It's been a while.

Chapter 5 Difficulties Arise

"Holy shit! What the fuck happened?" Axel cursed as his eyes swept over what was left of the organization's stronghold, taking in the sight of ashen smoke, which rose from the flames that had eaten away more than half of the building. Axel started yelling. "Demyx!"

Roxas was speechless; he didn't know what to think about any of it. Something had destroyed the organization, should he be happy? While he debated with himself, he saw something out of the corner of his eyes. Reflexively, he turned and moved slowly to see what it was that moved among the ruins.

Trapped between the mangled ruins of broken pillars were two people. With Axel's help, they managed to move the heavy debris away.

A blond Mohawk headed man was the first thing that poked out, along with the loud gasp of "Shit! What the heck happened?"

"I wanted to ask the same bloody question!" Axel returned.

Roxas wasn't surprised, assuming the guy was one of the organization's affiliates which he had yet to meet. But what caught Roxas off guard was someone in the custody of the Mohawked man.

It was a girl.

Questions formed in Roxas's head as the Mohawk man checked her, "Namine, you alright?"

"I'm okay, I think," the girl responded wearily, although she sure looked far from okay. When she lifted her gaze, she met Roxas's confused look with one of her own smiles. It was only then that Roxas was shaken from his stupor and offered to help her out of the mess.

"Thank you, Roxas," the girl in a white dress, tried to keep her smile in place.

"Er…yeah," Roxas replied, still confused.

"Oh, I'm Namine," She introduced. "I have heard about you. I wanted to meet you, at least once."

"Me?" The boy asked, pointing at himself, while the unanswered question in his head continued to grow. 'Why is there a girl here in this crazy place?' And a pretty one too, at that.

"Hey! Do you mind saving that for some other time!" Shouted the Mohawk guy who pulled himself out of the dirt hole and onto his feet. Once he gained his ground, he looked at the destruction around them. He wore a troubled expression and he whispered the next words with dread, "Any other survivors?"

The question kicked all of them into actions.

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Almost an hour later, another three members of the organization were found. Roxas learned that man with elf-like ears with one eye patch, and a scar across his face was Xigbar. Another blond man with goatee beard and lots of ear piercing was Luxord. The two seemed older among them. And the slate-haired, emo looking guy who looked not much older than himself was Zexion. Then the talkative Mohawk guy was Demyx. Namine was Demyx's sister.

'What a way to finally get to know them,' Roxas mused at the oddity of never having met them in the passed few days. According to Axel…'They used to sit in the gray area. But lately, the mission left them with the last strength only enough to crawl into bed, that's why.'

Back to where they were now…

They didn't know exactly what had happened. While they were asleep, someone had detonated an explosion. Luckily, each of their respective rooms were equipped with robust steel. They were not excessively injured for the most part, but the other six members and their leader, Diz, had yet to be found.

Half of their base, including the data room, which had been the heart of their plan to complete their goal, was completely destroyed. That pretty much explained that the target of the incident wasn't to destroy the organization's members.

"It must have been the other six's plan. It's such a shame. The Organization used to be the rope that bound us together." Zexion said after falling into a long, pensive state. He removed his hand from his face, the gesture he used when he was thinking deeply.

"You think so? Axel and I have been thinking about that possibility!" Demyx exclaimed.

Xigbar and Luxord nodded in agreement and contributed with reasonings while Roxas's head started to sway back and forth, the other voices faded away. Namine, who had finished tending to everyone's wounds, settled herself next to Roxas. "How are you holding up, Roxas?"

The boy lifted his tired eyes to her, still feeling extremely weird with the whole situation. For a moment there, he had been beginning to accept the reality, then the next ordeal just have to break in.

The organization was splitting?

'Then what now?' Roxas was choked up with the circumstance. 'Great, here I am, in a killing field and a splitting homicide nation. Now…will the ground just break open and swallow me whole?' He felt sick, squinting his eyes shut, he tried to hold everything back in place.

"Are you all right?" The girl asked as she placed her hand on his slightly quaking shoulder.

Namine's contact comforted him to a point, and helped him gain some control over himself. Even though he assumed that she must have had something to do with the organization, there was still a feeling deep inside him that Namine was the only one who made any sense around the insane asylum these people called an 'organization'. "I…hope so," Roxas wheezed. "You?"

"Don't worry about me; I'm used to anything happening at any time. But for you…I understand that it must be difficult. You're very strong for holding up for this long."

Someone laughed.

Roxas's mind went blank as his blurry vision caught sight of the others glancing his way with the weirdest looks on their faces. It was only then that he realized he was the one laughing. He didn't know why, he wasn't anywhere near the situation to laugh. His laugh was dry...and empty.

'I can't take this,' That was his last thought before everything around him collapsed into darkness.

Meanwhile, somewhere in the same world, a person, once a part of the organization was reporting to his superior, "One thing here, two members seemed to be missing: no. 8 and no. 13, the new member."

"If there's one member that I'd less likely worry about, it's No. 8. he never dedicated seriously into anything. Once Diz is over with, he'll figuratively dissolve into nothingness. As for the newcomer, he apparently wishes not to have any part in all this, he'll only go astray."

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On the other side of Hollow Bastien:

"I can't help?"

"You'd kind of be in my way. Go to school, Riku."

There was a long pause before Riku gave in, "Okay. You win." Then he hung up on Leon. Riku leaned against the path rail and exhaled. Leon was right; he could do nothing much except freaking himself out on how Sora could be doing. On the tail of that thought, Kairi came to his mind. The girl seemed to need help too. 'If I can't help Sora, at least I can help Kairi with her problem.'

So he showed up at school and brought the matter up, and he was dumbstruck when Kairi said, "Sora's going to be so happy about this!"

"Sora?"

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Sora was better. Besides from the fact that Roxas wasn't there, and he was awfully far from home. But a few days of enough sleep, and socializing with people in Kairi's place made him feel like himself again.

The doorbell jingled by the time the café was closing, he looked up and saw Kairi's merry face as she darted into the store. That face must have come with good news. "Sora, your help is here! Meet Riku!" Kairi announced as she waved her hands toward a person behind her.

"Help?" Sora echoed blankly.

"Yes!" Unaware of Sora's expression, Kairi continued on, "Riku is a specialist…well…kind of anyway…he helps his police friend with Black Market's victims and in some cases, people from other worlds. He'll be able to help you for sure!"

"Kairi," Riku nudged the girl as if to warn her to keep it down. He should have told her about him knowing Sora and what had happened, but he didn't. Whether out of his pure disorientation as to how coincidence had Sora ended up in Kairi's place or his own fear of touching the subject where it would only lead to his misdoing. Whatever it was, he still needed to talk to Sora himself. His unsure green eyes swept over to Sora. Riku didn't really know what to say at first and Sora staring at him as if he'd seen a ghost wasn't helping.

Soon, Kairi started to sense the tense air between the two boys. She looked between them, before she opened her mouth to ask, Sora had sped to the back door.

"Sora, wait!" Riku shouted as he pursued Sora. Past the door, he saw Sora at the other end of the narrow passage, struggling to open the rear door that would lead him outside. Unfortunately, it was bolted shut. Riku called to him, "Sora."

The brunet obviously shuddered and whirled around to face Riku, his back flattening against the door. How history repeated itself.

Not liking the look on Sora's face, Riku knew he ought to explain. He took a small step forward, but that was more than enough for Sora to yell frantically.

"Don't come any closer!"

Riku stopped dead in his tracks.

That was when Kairi rushed in, her expression confused. "Guys! What's going on? What-?"

"Kairi! Are you aware of what you are doing to me!" Sora asked the confused girl with a pained look on his face.

The girl looked over to Sora who was distancing himself even further away from Riku, she noticed. "What? Sora? What's wrong? Riku's my best friend; he'll be able to help-"

"He's the very cause of my misery to begin with! He was the one who bought me…and…and-!" Sora blurted, but didn't finish.

"What?" Kairi repeated as she looked between a quiet Riku and half-scared, half-angry Sora.

"Tell me you didn't know about this, Kairi! I trust you!" Sora declared.

That stung Riku's core. Sora trusted Kairi, but not him?

Hoping to calm Sora down a bit, Kairi responded in her honesty, "I didn't know…what happened between you guys." She looked at Riku whose expression turned somewhat aggravated. "You were the one….who bought Sora?" Getting no answer, Kairi took a step closer to Sora instead. "Sora, there must be a mistake."

"No!" Sora rejected.

"Sora," Riku called again and closed the distance between them.

Kairi watched silently as Sora's posture deteriorated. The instant that Riku reached for Sora's arm, his cheek was dealt with Sora's fist. Kairi gasped, and darted in.

Riku couldn't careless about his wounded cheek but he did back away. The clear message was embedded into his very skin. Of what Sora would now do to get away from him. Back there, Sora had no strength to stand up against him, now it was different. Sora would fight him off this time.

But Riku didn't mean to hurt him, not now, not then, not ever.

"Don't touch me!" Sora demanded. When Kairi was between them, Sora even pleaded her, "Kairi, please get him away from me!"

Kairi gave Riku a meaningful look and it was enough for him to step back. With a fisted hand, Riku forced himself to leave the scene, he had to trust Kairi. The girl turned her attention back to Sora who was almost on his knees, she reached for his shoulder. Now she really wondered what Riku had done to send Sora into such a state of panic. "Sora, calm down. No one's going to hurt you. I don't know what's going on between you guys, but whatever Riku has done, it must have been a mistake. Riku's a bit of an asshole sometimes, but he never hurt anyone on purpose."

"He hurt me!" Sora wailed.

Kairi couldn't think of any possible ways that Riku could hurt someone. "What has he done to you?"

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Riku fidgeted with his hands as he kept glancing to the door where his two friends were behind. A part of him was so relieved to find Sora safe and sound, and even coincidentally this close to him…through Kairi. Another part of him couldn't help feeling worse at how Sora had reacted.

Maybe things were bound not to be the same again.

Eventually, the door opened, and stepped out Kairi and Sora. It took a lot in Riku to hold himself plastered to the chair and waited for Kairi to bring Sora in. She must have talked him in. Sora half-heartedly settled himself down on the opposite seat from Riku, his eyes avoiding Riku's searching ones.

After a brief glance over to Riku, Kairi said, "Riku needs some ice, I'll be back."

When she rushed off, Sora was so startled that he almost followed her, Riku noticed. But the boy stood his ground, although it was written all over his face that he'd give anything to get out of there.

"Sora, look, I know my apologies can't help anything…" Riku began through a pain on his cheek.

Deaf to Riku's voice, Sora's expression turned to one of relief only when Kairi came back with a pack of ice. As much as Riku didn't really care about his wound and wanted to talk to Sora alone, he also knew that Sora wouldn't still be there sitting where he was if Kairi was away for too long. Sora trusted Kairi, that much he knew.

"Okay, guys. Let's not bring up bad matters and solve the issue at hands. Riku, I think you ought to tell Sora how you can help him."

Riku's assumption was that Sora hadn't told Kairi about his misdeed. Well, if he was in Sora's shoes, he would have done the same. There was also this hint in the girl's voice that Kairi was more empathized with Sora than with him, which was the right thing. The girl just had a knack for to side with the right side.

"What I can do to help him?" Riku was somewhat lost. What were they expecting from him?

Kairi frowned. "Sora told me you were the one who bought him. If that's the case, then at least, you should take some responsibilities. You know, to get Sora home and also find his brother."

'Responsibility?' That was right, it was the least he could do to redeem himself. 'To get Sora home…and what…?' Riku processed the thought."…a brother?"

"Yes, Sora's brother, Roxas. They were separated on their way here," Kairi explained.

Riku felt like he'd been hit by a truck. "Sora's what?"

"Sora's twin brother, Roxas," Kairi repeated, frowning all the while at how unusually slow Riku was.

"Roxas is your brother?" Riku shot up and was almost taken aback when Sora finally returned his eye contact, but with a glower.

"So what?" the brunet bit.

Riku was speechless.

'Roxas was Sora's brother. And I violated Sora out of jealousy from that false assumption. Could anything in the world be more twisted than this?' "Fuck," cursed Riku.

That startled Kairi, Riku never cursed in front of her, unless it was really under dire circumstance. Maybe things were worse than she had imagined.

"I'll…see what I can do," Riku noted, blankly.

"Whatever," With his antagonistic stare, Sora took off.

Riku was about to pursue, but was stopped by Kairi's outstretched hand as she leaned over the table, urging him to sit back down. "Sora's not going anywhere far, so you better clear this up with me first." She waited as Riku watched as Sora disappeared through the same old rear door.

There was some mutual trust between Sora and Kairi. How it bit into Riku's skin. When they were kids, that kind of trust only existed between him and Sora.

"So…what have you done to him?" Right to the point, it was Kairi's style.

Riku swallowed. He couldn't even begin to imagine how Kairi would react, but a part of him believed that Kairi would understand, given that he had been drugged, he wasn't himself. Then another part of him, which, couldn't forgive himself, was yearning for some kind of punishment in any form.

"I raped him," Riku supplied.

A long silence ensued, as Riku had predicted. Then a laugh…Riku hadn't been expecting that.

"In times like these, I didn't know that you still could attempt to make jokes, Riku!" Kairi said, oblivious that her honesty was doubling Riku's guilt.

"It's not a joke, Kai," Riku murmured, causing Kairi to swallow her laughter.

"You're kidding."

"No."

"No, you didn't do that," Kairi disputed, her smile gone blank.

"I did it, Kai," Riku was short for his patient; he faced the girl's unbelieving look and couldn't hold back his frustration. "I fucking raped him because he was only crying for this Roxas! If only I knew…no, if only I recalled that Roxas is his brother then I wouldn't have…!"

"But…why?" Kairi asked, face betrayed nothing. "You always protect me…and everyone from those sickos, you hate them."

"Which is the very reason I'm hating myself right about now."

"How could you?" there was no condemnation in Kairi's voice, only pure shock. "Wait…you knew him before?"

"Yes."

"Has Sora ever done something to you?"

"No." Then Riku thought again, 'But he did everything to make me feel this way for him.' Riku made no more disclosure about his childhood past with Sora. It didn't matter; it wouldn't change the fact that he'd done something that wouldn't cost only Sora, but Kairi as well.

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"Sora?"

Said boy didn't shift from his crouched position in the corner of his given room. He asked without looking up, "Did he leave?"

"Yes," Kairi answered, her voice softer than ever, so was her face.

Noticing the change, Sora looked sideways. "You…knew?" When silence answered his question, he said, "You don't have to act different, Kairi. It already passed, I'm over it now. Just that…." Here, Sora fisted, barely restraining his anger. "…I can't stand him…"

"I know." Kairi learned that was why Sora was so scared when he almost fell victim himself trying to save her from those sickos. "I can't believe it. Riku…of all people." Kairi had told him off because she was pissed like never before. But when she thought about it, she still believed that it must have been a mistake. "Sora, I know you don't ever want to have anything to do with him again. But did you guys know each other before?'

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Somewhere in the far east of outskirt where no one dared to tread stood an old Shin-Ra building, half collapsed in ruins. Yet no one was aware of what laid beneath the place that appeared isolated…the underground lab.

"Specifically those two?" Asked the man in black.

"Yes, I should have those from the other world for my experiment. I'm not concerned whoever won the bid in Black Market over those two. I just need them as my subjects, whatever means possible." Answered the scientist, whose face was hidden under the dim light from the spot where he refused to move. But it didn't matter, both of them already knew who they were talking to.

"Right, so we had come to terms. We'll grab your subjects. In turn, we'll have our share of that Mako energy."

"Yes, yes. Great doing business with you, Organization XIII. Oh, not so 13 anymore."

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