Chapter 3

The Dark realm was unpredictable, sometimes they would find themselves in an uninhabited wasteland like the one Sora and Riku had found themselves in after defeating Xemnas, other times they would find themselves in a surreal, dystopian town or village that was inhabited by those who had fallen to dark ways.

It was a nightmare, but this was how Aqua had managed to survive in the dark realm after all those years. She obviously knew her way around better than Riku did- the one time he ever ventured into one those communities, he had been driven out in an almost brutal manner. Aqua however chose her words carefully while haggling with the villagers, and soon she had managed to procure more supplies for her and Riku.

Riku never let his guard down the entire time, always poised to attack if anyone provoked them. He ignored the rising pain in his arm, the wound had not showed any signs of healing in the hours since he received it. No matter, what was important right now was getting Aqua safely back to the realm of light. Yen Sid could treat the wound when they returned.

"How far do we have to go to get to the point of return?" Aqua asked him as they left the village.

"It will be a three day journey, longer if we encounter too many enemies."

"Shouldn't be an issue, since the Heartless tend to keep their distance from the villages. The real question is, why? We should be able to open a portal to light right here if we need to."

"It's too risky to do so just anywhere..." Riku said, wincing as another flare of pain traveled up his arm. "Too little is known about the Dark realm. Opening a portal in an unknown area could find us reappearing anywhere, including hostile worlds, dangerous terrain, or even in the realm between worlds. It's better to go to a known place than to take our chances anywhere."

As though to further affirm his statement, suddenly a dark corridor opened right in front of them. Lea emerged from it, chased by a swarm of Dusks. He collided with Riku, hard enough to knock both of them to the ground.

"Lea... do you mind... moving your knee!" Riku said through gritted teeth as Aqua began to dispatch the Dusks. He was kneeling right on the younger man's groin. Riku shoved Lea off of him, annoyed, and summoned his own blade, taking out a large number of Dusks in one swift swing. The small group took them all out quickly, Riku quickly turning to the reckless novice as soon as they finished.

"Lea! Why are you here? Yen Sid sent you on a training mission!"

"Thought I'd take a little detour in the World that Never Was, see how our good friend Xehanort was doing. But obviously, I got caught!"

"What goes through your HEAD in times like that?!" Riku exclaimed in outrage.

"Xehanort?!" Aqua exclaimed.

"Yes, the old bastard that has an obsession with forging the X-blade, Got it memorized?" Lea said, still annoyed with being admonished by Riku, who was at least a decade his junior.

"Can you not be an ass for five minutes!" Riku hissed at him. "This is Master Aqua, one of the seven!"

Lea's face suddenly took on a formal look. "Is that so?" He turned to Aqua, bowing low. "We've been waiting a long time for your return, Master Aqua."

Aqua had began to chuckle at the display between the two men now in her company.

"I think I can remember you too, one of Ansem's students, from Radient Garden. The one with the reckless personality." Lea's face soured at the mention of the term "reckless," he heard that enough times from Yen Sid and the others.

"Radient Garden?" Riku asked, confused

"That's what they used to call Hollow Bastion..." Lea said.

"All that aside, what on earth made you appear here of all places?"

"Who knows, guess I was thinking of you when I summoned the dark corridor."

"I'm flattered..." Riku said flatly.

"I was thinking of how you were gonna chew me out for being reckless when you heard about it!"

XXXXXXX

"Ugh, seriously Riku, I know you're mad, but that's no reason to starve yourself!" Lea said as they sat down to a frugal meal of bread and water.

Riku could only pick at his food. His arm was now flaring with pain, and his stomach was churning. He knew the wound was infected at this point, but he didn't care. He kept thinking it wasn't serious enough to cause worry, Yen Sid could heal him once Aqua and now Lea were safely out of the Dark realm.

"Riku! Are you listening?" Lea pressed on.

"I'm fine. I'm just not hungry..."

"After putting up that much of a fight earlier? I doubt it! I never saw you as the spiteful type, but if you're doing this to spite me, I'll force you!" Lea stood up, walking to Riku and snatching the bread out of his hand.

"Lea, cut it out!" Riku and Aqua both pleaded as Lea grabbed Riku roughly by his left arm, trying to force the bread into his mouth. Riku had to resort to striking Lea to subdue him. Lea staggered away, swearing as Riku sank to his knees, clutching his arm and crying from the pain.

"Riku, whats wrong?" Aqua asked as she noticed the younger man's distress. She approached him cautiously, noticing how he favored his left arm.

"Here, let me take a look at that..." She said, gently prying his hand off the injury.

"N-no, it's nothing!" Riku said, wincing as Aqua's actions caused him to graze the injury, causing a sudden increase in the pain. She gently slipped his cloak off the injured arm, unwinding the makeshift bandage he had made from his blindfold. She gave a soft cry of sympathy as she revealed the full extent of his injury.

"Oh, Riku. Why didn't you tell me it was this bad? We could have gotten you some medicine in the village earlier..."

End of Chapter 3