Game Over

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the franchise that is Kingdom Hearts. I am merely a fan who wishes to write RikuxOC fanfiction. That is all.

"Today was weird!" Sora exclaimed, falling back on his makeshift bed. "This random girl falls out of the sky and seems to know us, but we have no idea who she is! What are the odds of that?"

Riku gave a shrug, his arm propped up on one knee as he sat on his bed and gazed out his window. His eyes were intent upon the dark horizon as he spoke. "Stranger things have happened to us," he reminded Sora, turning slightly to throw a smirk at his best friend. "If I remember right, you once turned into a Heartless."

Sora chuckled at the horrific-turned-fond memory. "I guess you're right," he agreed, hands folded behind his head. But soon he became uncharacteristically serious. "But Ava is one bizarre girl. What do you think her story is?"

Riku was silent for so long that Sora thought his friend was ignoring him. But before the spiky-haired teen could pout about it, Riku's cool voice gently broke the silence.

"…Namine…" Riku muttered, appearing to speak to himself. "She kind of reminds me of Namine…"

"Who?" Sora butted in, confused.

"Nothing," Riku replied, brushing Sora's curiosity off with a wave of his hand. But he silently continued to ponder.

The way Ava's hair favored the right side of her face reminded Riku of Namine, true, but the more he thought about it, the more differences he began to see rather than similarities. Where Namine's hair was light and golden, Ava's hair hung thick and possessed a raven hue. Namine's eyes—like Kairi's—were ocean gems, while Ava's eyes sparkled like amethysts. Ava's skin also constrasted Namine's, being sun-kissed bronze, while Namine's skin was pale and creamy. Ava also had the advantage of height over Namine, and a strength in her aura that Namine did not possess. If Riku was to sum it up, he would describe Ava as the darker side of Namine…if Namine had a dark side, that is.

But it was not Ava's similarities—or, in actuality, her lack thereof—to Namine that Riku kept puzzling about. It was the sheer mystery of her existence that had him stuck. Like Sora had already pointed out, Ava had randomly fallen out of the sky and into their world, but the weirdest thing was that she had full knowledge of her company and whereabouts, and seemed to believe it was all a dream. And she had mentioned Kingdom Hearts…

"Oops. That would be called breaking the fourth wall, huh?"

"It's too bad…it would have been nice to stay for a while…"

She had winked at him then, both confusing and intriguing him. Just what was this girl after?

A movement in the darkness alerted Riku, immediately capturing his attention. There was a figure leaving Kairi's house, stalking through the shadows to the docks. Riku could tell that the sneak was feminine by her outline, but she was a little too tall to be Kairi…

'Where does she think she's going so late at night…?' Riku wondered curiously, watching as Ava hopped into one of the row boats and paddled her way steadily to the smaller counterpart of Destiny Islands. What in the world was she up to?

"Hey, Sora," Riku called, turning to address his friend…only to find the spiky-haired boy fast asleep, sprawled out on his floor bed. Riku smirked and crept past his friend, careful to silently close the door behind him. He would let Sora sleep for now, and just fill him in later, should anything interesting happen tonight.

The night was beautiful, as it always was on Destiny Islands, save for the occasional island-destroying storm. Ava sat upon the paopu tree growing out of the platformed section of the island her eyes on the vivid sky as she thought.

Her senses were telling her what her mind still could not process: she was really on Destiny Islands. She was really feeling the sea breeze, was really hearing the crash of the waves, was really seeing the vast, sparkling star-filled sky and reflecting ocean. Though her mind still pushed against it, Ava's heart beat wildly with excitement. If this really was just a dream, Ava found herself hoping that she wouldn't wake up for a long, long time, despite knowing that she had no place in a fictional world.

A strong breeze blew by then, blowing Ava's hair back. She wound a hand around it in irritation, wishing for a hair tie to keep her wild mane in check. "I wonder how Riku does it," she wondered out loud, thinking of the long silver hair Riku flaunted.

"How do I what?"

Ava gasped, almost falling off the tree in her shock. She turned to find said silver-haired teen right behind her, appearing faintly amused by her startled expression. Ava coughed, attempting to regain her composure.

"I didn't hear you coming," she explained, peering shyly up at him. "So…what are you doing here so late at night?"

"That's my line," Riku countered, resting a palm on the trunk of the bent tree so he could lean down and peer into Ava's face. "What are you doing here so late at night?"

His proximity caused Ava to flush, but she still challenged him. "I asked you first."

"But I live here, so your answer is more important," Riku shot back, and Ava sighed in defeat. As much as she didn't want to admit it, he had her cornered. As Riku moved to sit beside her, Ava glanced at him from the corner of her eye.

"Promise you won't laugh?" she wanted to check. Riku watched the dark horizon for a moment before his gaze shifted to Ava.

"Only if it's not funny."

Ava made a face at him, but then shrugged her shoulders. 'That's the best I'm going to get, I suppose.'

"…I wanted to try sitting here, just once," she began quietly, her eyes riveted on the sky. "I wanted to see what it felt like—to gaze out from this tree at the world around me."

Ava didn't continue after that, which caused Riku to prompt her. "And?"

"I never knew I could feel so small."

A strong breeze blew past once again. Frowning, Ava began braiding her wildly tossing hair. As she did so, she glanced over at Riku once again, instantly jealous as the wind did nothing but flow through that perfect silver hair of his.

'Well, he is just pixels…isn't he?' Ava wondered, suddenly not sure of herself—or anything—anymore.

As Ava turned her attention back to her braiding, it was Riku's turn to gaze at her from the corner of his eye. The words she just spoke still had a hold on him, ringing not only in his mind, but in his heart as well. He knew all too well exactly how it felt to sit here on this tree and gaze up at the millions of stars—other worlds—littering the sky. He knew how it felt to live on such a small island, unable to see anything but sand, sea and sky for years, never breaking free, never being able to explore new places, never being able to matter anywhere else…

Riku shoved those thoughts out of his mind. He didn't feel that way anymore. After all, no matter where he went, this would always be his home. No matter what, he would always come back.

Suddenly, Riku became aware that Ava's eyes were on him. He had not been conscious of turning his head, but since he was now looking Ava full in the face, he figured he must have at one point. A moment passed in which the two just stared at each other, as if they were trying to puzzle each other out. Ava looked away first, her cheeks rosy. Pixels or not, Riku was still extremely good-looking, and she wasn't exactly sure she could handle him up close like this.

"…Who are you, Ava?"

Ava glanced up from her peripheral vision. Riku was still staring at her quite intently, and while the fangirl in her was pleased by the attention, the rest of her began to get nervous for an entirely different reason. Riku was sharp—too sharp. She had no idea what answers she could give that would appease him.

"…What do you mean?" she asked, playing dumb as she stalled for time. "You know my name already."

"You know that's not what I mean," Riku pressed, and Ava looked away nervously. Dang, he was sharp.

"Which is why I asked what you do mean," she shot back, quickly recovering, though she still could not look at the silver-haired teen beside her. "What do you want from me, Riku?"

His answer was given swiftly and decisively: "The truth."

Ava nearly laughed out loud. 'The truth', huh? "You wouldn't believe me."

And then, something happened that Ava did not expect. Something warm touched her face, and her head was turned by an outside force. Ava did not realize that it was Riku who was turning her head—touching her!—until she was looking into his eyes again, intense in their seriousness.

"Try me," he dared her.

Against her will, Ava flushed a dark red. This was ridiculous! As Zephyr would say, he was just a fictional character! Why in the world was she getting all flustered?

'Because this feels real,' Ava thought to herself, marveling at the actual warmth of Riku's hand on her skin. 'But it can't be real. None of this can be real! …Can it?'

What was 'real' anyway? Because Ava could feel herself here, on Destiny Islands, did that make her presence here 'real'? Or was it just a really realistic dream? How could she trust her senses in a place she knew was fiction? How could she see, and still not believe?

Something else crossed Ava's senses…something that, for some reason, felt sinister. She turned her head, moving from Riku's grasp, and squinted into the darkness past the bridge. Riku, in turn, looked as well, curious to know what had stolen Ava's attention from him.

"What is it?"

"…I don't know," Ava replied honestly. She turned and jumped off the paopu tree, landing solidly on her feet. Riku watched as she stared into the darkness, her posture rigid, focused. "I can't explain it," she admitted, "but…something feels…wrong."

Riku lifted a silver brow. Wrong? What was she talking about? He didn't feel anything…

A second later, Ava twitched, her head snapping to the right. As her violet eyes began to narrow, Riku abruptly felt it too—a strange disturbance in the peaceful air. He got up as well, coming up to Ava's side as his eyes searched into the darkness.

"I don't see anything…" Which frustrated the silver-haired teen—when it came to darkness, no one on this island knew it better than him. "What are you looking at?"

"Nothing," Ava admitted, turning to look up at Riku. "But you know what I mean now when I say something doesn't feel right, right?"

"Yeah…" Riku trailed, frowning. "But what does it mean?"

"I dunno," Ava answered, folding her arms and raising an eyebrow, "aren't you the one with a Keyblade? You tell me!"

Riku's head whipped down to stare at Ava, his ice blue eyes narrowing. "How did you know—"

"What's that?!"

Riku was, at first, suspicious of the sudden diversion of attention. But when Ava's eyes were rounded by obvious fear, he turned as well. And his eyes also widened.

There was a huge, black mass of something on the stretch of beach to their right, the mass jerking and squirming in strange patterns, having no definite shape, but still huge enough to be noticeable. It was not Heartless, nor Nobody—it was unlike anything Riku had ever seen. But whatever it was was jerkily making its way across the beach, and wherever it touched, the beach just…dissolved. Riku could see right through the island, as if a hole had been blasted right through it. Somehow…this black mass was making the island disappear!

"Here we go again," Riku growled. With a flash of dark light, he summoned his Keyblade, Way to Dawn, and hopped off the platform to swim to the black mass tearing up the beach.

"Be careful!" Ava called after him. He gave no sign that he had heard her, but Ava was not worried. They may not know what they were up against, but if anyone could get the job done, it was Riku…she hoped. Even now, she was beginning to wonder if he could do it without—

"Ava!"

Ava turned. Her eyes lit up in relief as she saw a spiky-haired teen headed her way, followed closely by his red-headed pseudo-girlfriend. "Hey! Great timing!" Ava called back to Sora. Point behind her, she shouted, "Riku needs help!"

"On it!" The Kingdom Key appeared in Sora's hands as he rushed under the bridge to Riku's aide. Ava expected Kairi to hang back, but instead, she charged ahead as well, her flowery Keyblade, Destiny's Embrace, appearing in her grasp.

'Oh yeah,' Ava remembered, 'Kairi did get a Keyblade, didn't she? How lucky…I'm a little jealous.' She watched as the Destiny Island dwellers did battle with the mysterious foe, their battle cries filling the night air. If only she could do something to help…but no, that was impossible. Ava did not belong to this world, no matter what her new outfit suggested. It was too much to hope that she could be included in this world…

"Aaaagh!" Ava snapped out of her envy long enough to see Riku get knocked back by the dark menace, falling back into the ocean with a noisy splash. Ava gasped.

"Riku!" Without thinking about it, she dived from the platform and into the sea below. As soon as her head broke the surface, Ava swam as fast as she could to where Riku's unconscious form was sinking. With an almighty tug, Ava lugged him back to shore. "Riku? Riku! Riku, wake up!"

Riku did not respond, but he was still breathing. He still maintained a death grip on his Keyblade—his will to fight had not disappeared just yet. Now if only he would wake up…

Just as Ava considered slapping him, the situation worsened—two more screams sounded in the night, forcing her to whip around. Her eyes widened. "Sora! Kairi!"

The black menace had subdued the other Keyblade Wielders, and was sucking their unconscious bodies slowly into itself. Ava stood up, horrified. At this rate, Sora and Kairi would be swallowed whole, and their island would, once again, be destroyed. What could they do? What could she do? Was that it? If the Keyblade wielders had no more strength to fight…was all…lost?

"Ava…" The call of her name had Ava wheeling around once more. Riku's eyes were open, but he stayed where he was—he looked to be in considerable pain. Ava dropped to her knees again, her hands hovering anxiously over Riku, unsure of what to do. So, she decided to ask him for guidance instead.

"Riku, what do I do? How can I help?"

With what seemed to be a considerable effort, Riku lifted his right arm. Ava didn't understand what he was doing until he thrust his Keyblade at her. In her flustered state, she grasped the handle, her fingers overlapping his. Riku's eyes were sharp as he stared at Ava, willing her to understand the one word he spoke:

"Fight."

The monstrosity was drawing closer, swallowing everything in its path. Sora and Kairi were sunk in to their chests, and Ava was alarmed to find that they were slowly disappearing with every inch they sunk. Any more, and they would be swallowed whole, possibly never to be seen again…

Ava gripped Riku's Keyblade and slowly stood, planting her feet. She entertained a brief interest in fencing as a child, and even had a few lessons before her mother made her quit to do something more feminine, so she kind of knew her way around a sword…but a Keyblade was something else entirely. Even as she gripped the handle, Way to Dawn pulsed with a foreign power, embodying all that was Riku. Hesitantly, Ava got into the standard beginning position for fencing. As she watched the menace continue to consume the island and its heroes, she forced herself to swallow her fear. She didn't quite know what she was doing, but by a strange twist of fate, she had become the sole defender of Destiny Islands. And, dream or not, she was going to have to give it her all.

'Well, here goes nothing!' Ava rushed forward, keeping Riku's Keyblade at the ready, and her trepidation at bay. There was a slim chance that she would be able to land a blow, but if she could manage it, maybe she could buy some time for Riku to pull himself together. After all, Ava was no hero in real life. All she knew was combination buttons to make the heroes she controlled in video games save the world. There was no way she could do this on her own…

The dark mass made a frightening sound, something like a roar. Before Ava knew it, she was thrown back just like Riku, the force causing her to skid across the beach. Sand dug into her skin, and her grip on Way to Dawn was broken. As she struggled to get back up, a low timbre rumbled, sounding as if it was…laughing?

"Insignificant girl…" the rumbling sound spoke, and Ava focused her wide violet eyes on the monstrosity before her. Was it…talking to her? "You are no Keyblade Wielder. You do not possess the Power. You are just a stranger who fell into a world you know nothing about. You are useless. You are nothing."

It was almost as if Ava's fears had been personified in this dark mass, pointing out every one of her insecurities and throwing them back in her face. She wasn't strong. She wasn't special. She was no one. She was nothing…

"…No," Ava's voice protested, somehow stronger than she felt. She pushed herself to her feet, her fists clenched as she glared at the monstrosity. "You're wrong. If there was anything I ever learned, it's that everything happens for a reason. I was put here for a reason. I may not know what it is, but if I'm here, it must be important. I do have a purpose…" Ava planted her feet, pointing a challenging finger at the black mass. "And right now, that purpose is to prove you wrong!"

Suddenly, a strange feeling overtook Ava. It was a shuddering, soothing warmth, centered around her pointing left hand. There was a flash of bright light, and then…

Ava stared. In her hand, she could only surmise, was a Keyblade. It wasn't like any Keyblade she had ever seen before, however. An outstretched white wing decorated the end where the prongs of a key would be, attached by a gold metal strip running from the end of the top feather to the rod of the Keyblade, bolted onto the wing with silver bolts. The rod of the Keyblade itself was slim, like a fencing rapier, and silver in color. A swirling pattern of gold metal surrounded the rapier, stopping just short of the outstretched wing, and starting at the base of the Keyblade. The guard surrounding the black handle of the Keyblade was feathery and white, creating a heart-shaped winged structure from the top of the handle to the bottom, a stylized violet heard in the center, much like the one connecting the straps of Ava's outfit. The chain at the end of the Keyblade was another stylized heart in silver, and as Ava's fingertips brushed the keychain, she felt a tremendous power emitting from it, strong, but somehow friendly. Ava gripped the handle tighter, and the Keyblade responded, as if it recognized her as its master.

This made the monstrosity very, very unhappy. "I-impossible! You…who are you?!"

Ava was able to tear her eyes away from her new toy long enough to smirk at the dark mass, her confidence surging. "Apparently, I'm a Keyblade Wielder."

The black mass roared again, but Ava was ready now. She used the new Keyblade—her Keyblade—to block the blast, her free hand braced against the length of the Keyblade to block against the sound wave. Her feet were sliding a little in the sand, but if Ava struggled, she found that she could push against the attack, pushing her towards the monstrosity.

"It is useless!" The voice roared at her, still ferocious, and yet there was a note of uncertainty that Ava seized onto to propel her will forward. "You will only fail, you will only fall! You are not fit to wield a Keyblade! You—!"

The rumbling cut off as the tip of Ava's Keyblade was thrust into it. Ava allowed herself to smirk and throw out a casual one-liner, "Guess I showed you, huh?" before twisting the Keyblade and ripping it out of the monstrosity. It roared loudly in pain, and Ava almost felt bad, but all she had to do was remember Riku lying on the beach behind her, or see Sora's and Kairi's half-consumed bodies to steel herself. Ava made to attack the dark mass again, but it was suddenly shining with a bright light, which elicited another anguished cry. Starting at the wound Ava had caused, white began to overtake the black in a pixilated fashion. Quite abruptly, the mass exploded.

Ava was thrown back once more, but she dug her Keyblade into the beach to keep herself from being flung back into the ocean. She squinted against the bright light originating from where the monster was, the roar still echoing around the island. When the light finally faded…

Ava sunk to her knees. The threat was gone…but the island still remained in its damaged state. Nothing had returned to normal, and Sora and Kairi were gone. Her heartbeat accelerated, as well as her breathing. Wait…this wasn't supposed to happen. Once the bad guy was vanquished, everything was supposed to return to normal. Everything was supposed to be okay…

"Hngh…" The groan made Ava jump. She saw Riku struggling to sit up and ran to him, her Keyblade abandoned in the sand.

"Riku! Are you okay?" She made to help him stand, but he swatted her hand away, pushing himself up on his own. She saw his eyes scanning the beach, taking in the damage, narrowing when they did not find what they searched for…

"…Sora. Kairi. Where are they?" He demanded to know. Ava bit her lip, wishing she could give him any other answer, but…

"I…I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?" Riku pressed, his frown deepening. "What happened?"

"I—they—" Ava struggled to find some way to articulate…but she just could not find the words. After all, she didn't fully understand what had happened either. One minute they were there…but the next, they were gone...oh no. In destroying the monstrosity…had she destroyed Kairi and Sora as well?

She sank down to her knees, the shock of what she had done completely overwhelming her. "No," she found herself muttering, "I—I didn't mean to…"

"Didn't mean to what?" When Ava did not answer him, a frustrated Riku grabbed her arm to force her to pay attention to him, "didn't mean to what, Ava? What did you do?!"

"I don't know!" shouted the raven-haired teen, her eyes squeezing shut as she fought to free herself from Riku's grasp. "I really don't know! I thought I was helping! All I did was use the Keyblade that appeared, and now—"

That got Riku's attention. "Keyblade? What Keyblade?"

Ava opened her eyes to stare at him. It was a rather ostentatious Keyblade…how could he miss it? Still, she pointed behind her, where she had left the rapier-like Keyblade, tip down in the sand. "It's right there. It appeared while I was fighting…" Riku's narrowed gaze sweeping the beach made Ava's bewilderment grow. An unpleasant feeling was growing in her stomach… "…Can't you see it…?"

Riku's ice blue eyes returned to Ava's face, his mistrust of her more obvious than ever. "There's nothing there, Ava."

Nothing there? But that was impossible, Ava had left it right over…over… When she turned to look for the mysterious Keyblade as well, it was with great surprise that Ava found the Keyblade to be missing as well. Where had gone, when she needed it most of all? Without it, it seemed that her story held no weight with Riku, despite it being the truth…

"But there was a Keyblade," she tried to insist, but her voice came out feeble and pleading, "there was a Keyblade. I used it to off whatever that thing was that was tearing up the island. I swear I helped, Riku. You have to believe me."

Riku stared at Ava long and hard. She could see the range of emotions going through his mind in his eyes. There was anger there—a lot of it. A lot of doubt, too. And she thought she could be just a bit of uncertainty…or was that wishful thinking?

The silver-haired teen opened his mouth, and Ava held her breath. Right now, Riku was her judge and jury, and considering the fact that his two best friends were missing, things did not look good for her…especially because she couldn't completely vouch for her evidence without proof. What was she going to do…?

A loud whistling sound abruptly broke through the night air and the tense silence, and it was only getting louder. Ava's gaze slid from Riku's for a second—and it was not a second too soon.

"Look out!" Ava threw herself at Riku, tackling him out of the way just as a giant, orange, blocky flying aircraft crashed into the beach just inches from there. Sand was sprayed everywhere, but Ava's face was covered by one of Riku's protective arms. He pushed her away as soon as the dust settled, which stung a bit, but even Ava knew not to complain. It was probably a kindness for a kindness—him saving her from coughing up and crying sand in exchange for her saving his life. An uneven trade, perhaps, but even so…

Ava was promptly distracted by the pod of what she now recognized as a Gummi Ship opening, and two very familiar figures emerged from within…

"Sora! Where are you?" The smaller of the companions demanded to know, stretching on one webbed foot to the other as he searched for the spiky hair of his friend. The taller of the two spared a glance around as well, before turning to his companion.

"Gawrsh, Donald, I don't think he's here."

"Of course he's here!" Contradicted Donald as he impatiently tapped his webbed foot, "Goofy, don't you remember what the King said?"

"Well, uh, yeah, but—" Goofy began to respond, but he was promptly distracted upon catching sight of Riku and Ava. "Well lookee there! If it isn't Riku!"

Said Keyblade Wielder got to his feet in time to greet Donald and Goofy as they leapt off of the haphazardly landed Gummi Ship. "Man, am I glad to see you two right now."

"What happened here? How come everything's sorta see-through?" Goofy wanted to know, eyeing the damage done to the island.

"And where's Sora? We gotta tell him something important!" Donald asserted. Ava watched as Riku's shoulders grew rigid at the mention of Sora. She could imagine the face he was probably making right now, and it did nothing to lessen her guilt.

And it certainly didn't help when Riku jerked a thumb back in her direction and said in a hard voice, "Ask her."

It was then that Donald took notice of Ava for the first time. And he did not react well. "Waak!" With a sudden flourish, the duck unveiled his staff and brandished it in a threatening manner in Ava's direction. "Riku, get back! The King warned us about her! He said a stranger would soon appear here and cause a calamity! She's the Catalyst!"

'The Catalyst'? Well, it wasn't like Ava hadn't ever been called worse, but… "Catalyst? No, I'm—"

"Don't push it, missy!" Donald threatened, his staff crackling with his anger, "I'm not afraid to zap you if I have to! Now tell us where Sora is!"

"Uh, Donald—" Goofy tried to interject. Donald barely spared him a glance.

"Not now, Goofy, I'm busy!"

"But, uh, don't you think you've got the wrong gal? I mean, the King said that this Catlymajigger would be wieldin' some sort of axe of destruction." Goofy gave one of his trademark laughs before continuing, "and that there gal's a Keyblade Wielder, not an ax wielder. A-hyuk!"

Riku, Donald, and Ava all turned to stare at Goofy. "Keyblade? What Keyblade?" Donald asked, echoing Riku from earlier. Goofy did not seem as perturbed by this denial as Ava was; he simply pointed to Ava's left hand.

"Well sure. Can't ya see it? She's holdin' it right now!"

Doubtful herself, Ava raised her left hand… "Oh," she said softly, suddenly bathed in the glow of the Keyblade from before. It seemed to radiate reassurance, like the embrace of a trusted friend. It was almost like it had never left her grasp… The raven-haired teen turned to Goofy once more, relief clear on her face. "You can see it…"

Goofy seemed confused by the claim. "Of course I can see it. It's there, isn't it? What's not to see?" He simply asked, giving another laugh. Suddenly, Ava was extremely guilty for under-appreciating Goofy every time she played the Kingdom Hearts series. He may run in a silly fashion, but he was clearly the most insightful companion of all.

Donald gave an audible quack of surprise, as if the Keyblade had just appeared before him. "I see it!" He exclaimed in sudden excitement before folding his arms and tapping his webbed foot once more. "But, how come I couldn't see it until Goofy pointed it out just now…?"

Ava was curious about that, too. Why was it that only she and Goofy seemed to be able to see her Keyblade right off the bat? She glanced over at Riku, only to find him staring at her hand in a concentrated manner. There was frustration in his expression…

"…You still can't see it?" Ava guessed. Riku dropped his gaze to the ground.

"No," he replied shortly. Well, that wasn't very encouraging. But as long as someone else could see it to prove that Ava wasn't lying or crazy, that was enough for her.

"Well, now that we've cleared up that misunderstanding," Riku began in a calm tone that Ava thought had a bit of a forced note in it, "what more can you tell us about this Catalyst person?"

"Hold on," Ava interjected. She heard Donald's sigh of impatience but barely paid attention—there was something glowing on the platform part of the island…something materializing… "Please tell me you guys see that," Ava requested, pointing.

"Yeah," Riku answered, to Ava's relief. He squinted into the light. "What is that?"

"Gawrsh," said Goofy as the four of them stared, "it looks like someone's comin' out of it!"

"Is that…Kairi?" Donald asked, stretching onto his webbed toes as far as he could go to see better.

"No," said Riku, eyes widening in recognition, "it's—"

"Namine!" Ava exclaimed in surprise first. Riku's head turned sharply towards her, but she was already running, dodging over the holes of disintegration in the island. He took off after her, staring at her retreating form the entire time.

'Who are you, Ava?' Even now, Riku still didn't have the answer. All he knew was that she knew too much for being a stranger, she was somehow responsible for Sora and Kairi's disappearances, and she somehow wielded a Keyblade that only he couldn't see. And things with her around just got weirder and weirder by the minute.

So, who was Ava? Riku didn't know. But he was going to try his hardest to find out.

A/N: Um, yeah, so, things got interesting really fast. XP Poor Ava. Riku doesn't trust her very much right now...let's hope that changes, ha ha.

So, I know I won't get answers to this question right away (and I may put up a poll on my profile), but for anyone who even makes it this far, I want to know: what worlds do you want to see Ava and Riku visit together? Limitations are to worlds in Kingdom Hearts 2, of course, and they'll probably be stopping by important plot point worlds, like Traverse and Twilight Town, but I'd like to give the readers some degree of input. What world would you like them to get up to shenanigans in? Please let me know, and I'll do my best to accommodate you. Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it~

~Reyna