Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy. They rightfully belong to Square Enix.
Chapter 18-Darkness Revolve
The next day everyone agreed to meet back up at Merlin's house for their plans to the other worlds and hopes of finding Sora. Just as Cid predicted the two worlds, Land of Dragons and Olympus were encoded in red circles. Which meant that the two worlds are in danger of being overrun by heartless.
Everyone was there for the meeting except for Riku. No one has seen him since last night, except for Kairi. She only remembered confessing to Riku about her meeting with Sora and ending their relationship. After that, everything went blank. All she could remember after that was her laying on the ground gasping for air and silhouette figure running away, which she guessed was Riku.
She asked Namine for help hoping she knew what happened to Riku. Unfortunately, Namine suffered the same fate as her and couldn't remember a single thing. However, Namine did tell her before her mind went blank was that she heard a voice trying to possessed her and Kairi's mind.
Kairi didn't tell anyone about their break up.
"Since there are two worlds being heavily invaded by the Heartless," Cloud spoke among the group. "I decided it's best if we split up into groups. Yuffie and I will go to the Land of Dragons, while Leon, Tifa and Riku will head to the Olympus Coliseum."
"But Riku isn't here," Leon stated as he crossed his arms. "If he doesn't show up by the time we leave, Tifa and I will just go by ourselves."
"Might as well." Cloud stood up from his seat and turned his head to Cid who was over at the computer. "Are the ships ready Cid?"
"In a moment," replied the older male.
"Hey, maybe I can come if Riku doesn't show up," Kairi suggested.
The blond shook his head. "Too risky. The heartless are becoming stronger because of the darkness spreading."
"But-"
"I'm afraid Cloud's right, Kairi. Don't worry, I promise you'll join us on our next trip." Tifa smiled and Kairi nodded.
"Alright! Both the Falcon and the Highwind are ready," Cid announced .
"Right, let's mo-" The former SOLDIER was suddenly cut off when the door to Merlin's house opened. Entering the house was none other than the silver-haired teen himself, Riku. He slowly walked in the house to the nearest corner. He leaned his back against the wall, arms crossed his chest and his aquamarine his staring at the floor.
Kairi felt her heart jumped when she saw his eyes. Yes, they were the same color, but they seemed a little bit darker than before. Riku's eyes looked as if he was in a trance, like he wasn't in this world at all but in another-and not in a very good one.
"Where have you been?" Cloud questioned the teen pressing his brows together.
"..."
"...Silent I see. Anyway, since you weren't here for the meeting, I'll cut right to the chase. You'll be going with Leon and Tifa to Olympus to help defend against the Heartless. Got that?"
"..."
"If you want to give me the silent treatment that's okay with me..." Riku still ignored Cloud and pulled at a dark feather. It was the same dark feather he found yesterday night. Cloud saw him pulling out the feather and his mako eyes widened.
With any normal feather, Cloud wouldn't be bother by it. However, this wasn't any normal feather to Cloud. He recognized that feather not by it's look, but by the aura it possessed within. No one in room the can sense it's powerful aura, only Cloud could.
Could it be? The blond thought. Cloud gritted his teeth and slowly turned back around. He tried to ignore it and not exploit right away. He was sure that feather could only be from one person, but he wanted to be absolutely sure and not jump to any conclusions. If he's right then that means they're all in trouble.
Tifa noticed the anger expression on Cloud's face. She wondered what suddenly bothered her friend. "Cloud, you okay?"
"Huh? Yeah I'm fine. Just thinking."
"If you say so..." Tifa slowly nodded. She knew something was bothering him, but knowing Cloud for so long, she knows he won't tell her right away. Tifa and the others suddenly heard a beeping sound coming from the computer and turned their attentions to it.
"Whats going on Cid? Don't tell me you've crashed the computer again like last time!" Yuffie exclaimed.
"Pipe down you dimwit! And no I didn't crash the computer. It's just that scanner has picked up something."
"Like what? More heartless invasions?"
"No, more like Sora."
"Sora?!" Everyone shouted the name at the same time. "Where is he?" Cloud eagerly asked, looking up the screen.
"Hold on a minute and would you guys please get off my back! I have back problems!" Cid yelled and began typing on the keyboard. He press the enter key and the map showed a blue circle blinking on the screen. "There ya go. He's at the Beast's Castle."
"Sora...let me go," Riku quietly said. Everyone turned around surprised that he said something.
Cloud gazed over towards the teen, his eyes narrowed when he watched Riku slipped the feather back into his pocket looked at him. "Why should you go?"
"Why shouldn't I? I can beat him. I need to fight him," Riku coldly responded. His was aching for a fight against Sora again. However, this time he had another plans. He didn't want to fight him just to bring him back home.
The blond warrior felt the same aura from the feather that was now effected on Riku. Cloud knew something was different about him. He wasn't the same person. Cloud had a feeling if he let Riku go fight Sora alone, something bad will happen. Not just to Sora either, but to Riku as well.
Cloud shook his head denying Riku's offer. "I'll go deal with Sora. Instead of you going with Leon and Tifa, You'll take my place and go with Yuffie."
"Humph. Whatever, but I will get my chance to fight Sora," Riku smirked and left the house.
"He's acting pretty strange. Something isn't right with him," Yuffie said.
They all nodded.
"Ya'll betta get a move on. Time is wasting, tick tock, tick tock."
Cloud, Leon, Tifa and Yuffie left and went straight to the castle, where the ships were be held. On the way there, Tifa walked next to Cloud so she can have a talk with him.
"Cloud, I'm wondering why you didn't let Riku go deal with Sora since they're friends or perhaps come with you. He can help you bring him to his senses, since he knows Sora more than the rest of us."
"He wasn't going to bring him back Teef."
Tifa furrowed brows, confused by her friend's comment. "What do you mean? Why wouldn't he bring him back? They're friends."
"Yeah, they were friends Teef. Riku doesn't see Sora as a friend no more, but as an enemy now. He wants to kill him."
"What?! How you would know that Cloud? Did he say that?!" Tifa was stunned on what she just heard from Cloud. Riku couldn't possibly be wanting to kill Sora. They're best friends. They spent their time looking for each other. Why the sudden change?
Cloud sighed. "Tifa, I didn't tell anyone this but back at Disney Castle, when we were introduce to Kairi and Riku, something happened."
"What happened?" Tifa didn't think nothing actually happened when they met Kairi and Riku with exception of Sora's destruction at Disney Castle.
"Well," Cloud began scratching the back of his neck. "When I shook Riku's head, I saw some visions of Sora, Riku and Sephiroth. Believe me, the images were brutal. The only reason why Sephiroth was included was because...I saw Riku as Sephiroth."
"You can't be serious Cloud?"
"I wish I wasn't Teef, but that's the reason why I've been acting so negative towards because I see him. I apologize for my actions towards him but it can't be dealt with. I try not to but I can't. I may not be a fortunte teller, but I have a feeling that Riku maybe heading back to the darkness."
"Wait? What about Sora though? Isn't already with the darkness?"
"Not in the images I saw. Sora was dying by the hands of Riku. I'm guessing Sora went back to the light."
"So, who the heck do we worry about now, Riku or Sora? And what do we do about Sephiroth?"
Cloud sighed once more and stopped when he reached the castle and then he looked up at the sky. "If Riku makes that choice to go, then we deal with him."
"And Sora?"
Cloud smirked and then looked at Tifa. The raven-haired woman was surprise Cloud was smirking at her. Whenever she sees him smirk or smile, she always knew something good was going through his head. "I have a good feeling about Sora. He's the Keyblade Master after all."
Tifa smiled at Cloud's statement. She also had a good feeling about Sora as well. "Maybe you're right Cloud. Maybe you're right..."
Olympus Coliseum/Hades' Chamber
The Lord of the Underworld, Lord Hades rubbed his chin at the offered his was given. He stared back at the person that stood in his chamber before him and then back at the paper he was given. "Hmmm, your sure you want me to do this Mr. Sephiroth sir? Bringing back these people could cause much greater chaos."
Sephiroth didn't say a word but nodded in response.
"Well, I'm not exactly sure I can bring the people you want back here."
"What do you mean you can't?" Sephiroth asked the Lord of the Underworld. "Aren't you known for bringing people back from the dead?"
"Yes, I'm known for that Mr. Sephiroth, but these people aren't actually dead. You can say they're at another dimension-a dark dimension to be exact," Hades explained.
"Can't you still bring them back?"
"Yes and no. Yes because I can bring them back and no because they can only come back if they want to, since they aren't really dead. If they were then bringing them back wouldn't be a problem."
Sephiroth turned on his heel facing the exit of Hades Chamber. "Just bring them back...and when they do don't let them leave this area. I'll be back for them later."
"Wait a min-" Before he can get his sentence out, Sephiroth vanished from the chamber. Hades sighed and walked over to the hole where people souls go when they die. "Here goes nothing." The Lord of the Underworld unleashed a fiery of flames creating a black portal.
Land of Dragons
Riku and Yuffie hoped off the Falcon gummi ship after shortly arriving and landed in the forest. The Falcon then took off into the sky once they landed on foot.
"Don't worry about the ship, Riku. It will come back for us once we have everything done here," Yuffie said as she smiled at the younger teen. Riku simply ignored her and began walking ahead which caused the ninja to frowned.
He was still acting the same he was before they arrived here.
As Yuffie followed behind Riku through the forest, her ninja instincts kicked in. She began to feel an enormous dark presence coming from above. In the sky, the darkness that was spreading throughout the worlds was now lurking above them. The once blue sky was now covered in complete blackness. Then a mist of red fill the air.
"This isn't good," Yuffie quietly said to herself. "It's like what Cloud said, the darkness is causing the heartless to become invulnerable. We better hurry and see if anyone is danger, Riku."
Heartless aren't just here either, there's also another presence lurking in the shadows. The silver-haired teen thought. It's aura is so familiar...
Riku suddenly sprinted off.
"Riku-wait!" Yuffie yelled after he suddenly ran off. The ninja abruptly halted in her tracks. Heartless appeared, surrounding her as they circle around her. The Heartless indeed were stronger as they were absorbing the darkness.
Yuffie took out her weapon preparing for a long fight against the Heartless alone.
Elsewhere, Riku was following an unknown presence that he believes is familiar too him. He couldn't remember exactly where he felt that presence before, but he knew he felt it before.
Heartless did appeared as Riku began his search, but he took them all out with one swipe.
After taking out another group of Heartless, the young teen found himself standing in front of a village on the cold side of the mountain. The unknown presence he was searching for was getting stronger and as well as the red mist. It was getting thicker which meant he was close by.
Riku snapped his head towards the right and there he saw something red and black hidden in the red mist. It vanished in a split second and Riku quickly headed up towards the mountain where the altitude was getting much colder.
Riku did regret wearing a vest instead of wearing something more comfortable and warm. His shoulders were trembling because of the cold.
As he reached the top of the mountain, Riku stopped and looked around the crimson dark mist.
"So, we meet again, Riku."
That voice. Riku turned on his heel, watching something emerge from the mist.
That look. Black and red figure stood before him.
That Keyblade. Flashbacks ran through Riku's mind. The mysterious figure that ended Xion's life with the same Keyblade he held.
He remembered everything. His blood began to boil and the anger within showed as his eyes matched the same as the crimson mist. A dark aura surrounded Riku and his Way to the Dawn keyblade.
"You," Riku growled, pointing his glowing keyblade at the figure. "What is your fate? Tell me your fate!" Riku sprinted towards the mysterious figure, slashing his weapon at him. The keyblade missed when the figure vanished and then reappearing a couple feet away from Riku.
"Don't give in to the darkness Riku! Or I'll have to end your fate tragically," The dark soldier warned him.
"Tell me your fate!" Riku lashed out again once more and the dark soldier blocked Riku's incoming attack with his own keyblade.
"My fate hasn't been decided yet, but yours have since you've accepted it."
"Rahhhh!" Riku aggressively pushed the figure away from him and went for an opening attack, however his attack was counter and the dark soldier swung his blade towards the young teen's chest. The impact sent Riku air boring to the mountain side. Riku fell as an avalanche of snow crushed below him.
The dark soldier gave one last look at the snow that Riku lied underneath and started walking away.
"His fate is se-" Suddenly, the ground below him began to shake violently. The dark solider turned his attention back to the pile of snow and when he did, a blast of Dark Aura emerged from the snow, coming towards him. He barely dodged the blindsided blast. As he turned back around, he was met with a keyblade slicing his protective mask. His mask slowly began to crack. A black piece of the mask dropped onto the snow.
Riku landed on his knees and slowly turned his head around at the figure, which had it's back turned against him. Riku narrowed his eyes as the mysterious warrior, slowly turned his head around. Riku saw that he cracked his protective mask, but what surprised him was that he can see his left eye. They were the same color as Sora's; golden-yellow but darker than his.
The mysterious figure left eye widened and a blindly force sent Riku to the ground. As Riku tried to get up, the mysterious was up in the air and came crashing down with his keyblade. Luckily, Riku was a split second early to roll out the way. If he was late he was done for.
Riku came stood up and slashed at the figure, but he grabbed Riku's keyblade and with his strength, slammed Riku on the hard snow. Then the dark soldier thrusted his keyblade down onto the young man's chest causing Riku to spit out blood.
Once again the soldier held the keyblade above his head. "This is the end for you Riku. Your fate ends here!" He then slam his keyblade onto Riku again, however something stopped him from making impact with the young man.
Another keyblade engaged with his. His golden orbs widened.
"Get out of here kid!" A feminine voice spoke loudly.
At first Riku thought it was Yuffie but saw the person holding a dark blue keyblade. Who is she? Riku thought quietly to himself. He couldn't make out her appearance because of the dark mist.
"Why must you help him?" The mysterious figure said to unknown female.
"I'm not helping him." Was her reply and then she back away from the mysterious soldier. "I'm helping you. You know this isn't right!"
"...Someone has to do it..." Was his final reply before he vanished. The mist slowly fading away after the soldier left, but the dark cloud above stay.
Riku finally got to make out the woman's appearance. She wore a dark blue armor which matched the color of her keyblade. Long blue hair that went down to her lower back. When she turned around to face him, he saw that one of her eyes matched her hair and the other was cover with a black patch.
"Who are you?" Riku asked the unknown woman.
"...Aqua." Was all she said before she flew up into the dark sky.
Riku sighed and fell onto his knees. He was tired. He didn't know how long he can keep this up. He was getting weak and he wasn't liking it.
What he just witness replayed in his head. First, the encounter with the mysterious warrior again, the fight and then Aqua rescuing him or so he thinks.
"This isn't for me...I need..." Riku shut his eyes, trying not to think about what he was going to say. He didn't want to think that he was weak and the only way to get stronger is by going there.
"I need-"
"Riku!" The young teen lifted up his head and saw Yuffie running up towards him. She was also followed by Mulan and Shang, who saved her from being beaten by the heartless. "Riku, I've found some people that can help us!"
"You need darkness Riku."
The young teen heard that same voice again and turned behind him. A dark portal opened.
"Enter the darkness Riku."
Yuffie, Mulan and Shang halted when the portal appeared. "Riku, what are you doing?"
Riku faced the trio and a sly smirked formed on his lips. "I'm sorry...but this is who I am." He slowly stood walking towards the portal.
"Riku don't go! That's not you anymore!" Yuffie shouted hoping he would come back and not go to the other side.
Smirking, the sliver-haired teen went inside the portal.
"H-he's gone...he's gone to the other side..."
All I can say is read and review.
Peace.