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Okay, I apologize in advance for wasting the full minute of your life that you spend reading this.

Now, this 9th grader (I'm in 10th) asked me out a week or two ago. I said "sure, I'll go out with you."... the next morning, he broke up with me, saying that "he's still a kid inside," and he doesn't want to commit to a relationship. I have several questions;

a) Why did he ask if he didn't expect a serious resonse? He didn't ask it in a joking way.

Now (this is a week or two later), he's being all offended when I act completely indifferent to him. "What's going on? Ever since we broke up, it's been like World War Three," to which my response was; "This isn't WW3. This isn't even the War of 1812," and I stalked off.

b) How the hell does he expect me to be all happy and act exactly the same as before when I'm around him when he played me for an utter fool?

Again, apologies for wasting a full minute of your life. I'm done whining now.
~Jade

Yeah, blame DPWolf; she up and inspired me to create a slideshow of my images from my trip to Europe last summer. This isn't in the Creativity Corner because... well, I don't think it's really worthy to be in that section.

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There aren't any pictures of me in Part I... you'll see me in Part II...


EDIT: Oops, forgot that I had disabled embedding... you can now watch it straight from this thread, I enabled it.

Running the vacuum. It is evil and will one day eat me.

I don't even like the word "vacuum". Who decided that a word should have two consecutive "U"s in it? >.<

During CoM. When Riku killed his clone, the clone's heart returned to darkness; however, he had absorbed Zexion before his death. With the power of a Nobody, can the Riku Replica really be killed? And what about Zexion? Companion to "Darkness Rising".

Darkness Falling

by Jade Rhade​

So this is where your heart goes.

You lay there, alone in the dark, for a thousand years, and then you finally open your mouth to speak. You don’t know where you are; to you, all is starless night. Words die unspoken on your lips before they have the chance to form.

They die before they have the chance to be revealed and live.

Rather like you.

An age passes there in the dark; you can remember how to blink though it makes no difference. There is nothing to be seen, nothing to be heard; there is nothing to be felt nor tasted; the only sense you seem to possess is your sense of smell. Your nose is filled with the overpowering scent of the darkness holding you close in its loving embrace.

You smother there for another five thousand years, until you remember a name; Riku. You try it on for size, yet it fits uncomfortably and you discard it as inconsequential.

You remember another name; Zexion. This one fits better, but it still feels as though something is missing; as though Zexion is only a part of you, and your true name remains undiscovered just beneath the surface.

You remember how it was to die.

After a hundred years, you hear a voice rise from the darkness and crash down upon your ears.

Chapter I

“Wake up, you.” A booted foot jabbed hard into the boy’s side, eliciting nothing more than a groan from the prone figure.

“Weakling!” The cloaked man delivered a harsh kick to the boy’s kidneys. “Fake!” He drew his foot back for another vicious blow.

The boy rolled over and evaded the hit, catching the hooded man’s foot and twisting him into the ground; though whether it could be consider a ground at all was questionable. The boy rose to his feet and shakily surveyed his surroundings.

Night, as far as he could see. The surface on which he stood felt loose and grainy, almost the texture of what he imagined quicksand to be; it seemed as if one false step would send him plummeting forever into an endless abyss. The boy turned in a circle to see in every direction until his gaze fell once again upon the cloaked man, the only thing to be seen in this empty realm. “Who... are you?” he asked haltingly, still unfamiliar with this concept called ‘speech’. “Where... am I?”

“You really don’t remember,” the cloaked man didn’t sound surprised as he stood and threw back his hood that had been masking his face. “I should think that someone you absorbed would leave a stronger impression.”

“Absorbed?” the boy repeated, as if tasting the very word itself. He stared into the man’s one visible eye, noting his antagonist was little taller than he was; the other eye was hidden by his thick, steel-indigo shaded hair hanging over it.

“In the most literal sense,” the man replied.

“Zexion...” the name turned into a hiss, and unbidden, a weapon with a blade like the wing of a bat appeared in his hand. The boy regarded the sword for a moment, then held it in a guard position he didn’t remember learning. “I killed you.”

“Correction,” Zexion held up a hand, seemingly unconcerned at the sudden emergence of the weapon. “You absorbed me. Not the same as killing, I assure you.”

The boy paused and looked down, silver hair falling over his cyan eyes. “I remember...” he said slowly. “Axel told me that I would become,” the sword disappeared as his fists clenched and his eyes squeezed tightly shut as if to block out the memory, “a real person...” the boy finished in a hoarse whisper.

“A lie, of course,” Zexion crossed his arms and looked off to the side. “The Flurry of Dancing Flames is quite good at manipulation, and you, desperately grasping at straws, accepted his words blindly without question.

The boy didn’t answer, feeling his fingernails bite into his palms.

“So then you go and get yourself killed by Riku,” Zexion continued without regard for the boy’s feelings. “You were so confident because you had stolen my power. Though that was indeed the case, you had no way of using it.” The Cloaked Schemer adjusted the glove on his right hand. “So now both of us are in the realm of darkness where we belong,” he added with an indifferent air, pulling the glove tight.

“So I guess my heart didn’t disappear completely,” the boy muttered. “If Real Thing’s heart is going to the same place mine is, then I suppose he’ll be along eventually.”

“Not even close.” Zexion wiggled his fingers and made a fist. “Riku’s not going to die any time soon. He defeated me, after all, and the rest of the Organization is barely up to my standard.”

“I defeated you,” the boy stated under his breath.

The Nobody looked at him with scorn. “Did you honestly think that I just allowed you to beat me?”

“What do you mean?” the boy’s cyan eyes narrowed.

“You did exactly what I wanted you to do.” Zexion dropped down into an easy crouch, steepling his fingers and resting his chin upon them. “I wanted a heart,” he said after a moment’s pause. His tone was strangely musing. “I thought that perhaps I could take gain control of you from within, and somehow seize your heart for my own.” He glanced up and met the boy’s eyes. “I admit; it was foolish curiosity on my part, but after years of being the Organization’s willing test subject, this was simply another blind leap forward in the pursuit of knowledge.

“However, I was not given the time to implement my theory, and now in hindsight, the gamble was quite hasty on my part. I should have killed you as soon as that damned traitor Axel had left the room, then returned in disgrace to report to the Superior.” He voice remained simply musing, as if dispassionately narrating the story of another. “In any case, I did not, so now I am here.”

“I thought when a Nobody died, they returned to darkness,” he stated.

Zexion’s eyebrow rose. “Indeed. You know more about us than I gave you credit for.” He pointed to the boy. “You and I are connected. Your heart remained despite the darkness, so therefore, so did I.”

“So we’re both dead.”

“Actually, I doubt it.” Zexion sat down cross-legged.

“You’ll have to explain that one to me.”

He sighed and rested his chin upon steepled fingers again. “You absorbed my power, so I became a part of you. Therefore, when you died, you faded into darkness like a Nobody; however, your human heart remained strong, preserving us here. My power will allow you to use the darkness without fear of loosing your heart completely, Riku.”

The boy’s head snapped up, fury glinting through his cyan eyes. “Don’t call me by that name,” he growled. “I am not him.”

Zexion paused, then nodded slowly. “Even your very name is only borrowed. Your appearance, your speech, your memories and your awareness... the very things that define a human are naught but copied data. Even you heart is not but a replica.”

“I didn’t ask for this life.” The Riku Replica fell to the soft ground and sat across from the Nobody. “I didn’t ask to be created in his image.”

“None of us get a choice in whom we shall be. All we can truly choose is what we shall become.” Zexion reflected upon his words and chuckled softly. “I seem to have become rather philosophical in my new half-life,” he murmured to himself. He glanced with one bright eye at the clone of the boy known as Riku. “If you truly want to become your own person, you must stop living in his shadow.”

The clone looked bleakly down at his hands. “How?” he asked hollowly. “You said it yourself; all I am is borrowed data. I can’t have a life for my own while Real Thing is alive.”

“First, you need to stop thinking of yourself as just a copy.” Zexion studied the boy’s face. “You need a name.”

“Oh, well, that’s easy,” he retorted sarcastically. “I’ve got several lined up; Clone, Facsimile, Doppelganger,” he counted off on his fingers, pausing to take a breath. “Fake, Copy, Replica, Simulacrum, Abomination, Travesty-”

“Travis,” Zexion interrupted, raising a hand to stop him. “Your name will be Travis.” He nodded once as if that settled things.

“You can’t just name me like I’m some kind of pet!” the clone of Riku protested. “You don’t own me!” He paused and thought about it. “Travis,” he repeated slowly. Somehow the name didn’t seem foreign, settling down upon his shoulders like a well-worn mantle. He met Zexion’s gaze and returned the nod. “Heh. It’ll do.”

The two sat there in silence; the Nobody patiently waiting for the newly named Travis to organize the memories of his short life into coherent order. Finally, he looked to Zexion. “Number Six, the Cloaked Schemer. Why are you here helping me? If we are not dead as you claim, logically we should be able to leave this place through portals of darkness.”

“You think I have not tried that?” Zexion sighed. “We are connected. Where you go, I have to follow.”

“You forgive me if I don’t take your word on that,” Travis replied, standing and opening a portal of darkness for himself. He took on step forward and cried out in pain, falling to his knees and clutching his chest. He stumbled backward, falling to the ground with a pained gasp. “My... heart!” he managed. “It feels like it’s going to explode!”

Across from his, Zexion was on his hands and knees. “I told you,” he wheezed, hand pressed against his heart. “I told you.” He coughed violently and sat back, massaging his chest. “Neither of us... are strong enough... to live without... the other.”

Travis nodded quickly, fist tight against his own chest in an effort to calm his frantically beating heart. “At least... not yet.” He looked to Zexion. “If we leave... together, will we still be... separate?”

“I doubt it.” The portal of darkness remained as though mocking them with the promise of escape. “I’ll most likely... be absorbed... into you again.” Zexion took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Don’t ever do something like that again.”

“No problem,” Travis replied, flicking his silver hair over his shoulder and levering himself off the ground. “We’ll go together.” He offered the Nobody his hand.

Zexion’s gaze darted between the boy’s outstretched hand and his cyan eyes. “You should hate me for all I’ve done to you.”

“We’re stuck with each other, right?” Travis shrugged, seemingly unconcerned. “Until we get stronger, we’ll have to spend all our time together. We can go back to hating each other once we can go our separate ways.” He extended his hand again. “Truce?”

A small, genuine smile flicked across Zexion’s face for the briefest of seconds, and then he reached up and allowed Travis to pull him to his feet. “Truce,” he conceded.

“I still hate you, you know,” the clone remarked as the two entered the portal.

“Good, because I still hate you.”

Travis smiled wryly. “Then we have something in common. By definition, that should make us friends.”

-xXx-​

He emerged from the portal and abruptly covered his eyes with his arm, cursing. “Zexion, what that hell-?”

“That would be the sun.”

“Can’t you turn it off?”

“No, I’m afraid that it’s a bit too far away.” Zexion sounded amused. “Hurts, doesn’t it? Being exposed to the light after spending your entire life in darkness.”

Travis gingerly peeked over his raised arm, blinking tears from his cyan eyes. What he saw left him speechless. He stood alone on a beach, waves gently rinsing the last clinging tendrils of darkness from his black boots. A balmy breeze blew his silver hair across his face; his kama drifted gently behind him. The soft light of the sun warmed his face as he stared out over the ocean. He looked from side to side, searching for the Nobody whose voice he could clearly hear as if a lover breathing in his ear. “Zexion?” Travis turned in a complete circle. Beach, town, more beach, ocean; no Zexion. “Where are you?”

“Here. You absorbed me, remember?” He sighed dramatically. “I am now naught but a voice-”

“Oh, shut up.” Travis impatiently turned back to the town he had seen not too far away. “So where are we?”

Zexion chuckled softly. “Of all the worlds you could have randomly chosen, we end up here. I think this is what they call irony.”

“What do you mean?”

“This is Riku’s homeworld,” Zexion said wryly. “Welcome to the Destiny Islands.”

“Huh. So now what?” Ever practical, Travis began to plan his next move.

Zexion being Zexion, he had already prepared several contingencies already. “We’ll stay on this word for a few days to establish our presence, then move on. We’ll be safe from retribution for a while, as the Organization is doubtless going to be in need of, pardon the pun, reorganization,” he explained. “Most likely those still remaining in Castle Oblivion have been slain, and it will take the Superior some time to restructure our Organization. Then he will send Trackers after us- more specifically, me. I’ll have to gain the necessary strength quickly-" he paused. “Are you even listening to me?”

“Uh, Zexion...?” Travis sounded alarmed. “Who is that, and why is she staring at me?” His cyan eyes were wide with suspicion as he stared blatantly back at the auburn-haired girl. “She looks vaguely familiar.”

“Oh dear...”

“Riku!” the girl shouted, a wide smile crossing her face. She dropped her purse to the sand and ran toward him.

Travis took a step backward, panic crossing his face, but she stopped short and gazed up into his face. Confused, he looked back, his eyes roving her body; plausibly searching for any concealed weapons. She was wearing a school uniform with the sleeves rolled up and the skirt far too short to hide any form of weapon. His attention was directed back to her large blue eyes as she spoke.

“Riku...” she stood on tiptoes to meet his eye-level. “You... you’re home?” She sounded almost bewildered. “It’s really you?”

“Uh... yeah,” he agreed as it suddenly clicked; Kairi, one of Real Thing’s best friends. “Who else could I be?” he added as a precaution.

“So... you escaped from the darkness okay?”

He nodded uncertainly, and she lunged forward, almost knocking him back into the ocean. “Ahh!” She had his arms pinned so he couldn’t summon Soul Eater, what was she-

Kairi giggled, wrapping him firmly in a hug. “I’m glad you’re back, Riku.” She buried her face in his chest. “You’ve finally come home.”

“Uh... yeah,” Travis repeated, awkwardly returning her embrace. He closed his eyes and rested his chin atop her hair. “I’m home,” he whispered.

A/N: For lack of a better word, I’ve adopted the word kama to describe the half-skirt worn by the Riku Replica. It’s the word used to describe the half-skirt worn by the clone troopers in Star Wars, and I thought the description apropos. Let’s see how many times I can use variations of the word ‘describe’ in a single paragraph. :P

"Travis" was the first true name given to the Riku Replica by my good friend/beta reader Random Idiot.

This is the companion piece to "Darkness Rising", the link to which is in the description at the top of this page. As always, comments are greatly appreciated.

Chapter II​

Yeah, I was bored and recently became re-obsessed with YYH and "His Almighty Bishonen" Kurama, so I made this.

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Post KHII. "If two halves desire to be separate unto themselves, they must become one." A riddle posed to Roxas by a mysterious cloaked figure could prove the key to unlocking his heart, or could leave him stranded in darkness. Roxas x Namine.

Prolog and Chapter I
Chapter II
Chapter III
Chapter IV
Chapter V​

Epilogue

"So everything ended up the way I desired?"

He inclined his head, tucking his hands into opposite sleeves and keeping his gaze fixed firmly on the white ground. "Yes sir. Both Roxas and Naminé have awakened their hearts."

"Good," his master's deep, rumbling voice sounded pleased. "Very good. I can put the next stage of the plan in motion, then."

He swallowed hard. "May I inquire as to what the next stage is, sir?" He braced himself, fully prepared to be lashed out against for his query.

"You don't need to know that yet," his master responded. "You may go."

"Sir." He backed out of the room; the door hissing shut behind him. Zexion sighed and pulled his hood down, turning to see Larxene and the others standing there waiting.

"He's pleased," the Cloaked Schemer said, and the others sighed in relief.

"Good." Larxene cracked her neck. "How much longer must we-"

Zexion lunged forward and clapped his hand over her mouth. "Not here," he hissed, casting an anxious glance back at the door. He nodded toward the rest of the black robes. "If the Key of Destiny has recovered his heart, then there is hope for us, but we must be patient. There is always more than one way to attack a problem."

"Our Master has forgotten a very important lesson," Larxene murmured as Zexion removed his hand from her mouth. "Though we are the enemy of his enemy, that does not make us friends."

"Not friends," another of the black robes agreed. "Convenient allies, nothing more."

They walked down the white, empty hall and entered a small room to the side. "And our Master may soon find that he is not convenient to us at all," Larxene replied, finally. "And when that day comes..."

Zexion looked at her and nodded firmly. "We'll be ready." He looked behind him, and the rest of the black robes nodded in agreement. "Our Master doesn't yet know how far we've progressed in the development of the Black Dusks; excellent work on that, Chilly Academic."

The black robed man nodded and pulled down his hood. "Far more obedient than ordinary Dusks, this hybrid should give us the edge we need," Vexen announced, shaking free his mane of dirty-blond hair with an ingratiating smile. "I shall have to thank the Key of Destiny for giving us that superb name."

"Indeed," Zexion agreed. "And you, Melodious Nocturne; stopping the rain when you did was a beautiful touch."

"Nothing gives humans a false sense of hope like sunlight coming through the clouds," the cloaked man addressed as the Melodious Nocturne replied easily.

"And the rest of you; patience.” Zexion’s single visible eye roved the others. “We can reveal our true strength very soon."

The black robes nodded silently.

"We should split up before our Master suspects something. Though mad, he seems to almost see though walls at times."

Without a word, the black robes disappeared into portals of darkness, leaving only Zexion and Larxene alone in the room. "I almost miss old Superior," she stated.

The Cloaked Schemer nodded. "He was far more predictable. Our current master is a madman."

"Still, we shall be here in the shadows, and we shall wait until it is time to reveal our true strength."

"Yes," Zexion responded softly, looking out the large window down at the world below. "We shall wait."

DARKNESS RISING

END​

A/N: I'd like to advise everyone who actually liked this story to read "Darkness Falling" right about now... or, as Zexion said:

DELETED SCENE 006-

"Unlocking a heart via Keyblade is a very imprecise business, mind you," Zexion paused. "You'd need some kind of... Keyscalpel to get all of it and... wait a minute!" He suddenly put his hands on his hips. "None of this makes any logical sense!" He sounded quite displeased; almost angry.

Roxas scratched the back of his head uncomfortably. "Uh, can we please stick to the script so we can all go home?" Naminé nodded in agreement. "It's damp in this cave," he added.

"No! We shall not stick to this convoluted script! Did you even read the whole thing?" Zexion pulled a well-worn Pirates of the Caribbean notebook from his pocket and flipped it open. "Look! This irresponsible author left so many questions unanswered! The only reason why I have the vaguest idea as to what is going on is that I am starring in the companion movie!"

"Zexy... this isn't a movie," Larxene pointed out, choosing that moment to materialize out of thin air. "And besides, you're not the star. The Riku Replica is."

"SHUT UP! There are no small parts, only small actors!" The Nobody crossed his arms over his chest and pouted.

"Coming from someone who was never dubbed in America," Naminé muttered under her breath. "Excuse me a moment." She stood up and knocked on the computer screen, startling you and causing you to go O.O

"Um, excuse me? It's over now. Go read something worth your time. Go."

Post KHII. "If two halves desire to be separate unto themselves, they must become one." A riddle posed to Roxas by a mysterious cloaked figure could prove the key to unlocking his heart, or could leave him stranded in darkness. Roxas x Namine.

Prolog and Chapter I
Chapter II
Chapter III
Chapter IV​

Chapter V

"Why the hell should I even consider helping you?" Riku raised one silver eyebrow and tapped his sneaker impatiently against the floor.

"Because, all I want is to be free from darkness, forever!" Larxene held out her hands, turquoise eyes wide and pleading. "You had friends when you attempted to redeem yourself from the things you had done under the dark influence. I have no one," she finished softly, lowering her eyes, then glancing back up. "Won't you help me?"

"Sorry, Larxene, I'm not buying it. Contrary to your belief, I am not as naïve as Sora here," he jerked his head toward the Keyblade Master asleep in his bed. "I do believe in redemption, but not from the likes of you."

"How cruel, Keyblade wielder," Larxene purred, her voice changing from the anguished victim back to someone completely in control. "Yes, we will find much use for you." She took a single step forward and vanished.

Riku took a deep breath and looked at his two sleeping friends. "It's a good thing she's gone," he told them. "I was almost about to believe her."

-xXx-​

Roxas and Naminé sat next to each other hand in hand, watching the water spill through the opening in the ceiling. "I hope the rain stops soon," she noted.

"How come?" Roxas asked.

She held up her free hand in a 'wait-for-it' gesture. The lightning flickered overhead, then almost immediately there was a huge explosion of thunder. Naminé flinched in spite herself. "That's why. It's like reflex; I can't stop it." She gave a small laugh. “I guess that’s pretty weak of me.”

Roxas looked at her, mouth open. “No, it’s not!” he protested. “Fear is one of the few emotions us Nobodies can feel!”

“What do you mean? You know we can’t feel anything; this is just some kind of weird reflex.”

He shook his head. “Fear is one of the few emotions we can truly feel,” he repeated. “You should appreciate the fact that you can feel it at all.”

“What are you talking about?” her look was of purest puzzlement. “I’ve never heard anything like that.”

“Vexen ran some tests.” Roxas put his hands behind his head and gazed up at the cave roof. “He said that organic emotions such as fear originate from the body, rather than the heart, so there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to feel those, well... feelings,” he finished, looking quite at a loss without a proper word to end the sentence.

She nodded slowly and rolled over on her side to face him, resting her head on one hand. “So that’s why you and Axel always did such dangerous stunts,” she said softly. “Like beating each other half to death during weapons training, or skateboarding on the edge of the roof of the Castle.”

He returned the nod. “The fear and adrenaline made us feel alive,” he admitted, “almost like we had hearts.” He then paused. “Wait. How’d you know about the skateboarding thing?”

“I made a point of observing everything that was going on around me.” Naminé gave him a small smile and a shrug; then she went back to his earlier subject, asking so softly that he could barely hear her. “And what are the other emotions Nobodies like us can still feel?”

Roxas rolled over on his side to face her. “I don’t remember,” he said finally. “He said anything that was created by the body; the only two I can remember are fear and lust.” He kept his deep blue eyes focused on hers, but she sat up, not looking at him.

“Oh,” was all she said, flinching as a blast of thunder echoed overhead. This explosion sounded louder than the previous; it echoed from the cave walls, and she clapped her hands over her ears with a small outcry.

He hesitated, then sat up and loosely wrapped his arm around her waist, giving her the opportunity to wriggle out. To his surprise, she leaned against him with a sigh, resting her head upon his shoulder and laying her hands in her lap. Roxas could barely breathe; despite the chill outside, her warmth against him was almost too much to bear. He finally breathed in, the soft scent of vanilla filling his nostrils. "You smell nice," he murmured, tightening his grip when she didn’t make any move to break away.

Naminé giggled softly and poked him, blue eyes sparkling. "You don't."

"What? I try to give you a compliment and you insult me!" He grinned to let her know he was joking and poked her back.

"Hey!" She pulled out of his grasp and poked him again, harder. "That hurt!"

"Ow! And that didn't?" He jabbed her in the ribs.

"Stop poking me!" She clutched her side and leaned back, a small laugh escaping from between her lips.

"What, are you ticklish?" He glanced at her with a mischievous sparkle entering his eyes.

"No!" she protested defensively, not trusting that look.

"I don't believe you." A sudden grin crossed his face.

"Roxas, don't..." she warned, scrambling to her feet.

"You started this," he noted with a smirk, jumping up. "Payback."

Naminé shook her head, backing away. "Don't you dare- Roxas!" she shrieked as he lunged at her, knocking her right back down to the ground.

He landed with both hands on either side of her, his own azure eyes sparkling. "What?"

"You're hurting me," she said softly.

"Sorry!" He hastily picked up one hand to move, and she tackled him.

"Ha!" Naminé shoved him over onto his back with a triumphant laugh, jabbing him in the ribs and pinning him to the ground with her thighs. "You weren't expecting th- Roxas!" she shrieked again as he grabbed her wrists and pulled her on top of him.

"You started it!" he reminded her, laughing. "You shouldn't start something you know you can't-" His eyes widened as she kissed him swiftly on the lips, and he released her wrists, only vaguely aware of her planting her hands on either side of his face.

"Ha," she breathed, blonde hair falling from behind her shoulder to hang over his face. "I win."

Roxas laid there in shock, unsure how to retaliate against that particular attack. This had come completely out of nowhere. A look of sudden uncertainty flickered across her face, but there was something else he could see in her eyes... He reached up to push her hair away from his face, then roughly seized the back of her neck, bringing her back down until her nose was just barely grazing his. He hesitated and closed his eyes, pressing his lips gently against hers.

He felt her stiffen with surprise and he almost let go, then she melted against him, twining her hands through his blond hair. Finally, needing to breathe, he pulled back. "I don't think so," he whispered. Her azure eyes reflected the same passion he felt coursing through his entire body; he couldn't stop grinning, feeling almost drunk with the pure exhilaration that threatened to overwhelm him.

She moved her head down until her lips grazed his ear. “Fear and lust?” she whispered huskily, warm breath tickling the side of his face. “I think I can live with that.”

Roxas rolled over to face her, hand gently tracing the side of her face, marveling at the softness of her skin; he fought to keep himself from trembling as she leaned into that hand. “I think... this is the part where I recite something profound and romantic,” he murmured. “About Nobodies and souls and-”

Naminé brushed her lips against his. “Roxas,” she whispered. “Shut up and kiss me.”

-xXx-​

Roxas sat next to Naminé, wishing that he could remember, just for a moment, how love was supposed to feel, but then he realized; if he had to wonder whether or not he was in love, he ostensibly was. It sounded almost like something Axel would have said.

Roxas took a deep breath and plunged in, knowing that by morning, he probably wouldn’t be able to see her again; though they could be together when Sora and Kairi were asleep, he doubted they’d ever be together like this again; he had to express himself before he completely lost his nerve. "I think I love you, Naminé," he said softly, forcing himself to look into her eyes instead of more comfortably training his gaze on his shoes.

He expected shock or surprise or a logical statement that, without hearts, they were incapable of love, but she simply smiled. "You're a hopeless romantic, aren’t you, Roxas?" His face fell and he glanced away.

She placed a single finger over his lips, forcing him to keep looking into her eyes. "But you’re my hopeless romantic."

He looked up, cautious hope filling his azure eyes. "So that means-?"

Naminé kissed him gently. "I love you too."

Roxas grinned, barely noticing a twinge in his chest. He stuttered over a few words, but was interrupted by a harsh voice.

"Finally." There was an explosion of darkness, and the cloaked figure appeared.

Roxas and Naminé scrambled up, the former drawing Oblivion with a growl and shoving her protectively behind him. "What do you want, Zexion?" he bit out, a grimace crossing his face as he felt a definite painful something stab him.

"You two may have forgotten about the riddle, but I haven't. Turns out you two reached the conclusion without any prodding on my part." Zexion sighed at the blank look on both their faces. "Are you complete idiots? Look at yourselves. You've managed to separate completely from your others."

"What?" Roxas looked down at himself and froze. He cautiously raised his free hand, almost afraid to look. He felt... whole. There was no better way to describe it. "What... how...?" He warily patted himself down and looked at Naminé to see her staring at him in awe, then realized that he could actually see her, not see the cave wall behind her.

He suddenly felt as though a blade had cut deep into the space where his heart would have been, puncturing some huge bubble inside him, releasing more feelings than he could ever remember having. Roxas fell to his knees from the shock of all that emotion flowing through him all at once, hearing Naminé fall beside him with a muffled outcry.

"So, what's it feel like, having a heart?" Zexion watched with detached interest. "You'd forgotten most of those feelings, hadn't you?"

"It's... too... much," he gasped. "My heart... it's- ah!" He clutched at his chest and shrieked in anguish. Naminé put a weak hand on his shoulder, and he saw on her tear-stricken face the same pain and exhilaration he imagined on his own. Pain, sorrow, anger, hatred, love, joy; all melded into one continuous outpouring of emotion.

"Roxas!" she gasped, then bit down on her lip to keep from screaming.

"It was all in the riddle," Zexion announced, stepping closer to observe the two with barely concealed curiosity. "If two halves desire to be separate unto themselves, they must become one. Your love," his voice reflected his distaste of the word, "was stronger than the darkness. It's very complicated, and I don't expect one of your intelligence level to grasp the specifics, so listen carefully. I will not repeat myself. Understand?"

Roxas looked up and nodded weakly, hand instinctively reaching to Naminé's for support; he felt dizzy and almost collapsed, but he was determined to hear him out.

"Kairi is a Princess of Heart," Zexion explained. "Therefore, there is no darkness inside her. When her heart was lost within the Keyblade Master, he used an artificial Keyblade to unlock both her and his own. Unlocking a heart via Keyblade is a very imprecise business, mind you, so it only logical for some pieces to be left behind, in you," he pointed at Roxas, "and you," he gestured to Naminé. "Those pieces were left in the darkness inside each of you. All that was needed was the proper stimulation for those pieces to join together to form a real heart- in your case, love."

He crossed his arms. "Expect things to be very different now. Since you held half of Sora's power before you joined, when you separated, you took that half back. You two will need to find a way to get back to full power, and soon." Zexion raised his hands, about to clap.

"Wait!" Naminé held up a hand, struggling to her feet. "Why? What's going on? Who are you working for?"

"Sorry. All I was required to do was separate you two from the Keyblade Master and the Princess. I don't need to do anything further here." Zexion’s tone was clearly mocking.

"And what about Axel?" Roxas interjected, grabbing Naminé’s hand and pulling himself up to stand next to her. "You said he's alive!"

"Did I, now?"

"Where is he?" he growled.

Zexion laughed and clapped his hands together sharply, disappearing into the explosion and leaving Roxas and Naminé standing there alone, side by side.

Roxas turned to Naminé and felt a rush as she took his hand. "We don't have to pretend anymore," she whispered. "We can feel."

"Yeah." He pulled her close, resting his chin on her soft blonde hair, and now, when he held her, he knew without a doubt that this, indeed, had to be love. "I meant what I said, you know."

She sighed and pressed her face into his chest. "You don't smell so bad after all," she mumbled with a tired grin.

Roxas didn't reply to that, grabbing her hand and leading her outside the cave. "The rain's stopping." He squinted up into the sky to see the clouds thinning and the sunrise slowly coming up in the distance. "Look."

"It's beautiful," Naminé whispered.

Roxas looked at her, with her dirty, ripped white dress and knotted hair. "Yeah," he answered softly. "It is."

-xXx-​

Riku looked down as he heard Kairi gasp next to him, breathing in deep. Her eyes started to crack open as the clouds parted overhead, then she shut them again, falling back to sleep. He looked back out the window to see Larxene perched there, sitting on the sill.

"Things will be very different now," she told him. "Your Nobody friends have permanently separated from the Princess and the Keyblade Master. Oh, and don't worry about her," Larxene pointed at Kairi. "She'll wake whenever she feels like it."

"What about Sora?"

Larxene raised a hand to her lips to conceal her smile. "He's stronger than Kairi. He was perfectly fine; he could have woken at any time."

Riku looked to her in disbelief. "You mean he slept through this whole thing, when he could have woken up and helped me?" He sighed and muttered; "somehow I'm not surprised." He met her blue eyes. "So what did you get out of this, Larxene?"

She laughed quietly. "The pleasure of your company, Riku," she mocked him. "Trust me, he got what he wanted out of you all." Larxene absently waved a hand, and the Black Dusks outside disintegrated into the blowing wind.

"Who's ‘he’?" he asked suspiciously.

"You'll see," she told him with a mysterious smile that didn't quite reach her cold blue eyes. "And believe you me, it will be fun. I like you, Riku, so I'll leave you with this parting advice. The enemy of your enemy is not always your friend. Remember that about your fellow Keyblade wielder... and I don’t mean Sora."

Riku nodded slowly and gave her a one-fingered salute. "Been real. You know, we should do it again some time."

Larxene laughed. "I'd like that, Riku." Without another word, she vanished into the air.

Kairi shifted against him and woke slowly. "Riku...?" She blinked several times, becoming fully awake. "What are you doing here?" She glanced around. "Why am I in Sora's room?" She looked at herself and blushed, pulling her blanket to her chin. "More importantly, why am I wet and in my pajamas?" Kairi glared up at him, waiting for his answer.

"It's a long story," he told her, smirk gracing his lips. Riku got up and clapped his hands several times over Sora's face. “Wake up, you sorry excuse for a hero.”

The Keyblade Master groaned and pulled his pillow over his head, muttering something that sounded almost like “Junior Hero.”

He sighed and knelt down next to his friend's bed. "You're going to be late to school," he tried.

No response.

Riku looked around to make sure she wasn't behind him and whispered, "Kairi’s wearing a bikini!"

Sora pulled his pillow away from his head and opened one eye blearily. It focused on Riku’s face then closed again; he slammed the pillow back down over his head and snored.

"This is pathetic," Riku snorted and got up. "Fine, keep sleeping, then."

"Let me try." Kairi stayed where she was and cupped her hand over her mouth. "Sora, you lazy bum, you're going to miss breakfast!" she called.

"Breakfast!" Sora leapt out of bed, stuffed turtle flying through the air to land in Kairi's lap. "I'm coming!"

Riku collapsed to the ground in a fit of laughter. "That's even more pathetic," he choked out.

"Ah! People in my room!" He summoned his Keyblade, then blinked. "Riku? Kairi?" He scratched his head and sat back down. "So I guess this means no breakfast yet," he mumbled. "Hey, you took my turtle," he accused, pointing at Kairi, then flushed. "Not that I sleep with stuffed animals," he added hastily.

"He's cute," Kairi cooed, hugging the toy.

"You think so?" Sora grinned. "I love my turtle." He yawned and waved his hand absently, rolling over. "You can hold him for a while, Kairi. I'm gonna-"

"Oh, no you don't." Riku grabbed him by the ear and dragged him out of bed. "You've done more than enough sleeping for one night. We've got problems."

Sora yawned and looked out the window. "The sun's barely even risen- hey, look! Hi, Roxas!" he yelled out the window, then paused. "Roxas?" he repeated incredulously, vaulting out the window to land with a thud. "Ow! Sharp pointy thing under my window!"

"Long story," Riku repeated to an obviously confused Kairi, leaning out the window to see Sora staring suspiciously down at the model that he had placed beneath the window earlier during the night. Then he looked out to see Roxas and Naminé coming up the beach, looking wet and dirty, but none the worse for the wear. "Very long story."

-xXx-​

"Great. So we've got two Organization members running around, working for some unknown enemy." Sora thought about it and shrugged.

"Looks bleak," Riku noted.

"No it doesn't!" The Keyblade Master gave him a strange glance. "What did I tell you about negative thinking?"

Riku sighed and reached across the table for another piece of bacon.

"He can't help it, Sora," Kairi stated with a grin. "He's just a pessimistic guy."

He grunted. "I'm just being realistic," Riku reiterated.

Roxas mumbled something incoherent, shoveling pancakes into his mouth. Naminé smacked the side of his head. "Don't talk with your mouth full!" She turned to Sora and translated. "He agrees with Riku."

"Wow, Roxas, someone who can actually speak your language!" Sora gasped and grinned.

The boy gave him a hand gesture that needed no translation. "Mmph-mmhee."

"He's hungry," she translated with a sigh. "You know, if you start to choke, I'm just going to sit here and laugh."

Roxas looked at her and pouted, wounded.

"You'll get over it," Naminé told him, turning to the others. "So we have Zexion's presence confirmed, and you're sure that it was Larxene? Not just Zexion shapeshifted as her?" She blinked inquisitively at Kairi, not missing her other’s sudden pause as she looked down at her food mouthing “Zexion?”; Naminé frowned but turned back to hear the response.

Riku nodded. "I'm sure."

"Well, this sucks," Sora noted, peering into the fridge. "Kairi drank the last of the orange juice." He looked up with a goofy grin to see everyone hit his head off the table. "No, seriously, though," he continued, sobering. "What are we going to do?"

"Nothing, as of yet," Riku answered. "We'll get word from the King if he needs us."

Roxas reached across the table and grabbed a slice of melon, swallowing his mouthful of pancakes. "So basically we sit around waiting for orders? I say we start investigating now," he poked his finger against the table. "It's called preemptive striking."

"And where do you propose we start?" Riku asked.

"From what I've seen when I was with the Organization, you guys seem to just go through worlds at random until you find something weird. I know how these guys think." Roxas looked around the table. "The second you start getting close to their base of operation, they'll just move to one of the worlds you've already investigated. We know we have at least Zexion and Larxene, and they're too smart to just wait around to be killed like Xemnas did.

“You had it easy when you took on the Superior. Now that Zexion, Larxene, and whoever else is still alive aren’t worried about the constant infighting that was plaguing Organization XIII even after I left, we are going to be facing a united front. Don’t expect this to be like before." He paused. “And don’t forget- both Zexion and Larxene insinuated that they’re under orders from someone else.”

"What do you suggest?" Kairi got up and checked the refrigerator again. "Sora, there's more orange juice in the back." She grabbed the carton and plopped it down in front of him. "We don't have a means of transport off this world."

"Wait, wait, wait." Sora looked up from pouring his juice, alarmed. "What do you mean, ‘we’? You can't come!" he sputtered

"Why not?"

"Bad! No! Dangerous!"

“Wow,” Roxas observed, leaning over to Naminé. “Sora used a multiple-syllable word when talking to Kairi.”

"If you're going, I'm going," Kairi continued.

"But-"

"No buts." Kairi sighed. "And that, Sora, is why we never have any orange juice."

"Huh?" He looked down to see his glass overflowing. "Ah!"

Riku casually tossed him his napkin, and the Keyblade Master began frantically mopping up the mess. "We need each other,” the silver-haired boy added. “Whenever we split up, we always end up wasting time looking for each other."

"We'll be able to watch each others' backs," Kairi nodded in agreement.

Roxas looked to Naminé with his mouth open, and she shushed him by putting a finger over his lips. "If Kairi's going, I'm going, and you have no choice."

He shut his mouth and turned back to his breakfast without putting up a fight, flushing under the others' laughter and shoving another slice of melon into his mouth.

"But Kairi isn't going!" Sora protested frantically as the attention had turned away from him.

"Sora," she said dangerously. "Remember what happened when you left me on the island the first time? You went and got yourself put in a coma." Naminé shifted uncomfortably, but Kairi didn’t notice.

"That wasn't my fault," Sora stated defensively.

Riku started laughing, then Kairi rounded on him. "And you went and got yourself all stuck in the darkness again!"

That shut him up. "And then I get kidnapped by Organization XIII, so I'm not waiting here again!" She slammed her fist against the table. "So there!"

Sora and Riku were cowering in their chairs. "Okay," the Keyblade Master said weakly. "You win."

She shared a grin with Naminé. "And that's how we get things done!" she announced triumphantly.

A/N: What can I say? I'm a sucker for Roxas/Namine. All that's left is the epilogue. This was almost painfully long, so I'll save the epilogue for another post. Oh, and to know why Kairi recognized the name of Zexion (whom I absolutely love)... read "Darkness Falling", the companion to this that I'll be uploading on kh-vids later today.

Epilogue​

Post KHII. "If two halves desire to be separate unto themselves, they must become one." A riddle posed to Roxas by a mysterious cloaked figure could prove the key to unlocking his heart, or could leave him stranded in darkness. Roxas x Namine.

Prolog and Chapter I
Chapter II
Chapter III​

Chapter IV

"If two halves desire to be separate unto themselves, they must become one," Naminé said, ticking it off on her finger. "And then the one he just said, what was it?"

Roxas paused, thinking. "Something about a key and a lock, and something I'd been searching for." He shrugged helplessly.

"If you are the Key, then there must be a corresponding lock. What you had dedicated your life to searching for will point the way."

He looked at her with surprise. "You can remember all that just from hearing it once?"

"I have a perfect memory, Roxas," she shrugged. "It comes with my powers, I guess."

"Sheesh, and all I get is a Keyblade," he made a face at her.

Naminé laughed and focused back on the riddle. "I think that last one counts as two hints."

"The second one is a riddle all to itself," he muttered unhappily. "I hate riddles. Like did I ever tell you about the time I was plummeting to my death and Sora was playing riddle games with Kairi? "Starts with an 's'," he says-"

She cleared her throat and tapped his forehead. "Roxas. The task at hand?"

"Oh, right," he grinned sheepishly. "Sorry."

"And the last hint is "covet her"." She looked at her fingers, not seeing the flush creeping over his cheeks. "So we've got one big riddle, one hint disguised as a riddle, and two regular hints."

"We're screwed," Roxas noted, crossing his arms over his chest. "And that's me being optimistic."

"Let's figure out the smaller riddle first. What you had dedicated your life to searching for will point the way." Naminé looked up at him. "What did you dedicate your life to searching for?"

"Umm..." Roxas thought hard and shrugged. "Sora?"

"No. Somehow I doubt Sora can point us to the answer." She pursed her lips and rested her chin on steepled fingers. "Could it be the Organization?"

He shook his head. "I may have dedicated my life to them, but I never searched for them. They found me."

"When you were part of Sora, you did."

"But the Organization is dead, so they can't point out any answers."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

They sat in silence, thinking. "You said you dedicated your life to Organization XIII," Naminé said finally.

"Yeah. The whole reason the Organization existed was to "unlock the secrets of the heart"..." He paused, a flicker of comprehension crossing his face. "What you had dedicated your life to searching for will point the way."

"Your heart," Naminé finished.

Roxas looked at her incredulously. "My heart will point the way? How does that have anything to do with the first riddle?"

She shrugged. "It probably won't make sense until we connect it to the other two hints. If you are the Key, then there must be a corresponding lock." Naminé looked to see Roxas grinning like an idiot. "What?"

He started guiltily. "Eh... nothing." He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"What is it, Roxas?" Her eyes narrowed.

"Eh-heh..." He looked everywhere but at her. "Nothing."

"Roxas..." she said warningly. "Tell me."

"I'm a guy, Naminé! We're programmed to think like this!" he protested defensively.

"Like what?"

"You really don't get it?"

She shook her head.

He sighed and crawled over to her, whispering one word in her ear. Naminé gasped and smacked him, hard. "Roxas, you pervert!"

"Ow! It's not my fault!" He sat back on his heels and rubbed his head, silently mouthing ow. "I mean, hanging out with Hayner every day corrupts your mind, you know? I don't know how Olette put up with us." Roxas grinned, then paused. "Not that any of that was real," he muttered softly, looking down at the ground.

Naminé laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. "At least you had something. I didn't have anything," she added quietly, forgiving him for the comment.

He put his hand on top of hers. "You've got me." He gently wrapped his fingers around hers in a firm grip. "Well, at least until Sora wakes up," he added, almost as an afterthought. "Then our problem with Zexion becomes his problem."

She drew in a breath. "I forgot. We only have until morning to figure this out."

"I don't know about you, but I want to do this ourselves, without any interference from the Keyblade Master or the Princess of Heart." He suddenly realized that he was holding her hand and hastily let go.

Naminé nodded quickly. "Let's get back to work."

Roxas put his mind to trying to find a different meaning behind the second hint, but his attention kept wandering back to her. "Hey, Naminé?" he asked abruptly.

"Hm?" She looked up.

"What's your earliest memory as a Nobody?"

Her eyebrows furrowed. "That's very random, Roxas."

"Yeah, but I'd like to know. You have that perfect memory and all."

Put off by his grin, Naminé steepled her fingers and thought about it. "I'm not sure," she said finally. "I think... I was in... the World That Never Was. I just wandered around, lost and confused until Xemnas found me."

"They told me that Xemnas found me in Twilight Town, but I can’t remember, myself." Roxas paused. "Do you ever think that there are other people out there... you know, like us?" He looked at her, his deep blue eyes reflecting the question.

"With all the worlds out there, I'd find it hard to believe that we're the only remaining Nobodies who remember."

"No, I mean like... us," he placed more emphasis on the word 'us', gesturing at himself.

She shook her head slowly. "I don't know what you mean."

"Like... alive and aware, but not really... here," Roxas looked down at his semi-transparent hands. "You know?"

"I don't think that there is anyone out there like us, then," she answered softly. "And to be honest, I don't want there to be anyone else like us."

He looked up quickly. "Huh?"

"This is a curse, Roxas." She edged closer to him. "With our lives, we have a glimpse of things we are so close to having for our own, but then..." she trailed off and looked at her own semi-transparent hands.

"Yeah, but we're alive at least." He picked up her hand and held it up. With both of their palms pressed together, they couldn't see through either of them. "There's nothing I would rather do."

"What? Run for our lives, play Twenty Questions with Riku, or solve stupid puzzles for someone who should be dead?" Naminé tilted her head, waiting for his answer.

"No." Roxas wrapped his fingers through hers. "Be with you."

Her mouth open slightly, Naminé couldn't think of any response.

Roxas quickly tried to extricate his fingers. "Or... something like that," he backtracked hastily.

She smiled softly and held his hand in hers. "Me, either."

-xXx-​

With Kairi over his shoulders, Riku balanced unsteadily on the windowsill. "Now would be a great time to wake up, Sora," he muttered frantically, windmilling his only free arm in an effort to keep his balance, clutching the frame at the last second. "She's your girlfriend, not mine."

" 's not," came a mumble from Sora.

"So you are awake!"

There was no response. The Keyblade Master hugged his stuffed turtle in closer and snored.

"...Or not." Riku sighed and slowly climbed in, careful not to make any unnecessary noise. This would be rather difficult to explain to Sora's mother. "I guess that was just reflexive denial, huh?" With a grunt, he levered Kairi to the ground. He felt a chill run down his back as he suddenly felt déjà vu rear its ugly head; when Kairi had lost her heart, he had carried her almost exactly like this. He looked around the room and grabbed one of Sora's metal star models off its shelf. Riku dropped it just beneath the sill, so that just in case any of the Black Dusks decided to make a break for the window, there'd be something sharp and pointy to deter them. He turned back and looked at Kairi.

"Oh ****," a curse suddenly came unbidden to his lips. Kairi was still soaking wet from the rain; her tee shirt was completely soaked through. Riku clenched his fists and grabbed a spare blanket from Sora's closet, wrapping her in it. He turned around to get another to find himself face to face with Larxene.

"You should get her out of those wet clothes, Sir Smirks-A-Lot," she noted.

"Heh-heh," Riku resisted the urge to give her a sarcastic smirk. "No." He turned back, only to find himself bumping against her again.

"You still haven't figured it out, have you?"

"Get out of my way." He summoned Way to the Dawn and walked around her, sitting down beside Kairi, laying his Keyblade across his lap. "That dematerializing is a nice trick. Why don't you use it and leave?"

She sighed and shook her head. "Riku, Riku, Riku. You don't understand. I'm trying to help you."

"And Maleficent gave to charity."

"Look, Riku, I'm being perfectly honest with you," Larxene crossed her arms and looked off to the side, out the window to where the Black Dusks stood silent watch. "Death does something to a person," she continued softly. "Don't you believe in redemption?"

Riku didn't respond.

"I'm not so different from you, actually. We both served the dark powers, and now I'm trying to stumble my way to the light, the way you did." She turned to him with a look of pure anguish. "Please. Help me be free."

A/N: And you may blame my beta reader Random Idiot for reading a perverted meaning into that riddle... There wasn't actually intended to be a perverted meaning... *strangles Random*

Chapter V​

4/XIII/07... we should have a party.

Post KHII. "If two halves desire to be separate unto themselves, they must become one." A riddle posed to Roxas by a mysterious cloaked figure could prove the key to unlocking his heart, or could leave him stranded in darkness. Roxas x Namine.

Prolog and Chapter I
Chapter II​

Chapter III

Riku knew something was wrong when he landed on the beach and the Black Dusks didn't make any move to attack. He tied his boat up by the dock and sprinted for Sora's house.

He crawled on all fours underneath the window and looked in, almost afraid of what he might see. If the situation hadn't been so grim, he would have laughed. The brave Keyblade Master, defender of worlds, was curled up in a little ball with a stuffed turtle hugged close in one hand and his thumb in his mouth.

Riku shook his head in disbelief, sending droplets of water flying from his silver hair. He looked up at the sky to see it still clouded over; the rain showed no signs of stopping. He left his best friend asleep and moved on to Kairi's house. Her room was on the second story of the mayor's house, so he climbed a nearby palm tree to look in. He peered in through the open window, and his breath caught in his throat. A dark figure was seated on the edge of her bed, watching the princess sleep.

The Keyblade wielder leapt from the tree through the window, rolling to break his fall and pressing the sharp edge of Way to the Dawn against the unknown's throat, faster than blinking. "Move and you die," he hissed, casting a quick glance at Kairi to make sure that she was unharmed. She was asleep, her breathing deep and even, covered in nothing but a large white tee shirt and a thin sheet.

"She's a pretty thing, isn't she?" the figure said softly, black-gloved hand trailing down the side of Kairi's face without touching her. "I can see why you like her so much."

Riku growled softly and pressed the blade in closer. "Larxene," he greeted coolly. "I should have known that you'd be the one behind all of this."

She laughed sharply and threw back her hood, clapping her hands delightedly. "Bravo, bravo, Riku! I had so hoped you'd figure it out!" Her voice, while still carrying its deceptively delicate female air, somehow managed to convey the promise of extreme torture.

"Save it for someone who cares," he gripped her blonde hair and pulled to further expose her throat, cyan eyes cold and merciless. "Tell me what's going on."

She dematerialized and reappeared in a corner of the room. "You really don't think you can stop me, do you?" Larxene laughed again, still clapping her hands like a young girl who had been given exactly what she wanted, then with chilling finality, she stopped all movement. "Look at yourself, young Riku; living a lie for the sake of your friends. How naïve."

"How did you-" There that been no explosion of darkness like Roxas had described, nor had there been any kind of visible portal opened. Riku clenched his fist. "Is this the part where you tell me that darkness is the only way to save my friends?" He offered her his most ingratiating sixteen-year-old smirk. "Sorry, Larxene; I've already been down that path, and I make a habit of not repeating my mistakes, unlike you."

"What is that supposed to mean, pray tell?" Larxene leaned against the wall with a disinterested yawn.

"You were already killed once, yet here you are; back for more." He hefted Way to the Dawn in his hand. "You Organization members aren't too bright, are you?"

"Proud words from a boy who doesn't grasp the trouble he and his friends are in," she crossed her arms and looked to be examining her fingernails, though she was wearing thick black gloves.

"Enlighten me."

"Do you not wonder why your Princess hasn't woken, though we carry on a conversation naught a half a meter away from her bedside?" Larxene didn't look up from her fingernails. "Hm, quite a puzzle, wouldn't you say?" It sounded almost as if she were supressing a giggle.

Though he had indeed given his word to Roxas not to wake them, Riku decided that this was as close to life threatening he'd let it get. Keeping his gaze locked firmly on the Savage Nymph, he moved forward to gently shake her shoulder with his free hand. "Kairi, you have to get up now."

There was no response; she didn’t even groan.

He tried to keep his anxiety out of his voice with little success. "Kairi?" He shook her harder, still with nothing. "Kairi!" Riku glared at Larxene with cold fury. "What did you do to her?"

"I'm ashamed to say that I had no hand in this, myself," Larxene admitted almost regretfully.

"Liar!" he bit out.

"No, really; I would love to take the credit for this most ingenious torture, but I unfortunately cannot," a saddened pout crossed her face. "Why don't you ask your Nobody friend? I'd assume he and the witch are hiding somewhere where our Black Dusks can't find them." Her eyebrow rose at the expression crossing Riku's face. "Oh, so you've heard the name? From the Key of Destiny, no doubt?"

She crossed the room to stand opposite the boy, leaning down a bit to meet his eyes. "And how do you think our mutual friend came by this information?" she questioned, turquoise eyes studying his face carefully.

Riku growled softly and shook his head, pushing her away with the flat of his blade. "You seem ask a lot of questions."

"But you have to see it for yourself," Larxene continued, heedless of the blade less than a quarter meter away from her. "Who knew the name of the enemy? Who separated from your friends in the first place, knowing full well what could happen to their Others?"

"There was no way Naminé would have known," the boy defended, shaken though he tried to hide it.

"But the Key of Destiny is very good at getting what he wants. It comes from growing up surrounded by manipulators," she added, a trace of what almost sounded like pride entering her voice. "I mean, he got you to do what he wanted against your own better judgement, didn't he?" She pressed in closer. "Didn't he?"

"Do you really think I'm going to listen to anything you say?" He shook his head with that familiar smirk crossing his face again. "You've undone yourself by reminding me what a manipulating bunch you are."

"Why would I lie? I have something that you want..."

"Just for the sake of argument, what would that be?"

"Her," Larxene pointed to Kairi. "You want her body. I can give that to you."

"You're wrong," he tossed his silver hair away from his face and steadied his grip on Way to the Dawn. "I may have once, but that was only because I saw her as a trophy against Sora."

"But the desire is still there," the Savage Nymph persisted.

"When are you going to understand that you have nothing you can use against me? Your empty threats may work against Roxas, but they don't have any affect on me."

He half expected her to fly into a blinding rage, but she simply giggled. "How naïve you are," she announced delightedly. "You still think that the enemy of your enemy is your friend!" Her laughter was as nails on a chalkboard, and Riku grimaced, resisting the urge to cover his ears. "You're going to learn a hard lesson, Riku; not everyone has the altruistic values you possess and flaunt so openly. It's hardwired into every human, whether he possesses a heart or not.”

She lowered her voice and leaned in closer as if sharing a revelation. “Humans want what is in their own best interest." A small smile tugged at the corners of her lips. "The Key of Destiny is no different."

Without moving, Larxene dematerialized. "Have fun trying to bring her back!" her disembodied voice called playfully. "Remember what I said about the Key of Destiny. It may not save your life, but it may save hers!"

Riku stood there breathing in slowly and waiting for the inevitable attack. When nothing came, he dismissed Way to the Dawn and sat down beside Kairi, gently pushing a stray strand of auburn hair away from her face. "I can't watch both you and Sora at the same time," he murmured to her unaware form. He paused, thinking, then stood again. He cast a quick glance out the window to see the Black Dusks still standing there at the beach, swaying back and forth, keeping a silent guard on the ocean.

Making his decision, he lifted Kairi's slim body from her bed, with one hand under her knees and the other supporting her shoulders. "You know Sora will get into trouble if we leave him by himself," he murmured to her, gingerly opening her bedroom door and heading down the stairs. "And I'd rather carry you to him than him to you."

As he headed down the street, the rain soaked through her white tee shirt, leaving her light pink underwear clearly visible. Riku looked down and flushed, choosing to instead keep his gaze focused on Sora's house drawing nearer with each plodding footstep.

"You still think that the enemy of your enemy is your friend," Larxene had said. If it had even been Larxene; the thought suddenly crossed his mind that it could have been Zexion shapeshifted, but he dismissed it. Even the master illusionist couldn't mimic her particular tone of voice; that promise of pleasure and pain melded into one. The seeds of doubt she had planted in his mind were being to grow, however much he tried to deny it.

Roxas had known the name of the Black Dusks. Had he also known that his separation would leave Kairi and Sora comatose? Riku found himself re-evaluating his thoughts on the Nobody and furiously cracked down upon them. "No," he said aloud. Why would Roxas have come to him seeking aid, when he knew that if something were to happen to either Sora or Kairi, Riku would rip him limb from limb? "She's a liar, Riku," he told himself. "She's just trying to get under your skin, that's all. Nothing more."

But he had to admit to himself that the mere fact that he had to convince himself of this meant that her words had already infected him like a disease, sowing doubt in his mind that could not be so easily refuted. He found himself looking out through the rain, past the Black Dusks to his island in the distance, the island where he had taken Roxas and Naminé.

-xXx-​

"If you stare too long into the abyss, the abyss stares back..."

Naminé bit her lip as she stared into Roxas's empty eyes. She took both of his hands in hers and sighed. He didn't acknowledge her touch; it was as if his very soul had been stolen.

"I'm a witch, with power over Sora's memories and those around him." She had vowed that she would never use her powers again; she had found no proper justification for them, yet could it be she had found a worthy use for them at last? Naminé knelt in front of him and gently laid both hands on the sides of his head. "Roxas," she said softly. "Show me what you saw."

She closed her eyes and brought her forehead to his. There was a flash of light, and she was adrift in his memories.

Zexion stood across from her. "Oh dear," he said. "There I go again, giving away information for free. I really need to stop doing that." He clapped his hands together.

Instead of closing her eyes, Naminé stared into the billowing darkness alongside Roxas. Within the swirling maelstrom, Zexion had disappeared without a trace. She barely registered his voice, ignoring it and squinting into the blackness. First there was nothing but darkness, then a brilliant, blinding white light. Within, she saw Axel, lying prone and leaking darkness from thousands of cuts across his body. Instead of Sora kneeling next to him as he died, however, it was Roxas; standing with Oblivion in one hand and Oathkeeper in the other, wearing the cloak of the Organization with the hood pulled down. Both Keyblades dripped darkness, obviously the cause of Axel's wounds.

"Why, Roxas?" Axel gasped, emerald eyes wide with betrayal.

Roxas didn't answer, tightening his grip on both Keyblades and slashing them down in one clean swipe...

With a pained gasp, Naminé jerked free from his memories, reeling from the shock of it. "Roxas," she whispered, lunging forward and wrapping her arms around his neck. "No. That's not what happened." She closed her eyes to go farther back into his memories until she came upon his true memory of his best friend's death, as seen through Sora’s eyes. She hesitated, knowing this would cause him pain, but she plunged in, bringing that memory to the surface.

Sora knelt beside Axel. The Nobody had no visible wounds, but he was bleeding darkness into the air. "Axel..." the young Keyblade Master asked, compassion filling his azure-blue eyes. "What were you trying to do?"

"I wanted to see Roxas. He... was the only one I liked." Axel coughed and continued. "He made me feel... like I had a heart. It's kind of... funny." He chuckled weakly. "You make me feel... the same."

A look of sudden urgency passed over his face. "Kairi's in the castle dungeon. Now go!" He raised his hand, and using the last of his power, opened a portal of darkness.

He began to fade faster, until he finally disappeared into the air.

Naminé came back to herself, feeling Roxas trembling against her, blinking furiously as tears filled his eyes. "It's okay," she said softly, stroking a hand through his blond spikes. "It wasn't your fault."

"Naminé?" he whispered. "What happened?" He pressed the back of his hand against his eyes in an effort to stem the flow of tears, looking away from her and breathing in a deep, ragged breath. "Where's Zexion?"

"He's gone," she answered, folding her hands in her lap. "Are you alright?"

He nodded quickly. "Y-yeah." Roxas shook his head and looked back at her; his azure eyes were once again bright and full of life. "What now?" His voice had regained its customary strength.

"I think we should try and figure out that riddle," she suggested. "Perhaps once we do so, we'll know what Zexion wants."

He nodded. "Okay." As she stood, he suddenly grabbed her wrist and yanked her back down to his eye level. "Naminé," he said earnestly. "I owe you one. For... bringing me back to myself." Roxas pulled her closer and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

She looked at him in surprise, eyes wide and mouth open. "What was that?"

"Returning the favor." He waved his bandaged hand she had kissed earlier, and she flushed slightly. "It's also my way of saying... thanks. For everything." Roxas cleared his throat awkwardly. "Anyway, let's get to work on that riddle."

"Right."

-xXx-​

Two hooded figures stood in the rain above the Secret Place, silently watching the two Nobodies through the hole in the roof.

"I think they might figure it out all by themselves, Cloaked Schemer," the female stated.

"Hn." He shrugged. "It's certainly obvious enough. Why test these two like this, though? It seems rather pointless."

"He has his reasons," Larxene answered, returning the shrug. "There must be a reason he wants the Keyblade bearer and his Nobody permanently separated."

"What were you playing at with Riku, anyway?"

She pouted. "Just having a little fun. Sowing the seeds of dissension. I could ask you the same thing, really. What were you doing, showing him a glimpse into the Abyss?"

"You think I allowed that, Savage Nymph? No; the Key of Destiny saw that on his own. We're lucky he wasn't damaged irreparably." Zexion shook his head. "Riku was right; Naminé is a wonder."

"So, why is the Princess of Heart unresponsive?"

"Perhaps the unknowing separation was too much for her mind to handle," he suggested.

"Or perhaps... Naminé has her heart."

The Cloaked Schemer looked up sharply. "That would be interesting. And unforeseen. This possibility should be reported in at once."

"Well, shall we continue watching these two, or can I go back to taunting the intriguing one?"

"Riku? I don't see why not. But remember that we still need him, so try not to do to him what you do with most of your toys."

"And what's that, Cloaked Schemer?" she asked playfully.

He laughed softly. "Break them."

A/N: As always, comments are greatly appreciated!

Chapter IV​

I'm just curious. Mine would have to be The Empire Strikes Back for it's plot twists and just pure originality. It introduced Yoda, Boba Fett, and showed hints of Darth Vader beneath the mask, AND had such classic lines such as "I am your father", which even a non-SW fan can appreciate.

Post KHII. "If two halves desire to be separate unto themselves, they must become one." A riddle posed to Roxas by a mysterious cloaked figure could prove the key to unlocking his heart, or could leave him stranded in darkness. Roxas x Namine.

Prolog and Chapter I​

Chapter II

Roxas raised his hand to tap lightly on the window to Riku's room, casting an anxious glance at the sky. Flickers of lightning were jumping from cloud to cloud high above, and he knew it was only a matter of time until it started to rain. Though earlier the night had been warm and humid, the older boy still had his window shut and tightly locked; his seeming paranoia knew no bounds. Sora would have been wise to follow his friend's example. Roxas hoped that Riku wasn't a deep sleeper.

He wasn't. The Nobody had barely touched the glass when Riku tumbled out of bed, Way to the Dawn drawn and ready in his hand before he was even fully awake. He frowned upon seeing Roxas and Naminé, but leaned over his bed and popped the catch on his window, levering it open. His mouth open to ask a question, his cyan gaze flicked from Oblivion clutched in Roxas's hand to his grip on Naminé's with the other, to the dark clouds masking the sky above to the Black Dusks approaching steadily, and his mouth snapped shut.

"Questions can wait," he stated, jumping out the one-story window to land with a grunt next to Roxas. "What's the plan?"

"I need you to get her out of here. I'll hold them off."

Riku started to nod, then paused. "That would be stupid. You're coming, too." A fat raindrop plopped in his outstretched hand, and he looked up. "This is no natural storm. Last time I saw a storm of this magnitude, darkness swallowed this world. You're coming with us."

"Where are we going?" Naminé asked.

"If these things are like normal Dusks, they can't swim. I have a boat, I'll take you to our island," he pointed to the smaller island visible farther out in the ocean. "We played there as kids; I know every hiding place on the entire island."

"Right, then, let's go," Roxas said impatiently.

"One question," Riku slapped the flat of his Keyblade against the Nobody's chest, halting his progress. "Where are Sora and Kairi?"

"Asleep," Roxas answered uncomfortably. "The only way we can move about on our own is if they're asleep."

"So you're leaving them completely defenseless against this unknown threat?" the boy's eyes narrowed.

Roxas pointed toward the approaching hoard. "Does it look like they're targeting Sora and Kairi? They're coming after us, and we... need your help," he admitted grudgingly, swallowing his pride with difficulty.

Riku nodded, thinking. His silver hair fell over his eyes; then he looked back at them. "I'll take you both to our island, then return to make sure that Sora and Kairi are okay."

"Promise me you won't wake them up unless their lives are in danger," Roxas pleaded. "Please."

The other Keyblade wielder frowned, but nodded. "I won’t."

"Give me your word," the Nobody insisted.

"Fine, I promise. Let's go." He dismissed Way to the Dawn and beckoned. "Follow me. You can explain everything on the boat."

-xXx-​

The rain was falling in a blinding curtain as Riku and Roxas pushed the small wooden rowboat into the ocean. Naminé paused, unwilling to leap in on blind faith. "Are you sure this can hold three people?" she asked hesitantly.

"Would you rather swim?" Riku asked bluntly, climbing in.

She conceded the point and jumped in, squeezing in behind Riku and Roxas. "Riku, shouldn't you stay here, since you're just returning anyway?"

"I want to know what's going on," the cyan-eyed boy replied, fixing Roxas with a steady gaze as he picked up his oar.

The Nobody sighed and began to tell his story. With a glance at Naminé, he left out the part where the man said 'covet her'. He finished as the boat skidded up onto the sand of the smaller island.

Riku paused and laid his oar down in the boat; Roxas followed his lead. "So this... glowing-eyed unknown. Who is he?"

Roxas shook his head uncertainly. "He kept calling me 'Key of Destiny'... my codename when I was with the Organization. The only people who know me by that name are Sora, now both of you, and other members of Organization XIII, but they're all dead."

"All of them?" Riku repeated. "You're sure of that?"

Roxas paused, thinking. "Yes."

"And you're sure that no one else could know you by that name?"

"Yes... wait," he frowned. "There was one member of the Organization whose death was never really confirmed."

"Who?"

"Zexion," Roxas looked at Riku to see the silver-haired boy clench his fists. "You knew him?"

"You could say that," he shook his head in wry amusement. "We fought several times. He kept trying to push me into using the darkness."

"Yeah, that sounds like Zexion; the Cloaked Schemer, we called him."

Naminé looked from Riku to Roxas with a faint expression of fear flicking across her face. "What do you mean, his death was unconfirmed?"

"According to Axel, he was last seen with the Ri- uhh... your clone," Roxas trailed off, looking awkwardly at Riku, but the boy just nodded in response. "And you killed him."

Riku nodded again.

"We assumed that he was dead because his panel in the Proof of Existence had gone red, but no one saw him die. His element was illusion, after all." Roxas frowned uncertainly.

"So for lack of any other possibility, let's assume the glowing-eyed unknown is Zexion," Riku supplied. "What does he want with you?"

"When I asked what the Organization wanted with me, he replied "who said anything about the Organization?" Does that mean he's working with someone else, or is he here on his own?"

Riku shook his head. "I don't know. Do you have any idea what those things are?" he pointed back at the main island they had left behind. "They're just standing there at the beach."

"You can see that far?" Roxas asked in disbelief.

"You were in darkness for longer than I was,” he raised one silver eyebrow. “Don't tell me that you can't."

Not to be outdone, the Nobody squinted through the rain; he could indeed see the faint outline of the Black Dusks standing at the edge of the beach. They made no motion move into the water, seeming to be content just to wait for them to return. "I don't know what they are," he said finally. "I've been calling them Black Dusks. They aren't marked with the symbol of the Organization, nor do they have the symbol of the Heartless."

Riku looked up at the sky as a lightning strike exploded overhead. "I'm going to go back to ensure that Sora and Kairi are safe. Should I see the glowing-eyed unknown, whether he's Zexion or not, I'm going to attack."

Roxas nodded firmly. "I'd be worried if you gave him a big hug and a kiss," he said wryly.

The boy snorted and started to laugh in spite of himself. "I'll return in the morning."

"Don't bother; once the others wake in the morning, we'll probably disappear back into them. That's the fate of a Nobody," he shrugged helplessly. "Just go. We'll be fine here." Roxas jumped out of the boat into the water and helped Naminé out, lifting her easily and depositing her on the wet sand.

Riku nodded in farewell as Roxas pushed the boat back into the ocean. "Watch out for Zexion. We still don't know what he wants."

"We'll manage," Roxas offered a half-hearted salute, then waded through the water to the beach, Naminé following behind. "Let's get out of the rain," he suggested, pushing his blond hair away from his eyes.

"Good idea," she agreed. A sudden grin crossed her face. “Race you!” They ran for the Secret Place; Naminé disappeared inside, while Roxas paused outside, looking into the cascading water spilling down into the small pool from the rocks. He almost swore that he could see the black-hooded man in the falling water.

"If two halves desire to be separate unto themselves, they must become one."

Roxas spun around. "Where are you, you *******?" he shouted. "Show yourself!"

"Covet it. Protect it. Or should I say... her?"

"Shut up!" Oblivion appeared in his hand and he flourished it angrily. "I don't have time for your sick riddle games!"

"Covet... If two halves desire... covet... become one..." the man's voice echoed from the cliffs around him, melding his words together in a steady stream.

"Shut up!" Roxas slashed his Keyblade through the image in the waterfall. "Shut up, shut up, shut up!" He screamed incoherently, and with a final slash the hooded face disappeared.

His mocking laughter rang from the rocks.

"Roxas!" He turned quickly, Oblivion ready to strike. Naminé stood on the other side of the waterfall, obvious concern in her eyes. "What is it? What's out there?"

He shook his head and dismissed his Keyblade. "I don't know," he admitted. He reached her side and nodded for her to continue into the Secret Place. As she headed in, Roxas paused with his hand on the roof of the cave.

"Covet her..." the voice whispered, an insidious drip in his ear.

Roxas shook his head to dispel the whisper and followed her into the cave, head ducked to keep from cracking it against the rocky ceiling. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the dim light from the luminous mushrooms scattered about. The heavy rain was still falling through the hole in the roof, but it was all flowing out into the pool outside, leaving most of the cave dry and relatively warm. He found Naminé with her fingers pressed against one of the many drawing on the far side of the cave.

Her fingers gently traced the rough etchings. "Look," she said softly as Roxas came up behind her. "It's Sora and Kairi." Her hand paused atop the star-shaped drawing. "What's this? It looks like the lucky charm."

He shook his head and put his hand atop hers. "It's a Paopu fruit," he answered.

"Covet her..." the voice breathed out of nowhere.

He quickly removed his hand. "It's said if two people share one, their destinies become intertwined... or something like that." He frowned, suddenly unsure. "I can't always remember everything Sora knows."

"Become one..."

His fists clenched, and he looked around the cave, searching for the source of that voice.

Naminé allowed her hand to fall. She stepped back, regarding the two faces carved into the stone. "It's beautiful," she whispered.

Roxas glanced back at it, then resumed his search. "Your drawings are better," he stated matter-of-factly, pressing his ear against one of the walls, listening.

She shook her head. "The artwork isn't the point." Naminé's fingers traced the outline of the two Paopu fruits. "It's the feelings that prompted the drawing."

"Hn," Roxas glanced at her suspiciously, then turned back, eyes roving the carved walls. Not finding the hooded man visible anywhere in the cave, he moved back over to sit with next to her. Much his surprise, she huddled in against him, shivering.

"If two halves desire to be separate unto themselves, they must become-"

He leapt to his feet. "Would you shut up?" Roxas shouted, faithful Oblivion again responding to his distress. "If you're not going to tell me what that means, then shut the hell up!"

Naminé looked around. "What are you talking about?" she asked, confused.

"You can't hear the voice? He's mocking me, the *******, reciting his stupid riddle and not showing his face." Roxas slammed Oblivion point-first into the soft ground.

"Maybe we should try to figure it out," Naminé suggested softly.

"If you want to play his game, be my guest. If I see him, I'm going to-"

"Going to what?" came the soft voice from a corner.

Roxas wheeled around to see the figure, standing with his arms away from his body to show that he had no weapon. "I'm going to kill him," he finished darkly, raising Oblivion and charging forward.

The man clapped his hands with an explosion of darkness and reappeared on the other side of the cave. "Have I really given you cause for such drastic action?" he questioned calmly. "I'm trying to help you, you know."

"Doubt it," Roxas responded sharply, stopping where he was and turning to face him. "Draw your weapon and fight. You know that I have no problem slaying an unarmed opponent."

"Honorable as always, Key of Destiny."

"Maybe because I know what you can do without a weapon, Cloaked Schemer."

The man laughed, and his voice changed to the soft tone that was Zexion's. "I see you aren't as dull as I thought. Well done." He raised his hands and pulled back his hood, shrinking a bit as he did so until he was barely taller than Roxas himself.

"I see death has treated you well," Roxas noted.

"Who said anything about death?" Zexion tucked his frosty-indigo hair behind his left ear, leaving the rest hanging over his right eye. "We don't exist, so can we truly die?"

"What about the others? Are they like you?"

"I'm not sure what you mean, like me," he answered easily.

"Still here and annoying."

The Cloaked Schemer laughed out loud. "I'm afraid I can't tell you that. You still haven't figured out the riddle. I even gave you a hint."

"You did not."

"I did." Zexion pointed at Naminé, and she gasped, pressing back against the wall. "I told you to protect her. I didn't have to do that."

"I would have figured that part out on my own, thanks."

"I told you to covet her."

Naminé looked quickly at Roxas, a question clearly in her eyes.

Zexion didn't miss that look. "Oh, so you didn't tell her?" Mild amusement again entered his voice. "I guess I can give you one more hint without giving it all away."

"Why don't you just tell me the answer so I can bash your face in and be done with it?" Roxas retorted.

He laughed out loud again. "My, my; you are amusing. If I just told you, that would defeat the point of this test."

"Who's testing me? You?" He tightened his grip on Oblivion.

"That would be telling, wouldn't it?" That faint trace of amusement never left his voice for a second as he regarded Naminé carefully. "Here's your final clue. If you are the Key, then there must be a corresponding lock. What you had dedicated your life to searching for will point the way. Commit it to memory."

"Don't you mock him," Roxas growled dangerously. "Don't you dare mock him. He was a good friend. That's something you'll never understand."

Zexion chuckled softly. "I love how you use the past tense; written him off already, have you?"

"What are you talking about?" His eyes narrowed. "Axel died. I saw him die."

"Oh yes, I heard; that amount of energy being expended all at once could be felt for miles around." Before their eyes, he changed shape, growing taller and thinner, with emerald green eyes.

"But you weren't there," he continued in Axel's voice, running a hand through his fiery red spikes. "You just watched as I went kamikaze to try and bring you back," his face began to dissolve, releasing tiny bits of darkness into the air. "You didn't even show your face as I died for you. You might as well have lifted the Keyblade yourself."

"You b*stard!" Roxas yelled, lifting Oblivion to attack.

Back in his original form, Zexion held up a hand and Roxas froze, unable to move. "Remember, I'm supposedly dead as well." His one visible eyebrow rose unconcernedly. "Oh dear, there I go again; giving away information for free. I really need to stop doing that." He clapped his hands together with an explosion of darkness.

Roxas refused to close his eyes, squinting through in an attempt to watch him disappear, but Zexion couldn't leave without a parting word. "If stare too long into the abyss, the abyss stares back. Got it memorized?"

Roxas hurled Oblivion into the wall with an incoherent scream of frustration and anger; his Keyblade disintegrated with a small eruption of dark energy, and he pounded his fist against the rock helplessly.

Naminé stood and walked over to him, gently grasping his wrist in both pale hands. His blows against the stone weakened at her touch; and he stopped and looked to her. She flinched at the hollow look in his eyes; it was as if the dark explosion had drained them of life itself. "I killed him," he whispered blankly. "I killed Axel."

"There's nothing you could have done-" Naminé started.

He pulled his wrist from her grasp and resumed his pounding against the unyielding wall, smearing his blood across the rock.

"Stop that," she ordered, grabbing his hand. "You're bleeding." She tugged gently, and he followed her bleakly. "Sit down."

He collapsed to the ground and stared at the wall, lips moving silently. "What did he do to you, Roxas?" Naminé whispered. It was as though his will to resist and live had been crushed into dust with his Keyblade as he stared into the darkness where Zexion had disappeared. She left him sitting there, staring blankly at the wall as she ripped the bottom inch of cloth from her dress and soaked it with the water coming in through the ceiling in an attempt to clean it. "It may not be perfect, but it's better than just leaving it exposed to all the dirt in here," she murmured to him, wrapping his bleeding fist with the soft cloth.

Roxas didn't acknowledge her, and she sighed. "What did he do to you?" she repeated softly, tying the makeshift bandage tightly. She raised his fingers to her lips and kissed them gently, looking into his hollowed eyes. "What did he do to you?"

A/N: In this chapter, I paraphrased a quote by the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche: “He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.”

Chapter III
Chapter IV​

Also came to me rather randomly, this is going to serve as the title banner for my fanfiction "Darkness Rising"

​

I made this kinda randomly to serve as sort of a cover and link to my fanfiction.

​

"Darkness Falling" and "Darkness Rising" are the titles of the two companion/prequel stories, and "Night of a New Dawning" is the title of the conclusion. Zexions stars in "DF", while Roxas stars in "DR"

Post KHII. "If two halves desire to be separate unto themselves, they must become one." A riddle posed to Roxas by a mysterious cloaked figure could prove the key to unlocking his heart, or could leave him stranded in darkness. Roxas x Namine.

​

A/N: Okay... this was a story I wrote all the way back in January. It's been posted on fanfiction.net for a while, so I thought I'd bring it over here and see what the response is.

Darkness Rising

by Jade Rhade​

"You are the Key." The man stood in the swirling maelstrom of darkness, hooded and cloaked in black. "The Key of Destiny."

"Who are you?" The boy was forced to shout as he could feel tendrils of darkness that were beginning to hold him fast in a suffocating embrace and drag him slowly, inexorably away from that which he sought.

The man ignored his query, ignored the boy's frantic struggle against the darkness. He simply turned away and began to disappear.

"Wait!" the boy yelled desperately, redoubling his efforts to free himself. "Who are you?"

The man stopped and glanced back over his shoulder; one glowing golden eye shone from beneath his hood. And then he was gone, though his voice remained. "If two halves desire to be separate unto themselves, they must become one."

"What?" The boy ripped his hand out from the tender grasp of the darkness, only to be pulled back by twenty more strands. He flailed in vain until he was finally smothered beneath the crushing weight of the darkness.

-xXx-​

Chapter I

Roxas jolted awake with a startled gasp, blinking quickly in an effort to focus his azure-blue eyes. His gaze darted about the room, seeking anything out of the ordinary. Seeing nothing obviously out of place, he sighed and glanced down. The silvery light of the unclouded moon shone through his semi-transparent hands to illuminate Sora's body. The other boy was still peacefully asleep, blissfully unaware of his Nobody's conundrum; even as Roxas watched, the young Keyblade Master rolled over and stuck his thumb in his mouth, hugging his stuffed turtle in close.

"If two halves desire to be separate unto themselves, they must become one," he murmured, staring out the window but not really seeing anything. "What's that supposed to mean?" He scratched his head and groaned, shoulders slumping.

This wasn't the first time that he had had this very dream; it was how he discovered that he could separate from Sora when the Keyblade Master was asleep, though he had never yet gone far. The dream was always the same; there was the man, cloaked like a member of Organization XIII, and he always said the same thing. "If two halves desire to be separate unto themselves, they must become one."

Roxas held up his hand, tilting his head a bit to regard the way the white moonlight shone through his palm and white ring he wore on one finger. The black ring he wore on the finger beside it cast a slight shadow across his face as the moon's rays passed through it. "What does it mean?" he repeated softly. A chill breeze blew through the open window, and he shivered. The wind ruffled the boy's light blond spikes, carrying with it the faint smell of salt water and seaweed and... darkness.

The Nobody's hand fell, his gaze sharpening as his bright blue orbs scanned the beach no more than a mile away outside Sora's window. His eyes locked on to a figure standing by the water, seemingly heedless of the waves gently washing his boots.

Roxas's breath caught in his throat, and he involuntarily clenched his fists. The moon and stars reflecting off the water provided more than enough illumination to throw the dark cloak the man was wearing into sharp relief. Though his back was turned, his garb was unmistakable.

The cloak of Organization XIII.

His knuckles whitened as he gripped the edge of the windowpane. He cast a glance toward the peacefully sleeping Keyblade Master. "Sorry, Sora; but if I wake you up, I'm won’t be the one in control." Without another word, Roxas vaulted out the window to land in an easy crouch on the sand.

He held out both empty hands away from each other and concentrated. Only Oblivion answered his call; he hadn't been able to summon Oathkeeper since his battle against Axel in the fake Twilight Town. Quick to adapt, he pulled his Keyblade in close with a firm, two-handed grip and sprinted for the beach.

The sickly sweet scent of darkness clung to the man in visible threads rising up from his robes to infect the warm night air. He turned as Roxas charged toward him, blue eyes glinting with barely suppressed battle rage. He was no more than a meter away, Oblivion raised to strike, when the figure raised his head to affix him with one glowing golden eye.

Roxas froze in mid-strike and was thrown back onto the sand. He cried out in pain and shock, feeling as though his heart had turned to a block of ice in his chest. Knocked free from his grasp, Oblivion disintegrated upon hitting the ground. On all fours, the boy clutched at his chest, free hand scrabbling in the sand.

The glowing-eyed man loomed over the Keyblade wielder and tsked. "Is that any way to greet a comrade, Key of Destiny?"

"You're no friend of mine," Roxas managed through pained gasps. "What does the Organization want with me?"

"Who said anything about the Organization?" The man sounded almost amused by his suffering.

He shot the man a fierce glare. "Then who in the hell are you? Why are you in my dreams?"

"I would have thought after all you went through in the fake Twilight Town that you'd have realized the thin line between dream and reality is really just that; no tangible thing." He shook his hooded head with that faint trace of amusement still lacing his voice. "Really, you're not what I expected."

"Sorry to disappoint you," Roxas hissed, struggling to his feet and drawing Oblivion.

The man ignored him and glanced up at the moon. "Oh dear," he said disinterestedly. "It's time." He looked back to Roxas and inclined his head in a gesture of mocking respect. "A word of advice, Key of Destiny; think of who or what is most important to you. Covet it. Protect it. Or should I say... her?" The figure offered an elaborate bow, clapping both hands together and stepping back.

The resulting explosion of darkness forced Roxas to shield his face. "If two halves desire to be separate unto themselves, they must become one!" came the almost taunting call on the wind; then it blew away with the stench of the darkness, dissipating into the air as if it had never been.

Roxas growled with dark fury, clenching his free hand until he felt his fingernails bite into the skin of his palm. "Stop messing with me!" he shouted toward the unforgiving sky, trembling with anger. "Haven't I already been through enough?" He barely noticed as an icy wind began to blow off the ocean, sending his blond hair whipping away from his face. Gradually, the light began to fade. Roxas looked up to see dark clouds moving in quickly to cover the sky, and there was the faint blast of thunder in the distance.

His eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared. He could sense something approaching; he tightened his grip on his Keyblade and turned in a small circle, trying to get a fix on the enemy he felt closing in on him.

With an unearthly shriek, it burst from the sand directly in front of him. Roxas let out of yell of surprise and struck out reflexively at the thing. It collapsed to the ground, flopping like a limp balloon. He prodded the dying thing with his sneaker. It almost looked to be a Nobody- a Dusk, in fact- but its skin was the shade of purest ebony, and it bore no markings. The symbol of Organization XIII had not burned into its forehead.

He was given no time to contemplate the appearance of the Black Dusk however, as more erupted from the sand all around him. He let out a fierce battle cry and lashed out. Swiftly, the air became filled with tendrils of darkness from dying Black Dusks. Individually, they didn't stand a chance, but more were coming; like the old saying, sheer numbers can overwhelm even the strongest.

He paused in his attack to take a breath, and the man's voice rang in his ears. "Covet it. Protect it. Or should I say... her?" He looked around to see the majority of the Black Dusks breaking away from their assault on him to slink their way into town, and his eyes widened with sudden understanding. "Naminé!" He punched out with his free hand as a Black Dusk tried to take advantage of his moment of distraction. He impaled the thing with Oblivion while it lay helpless on the ground, then gave no heed to the others; he dashed ahead to break through their ranks and enter the town.

Roxas's breath came in short gasps as his sneakers pounded the dirt street beneath his feet, fully dependant on Sora's memories to find Kairi's home; adrenaline lent him speed. "Naminé!" What other 'her' could the man have meant? He stumbled and rolled back to his feet, ignoring the dirt plastered in streaks to the sweat running down his face.

Finally he found it; he very nearly ripped the back door off its hinges as he yanked it open. "Naminé!" he shouted frantically, running into the pristine house. Even if he had been visible to others, he still wouldn't have lowered his voice. He had to admit being non-existent had its advantages at times. "Naminé!" He skidded around a corner and lunged up the stairs, then slowed. He didn't want to wake Kairi. He gingerly opened the door to the right of the stairs, and nearly cried in relief.

Naminé lay there, fast asleep. Roxas walked softly to her bedside, hoping that there weren't any creaky floorboards. "Naminé?" he whispered, running his free hand gently down the side of her face. "Naminé, you have to wake up." He cast an anxious glance out the window to see the Black Dusks drawing steadily nearer, drawn to this house like Shadows to a heart. He looked back at her and flushed beneath the dirt; her skirt had ridden up during the night, leaving most of her pale thigh exposed.

She groaned softly and opened her eyes, blinking several times to focus. "Roxas? What are you doing here?" She quickly pulled down the hem of her dress and sat up, rubbing sleep from her eyes. "How is this... possible?" Naminé matched his earlier action, stroking his cheek then paused, catching sight of Oblivion clutched in his trembling, sweaty grip. Its blade was dripping darkness.

Roxas took her hand and turned her head toward the window. "We have to go," he said shortly.

She froze, seeing the Black Dusks. "What are those things?"

"I don't know, but they're coming for you."

Naminé reached down for her sandals and strapped them on swiftly. "Why?" She used his grip on her hand to drag him to her eye level. "Roxas, tell me what's going on."

He didn't meet her gaze. "Later," he promised. "I'll explain everything later. Right now we have to go."

She stood and looked back. "What about Kairi?"

The Princess of Heart was still asleep. Roxas looked to her and back at Naminé. "They're not here for her. They're here for you."

"But shouldn't we at least-" Naminé reached down to wake Kairi, but Roxas shook his head warningly.

"If you do that, you won't be able to walk about on your own," he stated. "We can only be separate from them while they're asleep." Roxas squeezed her hand reassuringly. "She'll be fine. Let's go." He tugged harder; she cast one last, reluctant glance back at the sleeping, defenseless princess and followed.

"How are we supposed to fight so many?" she asked, running behind him.

"We're not going to fight," he answered, looking back at her over his shoulder. Roxas still grasped Oblivion in his right hand, but he kept his grip on Naminé's hand with the other.

"We're not?" Naminé blinked in surprise. This didn't sound like the Roxas she knew.

"There's too many, even for me. Luxord called it 'knowing when to fold'."

Naminé looked behind her to see the Black Dusks still in pursuit behind them. She stumbled on a rock and fell. Roxas helped her back to her feet, ignoring the mud now smeared all over her white dress. "Where are we going?"

"To the only other person who can help us." His lip curled unhappily. "Riku."

A/N: So... yeah. I'll continue posting the rest of this here if it's well received. Feel free to comment!

Chapter II
Chapter III
Chapter IV​

Well! You guys may have realized that I have been gone for a few hours; I was up at a friend's house, and then we decided we were going to walk back to my house. I was so proud that I had remembered to lock all the doors...

I forgot my key. I had to break in my second-floor window by climbing on top a picnic table, two benches, and a plastic garbage can. And that's how I spent my Easter Monday. Did you miss me? :p

I'm still laughing my head off at the fact that my friend and I managed to break into my own house. She's sitting right here helping me type this message; she says "hi".
~Jade

You thought threads by Jade Rhade could get no more random? WE LIED! Yes, Random Idiot and I just finished a lengthy phone conversation in which Kingdom Hearts characters were compared to celestial bodies.

Venus- Larxene (Savage Nymph reminds me of the goddess of love)
Earth- Marluxia (It's the only known planet with vegetation)
Jupiter- Lexaeus (Huge and owns all the other planets)
Saturn- Xaldin (Also huge, but has sideburns which compare to Saturn's rings)
Neptune- both Vexen and Demyx (water and ice)
Pluto- Zexion (The smallest, and now my favorite former-planet)

That's all we have so far because the conversation dissolved into a series of Riku-centric insults then turned to talking about the new scenes from FM+

Feel free to add :p

Mine would have to be dark, just plain and simple dark chocolate. :D

If anyone cares; it's just today's useless fact about Jade.

​

My mother has some movie on so loud that my brain feels as though it is bouncing around inside my skull and quite soon shall simply disintegrate and leak out my ears. Some dumb romantic comedy...