Chapter 67: Encounter

Riku ran as fast as he could towards the Postern, he knew that it was the quickly way to the south part of the castle and that he wanted to avoid running into Prince Kasper. Riku had nothing against him; there was just something off about him. Maybe it's the clothes. Riku pushed the thought away as he focused on the task ahead. After hearing that Roxas was sighted in Radiant Garden, Riku was now worried about the damage to his best friend. Had he sacrificed himself again? Had the Order taken him alive and made him fall to darkness? Had something happened to Kairi that had caused him to fall in such a state? Had Brian began to flirt with Kairi again, making Sora jealous? The possibilities were endless.

Riku finally managed to reach the Postern, beating Nobodies along the way, and disposed of his weapon as he began to head towards the entrance that only the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee know about. Riku turned to see what view the postern had to offer and to see if any Nobodies were trailing him. All he could see was the mountains and the marketplace in the distance.

"So, you're finally awake." Riku turned around to see Nikolai, standing on one of huge poles in the Postern. Nikolai jumped off the pole and began to walk toward Riku. Riku noticed that Nikolai was wearing his casual gear this time and could see what the Order had done to him for his aid. Riku didn't take time to pity him thought; he had to see if Roxas is really here.

Riku pointed the Way to the Dawn at Nikolai, "If you're here to commit your sin then you better leave. I have no time to deal with your random boss battle." Riku said with frustration.

"I'm not here to attack you." Nikolai informed him, "I'm here to give you information."

"Information? Why should I trust what you say? You're an Endless." Riku lowered his blade and looked at Nikolai with curiousness.

"Don't judge sides, Captain." Nikolai warned him in a serious tone. Riku remembered that Abroc called him captain as well. He wondered what the deal was with them called him by a rank. "One day, both light and darkness will unite to survive."

"Why's that then?" Riku questioned.

"If I told you, life as we know it will change and that is something I will not risk." Nikolai firmly answered.

"Answer this, why do the Order members keep calling me 'Captain'?"

"Again. Too risky to say." Nikolai shook his head.

Riku raised an eyebrow at Nikolai avoiding the questions as he summoned his weapon again, "Got something to hide?"

"I've said it before!" Nikolai growled, "I'm not your ally but I'm not your enemy."

"Then what are you then?"

Nikolai smirked at the Wielder to Dawn, "Just a Neutral who wants life back the way it's suppose to be." Nikolai crossed his arms, "So, do you want to know or not?"

Riku agreed to hearing the information while disposing of his weapon. Nikolai approached him and created the ice crystal orb that he had previously made at Port Royal. Riku looked into the orb and soaked the information in. Soon, Riku looked at Nikolai in disbelief, "That's it? That is your big sin?" He was ignored that the Endless had stopped him for this.

"It may not affect you but when the others hear of this then you will see the purpose of this sin." Nikolai replied before he turned his back to the silver-head, preparing to leave.

"Wait!" Riku called out, "In your note, back at Port Royal, you mentioned that the Colonel's plans relates to Xehanort. How do they relate?"

"That." Nikolai summoned his portal, "Will have to wait in due time" Nikolai walked through the portal then he halted, "Oh! You said you wanted enemies, right?" Nikolai smirked as his claw grow, summoning ice craved Unbirths. Nikolai laughed as he walked through the portal.

"That rotten-" Riku began to curse.

"Just think that the deed to light is yet to come." Nikolai said through the winds. Riku didn't seem to listen as he was not in the mood to fight, he needed to find Roxas.

BOWBOWBOW

Axel and Roxas sat onto of the clocktower just like they used to after their missions in the organisation. Axel chuckled as he looked at Roxas and pulled out two sea-salt ice-creams, "Here." He handed one of the ice-creams to Roxas, "Just like old times."

"Yeah." Roxas nodded before the two of them ate their ice-creams in silence as their watched the twilight sunset.

For some reason, Roxas felt that something was off like there was something missing. He looked to his left as he thought that he heard a girl's voice giggle aside him, making him looked to the side of the clocktower. Axel seemed to notice this and chuckled before returning to his ice-cream. Roxas ended up shaking the thought away before continuing with his ice-cream.

"Wow. The sun sure is beautiful."

Roxas jumped from the sudden appearance of another voice that seemed to be so close to him. He looked all around him to see if he could find the source of the voice.

"I know we've seen a lot of sunsets, but today's puts them all to shame."

Roxas turned to Axel, who was eating his ice-cream, "Did you hear something?"

Axel chuckled at this, "This is your memory, Roxas." He said, "You'll just have to memorize it." Roxas sighed at this before slowly turning back to where he was looking before to see a figure slowly forming next to him with static, holding another sea-salt ice cream. The figure was wearing an Organisation XIII coat like Axel, making the Key of Destiny confused for a moment before watching the figure's appearance become whole. Roxas looked at the figure with wonder, Axel began to speak, "Well, even if things change, we'll never be apart-"

"As long as we remember each other...right?" the figure spoken as it stood on the edge of the wall, making Roxas worried for some reason. Roxas looked up and watched the figure with curious, "Don't worry, Axel." The figure carried on looking at the sunset as it took its hood off, Roxas gasped at the appearance of the Nobody. The Nobody had the same appearance of Kairi like the way she was now, blue-violet eyes, shoulder length hair, everything. The only differences was that her hair was black. "We got your hokey speech memorized." She giggled.

Axel chuckled to the response, "Just checking. Though, I think that Roxas needed a little reminder."

"Yeah." She sighed, "Me and Axel were starting to worry that you would not remember us once you rejoined with Sora." She smiled back at Roxas, who was still wondering who she was, before facing the sunset again. "I'll have these moments memorized for a long time. Forever, I hope." The light from the sun shone into Roxas' eyes, ending the memory.

Roxas found himself back at the Station of Awaking, in the forgotten memories where both Axel and the mysterious Nobody stood. Before Roxas could question the Nobody's appearance, Axel coughed for his attention, "Roxas, I would like to remind you of Number XIV, Xion." Axel chuckled as he watched Roxas' expression changed as well as grabbing his head. Axel knew that he was having flashbacks as both him and Xion watched the mural grow lighter and saw a light blue pathway appear.

Roxas gritted his teeth together as the memories past through his mind. The agony of those memories scarred his mind, some memories remaining fluzzy, some that are clear as day. He dropped to his knees and started to feel his consciousness slip.

BOWBOWBOW

After fighting the Unbirths, Riku ran into the corridors that he knew led to Ansem study. Riku took this time to catch up with his breath since using his earth element to smash the ice up wasn't such as good idea. He started to wander through the empty corridors that have been left after the discovery of Radiant Garden's name. The corridors still looked like that they needed some work on them as some of the walls remained crumbled and huge construction pipes covered most of the room. He carried on looking at the damage that the battle of 1000 Heartless had left behind, seeing that this part of the castle remained forgotten and secret.

Riku started to hear clashes and slashes in the distance and started to follow the trail. As he got closer, he could see a number of Dusks heading in the direction that the noises were coming from another part of the corridors. Riku slowly followed the dusks, leading him to a drop that would lead him to an open spaced room. Riku remained hidden in the shadows as he watched the Dusks approach the target. The Wielder of Dawn was surprised to see that the target that they were fighting was none other than Roxas. It doesn't seem like Roxas. Riku thought.

Although this Roxas-look-a-like had the same face, eyes and hair but his garments were nothing like the ones that he would normally wear in Twilight Town and the face that his keyblade was designed differently, almost like it was for back-wielders. He wore a jacket that is primarily white on his right side and dark on his left. The collar of the jacket was red and pleated. Underneath this, he wore what appears to be a grey vest with a single button and several white, angular patterns on it. He wore a third layer under this, in the form of a plain, high-necked, black shirt. He also had a chunk of dull green and grey armor on his midsection that appears to be under his vest, but was over his black shirt. His pants were balloon outward slightly before closing up about halfway down his legs, similar to capris pants. These pants are colored in shades of grey, black, and white. He also wears an ornate, dull green and grey piece of armor on his upper-left arm, along with a wristband that was checkered white edged wristband. He wore two criss-crossing straps on his chest, on which he wore a silver badge vaguely resembling the Heartless emblem or the Nobody emblem turned upside down. His boots are rather odd as they resemble an armored version of normal street shoes in shades of dull green and grey. His face looked more rounder and the spikes looked longer too.

Riku watched in amazement in how the keyblader fought the Nobodies, watching his keyblade do things that he never knew the keyblade could do. He always though was just a huge weapon that had the power to lock and unlock the world's fate. He watched with wide eyes as the keyblade would sometimes become bigger then the wielder itself as the wielder jumped on the keyblade and blasted out of the hallway. Riku didn't waste a second to follow the wielder, eager to know who he is, questions of Roxas' return pasting him.

After a while of getting lost in the corridors...again, Riku found himself facing a empty corridor that lead to a room with the door slightly open. Riku slowly approached the door and looked through the gab to see that the keyblader that he had faced before was in there. He also managed to see a familiar yellow dog by his side. Pluto? So, he's on our side. But just to be sure... Riku summons Way to Dawn. The moment Way to Dawn was in Riku's hand, a huge burst of wind blasted at the door that Riku was pepping through, smacking him hard in the face. The impact made Riku collapse on the floor as well as feeling a foot on his chest. Riku groaned from the massive headache he had now from the door and from landing before looking up to see the Roxas-look-a-like glaring at him.

"What are you doing following me?" The keyblader questioned. He quickly looked at his hand to see that Riku was wielding the Way to Dawn before glaring at the sliver head once more, "How did you get that Keyblade?"

Riku pushed the keyblader's foot off of his chest as the pressure from his armoured foot felt as if it was going to break his ribs in two before flipping up and facing the dirty blonde keyblader, "You looked like someone I know." Riku answered, "And this keyblade chose me." He lifted the Way to Dawn in front of him.

"How long have you had it?" he asked.

"Why do you want to know?" Riku commented.

He didn't answer as he continued glaring at Riku, "Looks like Keyblades go to anyone these days." The keyblader turned his back to Riku, entering the room once more.

Riku growled under his breathe at the comment before following him into the room. He could see that this was Ansem the Wise's old research office with all of the notes that were scattered on the floor had notes on the heart and their was a drawing on the wall that mentioned the Door To Darkness. Pluto turned to see who was following the keyblader to see his old pal, Riku. Pluto barked happily as he ran over to Riku and began to lick his face.

"You're name. It's Riku." Riku looked at the keyblader, who was looking through some notes, with shock and curiousness. "The one that follow the path in between instead of light."

"You must be Ventus." Riku assumed, considering the fact that he was told about him by the others. "It's not like Pluto would trust anyone." Riku kneeled down to Pluto and scratched his head.

"True." He muttered as he continued to search through the room.

Riku noticed that he was hastily searching through Ansem the Wise research. "What are you looking for?" he stepped towards the Keyblader.

"Notes." Ventus simply said.

"What notes?" Riku pressed the question.

"It's none of your business." Ven slammed his fists down as he couldn't find the notes that he was looking for.

"It is when it could involve my friends considering the fact that you know Sora." Riku approached Ven hastily and forced him to face him. It was strange how Ven looked exactly like Roxas. "How do you know Sora? Why did you give him the crown necklace?"

Ventus pushed Riku away, "That's not important at the moment. What important is the balance of the worlds and finding the Room of Remorse." Ven turned away from Riku once more and headed into the computer room.

The Room of Remorse? Riku carried on following the keyblader, having many questions remain in his mind. What was strange was that this keyblader was supposed to have fought in the last keyblade war but the war was at least twelve years ago and Ven looked to be the same age as Sora. It couldn't have been possible. How could he had helped in getting rid of the Unbirths last time?

"AHH! Stupid computer!" Riku heard slams in the next room. Riku quickly rushed in to see that Ven was ready to destroy the computer with his keyblade.

"No wait! Just give me time to search for the file." The computer program begged.

Riku went wide eyes at this. Did the A.I. just speak? He pushed this aside though as he quickly summoned Way to Dawn and blocked Ven's attack to the computer screen. "What are you doing?" Riku growled. Pluto wined sadly as he watched them fight.

"It won't tell me what I want to know." Ventus stood down before glaring at Riku, "Why are you following me anyways?"

"Just wondering how you can still remained the age you are when you prevented the last keyblade war." Riku watched his eyes as he respond to his comment. Ventus didn't answer however as he opened the next door that lead down a level. Riku could give him credit, he could avoid a question. He looked over to the computer and looked to see that the computer was still searching for what ever the wielder had typed in.

"I can't thank you enough." The computer A.I. thanked him. Riku jumped at the sudden voice, "That User seemed a little similar to Sora."

"What are you?" Riku asked.

"I am Radiant Garden's Master Control Program know as Tron. Available for all users of the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee. I will be able to prologue anything that had happen in the last twelve years of uncovering Asnem's reports." The Computer A.I introduced.

Explains why Ven was looking on the computer. "What's the file loading up?" Riku asked.

"The previous user was searching keywords 'Terra', 'Aqua' and 'Room of Remorse'. The file however can not be found on this database." Tron answered.

"Right." Riku stepped towards the computer console, having a slight idea on what to use the database to his and the group use. "Okay." Riku began to type the keywords in."U-N-B-I-R-T-H...Unbirths". Riku watched the screen as he waited to finish its search for the right file.

Filename: Unbirths

Data is corrupted

"Great..." Riku muttered before typing a different keyword in.

Filename: Endless

Data is corrupted

Riku grunted before typing another keyword.

Filename: Organisation XIII

Data is corrupted

Riku felt like destroying the computer to a million pieces but tried another keyword to calm him down.

Filename: You better work you stupid computer or the Way to Dawn will destroy your highdrive.

Data does no exist

...

...

Previous data has been recovered.

Riku chuckled to himself as the threat on the computer seemed to work. He began to search through the data that was recovered. He heard a 'click' sound when he clicked to 'Unbirth'.

Unbirths are created without a soul and are only brought out if there is unbalance in that world. There purpose is to be the opposite of life itself. There first appearance was in the first keyblade war—

"I already know this." Riku groaned as he scanned the rest of the research before clicking on 'Endless'.

Endless are a being that has a corrupted soul which can only be caused by the Endless Virus...

"That's it? I thought that there will be more than that." Riku quickly clicked on 'Organisation XIII' and quickly scanned the data to see if there was anything that Xemnas might know about the last keyblade war. He stopped when he noticed a video clip dated a couple of years old. "I wonder what Xemnas has to do with this." He smirked as he clicked on the file.

A/N: Good, this one is done. 4 DAYS TO X-MAS!

Tidus: Wait! That's it?

Mad: Yeah, messages will have to wait since all the family is round and like to use my laptop to order stuff of the internet. O.o. I would like to thanks, Kisdota-The Freak Gamer, NinjaSheik, Noami. G, Future Keybearer, Grey vs Ale, Artism, Celticskyedancer, Soragirl4ever, Roxas2134 and Razgriz1 for this chapter's reviews. YAY! 10 reviews for one chapter. Let's just and beat that.

See ya next time and REVIEW!

Kingdommad