I've come to realize that every time I put a chapter up, I get really nervous. Everything's cool until it's actually posted and then I'm all "Noou! What if it totally sucks?!" Seriously, it happens every time I write a chapter. Then over a week, I slowly get over the trauma and then I post another chapter. It's as if I enjoy giving myself anxiety attacks. ^^' You'd think I'd be used to this by now…

Anyway, totally sorry about taking so long on this, dudes. It's not much of an excuse, but I had to do major paper writing this week. Like, 50 pages of thoughtful in-depth analysis stuff! It was so scary! But, I managed to pull myself together for you guys and pump out another chapter. So uh…it's late, but it's here! Yay! ^^'

Thanks go to all those who reviewed for my last chapter: ramen-is-my-goddess, CloudedMirror, andhearts, Chronos Mephistopheles, Polish, Twilight-Oblivion, Aindel S. Druida, Dust to Dusk, Reno-is-a-Turk, japan_fan101, Chaotic Darkness, FlurryDivider, XfallenXshadowX, Ultima Eagle, 73n5Hl, Sexy-Tacos-Emo-Waffles, Shinimegami7.

Oh, and side note to japan_fan101 (I feel compelled to answer and can't do so directly ^^'): I actually was referring to Soul Eater, and was basing my description off a reliable picture. I will feature Way to the Dawn as well, but my description's gonna be different. Can't say more than that though, 'cause that would be giving away some of the plot. ;)

O

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Chapter 11


The first thing Riku was sure to do was to send the sword away. It was a strange feeling; one minute, the hilt of the sword was resting in his palm and the next, with only a thought, it vanished. He could still almost feel it though, like the ghost of its weight was still in his hand. He wondered if that was how it felt for Sora and Axel all the time.

But he had to get rid of it before he tried to go back to the tree house. There was no saying where Leon was, and Riku didn't want to reveal that he was now armed. Not yet. Right now it was his trump card. Plus…he was still had to think over what the cloaked man had told him, to see if he could recall any loopholes. He would have to weigh his choices.

Riku was glad that he had gotten rid of Soul Eater. He had only been walking back into the marsh for ten minutes when Leon suddenly appeared in front of him. Riku hadn't even heard the lion approach. He had just emerged from behind one of the massive trees, his hand on the hilt of his Gunblade. For a second, Riku tensed, thinking that maybe Leon had seen him talking to the cloaked man. What if he had heard their conversation?

Prepared for a fight to start out, Riku was relieved when Leon only frowned lightly, the spirit's hand relaxing from his weapon as he straightened up from his defensive position. "I thought I told you to not to go close to the edge of the forest."

Sniffing, Riku relaxed his guard as well. So Leon hadn't seen him then. "I can handle myself. Obviously I'm not hurt, am I?"

"Don't be so confident." Leon's voice was surprisingly sharp. "Only a fool would go into dangerous territory without any way to defend himself." When Riku didn't respond, the lion let out a small sigh of exasperation. "Come on. I'll walk you back to Demyx's place."

Riku went with him. There wasn't any reason to decline the offer, he was going back to the tree house anyway. Walking back with Leon was strange though. He didn't feel guilty, after all, it wasn't as if he had already sold the others out, but it seemed odd that Leon didn't know something was wrong. It was almost as if he had expected that Leon, the person who had up to this point seemed to know everything, would know somehow that he had spoken with the enemy. He was a little disappointed when the man seemed to be completely unaware.

The walk was silent as they picked their way through the marshes and underbrush. After a while, the pink glow of sunrise touched the top leaves of the trees, just a bit of the warmth filtering through to where the two of them walked. It was the few minutes of dawn they got every day. Riku hadn't been aware that he had been gone for that long.

By the time they made it back to the tree house, the small bit of light had set into darkness again and a soft glow shone out of the first floor windows. When they went inside, Riku saw Demyx cutting up some vegetables by the sink; getting ready for breakfast no doubt.

At the sound of the door opening, Demyx raised his head from his work, his eyes brightening. "Oh. Hey, guys! What were you doing outside?"

"Went for a walk."

"Patrol."

Riku frowned after he and Leon had answered at the same time. Crossing his arms, he looked away. "I'm going to go upstairs and sleep for a bit more."

"Sleep?" Demyx chuckled lightly, "The sun's already come and gone. It's daytime now, time for breakfast."

"I'm not really hungry." Demyx frowned at the reply but didn't say anything as Riku went upstairs. Axel was waking up when Riku got to their room, the redhead running a hand through his long spiky hair as he squinted up at Riku. "Ugh. Don't tell me you woke up before me."

Riku frowned, sitting down on the edge of his bed as he leaned over to take off his shoes. "I woke up way before you. And now I'm going back to bed."

Axel clicked his tongue then sat up, blearily reaching for his shirt which he had thrown on the floor the night before. "How antisocial can you get? What are you trying to be, a vampire or something?"

Riku froze, his fingers at his shoelaces. A vampire? That was what he had called his brothers. Staying up all night, sleeping all day. He was starting to copy his brothers, just like he had wanted. So why wasn't he enjoying himself more?

Pursing his lips, Riku brushed the thought aside and kicked off his shoes. He would think about all of this later in the afternoon. Right now he was too tired to think right. Staying up all night talking to strange cloaked men and walking through marshes was too exhausting.

As it turned out, the rest of the house only allowed him to sleep in for a few hours. First of all, it was a small house. People were moving around upstairs in the other bedrooms, and downstairs in the main room. Unlike his mansion back home, it was full of life and noise. People kept thundering past the room to go up or downstairs, and every so often, Demyx or Axel would come into the room and rustle noisily around. What did they not understand about him wanting to sleep? A few hours after he had tried to go back to bed, Demyx came into the room again, whistling a tune. Growling from his bed, Riku finally gave up trying to sleep and sat up with a scowl. "Demyx! Do you mind?!"

"Oh, Riku! I thought you were asleep."

"Who the hell could sleep when everyone is making so much damn noise!" Throwing his blankets off, Riku rolled up into a sitting position and ran his fingers through his hair, his mood darkening as he carded through some tangles. "You guys are horrible. I couldn't even sleep for ten minutes without waking up from some sound."

Demyx winced then chuckled nervously. "Yeah. But that's what you get for trying to sleep in late when you live with seven other people I guess!" Walking closer over to Riku, Demyx leaned down. "Lunch is almost ready, if you're interested. Aerith and I worked really hard on it. Sora also helped out. He's a surprisingly good cook for a prince!"

Riku rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand then stood up. "I guess I'm not going to get any more sleep anyway..."

"Probably not. Let's go before all the food's gone!"

Frowning, Riku nonetheless followed Demyx down stairs. The rest of the group was already crowded downstairs around the kitchen area. Still feeling slightly groggy, Riku grabbed a plate and got in line, jolting a little in surprise when Sora came up close beside him. "Riku, you're awake."

"Yeah…"

Sora grinned at the response. "Well, maybe not completely awake, right? Here, give me your plate and find somewhere to sit. I'll get our food."

Riku blinked down at him then smiled a little and nodded. "Sure." After giving his plate to Sora, he walked over to the couch in the sitting room. It only took a few moments for Sora to walk over with two plates full of fish and vegetables. Those were the main staples of their diet, but it kept Riku dryly amused to see how they tried to make it a little more exciting as the days went by. Taking the plate from Sora, he murmured his thanks as the prince sat down next to him.

"Are you okay, Riku?"

"Hm?" Riku turned to see Sora looking at him with curious blue eyes.

"Leon just mentioned that you had stepped out for a while last night. I was just wondering if there was anything wrong?"

Riku smirked at the other's concerned expression. It was a cute face. Balancing his plate in one hand, he reached over to ruffle Sora's hair. "Nothing's wrong. Don't worry. Sometimes it's just nice to have some quiet alone time, you know?"

"Not really, it seems like I'm always around people!"

Riku glanced over to see Sora smiling. That's right, Sora was a prince who had lived in the palace all his life. If Riku was always swamped with people, then Sora must have never known a moment of peace. But Sora was the kind of person who liked to be around people. He probably didn't mind the unending attention at all. Leaning back into the couch, Riku let out a small sigh. People like Sora kind irritated him because of that; it was as if they didn't even realize that everyone just wanted to talk to them because they were thinking of the social benefits.

Sora looked as if he was going to say something more but before he could speak, a hand fell on Riku's shoulder. Riku looked up to see Cloud, the blond man's face as emotionless as usual. "Training after lunch."

"What? Says who?"

"Me. Heartless are beginning to breach the marsh's boundaries. If you're going out there, I'm going to make sure you're not going to get instantly killed."

Riku's eyes narrowed, his fingers tightening around the plate in his hand. "I think I've trained long enough to not get killed by one little Heartless."

"You have improved, but not enough."

Sitting beside him, Sora made a little noise of discontent at his brother's words. "Cloud, that's not nice…Riku's been working really hard and he's done a lot for us."

Bristling, Riku couldn't help but spit out. "Maybe if you gave me an actual weapon to train with, I would get better faster than from just playing with sticks." He wanted to hear Cloud's excuse. Now that he actually had a sword of his own, he had the upper hand; he just wanted to hear what Cloud would say.

"Leon and I will decide when you're ready for a weapon."

Riku knew he'd say something like that. With a scowl, he set his plate down on the side table then stood up. "Fine. Let's go train then."

"Ah, but, your lunch-!"

Riku glanced down at Sora then looked over at Cloud. It always amazed him that this blond sprit, who was a good half inch shorter than him, was so much stronger than him. Then he would look at Cloud's eyes and see that eerie blue glow, the façade of calm which held the animal inside, and he wasn't so surprised anymore. Holding the wolf's striking gaze, Riku spoke. "It's alright. I wouldn't want to eat right before one of Cloud's training sessions anyway. I'd probably just end up throwing it back up halfway through."

Cloud snorted then turned. "You're probably right. Let's go."

Riku had been right not to eat. When Cloud had said that they were going out training, Riku hadn't known that he was going to go up against both Cloud and Leon. What was worse was that they both had radically different training styles. Cloud would just say a few words, "Block", "Strike," and would force Riku to repeat defending or attacking until he was actually successful. Leon on the other hand would explain what he wanted first, then have Riku try to strike or block. Then he would criticize what Riku did wrong afterwards. Both were tough trainers, and Riku didn't know which one he disliked more.

They both frustrated him to no end.

Two hours into the training, Leon landed a blow on the back of Riku's legs. They buckled immediately and he dropped to the ground, his own practice sword clattering a few feet away. Chest heaving, Riku wiped the sweat from his forehead. Damn it. It was as if he was never getting any stronger. It was pissing him off. Riku's silver eyebrows furrowed as he heard Leon walked up to him, a second later seeing the man's boots out of the corner of his eyes.

"You can't be tired already."

That tone of voice pissed him off.

They think you're weak. We can show them how strong you really are. Let me show them. They'll never mock you like this again.

"Pick up your sword, you still don't guard your right side well enough."

They're trying to push you over the edge. They want to see you fail. You will never be good enough for them. No matter how much you train, they will never have a good word to say to you.

Riku shook his head, lowering his forehead to the ground. Taking a moment to push Xehanort back into his thoughts, he sucked in his breath then launched himself forward for the practice sword. If Leon and Cloud wanted a fight, then he would give them one. As soon as his fingers wrapped around the piece of wood, he rolled to his feet and into a defensive position.

Leon smirked at the pose, crouching down as well. "Good. Come at me."

Riku did. He ran forward, clashing their practice swords together. Leon blocked then twisted to the side, gracefully side-stepping the teen. Riku just managed to turn to block the lion's attack. Suddenly, Leon fell back. Riku wasn't fooled. If Leon fell back, that meant that coming up behind him-

Twisting around, Riku raised his sword just in time to block Cloud's strike as the wolf attacked. Unfortunately the strength of Cloud's blow caused Riku's sword to fly out of his hand, once again falling to the ground out of his reach.

And Cloud was pulling his arm back for another strike. But Riku knew it would come too fast for him to dodge well enough. He needed a way to defend himself. As Cloud swung, Riku raised his hand, mind momentarily going blank in a panic.

In that moment, Riku froze as he heard Leon suddenly let out a shout of surprise, his eyes widening when he realized that there was now a solid weight in his hands again. A dark red and blue shape crossed his vision between him and Cloud.

It was Soul Eater.

And it had cut through Cloud's wooden practice sword.

Grimacing, Riku lowered his sword quickly but before he could take a step either way, Leon had grabbed his sword arm, the lion's voice harsh. "Who gave you that sword?"

Riku's eyes darted to Cloud's face to see that the wolf was equally somber. With a scowl, Riku tried to wrench his hand away only to find Leon's grip as strong as iron. He could even feel the lion's claws digging slightly into his skin. "Why should you care?"

"Who have you talked to? What have you told them?"

Riku's temper flared and he grit his teeth as Leon pulled him closer, the spirit's voice lowering to a growl. "Do you understand what you could have done, Jenovan? If you've told anyone anything, we could all die. How could you do this?"

Letting out a sharp laugh, Riku tried to pull away again. "How could I? I never wanted to be here in the first place! Axel kidnapped me from my house! All I wanted is to go home and I went along with you because you promised to help. You've put me through hell but you can't really hold up your end of the deal, can you?" Riku couldn't help himself. All of his frustration over the entire situation was coming out now, it was like a broken dam; impossible to stop. "So yeah, excuse me for trying to find a way to defend myself, and to find someone who actually can help me!"

Leon shook his head. "You don't know what you're getting yourself into. Making deals with them never turns out well."

"So far, all I've seen is that your deals are the bad ones here."

"They won't help you either, Riku. They'll just kill you along with the rest of us."

Riku could feel rage taking over his mind, the entire situation was too much. He couldn't think.

They're irritating me as well. Animal scum talking down to a dark elemental. How dare they?

"Give me the sword, Jenovan, and tell us what you told the Superior to get it."

Give them the sword? Riku laughed again, "I'm not giving you this sword. Do you really think I would hand it over to scum like you? You think you can just demand it? With this sword, I am far stronger than you animals. If you ask for it again, blood will be spilt, I promise you that!"

That wasn't his voice. Those weren't his words. Riku could feel his whole body shaking. He was glowing black again, and he was so cold. But he couldn't stop the words coming past his lips.

"I should kill you anyway just for your insolence!"

He ripped his hand from Leon's grasp with a new burst of strength but his hand barely drew back before Leon tackled him to the ground. The lion was just tall and heavy enough to physically keep him down and he shouted over to Cloud. "Go get Sora! Hurry!"

Riku thrashed in Leon's grasp, but the spirit kept him pinned. Riku had no control over his body anymore; it was as if he had been pushed to the back of his mind. Xehanort was now completely in control and all Riku could do was watch. It was mortifying. He felt his limbs lashing out, knees and hands struggling to get free but Leon held his ground. Every few seconds, Leon would tell him to calm down, calling him by name, but Riku knew both of them knew that it wasn't working.

It felt like hours passed before Riku heard footsteps approaching them again. His head snapped back as Leon glanced up. The scene was upside-down but Riku still saw Sora running up beside Cloud.

Sora looked scared.

The young prince then pulled himself together and rushed forward. He dropped to his knees and placed his hands on Riku's temples as he smiled weakly. The smile didn't reach his still-frightened eyes. "Riku, you're strong, right? Take control back, you can do it."

A shock of pain shot through Riku as Sora's hands began to glow. His eyes clenched shut as his body twisted under Leon's grip, trying to get away from the glowing hands. But he felt his own consciousness rush to the front of his mind again as Xehanort was pushed back down.

Within a few moments, he was able to inhale a shaky breath of his own, his eyes fluttering open again as he felt his heart pounding in his chest again. He had never felt so relieved to be able to move his body.

When his eyes opened, his and Sora's eyes met one another's and Sora let out a quiet sigh of relief. A moment later, the prince's blue eyes lifted up to Leon. "I…I think its okay, to let him go, Leon. He's alright now."

Leon frowned but obeyed his prince and reluctantly released his grip on Riku. Riku remained on his back for a moment, just taking stock of his situation as Cloud moved over to Leon, apparently to make sure that the Leon was alright.

"Can you sit up, Riku?"

Riku glanced up at Sora then nodded and slowly pushed himself up onto his elbows. His body felt as if it was being weighed down by lead bricks, almost as if he had just run a few miles.

Frowning at the obvious effort it took for Riku to simply sit up, Sora inched forward. "Take it easy if you need to. Here, let me help." Almost tentatively, Sora lay his hand on Riku's arm. Almost instantly, some of the fatigue and weight from Riku's body lifted away. He looked over to Sora and his worried gaze and let out a small sigh.

"Thanks…"

The walk home was a quiet one. Even Sora knew to be quiet as he supported one of Riku's arms over his shoulders. Leon and Cloud were deadly quiet, and Riku couldn't bring himself to look at them. He couldn't believe that he had let himself lose control like that. Anger was no excuse for the fact that he had let Xehanort take over. His pride couldn't handle the thought.

Just as the tree house came into sight, Leon, who was leading the way, stopped in his tracks. Turning around, the lion gazed evenly at Riku, like a judge who had just arrived at a verdict. "Jenovan. You're moving into His Majesties room. Until you can control that monster inside you, we can't risk having you outside the influence of a light elemental. You will always be near one of the two young princes, and you will train with either Cloud or I every day until your sword skills improve. As it is I will not tolerate having you loose among the rest of us. And you will tell us what you told the Superior's men."

Riku pursed his lips as Sora tightened his grip on him. Turning his head away, Riku spat out. "I didn't tell that guy anything."

"Jenovan…"

"If you can't trust me then that's your problem. They already know we're in the marsh, but I didn't give them any details. They just gave me the sword as a token of goodwill."

"If you're not telling us the truth…"

"Leon." Riku was surprised to hear Sora speak up, and that Sora sounded so indignant. "If Riku says that he's telling the truth, then we should believe him. In any case, you can wait to question my Guardian later. He's exhausted from the possession and needs rest."

Leon blinked in surprise then frowned. But he backed down. When they got back to the tree house, Roxas approached them. A look from Sora though silenced any questions he might have had.

The trip up the stairs was a little difficult, but soon enough, Riku was able to fall onto his bed. Crouching down by the edge of the bed, Sora bit his lip then gently reached out to touch Riku's hair. Just ghosting his fingers over it, nothing more. "You…you scared me, Riku."

Riku cracked an eye open to look questioningly up at Sora.

Sora smiled weakly, the expression trembling somewhat. "Your eyes…when Leon had you on the ground, your eyes were, they were gold. It was really scary. I thought that I'd lost you for a second."

Riku let out a small sigh. "Idiot. It's not like I could be messed up for long with you around."

A hint of a blush tinted Sora's cheeks and he scratched the back of his head. "Maybe not…" His voice trailed off for a moment. When he spoke up again, it was quiet. "Did…did you really get a sword from Xemnas though?"

"Yes."

"O-Oh." Sora bit his lip, his hands falling to his lap. "Why?"

Rolling onto his side so that he was completely facing Sora, Riku frowned lightly. Sora was looking really downcast. The prince's shoulders were slumped, his eyes locked on his laced fingers. Maybe it would be best just to tell him the truth. Most of the truth anyway. "I took the sword because they offered it to me as a way to defend myself. I want to fight, not just use some stupid Dark Shield, and Cloud and Leon never let me have a weapon. And there were no strings attached to this. It was a free gift."

"Can I see it?"

Riku frowned but lifted his hand. It took a second to call it from his mind to his hand, but as soon as he wrapped his hand around the hilt, it radiated with that comforting power. It was dark magic, but it wasn't cold like Xehanort Heartless'. It was nice.

Sora's eyes brightened at the sight of the weapon and he leaned forward to inspect it better. "Wow! I'm surprised. It actually looks like a really high-quality weapon." He held his hand out over it. "The magic is good too. It's untainted dark magic."

"I thought a light element would think that all dark magic was tainted and evil."

Sora looked up at him in bemusement. "Why would I think that? Dark magic isn't automatically bad. It's just the opposite of light. Like night is to day. One's not better than the other, they just balance each other out." He smiled a little. "Besides, you're a dark elemental, and you're not evil, so that pretty much disproves your point, doesn't it?"

Riku stared up at Sora then smirked and ruffled the other's hair. Sora let out a squeak of surprise, batting the hand away. "What was that for?"

"For being adorably stupid." It was true too. The prince seemed to have no censor between his mind and his mouth, but Riku could see that that could be endearing on some level. Covering a yawn with his hand, he settled back down into his bed, rolling onto his stomach. "But as much as I'd love to continue this conversation, I'm tired." When Sora failed to leave the room, Riku cracked an eye open to glare at him. The young prince had only moved over to sit on Axel's bed. "That's generally a person's cue to leave."

Sora shook his head with a soft smile. "I can't leave. Leon's orders, remember?"

Riku frowned then shook his head. "Fine. Do what you want." If Sora wanted to sit in a dark room and watch him sleep, then Riku wasn't going to stop him.

A few moments of silence passed. Riku was actually feeling himself beginning to fall asleep when he heard Sora's voice carry quietly from across the room. "Riku…?"

Riku buried his face into his pillow. "What?"

"I'm sorry. That we couldn't provide you with a weapon. And I'm sorry that Xemnas can give you nicer things than we can."

The statement irritated Riku for some reason and he tilted his head to the side so that he could speak better. "Look. I didn't tell them anything about where we're hiding out."

"I, I never said you did-!"

Riku cut him off. "So that must mean that I don't absolutely hate it here, right?"

From across the room, Sora blinked. Then he smiled, "I guess so. I'm relieved to hear that."

Letting out a little breath of air, Riku buried his face back into his pillow. If he really had to stick by Sora's side, the next few days were going to be long. The prince still made him feel uneasy. And worse now was the fact that he was going to have to somewhat depend on the other boy. He obviously couldn't control Xehanort's Heartless on his own, so depending on Sora like that made it all the more awkward for Riku. He didn't want to be connected so closely to any one person. He had never needed anyone like that before, and he wasn't so sure that he liked that feeling.

The next few days passed, as Riku had anticipated, rather slowly. Instead of being on his own, Riku was now spending his time around the front of the tree house with Sora and Roxas, and therefore also with Axel, Aerith, Demyx, and everyone else. It was as if he had been forced to become social. That didn't mean that he automatically became friendlier to everyone; on the contrary, he tried not to talk to anyone if he could help it. But sometimes Axel would challenge him to a sparring contest; now that he had revealed that he had a sword, the others were fighting him with their real weapons. Axel was hard to fight. Cloud and Leon had been hard enough when they had just been swinging sticks around. Now that they had their actual weapons in hand, they were unstoppable. Cloud's sword especially was a thing to be feared; Riku had learned the hard way that the thing actually had the ability to split into six or so smaller swords. That hadn't been pretty.

And then there was all the time he had to spend with Sora now.

Sora. Riku hadn't anticipated that he would learn to tolerate the other boy so quickly. It was just impossible to not like him. He was just too…good a person. It was odd, that Riku would find that appealing, but then again, he had never really gotten to know anyone who was just…nice. Normally people wanted something from him, but Sora just wanted to talk and learn more about him. It was almost amusing how many questions Sora would ask about the human world. Sora seemed almost enchanted with the idea of going to see it someday.

Another good point to being near Sora was that he hadn't heard from Xehanort's Heartless since he had tried to attack Cloud and Leon. It was nice to be able to think for himself, with no one else putting in their opinion.

Nevertheless, it was nice as it all seemed, they were quickly finding themselves in increasing danger. The Heartless were encroaching ever further into the marsh. Trying to keep them outside his boundaries was visually beginning to wear on Demyx; he looked tired all the time now though he clearly tried to hide it. Even he had admitted that there were too many Heartless within his territory for him to keep track of now though. Leon and Cloud were now gone for hours on end, and when they returned, it was becoming more common for them to have ripped clothes and bloody scratches from where Heartless had gotten to them. Aerith would always immediately heal them, but things were definitely becoming worse. They all knew that it would only be a matter of time before the Heartless breached into the inner area of the marsh.

One afternoon, or at least, Riku assumed it was the afternoon, it was still so hard to tell when it was nearly always dark out, Riku found himself sitting with Sora at the marsh's edge in front of the tree house. The prince was dangling his legs into the water, aimlessly watching the fish swim around his feet as Riku sat stoically beside him. Although there was a threat of Heartless on the horizon, that didn't mean that the present was any more exciting.

Cloud and Leon were off on patrol again. Riku half-suspected it was just a way for them to get away from everyone else. Demyx and Aerith were washing clothes on the other side of the house in another nearby pool. Somehow Axel had been guilted into helping as well, so Roxas had gone to enjoy the sight of his fiery Guardian waist deep in cold water. For the first half-hour, Riku could hear the complaining from all the way around the house.

Hearing Sora sigh a little next to him, Riku tilted his head to the side, a smirk playing on his lips as he leaned down. "Bored?"

Sora jumped a bit as if startled from his thoughts then turned. "Ha, yeah! It's that obvious?"

"You've been quiet for a full minute already. It's pretty obvious you're bored if it's come to that."

Sora frowned playfully. "You don't know, maybe I'm just enjoying the atmosphere."

"What atmosphere?"

"You know. The trees, the fish, Mom's flowers…more trees…okay, so maybe it's not the atmosphere. But I'm not having a bad time. It's kind of nice just to be able to relax for a while!" With a silly smile, Sora stretched his arms up as a shout echoed out from the other side of the house followed by cursing and laughter. Undoubtedly Axel just got a little more wet somehow. "Everyone can have fun. It's like living the life of a regular person. It's kind of fun just to be bored."

Snorting, Riku turned his gaze back to the water. It was amazing how clear the water was, even though it was called a swamp or marsh. It was really very pretty, even if it was somewhat muted by the darkness.

Just as he was leaning back to get more comfortable though, his eyes caught a shift in the shadows on the other side of the pool they were lounging by, some light change having flitted across the surface of the water. He instinctually stiffened, his eyes sharpening on the black that had shifted. Feeling him tense beside him, Sora lightly kicked his feet, his voice betraying his worry as he asked quietly. "What is it, Riku?"

"I don't know." There was no movement on the far bank. Truthfully, Riku hadn't been too sure if he had seen anything in the first place. Maybe it had just been a fish. It might have been nothing. "My imagination, maybe."

"Then why haven't you relaxed yet?"

"I don't know."

"…Should we call Demyx over?"

Riku frowned, his eyes scanning the banks, "I don't think there's anything to worry about-"

Suddenly, Riku felt a spike of cold directly in front of them, the chill of a Heartless. His eyes flashed down to see two glowing orbs underneath the water's surface just as Sora let out a cry of surprise as he was dragged down into the swamp water.

An indescribable panic ripped through Riku at the sight. He shouted in alarm and without a second thought dove into the water after the prince.

Under the water, he could see Sora struggling with what looked to be a Heartless dressed up in a green diver's outfit of some sort. Riku's main concern was the thing's tight grip on Sora's ankle and the trident held in its right hand. Sora had managed to call his Keyblade to his hand but right now the trident and sword were locked together in a stalemate of equal strikes and blocks. It looked like the thing's trident had managed to cut Sora's sleeve though, a bit of red blood seeping out into the water. And Sora was being dragged further into the center of the deep pool.

Swimming forward, Riku called Soul Eater to his hand. He couldn't open his mouth to say a spell; his lungs were already burning from lack of fresh air, so instead he swung at the thing with all he had. Under the water, the power of his strike was severely diminished, but it still made contact with the Heartless' shoulder, giving him a cut of his own to match Sora's.

A few bubbled of surprise escaped from the Heartless and suddenly it released Sora and scurried off into the dark waters. Taking immediate advantage of the situation, and desperately needing to breathe, Riku grabbed Sora's arm and started to kick back up to the surface of the water. Sora had fallen limp, obviously having run out of air.

They had to get to the surface.

Suddenly, the water itself rushed up around them, propelling them upwards and pushing them up to the surface in less than a second. Coughing out water as soon as he had felt the air on his face, Riku grabbed onto Sora as he spotted Demyx and the others on the bank. The water god had his hands raised to control the watery rescue, but his blue eyes were dark with an unmistakable anger. Shaking his wet hair from his face, Riku called out, "It's still in the water!"

Demyx nodded. He set them down on the bank in a gentle wave of water then dove into the marsh himself, disappearing almost immediately. Riku's focus was on Sora though as the others rushed to their side. Ignoring their comments and shouts of concern, he wrapped his arms around the prince from behind then laced his hands together and thrust up against the other's chest. On the second try, Sora spit up the water he had swallowed, the reflex quickly turning into coughs as he shuddered in Riku's arms.

Frowning, Riku pushed Sora down onto the ground, stomach down, and tilted his face to the side. "Stay like that until you've caught your breath, okay? That way your airway will stay clear and we can get any extra water out."

After receiving a weak nod from Sora, Riku sat back on his legs and let out a sigh. Now he just had to get his own heart-rate down again, that had been one hell of an adrenaline rush. His aquamarine eyes flashed up to Aerith and Roxas and their horrified expressions. "He's fine. Just don't move him for a few minutes. We should probably change out of these clothes too, so if we have any dry blankets or something, those would be good to get." Aerith nodded and immediately went to the house as Roxas crouched down next to his brother. Feeling Axel's gaze boring into him from over his shoulder, Riku turned around and raised an eyebrow. "Can I help you with something?"

"When did you learn to do that?"

"What, when did I learn to save a drowning victim?" Riku scoffed at Axel's nod. "You're an idiot. I live on an island. The Jenovan estate is on the beach. My father has had me enrolled in swim lessons as long as I can remember, so of course I would know how to rescue someone who's drowning."

Axel snorted and crossed his arms. "Who knew you could actually do something so useful?"

Riku rolled his eyes, his gaze turning back to the water as he wrapped his arms around his body. That had been truly frightening. Not just the fact that Sora had almost drowned, but that he had reacted so dramatically to the event. Once again, he had had no control over his actions. But this time, it was worse, because he couldn't blame it on Xehanort's Heartless. No, this had been all him. Him and those damned Guardian instincts. Riku's eyes narrowed as a sick realization washed over him. He wasn't going to be able to take Xemnas's deal. He wasn't strong enough to. Letting out a disgusted sigh, Riku tightened his grip around himself. Now that he was beginning to calm down, he was getting very cold with all of his clothes plastered soaking wet to his body.

Just as he had finally felt himself relax, a bubble of water formed on the surface of the water. Eyes widening, Riku got ready to run back, "Hey, Axel…"

Axel turned, his own acidic eyes widening at the sight. He had just called his chakrams out when the bubble lifted out of the water, revealing that swimming Heartless trapped inside. Not a second later, Demyx bobbed up to the surface, easily treading the water as he looked seriously at Riku. "Is this what attacked Sora?"

Riku nodded. Demyx frowned and flicked his hand. The bubble of water suddenly pulled out to form three dagger-like arms, all three coming down on the Heartless at once. It disappeared into a cloud of ash as soon as they pierced through it and Demyx pulled himself out of the water, his expression still dark. "I managed to catch up to it before it could reach anyone else. But we have a problem if they've begun to use Heartless with water elemental characteristics. I can't sense them in the water, there's no telling how many of those things managed to sneak into my marsh-"

"Is everything okay here?"

Demyx, Axel, and Riku turned to see Leon and Cloud stumbling into the clearing, clearly worse for wear and looking worried.

Hand pressed over a dark stain of blood on his side, Leon growled hurriedly. "What happened? We smelt Sora's blood from where we were fighting."

"A water Heartless managed to sneak this far in." Axel shook his head as Leon's eyes widened. "Dem managed to kill it before it could tell anyone what it had found."

Leon let out a breath then closed his eyes. "That is good news. And at least the Heartless we have been fighting have seemed to gather around the south side of these marshes. Cloud and I have been doing the best we can to lure them into thinking that we regroup over there, but it's time that we think of a plan. We need to face Xemnas head on."


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