Bait Chapter 2

Riku woke to find himself lying alone in a windowless room. His whole body ached as though it had been beaten, and his head was spinning. Putting a hand to the back of his head, Riku found that his hair was caked with dried blood. Any effort to recollect the events of the past hours proved to be a challenge. He wondered if he had been injured badly enough to lose his memories, or had his captors drugged him.

As he slowly came back to awareness, he remembered that he had been sent to investigate a spike of dark energy, taking the novice Lea in tow as Sora was still away to resume training. The place seemed normal, no heartless or sources of destruction.

Then the true source of the dark spike had appeared: the Organization waiting in ambush. He had taken a blow to the head at some point during the battle, so there were no memories beyond then. What did they want this time? And then there was the question of Lea, was he safe, was he even alive, or was he locked up in this strange place too?

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Lea had returned to Yen Sid's tower as quickly as possible. It took a good hour to get there though as the place could not be accessed directly by dark corridor, meaning he had to stop at the nearest world instead and use a gummi ship to get there.

The place was more crowded than usual, with King Mickey and his two comrades there to aid in the training of Sora and Riku's friend Kairi. Sora himself had returned from his own training and was giving advice on summoning magic to the girl. The arrival of Lea, unaccompanied, had stirred up a number of curious looks from the occupants of the tower. They would find out soon enough, but for now he needed to talk to Yen Sid and the king alone.

"So they're making their move already. I just hope Riku isn't already at their mercy. " Mickey looked genuinely concerned as he spoke.

"There is one thing that bothers me though. Why did they give us so long?" Lea asked. "A full month would be more than enough time to plan a counterattack."

"I believe that is exactly what they have in mind, Lea." The old wizard replied. "They could be trying to draw out a final clash on their terms, they may be trying to discern how prepared we are. One thing is for sure, they still have their sights set on making Sora their final vessel. I most certainly will not send him out there alone."

"Should we tell him anyways? Even someone as simple as Sora would start to wonder why there's no news of his best friend after awhile."

"This is a tricky situation, we cant leave Sora in the dark like this, but, well Donald and Goofy can attest to his impulsiveness. He already has risked his life last time his friends were missing, and he probably would try it again if he found out Riku was in peril."

"Lea, tell him the truth, but inform him of out intentions. We are going to form a plan to rescue him, hopefully without drawing out an attack. Nonetheless, we must proceed with all your training. We must be prepared for anything."

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Hours passed and Riku's head was still sore and pounding, but his mind became clearer, confirming his belief that he had gotten a rather bad head injury during the ambush. He paced around the small room the Organization saw fit to give him, his heart pounding worse than his head. He didn't know why they wanted him alive and prayed that Organization 13 wasn't preparing to torture him for information.

And then there was Lea. Nobody had been by since he came to, so he didn't know anything about his whereabouts. But he knew if they really wanted him alive, someone would have to come by to feed him eventually. Maybe he could get some information out of them.

His theory was confirmed a short time later by the door of his small prison opening, a pouch containing food thrust in. He ran to the door before it closed.

"Wait!" He exclaimed. "Why am I here? Where are my friends?"

"Hell if I know..." A voice answered. "I strongly suggest you get away from that door, unless you want your legs broken for trying to escape!"

Riku jumped back, the door slamming shut before him. He could have predicted the answer. He remembered from previous encounters what negotiating with Organization 13 was like. Riku chuckled to himself, remembering an analogy Lea had said- it would easier to get Sora to recite Shakespeare.

The smile left his face just as quickly when memories of Sora, Kairi, Mickey, and the others drifted across his mind. He hoped they were safe, and, desperately as he wanted to get out of here, he hoped they weren't out there planning some harebrained rescue attempt that could endanger the lot of them.

End of Chapter 2.