A/N: Hello beautiful peeps. Welcome back once again to another chapter of Dusk To Dawn. I hope you're all having a lovely New Years and I thought to celebrate, why not welcome 2023 with a double whammy. That's right, not just one but two chapters, the second of which will be posted in the next few hours. First of, I'd like to apologise for keeping you waiting. 2022 was definitely a year of slow content and that was due to many things, not least of which was my enthusiasm being at a low. It's taken me a while but I hope going forward I can deliver content on a far more consistent basis.

Secondly, I'd like to pay tribute to two very talented artists who went out of their way to make art for the Dual Destines Saga. The first being SoftBewitcher (twitter handle) or Luna (funny coincidence I know) who drew an amazing rendition of Luna (from this story) and also BaiHu27 ( Byakko91 on twitter) who did an exceptional piece of work on Sora's costume from Paved With Gold. Also big credit goes to TrinityXaos for helping in commissioning these two amazing artists for me. You can find the link to both of these commissions, as well as the artists' other works, on my profile. Once again, a big thanks to them, and without further ado, let's get on with the show.

Chapter 3

Nightmare

Thunder roared outside, streaks of lightning illuminating the room Riku was in. He would take that however, for it kept his mind far away from its current predicament. He closed his eyes, listening to the sound of pelting rain outside. He would take it if only it were not a falsehood of safety, but what else could he do but listen?

He opened his eyes again and looked to his right arm, his wrist shackled and hoisted by a thick iron chain attached to the wall. There was no point looking to his left. It was the exact same scenario. No matter how much he had tried, getting out of the restraints was impossible. The joints of the shackles themselves seemed shoddy and could probably be dislodged with hard enough force. The problem was that he was nowhere near anything that could be considered hard enough to hit. There was a table in the room on the side but it was unreachable. He also didn't want to take the chance of possibly dislocating his wrists in the process.

The sound of pouring rain almost distracted him from the footsteps approaching his cell. He couldn't deduce the number but it was definitely more than one. As they neared he suddenly became aware of his faster beating heart.

He didn't have time to prepare himself before he finally came into view. He was tall, broad-shouldered wearing a red overcoat. His eyes, their color obscured by tinted orange frames held in place by a wire thin frame, gave Riku a quick look up and down. He smiled and stepped closer.

"And the Mome Rath stands quiet. It's good to see you again," he said.

"The feeling isn't mutual," Riku said, keeping his eyes low to the ground.

"Oh, don't be like that. I apologise for the less than charitable position you find yourself in but you gave us no choice. You're a dangerous individual. Your, uh, friend even more so. If you can believe it, she actually tried to bite one of my colleague's ears off by tricking him into getting close to her. We simply can't take the chance if you're going to behave like a bunch of wild animals."

As if on cue, a horrendous and terrifying high-pitched scream echoed from further down the hallway. It was unmistakably a female's voice.

"Xion? XION!" Riku bellowed. One of the people next to Janus stepped forward, summoned his Keyblade and struck Riku with a heavy blow in the chest with its handle. This sent an immense pain shooting through his chest and he leaned forward, gritting his teeth.

Janus held his hand up and ushered the guard, one of three, back with a quick flick of his wrist.

"It amazes me…" Janus continued. "… stepping out of a coma for goodness knows how many years, how many things have changed, but also how many things have stayed the same. In a way, the things that have stayed the same are scarier than the things that have changed. I remember dreaming of how different our world could be in the future. How antiquated our ways and beliefs would be to those perhaps a thousand years on. No, I doubt you'd even have to travel that far. But a place in which things have changed is a place where people like us don't exist. You clearly do and I guess now do the rest of us."

His face seemed to express some dissatisfaction at this fact but it soon changed to a smile. "Perhaps there was a reason we were brought back, but I don't intend to play along with whatever game fate has in store for us. I will take back control of my destiny with my own hands. It is no longer about light and darkness, but freedom and subjugation."

"Are… you planning to bore me to death? I don't give a damn about what you want. Whatever you're doing to Xion, just stop..."

"Hmm, well I'm not doing anything to her at the moment, that would probably be the person whose ear she tried to bite off. Anyway, I won't mince words with you. I'm looking for a girl. Her name is… Namine?"

Riku's body acted faster than his mind could prevent it. His body visibly ceased up for a second and his eyes finally looked up from the ground. He knew that before he could look away again it would be too late. Janus had already noticed.

"No use hiding it now."

Riku hung his head, partially in shame and partially afraid of revealing anything else. "It doesn't matter. If you think I'll tell you anything, even if I knew. I have only one thing to say to you—Go to hell."

Janus chuckled. "If only we were not already there. I often wonder whether we're asking ourselves the right question. Instead of asking how we came back, I wonder if it's worth it to ponder the why instead. That is the question I would ask if we were to meet our great creator. Are we simply doomed to walk this land or is there some greater plan set in stone?"

He took a few steps forward until he was standing side to side with Riku. "Well while we can't ask questions, we can look into the future that it intends. The seers, messengers of the hearts of mankind. Or they were anyway, but they're all extinct. All but one."

Janus spun around and slowly walked back to where he previously stood. "But no matter if you're not willing to tell us. I do love a good hunt. Besides, there's plenty of other reasons to keep you here. Seven of them, in fact. I count seven good men and women that we've lost in the past few weeks. And I do include Louisa in that, even if I was ultimately the one to do it, you unfortunately forced my hand. But ignoring that, you're not the only one who has friends and family, I'm sure you're aware. And of the friends and family of the people you've killed? They're not so forgiving as I.

"Oh, and let us not forget one other reason. It wouldn't do to have you or the girl running around causing us further trouble. Better to remove the pieces from the board while we still can. It would probably be a mercy to get this over with right now and spare you the pain. I'll grant you no such thing. From this day forth, consider yourself a prisoner of war."

True to his word, Riku spent the next few days wishing for the mercy that Janus had denied him. At different times of day that seemed to hold no discernible pattern, he was subjected to questioning, mostly by Janus but on rare occasions by one or two other guards wearing fox masks. The questions were always the same. Always the same because he never gave them any straight answers. They wanted to know about Namine, about his friends. He would either not answer or respond with some snide comment. At some point, they just gave up asking directly.

One day in particular, Riku found himself on the ground, shirtless and covered in cuts and burns. They had since abandoned the shackles, allowing Riku to move around freely in his cell. His body ached but his mind was elsewhere, for to him the screams coming from the cell next door were much worse. It pained his heart. He had heard them quite often these past few days. He imagined that they had figured that if they could not break his body, they would break his heart, through her.

Another day passed, or so Riku believed, he had no concept of time in this cell. He started to grow tired of it all. The same cold hard table he slept on, the same four walls… He woke up at one point after a period of rest. He had had a dream. A very nice dream. He had been flying, soaring across the star-lit sky with Sora and Kairi at his side. At some point, they arrived at a train station, something that looked similar to the one in Twilight Town. Here, they met Namine and she insisted they ought to go somewhere. Somewhere important, Riku couldn't exactly remember where. In any case, after taking the train, he found himself at the beach. He was sitting there with all his friends. His mother as well. He was especially happy to see her. She placed a hand on his shoulder before pulling him into a hug.

"Happy Birthday, Riku," she whispered. The dream ended there. And the very real torture began all over again.

Slowly, but surely, new methods of torture were introduced to him. A plastic was bag placed over his head. Panic soon began to set in within this enclosed space. He could feel himself becoming increasingly lightheaded and hot, which only led to more panicking. At some point, what his torturer was saying to him became unclear. Muddled. And then-

His eyes slowly opened. For a moment, just a moment, he had no idea where he was or even who he was. It was the most terrifying moment of his life. All he could think of in that situation was that he had to get out of here. He had to get out. He had to get out he had to get out he had to-

Riku smelt something. A most pleasant smell wafting its way into his nostrils. He slowly looked down to see a weirdly shaped piece of bread and a cup of water lying next to him. He looked up to meet his benefactor but their face was covered in the same kitsune mask as all the others. Immediately, Riku felt a tinge of disdain for this person. Were they messing with him?

"Eat up. I'm sorry I can't do anything more. This was all I could get past the guards for you and your friend. Don't worry, it's not poisoned. It's fresh, from the nearby village. I think they call it a… croissant?" the woman said. "As is the water."

Ah, so that was it. Out of pity then. He would have laughed if it didn't hurt so much to do so.

"Tell me something. How long has it been… since I've been here?" he asked, choosing to ignore the food for the moment.

"Seven days."

Riku shook his head. So what to him had felt like more than a week had in reality been only that. He soon looked at the bread and water. "I don't want it."

There was an audible sound that came from behind the woman's mask before a more forceful tone came through. "Don't be so stubborn. Is this pride speaking?"

"It's the part that doesn't care," was what Riku wanted to say, but refrained from doing so and instead remained silent.

"Look, eat it or starve, I don't personally care which. But until then, I'll continue to do what's right."

Riku glared at the wall. He had seriously considered throttling the woman there and then. Do what was right… how was any of this right? And she wanted him to be thankful? For what, continuing his suffering?

The woman turned to leave. She opened the door and looked back. "For what it's worth? I'm sorry. I know that's not much of a consolation but… I can't go against his orders."

The door closed leaving Riku completely alone once again. He immediately hated it. The silence. It was when he was left to his own thoughts. His own demons. He looked down again at the bread and cup of water in front of him. Acting like a child wasn't going to do him any favors. He wouldn't be thankful to her, but if there was any hope of surviving…

He picked up the bread and took a large bite out of it. It was buttery, but delicious. He ought not waste his energy on complaining about things that weren't even acting against him.

Days passed and Riku had felt like he had lived and died several times over. Only rarely did he receive the luxury of a good meal courtesy of the masked woman. Most days he would receive awful gruel, stale bread or leftovers. The taste of the gruel especially was indescribably awful, but Riku had to swallow. If he spit anything out, a sharp slap across the face was to be his reward. It was this food that was his biggest indication of the passing of the day. More infrequently was the occasional forced bathing that they gave him. He was forcibly dragged left and right by his hair as the guard scrubbed at him furiously, as though he were trying to desperately erase something from paper.

The sound of screaming coming from the other cell was another. Occasionally, he would hear Xion's screams and think a terrible thought to himself. That at least he wasn't alone in all of this. Of course, there was also the part where he thought that he would rather not get her or anyone else involved in this.

This all changed one day however when he noticed something was absent. Xion's screams had subsided. He waited, and waited, and waited, but no matter how long he did, they no longer reached his ears. A most dreadful knot increasingly found its way in his stomach, from where it got larger. His heart raced as worry upon worry started to pile itself on his mind. And then, one day he couldn't take it anymore. He had to know.

"Xion? Xion!" Riku ran to the cell doors and began pounding on them with his fist. "Xion, are you there? Please, if you're there, just say something! Anything! XION! XIOOOOON!"

"Hey, calm it down in there, dog, before I come in and make you regret it!" one of the people guarding his cell barked at him. Dog… after throwing up his food, the guard had taken to calling him that.

But Riku ignored this, his body but a mere vehicle on autopilot for his distressed thoughts. "IF YOU DID ANYTHING TO HER, I'LL KILL YOU, YOU HEAR ME? I'LL KILL EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU BASTARDS!"

That did it. The doors to his cell burst open almost immediately. Riku tried to swing at one of the guards. A swing and a miss. The guard slammed the left half of his body into Riku, forcing him off his feet and onto the ground.

"He told you to quiet down," the guard next to him said. Riku saw the handle of a Keyblade hovering above him. The last thing he saw was that same Keyblade coming down on him.

When he opened his eyes next, he found himself in a room different from his previous holdings. Small as it still was, it differed from the previous room in width and that there was no table in the room.

"Morning, sunshine. Enjoy your nap?"

Riku could only glare at Janus. How long had he been standing there?

"I heard you were acting up over Xion? That's so cute it warms my heart. You're a good boyfriend. Are you her boyfriend?"

"Where is she?" Riku's voice came out as more of a half-whisper than he had intended.

"Your concern is touching, but, alas, unnecessary. We merely moved her to a different cell. There's no need to worry your pretty little head about it," Janus said as he roughly messed up Riku's hair with his hand. "Oh, did you miss her shrill screams echoing throughout the halls? You weren't enjoying them, were you? Funny idea of romantic."

"SHUT UP!"

"Ah-ah-aah!" Janus placed his finger against Riku's lips. "Wouldn't want Aegir to come running now, would you? He's been gunning for you apparently. Doesn't seem to think it's worth the trouble to keep you around."

"Should probably listen to him… sounds like a wise guy…" Riku muttered.

Janus laughed. "I bet you would like that. But it's true. At the moment, this is our base of operations, but we can't well stay here forever. The world is calling and with it, new opportunities. Expand your horizons and with it the heart—that is the mission of every Keyblade wielder no matter what faction you hail from. If I desire to learn about why we're here, staying here is, well, counter-productive."

He backed away and turned his back on Riku. "I had even deliberated letting you or Xion join us, first come first served. But I value loyalty above all else. Can't have someone whose heart's not in it. So that leaves me one option—render you incapable of fighting back. A strong heart makes a Keyblade wielder, thus I will break yours until you are a Keyblade wielder no longer. Sever the ties that bind you and your 'awakening'. Only then, when you can be of no bother to us, will I see fit to let you go. Then you can be free of this eternal cycle of suffering we've condemned ourselves to."

Janus turned his head to the side to look at Riku. "Consider that my gift to you."

He soon left, leaving Riku on his own in the dark. A few more seconds passed, and then Riku let out a yell, one that soon turned into more of a painful laugh. It was all just too much to bear. To him, it was as if he had just received the worst news possible—he had been condemned to live another day. No, this wasn't living. It wasn't even death. It lay somewhere in between. He disregarded the voice at the door telling him to keep his mouth shut. It didn't matter. Perhaps if he aggravated them enough, he just might convince them to think again in regard to his fate…

But even then, there was still something within him that could not let go. He could feel it. The will to live dwelled within him, no matter how far out of reach it may have seemed. It was his only lifeline, his wayfinder back home. He tried to picture it as best he could—the future. Sora and Kairi were there in his mind, as was Xion, Aqua, Terra and everyone else. He would find his way back to them, no matter what it took. They could break his body all they tried, but it was not too late to make sure he kept his heart out of reach. Riku closed his eyes and paid attention only to the rising and falling of his chest. He wasn't sure how much time had passed but the next thing he knew, he was standing on a familiar stained-glass platform, only that this time he noticed the fractures spreading outwards from the middle. His resolve was shaky, but if he could hold on for a while longer… but just how long was a while? As this thought came to him, another crack in the platform appeared right underneath his feet…

Riku opened his eyes to find himself back in his prison cell. "Hang in there," he told himself. Even so, he knew he could only believe in those words for so long.

Those words would soon prove to be tested not only a short while later when he was called by the boy he now knew as Aegir.

"You're wanted next door. Move it, dog."

Riku awoke with a start. So he had only been dreaming... He looked around, slightly disoriented and confused at first until he realised he was still in the helicopter alongside its pilot. He leaned back in his seat, slightly more relaxed than before.

He remembered it so vividly… the sharp cracks of the cat o' nine tails cutting into his back. It hadn't just been the one time either. He had straight up passed out from some of the flogging. Even now he still had the scars to prove it. Not that it had been her fault. Xion had been forced into using the device on him. Forced just so she could keep the both of them alive. Whatever pain he had felt in that situation, she had felt far worse in committing the act—so much so that he knew she could never look at him again.

Riku frowned and looked down, not having realised that he had clenched his hand incredibly tightly. He opened them only, observing as his hand shook uncontrollably, before closing them once again in disgust. That was by far the thing he could never forgive that monster for the most. If it had just been him, that would have been one thing, but hurting Xion not just physically but mentally and emotionally as well was beyond even the palest of pales.

"Ah, I see the sleepyhead is awake! Were you dreaming of me?" Junior yelled from the pilot's seat, peering over his shoulder to look at Riku.

Riku merely scoffed and looked outside through the small window. He could see land underneath him, greenery stretching on and on for miles.

"How close are we?" Riku chose to ask instead.

"Almost there, unless you want to walk the rest of the way which I don't mind by the way-"

"No, I've already come this far. Might as well go all the way then," Riku said, much to Junior's chagrin.

Junior sighed and then put on his best smile a moment later. "Perhaps we got off on the wrong foot. For the time we have left, why don't we re-introduce ourselves?"

Riku rolled his eyes. "Perhaps? You tried to kill me. Twice."

"Ah, tried, and you're ALIVE! Also, that second time was technically my father. I had no idea that mirror could do that. I mean, every time I looked at it, I just saw a sexy hunk of a man with huge biceps staring back at me. It was like the craziest thing, I swear!"

"I've changed my mind, I'm jumping out," Riku said. This elicited a laugh from Junior. If only Riku had meant for it to be a joke.

True to Junior's word, the helicopter soon began to descend lower and lower, with its pilot peering out of the window, searching for a place to land amongst the thousands of pine trees. As Riku looked down as well, his eye caught something of interest.

"Well this is a bit annoying. When father decides to build a resort in the place, we really need to clear a few of these trees for a good and- wait, HEY!" Junior could only watch on in horror as Riku slid open the door and jumped out. "I'M NOT COVERING THE FUNERAL EXPENSES TOO!" He yelled after him, though it was incredibly unlikely Riku had heard anything.

The wind whipped against Riku's face as he fell to the land. He spread his arms out, eagle style and summoned his Keyblade. Aiming for the small gap of treeless land he could see, he aimed the tip forward and cast Aeroga. He struck the landing dead-on, his feet bouncing off the small geyser of wind, propelling him forward. Before he could stop himself, his face made contact with hard wood, the impact of hitting the tree rendering his body inert.

"Ugh, not my best landing. Good thing Sora isn't here to see me now," Riku said, rubbing his nose. He knew his best friend would never let him live that one down, not because Sora hadn't done some pretty embarrassing things himself, but because Riku was usually pretty careful about maintaining a certain image.

He let his hands fall and quickly picked himself off, heading in the direction of what had intrigued him from the air. Could he dare to even hope? Perhaps he had even been imagining it. Perhaps it had been a desperate wish on his part.

As he kept moving forward, it was that latter thought that was becoming increasingly prominent in his mind. He slowed down and soon came to an eventual stop. The silence of the forest was now his only companion. It was in this silence that Riku was forced to reconcile with the truth—he had imagined her. Xion. Was he really that tired?

Riku looked up, watching as a solitary leaf fell from one of the trees. He reached out to grab it, only to make a painfully wry grimace as he missed it by mere inches. He really may as well have been blindfolded again.

Just as he was about to look up from the ground, he noticed one of the bushes rustling nearby. Probably just an animal. Riku was about to look away, but the rustling intensified. The next thing he knew, something that looked like a small rocket-shaped man popped out of the bush. Well, perhaps rocket-shaped wasn't quite the correct way to describe him. He was tiny, about half the size of the dwarves from Snow White's world. He wore a pointed red hat, which was what had ultimately given Riku the perception of a rocket. The white-haired bearded man stared back at Riku with a blank expression, and Riku could only stare back.

Then, feeling as if he should say something, Riku opened his mouth to speak only for the tiny man to proceed to throw up all the colors of the rainbow. An audible "Errrrr…" escaped from Riku's mouth instead as he watched the strange scene unfold in front of him. When the creature had finished hurling, he looked back up at Riku with a strange silly expression on his face. For a moment, Riku was tempted to match that expression. If he had decided on pulling it off, he never got the chance to. The last thing he felt was a painful sensation slam into the back of his head before the whole world went dark.

A/N: So I had this chapter written for a while but I didn't want to release it during Christmas. Hopefully you can see why. There's a bit more to this flashback but we'll save that for another time. For now, it looks like Riku has gotten himself in a bit of a pickle. How will he get himself out of this situation? You won't have to wait too long to find out!