Cross Worlds

Chapter 25: "The Assault on Apollo"

Back when Riku Fantasy had contacted Riku Reality, they had agreed to meet up in The Cross for the retrieval of a set of items Riku Fantasy had requested. This is how their text conversation, and the meeting they had went.

"Reality, I know you're probably still mad at me, but there's something I need you to do for me. Something I really need you to do for me. I'm not going to ask you to respond to this message and you're free to slander me as well, but I need you to listen to me carefully and do as I ask just this once. In Artemis' room, near the leader's robes, there should be another case with a bracelet inside of it, and another with some small black boxes filled with blue capsules in them. I need you to grab both the bracelet and one of those boxes and bring them with you to The Cross. I will be waiting for you there soon."

Surprisingly, Riku Reality responded to the message almost immediately. "No problem, and I'm not still mad at you dude, I'm not five. I can be there around 4, does that work for you?"

Riku Fantasy looked at the message and smiled. "Will do. See you soon."

And just like that, the two would meet in The Cross at 4pm. "So, what are these things for exactly? Clearly you must be doing something important if you're asking for items from your world. I haven't been able to check the News app recently, but it doesn't seem like anything major has happened yet since the really messed up stuff from before..." Riku Reality stated once he appeared in The Cross and saw Riku Fantasy waiting for him.

"I need them to beat somebody who has anti-magic." Riku Fantasy said as he took the items Reality had retrieved for him, putting on the bracelet and opening the black box. He then created a small pocket of space for the pills specifically, so using them would be much faster.

"I'm sorry, what?" Riku Reality's expression quickly turned to one of surprise and confusion.

"Yep. I'll go ahead and give you a small explanation." Fantasy did just that, recapping the recent events for Reality so he could understand what was happening and why he needed those items.

Riku Reality was silent for a moment before smiling. "You're changing, aren't you? This isn't something you're doing for yourself."

"Whatever do you mean? Of course I'm doing this for myself. There's a chance that man could destroy Artemis, the place I live, if I choose to stay silent and not do anything. Not to mention he's hurt my friend, one of the only people I trust, and is holding him hostage. All I'm doing is repaying Emica for saving Yujita and I and rescuing my friend from an evil man. Nothing more, nothing less." Riku Fantasy didn't look directly at Reality as he said this, in the midst of inputting his magic into the bracelet so he could summon the weapon within at will.

"You wanna know how I know that isn't true?" Riku Reality smiled, causing Fantasy to glance upward. "Not only did you not look me in the eyes when you said that, but you also didn't tell me everything that happened between you and Emica, and you're still calling Emica by name despite supposedly hating and not trusting her. I don't think I would let someone I don't trust cling to me for so long no matter the situation."

Riku Reality snickered, causing Riku Fantasy's face to turn bright red. "Y-You! I thought you said you hadn't read up on the News article?!"

"I lied, duh. I wanted to see what you would say when I asked what happened." Riku Reality smiled innocently, making Fantasy seethe as he only blushed that much brighter.

"Oh go to hell." He shook his head and began opening a rift in The Cross to continue his preparations.

"Hey." Reality called out, making Fantasy glance back. "You'd better not die out there. You hear me? Go back to them and make things right. Don't you dare start pushing people away again, Fantasy."