[057.] This
Title: This
Fandom: Kingdom Hearts
Claim: Cloud/Riku
Theme: [057.] Annoyance
Word Count: 6,178
Rating: R
Summary: Riku’s in a bad mood, Twilight Town is the lamest world ever, and don’t even get him started on Cloud . . .
Disclaimer: Square Enix, Disney, and a bunch of other cool people own Kingdom Hearts. I’m sure that one day I will become affiliated with one of these companies, but as I am still a measly little peasant, I own no rights to the franchise. Let’s face it: I don’t even really own this plot. I just like to pretend things happened in canon that there’s no proof of, because I’m deluded like that.
Author’s Note: I officially welcome all readers to Kingdom Hearts II. It’s about time, huh?
In the end after all the berating he piled upon himself, Riku undressed and showered in the dark. He stopped by the white room beforehand and badgered Naminé until she stole a robe from DiZ, because he wasn’t going to travel from the bathroom to his bedroom in only a towel. Especially not with DiZ here, and especially when he was so keen on denying his identity-the fake and real one. He knew he was being ridiculous and making things harder (and more complicated) than they needed to be, but Riku couldn’t handle this yet. He could hardly handle Naminé knowing, so there was absolutely no way he could let her see.
When he stepped from the shower, Riku drew the robe on, and silently thanked Naminé for ensuring it came with a hood. He left his clothing outside the bathroom as they prearranged, and headed for his bedroom. His steps were hurried, eager to avoid all human contact, and once in the room, he bolted the door shut. Riku turned out the lights and crawled into the bed.
He couldn’t take this. Couldn’t handle this. This was all wrong, and he knew he should just grow a pair, but he couldn’t look at himself like this. It was awkward moving like this, but seeing it was just so much worse. If he really wanted to point out how badly this unraveled him, it was worth mentioning that Riku couldn’t even put words to what “this” was anymore.
He tossed and turned for a better part of the night. Hours grew long as the moon raised high in the sky, changing the shapes and angles of the shadows casting across his elongated, awkward form. Sleep wouldn’t come to him as he dwelt on his appearance, on that phone call with Leon, on the absence of conversation with Cloud and the reality that he really ought to call him tomorrow.
Riku groaned, and his adrenaline heightened. Now he wasn’t going to get enough sleep. He couldn’t be drowsy in front of the monitors. What happened if he fell asleep, Roxas and his friends tried to go somewhere they couldn’t, and the whole system crashed with the real Roxas inside of it? Organization XIII might break in. Sure, Riku thought DiZ was a little over the top worrying about that one, but the more he thought about it, eventually he remembered that Organization member in the World That Never Was. The one who told him to do what he would with Roxas, because he betrayed the Organization.
He just didn’t understand. Did Organization XIII want Sora awake? Asleep and out of commission? Were they just pissed off at Roxas, or were they angry enough to destroy him? If that happened, what would happen to the piece of Sora’s heart that Roxas held in him? Would it go back to Sora, or would it be lost forever?
These questions were only part of why he couldn’t fall asleep in front of the monitors. He needed to sleep. He rolled over again, but there seemed to be no comfortable spot for his body. As this thought flitted through his head, he came back to sheer misery that this wasn’t his body. If he were in his body, perhaps he could get comfortable enough to fall asleep. He could glance out the window and be comforted by the night sky (his and Cloud’s sky), but he couldn’t even take solace in that, anymore. Not when he looked like this, and dreaded calling Cloud tomorrow, because he sounded like this, and “this” was nothing short of a complete disaster.
That went without mentioning he needed to call Cloud tomorrow not just because they promised to keep in touch despite how bad things got or how hard things were, but he also just royally fucked up his friendship with Leon. He knew Leon tended to be a touchy subject with Cloud (for some ridiculous, unfounded reason Riku had not yet figured out other than Cloud was highly insecure), but they were best friends. Riku couldn’t handle thinking that Leon might be mad at him, too, right now on top of everything else. Not that Riku thought Cloud was mad at him, but things were emotionally strained, and adding this Leon thing to an already horrific situation was just unbearable.
Riku felt like a rubber band pulled tight, ready to snap under the tension. He wanted to lash out at someone, anyone, but he’d already done that with Leon to an extent. It didn’t improve his mood. This restlessness only increased the headache forming behind his eyes. His hands shook, fingers twitching against the soft fabric of his pillowcase.
~*~
The bright light from the computer screens was unwelcome to his eyes. His temples thumped and pulsed, crept behind his vision, and traveled into the front of his forehead. The pain was excruciating, as if someone had grabbed chunks of his hair around the hairline and pulled steady without relent. His eyelids felt puffy and itchy, dry, and Riku rubbed at them before trying to refocus his vision on the monitors.
Sora was up to seven percent today. Roxas and his friends were boring the hell out of him. It was just half-past one, and Riku wanted to take a nap. DiZ, however, hadn’t been seen around the mansion all day. Naminé had no idea where he was, and even if he were around, Riku expected he’d receive a lecture instead of rest should he ask if he could lie down. His head felt hazy. It drooped down, and his chin pressed against his collarbone.
Naminé was out, obtaining lunch and new clothes for Riku, so he couldn’t even call on her for company. This was a real shame considering how tired he was. If Roxas was more entertaining, Riku was sure his interest could be perked, but Twilight Town Roxas was such a bore. They didn’t do anything fun. At this point Riku would rather be watching Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie, for blitzball was sure to be more interesting than whatever it was Roxas did. It was a good thing Sora had Riku all those years, or Sora probably would’ve been boring, too.
Now that he came to think of it, Sora was kind of boring. Boring and lazy. Riku had always been the one with the ideas, Kairi with the laughter, and Sora just kind had to step up if he wanted to be included.
In this group of friends, Hayner was the one with ideas, and that wasn’t saying much. Hayner’s ideas involved ice cream and the clock tower, which might have been fun for the completely broke teenagers (Riku considered sending munny through the data machine just to level up his entertainment), it was so dull to watch. Their conversation was mindless. They never fought, and if they did, it was little more than a petty squabble. Riku wondered if it was just Twilight Town, or if he, Sora, and Kairi had been weird friends. He could never remember life on the Islands being this uneventful.
Considering what had happened to the Islands, though, and his role in it, Riku figured they were probably weird. Sora was a Keyblade master. Kairi was a Princess of Heart. Riku was a whole lot of trouble. Yeah. They were definitely just weird.
He felt his eyelids slipping shut again, but then a loud siren blared through the computer room. Riku groaned and looked up, expecting to see a train on the way to the nonexistent beach again. He searched for the threat on the security points, but there was no bright, red dot by the train station. Instead, the warning signaled from somewhere in the Sunset Residential District. That was odd. There were a few weak points in the system there, but nothing too major. There were no alleys that couldn’t be taken, or paths that led to a no-access boundary.
As suddenly as the alarm signaled, it stopped again. The system didn’t crash. All was well in Twilight Town. If Riku didn’t know better, he’d think he imagined it.
Maybe he did imagine it. He was practically dead to the world, after all. Something in his heart, however, told him that it was real. He heard the sirens, saw the dot, and if it had been a hallucination, he was sure to have marked the beach, not some random residential area.
Riku looked at the data machine and then back to the monitors. He had to do something about this. With Naminé and DiZ gone, he couldn’t ask either for advice, and if something bad happened . . . Riku couldn’t let anything happen to Roxas because he was too tired and careless to do his job right. If he let something happen to Roxas, he let something happen to Sora, and Riku had already screwed Sora over enough already.
Riku turned over the paper bag his breakfast had come in. Grabbing a pen, he jotted down a quick note to whomever might come looking for him. He mentioned the sirens, said he’d gone to check it out, and put down the time. He didn’t think anyone had infiltrated as he couldn’t see any new presences on any of the grids, but if Organization XIII had found them . . . If they found a way to disguise themselves . . . Riku wasn’t taking any chances.
He punched a few keys on the keyboard and set up the data machine for transport. DiZ said there was another portal on the other side-one that could travel back to the real Twilight Town. He knew the password (sea-salt), and it should work just like this one. He felt a bit of apprehension, afraid of getting stuck in the system, and would have felt better if DiZ were here to watch over things, but there was no time for that.
Riku stepped into the gap and closed his eyes. He flipped the switch.
~*~
DiZ did a good job. Riku had to give him that. He wandered around the faux Twilight Town for almost two hours, looking for signs of an infiltration, but found nothing. He couldn’t even find a hint that these people were nothing but strongly manipulated pawns of artificial intelligence. Everything seemed so real that Riku had a hard time believing this was nothing but inputs and data. He even headed back after the first twenty minutes just to make sure, but then Hayner, Roxas, Pence, and Olette crossed his path, and he knew this was just an alternate reality. Save for himself, Roxas was the only real person in this place.
When two hours passed and he found nothing in the Sunset District or anywhere else, Riku headed back to the mansion. He’d have to mention this flaw in the system to DiZ. Surely it was just a glitch in the system. The Hollow Bastion computers freaked out hourly for no apparent reason, so there nothing unusual about a fault or two. It was bound to happen. Computers could only be as good as they were programmed, and this was just a miscalculation due to human error.
Satisfied and relieved that there was no infiltration and he hadn’t crossed paths with any member of Organization XIII, Riku headed into the basement of the faux Twilight Town mansion. Naminé should be back with lunch, and now that he could relax knowing Roxas was still safe, he realized he was starving.
~*~
By the time Riku went down to his room for the night, Sora’s progress climbed to eight percent. The progress was slow, but the fact it was still moving lightened Riku’s spirits. Naminé said there was a lot of memory to go through, and now that Sora’s heart was responding, it would only be a matter of time until Roxas’s piece of the heart started to return. Once that happened, progress would pick up. Sora, she said, would be awake before he knew it.
Riku couldn’t wait. Twilight Town and Roxas Watch was the most effing boring thing he’d ever done, and that included weeding through the library in Hollow Bastion. At least some of those books had been insanely interesting, if not a little terrifying.
He slid the Organization robe off, happy for a lack of mirrors in this room as he locked the door. The hood and restrictive movement of the stiff coat was too much right now. He felt as if he were suffocating, and the robe’s collar only made it worse. As the coat fell to the floor, his throat felt clearer. He drew a deep breath and closed his eyes a moment before he sat on the bed’s edge.
Better get this over with, Riku thought, as he grabbed his phone from the nightstand and dialed Cloud’s number. As he listened to the phone ring, he pulled a pack of cigarettes from the top drawer. He hadn’t asked DiZ if he could smoke in here, and he didn’t intend to. It was his experience that if you asked, people noticed the smell of smoke, and claimed it bothersome, but if they didn’t know, they never really found out. In the chance he did smell it, at least then Riku could know it actually bothered him. Not that he wanted to be a bother, but it wouldn’t hurt his feelings all that much if he pissed DiZ off over a cigarette. DiZ got on his effing nerves. Riku lit up.
The first call went to voicemail, so Riku left a short message, hung up, and tried again just in case Cloud didn’t answer because he didn’t hear it or something.
“Hello?”
Riku frowned. Cloud’s voice sounded scratchy and thick.
“Cloud? Are you okay?”
“. . . Yeah. Leon?”
“No. Riku.”
“Oh. You sound dif . . . oh, yeah.”
“Different, were you going to say?”
“Yeah. Sorry. You woke me up. I’m not thinking too clearly right now.”
From the slurred pronunciation of his words, Riku already gathered that. His frown deepened. Something about the things he said . . . Sleeping at this time of the evening? Cloud was always at least awake until midnight. Why would Leon be calling him? He was supposed to be in Hollow Bastion. Then he remembered the strange, shocked tone Leon had last night when he asked if Cloud had called at all, but Riku had been too annoyed to really register that it might mean something. Surely Cloud would’ve called him by now if he knew about that quasi-fight between Leon and him, but he hadn’t.
“Cloud, why would Leon be calling you?”
“Cause I called him. He was supposed to call me back.”
Cloud released a long yawn. Riku shook his head. His fingers flexed as he switched his cigarette from one hand to the other and propped the cell phone between his ear and shoulder. The now free hand clutched at his knee, released, and repeated.
“Why would you have to call Leon? You live together.”
“Oh . . . right. I didn’t tell you. I went to Gaea.”
“Gaea.”
“Yeah. Reno called.”
“Reno, your ex-boyfriend, Reno?”
“Yeah, and he’s got a job for me. He thinks it has something to do with Jenova. So I came to check it out.”
“Let me get this straight. Your ex-boyfriend called you about some job that might have to do with Jenova, and by extension, Sephiroth. So you just picked up and went back to the world where you first got lost in the darkness. You’re at the place where you lost yourself to the darkness to go after the guy you can’t keep dead because of your darkness. Because your ex-boyfriend called you.”
There was a pause on the other end. When Cloud spoke again, his voice sounded clearer and more alert.
“You’re mad.”
“Oh, no, I’m not mad; I’m just waiting for an explanation. I mean there’s got to be one, right? Because I just can’t believe you’d do something that fucking stupid.”
“Listen. Reno called me, okay? He said some weird stuff’s been going on and that it appears to have to do with Jenova. Rufus Shinra wants me for some job, so I figured Sephiroth is probably behind it. That’s a good thing. I have to find him and finish him off.”
“Oh, I’m sure Sephiroth is behind it, but that isn’t a good thing. Not when Gaea is concerned. I mean, really, Cloud. Don’t you think that it’s a little weird Sephiroth stays hidden so well all the time, but then he finds you? Don’t you think that maybe he’s got something planned, and that’s why he wants you there?”
“I’m not a complete idiot. I realize that Sephiroth is probably up to something . . .”
“And you just walked right into it.”
“You don’t understand. The Lifestream . . . the Lifestream killed all the Heartless here. It’s pissed off. It’s chucking out dead people like resurrection is nothing spectacular.”
“Well that’s fantastic for you considering the mess you’re walking into.”
“Riku, listen. I think . . . I think Sephiroth’s planning another Jenova Reunion.”
“Right. And you have Jenova cells, so you being there for that is a good idea because . . .?”
“Because I can’t let that happen? I have to fight him anyway. He’s . . .”
“He can manipulate you! What part about that don’t you understand?”
“I understand that! I think it’s safe to say I understand that better than you do. You don’t see what’s going on here. It’s horrible. The planet’s taking its revenge, and I’m part of this. I don’t want to be, but I am. Denzel’s dying, Riku. There’s this disease-this Geostigma-that comes from the immune system fighting off the Jenova virus. It’s horrible, and I can’t turn my back on this. I have to do something. I’ve failed the people here so much already by not finishing off Sephiroth for good.”
Riku sighed.
“You could’ve told me.”
“I didn’t think you’d take it like this.”
“Right. Forgive me for being worried about you.”
As the words passed Riku’s lips, he frowned. Right. He was calling because of Leon. What was wrong with him? Why did he just keep freaking out on everyone? If he were face to face with Roxas, he’d probably flip out on him for being boring. Riku took a deep breath.
“Ri, I’m not . . .”
“Forget it,” said Riku. “I’m sorry. I . . . You know what’s going on better than I do. I’m just on edge all the time. It’s not you. I just don’t want you to get hurt. I love you.”
“I love you, too, Ri . . .”
“So . . . you talked to Leon?”
“Yeah. I called him this morning. Why?”
“Well, I was calling about Leon. I guess you heard.”
“Heard? Heard what?”
“Leon called me last night.”
“He did? Really? He actually called?”
“Yeah. He said you gave him my number.”
“I just thought that, you know, you might like having someone else who won’t take no for an answer. I know Leon would understand what happened, and he wouldn’t look down on you for it. This can’t be easy for you, so I just . . . I thought you could use a friend, since I have to tell you I’m proud of you and all.”
Riku brought a hand up to his closed eyes and rubbed his thumb over his eyelids. He sighed.
“Yeah. You’re right. I just . . .”
“What happened?”
“I freaked on him.” Riku put out his cigarette and gesticulated violently in the air. He grabbed another cigarette, brought it to his lips, and touched the lighter’s flame to the tip. “I just . . . I went off about not wanting him to know, and . . . I was horrible. I was defensive, and proud, and horrible. He didn’t tell you?”
“No, he didn’t.” Cloud was silent for a few seconds. “He was really hurt that you didn’t want him to know.”
“I know he was. I could tell, and I felt bad about that, but I was so pissed off that he wouldn’t just leave me alone . . . I keep snapping at everyone. I don’t know what to do.”
“I’m the wrong person to ask. I freaked out on Tifa and Leon today. I was sleeping on my Gummi because I don’t know where to go right now. Everything’s been getting to me.”
Riku rubbed his thumb over the cigarette filter. He bit his lip.
“Including me?”
Cloud sighed.
“A little. Don’t get me wrong. I love you so much, and I’m so proud of you, but I wish it didn’t have to turn out like this.”
Riku nodded.
“Yeah. Me too. And now I have this Leon thing on me. I . . . I don’t know what to say to him. I wanted to call him back, and I apologized and everything, but he told me he was going to hang up before we said more things that we’d regret, and he did. He hung up on me. I . . . I don’t know what to say to him. I feel bad calling you about it, because I’ve been dragging you through hell with me and this Ansem thing, and I know you get insecure about Leon . . .”
“I’m an idiot, and I have no right to act the way I do about him. I know you’re friends, I know you’re with me, and neither one of you deserves for me to put myself between your friendship. It’s not my place to say who you can be friends with, even if he’s my best friend.”
“I know. I just . . .”
“I’m more insecure than any person should be, and I’m especially possessive when it comes to you. We promised that we weren’t going anywhere, right?”
Riku smiled. It had only been around a week since that night in the World that Never Was, but it felt like years ago with how much had changed since then. He nodded.
“We also promised that we wouldn’t let each other screw this up just because we’re insecure.”
“Don’t worry about dragging me through hell,” said Cloud. “I’m on Gaea now. You’ll get your fair share of hell from me, too. By the time this is over, the ugly Ansem thing will seem like nothing.”
Riku laughed.
“I certainly hope not.”
“Well maybe not to that extent, but you’ll see just what a mess I am, too. As for Leon, just be honest with him, okay?”
“I feel really bad about it. I don’t want to push him away. It feels like Sora, and my sister, and Destiny Islands all over again. I was too defensive, and I just ended up hurting someone who did nothing but worry about me. I want to fix it before it gets . . .”
“Before it gets like it did with Sora.”
“Before I really hurt him and nullify everything good you’ve ever said about me. Yeah.”
“Leon’s tough, Ri. Don’t discredit him so much. He probably didn’t mention anything because he realizes all you need is space right now.”
“Maybe . . .”
“Don’t worry about it. This will blow over. But speaking of . . . How is Sora coming along?”
“Eight percent restoration. Roxas is awake, and he’s boring, and broke. I get to delete trains full of people on their way to the nonexistent beach pretty frequently, though.”
“Sounds like fun.”
“I want to kill myself.”
“I hope you’re exaggerating.”
Riku laughed.
“Maybe a little.”
“So does that mean it’s going well, then?”
“Yes. It’s going well.”
“DiZ still creeping you out?”
“DiZ is the least of my worries right now. I had to shower last night.”
“So what?”
“Cloud, think about that for a second.”
“Oh. Right. How did that go?”
“I think I’m clean, but it’s hard to tell as I did it in the dark.”
“That bad?”
“I can’t even stand to look at myself.”
“This is all going to pass, you know? One day this is going to seem so far away you’ll hardly remember it, and you’ll be grateful that it happened.”
“Why’s that?”
“I don’t know. Really bad experiences are always like that. In the end you’re thankful because they make you who you are. That’s all this is. One day you’ll be grateful because it will have made you so much stronger.”
“Maybe . . . Hey, Cloud?”
“Huh?”
“You know, whatever’s going on in Gaea that’s so bad right now? That’s going to pass, too.”
Cloud sighed.
“I hope you’re right.”
~*~
As Riku stared at the drab events of the alternate Twilight Town the following day, he ran the conversation with Cloud over in his head. He knew Leon had been upset, but hearing Cloud confirm it made him feel so guilty. He felt so vindictive and, ironically, heartless to have gone off on Leon like that.
There was a lot going on in Twilight Town today, not that it was interesting. Posters for the Struggle were printed and posted as bright-eyed, hopeful teenagers signed up for the preliminaries. They all hoped for the chance to win some lame trophy and the chance to go against some hyped-up pretty boy with bad fashion sense named Setzer. He was the defending champion, which wasn’t that surprising considering he was a grown man competing against a bunch of kids. It was revolting.
Besides the Struggle, there was some big ordeal about missing photographs. Riku almost laughed at the affronted locals. Imagine the horror. What kind of people freaked out about missing photographs so much that it was a town crisis? Seifer was all beside himself, complaining loudly to anyone that would listen that it was Roxas and his friends. The people who did listen were so disappointed in that nice boy, Roxas, for being such a thief.
They were photographs. Riku didn’t get what the big deal was. He couldn’t even figure out why anyone would want to steal photographs in the first place.
Sora rose up to ten percent that night. Riku gave Naminé a kiss on the cheek about twenty minutes after Roxas went to bed before leaving the computer room. He retired to his bedroom and fell asleep within minutes after sliding under the blankets.
Naminé was already in the computer room when Riku walked in the next morning. She sat by the computer monitors, staring at the grids with keen interest. Riku sat beside her and accepted his breakfast.
“Roxas dreamt of Sora again last night,” said Naminé.
“Yeah? That’s good, right?”
Naminé nodded.
“I think so. Roxas is already awake. He’s at the usual spot.” Naminé pointed toward the screen. “I’m going to go chain together some more of Sora’s memories. Call if you need anything.”
“I know the drill.”
Naminé left the room, leaving him with Roxas and friends again.
“Yeah, that’s just wrong,” said Pence.
“Seifer’s gone too far this time,” said Olette.
Riku frowned. What the hell were they talking about?
“I mean, it's true that stuff's been stolen around town,” said Hayner. Riku rolled his eyes. They were still on that, then? “And we've got a score to settle with Seifer and everything. So if he wants to think we did it, I can't really blame him. See . . . that's not what really bugs me. What really bugs me is that he's goin' around tellin' everybody we're the thieves! Now the whole town and their mothers are treating us like the Klepto Club! Have you ever been this ticked off before in your life? 'Cause I haven't. Nuh-uh. Never. Now . . . what to do.”
“Get a life?” Riku suggested.
He groaned at Hayner’s theatrics as he paced the screen, shaking his hands around as if he were trying to assault an invisible Seifer. Olette looked as if she was going to say something, but then looked to Roxas, who only shrugged. Riku grunted at the screen.
“You people need a hobby.”
“Um, well . . .” said Roxas. “We could find the real thieves. That would set the record straight.”
“Hey, that sounds fun,” said Pence.
“Clearly no concept of the word ‘fun’,” said Riku.
“What about Seifer?” said Hayner.
“First, we gotta clear our names,” said Roxas. “Once we find the real culprit, everyone will get off our backs.”
Hayner groaned, but then Pence interrupted, freaking out about all their photos being gone, only he couldn’t say the word photo. Riku frowned. That was weird. Why couldn’t they say photo? The stupid idiots didn’t even really question it, either, just assuming that the word ‘photo’ could be stolen, too. That didn’t even make sense. You couldn’t steal a word.
Riku paused. Except this was a world made of data where it wouldn’t be difficult to just erase a word. He glanced around, hoping DiZ wasn’t hovering over him and demanding to know why ‘photo’ had just been eradicated from the alternate Twilight Town world’s collective vocabulary. Unfortunately, DiZ just walked into the room and took Naminé’s vacant seat. Riku panicked. He hadn’t done it, had he? Accidentally deleted any and everything to do with photography by accident when he’d been tired or bored? This couldn’t be his fault, could it?
His interest was perked as Roxas and his friends headed from the Usual Spot. As his friends ran ahead, Roxas paused, swaying on the spot, and then he passed out. DiZ nodded and tapped a few keys on the Keyboard.
“His heart is returning. Doubtless he’ll awaken very soon,” said DiZ.
“Who? Sora?”
“Precisely. I presumed this would happen as Roxas’s bit of heart leaves him for Sora.”
“Dizzy spells?”
“He’s dying . . .”
“You mean he’s going back to the way he was.”
“It’s the same thing.”
Roxas sat up and rubbed his head as Olette ran back into the screen and urged him to follow. Roxas ran off after her and DiZ nodded.
“There we are. Good as new.”
DiZ moved to stand but Riku held out a hand to stop him.
“Wait,” said Riku. “There seems to be a bigger problem with the photo thief than I thought.”
“What’s that?”
“The word photo is gone now, too. They can’t say it.”
“But for that to happen, the data would have to be deleted.”
“I don’t think I did it, but . . .”
“Keep an eye on it. Call me if there’s more trouble.”
Riku nodded as DiZ grabbed the chair and left the room. His attention turned back to the screen as Roxas and his friends went around to various shops inquiring about the thief and trying to clear their names. In the end they decided to see if Seifer knew anything about what was going on, and Riku was starting to get bored again. Naminé brought him lunch, and he ate as he stared blankly as the day’s events unfolded. Seifer was not in a good mood to see the fantastic foursome. Riku sat up as he and Roxas got into a fight, swinging Struggle clubs at each other. The children of Twilight Town must have been dropped on their heads one too many times, Seifer especially.
Riku snorted at Seifer’s poor form and tactics. They looked like savages lunging at each other like that. Eventually Roxas knocked Seifer back, clearly the victor, though not nearly as ferocious as when Riku had fought him. Rai and Fuu came to Seifer’s defense (as usual, because apparently Seifer was some kind of god), and Pence stepped forward. He held out his annoying camera to snap a picture of this pathetically proud moment, and as he did so . . . Riku sat forward. He stared at the long, spindly white thing as it fluttered away with the camera. His eyes stayed focused as Roxas ran after the Dusk, and Riku screamed for DiZ as loud as his voice could manage.
Naminé got there first, but DiZ shortly followed. Their eyes moved to where Riku pointed at the screen, where Roxas chased the Dusk through the woods toward the alternate version of this mansion. If possible, Naminé’s eyes went bigger than Riku’s, and DiZ pushed Riku from the chair.
“Get the Keyblade,” he said.
“What?”
“Get the Keyblade!”
Naminé ran off toward the room where Sora slept soundly. Riku cocked an eyebrow.
“Why the Keyblade?”
“How else do you expect him to fight it off? It’s there to take him away. You certainly don’t expect him to defeat a Nobody with a simple Struggle club.”
The Dusk moved in a particular way as if luring Roxas to follow. It almost beckoned as they moved through the woods, and then they came out into the clearing before the mansion gates.
“We have come for you, my liege.”
The words appeared in Roxas’s thoughts. DiZ didn’t say anything, but Riku got the distinct impression that if DiZ weren’t so serious, he might have said, “I told you so.” The mouth zipper of the Dusk opened, and for the first time since the World that Never Was, he saw Roxas for who he was again. The Struggle club did virtually nothing to the Nobody, and not for Roxas’s lack of trying. When Naminé ran back into the room, Riku stepped back toward the stairs, and she flung the Keyblade into the data machine.
“I’m translating the Keyblade into data,” said DiZ, as he furiously mashed the keyboard. “When he is safe again, I’ll bring it back. I want you to keep it in here should Roxas need it again. Understood?”
The Keyblade vanished from before his eyes and reappeared in Roxas’s hands. Naminé walked back and stood beside Riku for a second, placing her hand on his forearm.
“I’m going to go keep an eye on Sora,” she said.
Riku only nodded to show he heard. His eyes still focused on the screen as Roxas fought off the Dusk, his view broken momentarily as Naminé left the room. It took all of ten swings and the Dusk fell at Roxas’s hands. When the Nobody vanished, the missing photographs swirled in the wind, and fell to the ground. DiZ pressed several more keys, and the Keyblade reappeared in the data processor. Riku nodded.
“Understood.”
Hayner, Pence, and Olette reappeared on the screen. They mused over the return of the word ‘photo,’ went back to their usual spot together, and took notice that all the photos stolen were of Roxas.
“Wouldn’t it be weird if the thief wanted to steal the real Roxas or something?” said Pence.
Riku let out a held breath. For once Pence had actually said something credible. Steal the real Roxas.
He watched in silence as the three friends left the usual spot. Roxas followed after, walking alone. As he passed through the gate, the sun peered into his vision, and Roxas blacked out again.
“Where . . . am I?”
Riku frowned. Was that . . .?
“Who’s there?” said Roxas.
“Who are you?”
Roxas awoke again thanks to something DiZ put into the system. Riku cocked his head.
“Was that . . . Sora?” said Riku.
“They’ve connected,” said DiZ.
“They were after Roxas, weren’t they?”
DiZ nodded, and as he did so, the computer announced Sora’s restoration at twelve percent. DiZ continued to stare at monitors, and Riku walked closer, standing next to the man. He peered past him at the scene, trying to get a better look. He was searching, possibly for answers to questions that he couldn’t even formulate. Perhaps he was searching for something to assuage his confusion. DiZ only frowned.
“Organization miscreants . . . They’ve found us.”
Riku felt his heart jump to his throat. That security breach the other day. The missing photographs. The missing data for the word ‘photo.’ Why didn’t he see this sooner? Organization XIII . . . They couldn’t . . .
“But . . . why would the Nobodies steal photographs?”
“Both are nothing but data to them. The fools could never tell the difference. We are running out of time. Naminé must make haste.”
Riku felt sick. They were running out of time, and he just got here. They were running out of time, but he was so busy being selfish . . . He should have seen that Organization XIII had found them, or at least that there was more going on than what appeared. He should have handled the situation instead of screaming for DiZ. He just should have done something.
Riku stared blankly at Roxas on the monitor as he walked home for dinner, still confused by what was happening to him. The Nobodies, the blackouts, and Roxas didn’t know what was going on. Roxas didn’t know he was going back to Sora-dying as DiZ called it, since it was apparently the same thing.
Riku looked away.
( Prompt Table) for previous installments. 057/100 Complete.
Fandom: Kingdom Hearts
Claim: Cloud/Riku
Theme: [057.] Annoyance
Word Count: 6,178
Rating: R
Summary: Riku’s in a bad mood, Twilight Town is the lamest world ever, and don’t even get him started on Cloud . . .
Disclaimer: Square Enix, Disney, and a bunch of other cool people own Kingdom Hearts. I’m sure that one day I will become affiliated with one of these companies, but as I am still a measly little peasant, I own no rights to the franchise. Let’s face it: I don’t even really own this plot. I just like to pretend things happened in canon that there’s no proof of, because I’m deluded like that.
Author’s Note: I officially welcome all readers to Kingdom Hearts II. It’s about time, huh?
In the end after all the berating he piled upon himself, Riku undressed and showered in the dark. He stopped by the white room beforehand and badgered Naminé until she stole a robe from DiZ, because he wasn’t going to travel from the bathroom to his bedroom in only a towel. Especially not with DiZ here, and especially when he was so keen on denying his identity-the fake and real one. He knew he was being ridiculous and making things harder (and more complicated) than they needed to be, but Riku couldn’t handle this yet. He could hardly handle Naminé knowing, so there was absolutely no way he could let her see.
When he stepped from the shower, Riku drew the robe on, and silently thanked Naminé for ensuring it came with a hood. He left his clothing outside the bathroom as they prearranged, and headed for his bedroom. His steps were hurried, eager to avoid all human contact, and once in the room, he bolted the door shut. Riku turned out the lights and crawled into the bed.
He couldn’t take this. Couldn’t handle this. This was all wrong, and he knew he should just grow a pair, but he couldn’t look at himself like this. It was awkward moving like this, but seeing it was just so much worse. If he really wanted to point out how badly this unraveled him, it was worth mentioning that Riku couldn’t even put words to what “this” was anymore.
He tossed and turned for a better part of the night. Hours grew long as the moon raised high in the sky, changing the shapes and angles of the shadows casting across his elongated, awkward form. Sleep wouldn’t come to him as he dwelt on his appearance, on that phone call with Leon, on the absence of conversation with Cloud and the reality that he really ought to call him tomorrow.
Riku groaned, and his adrenaline heightened. Now he wasn’t going to get enough sleep. He couldn’t be drowsy in front of the monitors. What happened if he fell asleep, Roxas and his friends tried to go somewhere they couldn’t, and the whole system crashed with the real Roxas inside of it? Organization XIII might break in. Sure, Riku thought DiZ was a little over the top worrying about that one, but the more he thought about it, eventually he remembered that Organization member in the World That Never Was. The one who told him to do what he would with Roxas, because he betrayed the Organization.
He just didn’t understand. Did Organization XIII want Sora awake? Asleep and out of commission? Were they just pissed off at Roxas, or were they angry enough to destroy him? If that happened, what would happen to the piece of Sora’s heart that Roxas held in him? Would it go back to Sora, or would it be lost forever?
These questions were only part of why he couldn’t fall asleep in front of the monitors. He needed to sleep. He rolled over again, but there seemed to be no comfortable spot for his body. As this thought flitted through his head, he came back to sheer misery that this wasn’t his body. If he were in his body, perhaps he could get comfortable enough to fall asleep. He could glance out the window and be comforted by the night sky (his and Cloud’s sky), but he couldn’t even take solace in that, anymore. Not when he looked like this, and dreaded calling Cloud tomorrow, because he sounded like this, and “this” was nothing short of a complete disaster.
That went without mentioning he needed to call Cloud tomorrow not just because they promised to keep in touch despite how bad things got or how hard things were, but he also just royally fucked up his friendship with Leon. He knew Leon tended to be a touchy subject with Cloud (for some ridiculous, unfounded reason Riku had not yet figured out other than Cloud was highly insecure), but they were best friends. Riku couldn’t handle thinking that Leon might be mad at him, too, right now on top of everything else. Not that Riku thought Cloud was mad at him, but things were emotionally strained, and adding this Leon thing to an already horrific situation was just unbearable.
Riku felt like a rubber band pulled tight, ready to snap under the tension. He wanted to lash out at someone, anyone, but he’d already done that with Leon to an extent. It didn’t improve his mood. This restlessness only increased the headache forming behind his eyes. His hands shook, fingers twitching against the soft fabric of his pillowcase.
~*~
The bright light from the computer screens was unwelcome to his eyes. His temples thumped and pulsed, crept behind his vision, and traveled into the front of his forehead. The pain was excruciating, as if someone had grabbed chunks of his hair around the hairline and pulled steady without relent. His eyelids felt puffy and itchy, dry, and Riku rubbed at them before trying to refocus his vision on the monitors.
Sora was up to seven percent today. Roxas and his friends were boring the hell out of him. It was just half-past one, and Riku wanted to take a nap. DiZ, however, hadn’t been seen around the mansion all day. Naminé had no idea where he was, and even if he were around, Riku expected he’d receive a lecture instead of rest should he ask if he could lie down. His head felt hazy. It drooped down, and his chin pressed against his collarbone.
Naminé was out, obtaining lunch and new clothes for Riku, so he couldn’t even call on her for company. This was a real shame considering how tired he was. If Roxas was more entertaining, Riku was sure his interest could be perked, but Twilight Town Roxas was such a bore. They didn’t do anything fun. At this point Riku would rather be watching Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie, for blitzball was sure to be more interesting than whatever it was Roxas did. It was a good thing Sora had Riku all those years, or Sora probably would’ve been boring, too.
Now that he came to think of it, Sora was kind of boring. Boring and lazy. Riku had always been the one with the ideas, Kairi with the laughter, and Sora just kind had to step up if he wanted to be included.
In this group of friends, Hayner was the one with ideas, and that wasn’t saying much. Hayner’s ideas involved ice cream and the clock tower, which might have been fun for the completely broke teenagers (Riku considered sending munny through the data machine just to level up his entertainment), it was so dull to watch. Their conversation was mindless. They never fought, and if they did, it was little more than a petty squabble. Riku wondered if it was just Twilight Town, or if he, Sora, and Kairi had been weird friends. He could never remember life on the Islands being this uneventful.
Considering what had happened to the Islands, though, and his role in it, Riku figured they were probably weird. Sora was a Keyblade master. Kairi was a Princess of Heart. Riku was a whole lot of trouble. Yeah. They were definitely just weird.
He felt his eyelids slipping shut again, but then a loud siren blared through the computer room. Riku groaned and looked up, expecting to see a train on the way to the nonexistent beach again. He searched for the threat on the security points, but there was no bright, red dot by the train station. Instead, the warning signaled from somewhere in the Sunset Residential District. That was odd. There were a few weak points in the system there, but nothing too major. There were no alleys that couldn’t be taken, or paths that led to a no-access boundary.
As suddenly as the alarm signaled, it stopped again. The system didn’t crash. All was well in Twilight Town. If Riku didn’t know better, he’d think he imagined it.
Maybe he did imagine it. He was practically dead to the world, after all. Something in his heart, however, told him that it was real. He heard the sirens, saw the dot, and if it had been a hallucination, he was sure to have marked the beach, not some random residential area.
Riku looked at the data machine and then back to the monitors. He had to do something about this. With Naminé and DiZ gone, he couldn’t ask either for advice, and if something bad happened . . . Riku couldn’t let anything happen to Roxas because he was too tired and careless to do his job right. If he let something happen to Roxas, he let something happen to Sora, and Riku had already screwed Sora over enough already.
Riku turned over the paper bag his breakfast had come in. Grabbing a pen, he jotted down a quick note to whomever might come looking for him. He mentioned the sirens, said he’d gone to check it out, and put down the time. He didn’t think anyone had infiltrated as he couldn’t see any new presences on any of the grids, but if Organization XIII had found them . . . If they found a way to disguise themselves . . . Riku wasn’t taking any chances.
He punched a few keys on the keyboard and set up the data machine for transport. DiZ said there was another portal on the other side-one that could travel back to the real Twilight Town. He knew the password (sea-salt), and it should work just like this one. He felt a bit of apprehension, afraid of getting stuck in the system, and would have felt better if DiZ were here to watch over things, but there was no time for that.
Riku stepped into the gap and closed his eyes. He flipped the switch.
~*~
DiZ did a good job. Riku had to give him that. He wandered around the faux Twilight Town for almost two hours, looking for signs of an infiltration, but found nothing. He couldn’t even find a hint that these people were nothing but strongly manipulated pawns of artificial intelligence. Everything seemed so real that Riku had a hard time believing this was nothing but inputs and data. He even headed back after the first twenty minutes just to make sure, but then Hayner, Roxas, Pence, and Olette crossed his path, and he knew this was just an alternate reality. Save for himself, Roxas was the only real person in this place.
When two hours passed and he found nothing in the Sunset District or anywhere else, Riku headed back to the mansion. He’d have to mention this flaw in the system to DiZ. Surely it was just a glitch in the system. The Hollow Bastion computers freaked out hourly for no apparent reason, so there nothing unusual about a fault or two. It was bound to happen. Computers could only be as good as they were programmed, and this was just a miscalculation due to human error.
Satisfied and relieved that there was no infiltration and he hadn’t crossed paths with any member of Organization XIII, Riku headed into the basement of the faux Twilight Town mansion. Naminé should be back with lunch, and now that he could relax knowing Roxas was still safe, he realized he was starving.
~*~
By the time Riku went down to his room for the night, Sora’s progress climbed to eight percent. The progress was slow, but the fact it was still moving lightened Riku’s spirits. Naminé said there was a lot of memory to go through, and now that Sora’s heart was responding, it would only be a matter of time until Roxas’s piece of the heart started to return. Once that happened, progress would pick up. Sora, she said, would be awake before he knew it.
Riku couldn’t wait. Twilight Town and Roxas Watch was the most effing boring thing he’d ever done, and that included weeding through the library in Hollow Bastion. At least some of those books had been insanely interesting, if not a little terrifying.
He slid the Organization robe off, happy for a lack of mirrors in this room as he locked the door. The hood and restrictive movement of the stiff coat was too much right now. He felt as if he were suffocating, and the robe’s collar only made it worse. As the coat fell to the floor, his throat felt clearer. He drew a deep breath and closed his eyes a moment before he sat on the bed’s edge.
Better get this over with, Riku thought, as he grabbed his phone from the nightstand and dialed Cloud’s number. As he listened to the phone ring, he pulled a pack of cigarettes from the top drawer. He hadn’t asked DiZ if he could smoke in here, and he didn’t intend to. It was his experience that if you asked, people noticed the smell of smoke, and claimed it bothersome, but if they didn’t know, they never really found out. In the chance he did smell it, at least then Riku could know it actually bothered him. Not that he wanted to be a bother, but it wouldn’t hurt his feelings all that much if he pissed DiZ off over a cigarette. DiZ got on his effing nerves. Riku lit up.
The first call went to voicemail, so Riku left a short message, hung up, and tried again just in case Cloud didn’t answer because he didn’t hear it or something.
“Hello?”
Riku frowned. Cloud’s voice sounded scratchy and thick.
“Cloud? Are you okay?”
“. . . Yeah. Leon?”
“No. Riku.”
“Oh. You sound dif . . . oh, yeah.”
“Different, were you going to say?”
“Yeah. Sorry. You woke me up. I’m not thinking too clearly right now.”
From the slurred pronunciation of his words, Riku already gathered that. His frown deepened. Something about the things he said . . . Sleeping at this time of the evening? Cloud was always at least awake until midnight. Why would Leon be calling him? He was supposed to be in Hollow Bastion. Then he remembered the strange, shocked tone Leon had last night when he asked if Cloud had called at all, but Riku had been too annoyed to really register that it might mean something. Surely Cloud would’ve called him by now if he knew about that quasi-fight between Leon and him, but he hadn’t.
“Cloud, why would Leon be calling you?”
“Cause I called him. He was supposed to call me back.”
Cloud released a long yawn. Riku shook his head. His fingers flexed as he switched his cigarette from one hand to the other and propped the cell phone between his ear and shoulder. The now free hand clutched at his knee, released, and repeated.
“Why would you have to call Leon? You live together.”
“Oh . . . right. I didn’t tell you. I went to Gaea.”
“Gaea.”
“Yeah. Reno called.”
“Reno, your ex-boyfriend, Reno?”
“Yeah, and he’s got a job for me. He thinks it has something to do with Jenova. So I came to check it out.”
“Let me get this straight. Your ex-boyfriend called you about some job that might have to do with Jenova, and by extension, Sephiroth. So you just picked up and went back to the world where you first got lost in the darkness. You’re at the place where you lost yourself to the darkness to go after the guy you can’t keep dead because of your darkness. Because your ex-boyfriend called you.”
There was a pause on the other end. When Cloud spoke again, his voice sounded clearer and more alert.
“You’re mad.”
“Oh, no, I’m not mad; I’m just waiting for an explanation. I mean there’s got to be one, right? Because I just can’t believe you’d do something that fucking stupid.”
“Listen. Reno called me, okay? He said some weird stuff’s been going on and that it appears to have to do with Jenova. Rufus Shinra wants me for some job, so I figured Sephiroth is probably behind it. That’s a good thing. I have to find him and finish him off.”
“Oh, I’m sure Sephiroth is behind it, but that isn’t a good thing. Not when Gaea is concerned. I mean, really, Cloud. Don’t you think that it’s a little weird Sephiroth stays hidden so well all the time, but then he finds you? Don’t you think that maybe he’s got something planned, and that’s why he wants you there?”
“I’m not a complete idiot. I realize that Sephiroth is probably up to something . . .”
“And you just walked right into it.”
“You don’t understand. The Lifestream . . . the Lifestream killed all the Heartless here. It’s pissed off. It’s chucking out dead people like resurrection is nothing spectacular.”
“Well that’s fantastic for you considering the mess you’re walking into.”
“Riku, listen. I think . . . I think Sephiroth’s planning another Jenova Reunion.”
“Right. And you have Jenova cells, so you being there for that is a good idea because . . .?”
“Because I can’t let that happen? I have to fight him anyway. He’s . . .”
“He can manipulate you! What part about that don’t you understand?”
“I understand that! I think it’s safe to say I understand that better than you do. You don’t see what’s going on here. It’s horrible. The planet’s taking its revenge, and I’m part of this. I don’t want to be, but I am. Denzel’s dying, Riku. There’s this disease-this Geostigma-that comes from the immune system fighting off the Jenova virus. It’s horrible, and I can’t turn my back on this. I have to do something. I’ve failed the people here so much already by not finishing off Sephiroth for good.”
Riku sighed.
“You could’ve told me.”
“I didn’t think you’d take it like this.”
“Right. Forgive me for being worried about you.”
As the words passed Riku’s lips, he frowned. Right. He was calling because of Leon. What was wrong with him? Why did he just keep freaking out on everyone? If he were face to face with Roxas, he’d probably flip out on him for being boring. Riku took a deep breath.
“Ri, I’m not . . .”
“Forget it,” said Riku. “I’m sorry. I . . . You know what’s going on better than I do. I’m just on edge all the time. It’s not you. I just don’t want you to get hurt. I love you.”
“I love you, too, Ri . . .”
“So . . . you talked to Leon?”
“Yeah. I called him this morning. Why?”
“Well, I was calling about Leon. I guess you heard.”
“Heard? Heard what?”
“Leon called me last night.”
“He did? Really? He actually called?”
“Yeah. He said you gave him my number.”
“I just thought that, you know, you might like having someone else who won’t take no for an answer. I know Leon would understand what happened, and he wouldn’t look down on you for it. This can’t be easy for you, so I just . . . I thought you could use a friend, since I have to tell you I’m proud of you and all.”
Riku brought a hand up to his closed eyes and rubbed his thumb over his eyelids. He sighed.
“Yeah. You’re right. I just . . .”
“What happened?”
“I freaked on him.” Riku put out his cigarette and gesticulated violently in the air. He grabbed another cigarette, brought it to his lips, and touched the lighter’s flame to the tip. “I just . . . I went off about not wanting him to know, and . . . I was horrible. I was defensive, and proud, and horrible. He didn’t tell you?”
“No, he didn’t.” Cloud was silent for a few seconds. “He was really hurt that you didn’t want him to know.”
“I know he was. I could tell, and I felt bad about that, but I was so pissed off that he wouldn’t just leave me alone . . . I keep snapping at everyone. I don’t know what to do.”
“I’m the wrong person to ask. I freaked out on Tifa and Leon today. I was sleeping on my Gummi because I don’t know where to go right now. Everything’s been getting to me.”
Riku rubbed his thumb over the cigarette filter. He bit his lip.
“Including me?”
Cloud sighed.
“A little. Don’t get me wrong. I love you so much, and I’m so proud of you, but I wish it didn’t have to turn out like this.”
Riku nodded.
“Yeah. Me too. And now I have this Leon thing on me. I . . . I don’t know what to say to him. I wanted to call him back, and I apologized and everything, but he told me he was going to hang up before we said more things that we’d regret, and he did. He hung up on me. I . . . I don’t know what to say to him. I feel bad calling you about it, because I’ve been dragging you through hell with me and this Ansem thing, and I know you get insecure about Leon . . .”
“I’m an idiot, and I have no right to act the way I do about him. I know you’re friends, I know you’re with me, and neither one of you deserves for me to put myself between your friendship. It’s not my place to say who you can be friends with, even if he’s my best friend.”
“I know. I just . . .”
“I’m more insecure than any person should be, and I’m especially possessive when it comes to you. We promised that we weren’t going anywhere, right?”
Riku smiled. It had only been around a week since that night in the World that Never Was, but it felt like years ago with how much had changed since then. He nodded.
“We also promised that we wouldn’t let each other screw this up just because we’re insecure.”
“Don’t worry about dragging me through hell,” said Cloud. “I’m on Gaea now. You’ll get your fair share of hell from me, too. By the time this is over, the ugly Ansem thing will seem like nothing.”
Riku laughed.
“I certainly hope not.”
“Well maybe not to that extent, but you’ll see just what a mess I am, too. As for Leon, just be honest with him, okay?”
“I feel really bad about it. I don’t want to push him away. It feels like Sora, and my sister, and Destiny Islands all over again. I was too defensive, and I just ended up hurting someone who did nothing but worry about me. I want to fix it before it gets . . .”
“Before it gets like it did with Sora.”
“Before I really hurt him and nullify everything good you’ve ever said about me. Yeah.”
“Leon’s tough, Ri. Don’t discredit him so much. He probably didn’t mention anything because he realizes all you need is space right now.”
“Maybe . . .”
“Don’t worry about it. This will blow over. But speaking of . . . How is Sora coming along?”
“Eight percent restoration. Roxas is awake, and he’s boring, and broke. I get to delete trains full of people on their way to the nonexistent beach pretty frequently, though.”
“Sounds like fun.”
“I want to kill myself.”
“I hope you’re exaggerating.”
Riku laughed.
“Maybe a little.”
“So does that mean it’s going well, then?”
“Yes. It’s going well.”
“DiZ still creeping you out?”
“DiZ is the least of my worries right now. I had to shower last night.”
“So what?”
“Cloud, think about that for a second.”
“Oh. Right. How did that go?”
“I think I’m clean, but it’s hard to tell as I did it in the dark.”
“That bad?”
“I can’t even stand to look at myself.”
“This is all going to pass, you know? One day this is going to seem so far away you’ll hardly remember it, and you’ll be grateful that it happened.”
“Why’s that?”
“I don’t know. Really bad experiences are always like that. In the end you’re thankful because they make you who you are. That’s all this is. One day you’ll be grateful because it will have made you so much stronger.”
“Maybe . . . Hey, Cloud?”
“Huh?”
“You know, whatever’s going on in Gaea that’s so bad right now? That’s going to pass, too.”
Cloud sighed.
“I hope you’re right.”
~*~
As Riku stared at the drab events of the alternate Twilight Town the following day, he ran the conversation with Cloud over in his head. He knew Leon had been upset, but hearing Cloud confirm it made him feel so guilty. He felt so vindictive and, ironically, heartless to have gone off on Leon like that.
There was a lot going on in Twilight Town today, not that it was interesting. Posters for the Struggle were printed and posted as bright-eyed, hopeful teenagers signed up for the preliminaries. They all hoped for the chance to win some lame trophy and the chance to go against some hyped-up pretty boy with bad fashion sense named Setzer. He was the defending champion, which wasn’t that surprising considering he was a grown man competing against a bunch of kids. It was revolting.
Besides the Struggle, there was some big ordeal about missing photographs. Riku almost laughed at the affronted locals. Imagine the horror. What kind of people freaked out about missing photographs so much that it was a town crisis? Seifer was all beside himself, complaining loudly to anyone that would listen that it was Roxas and his friends. The people who did listen were so disappointed in that nice boy, Roxas, for being such a thief.
They were photographs. Riku didn’t get what the big deal was. He couldn’t even figure out why anyone would want to steal photographs in the first place.
Sora rose up to ten percent that night. Riku gave Naminé a kiss on the cheek about twenty minutes after Roxas went to bed before leaving the computer room. He retired to his bedroom and fell asleep within minutes after sliding under the blankets.
Naminé was already in the computer room when Riku walked in the next morning. She sat by the computer monitors, staring at the grids with keen interest. Riku sat beside her and accepted his breakfast.
“Roxas dreamt of Sora again last night,” said Naminé.
“Yeah? That’s good, right?”
Naminé nodded.
“I think so. Roxas is already awake. He’s at the usual spot.” Naminé pointed toward the screen. “I’m going to go chain together some more of Sora’s memories. Call if you need anything.”
“I know the drill.”
Naminé left the room, leaving him with Roxas and friends again.
“Yeah, that’s just wrong,” said Pence.
“Seifer’s gone too far this time,” said Olette.
Riku frowned. What the hell were they talking about?
“I mean, it's true that stuff's been stolen around town,” said Hayner. Riku rolled his eyes. They were still on that, then? “And we've got a score to settle with Seifer and everything. So if he wants to think we did it, I can't really blame him. See . . . that's not what really bugs me. What really bugs me is that he's goin' around tellin' everybody we're the thieves! Now the whole town and their mothers are treating us like the Klepto Club! Have you ever been this ticked off before in your life? 'Cause I haven't. Nuh-uh. Never. Now . . . what to do.”
“Get a life?” Riku suggested.
He groaned at Hayner’s theatrics as he paced the screen, shaking his hands around as if he were trying to assault an invisible Seifer. Olette looked as if she was going to say something, but then looked to Roxas, who only shrugged. Riku grunted at the screen.
“You people need a hobby.”
“Um, well . . .” said Roxas. “We could find the real thieves. That would set the record straight.”
“Hey, that sounds fun,” said Pence.
“Clearly no concept of the word ‘fun’,” said Riku.
“What about Seifer?” said Hayner.
“First, we gotta clear our names,” said Roxas. “Once we find the real culprit, everyone will get off our backs.”
Hayner groaned, but then Pence interrupted, freaking out about all their photos being gone, only he couldn’t say the word photo. Riku frowned. That was weird. Why couldn’t they say photo? The stupid idiots didn’t even really question it, either, just assuming that the word ‘photo’ could be stolen, too. That didn’t even make sense. You couldn’t steal a word.
Riku paused. Except this was a world made of data where it wouldn’t be difficult to just erase a word. He glanced around, hoping DiZ wasn’t hovering over him and demanding to know why ‘photo’ had just been eradicated from the alternate Twilight Town world’s collective vocabulary. Unfortunately, DiZ just walked into the room and took Naminé’s vacant seat. Riku panicked. He hadn’t done it, had he? Accidentally deleted any and everything to do with photography by accident when he’d been tired or bored? This couldn’t be his fault, could it?
His interest was perked as Roxas and his friends headed from the Usual Spot. As his friends ran ahead, Roxas paused, swaying on the spot, and then he passed out. DiZ nodded and tapped a few keys on the Keyboard.
“His heart is returning. Doubtless he’ll awaken very soon,” said DiZ.
“Who? Sora?”
“Precisely. I presumed this would happen as Roxas’s bit of heart leaves him for Sora.”
“Dizzy spells?”
“He’s dying . . .”
“You mean he’s going back to the way he was.”
“It’s the same thing.”
Roxas sat up and rubbed his head as Olette ran back into the screen and urged him to follow. Roxas ran off after her and DiZ nodded.
“There we are. Good as new.”
DiZ moved to stand but Riku held out a hand to stop him.
“Wait,” said Riku. “There seems to be a bigger problem with the photo thief than I thought.”
“What’s that?”
“The word photo is gone now, too. They can’t say it.”
“But for that to happen, the data would have to be deleted.”
“I don’t think I did it, but . . .”
“Keep an eye on it. Call me if there’s more trouble.”
Riku nodded as DiZ grabbed the chair and left the room. His attention turned back to the screen as Roxas and his friends went around to various shops inquiring about the thief and trying to clear their names. In the end they decided to see if Seifer knew anything about what was going on, and Riku was starting to get bored again. Naminé brought him lunch, and he ate as he stared blankly as the day’s events unfolded. Seifer was not in a good mood to see the fantastic foursome. Riku sat up as he and Roxas got into a fight, swinging Struggle clubs at each other. The children of Twilight Town must have been dropped on their heads one too many times, Seifer especially.
Riku snorted at Seifer’s poor form and tactics. They looked like savages lunging at each other like that. Eventually Roxas knocked Seifer back, clearly the victor, though not nearly as ferocious as when Riku had fought him. Rai and Fuu came to Seifer’s defense (as usual, because apparently Seifer was some kind of god), and Pence stepped forward. He held out his annoying camera to snap a picture of this pathetically proud moment, and as he did so . . . Riku sat forward. He stared at the long, spindly white thing as it fluttered away with the camera. His eyes stayed focused as Roxas ran after the Dusk, and Riku screamed for DiZ as loud as his voice could manage.
Naminé got there first, but DiZ shortly followed. Their eyes moved to where Riku pointed at the screen, where Roxas chased the Dusk through the woods toward the alternate version of this mansion. If possible, Naminé’s eyes went bigger than Riku’s, and DiZ pushed Riku from the chair.
“Get the Keyblade,” he said.
“What?”
“Get the Keyblade!”
Naminé ran off toward the room where Sora slept soundly. Riku cocked an eyebrow.
“Why the Keyblade?”
“How else do you expect him to fight it off? It’s there to take him away. You certainly don’t expect him to defeat a Nobody with a simple Struggle club.”
The Dusk moved in a particular way as if luring Roxas to follow. It almost beckoned as they moved through the woods, and then they came out into the clearing before the mansion gates.
“We have come for you, my liege.”
The words appeared in Roxas’s thoughts. DiZ didn’t say anything, but Riku got the distinct impression that if DiZ weren’t so serious, he might have said, “I told you so.” The mouth zipper of the Dusk opened, and for the first time since the World that Never Was, he saw Roxas for who he was again. The Struggle club did virtually nothing to the Nobody, and not for Roxas’s lack of trying. When Naminé ran back into the room, Riku stepped back toward the stairs, and she flung the Keyblade into the data machine.
“I’m translating the Keyblade into data,” said DiZ, as he furiously mashed the keyboard. “When he is safe again, I’ll bring it back. I want you to keep it in here should Roxas need it again. Understood?”
The Keyblade vanished from before his eyes and reappeared in Roxas’s hands. Naminé walked back and stood beside Riku for a second, placing her hand on his forearm.
“I’m going to go keep an eye on Sora,” she said.
Riku only nodded to show he heard. His eyes still focused on the screen as Roxas fought off the Dusk, his view broken momentarily as Naminé left the room. It took all of ten swings and the Dusk fell at Roxas’s hands. When the Nobody vanished, the missing photographs swirled in the wind, and fell to the ground. DiZ pressed several more keys, and the Keyblade reappeared in the data processor. Riku nodded.
“Understood.”
Hayner, Pence, and Olette reappeared on the screen. They mused over the return of the word ‘photo,’ went back to their usual spot together, and took notice that all the photos stolen were of Roxas.
“Wouldn’t it be weird if the thief wanted to steal the real Roxas or something?” said Pence.
Riku let out a held breath. For once Pence had actually said something credible. Steal the real Roxas.
He watched in silence as the three friends left the usual spot. Roxas followed after, walking alone. As he passed through the gate, the sun peered into his vision, and Roxas blacked out again.
“Where . . . am I?”
Riku frowned. Was that . . .?
“Who’s there?” said Roxas.
“Who are you?”
Roxas awoke again thanks to something DiZ put into the system. Riku cocked his head.
“Was that . . . Sora?” said Riku.
“They’ve connected,” said DiZ.
“They were after Roxas, weren’t they?”
DiZ nodded, and as he did so, the computer announced Sora’s restoration at twelve percent. DiZ continued to stare at monitors, and Riku walked closer, standing next to the man. He peered past him at the scene, trying to get a better look. He was searching, possibly for answers to questions that he couldn’t even formulate. Perhaps he was searching for something to assuage his confusion. DiZ only frowned.
“Organization miscreants . . . They’ve found us.”
Riku felt his heart jump to his throat. That security breach the other day. The missing photographs. The missing data for the word ‘photo.’ Why didn’t he see this sooner? Organization XIII . . . They couldn’t . . .
“But . . . why would the Nobodies steal photographs?”
“Both are nothing but data to them. The fools could never tell the difference. We are running out of time. Naminé must make haste.”
Riku felt sick. They were running out of time, and he just got here. They were running out of time, but he was so busy being selfish . . . He should have seen that Organization XIII had found them, or at least that there was more going on than what appeared. He should have handled the situation instead of screaming for DiZ. He just should have done something.
Riku stared blankly at Roxas on the monitor as he walked home for dinner, still confused by what was happening to him. The Nobodies, the blackouts, and Roxas didn’t know what was going on. Roxas didn’t know he was going back to Sora-dying as DiZ called it, since it was apparently the same thing.
Riku looked away.
( Prompt Table) for previous installments. 057/100 Complete.