Bait, Chapter 3

Though Sora seemed to take the news of Riku's abduction well, his concern for his best friend became evident in his training. If they had been using keyblades, Lea and Mickey would've been sporting broken bones from their sparring sessions, as it was, the use of staves was leaving them all bruised at the end. They wouldn't allow Kairi anywhere near him as a result.

Every spare moment found them in Yen Sid's study trying to gather as much information on the Organization, its members, and its location as possible. They were going to attempt a diversionary tactic, to draw the full organization into battle while another group smuggled Riku out of their stronghold. However, their information was very limited, most of it centered on their stronghold, which most of them had ventured a fair distance into at some point.

Any attempt to get information out of Lea proved to be a failure, as most of his memories of his time in the organization had died at the same time his nobody Axel had. The only memories he seemed to retain were those of him and Sora's nobody Roxas.

"This is not going to be easy, is it?" a openly flustered Sora asked during one of these sessions. Lea looked mildly depressed, having just recounted the time when his nobody and Roxas parted ways. "The only information we seem to be getting on their members are on two who are no longer affiliated with them or even alive for that matter." Lea wanted to shout that he was very much alive, but instead he shot Sora a dirty look for that comment.

"And who do you intend to use to draw out the diversion?" Mickey asked. "You'd need to separate the group to be able to pull this off. You don't think they'd catch on if half the group was missing. And Sora obviously has to be there or there will be no point in going to begin with. It's him they want after all."

"They are not aware about Kairi..." Yen Sid answered simply.

"Wait...you want to send KAIRI out there?!" Mickey and Sora exclaimed together.

"She isnt ready to face that kind of danger!" Mickey retorted.

"I won't let her just walk into danger alone like that!" Sora exclaimed.

"You have nothing to fear on that matter." Yen Sid almost chuckled. "I will accompany Kairi on her part of the plan. They'd never expect all of us to come to one persons aid, would they?"

The entire group stared at the old wizard in a mixture of shock and reverence. There was no denying Yen Sid was powerful, but he wasn't young. And for him to risk himself like that to protect them all meant that he clearly had a soft spot for them.

"Well, do any of you object to this plan?"

Silence.

"Well, lets plan it out from here then."

XXXXXXXX

Riku had spent the past several days inspecting every inch of his small prison. It was windowless and adorned with only a small futon in one corner. There were two doors in the opposite wall, one leading to a tiny bathroom barely the size of a closet, also windowless.

The other door, however was what held his interest. It was what would ultimately lead to his freedom. The door was always locked from the outside save the two times each day someone would bring a measly supply of food and water to him, and their timing on this activity was almost predictable. He was seeking out a way to use that to his advantage.

They had taken most of his possessions from him after he was abducted, including a silver pocket watch Sora had given him as a birthday gift when he turned 13, but he didn't need that and only kept it as a memento. The lack of a timekeeper would throw most people off track, but Riku actually had an excellent sense of time, and therefore he could predict the exact minute someone would come and cast that measly pouch of food into the room. He had been forming a plan in his head for about three days on how he would make his escape.

All that was left to do was to go through with it.

End of Chapter 3