Chapter 8 Decoded

Riku's hands grasp only emptiness as he reaches out in the darkness. He had been right behind Kairi and Ansem when the man had gone into the dark corridor, but the darkness had swallowed them both. He continues to reach forward, pushing through the heavy darkness, hoping for a glimpse or a sound to tell him where he is and where they have gone. "Kairi!" He calls, looking around hopelessly. "Kairi!"

He starts to run. The darkness tries to stop him, to hold him back, but he fights through it and stumbles out into daylight. Breathing hard, Riku lifts his head to see he is standing before the great doors of an old and crumbling castle. His surprise wipes all thoughts from his mind except one; he is definitely not in Traverse Town anymore.

He looks back over his shoulder to see the dark portal he had run through disappear leaving nothing but a view of a city that looks to be just as abandoned as the old castle that towers above it. The portal that could take him back to his home is gone and its not the only thing missing. Kairi.

Ansem must have tricked him while in the darkness and slipped out at some other point. But did he take Kairi to this world or another? Riku swallows hard, realizing most likely Ansem had led him to this empty world only to strand him while taking Kairi somewhere else.

Kairi. Riku squeezes his eyes shut and runs a hand angrily through his hair. How could he have let Ansem take her? How could he have lost them so easily in the dark? How is he going to tell Sora?

He sighs. Who is this Ansem and why did he keep calling Kairi 'Princess'? What does he want with her? None of it makes sense. But he can't just stand there and worry. He has to find her.

Lifting his eyes to the large castle looming up in front of him, he reaches his hand out to the side and summons his keyblade. Ansem might have taken her to another world, but maybe not. Riku is already stranded in this unknown world, he might as well look and see if she is trapped here as well. With his mouth set in hard frown, he walks to the front doors, scanning his eyes around for any danger.

It doesn't take long for the danger to come. Riku has halved the distance to the large doors when the heartless appear. Neoshadows, eight in all. Their yellow eyes stare hungrily at him as they take shuffling steps towards him, forming a ring that leaves fighting as his only escape.

His keyblade already in hand, he doesn't hesitate to lunge forward at the one directly in front of him. It falls without a chance to fight, but the others aren't going down so easily. They surge forward as one mass, forcing Riku go from offense to defense, blocking the sharp claws threatening to tear into him. With their initial rush failed, the heartless try to back away and regroup for another charge. Riku however doesn't give them the chance as slashes at the nearest Neoshadow and sends the heart is it carrying floating into the sky.

Wasting no time, Riku spins to face the next one. It dodges his first swing, but he catches it full in the chest with his second and it disappears like the other. Three down, five to go. "Blizzard," Riku says pointing at two Neoshadows huddled together. The one on the right takes the brunt of the spell, vanishing except for a pink heart, but the one on the left is only hit with a glancing blow. Dropping into the ground, it becomes a flat spot of black and moves across the area. Keeping one eye on it, Riku turns to face the other heartless which had been creeping up on his unprotected back. A combo later and there are three new hearts floating away.

Out of the corner of his eye, Riku sees the last Neoshadow jump back out of the ground with its claws aimed at his throat, but he stops it with a stab through the gut. Panting, Riku lets his keyblade fall to his side, but some instinct in him keeps him from making it disappear. His instinct proves right when another batch of Neoshadows rise from the ground.

"Not again," Riku groans. He glances left and right to see them moving in to surround him like the ones before, but before they can he starts to run, forcing his way past them and heading to the castle doors. Reaching the castle entrance, he glances back over his shoulder to see the heartless in pursuit. With a shove, he forces the old, rusted doors open and runs blindly into the dark interior of the abandoned castle.

…

"Damn it," Zack whispers to himself, slamming the door to the study in the castle's basement shut and forcing the deadbolt into place. Leaning his forehead against the wood for a moment to catch his breath he can hear the heartless on the other side scratching and throwing themselves against the door. Checking the lock one more time, Zack steps back, wiping the sweat from his face and impatiently tucking a loose piece of hair behind his ear.

"What has got them all riled up like this?" Zack asks to empty air, watching the door shake slightly from the assault on the other side. Heartless are a common occurrence in Hollow Bastion, but not in these numbers. Zack had to have fought through at least a hundred to make it back to the safety of the study and computer room, but it seems the small room set deep in the castle is no longer a safe place to be. The heartless have found it and now they are relentless in their single-minded goal of getting through the door to reach him. Heartless with a goal; another strange change in behavior.

The door shivers again, but it's thick and will hold back the heartless at least for a little while. Hurrying out of the study, Zack runs into the computer room shouting, "Tron."

"Yes Zack?" Tron's voice replies and the computer monitor that had been black comes to life.

"The heartless have found us," Zack says looking at the loading bar on the screen that shows Tron's progress in decoding the encrypted file he had found earlier that day. It reads 88%. "How much longer till you finish?"

"I estimate it to take 15 minutes to complete decoding," Tron's voice replies. "Would you like me to put it on a compact disk for transport?"

"Yes, thanks Tron," Zack replies, raising his hand to his temple and letting out a sigh. This location has been compromised. Tron and Ansem the Wise's computer had been a great help, but like all of Zack's previous hideouts in Hollow Bastion, the heartless have found it and it is time to move on.

He jerks his head up at the escalation in noise from the hallway beyond the study. Hurrying back to the door he hears a shout from the other side, "Fira!", followed by an explosion.

The door that had been shaking under the heartless assault stills. Gripping his sword tight, Zack moves to the door. He pauses a moment with his hand on the lock. Taking a deep breath, he pulls back the dead bolt and yanks open the door, his sword at the ready for the heartless on the other side.

To his surprise, no heartless jump at him or slash at his feet. In fact, most of the heartless that had been clogging the corridor right outside the door are gone save four whose attentions aren't on Zack but a boy half way down the hallway.

"Riku?" Zack says in shock seeing the silver hair and the keyblade in his hand.

At the call of his name, Riku's head snaps up to look at him with equal surprise. "Zack?"

One of the remaining heartless jumps at Riku, forcing him to turn to deal with it. Once slice of his keyblade ends it and another few cuts take out two more. Riku spins around to attack the final heartless only to find Zack beside him having taken care of it. Lowering his keyblade Riku opens his mouth with a million questions on the tip of his tongue, but before he can say a word, Zack's hand is gripped tightly on his shoulder.

"We've got to move." Zack drags Riku with him as he runs back to the open door of the study. Glancing back down the hallway, Riku sees more Neoshadows appear and give chase after them.

As soon as they are through the door, Zack releases Riku who turns to see Zack slam the door just before the first heartless can enter the room and shoves the deadbolt into place. Resting a moment with his hand on the door, Zack turns to face Riku and at the same time they both ask, "What are you doing here?"

"You first," Zack says gesturing impatiently at Riku to explain.

"I was chasing the man who took Kairi and he led me here," Riku says.

Zack's eyes widen in surprise. "A man took Kairi? Who?"

"I don't know," Riku says through gritted teeth. Just thinking about what had happened made those that yellow eyed smirk flash in his mind. "I had never seen him before. He said his name is Ansem."

"Ansem?" Zack says incredulously. "He said his name is Ansem?"

"...Yeah," Riku says, looking at Zack confused. "Do you know him?"

If Zack hears Riku, he doesn't acknowledge it. "Why would Ansem take Kairi?" He says walking out of the study and going into the computer room.

"Zack?" Riku says hurrying after him. He stops short as he enters the computer room, his eyes scanning over the small space.

Zack goes to the computer and starts to type. "How are we doing Tron?" He asks as he scrolls through the files saved on the computer.

"All available systems are decoding the file," Tron's voice replies and Riku stares in shock at the computer. "Decryption is 94% complete."

"Good, good," Zack says distractedly. He stops scrolling through the files. Clicking on the one he had been looking for, a head and shoulders picture of Ansem the Wise comes on screen. "The man, Ansem, who took Kairi, is this him?" Zack asks, gesturing Riku over to the monitor.

Riku glances at the piercing orange eyes and shakes his head. "That's not him."

Zack frowns. "It's not? But who else would be calling themselves Ansem?" He stares at the screen lost in thought.

Not really sure what Zack is talking about Riku shrugs. "All I know is some guy whitish hair and yellow eyes came to Traverse Town and took Kairi," he says. "And he kept calling her 'Princess'."

Zack looks at him, realization in his eyes. "Of course," he says returning to the keyboard and typing furiously. A new folder of files comes up and he finds the one he is looking for. "Is this the man?"

The new picture that opens is the screenshot of Xehanort's heartless from the video of the day Xehanort killed the apprentices. As soon as Riku catches sight of the yellow eyes he nods. "That's him." Studying the picture more carefully he frowns. "And that castle...that's here, but not destroyed." He stares a moment longer before slowly saying, "What's going on Zack?"

Riku turns to Zack who shakes his head. "I'll explain later," he says. "Right now, we don't have much time."

As if to emphasize the fact, there is a loud crack followed by a crash from the other room. Zack's head whips around at the sound. "Tron! Close the doors."

The metal doors to the computer room slide shut and Riku gets a glimpse of a flood of Neoshadows racing for them before the doors close all the way. There is a muffled crash as the heartless slam into the other side followed an ear splitting scratching sound of claws on metal.

"How much longer Tron?" Zack asks in a tight voice. He goes to a drawer in the desk where the computer is and opens it to show a mess of paper files.

"The decryption is at 98%," Tron's voice replies.

Zack nods to himself at that and starts tossing files left and right from the drawer. Riku stands in the center of the room, his eyes jumping from the door blocking the heartless, to the computer, to Zack. He feels useless standing there with his hands in his pocket, but he doesn't know what Zack's looking for.

"99%," Tron calls out and Zack straightens up triumphant.

"Got it," he says holding a crumpled old paper in his fist.

"What is it?" Riku asks.

"Our ticket out of here," Zack replies to him. "Tron," he then says moving to the computer. "When you finish decoding the file, I need you to open up the sub-basement."

"As you wish, Zack," Tron replies.

They wait another agonizing minute, listening to the rasp of the heartless trying to get in. Eyes glued to the screen, Zack lets out a sigh of relief as the bar reaches a 100%. There is a whirling in the computer.

"I'm writing the data in the file on a disk," Tron says.

Zack glances at the door. "Hurry."

Riku jumps at a loud screech of metal and summons his keyblade at the doors to the computer room are pulled apart an inch by black claws and beady yellow eyes look in at them. "Fire," Riku says and the small fire ball shoots through the gap to hit the heartless forcing the doors open square in the face. It is blown back by the explosion and the doors slam shut once more.

"Data transfer complete," Tron says and out of the side of the monitor a disc is ejected. "The stairway to the sub-basement has been opened as well."

"Thanks Tron," Zack says snatching up the disc and placing it in an empty case that had been sitting next to the computer. "C'mon Riku," he says shoving the CD into his pocket. "This way."

Riku follows him out the door opposite the one the heartless are still trying to break through. Steps lead them down to the floor of a large room with old, rusted machinery on the walls. In the middle, a secret panel of the floor had been pulled back to reveal a staircase heading down. They run down and at the bottom they stop at the rumble of the panel sliding back into place.

"Thanks Tron," Zack says again under his breath.

The lighting of the sub-basement is dim with most of the wall lamps burned out. The little light they do have flickers and causes dark shadows in the corners as Zack leads the way through the maze of hallways. Riku follows silently peering into the cells that line the sides. All are empty.

When Zack stops, Riku nearly walks into him as there had been no warning. This hallway looks the same as all the others, but Zack seemed to be looking for something. "There," he says after a minute, pointing at the floor a few feet from them.

Riku stares in confusion, not seeing anything, until Zack grips a small grove in one of the tiles and pulls, opening a secret hatch.

"Castles as old as this usually have a few hidden ways in and out," Zack says peering into the hole in the floor. "This one will take us into the underground network of the city. It'll be easy to get away from the heartless through the tunnels." Without waiting for Riku to protest, Zack lowers himself through the hole and drops into the darkness.

…

It is far from easy. The paper Zack had taken from the computer room is a map of the underground. With no lights down there, Riku uses his magic to create a light on the end of his keyblade for them to read it by. Still it had been many years since that map had been made and with the destruction of Hollow Bastion, many of the tunnels had caved in, leaving them to wander down dead ends.

Finally finding a way out, they stand a moment in the relief of the light of the setting sun, but then the heartless come in overwhelming hordes like before.

"This way," Zack shouts running into the streets of the city with Riku at his heels. Completely lost, Riku leaves it to Zack to know where they are going and glances over his shoulder every few seconds. The heartless chase them for a while, but as they move farther from the old castle, the numbers chasing them dwindle until their gone all together.

"Something at the castle must be attracting them," Riku says as he and Zack slow to a walk.

"Maybe," Zack says glancing back at the castle that stood so high above the city it could be seen for almost any street. "I've never seen them act this way before."

There are a few more minutes of silence before Riku asks, "Where are we going?"

"There's a house on this street," Zack says pointing. "It's one of the safest places I've found. Like the study and computer room had been, the heartless almost never come here."

Reaching the right door, Zack pulls a key from his pocket. Fitting it in the lock, he turns it and shoulders the door open. Riku enters behind him and finds himself in total darkness when Zack shuts the door. A moment later he hears Zack hit a light switch and blinks in the brightly lit room.

Most noticeable about it is the computer standing on the wall opposite the door. It's off, but Zack walks over and pushes the power button. While the computer boots up, Riku walks around the single room house. There is a big table at the center covered in papers printed with words and diagrams of hearts that Riku can't understand. "Is this your stuff?" He asks turning to Zack.

"Yeah. I crash here sometimes," Zack says nodding towards the couch against the wall. It's old and moth eaten and not Riku's idea of a comfortable place to sleep, but judging from the blanket and pillow on it along with the pile of clothes on the armchair beside it, this is Zack's home.

The computer makes a final bing to show its on and Riku wanders back over as Zack takes the CD from his pocket and feeds it into the slot. "What is that?" Riku asks.

"I don't know," Zack replies tapping his fingers impatiently on the keyboard as they listen to the computer whirl as it reads the disc. "Tron found a hidden file on the computer at the castle and decoded it for me."

A message comes up on the computer reading, DISC FOUND. WOULD YOU LIKE TO OPEN FILE?

Zack hits enter and the message disappears. A moment later contents of the disc open.

It isn't just one file, but a group of files all opening and spreading out over the desktop in a haphazard, overlapping fashion. Zack's eyes jump from one to another as they flash rapidly. Documents, videos, pictures, they each fill the screen for a moment before they are buried under the continued outpouring of files.

The last file opens and Zack's eyes narrow as he starts to read it. Riku eyes however drift to the corner of the screen and widen. "Zack…" Riku says, barely able to get the word out in his shock.

He points a finger at the top left corner of the screen and Zack drags his eyes away from the top document to read the label that showed the name of the file collection. His breath catches and his heartbeats faster. He stares wide eyed, knowing all the sifting through useless information in the castle's computer had been worth it because he had found it. A real clue.

VENTUS

Sorry for the longer than normal wait on this chapter, but these last few weeks have been awful. I had to go through some pretty hard family stuff and deal with midterms at the same time. Hopefully things will be getting back to normal and I'll get the next chapter out in a week.

Last chapter I asked if anyone had a guess about the mystery man at the Coliseum. LightzMusic22 and Dream For Tonight guessed Vincent Valentine from Final Fantasy, CatLoverx33 guessed Lea/Axel, and TopazDragon98 guessed Auron.

Thank you all for your reviews, but no one guessed correctly. Sorry!

So the mystery man remains a mystery… until next chapter!