Cross Worlds

Chapter 24: "Preparation and Strategy"

Riku stares at the message in shock, reading the text under the picture that simply reads, "I think we should have another conversation soon." A smiley face emoji plastered at the end of the text.

Riku clenches his fists tightly, his magic threatening to explode right where he stands. "Yeah... He's exactly like that fucking bastard..." Riku takes a deep breath, putting his phone away. He realizes getting angry and rushing onto the scene isn't going to help anyone, so he takes a moment to just breathe. His anger doesn't lessen in the slightest, but he is able to remain calm. "So, it looks like I'm making my move tonight."

Riku spends the next few hours getting ready for his personal mission, meeting up with Riku Reality and explaining some things to him, and Reality responding positively, but what their meeting was about will have to remain secret for now.

In the next few hours, Riku spends his time training physically and magically to his heart's content, doing various exercises until failure and pushing his magic to its absolute limit. Afterward, he takes time to eat a decent meal and shower before going to the library within Artemis.

At this point, night has already fallen, though his purpose is burning brighter by the minute. Just as Riku predicted, Eli is in the library after hours, and she looks over at him as he enters. "Riku? What are you doing here?"

"I don't know how much you know, but I intervened in that meeting." Riku takes a seat across from her, thinking about how to explain Yujita's situation to her.

"So...he's as bad as Yujita and I made him out to be, right?" Eli frowns, eyes growing darker just at the thought of the awful man.

"He's a fuckin bastard who deserves to have his head slammed into the ground a few times, yes. I'm going to need you to stay calm when I tell you everything that's happened." Eli immediately looks somewhat worried, but nods in response.

The next few minutes, Riku describes what happened at the meeting, leaving out his and Emica's moment for obvious reasons, and then he shows her the message he received. "The text itself comes from Yujita's phone..."

It's clear from the look on her face that Eli isn't calm in the slightest. Anger boils up from within her and her hands ball into fists in her lap. However, it's clear she's trying to remain calm, tears welling up in her eyes. "Please tell me you have something planned, Riku... You wouldn't leave Yujita like that...you wouldn't." Her voice is shaky, cracking.

"Of course I wouldn't." Riku happily shows his own anger, his aura flowing freely for a moment. "However, I can't do anything if you don't help me. I need you to tell me something, Eli."

Eli nods, a single tear dripping down her cheek as she glares at the photo. "Anything."

"I need you to tell me where the Apollo facility is, and make sure that nobody finds out I'm gone after I leave this building. Is that something you think you can do for me?"

Eli's eyes widen momentarily, but the sincere look in Riku's eyes is telling her that he's serious. He's asking her to place her faith in him. Eli bites her lip, taking a deep breath. "You're going to go in alone, aren't you?" Riku doesn't respond, just staring at Eli with the same look in her eyes. Eli takes a deep breath and returns his look with a sincere, pleading, and serious look of her own. "If you can promise me that Yujita will be alright, that you both will be alright...then I'll do what you ask."

"I know I'm walking into a trap, so I can't promise anything on my front. However, Yujita? Yujita's going to be just fine. I swear that on my life." The burning rage and purpose inside of Riku shows in his eyes as he promises this. It's a promise he won't break even if it kills him it seems. Eli nods, giving him the location of the building.

Afterward, Riku stands up and starts leaving the library. "Riku, wait!" Eli runs to catch him before he gets too far, and he turns his head to face her. Eli grabs his hand with both of hers and her eyes glow golden, but instead of his own memories being searched, his head becomes filled with memories of her and Yujita suddenly.

Riku's eyes widen at the memories he's being shown; images of her and Yujita as children, playing around a neighborhood and spending time together almost everyday before they both had to move away from each other, and the conversation they had just last night. From the conversation they had, it was clear Yujita didn't remember her, and he was quite flustered the entirety of being alone with the girl. However, Eli was clearly quite flustered as well. The entire time they were left alone was spent well though. Eli invited him to a lounge-like area within the library that she was planning to take Riku to, and they talked about his and Riku's battle. Yujita explained that he once had terrible thoughts, that he wanted to hurt people like they hurt him, but that Riku was the one who woke Yujita up. With the way Eli looks at Yujita the entire time he speaks, it's clear she was looking at an old friend.

It now makes sense to Riku why Eli seemed to care so much about Yujita despite only having "just met". With how highly Yujita speaks of Riku as a friend, and the childhood memories of her and Yujita combined, Riku's determination burns brighter than ever. Riku takes a deep breath, closing his eyes and gripping her hands back gently, but firmly. "I will bring him back here, safely. I promise you that."

Finally, Eli lets her tears flow freely, Riku still looking forward and Eli's eyes focused on the ground. "Thank you... Thank you..."

The moment Eli releases his hand, Riku vanishes from sight. He becomes a shadow once more, but uses the elements of fire and lightning to move at insane speeds away from prying eyes within the city as he makes his way towards the Apollo building. He arrives in no less than five minutes. The building is just as glorious as Artemis, but the feeling that comes from the building is the exact opposite. Just by walking up to the building, Riku can sense a great darkness from within the facility.

However, that doesn't stop nor slow him. He walks right up to the front doors and, after biting down on a strange, glowing blue pill, he busts the doors down with his fire magic and steps right in. Thankfully, the building is quite secluded in the large city, so it's safe to say that no one but someone from inside the building could've seen him use his magic.

What awaits him inside is exactly what he expected. "Ah, Riku, so lovely of you to join us!" Hiroshi smiles at him from the bench he lounges on.

However, Riku pays him no mind, walking straight to Yujita, who's tied to a chair in the center of the entrance hall. Yujita weakly looks up to meet Riku's gaze, smiling at him, though his eyes are barely open. "Riku... I knew...you'd come..." He breathes heavily in between every pause he takes.

Riku clenches his fist tightly, kneeling so he can look Yujita in the eyes so he doesn't have to force himself to look up. "What, you thought I wouldn't come after receiving such a picture?" He chuckles, as if everything were perfectly fine.

"...Yeah..." Yujita bites his lip, and a few tears instantly begin dripping down his face. "It's my fault that he even knows about you... I was...reporting everything to him..." Yujita closes his eyes tightly and grips the chair he sits on. "I told him everything...about your magic...and Artemis...and even that stupid event that made you so angry at everyone...everything..." Yujita weakly begins to sob. "You have every right...to hate me..."

Riku is silent. Something forms in his hand, and he cuts his friend free, letting him fall into his arms. "I don't hate you, Yujita. You're my friend, and something as simple as that isn't going to change that fact." Yujita's eyes widen, more tears staining his cheeks as he grits his teeth and closes his eyes.

"Swallow this, alright?" He holds up the same odd pill he bit down before to Yujita's mouth. Trusting Riku fully, he swallows the pill without a second thought, making Hiroshi cock an eyebrow in confusion.

"How curious..." He mutters.

"Once you're feeling better, I want you to leave. Go straight to Artemis and find Eli in the library. She'll help from there, alright?" Riku explains to Yujita after sitting him back in the chair.

"But...what are...you going to do..?" Yujita asks, still weak as the pill has yet to take any effect.

Riku smiles at him blankly before turning to face Hiroshi. "Isn't it obvious, Yujita?" He aims the thin-bladed, barreled, katana-gunblade in his hand at Hiroshi, his aura finally bursting from his body and cracking the ground around him. "I'm gonna kill that son of a bitch."