Chapter 3: What was going on the other side

A/N: Happy New Year everyone! It's been a while. I've been getting writers block lately when it comes to writing this story. I want to finish this before Kingdom Hearts 4 comes out so I'm going to will myself to work on this story more starting next year lol.

As an apology for taking so long it's only fair I do a chapter where it's just Riku. He's got his own little adventures too.

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts; I just own my characters.

Enjoy!

/

Luxord stepped out the portal and appeared before a cliff overlooking the Keyblade Graveyard. Xemnas had his back to him as he stared at the vast sea of Keyblades that used to belong to Keyblade wielders.

"What have you to report?" he ordered.

Luxord kept his cool and pulled out his deck of cards. He didn't get the answers that Xemnas wanted but at least he found something out.

"He's acting dumb about it but he knows something about that box" he explained.

"It's obvious he wants to find it before anyone else does. As to why that box is so special…he was being oddly quiet about it"

Xemnas hummed in thought. He knew the sharpshooter was up to something. He had always been the sneaky one even back when he first met him. Xigbar had been acting odd ever since they were brought back for the Keyblade War. It seemed like he wasn't expected to be summoned back. He went along with everything and did what he was told, but it seemed like he was rushing to get this war started. As if he had other plans.

Whatever they were, he was going to find out. Xigbar was out to get his wife and child and that did not sit well with him.

Luxord raised an eyebrow when Xemnas hadn't said anything.

"Shall I continue to shadow him?" he asked.

Xemnas looked over his shoulder for a second then back at the graveyard.

"Leave him for now. He knows he's being watched and won't do anything. Go back to what you were originally supposed to do" he said.

Luxord bowed a little.

"As you wish"

He disappeared in a portal, leaving Xemnas alone.

Now that he was by himself again, he let his guard down slightly. His stoic mask slipped away to reveal his true expression. Behind that cold, indifferent facade was a man who was tied up by strings and being danced around like a puppet. Just how long would he have to act like this? How much more could he endure before he finally snapped?

He looked at the Forget-Me-Not flower that was in his hand. He had to continue being this pawn. He had to play his part as the bad guy. He had to be strong even though he felt himself breaking.

He had to do it all.

For her.

/

Entering the Realm of Darkness was no walk in the park. When King Mickey said it was tricky to enter it, he really meant it.

After many trial and errors, Riku, Taiyouko and Mickey somehow managed to find their way into this forbidden realm.

Getting here was the easy part, now the challenge was finding Aqua. With how vast this realm was, it would be like finding a needle in a haystack. They didn't know where they would find her, but they knew they wouldn't accomplish anything by just standing around.

With their new special outfits, they braved the horrors that the Realm of Darkness offered.

"How could she managed to last in this place for so long?" Taiyouko asked.

"It may seem like it's been over 12 years for us but when I saw her last time it seemed like a few days to her. Even surviving a short amount of time in here is amazing" Mickey said.

Riku suddenly stopped walking. It finally sunk in that he was back at the spot where he started his path to redemption. He could still remember feeling alone and scared as he stayed here when Sora and Hikari closed Kingdom Hearts.

Mickey and Taiyouko noticed Riku had stopped walking and stopped as well.

"Are you ok, Riku?" Taiyouko asked.

Riku gave her a weak smile. He couldn't show how nervous he was otherwise she would be coddling him. Typical mother behavior.

"It just dawned on me that I've been here. I should know this place. But that all seems like another life" he said.

Mickey gave him a sympathetic look.

"Well, gee. Think of all you've seen! All the feelings you've felt" he said.

"Why, you've done years of growing in almost no time at all"

"That's true. You were just a boy when I first met you and now look at the man you've become" Taiyouko said.

Riku looked at the ribbon that was tied to his finger. A lot had changed since that moment. Many good things with a few hiccups here and there. But he had changed for the better.

"I remember my first time here. I was so scared. I was here all by myself with only Hikari's pendant on me" he said.

"But now, my doubts and fears are gone. If anything, I feel exhilarated. And it's not because there's darkness in me- I know too well what that rush is like. This is different"

"Could be that we're with you this time. Even though we're rescuing Aqua, this feels like an adventure with a group of close friends" Taiyouko said.

"I think it's because Riku finally realized where his strength is from. Sometimes when you care so much for somebody that other feelings disappear. And then, there's no room for fear or doubt" Mickey added.

Riku smiled and looked back at the ribbon. Maybe that was it. Now that he had a promise that he made with Hikari, it was pushing his body to move forward. His heart wasn't giving him the chance to feel scared or nervous. Why feel scared when he had a bright future with Hikari waiting for him?

"Strength to protect what matters" he said to himself.

He had something in his life that mattered. Someone who gave him a purpose. Who gave him a promising future together.

He was going to be strong for his loved ones till the very end.

But right now he needed to be strong for someone who needed his help.

Like Aqua.

"Mickey, does any of this look familiar?"

They had been walking for hours but didn't see anything that stood out.

"Some parts do, but the realm of darkness has changed since I was here with Aqua" Mickey admitted.

"It is different from what I remember" Riku admitted.

"Usually, I'd just follow my heart and Aqua would show me the way. But the closer I get, the hazier our connection feels" Mickey said.

"Do you think something happened to her?" Taiyouko asked.

"Maybe, but we can't give up hope" Mickey said.

"Come on. Let's continue with our search"

The three of them ventured further in, not knowing what was in store for them.

After a long while, the scenery slowly started to change. The tall rock structures started to break away while the stone path turned into sand. Before they knew it, they had reached to the dark shore.

Riku stopped walking when he saw the familiar sight.

"This beach…" he whispered.

This was the spot where he and Hikari had confessed their love for each other and became a couple. When they thought they were stuck on this beach they decided as long as they were together, everything would be fine.

Mickey walked around the beach with a frantic look on his face.

"It's gone. I'm positive Aqua was here. But now…her trail's gone dim" he said.

"Maybe she's on the other side of this beach?" Taiyouko said.

"Actually, Sora, Hikari and I were on this beach before. This is where we were able to return to the realm of light" Riku said.

"Maybe Aqua did too!"

Mickey shook his head sadly.

"Aqua…has fallen into an even darker abyss-somewhere I can't see her" he said.

"And I don't think we're equipped to dive any deeper than we already are"

That was horrible news. It took them everything to enter this realm. The fact that they couldn't go any further just showed how dense and old this world was.

"Now what?" Taiyouko asked.

A group a heartless surrounded them. Panicking, the three of them summoned their weapons and pressed their backs together.

"Be careful. Even the least threatening Heartless are stronger in this realm" Mickey warned.

The heartless jumped back and landed into a pile. The three of them watched as the heartless merged together and became a giant pillar of Shadows.

"Look out!" Taiyouko cried.

They jumped out of the way as the pillar lunged at them. Riku and Mickey attacked while Taiyouko used her magic to keep them safe. Every time they attacked a few of the shadows would break off and scatter around the beach. When Riku broke down the last of the shadow pillar, he realized that he just scattered the heartless all around them.

"Don't let your guard down!" Mickey said.

Riku had his eyes on the shadows in front of him that he didn't notice what was happening behind him. A bunch of the shadows grouped together again and formed another pillar before flying to Riku.

"Riku!" Taiyouko cried out.

When Riku turned to see what was going on, it was too late.

"Shit!"

The heartless scooped him up and trapped him within the pillar.

"Riku!" Taiyouko and Mickey yelled.

Riku felt like he was drowning as the darkness surrounded him. It almost seemed like he couldn't get enough air in his lungs no matter how hard he tried to breath. He felt himself get lightheaded as he struggled to breath.

"Didn't expect to see you again"

Riku forced himself to wake up a little as he heard that voice. It seemed familiar somehow.

"Why did you even come here?"

"Because somebody needs me" Riku said in his head.

It was quiet for a moment before the voice spoke again.

"Do you want some help?"

Riku tried to figure out where he had heard this voice before. Why was it so familiar?

"Who are you?"

The voice chuckled a tiny bit.

"Me? I'm…"

A bright light broke though the dark space. Riku gasped as the darkness disappeared.

"Riku?"

"Riku honey, wake up"

Riku groaned and slowly opened his eyes. Taiyouko and Mickey hovered over him with worry. When they saw him waking up, they sighed with relief.

"Are you ok?" Mickey asked.

Riku slowly sat up and tried to take his surroundings in. There were no heartless anymore. It was as if they were never here.

"Where did the heartless go?"

"I got rid of half of them while Taiyouko was able to get them to spit you out" Mickey said.

Riku looked at Taiyouko to see her have a drained look on her face. He noticed that once again her eyes were a golden color while a streak of her hair was completely white.

'Those eyes again' he thought.

Taiyouko's eyes went back to normal. She looked worried as she cupped his face.

"Oh sweetie, your hair"

Riku touched his hair to see that it wasn't to his neck anymore. It was all chopped up and cropped in the back making it look messy yet stylish at the same time. Guess the heartless decided he needed a haircut.

"My hair, what about yours? Why is it white?" he asked.

Taiyouko picked up the bits of hair that had turned completely white. She shook a little as she heard the voice in her head cackle with delight. She quickly put on a smile to reassure that she was alright.

"Just one of the side effects of using time magic. It'll go back to normal when I regain my strength" she promised.

Riku didn't believe her. This was the second time that he had seen her features change when she used time magic.

Something was wrong.

He knew she wasn't going to tell him the truth right now, but he was going to ask her about this later. If something was wrong with her, he wanted to help her.

Slowly standing up, he checked to make sure everyone was ok.

"Is anyone hurt?"

Mickey shook his head.

"Our new gear protected us…but…your Keyblade…"

Riku looked at his Keyblade to see that it was snapped in half. It seemed like Hikari wasn't the only one getting hers destroyed.

"It seems like our outfits are able to handle this realm but we'll need to upgrade our weapons" Taiyouko said.

"We should go back to Yen Sid's tower so we can regroup" Mickey agreed.

"And maybe get better weapons" Taiyouko added.

Riku looked at his broken blade then out to the ocean.

"But Aqua's…still down here, alone. Facing enemies like this" he said.

"How can we help her when we barely survived that attack?" Taiyouko asked.

Riku gripped his Keyblade and walked to the shore of the beach.

"What if she's feeling as scared and alone…as I felt the first time I came here?" he asked himself.

"How long are we supposed to keep her waiting in this awful place?"

Mickey and Taiyouko looked at him sadly. They knew how important it was to find Aqua. But they needed to defend themselves better if they were going to travel further into this realm.

They slowly walked over to him and looked at the waves.

"Don't worry. Aqua…she's like Sora" Mickey said.

Riku freaked out when he heard that. Sora was sweet but he was also a bit of an airhead. The Mark of Mastery exam was proof of that.

"What?!" Riku shouted.

Mickey panicked when he realized what he said.

"No, no, no I meant she's strong like Sora" he corrected.

"I guess I should have said she's like Hikari. She can handle stressful situations and keep calm"

Riku sighed with relief. For a second he was worried that he was supposed to rescue another airhead.

One Sora was enough.

"Good. Then I guess she's gonna be alright"

"We won't be long. I'm sure she can handle this place for a tiny bit longer" Taiyouko said.

"Right" Riku said.

He walked near the water and slammed his broken blade into the sand.

"Can't use this Keyblade anymore" he said.

"Seems like Hikari and I really are a pair. We both became Masters and we both broke our blades"

"That's true love" Taiyouko teased.

She laughed a little before grabbing her head in pain. The voice from before returned laughing in her head.

"Clocks ticking my dear. If only you didn't use that time spell. The more you use it, the worse the seal becomes. And since your knight isn't here to save you, you'll end up just like that poor girl who's stuck here"

She forced the voice to go away. She had to still hang on. The grasp that she had on this voice was slowly slipping from her fingers. No matter how hard she tried the worse it was becoming. She didn't know much longer she could keep this witch at bay but she had to force herself to hang on. At least until everyone was saved.

She forced her magic to return to normal as they tried to get out of this horrible realm. It seemed not only were the Heartless stronger here but the dark forces were as well.

She flinched as she felt the witch try to claw her way out. It was getting harder and harder to do this by herself.

'My love' she thought.

/

Xemnas felt the hair on the back of his neck go up. Whipping his head around, he tried to see where the danger was coming from. When he saw that he was still alone, he calmed down a little but kept an eye out.

Something in the air suddenly changed. Something eerie.

'My love'

Xemnas's eyes widen a little when he heard that voice. He knew Taiyouko wasn't here but his body turned around anyway to look for her.

His hand curled around the flower he was holding as he looked out to the distance. Now he knew why the air suddenly felt different. Another opponent was trying to join this war. Xemnas actually felt nervous. He knew who was trying to force their way here and he knew that couldn't happen.

If this person appeared when the war started then all hope would be lost.

/

A/N: Well that ain't good. Seems like this mysterious person is not putting Taiyouko on edge but also Xemnas. And if he's nervous about this person you know they're dangerous.

Now Riku has a matching broken blade like Hikari. If that ain't true love I don't know what is lol.

Hope this was an ok chapter.

Please tell me what you think!

Take care!