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Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts & Final Fantasy (c) Tetsuya Nomura
: Disney stuff (c) Disney
Claimer: Everything else (c) me
Chapter Twelve: Stitch-ing Things Together
Riku sighed heavily as he sat down in a chair back at Merlin's house. They had finished wiping out all of the Heartless and Nobodies, but at a terrible price. Now Yuki was under Organization XIII's control, as it appeared that Xven was too.
"Don't worry, Riku," Sora assured, "we'll get her back. You'll see."
His pale aqua eyes dimmed. "But I'm still worried about her. She'll never be able to forgive herself if they force her to hurt other people," he replied pessimistically. "And I'm worried what all that darkness will do to her heart. Too much… and she'll die."
"Sora's right," Leon agreed. "There's no point in thinking about what could be. If we need to muse about something, we should be talking about how we can get her back. Look at Tifa, she's always trying to find Cloud so she can help him, and look: she helped him fight Sephiroth and helped his light. She cares for Cloud like you care for Yuki."
"Leon's absolutely right!" Yuffie agreed. "All we need to do is find Yuki and get her back!"
"Easier said than done," Donald commented. "She's under some sort of spell. Her eyes were red when we saw her."
Merlin dug through his various magic books. "Hmm… I'll see what I can find for a possible antidote or reversing potion," he said. "In the meantime, I would like the three of you to go with Leon to check out and fix one of the old generators under the city. I believe there may be a hidden keyhole in that there room somewhere."
"What?!" Sora gasped, "Really?! Let's go!"
Leon nodded. "Follow me," he said.
"The sooner we find Yuki, the sooner we can return her to us," Riku said. "I'm pretty sure that Zexion will keep her light maintained, because he wants to see her alive just as much as the rest of us. We'll just have to figure out how to bring her back to us. Hopefully we'll get to her in time."
- - - -
"Whoa… so there's the keyhole?" Sora gasped, as they stared at a dusty, old, keyhole.
"I wonder where it leads to," Donald murmured.
"Who knows?" Leon retorted. "There's only one way to find out, right?"
Sora closed his eyes and focused on his Keyblade, and a silver gleaming light shot into the keyhole, unlocking a new road to a new world.
"Now all we need to do is travel to see where it goes," Donald said.
"And hopefully Yuki will be there," Riku said. "We'll get her back… no matter what."
- - - -
Taking the Gummi Ship, they landed on a sunny, beach location.
"Hmm… this kinda reminds me of Destiny Islands," Sora commented, looking around. "I wonder what they call this place?"
Riku looked around, and suddenly he noticed a fuzzy blue speck running at them from the distance. "What is that?"
"Is that-?" Donald began, squinting.
"Stitch!" Sora exclaimed, laughing as he ran towards the fuzzy blue creature.
"Sora!" it exclaimed in joy, tackling Sora to the sand as it hugged him.
"Riku, this is my friend Stitch," Sora introduced, sitting up. "Stitch, this is my best pal Riku."
Stitch showed a toothy grin. "Ah… hiiii," he greeted.
Riku smiled back. "Hey," he said. "So… where are we?"
"Stitch home," Stitch answered, pointing at a little girl that was running over towards them. "Stitch best friend: Lilo."
"Stitch! Stitch!" the little girl known as Lilo exclaimed, running over to them, panting. "What are you doing? You know not to talk to strangers. Who are these people? And what's with the duck man?"
"Hey!" Donald exclaimed angrily.
"They my friends," Stitch said. "Sora, Riku, Donald. We meet before."
Lilo's mouth turned into an 'O' shape as she understood. "Well hi, I'm Lilo, Stitch's owner," she greeted. "It's nice to meet friends of Stitch's. He's been acting a little weird lately."
Before Sora, Riku or Donald could say anything in response, a Dark Corridor opened on the beach nearby, and Yuki stepped out, Xven following not far behind, both dressed in the Organization's black coats. Yuki took a deep breath, exhaling just as deeply, and Xven's arms slipped around her waist, resting his head on her shoulder.
"Yuki!" Riku gasped, and both of them opened their eyes to reveal their stunning red haze, glancing at him.
"Ah… if it isn't my beloved Riku," Yuki hissed, her voice dripping with sarcasm and acid.
"Please, come back to us!" Riku begged. "Don't do this!"
Xven released his grip around Yuki's waist before the girl vanished, reappearing behind them, Lilo trapped squirming in her grip. A dark Keyblade was in Yuki's hand.
"Lilo!" Stitch gasped, crouching down into a growl as his eyes narrowed.
"Yuki, you don't want to do this," Sora warned warily, his Keyblade already appearing in his hand.
Riku hesitated, as he didn't want to hurt the girl he loved, but he knew she wouldn't want to ever hurt anyone good. "Yuki… please," he told her. "Why are you doing this?"
"We'll tell you why," Xven answered instead, teleporting next to his girlfriend. "Because she's return to who she really should be."
"Yuki… you'd never hurt an innocent person," Riku said, his voice cracking near the end.
Yuki smirked. "How pathetic," she noted. "Perhaps then, you just don't know me at all as you think you do. In any case, I still 'remember' what I've been doing while with the rest of you fools. I can't believe I was actually infatuated with some weakling who was afraid of darkness."
This last sentence twisted at Riku's heart, and it really hurt him, considering this was being said by someone who was dear and very important to him.
"But Riku overcame that darkness!" Sora defended immediately. "And look at yourself! What right do you have to talk if you yourself have been taken by darkness?!"
Yuki raised her Keyblade, and a dark aura of blazing black and purple flames lapped at and around it. "The darkness has made me strong. There wasn't anything for me in the light."
"That's not true," Riku said quietly. "You had friends who cared about you. You had a home, and people who care and love you… like I do."
"Stitch, help!" Lilo cried, beating fruitlessly at Yuki's hard grip.
Stitch growled, about to pounce before Sora stopped him.
"Wait, Stitch," he said. "Yuki's our friend, but she's being controlled."
Stitch did a double-take from Sora to the struggling Lilo and back. "But, but Lilo," he began.
"We'll get her back," Riku assured. "But we just don't want to hurt Yuki in the process." He forced his own Keyblade to appear, inhaling deeply as he tried to adjust to the fact that he had to fight his girlfriend.
"You're a fool if you think you can defeat us without actually hurting us," Yuki cackled. "Now as for this little one." Tossing Lilo Pelekai into the sand, with her hand Yuki encased the little girl in a block of solid ice, Lilo's expression frozen to one of surprise and fear.
"Lilo!" Stitch exclaimed, scurrying over to scrabble at the ice, failing miserably. "Let her go!"
"Awww… that's so sweet it makes me sick," Xven spat, hugging his beloved Nobody.
Yuki smiled. "I couldn't agree more, honey," she said back, his Keyblade phasing into his hand.
"This is going to be a hard battle to fight," Donald murmured to his friends.
"Now should we deal with these pesky ex-friends of yours?" Xven asked his beloved girlfriend, both of them pointing their Keyblades at them.
"But don't forget our real mission," she reminded him, resting her head against his chest.
With his other hand he gently stroked her hair, pressing his lips against the soft velvet strands, closing his eyes as he inhaled deeply. Neither of them had any idea how this was hurting Riku.
Dammit… I have to get her back as soon as possible, Riku thought. I don't think I could bear anymore of this. I have to stop her before she hurts someone. She'll regret it after I break her out of the spell.
Stitch growled, ready to attack Yuki. As he leaped, Yuki's hand extended easily, catching the alien creature off-guard where he was suspended in the air, snapping and barking at Yuki nevertheless. With ease, she threw the creature back towards Sora, Riku and Donald.
"At the time being, only she and Xemnas are able to control the most powerful of Nobodies," Xven announced, looking at her. "Why don't you show them?"
Stepping away, a dark aura flared around her. "With pleasure," she announced, and four Dusks appeared.
"What?" Sora inquired in surprise, "But that's the normal Nobodies that we fight."
Suddenly, the Dusks transformed into large, strange leopard-shaped Nobodies, the mark of the Nobodies on their chests. They were white-silver in colour, and they had thin-layered, transparent wings on their backs, they had narrowed black eyes, Hackles raised, they growled threateningly at them.
"Yuki… don't do this," Riku told her, desperation in his voice.
An evil grin crept onto her lips. "Of course I will," she retorted, and suddenly the leopard-Nobodies leaped, beginning to attack.
With great skill, they fought back and held their ground, while Riku kept trying to fight towards the girl he wanted to bring back. Suddenly, Yuki appeared in front of him and Riku quickly wound his arms around her, kissing her deeply, pouring his heart and feelings into her, trying to break her free from her spell.
Very gently, Yuki wrapped an arm around his neck before pulling away, opening red eyes. "You're a fool, Riku," she told him, "if you thought that was going to bring me back."
Without a second thought, she pushed him back and used a combo on him with her Keyblade, injuring him so greatly that he collapsed onto the ground.
"Riku!" Sora gasped, dashing towards his best friend to defend him, standing in front of him. "Yuki, stop it! This isn't you!" Pointing his Keyblade at her, a sharp light shot from its end before passing through her Keyblade and impacting Yuki's chest, causing the girl to stumble back, the red haze in her eyes shattering back to its normal gold. The Nobodies she had summoned vanished.
"W-What?" she breathed, her gaze turning to Riku who bore the injuries she had inflicted on him. Tears streamed from her eyes and down her cheeks. "Riku… I'm so sorry…"
"Yuki!" Riku gasped, wincing in pain before Yuki's eyes slipped close, collapsing backwards before being caught by Xven, who caught her effortlessly in his arms. "Let go of her!"
Instead, Xven held her closer, and because Yuki was unconscious, the ice encasing Lilo melted, and the girl ran to hug Stitch, trembling slightly half from the cold, half from her fear.
"Stitch!" she gasped.
"Lilo!" Stitch replied, hugging her back.
Xven looked at Yuki before glancing back at the others, specifically Sora, with narrowed, angry eyes. "You'll pay for what you did to her. When Yuki wakes up… we'll come back and take our revenge…"
Suddenly a Dark Corridor appeared next to them, and Vexen stepped out, glancing at the unconscious girl in Xven's arms.
"Hmmm… it seems I've underestimated the power of the Keyblade Master's light," he murmured, taking Yuki from Xven as he placed his palm above her forehead, an icy blue glow radiating from his hand.
A pained gasp escaped Yuki's lips, and Vexen smirked as the girl crumpled in his arms from pain.
"Stop it!" Riku shouted weakly.
"Vexen," Xven snapped, fury rising within him, "what are you doing to her?! Stop it this instant!"
The blonde twisted his head to sneer at the younger Nobody. "You do want to keep your precious Kixyu, do you not? If she had woken up before this, she would have ended up returning to those blasted kids over there."
"Hey!" Sora protested.
In his annoyance, Xven opened up a Dark Corridor, sweeping his unconscious girlfriend into his arms before carrying her limp body through the portal before it closed, Vexen following silently.
"Riku, are you okay?" Sora inquired worriedly, kneeling down next to his friend.
He shook his head. Though his wounds stung, what hurt more was that it was Yuki that had attacked him. Sitting back, he slowly stood up with Sora's help, his arm around his best buddy's shoulder. Donald looked at Lilo and Stitch.
"Are both of you okay?" the court magician inquired.
"Yeah…" Lilo replied. "I'm a little cold, but I think it'll be fine. So… who are you guys?"
Stitch looked at them. "They are my friends," he said. "Sora and Donald."
"Hey, I'm Sora," Sora introduced, "this is Donald, and this is Riku."
Lilo nodded slowly. "Are you aliens like Stitch?" she inquired innocently. "Cause where I come from, ducks don't talk."
As Donald began to steam, Riku shook his head. "We're not aliens, but we aren't from here."
Sora pulled a hi-potion from his pocket and handed it to Riku, and the elder teen drank it down, slightly recovering from the wounds, his strength gradually returning to him.
"We go home and talk," Stitch said to Lilo.
"Oh yeah… we have to prepare for the May Day festival," she said in realization. "Maybe we can do it on those weird things that popped out of nowhere. And who were those two people in black-cloaks that kidnapped me?"
Riku's eyes dimmed. "My girlfriend and her childhood friend," he said.
"Come back home and we all talk," Stitch said, and they headed to Lilo and Stitch's house.
Aww... Poor Riku...
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