All That Never Was (Kingdom Hearts) (Discontinued)

Chapter Sixteen:

Vanitas/Sora gave an evil laugh that sent shivers down my spine. "Look on the bright side, Riku. Even without Ventus, Sora still has enough power to fulfill Maleficent's plans, so I don't need to take the children anymore."

Riku glared at Vanitas/Sora, infuriated. "Let Sora go." he said in a calm but threatening tone.

"Oh, I am just so afraid." Vanitas/Sora said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"Don't forget, you're outnumbered right now Vanitas." Riku reminded the evil Sora. He summoned Way to Dawn and got into a fighting stance. Axel came up next to Riku, summoning his chackrams in a flurry of bright orange flames. He was followed by Demyx and Larxene who also conjured their weapons. Roxas, Kairi, and Tim also stepped forward and summoned their keyblades along with Leon, Kara, Corrine, and Alice who came running up, weapons in hand. Then I realized that I was the only one without a weapon. I turned to Riku and asked, "What should I do?"

Without even looking at me he responded, "Stay with him." He nodded to Ventus.

"Oh... okay." I replied, slightly disappointed. I grabbed Ventus under his arms and dragged the unconscious boy back, away from the battle-ready group. I brought him to the ruins of Merlin's house and sat him against a partially still standing wall. I sat down beside him and watched the battle begin to unfold in front of me.

For a moment Vanitas looked a bit surprised, but the look soon disappeared to be replaced by a devious grin. "Riku. So naive. You really think I came alone?" He snapped his fingers and suddenly there was a series of plumes of black smoke that rose up from the ground behind him. When the smoke cleared, several people stood there. Kids to be more precise. There were about twelve of them and they all wore the same navy blue and purple body suits that looked much like Vanitas' or Riku's outfit when he was possessed by Ansem. Age wise they seemed to range from ten to eighteen

Demyx suddenly gasped. "You!" He exclaimed, pointing to a boy standing next to Vanitas. The boy looked around my age with messy brown hair and brown, almond shaped eyes. His suit was different from the rest of the kids'. Instead of blue and purple, his suit was blue and red. "You're the one that took Aimi!" Demyx said with an angered look on his face.

The boy chuckled. "Yup. That was me."

"What did you do with her?" Axel growled.

"I won't tell... But trust me, you'll find out soon." He grinned evilly.

"Why you little-" Demyx, looking more ferocious then I'd ever seen him before, lunged toward the boy with his sitar.

Immediately all of the apprentices took up defensive stances and summoned their own individual weapons. The boy summoned a sword that I recognized immediately as Soul Eater, Riku's sword.

Seeing all of the enemies ready to attack, Demyx stopped in his tracks, his normal pale, timid expression returning to his face. He slowly walked backwards back into our group. He stood beside Axel and whispered to the pyro, "They have weapons!"

Axel rolled his eyes. "Yes, Demyx, generally villains carry weapons."

"So Riku," Vanitas advanced forward a few steps. "Do you still want to fight and risk the lives of your friends?"

Riku looked down at the ground thoughtfully. After a few minutes he lifted his head. "Call off your apprentices." he said, solemnly.

"C'mon Riku, we can take 'em! They're nothing but a bunch of kids!" Axel exclaimed, twirling his chakrams around in his hands.

Riku turned to him. "No. This is between Vanitas and me and I won't drag you guys into it."

Axel stood up from his attack stance, a surprised look on his face. He looked at the possessed Sora then back at Riku before nodding in understanding. He stepped back and de-summoned his weapons. The others looked over at Axel, confused looks on their faces.