me the way" "Yes... That's true" Naminé said smiling. Seeing this, Riku curiously asked "Why do I get the feeling you knew I would say that?" "I didn't know. I hoped. I wanted you to face the darkness, because you're the one who can" Naminé replied honestly. At this, Riku realized something and replied "So that's the reason- that's why you came to my rescue inside that light... in the form of Kairi" Naminé was surprised to hear this, and asked "When'd you know?" "I knew when I met you. You and Kairi smell the same" Riku said in a tender voice, before turning to leave. As he walked away, determined to face Ansem once and for all, he gave three last words to Naminé: "Look after Sora", which she nodded as he left.