Author Notes:

MY BIGGEST APOLOGIES to those of you who went back and reread the story and its horrible, horrible beginning chapters with the completely OOC Kairi and Riku and Sora. No, really. I despise the first 14 chapters and, to this day, still plan on rewriting them! (Hence some of your confusion about Riku's happy reaction to Kairi being alive. It was my horrible writing in the beginning of the story.)

Your reactions to Yami's revelation were so much fun, even the angry and disappointed ones. It was definitely worth the six year wait for me, haha. There was plenty of confusion, too, but I'm going to try to make everything as clear as I can as the story draws closer to the big climax...es.

Thanks as always to my closest friends for helping me through my tightest writing spots. I couldn't have done this without you.

Chapter Twenty-six: His Stygian Solace

-o-o-

Every villain Riku had faced prior to this moment had presented him with a new challenge.

Jafar and his lust for power, Ursula and her charming wiles, Atlantis and its ancient grudge, Maleficent and her dangerous devotion to the darkness, Yami and his web of secrets—

Every battle had taught him something new: the necessity of teamwork to overcome the impossible; trust was the true key to success; even with a keyblade, he wasn't infallible; the only thing stopping him from reaching his true potential was himself; and even old enemies could be valuable allies when faced with a common threat.

Riku now realized that even though he had survived all of his battles, he had been losing the war all along. These battles weren't his own. He really was just a pawn in a war outside of his control. Friends were enemies and enemies were friends, and Riku was just a boy with a key doing the dirty work for both the light and the dark.

And as he met the eyes of his newest opponent, a familiar face with a stranger's eyes, he knew this would be his greatest challenge yet.

Id.

Sora.

Ansem.

Fighting his archenemy for the freedom of his best friend and the heart of the man who had possibly started this whole mess. Riku was scared to imagine how much more screwed up his situation could get.

Lucky for him, he didn't have time to imagine it.

He flew across the cracked surface of the platform towards Id. A furious vengeance sang inside of him for everything that had happened—to Sora, to himself, even to Kairi—Kairi, who stood her ground behind him, her presence quiet but strong, and her determination feeding his own.

Once Sora was within perfect range, Riku swung his keyblade with all of his might, and saw the burning amber of Id's gaze flicker with amusement.

Way to Fall's dark blade swiped through nothing.

Sora's figure was there and gone in an instant, leaving just a cloud of dissolving darkness behind.

"Riku, look out!"

Everything was a blur, but Kairi's warning cut through his confusion as he whirled around in time to see a wave of darkness launch out of the ground to ensnare him.

Riku was fast, but he wasn't fast enough to avoid it.

His keyblade struck the shadows just as they enveloped him in a waterfall of black and pulled him into their cold depths. His keyblade may as well have been wading through water, the darkness sluggishly parting beneath it before swallowing it completely.

Riku didn't panic until he felt invisible fingers wrap around his weapon and begin to tug on it. He cried out and clamped both of his hands around the hilt, refusing to let go because he knew he wouldn't get a second chance if he lost the keyblade here and now.

And just when he felt a firm tendril snake around his wrist to help pry the key away, a thunderous roar broke through the harvest of shadows, and Riku suddenly found himself free from its hold.

He collapsed onto his knees, confused but alert, keyblade still in hand.

Tattered but no longer fallen, the beast tore through the darkness and scattered the hungry tendrils from around Riku. There was no time for thanks. Riku was back on his feet before the darkness finished dissolving, and the bastion's grim interior was a welcome sight for once.

Laughter rang throughout the room, full of life like Sora's but still not Sora.

"Come on, Ri-ku, you have to prove to me you really think this brat is worth your suffering!"

The darkness surged upward and billowed out in an explosion of purples and blacks. Ribbons of inky silk rained upon them followed by larger spheres of darkness, and Riku felt his heart leap as he recognized them. They were smaller, but they looked just like the large ball of darkness that had been suspended above the islands before he and Sora had left their world to its fate.

The ribbons fell across the dais and room, writhing sluglike where they landed and stretching themselves across whatever surface they touched. The beast threw his arms around Kairi and pulled her down to shield her, but Riku had to tear his eyes away from them as the darkness littered the air all around him.

He moved without thought, diving for the nearest ribbon and cutting his keyblade through it. The darkness didn't disintegrate, only dispersed just like before, but that was good enough for him. He dragged his blade along the ground and suddenly spun, sweeping his keyblade out in a fierce spiral, trusting in the weapon's strength and guidance.

But in that moment, it wasn't the keyblade's song that came to him—

The keyblade chose you, and it chose you for a reason, boy. Trust in its powers, and you will find your own.

It was Merlin's wisdom.

Even if something unpleasant is to come of what I am going to do, I know that the worlds will be well protected.

Yami's quiet faith.

No one ever said being a hero was easy work.

And Sora's loyalty.

Riku felt a deep warmth blossom inside of him. A fierce unnamed power surged from his heart to his fingertips and channeled through Way to Fall, rushing out of the keyblade in a torrent of scintillating light and swept across the platform in a spiral of its own, searing away Id's dark rain.

The darkness that had been crawling along Beast's fur and Kairi's feet disintegrated into nothing. The inky pools spreading along the cracks of the dais disappeared, banished by the light.

Id's wings of shadow burst into a cloud of dark feathers before they too faded away, and Id landed at the head of the platform in a low crouch, the mirth gone from his face.

"So that's how you want to play..."

His heart trembling with excitement and power, Riku clutched his keyblade tightly and angled it at Id.

Id took one look at the silent challenge and rose back to his feet with the grace of a whorl of smoke. Already the darkness was creeping along Sora's body again, gathering together into a new set of wings and transforming his clothes into the same dark outfit Riku had last met Id in.

The desperation Riku had felt that night Id had attacked Traverse Town returned to him, only this time he didn't have to worry about a whole town of innocents getting caught in the middle—just Sora and the beast he had wanted to protect, and just Kairi and the stray heart she wanted to protect.

The dark shell around Ansem's heart remained intact, its faint glow hovering in front of Id as if to tease them. Somewhere inside of it, Yami probably still existed, or at least some semblance of him. Riku wasn't sure how much of Yami had been Ansem himself versus how much had been Kairi.

Either way, Riku was with Kairi on this one; they needed his heart, even if it was just so Id wouldn't have it. Riku had too many questions left, and he wasn't going to let Yami rest in peace until he got the answers he wanted.

That notion in mind, Riku rushed to attack before Id's darkness could completely recover. Everything happened in a matter of seconds, from Riku's light attack to now as his keyblade cut through the air towards Id.

The blackened blade of Einlanzer was there to welcome him, the familiar sword gleaming like polished obsidian as it grinded against Way to Fall's skeletal form. He was aware of Kairi calling to him to be careful, but as he lifted his gaze to Id's between their crossed blades, Riku knew there would be no vigilance here, not with his enemy's eyes behind his best friend's face.

He and Id separated with a scrape of weapon on weapon as Riku planted a foot against Sora's stomach and launched himself into a back flip—and just in time to avoid the second flood of shadows that surged out of the floor below him.

He felt its cold emptiness sweep past him as he landed back on his feet, but he didn't hesitate, not giving it a chance to reform for another attack. He sank his keyblade into the flowing shadows, this time with confidence.

They recoiled, gliding back like scarves of cobweb and black lace, then began to blanket the surface of the platform to cut off his escape. All along the roiling black at his feet, yellow eyes emerged, one pair at a time, followed by antennae and talons and long, lissome limbs.

Riku didn't stop to watch the heartless rise out of the abyss.

Even as the room grew dim, dimmer, and near midnight black—Id's trickery, he knew—he used the faint light of his keyblade and the surreal glow of the heartless' eyes to know where to strike. He fought through the thickening shadows, stifling the instinctual terror he felt as the heartless crowded him.

Instead of giving into it, he let the voices in his heart guide him. All of his experiences had led him to this battle and there was no way he was going to lose to a shadow.

A pack of neoshadows surrounded him with effortless ease, and as he danced and ducked past their fierce kicks, he saw new species of heartless amongst the throng, some shaped like dark teardrops with batwings, others like black beach balls with shark teeth, even more in the form of what Riku had always imagined demons to look like: humanoid with curved horns and wings, carrying large serrated swords.

None of them carried the familiar red and black heartless emblem, so he knew exactly what he was dealing with. Natural heartless. Merlin had been right about Id's powers—not that any of that helped him now.

He held nothing back, keeping his movements quick and ferocious and landing a blow on every heartless that dared pass into his circle of safety—made by the faint dome of light that surrounded him from the keyblade.

It wasn't easy.

The air was heavy with darkness. The venomous cold of it crept deep inside of him to taint his heart.

But then, through the flash of his keyblade striking a heartless down, he would catch a glimpse of Sora's face through the shadows, and he would fight even harder.

Beyond the heartless horde he could hear Beast's courageous roar and Kairi's determined yells for the heartless to back off. As Riku struck down two neoshadows, the darkness parted long enough for him to see Beast hunkered in front of Kairi as he swiped at any heartless that came close—to protect her or to hold her back, Riku wasn't sure.

"Let me go! I can fight, too!"

The latter, then.

Riku actually felt himself smile at the knowledge he had such unexpected help. Kairi had never been much of a fighter, preferring instead to collect seashells or content herself by watching the boys play. He used to pick on her about that. Now she was the one looking for a fight. How much had she changed because of Ansem? Or was this the Kairi who had been hidden beneath that innocent smile all along?

In order to drive back the heartless, Beast landed an earth-shattering blow against the platform, sending them tumbling and scattering. But the stone ruptured, and out of the widening cracks, shadows spilled into the air.

The shadows converged above them, absorbing dozens of heartless to help itself grow into a dark colossus. The darkness was too thick to see what it had turned into, but Riku could feel the power radiating off of it long before it even attacked.

The darkness around him shifted, and Riku tensed to defend himself against its wrath—

But it didn't come.

Riku heard Beast's distinct roar, followed by the cracks of dozens of quick blows against muscle, bone, and fur, and finally the heavy thump of a large body hitting the ground somewhere beyond the dais and the darkness. Riku didn't have to be able to see to know that the beast was out of the fight.

"NO! BEAST!"

Kairi's shrill cry pierce through the darkness, and Riku felt his own heart shudder at the concern that quaked her voice. He had just met the beast, but a fallen ally was a fallen ally, and he couldn't hold back the swell of rage and fear that overwhelmed him, too.

"Kairi, run away!" he screamed, knowing he wouldn't be able to hold the heartless back and protect her as Beast had done.

As if responding to his voice, the darkness twisted towards him next.

He raised Way to Fall to protect himself, but the force of the blow that came would have been enough to shatter any weapon—if he hadn't been using a keyblade. The blade's protective magic crackled with desperation as if to overcome the intensity of the power trying to consume it, and Riku felt his arms straining just to hold it aloft.

The floor was the first thing to give way. He staggered as the platform began to crumble beneath him, succumbing to the darkness's corruption, and the heartless were eager to take advantage of his instability. A rotund, pliant mass slammed into him from behind and ricocheted off, knocking him headfirst into the eager shadows.

They swallowed him and the keyblade whole, smothering his senses as they had done before, all except for that voice—not Id's voice, but the same he'd been hearing for days—

Haha... Are you really so weak?

—flowing like silk through his veins and tickling his heart with silent promises.

But before Riku could focus long on what those promises would entail, he felt her presence, her warmth, as her pale arms broke through the dark and wrapped around him.

"You can't have him, too!"

Light.

He squeezed his eyes shut as the radiance burned through the black engulfing them, and he felt the shadows peel away as her power purified the piece of crumbled dais where they stood.

"We can do this together, Riku."

He lifted his gaze and squinted, but without the darkness surrounding them, her light wasn't noticeable. He met her eyes, once again noticing the fleck of amber in her left one and the streak of white in her auburn hair. He didn't have to ask where she'd discovered her powers or how she'd learned to use them. Having Yami—no, Ansem—controlling her body for months would have given her plenty of schooling in that discipline.

"Thanks," he said, managing to get back to his feet.

The flutter of wings interrupted their moment of relief, and Riku whirled around, keyblade at the ready, as Id landed delicately on a craggy piece of the dais. Everything about his movements was completely unlike Sora now—too graceful, too precise. Sora was all about clumsy limbs and boyish charm; he was the loveable canine. Id was just a feline playing with its food.

Id twisted Sora's lips into a dark little smile. "You would already be on your knees if I had a host better suited to wielding the darkness."

Kairi's fingers clutched the edge of Riku's hoodie and gave a subtle tug, trying to tell him something. Riku followed the direction of her gaze and understood what she wanted.

The shadowy sphere that encased Ansem's heart was hovering just beside Id's head, only a leap of faith away. This was their chance—and maybe their only one.

Riku narrowed his eyes up at Id. "Why don't you fight me yourself instead of using all of your little pets?" he demanded.

"As if you have the guts to hurt my host," Id retorted with a widening smile.

Lifting his keyblade into a defensive position, Riku clenched his jaw. "Try me."

Id's eyes almost seemed to brighten with delight, liking the challenge, or maybe the way Riku had worded it. "My pleasure," he purred.

He took the bait. Riku was expecting the attack that came next, but it was the force that caught him off guard. One moment, Id was standing in front of him, and the next, there was a burst of darkness and Id was flying through it wielding Einlanzer's tainted form. The weapon now looked like it was made out of pure shadow, and as it crashed against Riku's waiting keyblade, it felt like it held the force of a flood behind it, forcing Riku onto his knees from the impact.

Wisps of darkness curled off the blade as it grated against Riku's, trying to press him into submission, but Riku grinded his teeth and met Id's eyes with a fierce determination. That was all the distraction they'd needed.

Riku might have missed it if he hadn't been waiting for it, but it was there—a quiet shuffle of feet—and Kairi suddenly sprang forward, using Riku's bent back as a springboard to launch herself into the air. Her hands close around the shadow-encased heart hovering beside Id just as Id realized what she was doing.

"YOU—!"

Those heartless yellow eyes narrowed to dangerous slits, and before Riku could stop him, Id threw a hand out. A violent wave of darkness crashed into Kairi and threw her to the ground.

She hit the crumbled dais on her side and continued to roll, screaming, as her momentum carried her close to the edge. She was stopped by the team of neoshadows that dogpiled her, but through the growing shadows, Riku saw her curl up and hold Ansem's heart close to her breast to protect it.

Riku pushed all of his weight forward to shove Id back, making room to regain his footing before Id could attack again—and Id did, with a vengeance, his attention returning to Riku with the growl of a petulant child. Einlanzer struck at him again and again, quick but clumsy now in his anger, and Riku was able to meet the blade with Way to Fall each time.

Riku would have found satisfaction in Id's frustration if not for how worried he was about Kairi, whose powers hadn't reacted to the darkness swirling around her. "Use your light!" he shouted, grimacing as Einlanzer's dark blade nicked his shoulder. He wasn't sure how long he'd be able to keep this up.

He ducked as Id swung for his face, catching the sword with Way to Fall's keyway, and he twisted his weapon to yank Id's from his hands.

"I-I can't!" Kairi cried. "Ansem's heart will escape!"

Einlanzer's hilt spiraled in the air, and Riku caught it with ease, so cold it almost burned, the taint of its darkness sending goosebumps running along his arms.

Id's expression clouded with fury as Riku turned his own blade on him, now wielding both Einlanzer and his keyblade.

Clearly not liking the turn of events, Id teleported away in a cloud of darkness, amber eyes burning with rage. Riku didn't wait for him to reappear. He stabbed Einlanzer into the cracked dais and, armed with only his keyblade, he dove into the darkness to rescue Kairi.

Tendrils of shadow and heartless limbs snaked along his body as he reached for her, finally grasping one of her arms, but he felt himself getting pulled in, too, and realized this might have been what Id had wanted all along. His heart thumped at the panicked thought, but he held onto Kairi's trembling arm as he struggled against the powerful drag of the darkness, trying to wrench himself free so he could help her.

And through the ice beginning to creep into his senses as the darkness began to envelope him, he heard her.

"No—Riku—just run, I'll be okay!"

But there, closer, a breath on his ear, a deep whisper, that voice again...

Remember, all you have to do is open your heart.

A shiver coursed through Riku, igniting his nerves, and something inside of him melted under the temptation, spurred on by his desperation. Guarded but interested, his heart reached out, testing to see what lay beyond it, maybe see what this voice wanted from him—

That's it. Just like before. Embrace it.

And he felt it there, just outside the fringes of his own power—a wellspring of strength, of confidence—the same that had helped him defeat Maleficent. He tapped into it and felt the surge of power infuse with his own, filling him with an overwhelming sense of invulnerability, and he more than accepted it. He loved it.

Suddenly, Id's darkness was nothing to fear; now it was just in the way.

Something coiled inside of him and sprung free, a blast of warm indigo magic that swirled around him and Kairi in a majestic spiral, and drove back Id's heartless and shadows. Though it harmed the heartless enough for them to creep away to recuperate, it didn't banish the darkness itself, which began to gather for another attack.

Tugging Kairi to her feet, Riku turned to face Id, who was now perched atop his transforming mass of darkness. Those bright eyes focused on Riku with an intense interest that trembled Riku's heart.

"Fascinating. That wasn't the keyblade's power..."

At Id's words, Kairi's icy fingers curled against Riku's arm. Something about the way she touched him was wary, but Riku didn't have time to wonder on it.

A chorus of righteous cries broke through the tense silence, each a girl and each with a heart as bright and pure as a star.

Riku felt more than heard Kairi's surprised gasp as six beautiful ladies came clambering up the crumbled platform stairs, many dressed in lavish gowns of blues and yellows and pinks, and not one of them wielding a real weapon.

By all expectations, Id should have burst into laughter.

Instead, as the six princesses of heart rushed at him, his eyes widened with shock.

For just the briefest of moments, Riku sympathized with his astonishment because he couldn't believe his eyes either, but then he saw what effect the girls had on the shadows around them. They didn't need any weapons. In the face of their gathered pure hearts, the darkness didn't stand a chance.

The heartless shrank away like scared animals until they sank completely back into their black homes and disappeared. The shadows disintegrated, thousands upon thousands of tendrils unraveling and fading, Id's infinite loom of powers coming undone.

And Id himself, overcoming his surprise too late, fell through his vanishing darkness without a pair of dark wings to catch him.

It happened so fast, Riku's feet reacted before he could even think about what he was seeing. He flew across the debris towards Id's falling form, his best friend's name ringing through the air.

"Sora!!"

His thoughts weren't about the rubble beneath his feet or his momentum or how much this was going to hurt—

He threw himself forward into a roll, the jagged debris tearing into his skin and clothes, and but he made it a split second before Sora did. Sora's body slammed into his, and for a moment all Riku felt was the overwhelming sting of his nerves crying in agony. Sora, however, didn't make a sound. He lay where he'd landed on Riku, cold and lifeless.

As soon as Riku could think straight, he rolled over with a grimace, fragments of stone still piercing into his skin, but he was more concerned about Sora. Pulling the younger boy into his arms, he took his wrist.

There beneath Sora's chilled skin was a healthy pulse, slightly quickened, and already beginning to warm him. Sora's eyes were closed, but Riku had a good feeling that when they opened, they would be Sora's sky blue, not Id's heartless yellow.

Id was gone, at least for now. He must have abandoned Sora's body before the impact. Either that, or the pure hearts had temporarily banished him.

As the last of the darkness faded around them, the princesses knelt beside Riku and Sora, their delicate fingers brushing them off. Riku tried not to wince as shards of stone were carefully tugged out of his arm, but the feel of their warm hands resting on him was a relief. He couldn't hold back a grateful sigh as a cure spell washed through him.

"Thanks..."

Even surrounded by friendly faces, his heart refused to calm down yet.

Was it over?

He held Sora to his chest. Glancing past the colorful skirts of the princesses, he spotted Einlanzer.

The sword was still rammed into the stone where he'd left it, but now it was snapped clean in half. He wasn't sure how it had happened, but figured maybe the blade hadn't been able to handle that much darkness... and the thought saddened him. A lot of work, munny, and heart had gone into getting that present for Sora.

Beyond Einlanzer's resting place, he spotted Kairi.

She sat on her knees, her gaze focused on the small black globe that lay cupped in her hands. Tiny veins of light had begun to seep through the protective shadows around Ansem's heart.

No, it wasn't over yet.

Riku couldn't help wondering where Ansem's heart would go if Kairi's powers kept purifying that shell around it. Did it even have a body to return to? And if it did—would Riku even recognize that "Ansem" as "Yami"? Or had the entity named "Yami" only existed because Kairi had been half of him, too?

"Are you okay?"

Drawn out of his thoughts, Riku glanced at the tanned face that was now hovering in front of his. The princess was gorgeous, even Riku could admit that, with thick black hair tied behind her and a turquoise circlet centered above her forehead. She was very shapely, at least compared to some of the other princesses; she was also the only one not wearing a dress, sporting a pair of loose pants and a small top that reminded him of Atlantis, sort of, especially the color.

Aware that he was staring without meaning to, he politely lowered his gaze and focused on Sora. He could feel all of their eyes on him now, speculating, worrying, judging.

Was he okay? He didn't know. He needed answers and he needed time to think about them.

"For now," he said. "I need to seal the keyhole before anything else..."

But before he could get to his feet, a yellow skirt stopped in front of him. He felt his heart miss a beat as memories of months ago came to him, and his eyes rose to meet Snow White's.

"Riku, was it?" she asked with a sweet smile. "The Keyblade Master."

Riku's fingers curled against his keyblade's grip as he held Sora closer to himself. The conversation he had shared with Snow White that day still haunted him. He had promised to save her, her forest, and all of her animal friends, but he had failed them. He knew now it was because Yami himself had kidnapped her before Riku had returned to help her, but the guilt still gnawed at his heart.

"Yeah, Riku," he replied in a murmur. "I guess I ended up being your executioner in a way, after all. Sorry..."

She pressed a hand over her mouth as if holding back a giggle. "I don't blame you for what happened," she said, clasping her hands together now. "Seems like I had the opportunity to save you instead. I like to think of it as destiny about to come full circle." She slowly turned towards the heart-shaped portal where the door of the world awaited. "It's waiting for you to finish it."

Riku nodded. Carefully setting Sora down, he stood. His fingers tightened around Way to Fall as he watched several of the princesses move forward to study Sora.

One of them, with golden hair and red, red lips, offered Riku a reassuring smile. "I don't sense the darkness inside of him anymore."

And the blonde next to her, wearing a shimmering blue gown, brushed Sora's bangs out of his face. "I think if we work together, we can make something that can protect him..."

The youngest princess, another blonde with a doll-like dress, clapped her hands together. "What a wonderful idea!"

A hoarse growl resounded behind them, and Riku turned, surprised when he saw one of the princesses—the lone brunette of the group—helping Beast onto the cracked platform. Though he looked worse for wear, he now seemed to be mostly healed except for some stubborn injuries.

The princess accidentally touched one of the cuts on his arm, earning another deep growl from the beast, but after a loud "Oh, stop being a baby!" from her, Beast's ears drooped, and he let her coddle him. When she saw the other princesses gathering close to Riku, she led Beast up to them, her yellow glove resting inside of his large paw with pride.

"He's going to be just fine," she said with confidence. Then, to a small figure huddled on the ground: "Thank you for looking out for him..."

Amongst the colorful hues of their dresses, Riku spotted Kairi's modest white shirt and lavender skorts. She met Belle's smile shyly, unlike the Kairi that Riku used to know. "It wasn't really me. It was him..." Her eyes lowered to Ansem's heart, and she clutched it even closer.

Then she looked to Riku and held his gaze. He gave her a questioning look, but she only offered that shy smile. The white streak in her hair was caught at the corner of her lips. The sight of it stirred something inside of Riku, the realization that if Ansem and Kairi had really been Yami all this time, Kairi knew exactly what Riku had gone through.

"Your turn to shine," she said.

The words were meant to encourage him. Somehow, they just reminded him of everything he had done wrong—from leaving her at Destiny Islands, to excluding Sora as a hero, to giving himself over to Yami, to sacrificing his memories and endangering not only himself, but all of the worlds he was supposed to be protecting...

And as he lifted his keyblade towards the swirling portal, ready to tap into its powers to seal the world, Kairi's encouragement wrapped like a vise around his heart, and he felt the opposite of what he should have.

Instead of the familiar warm hum of his powers flowing through the keyblade, a hush settled over the blade. No powers, no whispered songs of ancient stories and heroes, no warnings. Just a void.

Then, wisp by wisp of colorful magic and shadow, the intricate blade slowly began to unravel, slipping through his fingers into ghostlike fragments, until there was nothing left but the hollow despair inside of him. When he tried to call it back to him, all he felt was an emptiness there in his heart where its power should have been.

He didn't bother hiding the distress on his face as he stared at his empty palm. Nothing had changed, had it? His heart was still too weak, even after getting his memories back, even after making up with Sora, even after defeating Maleficent and Id. Having it this far must have been a fluke...

Now here he was, barehanded in front of the people he had been chosen to protect.

Riku curled a fist over his heart as he tried not to fall to pieces.

At his feet, Sora lay curled on his side, healed now and looking blissfully peaceful, not a single fear haunting his sleep. Maybe the keyblade really had changed its mind. If that was the case, Riku had no doubt who the keyblade had chosen.

"Riku..."

There was pity in Kairi's voice, and Riku knew he'd see it in her eyes if he glanced at her. He squeezed his eyes shut. He could hear the other princesses exchanging concerned whispers, beginning to come to their own conclusions about what was happening.

His words died in his throat as he fished for excuses as to why the keyblade had disappeared, but he couldn't lie, wouldn't lie to them. But the truth seemed so much harder...

When he felt a slender, satin-soft hand rest on his arm, he tensed and looked up. The brunette with Beast gently squeezed his arm with reassurance as she smiled. "We saw how hard you fought. You must be exhausted... Why don't you rest until you feel better?"

Beast glanced at her before focusing on Riku as well. "Belle's right. There's no danger now. Not yet."

"Right!" said the dark-haired princess, the one who had earlier asked him if he'd been okay. She planted a hand on her hip as if making up her mind and everyone else's along with it. "We'll keep watch here while we try to figure out what we need to do."

Truth be told, resting was the last thing Riku wanted to do, but as he looked from one princess to the next, each with her own encouraging smile, he decided not to argue. Without the keyblade or a gummi ship, he didn't really have a choice but to wait.

Resigning to his fate, Riku gave a solemn nod and knelt beside Sora. He would wake up soon. Riku wouldn't leave his side until then.

Before he could lift Sora, Riku heard the soft sound of feet against the rubble behind him. Two skinny arms wrapped around him, and Riku felt Kairi's necklace touch his neck as she buried her face in his hair. Her body was warm now, and so was her breath.

"I'm sorry..."

Riku closed his eyes and felt the vise around his heart tighten even more.

Her apology wasn't for her—what did she have to be sorry about? No, he knew it was for him. Sorry for everything you went through, it said. It was the kind of apology people tried to offer as comfort, but it always had the same translation: I'm glad I'm not in your shoes.

He tried not to be upset. Kairi wouldn't have offered him this kind of comfort back home. She would have known he could have handled anything that came his way. But this Riku? He didn't have that confidence, and Kairi could see right through his facades. She knew he needed every bit of help he could get.

...had he really become that pathetic?

His jaw tightened as he focused on Sora.

He looked too peaceful like this. Riku was used to seeing his best friend sprawled out over a bed with his mouth hanging open, maybe a line of drool trailing down his chin. And this outfit—it didn't suit him.

Riku plucked the familiar crown pendant off the black collar, and as if that had broken Id's spell over Sora, the blacks and silvers and greens of his outfit dissolved into escaping shadow, leaving Sora back in the cute orange hoodie he had been wearing earlier. Riku stroked a hand through Sora's messy hair, feeling his heart lighten just a little.

When Kairi began to pull back, Riku turned to her and noticed she still had Ansem's heart resting in her lap. She wouldn't be letting it out of her sights, just like he'd be protecting Sora. "Here," he said, offering her the crown charm. "I don't really know how stuff like this works, but... if the darkness could corrupt Sora's sword, maybe your light can do the same."

Kairi took the charm, her eyes brightening with understanding. "You mean give Sora's necklace our light—so Id can't take over while he's wearing it."

Riku nodded. "It might work."

"It's worth a try," Beast agreed, and all of the princesses began to nod.

Kairi picked herself up and handed the charm to Belle, who gave a crooked smile at the design and called it cute.

"Sora's always wearing it," Kairi explained with a small smile of her own, fond. "So don't lose it."

While the girls spoke with each other, Riku gathered Sora's arms over his shoulders and hefted Sora onto his back, leaning forward to carry him piggyback. He didn't really want to return to any of the bastion's empty, gloomy bedrooms, but it was better than staying here with all the rubble.

"I'm gonna go find a bed for him," was Riku's goodbye to them. He turned and began to carefully step over the crumbled dais, heading for the stairs at a slow, diligent pace. Sora wasn't heavy, not by far; but holding him like this, Riku could feel Sora's strong heartbeat against his back. That, more than anything, was a comfort.

He left the heart of the world and the princesses, but his shame lingered as he walked in silence through the bastion halls. Not a single heartless appeared, though Riku knew he would have been in trouble if any had decided to show up.

It actually took him a few minutes to notice the quiet footfalls behind him, and when he paused to look, he understood why no heartless had been bothering him.

Kairi had decided to follow.

When he noticed her, she froze, looking caught for just a second, but when he didn't tell her to go back, she must have deemed it safe. She picked up her pace and fell into step beside him, her head bowed as she studied the shelled heart in her hands.

"How are you feeling?" Riku asked. The words felt foreign to him, maybe forced, too. But he was genuinely curious.

She flinched a little, but she smiled. Riku couldn't see her eyes, but he imagined that the smile didn't quite reach them. "I'm fine," she said.

"You seem kind of jumpy," he noted. "You sure?"

At first she began to nod, but she hesitated, and her voice took on an uneasy edge. "It just... feels really weird. Being in control of my body again, I mean." She glanced at him, the fleck of amber in her eye standing out amongst the blue. "I never realized how weak I was before all this. Yami—he was strong. Ansem was."

He must have been pretty strong if Kairi hadn't had any control over her own body. Riku fell into thought, recalling all of the times he had dreamt about Kairi or thought he had seen her or heard her in some of the worlds he had visited. All this time—it had been because of Yami? Had those glimpses of Kairi been Ansem's slip-ups?

"You're strong," Riku said after a while. When she gave him a surprised look, he mustered a half smile to her credit. "In your own way. You don't need a sword or to be in the middle of the fight in order to be the strong one. You were always there for Sora, back home, and me, too... rooting us on."

Until that last day. He hadn't forgotten the reason he had wanted to leave Kairi on the islands. She had tried to leave him first.

"Sora, let's take the raft and go—just the two of us!"

But the more Riku looked back on how he had reacted, he realized he didn't feel any of that bitterness now. Maybe what he and Sora had been missing all along hadn't been their friendship—maybe it had been Kairi's. Her advice, her moderation, her reassurance. Sora and Riku had had their spats before, but Kairi had usually been the one to step between them.

In all honesty, even though he had been mad at her at the time, he was just glad to see her again. Knowing someone else had survived the fall of Destiny Islands lifted some of the guilt that had been weighing his heart—especially because it had been Kairi. He had always kind of held it against her that her existence on the islands had meant he couldn't have his own best friend solely to himself, but Kairi had been his friend, too.

And now, as her surprised look faded into an embarrassed but happy little smile, touched by Riku's compliment, Riku admitted that he had missed her.

He thought it strange that it had taken such a painful adventure in order to understand how much of an impact she'd really had on their lives. He also saw irony in the fact that she had been right there all along, watching everything that had been happening to them, and couldn't do anything to help. That must have been rough.

"I'm sorry," he said, and it was the kind of apology that really was asking for forgiveness—not one to comfort her, not a Sorry for what you went through, or a I wouldn't have wanted to be in your shoes. "I'm sorry for leaving you behind."

Her happy smile lingered, but her eyes filled with a sadness that he recognized. There was guilt there, and understanding. Most of all, there was forgiveness. "If you hadn't, I wouldn't have met Ansem." Her voice was small, as if scared to admit it. That wasn't like the Kairi he used to know. "Or learned about where I came from."

Now that caught his attention.

One of the main reasons he had been so restless back home, yearning to see what lay beyond the sea's horizon, was the mystery of Kairi's appearance on the islands. Kairi: a girl who had washed up on shore the morning after the night of the meteor shower... no memories of her past... and with a faraway look in her eyes as if she had seen worlds Riku hadn't even dreamed up yet.

He didn't realize he was staring wide-eyed at her until her sad smile pulled with amusement. "Let me show you something," she said. When she moved past him to take the lead, he let her.

She led him down the corridor towards the bedrooms he and Sora had been given during their stay here, but to his curiosity, she stopped in front of one of the doors that had been locked during his previous visit. When she tried the handle, it pushed open with ease, and Riku moved forward to see what she wanted to show him.

The bedroom he found himself in was decorated as though it had once belonged to a little girl, complete with a sheer canopy over a small bed decorated in lavender and white sheets with the kind of intricate trim that reminded Riku of, well, a princess. There were even some scattered drawings hanging on the walls and closet door, things like flowers and people.

One stick figure in particular caught his attention, with short red hair and bright blue eyes standing in field of flowers. Riku had no doubt who it was supposed to represent.

"This was your room," Riku stated with wonder.

He glanced at Kairi as she pulled back the sheer curtain around the bed, and he moved forward to let her help him set Sora down. She lifted the sheets as he rolled Sora carefully onto his back, and together they tucked him in. When Sora was settled, Riku took a closer look around the room.

"So you lived here before you came to the islands..."

"I don't remember much at all," she admitted, her gaze distant as she adjusted the sheets at Sora's neck with one hand. Ansem's heart was cradled by her free arm. "I didn't remember anything until I came here, and then... it started coming back, just a little, bit by bit."

Riku inspected the dusty items on the vanity—a hand mirror, a brush and comb, hair clips, a slender picture book. He flipped through the book, not recognizing the children's story, something about a baby lion who was accidentally given to and raised by sheep.

"What do you remember?" he asked, skimming the story. His fingers traced the pages that hadn't seemed to age at all in the last decade since it must have been abandoned. The lion in the story grew up sheepish but later discovered his inner lion just in time to protect his sheep family from being eaten by a wolf.

Kairi saw what he was reading and came over to look at it with him. "I had a nanny who would tell me stories. I called her my grandma, but she wasn't really..." She trailed off as she picked up her brush from the vanity. "She used to do my hair, too. I wonder what happened to her..."

"Maybe she made it out before Maleficent took over the bastion," Riku suggested. It was possible she had wound up in Traverse Town with the rest of the gang, but Kairi would have known if she had been there because Yami had met a lot of the town's civilians.

"Maybe," she said, though she sounded miles away. She set the brush down and began to walk the perimeter of the bedroom, pausing only to study the drawings on the wall. Riku watched as she reached out to touch the small Kairi figure in the field of flowers. "I remember wanting to see the garden..."

"This place had a garden?"

"It was a garden," she said. "At least, that's what he used to call it..." And before Riku could ask who she was talking about, her fingers trailed to another drawing nearby, this one of a group. There was a tall blonde figure holding little Kairi's hand. "This man. He was one of the ones who came to see me a lot." She glanced at Riku, pursing her lips in thought. "I remember not being able to go outside often, only when no one else was around. They wouldn't let me go into other parts of the castle, either... I snuck out sometimes, but I would get scolded." Then her eyes drifted back to the drawing. "He called me his little princess, but I didn't feel like one. I felt trapped..."

And when her hand fell away from the picture, Riku noticed the other stick figures. He assumed they were men, too, but amongst the peach-colored figures, two with blonde hair, one with silvery-blue, one stood out the most—with light, light gray hair and skin darker than the rest. Only, he had brown eyes, not amber.

"This looks like Yami," he noted.

"It could have been Ansem," she agreed, "but I don't remember anyone's name."

Frowning, Riku drew closer to study the Yami-like stick figure. "So then—Ansem didn't talk to you about stuff?" He was thinking about what few facts he knew about the man, things he had learned by diving into Sephiroth and Leon's memories, but... After his own experience with memories and how they could so easily be altered, he wasn't sure what he believed about Ansem anymore.

When she didn't respond to him right away, he glanced at her. She had that faraway look on her face again. "Ansem couldn't remember anything, either," she said at last. "He was trying to gather his old reports to see if they would jog his memory, but Maleficent had most of them."

Now that Riku thought about it, Id had mentioned something about that, that the heart was just a fragment of Ansem. "What did Id mean when he said Ansem's memories were false?"

Kairi shook her head. "I don't know... I don't even think Ansem would know. Even when he got most of the reports, he couldn't remember anything before the time he spent working for Id. Just a few pieces here and there, like faces, emotions, Squall..."

Riku raised a brow. Something about the way she had said Leon's real name made it seem very personal... But she had been with Ansem for months—who knew what she knew about Ansem's past relationship with Squall. He decided not to question it, especially when she sighed and sat at the edge of the bed, looking lost.

"I just... want to know what happened," she said. "Why I was kept hidden. How I got to the islands..."

And as Riku watched her stare down at the trapped heart cupped safely in her hands, he wondered if they would ever get the answers to the questions that plagued them both.

-o-o-

Riku lost track of the time that passed while he and Kairi waited at the bedside for Sora to wake. The whole time, Kairi held onto Ansem's heart as if it were her own. They didn't speak much, both of them too lost in their own thoughts to continue voicing their questions. Riku wasn't even sure where to start anymore.

It wasn't until Riku had decided to start reading the skinny children's books scattered throughout the room that Sora finally woke up. Riku was in the middle of reading about Ferdinand the Bull's love for flowers when he heard Sora mumble something incoherent.

Seconds later, Sora's blue eyes slipped open, clouded with confusion and grogginess, but free from Id's control. He focused on Riku and gave a sleepy smile of embarrassment.

"Hey. Um... What did I miss?"

Riku couldn't resist returning the smile, relieved and amused. "A lot, you goof." He set the children's book aside and messed up Sora's already messy hair.

Sora released a drowsy laugh. "Man, déjà vu. Except I was the one waiting for you to wake up. Remember?"

Riku remembered. Sora was referring to the first time Riku had woken up in the bastion, but Riku had been asleep for days thanks to Yami. "Yeah," he said, but his smile faded with concern. "You okay?"

"Mm-hm." Sora stretched, his voice strained as he spoke through it. "I feel fine, just groggy. And Id's not happy." He blinked up at Riku, whose expression had darkened. "What happened when he took over?"

"A lot," Riku said again. Then, serious now, he asked if Sora could summon the keyblade.

At first Sora looked confused, but when he tried, only Sora was surprised when the keyblade's magic swirled into existence and left the blade resting in Sora's hand. It was still in the keyblade's default form, but Riku assumed that was because he was the one who owned Way to Fall, and Sora had taken off Oathkeeper's charm.

"I don't get it," Sora said, his brows knitted.

Riku raked a hand through his hair. "I think it's pretty obvious," he sighed. "It won't let me summon it when you're around. It's up to you to seal the worlds now."

Glancing from Riku to the keyblade and then back to Riku, Sora's face filled with guilt. "I'm sorry..."

Riku got to his feet, mustering a small smile to Sora's credit. "Hey, it's not your fault. It's my heart that's messed up." And before Sora could argue, Riku turned towards Kairi, who had been sitting silently at the chair in front of the vanity.

Sora followed the direction of his gaze, questioning—

Then he shot up straight in bed, gasping. "KAIRI!"

Her face lit with a smile, and as Sora clambered out of bed, she rose to her feet and met him halfway. The hug they shared was a little awkward, probably because Sora was shy about hugging girls and Kairi was still holding Ansem's heart, but the sight made something inside of Riku relax.

"You're okay!" Sora laughed, trying to recover from his happiness and embarrassment.

The faintest of blushes touched Kairi's cheeks, and she lowered her eyes, back to being shy. "Yeah."

Sora whirled towards Riku, all of his grogginess gone now, and his spirits back where they were supposed to be—buoyant, free, Sora-like. "Where's Yami?" he asked, grinning now. "I want to punch him and then say thanks! You know, for looking out for Kairi."

Kairi and Riku exchanged glances, sharing the silent understanding that this was going to be a long, difficult story to explain. They both knew the way Sora's brain worked, and while Sora wasn't stupid, he could be thick sometimes.

With a grim sigh, Riku told Sora to sit down.

Sora's grin fell, replaced with fear. "What happened? Is he okay? He didn't..."

"Yes and no," Riku said, filling in Sora's unasked question. Had Yami died? That was up to interpretation. So, waiting until Sora settled back onto the bed, Riku began to explain what he had witnessed after Id had taken over Sora's body.

The more he spoke, the more confused Sora looked until he finally buried his hands in his hair and groaned at Riku. "Whaaat? This is way too confusing...!"

"Basically," Kairi softly cut in, "there are three parts to a person—a body, a heart, and a soul. A lot of heartless actually have hearts—they're what happens to a person's heart when the darkness takes over. Nine years ago, Ansem's heart was consumed by darkness, and he became a heartless."

"And Ansem's heartless came to Destiny Islands," Riku explained.

"He recognized me as one of the princesses he would need to open up Hollow Bastion's protected keyhole," Kairi continued, "so he needed to take me along. He decided to try to possess me, but..." She hesitated and shook her head, closing her eyes as if not wanting to remember. "Something happened. My heart was too pure for his. It drove a lot of the darkness out of Ansem's heart, leaving his heart and a normal amount of darkness inside of me.

"He was still able to take over my body, even transform into himself, but... not completely. It was like we were one person, but I didn't have any control. I fought him a lot at first, but eventually we started to understand each other. I felt sorry for him, and he wanted to help me. And when we started to be friends, that's when his darkness started to fade... That's also when his appearance started to look more and more like his old self."

She paused to look at Sora, who still looked confused but seemed to be following along with her story just fine.

"So then... Yami... was you all along?" Sora asked.

"No," Kairi said, smiling faintly. "He was mostly Ansem. I was just the... 'shell,' he called it. Everything about Yami was Ansem, even though it started out as my body. Yami's body, his decisions, his powers—those were all Ansem's. I was just the light deep down inside of him."

"Gradually purifying him," Riku added. "That's why Yami had a change of heart—literally."

Kairi nodded. "Exactly. In the beginning, back when he was still following Id's plans, he knew what he was doing was hurting a lot of worlds and a lot of people, but he didn't care. But after he started to spend time with the two of you, I think my heart really reacted, and... it began to purify him. When he lost a lot of his darkness, he began to realize what he was doing was wrong. That's why he did what he did. That's why he waited so long to reveal who he was—he couldn't give me to Maleficent or open the keyhole until he was sure you two were strong enough to beat her—and Id."

When Kairi finished speaking, Sora stared down at the bed sheets, curling his fingers into them as his expression grew gloomy. "So we have you back finally, but Yami is gone."

"Not completely," Riku said, nodding to the dark sphere in Kairi's hands. He reached for it to show Sora, but Kairi quickly drew it closer to herself, her eyes wide as if Riku had just tried to kill the heart instead of just take it. Riku held his hand in surrender, not wanting to upset her. "Sorry, I just wanted Sora to see him..."

"Him?" Sora wondered.

Almost self-consciously, Kairi held out Ansem's heart for them to see. "This is what's left of Ansem. Id trapped his heart in darkness so it couldn't escape..."

And that shell of darkness now had wider cracks around it, the light of the heart shining through. Riku was worried about that. "I think you're purifying it... Maybe we should put it in something so you can't accidentally set it free."

After hesitating, her eyes caught his, serious blue with a fleck of amber. She nodded.

As the three of them got up and began to explore Kairi's old room to find something suitable to put the heart in, Sora started to tell Kairi about how the closet in this room had led him to a whole other world—but Kairi pointed out that he had already told the story to Yami, hence her as well.

Sora rubbed the back of his head, laughing. "Oh. That's gonna take some getting used to."

And so Kairi told Sora what she had told Riku—that this room had been hers when she was a little girl. Riku listened to her fill Sora in, all the while searching the closet (which did not lead to another world, not for him) for a container. Eventually the conversation led back to Ansem's missing memories, as it had with Riku, only this time Riku recalled something else Id had mentioned.

"What had Id meant by 'other forces' clamoring for Ansem's heart?" he asked.

Kairi and Sora both looked up from where they were digging through a chest of old toys. So far they'd only found a pink bucket and a white basket, which Kairi hadn't liked, not to carry around someone's heart in.

"Ansem never told me," she said, sounding worried. "But Id's right. There are. I don't know who they are, but he was careful not to run into them. He must not have felt very safe even when he was using me as a shell..." Lowering her face, she studied the heart she now had resting in her lap. "He just wanted to be whole. He wanted to fix all of the things he had done wrong... but he knew he wouldn't get the chance. So he set it up so the two of you could do it."

Riku didn't quite see it that way. To him, it sounded like Ansem had given up.

"So then... if there are people out there who want his heart," Sora said slowly, drawing a conclusion out of what Kairi had just said. "Id's not the only bad guy still out there."

Kairi curled her hands over the heart. "No... He's not."

"What does he even want?" Sora sighed. It was a frustrated sigh, followed by a briefly irritated look. "He won't tell me. Usually he'd tease me with something, but now he's not telling me anything at all."

"Probably because he's embarrassed he got scared off by a bunch of princesses," Riku said with a crooked smile.

Sora grinned at that. "Man, he's definitely not happy about that."

Even Kairi gave a small giggle, right before she seemed to remember something. "Oh—actually, right before he released my heart and Ansem's, Id did mention something weird." Tucking her lock of white hair behind her ear, she raised her eyes in contemplation. "His path to Kingdom Hearts? I don't know what that is, though. Ansem never mentioned it—he didn't talk about Id much at all—but whatever it is, it's probably what Id's after."

"I just want to know who he really is," Riku said, and it was his turn to sigh. "And why he's so interested in us."

Sora shrugged, going back to looking for a container. "Beats me. What I want to know is how to get rid of him!"

That was when Riku remembered he had given Sora's necklace to the princesses for that exact purpose. He reminded Kairi, who liked the idea and said they should go see the other princesses.

After a few more minutes of searching Kairi's old room, they uncovered a box of decorative purses—some well-loved and worn away, some pristine as if Kairi had never played with them. Kairi chose one of the smaller ones with a lengthy strap, the image of a pretty bird embroidered on the front. Ansem's heart fit snugly into it, and she slung the strap over a shoulder, looking satisfied with it.

Together they accompanied Sora on his quest to visit the princesses, not a trace of the heartless on their way. It was Sora who noticed the voices coming from the direction of the foyer, and sure enough, as they entered the main hall, they spotted Beast standing with Belle, and the other princesses scattered throughout in several groups.

"Wow, she really is pretty," Sora whispered to Riku before he ran off to meet with them, waving and congratulating Beast on finally finding his Belle.

Riku lingered behind with Kairi. A smile touched his lips as he watched Sora laugh and tease Beast, but his heart felt distant at the same time. He felt like he didn't belong here anymore.

Once Sora found a way to prevent Id from possessing him, Sora's heart would probably only get stronger, practically guaranteeing that the keyblade would react to him instead of Riku.

And Riku's heart...

Well, Riku didn't know what his role was anymore. All he knew was that he wanted to protect his friends, no matter what that would take.

Riku wasn't all that surprised when a few princesses sent him concerned looks, most likely wondering why he was remaining impersonal. What surprised him was that Kairi was doing the same thing he was. Maybe she felt like she didn't belong with them, either.

When she turned to wander off towards the library, he followed her to make sure she wouldn't run into anything that wanted either her or the heart she was carrying.

"You sure you're alright?" he asked once they were out of earshot. They entered the library together and passed through the towering bookshelves. Riku hadn't been here in weeks, but nothing had changed. It still had that comforting musk of old books and leather.

Kairi didn't look at him, but her expression told him that despite what she had said earlier, she wasn't okay. "I don't know," she said, resting a hand over the lump in her purse.

As they emerged from the sea of shelves and into the open library, she came to a stop in front of the tall windows and took a seat on the elegant stairs. Riku hesitated about joining her, his memories of this room beginning to unsettle him. This was where Yami had given him Oblivion; it was also where Riku had begun to see him in a different light... in an attractive kind of way... And there, back amongst the shelves, was where he and Sora had their first awkward time together, "become one" as Yami would have put it.

Riku studied her closely for a long moment. She looked so tiny sitting there on the stairs, skinny and pale, her eyes downcast as she pulled her purse protectively into her lap.

"I should be happy," she said, breaking the uncomfortable silence that had spread between them. Her voice was small and uncertain, sounding like how his own heart felt. "But I feel empty now." Her fingers curled into the purse. "I think... because we were together so long... my heart, my body got used to him being there..."

He made his way over and took a seat beside her, pushing down his uneasiness. He kind of understood where she was coming from. When he and Sora had been separated, he had felt lost, angry, empty... "You're in control of your own body now," he said. "You can't trade that for anything. And maybe one day we'll find a way to get Ansem back his body, too, so he can have that same freedom."

Kairi's head rose, and her eyes met his. This close, Riku could see how bright the amber fleck in her eye really was. "Think so?" she said, forming a faint smile. "I hope so... He did some bad things, but I think he deserves a chance to put them right again."

Riku agreed with that. He still wanted to punch Yami—like Sora had said—for the things he had done, but he should at least have had the chance to redeem himself. There were a lot of things Riku still wanted to ask him, things he didn't think Kairi would know. But then, there were a lot of things that Kairi would know now that no one else would except Ansem, even things about Riku... And with Ansem in the state he was in, Kairi was the only one who knew some of the things Riku had gone through.

"Kairi?"

Her smile turned expectant. "Hm?"

"When he was in control, how much did you see?" Riku asked. "Everything?"

She looked confused for a second, but when she saw how serious he seemed, her smile faded with understanding. "You mean... What he did to you."

He nodded, turning his gaze downward. He didn't lift it again even when she rested a hand on his leg.

"When I fought him sometimes, he would put me to sleep," she said. "I don't know how he did it, but... when I would wake up again, most of the time he wouldn't tell me what he had done while I was asleep. But that time—" She slipped her hand away, resting it over her purse again, as if cradling a child's head. "That time he told me what he did to you, and what had happened to Sora because of it. I was really mad... He had just woken up, too, and noticed you were gone. I told him to go after you, and... well, he did." Her brows drew together in thought. "I think that was when he really started to change—not physically, but in his heart. I could feel his guilt. He was good at hiding it in front of everyone, but he couldn't hide it from me."

So Ansem had a conscience after all. For some reason, that eased a little of Riku's anger towards him.

"Riku, Kairi?"

The two of them looked up as Sora's concerned voice filtered through the library.

"In here," Riku called, and he got to his feet before offering Kairi his hand. She took it and slipped the purse back onto her shoulder, just as Sora peeked his head around a bookshelf.

"There you are!" Grinning already, Sora held out his crown pendant. "They did it!" he said. "Somehow they used their powers on it." He pulled the necklace over his head and beamed at them. "They told me that as long as I wear it, Id won't be able to take over. He's still there connected to my heart—that it'll take a stronger kind of light to get rid of him—but I already feel better! As soon as I picked my necklace up, I didn't feel Id."

Kairi smiled, looking relieved. "That's great!"

"Yeah," Riku agreed, glad that his idea had worked after all; and looking at the crown pendant gave him another idea. "Oh, let me give you this." He reached into the leg pocket he had tucked Oblivion's charm into, and he pulled it out by its dark chain, offering the black crown to Sora. "I don't need it anymore."

Kairi's gaze grew solemn as she stared at the polished shape sway slowly on the chain. When Sora saw what Riku was trying to give him, his grin fell with confusion.

"But Riku... I already have Oathkeeper," he said, digging a hand into his hoodie to pull out the paopu charm.

Neither of them were expecting the soft gasp that Kairi gave at seeing the keychain. "Oh!"

And both of them turned to her, simultaneously asking, "What?"

She reached for the pendant without hesitation, and Sora handed it to her, even more confused now.

"It's my lucky charm," she said, a fondness in her expression as she cupped it in her hands. There was a soft flash of light, then the telltale disintegration of darkness, just a little, from around the charm. When the magic cleared, Kairi was holding not a paopu trinket, but a flower-like star made out of seashells woven together with purple cord. "I was making this out of Thalassa shells. It was going to give us good luck as we set sail on the raft... A safe voyage, you know...?"

Her fingers closed over it, and her eyes began to water.

"I didn't get to finish it."

Sora touched her arm. "Kairi..."

She continued onward, wiping an eye with her wrist so that Sora would let her go. "When Riku was looking for your birthday gift, I offered it to Yami to give to him, so that you could have it, Sora. He used the darkness to make it look like what Riku would want to give you."

So that would be why it had been shaped like a paopu...

Riku thought back to that day—here in the library—when Yami had stormed in, strangely emotional, and had given the pendant to him for Sora. Had that emotion been a little piece of Kairi shining through?

Sora took her hand and gently pressed it against her chest, a smile breaking through the tension between them. "Then I want you to have it back—so you can finish it, okay?"

Kairi mustered a smile back at him, her sorrow mollified by Sora's consideration. "Okay... And I promise I'll give it back to you when it's done."

Though he didn't say anything, Riku wasn't sure how he felt about Oathkeeper's fate. He and Sora had exchanged it twice, both times with a promise, but their most recent promise—to remain best friends no matter what—was still so fresh in his heart that it hurt to see the charm already passed on to someone else. But at the same time, he understood that Kairi and Sora needed this link between them, just like he had needed one for Sora.

He was going to suggest that Sora should seal the world's keyhole now that everything was settled, but as he opened his mouth to do so, a loud cry rang through the air, followed by triumphant laughter as a blur of red launched off a bookshelf.

"FOUND YA, HAHA!"

Riku actually stumbled as something small and scaly slammed into his head and clung to his hair. "Ack—Mushu?!"

"I'm back, y'all!!" Mushu cried, scampering over Riku's head to peek down into his face, giving him a toothy grin. "Miss me?"

Riku responded by plucking him off by his tail, holding him out by it as if he were a rat. "If I had, I don't anymore," he said with a vicious smirk, narrowing his eyes.

Sora burst into laughter and grabbed Mushu to rescue him from certain death. "You little sneak—where did you come from?"

"Just got here!" Mushu said proudly, unfazed by Riku's temper. He climbed Sora's arm and settled on his shoulder. "Squeon sent me to fetch you guys—those babes out there told me where to find ya."

That perked Riku's interest. "Leon and the others are here already?"

Mushu was ignoring him by now, his attention focused on Kairi instead. "And who's this pretty little lady?"

"Kairi," Sora said with high spirits, "one of my best friends!"

But Riku couldn't resist teasing a little. "You knew her as Yami."

"Aww, really, guys?" Mushu said with a coo. "That's so—" And then Riku's statement clicked. "Wait. Say what? Yami?"

Kairi hid a giggle behind her hand as Sora sheepishly rubbed the back of his head, clearly not wanting to be the one to have to explain things to Mushu. "It's a long story..."

"Let's go meet with the others so we won't have to tell this story a hundred times," Riku suggested.

And so they returned to the main hall together, and everyone was excited to see that Riku and Sora were okay. Well, excited in their own ways—Yuffie tackled Sora, followed by Donald and Goofy, and Leon and Cloud had their subtle but relieved reactions, and Cid had some colorful language as always. It was Aerith who gave Riku a knowing look as if she could tell, just by seeing him, that he wasn't completely okay. Riku made it a point not to catch her gaze too often as he and Sora (with Kairi's shy input) tried to explain, once again, the events that had happened since they had left Traverse Town.

When questions about Ansem cropped up, from Cid and Leon specifically, Kairi tried to answer as best as she could, but there was only so much she knew, and only so much that Leon and Cid thought they remembered.

In the end, it was decided that they should split up and search the bastion to see if they could find more information. Sora expressed his doubts about that—since he'd spent the last few weeks trying to do exactly that—but Kairi said she thought she remembered where Yami had left all of the reports he had been working on. When she mentioned "Ansem's old study" had some reports, too, Sora's eyes lit up in remembrance.

"Oh yeah! That's the place with the big portrait of him, too."

Cid frowned and said, gruffly, that he wanted to see it.

From there they made three groups:

Riku was more interested in reading the reports than anything, so he and Kairi adopted Leon and Cloud as bodyguards—not that Riku had wanted to admit he had no weapon to fight with, but everyone knew Sora had the keyblade now.

Sora knew where the study with the portrait was, so he offered to take Cid there. Donald and Goofy volunteered to back him up since they had been ordered by the King to follow the key anyway. Aerith, to Riku's relief, wanted to go through the reports in Ansem's study as well.

Even though Mushu and Yuffie wanted to go with them, Leon told them to start going through the books in the library. With Mushu and Yuffie's unique dexterities, they would be able to access some of the shelves none of the others would be able to. And with the help of the princesses, no doubt they'd uncover the library's best kept secrets, if it had any. Yuffie whined, but when Beast offered to help, too, she quieted down.

Leaving the rest of them in the foyer, Riku and Sora's groups turned towards the labyrinthine halls. Bidding each other the best of luck, Riku and Sora went their separate ways, ready to uncover the truths the bastion and Ansem had hidden so well from them.

-o-o-

Sora was beyond confused about Cid's reaction to seeing Ansem's portrait for the first time.

"What do you mean that's not Ansem?" he asked for what felt like the tenth time.

He looked to Donald and Goofy for support, but they seemed just as lost as he was, both of them shrugging. They had never met "Ansem" either, only Yami.

"That ain't Ansem," Cid repeated once again, jerking his thumb at the portrait as he rifled through the mess on the desk. "Trust me, kid, I met Ansem, and that ain't him. Sure looks like the kid you called Yami, yeah, but neither of 'em are Ansem."

"Then how come Yami looks like this guy—and why would Kairi lie and say he was Ansem?" Sora demanded, already getting defensive about Kairi's story.

" 'cuz everyone thinks he is," Cid said. "But some of 'em were still wetting their beds or had their heads stuck in the clouds when they were kids, so none of 'em have a damn clue what they're talkin' about."

"Cid." A soft frown on her face, Aerith looked up from the stack of papers she had begun to read. "We were fifteen. I was. Squall and Cloud and Sephiroth... we were all old enough to remember. If that man isn't Ansem, who is he?"

"Not a clue," Cid admitted. "But the Ansem I remember was a tall—" He gestured higher than his own height. "—and fair."

"Yuh mean he was a nice feller?" Goofy asked, turning away from the portrait.

Cid shook his head. "Nah—" But he stopped himself and scratched his stubble in thought. "Well, yeah, actually. He gave a lot of munny to the orphanage to keep it running. But his skin—and hair—yeah, he was fair." He grunted to himself as if agreeing with his own statements. "And he had a beard. That guy up there? Nothin' like the Ansem I knew."

Aerith paused, her lips drawn into a pensive line. "I... remember a man like that. He used to bring us ice cream."

"That's right," Cid said, "and heliked ice cream."

A victorious squawk startled all of them as Donald suddenly scrambled to his feet from where he had been sifting through the pile of overturned books. "This must be him, and look!" He held up a double picture frame that opened like a book, but the glass on the inside was shattered.

Everyone moved close to see what Donald had discovered, and Cid gave a triumphant laugh when he saw the figures in one of the photographs.

"Told ya I wasn't makin' it up!"

Sure enough, there was a tall blonde man with a beard; he was older but not too old, and he looked respectable. Standing next to him was the spitting image of Yami. Other people were lined up in the photograph, but Sora didn't know who they were.

"Gwarsh, if that really is who Yami used to be, he must be pretty old by now," Goofy commented.

"But if what Riku and Kairi said was right, he's been a heartless for years," Sora said.

"Nine years," Aerith said. She held the reports to her chest, still staring at the photos in the broken frame. "I think we should ask Squall. He was the first one who said Yami looked like Ansem..."

Thoroughly confused now, Sora crossed his arms. He wasn't sure what to believe anymore. Leon had said that Ansem looked like he was related to Yami, so how could Cid and Aerith have memories of some other Ansem?

Weirder yet, why would Yami have been calling himself Ansem—to Kairi of all people—if it wasn't true? Were there two Ansems?

-o-o-

"I know this room..."

Leon's murmur was almost wistful. Though the words and their feeling resonated with Riku's own memories of this place, it wasn't because he was wistful. He knew this room, too.

This was where everything had begun to fall apart.

Everything was as he remembered it: the open balcony and the drifting curtains, the polished piano, the beautiful stained glass windows, the large bed with the exquisitely soft sheets he had found himself in...

Yami's room.

"Ansem's room," Leon said, breathing out. "Nine years, and it looks the same..."

His eyes strayed towards the piano, and for just a moment, Riku remembered what Leon remembered—a teenage boy sitting at the bench, playing a sweet melody. A fumble at the keys. A warm hand resting over his own, pressing his finger into the right key. A rich voice caressing his ear, oh-so-familiar. This one, Squall, Ansem had teased.

Riku shivered. It wasn't even his own memory and it had sent goosebumps up his arms. He rubbed them away, trying not to focus on anything at all, not the windows, not the balcony, not the bed, especially not the bed.

I know an empty plea when I hear one.

Holding his arms to himself, Riku fought back the ghost of Yami that persisted on haunting his memory. He focused on Cloud, who was inspecting the extravagant room with interest. Cloud didn't seem to recognize the place, or if he did, he obviously didn't share the wistful or bitter feelings toward it like Leon or Riku did.

"Ansem had said the same thing," Kairi said with a sad smile. "He left the reports up here..." She began to ascend the spiral staircase that led to the second story where the small library was.

Riku followed her, grateful for the distraction. "What's in them?"

She reached the top landing and headed for the large desk where several stacks of papers were neatly arranged. "He would keep me asleep for hours at a time as he worked on them," she said, "but I know some of them are about the experiments that unleashed the heartless. The others, I don't really know..."

"So then it's true," Leon said in a grave tone. He was right behind Riku, with Cloud at the rear, and when he stepped onto the landing, he moved to stand beside Kairi at the desk. "Ansem's responsible for the heartless outbreak?"

"That's one of the things Ansem wanted to make right," Kairi explained. "So it looks like it's true." She handed him one of the stacks. "These are them, I think..."

"They're marked up," Leon noted as he started to study them.

She nodded and picked up another of the stacks. "I think he was trying to revise them." Turning to Riku, she handed him the second stack. "These are the revised copies he was working on. And these..." A third stack was handed to Cloud. "Are about the Gemini Project."

Cloud stiffened, his blue eyes hardening as he took the stack and began to scan the formal handwriting.

"And the last stack?" Riku wondered, noticing she was taking a seat at the desk to read it.

"I think there's a reason he didn't want me to see these," she said quietly, her gaze focused on the sheets in front of her. "Weird. These have Ansem's name on them, but it's not his handwriting."

Riku set his stack next to Kairi's to compare, curious about what she meant. But she was right, and the differences were obvious. Both handwriting styles were elegant, but the writing on Kairi's stack was formally cursive, written almost with perfect precision and flowing like ribbons across the page. The writing on Riku's stack was less loopy and more arcane, reminding him of the points on a keyblade—graceful yet dangerous.

"That is weird," Riku said.

"I saw Yami's writing. All of the other reports are in the same handwriting as his—Ansem's. These, though..." She trailed off, beginning to read, and Riku decided to do the same.

He settled against the edge of the desk and began flipping through the reports in his hands. They were numbered, but a few of them were missing. He checked with Leon's stack and discovered that Yami hadn't had a chance to revise all of them yet, and together they looked at some of the revisions Yami had made, mostly about what the heartless were and how they were accidentally created after experimentation with hearts. A later report mentioned a king from another world and gummi blocks and a meteor shower.

Most of it went over Riku's head, and as he was going to ask Leon what he thought about the reports, Cloud made a frustrated sound and crumpled the thin stack of reports he had been reading.

"This is all nonsense," he sighed, throwing the ball of paper onto the desk, then raked a hand through his hair. "He has most of it crossed out. It's all just a lot of theories about Gemini and there's not one fact—except at the end where he says that everything is a lie."

Kairi glanced up from reading, her expression troubled. "H-He wrote that after discovering Riku and Sora weren't Gemini." She hesitated, her voice trembling. "He said Id had been lying to him."

"What's wrong?" Riku asked, realizing that she wasn't upset about Cloud's reaction but about whatever she was reading. "What's it say?"

"I..."

Riku pulled the reports away from her before she could protest, and when he began to read aloud, she bowed her head and curled her hands in her lap.

The reports with the strange handwriting detailed the death of a girl named Rinoa Heartilly, and Riku recognized the name. So did Leon and Cloud, Leon especially. She had been his best friend when they were little, and she had died some time when he was nine. At least, he had been told she had died.

She had been very sick, so her parents, respectable aristocrats, had taken her to the best known doctors in the city—Ansem and his apprentices.

"I thought Ansem was your ruler?" Riku interjected.

"He was," Cloud said. "And a scientist."

Leon now looked as troubled as Kairi did, and no doubt why. This was hitting close to home and dredging up old painful memories. "I didn't know he had apprentices."

"Keep reading," Kairi said in a small voice.

Riku continued, reading each report aloud, about how Ansem and these other scientists—Even? Braig? Ienzo? Xehanort?—helped extract Rinoa's pure heart, with her permission, right before her body gave out.

They kept the heart for two years, experimenting on it, before they finally managed to construct a new body for it. Riku felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end as he read on about Ansem's musings about his "little princess" and how he was going to have his old nanny look after her.

Even before Riku got to the part about the little girl's name, he knew why these reports had upset Kairi. She was the little girl who had been created to house Rinoa's heart. That was why Ansem had never let her leave the bastion. And those people in the drawings young Kairi had drawn—they must have been the scientists who had experimented on her.

"So Kairi has Rinoa's heart," Riku said, reaching the end of the reports.

"It makes sense," she whispered, her brows furrowed as if she were about to cry, but the dam never broke.

"It does," Leon agreed. He looked angry now, and Riku understood why. Not only had Leon been close to Ansem, but all that time, Ansem had been keeping these earth-shattering secrets—and about Leon's "dead" best friend, of all things. "But now we know why there were rumors about Ansem having an illegitimate child. Kairi must have been spotted a few times..." Leon flipped to one of the last reports in the stack he was holding. "And the special girl he mentions here, the one he sent off into the ocean between worlds..."

"Was me," she said, resting her hands over the purse she had pulled into her lap again. "I read that report. I'd had a feeling before, but now I know. I wound up on Destiny Islands because of my heart." She lifted her eyes to Riku and smiled as if trying to accept everything. "It resonated with yours and Sora's. I was meant to meet you two."

It was a lot to take in. Riku didn't know how she was holding herself together still; he would have felt completely lost if he had been in her shoes. But maybe that was the difference between their hearts. Hers was pure, after all, and his wasn't strong enough to carry the keyblade anymore.

He returned the smile, unsure of how else to react.

"What I don't understand is what happened to Ansem," Leon said as he read through the final report again. "He... cast aside his body? Why would he do that..."

"Ansem told me he didn't really know why he had done that," Kairi said. "He couldn't remember. There was a lot he couldn't remember from before his time with Id..."

"Of course," Cloud said, curling a hand against his chin. It sounded like he had come to a realization. "He was a heartless."

Riku glanced at the purse in Kairi's lap. "We knew that, though. His heart was consumed by darkness, and when he took over Kairi's body, her heart shoved out the darkness that had made him a heartless."

"Exactly. Do you know what happens to the body when a heartless is made?" Cloud asked.

Hesitating, Riku thought about the reports he had just read about Rinoa. Her body had disappeared before she had truly died, after her heart had been extracted. "It disappears...?"

"Right, and it takes most of the memories with it," Cloud explained. Then, when Leon gave Cloud a curious look, he added, "I only know this because Id wanted me—and Sephiroth—to learn certain things about the creatures or people we would fight while working for him. Rogue heartless, especially, but sometimes he would send us after Nobodies."

"Nobodies?" Riku asked, wondering why that sounded so familiar.

"Id said there were nobodies and a rogue heartless after Ansem's heart," Kairi pointed out. "That's what he told us when he put Ansem's heart in this shell." She nodded to the purse in her lap where the heart rested safely inside, still wrapped in Id's darkness.

"Nobodies are the bodies that the heartless leave behind," Cloud continued. "They retain the memories of the time they were human, most of the time. And the heartless get what's left—the emotion. Desires, especially, enhanced by darkness. But most heartless are mindless and only listen to what their master says."

"And Id's their master," Riku said, lost in thought. "So then a 'rogue' heartless is—what?—a heartless who does have a mind of its own?"

Cloud nodded, folding his arms over his chest. "That's what Ansem was. He was a rogue heartless who worked with Id, and Id probably fed Ansem's heart with lies. If Ansem's heartless had had any memories at all in the beginning, no doubt they were replaced with whatever Id wanted him to believe. Id had nine years to manipulate Ansem's heart to his advantage. Even when he became Yami, he still had those fake memories. And with Ansem's nobody carrying all of his real memories, wherever he is—if he even exists still—there's no telling what the truth really is."

So that would explain why Id had made that comment about Ansem being driven by false memories.

"But..." Kairi rose to her feet and pulled the purse over her shoulder. "If his body really is out there somewhere, we can put him back together, right?"

"Theoretically, yes," Cloud agreed. "That's if you'd want to."

"We do." Leon began to gather all of the reports, his voice curt as he uncrumpled the stack Cloud had tried to read. "The Ansem I knew wasn't evil. Kairi said most of his darkness is gone, and I believe it."

"Right," Kairi said. "He wasn't evil. He was confused. Just as confused as the rest of us..."

Though Riku had witnessed Yami's strange kindness more than once, his memories of the things Yami had done to him were still fresh in his heart. Even driven by false memories and dark desires, Yami had had a choice between right and wrong. Yami had chosen to hurt Riku and Sora. Even if Yami had tried to make up for it later, the damage was still pretty deep... Riku had yet to forgive himself, too, let alone Yami. Ansem. Whoever.

And why should you forgive him?

Riku tensed as the familiar voice touched his ear. No one else seemed to have noticed—Leon was saying something about going to find Cid to fill him in on the details, now that they had the reports.

Heart racing a little, Riku tried to stay calm, wondering as always if he was imagining things.

Wasn't Yami the one who first exploited that weakness in your heart?

No, he couldn't be imagining that, even if his heart was agreeing with it all.

"Yeah," he said aloud, glancing from Leon to Kairi. "Let's see if Cid found anything." Honestly, he just wanted to get out of this room.

When he turned to see if Cloud agreed, he was surprised to see Cloud already staring at him with an intensity that Riku hadn't been at the end of before. Scrutinizing. Knowing.

Had Cloud heard the voice after all? Somehow, Riku didn't think so...

On the walk towards Ansem's study, where Sora was supposed to have taken Cid and the others, Leon lingered close to Kairi. Riku listened as the two of them discussed what they had learned today about Rinoa, Ansem, and Kairi's past.

All the while Riku tried to avoid meeting Cloud's eyes, feeling his gaze watching him as if waiting for Riku to make another wrong move. Riku wanted to ask what Cloud's problem was, but he was afraid of what the answer might be.

"Rinoa was... loud," Leon was saying. "Always getting me into trouble. I think we were only friends at first because she wouldn't leave me alone. But... after a while, after I got used to her, I found myself looking for her." He gave Kairi a wry smile. "That was when I realized she had brainwashed me into liking her."

Kairi giggled at that, and though Riku was amazed Leon of all people had worked that sound out of her, he was glad to hear it. She seemed to be lightening up at last, despite the things she had learned about herself.

"Her dad didn't like me. He was one of those rich elitists and didn't like that she was playing at the orphanage with us," Leon said. "But Rinoa was brave. She didn't care what her dad thought or said. She always came to find me, usually about the time Seifer was being mean to me..." His smile faded, tinged with sadness. "She would put Seifer in his place for me."

"She sounds like quite a character," Kairi admitted. "I'm not nearly that brave."

Leon's attention turned to her as they walked side by side, with Riku trailing behind them, and Cloud farther behind.

"I think you are," he said, offering her half a smile now. "And I'm glad a piece of her is still around." And he reached out to ruffle her hair.

She let him, even though she stiffened, probably not expecting it or used to being touched yet, but her smile widened. "You know, Ansem's heart always felt different whenever we were around you, as Yami. Soft. Sad, almost." She closed her eyes, her hands cupping the sphere through the material of her purse. "I really do think he was trying to find his body so he could become whole again and fix all the bad things he did. I think... he wanted to say he was sorry."

Leon's gaze focused on her hands, his expression growing as intense as Cloud's had been a few minutes ago. But he said nothing.

Kairi continued on, looking hopeful. "So I'll protect him until we find a way to help him." She opened her eyes again and smiled up at him.

By now, Riku's nerves were on edge from all of Cloud's staring. As Kairi and Leon continued their conversation, Riku finally turned to Cloud with a demanding glare.

"What?"

Cloud's eyes thinned. "You smell like darkness."

Riku's heart almost missed a beat. "What?" he said again, this time with confusion.

"I've noticed it since we got here," Cloud said, his tone reminding Riku of a wolf narrowing in on its prey. "But I just realized what it was..."

Clenching his fists, Riku mentally scrambled for a decent comeback in his own defense.

It was Leon who pointed out the obvious, butting into their talk without finishing his own. "He had a run-in with Id. Of course he smells like darkness."

"Riku was surrounded by a lot of it," Kairi added. Everyone had stopped walking. "Not just Id's, but Maleficent's, too."

Cloud's gaze only hardened more. He didn't seem to buy their explanations, not completely. The look he had on his face... It was like he knew something Riku didn't know.

"Why does Sora have the keyblade?" Cloud asked, his voice careful now, pointed. He did know something.

Riku didn't know what it was, but he didn't want to talk about this in front of Leon and Kairi. Kairi, whose face was filling with pity.

Riku looked away, feeling his heart wrench with shame.

"Cloud," Leon warned. "Leave him alone."

"It's not something we should let him hide," Cloud said, insistent now. "He doesn't even realize what he's doing. Why else won't the keyblade respond to him? I sensed it back at Atlantica, too, when he was sleeping on the ship."

"That was probably Ursula's darkness," Kairi suggested. "Riku's been around all kinds of darkness since he took up the keyblade."

Even though Riku was grateful that Kairi and Leon were coming to his defense, he was beginning to think Cloud was right. Something else was happening to him.

That voice he kept hearing... those touches he sometimes felt... He wasn't imagining them. It had been happening for days. Was it darkness? Riku couldn't sense anything...

"I'm... gonna go find Aerith," Riku said, averting his gaze as he walked past them, heading towards the central bastion. It was a lie. He had no intention to see Aerith; he didn't need her pity, either.

He wanted to be alone.

"Riku, you shouldn't—"

Cloud tried to stop him, but Leon intervened again with a hushed statement.

"Aerith is better at this kind of thing."

Even then, as Riku continued on without them, he heard a shuffle of feet beginning to follow and knew who it was.

He glanced over his shoulder at Kairi, who froze when she saw he had spotted her. "I'll be alright," he reassured. "Why don't you go with them and check on Sora for me?"

Her eyes were filled with worry. "Riku..."

But he turned away again and went his separate way.

Not a heartless in sight.

He walked with his hands tucked into his pockets and with an uneasiness coiling inside of him. When he was far enough away from them and was sure he wasn't being followed, he veered off into a side corridor, walking deeper into the bastion where he was sure no one would be.

In this part of the bastion, nothing stirred except for him. All was quiet, the only sounds coming from his slow footsteps and the light clinking of his dangling belts.

Taking a deep breath, he spoke aloud to the air around him.

"You there, Voice?"

His words echoed through the hollow corridor, briefly filling its shadowy contours with life. The bastion's reply was a deep silence, providing no comfort, and Riku continued alone into its inner chambers.

"I don't know what to do..."

He lowered his face and shook his head, sighing. He had become pretty desperate if he'd rather talk to a disembodied voice than seek out one of his own friends. But after what he'd overheard in Traverse Town, no one understood his situation. No one knew what he had gone through. No one except Yami—Ansem, really—because even though Kairi had witnessed a lot of it, she said Ansem had kept her asleep for much of it as well.

Aerith and Kairi and Leon may have sympathized or tried to understand, but he couldn't stand the pity in their eyes, he couldn't stand Kairi's silent: What happened to you, Riku?; or Leon's disapproving: I expected more from you; or Aerith's patient: We're here if you need someone to lean on.

He didn't want to lean on anyone. He wanted to be strong himself—strong, reliable, unwavering. Like Sora. But he was tired of comparing himself to his best friend... Why couldn't he just be Riku? Why did it always have to be a competition even when he didn't mean for it to be? He was happy with the keyblade...

Were you?

His heart fluttered with hope.

"There you are," he said, partially accusing.

He came to a stop and glanced around. His wandering had led him into the heart of the bastion, the chapel itself. The twisted wire frame of a heartless emblem was mounted on a large altar, and overhead was a beautiful stained glass window, the noon sun streaming through and casting the altar in a cascade of reds and purples.

"I think I was happy," he admitted to the voice. "I liked having a purpose."

You liked being the center of attention.

"I liked helping people."

You liked being better than everyone.

"I liked... being strong."

You? You've always been so very weak.

Riku turned in a slow circle, searching for the source of the voice. It seemed richer than usual, warm and almost teasing, and when it spoke, he no longer felt the breath against his ear. Not here. It felt like it was everywhere, all around him at once, a subtle but soothing presence.

Despite what it was saying, Riku realized he had stopped fearing it and had begun to accept its existence. He no longer felt like the voice was insulting him. No, it was challenging him. It wanted to help him.

"My heart isn't weaker than his," Riku said, lifting his chin. "If it was, I wouldn't have been able to carry the keyblade this far."

The heart that is strong and true shall win the keyblade.

Riku drew in another deep breath and closed his eyes, focusing on those words. Inside of him, his heart beat in a firm, steady song, wanting to prove its worth. It wasn't weak. He had his moments of weakness, but he'd find a way to continue fighting.

"How do I become stronger?"

I can show you your true power.

The voice had drawn close again, ghostly warm fingers sliding down his arms without really being there. He kept his eyes closed, imagining the man standing behind him, his gloves as they trailed to his waist, the sweep of long hair as it tickled Riku's bicep...

"My true power?" he asked, half breathless. He was almost scared to breathe, worryied that he would scare away his visitor if he so much as exhaled too loudly.

You've tasted it before.

Riku felt a shiver tickle down his spine, his skin prickling at the forbidden allure the voice offered.

Riku knew what it was referring to. Those powers he'd used to finish Maleficent off, the powers he'd used to drive back Id's heartless to protect Kairi... Id had said those hadn't been the keyblade's powers. Riku now knew Id had been right; those powers had been his own.

All this time he'd envied Sora for his magic, as Sora must have envied Riku for his keyblade. Now Sora had both.

But that didn't mean Riku was powerless. He'd accessed his hidden powers before; what he needed was a way to do it without the keyblade.

"What do I need to do?" he breathed.

The fingers felt more corporeal now. He could feel each one as they ran through his hair, as they curled against his hip, as he felt himself being tugged backwards, into a very real embrace.

Riku opened his mouth to ask his question again, but he was interrupted.

"What a familiar stench..."

And it wasn't by the voice he had been expecting.

His eyes snapped open. The voice's presence faded, but not completely, lingering around him as if to protect him as he turned to face the new voice—one with a familiarity, almost sounding like Yami, but deeper and without the layer of secret emotions Yami had carried.

Riku settled his gaze, across the chapel near the far door, on a figure who hadn't been standing there a few minutes ago.

The man wore a coat as black as the darkness itself, form-fitting, with a hood so deep that Riku couldn't see past the shadows shrouding his face. He stood tall, standing so statuesque that Riku almost believed he was imagining what he was seeing.

"Who are you?" he asked the cloaked figure, already itching to summon the keyblade. He didn't try, not yet.

His response was a deep chuckle—soft, detached, as if finding humor but not able to muster the amusement to show it. Then, in that unsettlingly familiar voice:

"This should be interesting..."

Riku had hardly any time to prepare. He felt an instinctual panic—

And sure enough, the figure moved to attack him, harnessing a speed that even Sephiroth would envy. Riku had a split second to throw his hand out to protect himself, his heart reaching out with a flare of determination, and the keyblade sprang to life.

As the stranger's weapon—a beam of red light clutched like a sword—came down on Riku, Way to Fall's strong form was there to block it.

The force of the impact stunned him, but Riku kept his footing, trying not to falter now that the keyblade was responding to him again.

"Who are you?!" he demanded again.

Up this close, he could see the bottom half of the stranger's face, and he recognized the smirk that pulled at those lips, even though they lacked Yami's spirit. But if Kairi had Ansem's heart—who was this?

"I want to know what he sees in you," came the cool tease.

Riku's brows furrowed with anger. "Who?" he gritted out, fighting to keep his balance.

"I think you know," the stranger replied. "His darkness is all over you."

There was a burst of light, and Riku cried out as he was thrown to the floor, something intense repelling him without warning, and when he glanced up, he saw a grid of blue-white powers shimmer and fade. A barrier?

He leapt back to his feet, keyblade at the defensive. Whoever this man was, he was extremely powerful. Sephiroth-powerful. And Riku had lost to Sephiroth...

Are you afraid to lose?

Riku grimaced as the voice's presence grew stronger around him, distracting, though reassuring.

Across their circular arena, the stranger released another impassive chuckle. "Perhaps we have all put too much faith in your abilities, keyblade bearer. I'm disappointed."

As if dismissing Riku, he turned to leave.

Anger and frustration and desperation flared inside of Riku, and he stepped forward without thinking. "Wait! I'm not finished with you yet!" he yelled, and deep inside, his heart cried out for help.

The stranger hesitated. He didn't turn, but he waited.

And when Riku took a breath to steady his racing heart, he felt it—the voice's presence—strengthening around him, responding to his heart's fears. This time, instead of just basking in its comfort, his heart tentatively reached back.

He only faltered when he felt the brush of a cloak against his arm, and a second figure stepped out from behind him, this one cloaked in brown. Riku's breath caught as he watched it—the voice—drift forward and pause in front of him, facing the stranger.

"So you decided to show yourself," the voice said. It wasn't purred in Riku's ear or whispered into his hair. It was real. He still felt its power in his heart, but it existed in front of him. It wanted to protect him.

The stranger in the black coat slowly turned. "I could say the same to you." A pause, and then, almost bored: "You no longer have the heart. I have no interest in quarreling with you."

"And the boy?" the voice said with a slight lilt of amusement.

"You think he has potential." Another pause, as if reflecting on something, and when he spoke again, Riku knew the stranger was regarding him, not the figure protecting him. "I admit I'm curious..."

Riku stiffened, readying his keyblade.

The voice's hood also turned to look at him, but even this close, all Riku saw of his face was shadows. "You cannot defeat him like you are."

Bristling, Riku narrowed his eyes at the stranger, not wanting to take his attention off him for even a moment, as he spoke to the man whose voice had been haunting him for days. "What do I do?" he asked the voice.

"Open yourself to your power."

Easier said than done, especially in the face of such a formidable new threat.

Riku clenched Way to Fall harder and kept his eyes trained on the coated figure. He let the keyblade's faint, faint song flow through him and mingle with the reassurance he felt from the voice's veritable existence. When the powers connected, channeling through him, there was a tug deep inside of him, as if something was begging to be let free.

At first he shied away from it, uncertain as to what he was getting himself into, but when he did, the hooded voice drifted closer to him, closer, until they were centimeters apart.

Holding his breath, Riku lifted his gaze, unable to resist the flicker of fear he felt when he stared up into the black of the hood and saw nothing but darkness. The keyblade and the outside power—the voice's power?—reacted to his fear, spreading a warm confidence through his soul. Riku released his breath and let his eyes drift closed.

He didn't imagine the fingers that cupped his chin. He could feel the texture of the voice's glove as it stroked his jaw, as his other hand trailed through his hair—

Another tug inside of him, this time harder. Was this what he wanted...?

—the fingers drifted from his hair, caressed his cheek, and slowly pulled away.

Was this what he needed...?

Yes.

Fingers loosening around his keyblade, Riku relaxed. He blindly reached towards the voice, grasping a sleeve that didn't feel like a shapeless cloak at all, but a man's arm, strong, real. Warm. Reassuring.

He thought of all of his battles thus far and how many mistakes he had made to get here. There was no way of knowing if he was making another. All he knew was what he felt in that moment.

He needed this.

Releasing the voice's arm, he called out to the mingling powers flowing through and around him in a calming river of strength. It returned his call, sinking deeper into his consciousness and tugging at the cage of whatever lay sleeping within the hidden side of his heart.

He raised his keyblade with steady conviction.

Unafraid, he lifted his eyes and looked past the haze of shadows that now surrounded him.

He welcomed them.

And he opened his heart.

An overwhelming strength flourished within, driving him forward, and with a cry he hardly recognized as his own, he cleared the space between himself and the stranger in an instant. When his keyblade struck, it was with the flood of power that had broken free, sparks of black and purple erupting from the blade.

When he looked back, the cloaked voice was gone, but his presence was closer than ever, working its way deep into Riku's heart.

Shadows sprung from out of nowhere, maybe from within, and slid over his body with an eager acceptance, the tendrils spreading and enveloping and transforming, molding into a form-fitting suit in under a second. It wasn't Id's darkness, whatever it was—it was warm, empowering, intoxicating.

He lifted his eyes through his bangs and smirked at the stranger over their linked weapons. Beneath the shroud of the stranger's hood, those lips pulled into an emotionless smile.

"I see. Let's see how well you do now."

The stranger drove him back and, as Riku dug his feet against the floor and prepared to launch into a relentless onslaught, he vanished.

No—teleported!

Riku whirled around without thought, letting the medley of powers guide him, and he moved without limitations. Something had awakened inside of him. He didn't know what it was, but it felt good.

When the stranger appeared in a swirl of darkness behind him, now wielding two red swords of light, Riku's keyblade crashed into them. The stranger didn't relent, but as his weapons flew in for another strike, Riku's blade was there to meet it and return the favor, each movement so fast, so instinctively unthinking, they were almost blurs.

Riku had never felt so much power before and nothing had ever been this effortless for him. As the stranger's intense magic descended upon him, Riku could cross the chapel in the blink of an eye or let his own powers converge before him in a sturdy shield.

He let the rhythm of the battle sing through him, his heart soaring from the incredible rush, and he found himself unleashing devastating attacks he wouldn't have imagined himself capable of—explosions of fiery darkness from his keyblade, shooting out like indigo suns one right after the other—merciless strikes as he crisscrossed the chapel with rapid successive lunges—a raining assault from above, piercing the ground with a series of intense shockwaves again and again and again—

But the stranger was no pushover. Each time Riku unleashed his newfound powers, the coated man twisted away with a fluent grace or teleported somewhere Riku had left himself open.

Riku was strong, but the stranger was precise; Riku was fast, but the stranger was clever. More than once, he found himself rushing headfirst into a trap—black and white thorns that would snake through the air around him and keep him caged as the stranger honed in on him with brutal strikes of his swords or with intense blasts of energy from the ground.

And though the attacks hurt, Riku didn't find himself wavering the way he would when injured. He could hear encouraging whispers—or feel them?—but they weren't from his keyblade. They came from his heart, a constant stream of confidence that fueled him. His pain faded quickly, though he knew his body still had a limit. He just couldn't feel it yet. He kept moving, following the call of his powers, and immediately fell back into the rhythm of the battle.

The stranger wasn't always successful at dodging Riku's never ending chain of attacks, and each time Riku landed a blow against that dark coat, he felt an even stronger surge of power.

The fight turned from desperate to vainglorious as Riku began to sense a pattern in the stranger's counterattacks, and soon Riku was avoiding his traps altogether, launching his own against his foe without mercy, stabbing the ground and sending shockwaves of searing dark energy erupting around the stranger.

And when the man in the coat finally staggered beneath his keyblade, Riku hesitated and watched him. He stood slumped, panting, a hand clutched over his chest. Riku pointed Way to Fall at him, his spirit already brimming with excitement over his victory, and he couldn't help gloating.

"Had enough?"

Maybe the next time he met Sephiroth, he could have a fair rematch.

But that was the last thought he had before the room began to darken all around him.

Hundreds of burning red lights appeared simultaneously and started to intensify, surrounding him in a night sky full of the stranger's swords. Riku's breath caught as he turned in a slow circle, his eyes widening at the incredible power that enclosed him, the swords glowing brighter, brighter, too bright—

Then they were unleashed.

They struck Riku in an excruciating inferno even as he screamed and tried to deflect them, fighting past the pain to continue protecting himself, repelling dozens with each swing of his keyblade, but they kept coming—wave after wave after wave—consuming him in light, in agony, and in despair.

It was over as quickly as it had come, and when the lights vanished, Riku collapsed to the ground.

Body numb, Riku just lay there for several moments, face down, unable to feel anything except a terrible fury in his heart.

The sound of footsteps stopped beside his head.

Grimacing, he lifted his gaze through his bangs, glaring up at the stranger, his fury radiating out of him. Wisps of shadow curled off his bodysuit, the power in his heart spiking, demanding he get up, and so he tried. Wracked with violent trembles, Riku planted his hands against the floor and pushed himself to his knees, releasing haggard gasps as something squeezed at his heart, refusing to let him rest, using every last ounce of his strength to get him back to his feet.

He didn't make it.

The stranger's boot pressed between Riku's shoulder blades and shoved him back onto the ground. He growled in outrage, the pressure in his heart flaring outward, and the darkness around him responded, reaching up as if to envelope the stranger.

He didn't seemed concerned at all, however. He gave one of his humorless chuckles and released Riku, who didn't have the strength to try getting up again.

"Your persistence is amusing. I'll let you live this time, but remember this, 'Ansem'—"

Ansem?!

The vise around Riku's heart tightened, and he screamed again, clutching a hand to his chest as tears of agony sprang to his eyes. He couldn't stop shaking—what was wrong with his heart? Why was the stranger calling him Ansem?!

"—you needed my help to capture your prey."

What was he talking about?!

Help me! Riku cried silently, his heart reaching out to his new powers, seeking out the voice and its comfort.

This time he didn't feel the soothing baritone caress his ear as it always did. Instead, Riku's heart missed a beat, his lips opened on their own, and the voice came from inside.

"Don't think you've won. It is I who will rule Kingdom Hearts."

Then Riku's heart shuddered and relaxed, and his body followed suit, his trembling beginning to subside as a calmness eased through his bones and enveloped his soul. He watched, confused and scared, as his own body picked itself up, and his eyes lifted towards the stranger—Nobody, his heart whispered—and his lips pulled into a dark, vindictive smile.

A soothing warmth washed over him, lulling him into a peaceful sleep, and though Riku tried to fight it, he felt his mind slip away. He was aware of his body moving without him, launching a final attack at Nobody—who teleported and escaped for now. He was aware of his voice—not his voice but the voice—echoing inside of him, replacing his own.

"What fools..."

Ansem...? Riku wondered.

"Mm, just his darkness," came the voice's sultry reply. Riku's gloved hand rested over his heart, where his dark suit had a large, familiar emblem. This heart, however, still existed, and hadn't earned the X of the heartless. "And now your body is mine."

Darkness curled into existence around Riku's fingers and delved into his heart, like pinpricks of fire, and sank deep into him, wrapping around Riku's existence.

Everything grew dark, numbing his mind and soul, but it was peaceful.

He slept.

Or, at least he thought he slept. He wasn't sure where he was or how much time had passed, if any time had passed at all.

When he slipped his eyes open, he was alone.

Surrounded by darkness.

Riku...

A gentle flicker of light caught his attention, and he glanced down at the soft glow emanating from his bare chest.

"I'm here," he murmured, dazed, and hardly realized he didn't know where here was.

When his chilled fingers touched the skin of his chest, the light gathered and formed a tiny sphere. It drifted slowly into the air, and Riku felt a profound hollowness as he watched it, wondering, not understanding what was happening.

Slowly, as if not wanting to scare it away, Riku reached out to the glowing sphere to catch it.

A hush fell over the darkness and Riku's heart.

His fingers closed around the light.

And for the briefest of moments, he felt its warmth.

Then it faded.

The light, the warmth—vanished.

Darkness closed in around him.

The light...

The emptiness inside of him grew into an abyss as he realized what was wrong.

It's gone.

Then he felt the texture of gloves, warm and inviting and familiar, slide along his arms. They curled around his bare hips and pulled him against a solid chest, as a face lowered to nuzzle into his hair.

Warm breath on his ear.

He shivered.

Then Ansem spoke, his words a dark, delighted whisper.

"You never needed it."

-o-o-

I'm sure there's more confusion, but even if all of your questions aren't answered by the end of the story, I'll be offering a FAQ on my journal and site or somewhere easily accessible. And don't worry—there's still plenty of action/plot to come. I'm estimating 2 more looooong chapters after this one, then an "epilogue" of sorts, but I have plenty of plans after that...

Please review or share some of your thoughts about the story. We've come this far! Let's make it to the end together.