Something is revealed in this chapter! Unfortunately, this chapter is a pinch shorter than the others...but the next one will be juicy!

Summary: An accident sends Neku back into the Reaper's Game, but this time it's more than accomplishing missions or even survival. Neku knows these new creatures aren't noise, and a certain keyblade-wielding teen may hold the answers for him. (Kingdom Hearts Crossover)

Playing For Keeps

By FlikFreak

Chapter Six: The Truth

The next morning, Sora still found himself unable to shake off the feeling of unrest he had. It was a familiar yet foreign feeling…much like he would get when something bad was about to happen, but in this case, he felt that it already had happened. When he had woken up from the previous day, the feeling only worsened, though seeing the people passing by the statue of Hachiko seemed to lessen his worry. He glanced around for Neku, and found the boy standing not far away, his headphones on and his hands held steady over them. Probably scanning, he thought, But why?

As Sora slowly approached the boy, however, Neku opened his eyes again and pulled down his headphones. "Finally awake, Sora?"

"I guess," The keyblade master replied. "What were you doing?"

"Scanning," Neku replied. "I used to only do it when I absolutely had to."

"Why were you doing it just now?" Sora asked.

Neku shrugged. "I dunno. Beat talked about it once… He said it was like tuning into every radio channel at once. It's really like that if you can't focus what you're scanning."

"Beat told you that?" Sora said, tilting his head. "He's your friend, right? Isn't he…you know…alive?"

"Yeah," Neku replied, not seeming offended, "He is. He had to go through the Reaper's game, too. Him, Rhyme and Shiki all had to. Shiki was my partner for the first week, and the third week Beat was my partner. They're all alive. I was too, until a few days ago…"

Sora winced, seeing Neku look away in what was probably shame. "I'm sorry," he said. "It's probably a touchy subject for you…"

"Not particularly," Neku replied. "After I went through the game the first three times, I kind of got used to the idea of being dead." He crossed his arms. "The mission isn't here yet. Anything you wanna do? The Sunshine Stationside is right there."

"Now that I think about it," Sora began, "I need to call someone." He pulled out his communicator and put it on his ear. Clicking it on, he buzzed into Cid's station. There was a good bit of static, but the signal still went through. "Cid? You there?"

"Is that you, Sora?"

Sora blinked a few times. "Hey, Aerith. Where's Cid?"

"He's seeing off Leon and Yuffie," the woman's voice replied. "We've been calling you for the past few days and you haven't picked up, so we sent them to look for you. Are you okay? You don't sound very well."

"I'm still in one piece if that's what you mean," Sora said uneasily, knowing what she meant. He had done his best to mask the sick feeling in his stomach, but when he spoke it showed through clearly. "We've got a heartless situation here in Shibuya. I ran into a Darkside just yesterday."

"That's terrible!" Aerith said. "I'll contact Leon as soon as I can so he can keep a lookout."

"I don't think that'll do them much good," Sora pointed out. "Right now I'm in some sort of parallel dimension that's right alongside Shibuya. My friend here told me it's called the UG, and the heartless are stuck here for now. If all goes well, I may be able to get rid of them here before they get to the RG and overrun this world. There's a lot of people in the RG, so I'm going to try and get rid of the heartless here before they can find a way out."

"I see," Aerith mumbled. "Do you know where the keyhole is yet?"

Sora narrowed his eyes. "Not a clue. I don't know enough about this place yet to find it. I'm pretty sure I'll know where it is when I get there, though."

"You know there isn't much time, Sora. Please hurry."

"I will, Aerith. Don't worry. When you can contact them, can you tell Leon and Yuffie that I'm okay? I'm going to need their help, though."

"I will. Take care, Sora."

Sora nodded and hung up. "I've been gone long enough," he said. "Is today's mission here yet?"

The familiar sound of ringing caught their ears. Neku sighed and shook his head. "You had to ask, didn't you?" He teased, fishing out his phone from his pocket. "It says…wait a sec, this is just a text message."

"False alarm?" Sora asked.

"Yeah," Neku replied, "Spam, too. They're advertising plane tickets to Australia. Hopefully there will be a mission today, and it just hasn't come yet."

"What's so bad about there not being a mission?" Sora asked. "Doesn't that mean you're free to roam?"

"Last time it happened, Pi-Face was the week's game master," Neku grumbled, earning an agreeing grimace from Sora. "He was so busy making Taboo Noise to screw up the game that he didn't issue any missions for a few days, so I got dragged around doing stuff instead. It was a relief, yeah, but when you have to deal with a turd like Joshua it's not exactly easy goings."

Sora's thoughts screeched to a halt when Neku uttered his last sentence. "Wait a sec! Joshua was your partner? Isn't he the kid we met in that café with that Hanekoma guy?"

Neku nodded. "Yeah. As hard as it is for me to trust a piece of snot like him, I do. I sort of owe him for saving me."

Sora saw Neku's point. Even though Joshua was stuck-up, he couldn't deny the fact that there was good in him. After all, he was against the heartless, and he certainly wasn't a Nobody.

"You have some explaining to do, Sora," Neku began. "You've been acting really weird ever since we went to the café on Cat Street. Those two said they had been waiting for you, and even Pi-face knows who you are, but you're not from anywhere around here. As long as there isn't a mission to be worried about, we've got time. Spill it."

He sure is straightforward, Sora observed, sighing and sitting down on the stone wall behind Hachiko. "If I tell you," he began, "You have to promise me that you won't tell anyone else. If you do, it'll only make things worse."

"I promise," Neku replied.

"Good," Sora replied, relieved. "Now, what do you want to know?"

"I haven't been in a place this crowded since Radiant Garden was still clean," Yuffie said as she watched the people pass by. "How are we supposed to find Sora in a tangled mess like this?"

Leon shook his head and rubbed his temples with two fingers. The moment they had set foot outside the gummi ship, Yuffie had gone wide-eyed and wouldn't stop talking about the world they were currently investigating. Once she was done gawking at the fashion and the great food, she had gone right back to the situation at hand almost too enthusiastically.

"Excuse me!" Yuffie cried, stopping one of the passers-by. The girl in question, whom was holding a stuffed animal in her arms, paused and pushed her glasses up her nose again. Content, Yuffie continued. "Have you seen a boy with really spiky brown hair? He wears a mostly black outfit."

Nice description, Leon grumbled.

"There's probably several people in Shibuya like that," the girl replied. "I met someone like that just two days ago. His name was Sora. Does that help any?"

Pay dirt. "Yes," Leon said, cutting in before Yuffie could spazz out again. "Where did you last see him?"

"He met us at the statue of Hachiko nearby," the girl said, hesitating. An odd look crossed her face. "After that he went past there to the station underpass down the road. Do you know him?"

"We're friends of his," Leon replied curtly. "Come on, Yuffie. Let's go."

Yuffie said a quick farewell and followed Leon down the road. They found the statue the girl mentioned rather quickly and began walking down the road beyond when they caught sight of a group of policemen. Leon hurried over to where they stood and paused when he saw what they were inspecting.

It can't be, he thought, his thoughts screeching to a halt, denial rising in his mind. This can't be possible…

Neku finally felt a bit of satisfaction. Sora had decided to finally give up his secrets on a single condition – one that was easy to uphold. "First of all," he began, "Tell me about your keyblade. I know it's not just your psyche for the game."

"It's not," Sora agreed. "I don't really know much about it, but apparently it's got a mind of its own. When my home was first taken over by heartless two years ago, there was a weird flash of light and the keyblade just appeared in my hands. I've had it ever since. A bit down the line I figured out more about the keyblade, like how it's capable of opening and sealing any lock, no matter how big or how small. It's a really powerful weapon, and the heartless fear it more than anything else."

"Mind if I see it?" Neku asked. Where's he put it, anyway? I don't see him holding it right now.

Sora nodded, holding his hand out in front of him. A small shower of sparks appeared, and the large key simply appeared in his hand. "Here it is," he said.

"It doesn't look all that dangerous," Neku said quietly, "But it's a lot more lethal-looking than the stuffed animal Shiki used."

"Shiki fights with a stuffed animal?" Sora asked, surprised.

Neku chuckled. "Yeah. She insists that it's a cat, but it looks more like a pig to me." He shook his head, attempting to get back on the subject. "Anyway, Pi-face said that the keyblade was legendary. Is it?"

Sora shrugged. "I guess so. Everyone I meet calls me the keyblade master, and they refer to the keyblade as if it's the only one in existence. I'm not all that sure abo-wha?!"

Surprised when Sora cut off his sentence, Neku followed his friend's gaze to see two people enter the square. One was a tall man wearing a black vest and a black pair of pants, a strange blade with a revolver barrel near the handle slung over his shoulder. Next to him was a younger woman with short black hair, a tight, black outfit (She actually looks in style, Neku commented), and an oversized shuriken in her hand. For a moment he believed them to be cosplayers, but when he saw Sora approach them, he thought otherwise.

"That girl said Sora went down this way," the girl said, pointing down the street.

"He passed that way a few days ago," The man pointed out. "he could be anywhere."

The girl put her hands on her hips and groaned. "It doesn't mean we shouldn't look! Come on, Squall."

"It's Leon," The man grumbled, but he followed the girl anyway.

Sora ran after them. "Leon! Yuffie! It's me, Sora! Over here!"

Neku followed. "Sora, don't bother! We're in the UG. They can't see or hear us."

"Oh," Sora replied, his shoulders sinking. The pessimism, however, didn't last long. "Well, maybe they'll head into a shop or something! I can meet with them in there!"

Neku was about to agree when he remembered a very important fact: Sora wasn't aware that he was dead yet. He had died in an alley near the station road, and Neku had only gotten there in time to see the boy fall onto the pavement with no life left in him. His eyes widened; if Sora were to see the scene of his death… No. I can't let that happen! "Sora, no!"

But it was too late. The two strangers had paused near a crowd of policemen that were inspecting a scene. Also standing nearby were beat and Rhyme. All of the bystanders that either Sora or Neku recognized had one thing in common: the expressions on their faces.

"This is terrible," Rhyme said. "First Neku, then the other boy…"

"Other boy…?" Sora echoed, walking closer. Neku swallowed nervously and stayed close.

Beat shook his head. "That ain't right, yo. We just met 'im, and now he's…"

"Do you think he went into the game?" Rhyme asked.

"If he did," Beat replied, "I sure hope he's partnered up with Neku. If he is, I'm sure he'll win an' come back."

At this point, Sora had been hooked by curiosity. Neku only followed quietly, knowing that it would be best now if Sora found out the truth. They wove through the crowd and finally arrived at the scene. The policemen had the area blocked off with tape, and had drawn on the ground with chalk to mark the scene. While not many people were present aside from the authorities, the citizens that looked on seemed highly intrigued.

Moments later, Sora gasped in shock, his eyes nearly bulging out of his skull. He had found what the policemen were looking at. There, lying on the ground and being inspected, was a very familiar body. Neku began to back away; Sora wasn't going to take this very well.

"Is that me?" Sora asked, his voice trembling. "How am I seeing myself?"

"That's you in the RG," Neku replied quietly, almost inaudible. He had a feeling he knew what was happening next.

"Everyone back away," one of the policemen ordered. "Witnesses only."

Most of the crowd backed off, but Sora and Neku – whom were invisible due to being in the UG – remained. Another of the policeman looked up from where he had been examining Sora. "Gunshot wound," he muttered. "Doesn't look like a suicide. Hit him sideways in the back of the head, but it was still fatal. Looks like he was trying to get away from whoever killed him right before the bullet hit."

"I'm…" Sora began. His hands were quivering, his jaw trembling. "Is that…"

Neku bit his lip. This same feeling had happened to him when he had found out why he was in the game. The denial, the shock, the complete confusion… For him, it had been slightly different since he had no memory. For Sora, there had to be some form of realization. Feeling slightly sympathetic, Neku walked forward, putting a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Sora…"

Sora barely noticed him and fell to his knees, tears of disbelief flowing from his eyes. "No. It can't be! I can't…I can't be dead!"

Chapter 7 soon! I should update my other fics...

Also, yes. I did get a text message spam once. They weren't advertising tickets to Australia specifically, but they were advertising tickets. Made me chuckle.