Set during: The First Day (Chapter 1)

Summary: Christmas 2009 Short 2 - Riku misses one house invasion for another.

A pair of eyes opened blearily and peered out from underneath the covers, the owner's body as still as if he had been frozen in ice. From the darkness crept out an arm, which proceeded to wave around for the next few seconds, and finally the male human being that had been asleep half a minute while ago pushed himself up out of bed, kicking off the duvet.

He brushed his silvery hair out of his eyes and crept over lazily to the mirror – a broken old thing with a huge crack splitting it into two even halves, in a brass frame – and received a nasty shock that paralysed him for another moment.

Riku had, in his early-morning haziness, forgotten what his face looked like now. From within the glass the dark, amber-eyed visage of Ansem peered rather curiously at him, wearing his stunned expression. He brought his hand up hesitantly, as if his nose was about to suddenly fall off any time now, and wiped his forehead clean of the strange, clear liquid that had gathered on it, and bit his tongue.

A quick burst of pain, and then he stretched his limbs out. Surprisingly, or maybe not, Riku was not a person who liked waking up.

He'd had little choice this time, however; the strangest dream had entered his head, full of nonsense and symbolism that he couldn't, and wouldn't, try to decode if he wanted. When he thought of it now, it was all a mess in his head.

Maybe Naminé would know what it all meant…? Maybe, or maybe not. He didn't know…

He snatched up the clothes in the corner and changed. He didn't remember having a bundle in the corner, true, nor did he remember even changing out of his robe in the first place… Ah, well. He wouldn't be surprised if she or the king had given him something different to wear, or changed him while he was asleep. And he'd kinda missed his pyjamas, and these new ones (thermals) he kinda liked. It had always been cold on the island at night, and the last time he'd been there, he'd been dressed in a sleeveless shirt.

And then swallowed by darkness, and that in itself was pretty cold. No light meant there was no warmth… He was beginning to understand why Maleficent and her lackeys tended to wear heavy clothing, even when it impeded them, or why they enjoyed using fire as a weapon.

Back on the subject of Maleficent, huh? It had been a whole year, but her influence back then had been so damaging on him that he could never forget it if he tried. The woman had given him so much power in exchanged for so much pain, to him, to other people… and especially to Sora and Kairi.

When the king had taken him in, he'd believed himself to have been dreaming. Even now it crossed his mind, that thought that everything had just been one long chain of nightmares, one after the other, and then when he woke up he and the others would all be together. His parents would be there; his mother would make him breakfast and his father would play a quick game of catch with him before heading off to work. Sora and Kairi would be working busy on the raft.

The disappointed looks on their faces (well, on Sora's face, mostly; Kairi had just decided to join them in their escapades because it'd seemed all nice and fun) when he would tell them that they were giving up on the raft were so clear in his head that it was like he'd never left the island at all, and the whole year had been an illusion.

'Illusions' brought the Organisation member Zexion to mind, however, so he'd be wary about that word after this morning. He didn't need to think about how he'd killed him.

Or maybe he hadn't… Or, again, maybe he had. The memory of Castle Oblivion was vague now, just a distant place and a name that didn't matter anymore. The past didn't matter – he was here in the now, and the now was what he'd put his efforts into.

Anywhere else, the sky would still have been black, but this place was eternally caught between the light and the darkness, as reflected by the eternally orange sky. To Riku it looked quite strange. He was used to the sky darkening at night, but the locals here probably weren't. He couldn't guess how they'd react if the patterns of the sky from back home took over the sky here.

It seemed a little depressing how the people here couldn't see the stars.

DiZ was in the computer room, tapping away at the keys. Roxas would soon wake up in his simulation; Riku supposed the bandaged man was probably fixing some bugs or something. If this was successful, the blond boy would never know he had ever been anything but a teenager growing up in Twilight Town.

However, as he walked up to the man, he slowed down, pulling his hood up. DiZ had seen his face, yes, but Riku was utterly embarrassed about it. All of those things he'd said about pushing away the darkness in his heart had been lies. He hadn't spoken much, and every time he heard his own voice he kept thinking it wasn't his own… He reached for his chair-

"Don't sit down," the man suddenly said, holding his arm up. He finished a few key-presses and stood up from the small chair. "You are to start moving."

Riku was taken aback. "Start… moving, sir?" The voice issuing from his mouth, to his horror, was much deeper than his own, and he twitched as he spoke. That voice, in particular, had been a source of nightmares for him, and he would never get used to speaking with it.

He was sure the older man's eyebrow was rising underneath the bandages and the eye-patch constructed out of old belts. Yet he merely walked past him, to the silver-hair's surprise. "Yes. In particular, I need you to go to Naminé's room for a short while. After which, you may start patrol around the area. Report anything strange to me at that time."

"…Alright…" Riku said, and made for the door. DiZ then shot an arm out and held him in place.

"I would prefer for you to use a portal, if you may," the man said. Confused, Riku complied, producing a portal and stepping back through it to the beautiful white room where Naminé lived.

The walls were covered in drawings and sketches of Sora's life; for Riku it brought many memories and gave him new insight. He could see how her talents had changed over time, from the earliest crayon drawings to her pencilled masterpieces. Some days he looked at this and wished he hadn't found out the truth about her.

Once Roxas was merged back into Sora, Naminé was going to be fused with Kairi as soon as the man in red could reach her. It was a long while to Destiny Islands by Gummi ship, and they were currently without one, though it was hoped that could be remedied. As soon as DiZ found her and did the deed, he and Riku's work would be finished.

A noise from outside caught his attention, and he strode carefully over to the window, making sure he didn't pull the curtains open too wide. His black clothing would stand out against the white fabric and he'd be caught. The mansion was meant to be empty…

It seemed to be nothing…

And then there was a loud clatter as the doors were kicked in.

If Sora had been conscious, he probably would've found it very funny that Riku with Ansem's face had jumped much more in the fashion of a creature from the king's world than normal. On the other hand, he probably would've confused Riku with Ansem's face and the real Ansem together, and have been laughing slightly more maliciously than normal before going to town on him with the Keyblade.

Pulling himself together, he went over his orders in his mind. He would patrol around the area after he… stuck around here for a while. He was to stay here.

The timing of DiZ's words had been perfect in allowing for the doors to be kicked down and somebody with a faint scent of nothingness to enter in unheeded. Much too perfect, in fact. Maybe he had anticipated it.

Sighing, he called up another dark portal and reappeared in the forest outside. It was a pity Naminé was sitting in the simulation to check any irregularities at the moment. She would've been a nice conversation partner.

The air was crisp, just like always, although today it seemed a bit heavier than usual. As he walked he noticed the leaves were falling from the trees already, still green as the day they had sprouted. The ground seemed a little wet, which to him was a little odd. It kinda reminded him of his forehead just now. Maybe they'd both had weird dreams or something.

He was starting to smell a bit, although the coat did a good job covering that up and replacing it with the sweet aroma of leather. Huh, he didn't remember smelling this way yesterday, although now he was convinced he needed a shower sooner or later. The king's unusual advice to him one day – something along the lines of 'when you start feeling guilty, take a bath, scrub all the dirt off and then take a nice soak until you feel clean' – now sounded a bit more sensible.

Through the crack in the wall and then ducking onto a tram (nobody seemed to mind his outfit, though they must have just been used to it by now), Riku rode around in the direction of the now-closed sweet shop, and did a double-take at the street. From out of nowhere a set of flats had just appeared on one wall in the common. The door in the middle didn't seem to have closed properly and was swinging around a little.

He hopped off early, much to the consternation of the passengers around him, and headed up the path to examine the open door, hands in pockets. Quite plain, except for the fact that it was very much a duplicate of the one next to it. From what he remembered, that door did lead up to some apartments around the back of an accessory shop run by a cute blond girl. But this new one next to it looked to only access the rooms directly above it…huh.

There were very few reasons for something new to just appear on a world. But for people there was only one thing he knew; the inhabitant's world might have just been destroyed.

But that apocalypse was pretty much done with it, right? Though the Heartless were still a problem, they weren't nearly as bad as they had been under Maleficent and Ansem's separate control. From what he'd heard, there hadn't been any vanished worlds in… just about the time Sora had been asleep.

Sora.

He'd just left Sora in a pod all alone while some Nobody stormed the place.

But despite his best interests, he stopped himself from moving. DiZ had made him move away from the place, and there had to be a reason for that. And among all the unlikely things that then drifted through his skull for the next moment was the theory that the Nobody wasn't going to be doing harm to Sora at all.

Which Riku considered to be pretty much rubbish, in all honestly. The Organisation's main target was Sora. Even Roxas, who had been on his way out of there, had wanted to rip the poor kid in two, and those two were practically the same person.

And yet it still held him back. Maybe it really was that. Maybe it wasn't. It was possible. But it wasn't likely. Was it best to check?

Ready to curse his own head, he headed right into Sora's room, and all thanks to the heavens, he was there and unharmed.

The floor gained a small scorch-mark, but he was sure that would clear up with just a little cleaning. Not that he should be gauging this kind of thing now, but he did do most of the chores, and he'd likely be asked to make sure that mark was gone later.

Moving on, he raised a hand to the glass petals, the only thing between the two old friends, and stared at the Keyblade Master's face. He'd grown up well for a kid who hadn't eaten or exercised in a year. Naminé's work was simply wonderful.

"I thought I'd find ya here."

He looked down at the falsetto. A small creature with a large head and two round ears looked up at him.

He smiled. "Your majesty… It's nice to see you again," he said, trying to pitch his voice up without sounding like an idiot. It kinda worked… in a dumb way.

King Mickey returned his invisible smile with a curious face. "Why are ya hidin' your face from me?" he asked. "It's not like there's anything I haven't seen under that hood, is there?"

"N-no, there isn't." Riku tensed up, though he tried his best not to show it; however, he wasn't used to the new, slightly taller body he was currently wearing, and his attempts to stop himself simply became rather obvious.

The mouse furrowed his black-furred brow. "Riku…" he said, his voice taking on an unsure tone. "Take it off."

With another bite of his tongue, he slipped the hood off to reveal his face. "I'm sorry… I don't know what happened to me," he muttered, looking away. "I guess I'm still ashamed…"

"So that's what it meant…"

"Huh?" Riku turned around. King Mickey was standing there, stroking his chin (if he'd had one, then that was where it would've been), neither smiling nor glaring. He didn't even seem let down; rather he looked as if nothing had really happened at all.

He suddenly realised he was being watched, and jumped a bit. "Oh! Pardon there, Riku. I was just thinkin' some things through." Another smile. "Nothing to worry about."

"It sounded it," he replied. "Is everything okay?"

"Things are swell, actually." At this point, however, he began to look around. "Do you… know anywhere private we can go to talk?"

The question caught him off-guard, though he silently thought something like 'I was right, haha', and he stuck his tongue out as he considered the options. "I guess… here might count. It's not like Sora's listening."

The mouse tapped a foot. "The walls have ears, don't they?"

"Not any as big as yours…"

Anybody else would have shot a nasty look at the commenter, but the king was no such person. "…We can't tell DiZ you know about this, okay? We're keepin' it a secret," King Mickey leaned in, motioning for Riku to do the same. He knelt down and tipped his head in.

"…Ya seen the houses, right? The new rooms on Market Street?" He nodded. "Well, there's a kid in one o' those rooms. He dropped in without warnin' last night, and… his presence kinda complicated things."

Riku frowned. "Complicated things? He just dropped in; how could he do that?"

The king looked around again. "This boy, Alexander, isn't meant to be here. He's actually from a world sorta beyond every single one that exists… one beyond even Gummi Space. He's… I already told ya it's complicated.

"Alexander… seems to be a new force all his own. I'm not sure about most of it, but if what I'm thinkin's right, he might just go along with Sora when he wakes up. He'll probably jump at the chance."

"He'll… jump at the chance." This was something Riku hardly believed.

"He seems to like all o' ya, after all." Once again, King Mickey wore that large, proud grin, and spoke in confusing words. It was kinda strange how somebody with such a funny voice could do that. "His heart… connected to these worlds, ya see. All o' them at once. It looks like he's really wanted to be here all his life, even though reality's told him he can't be. Getting to here from the world he comes from is completely impossible except by the way he did it."

Riku crossed his arms in more of a questioning pose than a threatening one, which was difficult when you wore the face of the man who had been trying to possess your body and destroy your heart. "You make him sound like he knows all of us, and explicitly."

Suddenly, the king looked around. "Oh, no… I've gotta leave. Sorry, Riku. I promise I'll tell ya everything real soon!" And with that he scurried off. Riku reached after him… in vain. Giving up, he looked back at the boy in the pod.

"Alexander… and Sora?"