I tried to push myself up with little success. My knees were burning with the effort of keeping myself up but I ignored the pain. I leaned forward and put my weight on my hands before getting my feet underneath me. I stood and swayed. I could feel heartless seeping underneath the door and crawling up the walls towards me. A large body came up to me.
None of them moved to attack me. They looked at me cautiously and when I started coughing violently some of them backed up. I could feel that woman swimming at the edge of my mind. She was angry and I felt it. I wanted her gone. When I pulled the hand away from my mouth, blood was spattered on it. I wiped it on my clothes and tried to stand up. My knees gave way and I collapsed on the ground.
The large body squatted down and picked me up gently in its huge arms. Within seconds my host of heartless were carrying me through the maze-like hallways of the castle. I closed my eyes for what felt like a second, but when I opened them I was on the ground with Riku standing over me.
"Good morning," He muttered. Another voice was mixing with his. It had the same effect as hearing two televisions on opposite sides of you playing the same thing. I looked up at him bewildered. "How are you feeling?" I just stared at him. "Not well?" I blinked. "It's a disgrace, you know, to have you loose in such an awful way. You held up good. I thought they were going to stab your heart in the end. After all, it is gone isn't it?"
I got my legs underneath me and tried to push up with my hands. The dry sweat on my skin creased and broke apart. I got to my feet and swayed slightly. The large body from earlier was gone. I caught myself.
"Where's Maleficent?" I asked, my voice raspy and broken.
"She is in the dungeons, fighting Sora and his friends," He answered. I didn't feel like I was talking to Riku. When I spoke to him he cared about his friend, you could tell he missed Sora and wanted him back. He walked over to Kairi's, she lay motionless in her pod. "It's a curious thing, isn't it?" He said, looking at her almost fondly.
"What is?" I asked, now trusting my legs to move me next to him. Why he hadn't healed me yet, I didn't know.
"How the body can live on in a perfectly relaxed way, not caring what will happen to it, while the heart that rules the body is off in great peril. This body in particular. It was not devoured by the heartless, just the heart. Unlike other victims, this body was left. It's curious." I only nodded in response. Kairi looked as if she was just enjoying a peaceful sleep.
A loud crash alerted me to life that was going on in other parts of the castle. Riku, or the possessed Riku, immediately disappeared. I tried to push Kairi's pod out of the middle of the room.