Chapter 22

Everything was dark. That shouldn't have surprised him, but for some reason it did. He seemed to be lying on something hard, but it was difficult to tell; the darkness was so thick it was impossible to discern anything at all. Slowly, Riku brought himself to his feet and looked around, but there was nothing to see.

"Hello?" he called, knowing in the back of his mind that that was the worst thing he could ever do. If there were Heartless around, he would be attacked almost instantly. However, nothing answered.

"Guess I should start walking," he muttered to himself, before setting off in the direction he was facing. He wondered where he was. The scenery was uncannily similar to the place Naminé and he had walked in their first week together, but there was no road to mark the way. How did he get here? All he could remember was drinking that liquid in the lab, but after that, it was like he had fallen unconscious. What had happened? Was everyone okay? Was Naminé okay?

A bright figure emerged from the darkness in the distance. Looking down at his hands, he saw that his body was also emanating a light, though it was faint in comparison with the one before him. This person had a much more powerful light force within them, though, almost like they were composed of the substance itself. Riku covered his eyes to shield them from the harsh glare. Squinting, he peered through the light to make out who it was. Why was light still with him at all? It should have been gone by now. Had the experiment failed?

"Hey, Riku," an all too familiar voice said. "We've been looking everywhere for you. What are you doing here?"

"Kairi?" he replied. She nodded, and laced her hands together behind her back.

"Who else?" she replied with a smile.

"What's going on?" he asked. "Why are you here?"

"Riku, you're scaring me," she said, her eyebrows knitting together in confusion. "I thought when you came home we would all go back to a normal life, but why are you saying these things? Why did you come out to a place like this? Are you still that hungry for darkness?"

"I-" he said, his voice catching in his throat. "I haven't been home in two years, Kairi."

"Riku, what's happened? Why are you-" She stopped. "What's the last thing you remember?"

"The Berra tree," he replied. "The extract..."

"Oh," she said with a nod. "Sora told me about that."

"Sora? Sora's awake?"

"Riku, let's sit down," she said with a sigh. "I guess I need to fill you in on a lot of things."

"Any change?"

Naminé looked up to see Diz at the door to Riku's room. She was sitting beside his bed, her hand holding his tightly. She turned back to where he was lying and shook her head before answering.

"No. He's still the same."

"Right," he replied, and left just as quickly as he had entered.

"The Berra didn't work," Kairi explained, once they had sat down on the floor. "I don't know the specifics, but there was a problem I think because your light and darkness were so heavily entwined. Because they couldn't separate, it couldn't be expelled. So, you and Mickey went after Roxas together, and you got him. It only took a week to bring Sora around. He was a bit groggy, but otherwise he was okay. You all came back to the island after that..." She laughed, suddenly.

"What's so funny?" he asked.

"I don't know," she replied, though the touch of humour hadn't left her voice. "I've said all this to you before, and you've the exact same expression as when I first told you."

"I," he laughed, scratching the back of his head. "Sorry, Kairi, I've just no memory of it at all. When was this?"

"Oh gee," she said pensively, tapping her temple with her index finger in a vain attempt to speed up her thought process. "I'd say it's been about four months now."

"Oh, wow," he said in shock. "That's a pretty huge memory gap."

"Yeah," she agreed with a nod. "But, you look good, you know. You haven't been well the last few weeks, and this is the first time I've seen you with some colour in your face. After what happened with Naminé, I was afraid you wouldn't come round at all..." Kairi winced upon realising what she had said.

"Naminé?" he said. "Naminé, where is she?" Kairi's eyes flicked downwards and she crossed her arms.

"You really don't remember, do you?" she replied quietly. Riku walked towards his friend and gently squeezed her arms. Kairi looked up at him again, but this time, her eyes were stricken with tears. Fear unlike any he had ever imagined closed over his heart. He didn't want to know, but this was one question he knew he needed to ask.

"Kairi, what happened?" She turned her head away and looked to the side, unable to meet his gaze.

"You killed her," she whispered.

"Diz!" Naminé shouted. "Diz, something's happening!" Diz ran into the room, where Riku had begun to convulse violently.

"Damn it," he said angrily. "Mickey!" he bellowed. "Get in here! Naminé, hold his legs down and try to keep him steady. His body is starting to reject the light, but his mind can't cope with the pressure."

Mickey came in, and with a nod towards Diz, held Riku firmly.

"What?" Naminé shouted. "What's going to happen to Riku?"

Diz didn't reply, he was too busy rummaging through his bag. Finally plucking out a crystal and a syringe, he walked back to the bed.

"Mickey," he said, letting the crystal plop unceremoniously into a metal container. "Fire. Now." The mouse did as he was told, holding Riku still with one hand and using the other to apply a great amount of heat to the crystal. Diz took the syringe and immediately drew the liquid into it before injecting the substance into Riku's arm.

"Diz!" Naminé repeated sharply. "What's going to happen if his mind cracks?"

"He'll die," he snapped.

Riku let Kairi's arms fall from his grip. Many thoughts entered his head, but they were so jumbled and chaotic he couldn't put a word to any one of them. It was hard to breathe. Naminé; his friend, his companion, his love...she was gone. The very idea of it seemed to big for him to even comprehend.

"It was an accident," Kairi said immediately, as if somehow that would make it easier than it already was. You see, Riku, I'm Naminé's real self.

"This is a joke," he said with a short, wild laugh. "This, all of this, it's not real. You're not the real Kairi. What have you done with Naminé?"

"Riku, I'm sorry!" she exclaimed. "I saw the way you talked about her, and I was so, so happy that you had found someone who made you feel good about yourself. Trust me, I didn't want her to return to me, I swear I didn't!"

"No, no, no..." he replied, walking rapidly away from her. The light that illuminated him was beginning to flicker sharply, like a candle struggling to survive in a soft, cold breeze. "This is my mind; it's the Berra just enacting my worst fear."

"We thought you were getting better, Riku," she said quietly. "After it happened, you wouldn't go out for weeks. You just shut yourself away. Sora, Tidus, Selphie, Wakka...all of us on the island tried to get you to come out with us, but you wouldn't have it. Then, a few days ago, you went back to school. You spent the whole day joking and laughing, we thought you were trying to put it behind you."

Kairi folded her arms and bowed her head. For some reason, it looked like she had the weight of all the worlds on her shoulders. "Then, yesterday, you just disappeared out here? Everyone is looking for you! Do you even know how hard we've been trying, Riku? We're all so tired, and there's no way in hell we can make the pain go away or lift the guilt, but we're doing the best we can!"

Riku didn't know what to say. It was Kairi, plain and simple. Her voice, gestures, her compassion, even her scent was exactly the same. No, it wasn't Kairi that was the lie....

Naminé...he couldn't understand it. He had just woken up. She had been here, talking and laughing with him only yesterday. There was no way she could have just...disappeared.

But that was the kicker, wasn't it? His yesterday was over four months ago now. With that thought Riku sank to his knees.

"How?" he said finally, and even that word took considerable effort to utter. His voice sounded dry, strange.

"Maybe," Kairi replied, hesitant to answer his question. "Maybe, since you've forgotten, it might be best if-"

"How?" he repeated, this time more clearly and more resolutely than the last time.

"It was..." she said reluctantly. "It was about two weeks after you had come back to the island. You had brought her with you, but I hadn't seen her yet; you had only been out with Sora till then. You kept telling her that you wanted to meet me, but she said it wasn't a good idea. She tried to put it off for as long as she could, but you were very insistent about it..."

Riku didn't need to hear any more. His mind had become completely over-whelmed by what she had just said. Unable to take it anymore, he blacked out.

"His heart just stopped," Naminé, said alarmingly, leaping to her feet. Diz and Mickey exchanged a serious look, but did nothing. Astounded by their inaction, she ran up to Diz and shook his cloak.

"Didn't you hear me?" she screamed. "Do something!"

"This is part of the process," he replied, plucking her hands from their grip on his clothes. "It's up to Riku now. We've done all that we can."

"No, there had to be something else that we can do to help him," she replied. Panicked, she ran to where his limp body lay and clasped his hand once more.

"Riku," she murmured in his ear. "I'm here, okay? I won't leave you. Riku, I'm not going to leave you. Don't die on me, Riku, please don't die."

Though darkness had taken a firm hold of his heart and body, Riku's tortured mind remained awake. Something in the distance had woken him up, though it was so soft that he wondered how it could have even disturbed his slumber. Training his ears hard toward the sound, he found he could hear the cool whisper of a voice far away. It was too low to make out the words, but the sound was like sweet music sent to ease his aching soul. Somehow, it reminded him of Naminé. With a sad smile, he let thoughts of her fill his head.

"You get to hit people with Styrofoam bats!"

"As long as you have a beating heart it's not true. You exist, you were meant to be in this world."

"Do you want me to kiss it better?"

"Well, all those bandages....it's kind of a turn on..."

"But...I'm okay. I guess, that's just the way you are."

"Well, I didn't know Aero. So I thought I should learn."

"And it looks ridiculous. You'd look like a middle-aged man with an identity crisis."

"I really did love the time we spent together."

"It's nice to think that if I disappear someday, I'd still be able to see you."

"Don't forget me, okay?"

He could feel his light seeping out of him; the brightness of his body was beginning to fade away to merge with the darkness around him, but the sweet din of that voice was getting louder and more prominent in his mind. The stronger it got, the more he thought of her, and the more he realised that it was saving him. Yet, somewhere deep in his heart, that revelation did not come as a surprise, because he knew it all along. Naminé had saved him a hundred times over by now. Even just being able to meet her, talk with her, share those moments, those walks...though it had only been a short space of time, her impact on his life had made it worth the pain her loss had brought, because in that way he was sure he had loved her, and it ensured that she would stay with him forever. And with her beautiful memory by his side, he knew she could carry him though everything to come. When he thought about it that way, it wasn't so bad.

"Something's happening," Mickey said suddenly. Riku's body had begun to glow, and an unstable light force started to pulsate from underneath his skin. It gathered speed with every beat, and then, before anyone had a chance to react, Riku's back arched sharply and the light exploded ferociously from his body, blinding everyone in the room. It took several seconds for the light to fade, and when they looked to Riku again, they found instead the sleeping body of Ansem.

Diz folded his arms, and if one were to remove the mask of bandages covering his face, they would find a smile playing faintly on his lips.

Author's Notes

….so, you can have two today! This one in particular is a personal favourite, for the simple fact that it came to me so quickly. I had this idea from about chapter six in the story, so it's good to finally get it up here. I know there are some inconsistencies with how Riku's change came about, and I must admit that it irks me at times to have found the final mix videos on youtube. I would have changed it to fit in more nicely with that release, but I didn't because a) I had my idea already and didn't want to change it, and b) I just couldn't be bothered!

Thank you everyone for reading, and I hope you enjoyed these chapters!