Burning the Yellow Brick Road

[burning-remnant.livejournal.com]

Who: Axel & Riku & Aros
What: "Collecting" another member for the trip to Oz.
When: Presently
Where: The woods
Summary: Axel meets with Riku and invites him to join Axel and Aros on their trip to the Malnosso.
Rating: Possibly PG-13 for language?

"Still have that fighting spirit, huh?"

It never ceased to amuse Axel how easy it was for a Nobody to sneak up on someone. Even the most alert soul could be taken off guard; it said something, something grim about the nature of their nonexistence, but fortunately Axel wasn't exactly in a position to be disheartened by that thought. In another world, at another time, Riku probably would have been one of the few people upon whom he could not pull such a trick -- but here, in this place, it was easy. He stood back, face shadowed in the hood of his coat, but made no move to attack. He was curious to see if Riku would come willingly (even though, with his coat and his smirk and his cold eyes, he might as well have said, "Hey kid, I've got some candy in my van.")

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[burning-remnant.livejournal.com]

Axel led the way into the woods, pleased that he had managed to persuade Riku into joining him without violence. He certainly didn't have anything against violence - in fact, he thought it might be kind of fun to look into those cool turquoise eyes through a haze of flame - but in a place like this, weaker than ever, it would be advantageous to save his strength. Especially since he had no idea how the meeting between the silver-haired boy and their resident Heartless would turn out. Either way, he was confident it would be interesting.

"Oh, you know..." Axel said as they walked, scanning the trees for any sign of Aros. "Stubborn, brave...fearless."

[way-to-midnight.livejournal.com]

Of course, silently, quickly... the heartless had been watching them they entire time. This was the Riku from Sora's memories -- the one he knew and the one he wanted so much to seeandripandtearand... ... He hissed lightly, to himself. His talons wraped lightly around the branch he was on, tendrils of darkness pulling out and all-but-wrapping around it.
...This Riku was smaller than the one in Sora's recent memories.

...It didn't matter. Riku should know him. The heartless touched its chest, as if to confirm that the hollow chest cavity was still there. As if to confirm that his hesitation was not fear.
...Because it could not be fear. He did not fear. He could not fear. What that cretin Axel had just said was right. ...Even if Axel had no pulse to track him with, Riku's screamed at the heartless. So long as that boy was near...

With a hiss, and in a movement which must've appeared to be a blurr in one's vision, the shadow dropped from the branches and into the shadows a few yards in front of the two. For a time, he lay still with his eyes closed. But then, abruptly, the yellow orbs shot open, staring blanky, hollowly, directly at Riku.
Directly at one of the two things most important to Sora.

[fearsnodarkness.livejournal.com]

To say the least, Riku had not expected to see this...whatever it was that stood before him. Its appearance clearly resembled a heartless, but, for some reason, it had traits similar to Sora, almost like the heartless he had summoned on Captain Hook's ship. Even so, there was something...different about this heartless, although Riku couldn't put his finger on it.

Narrowing his eyes, he reached out, as the Soul Eater materialized in his hand. Though he wasn't sure what this heartless was, let alone what it was going to do, at this point it was better to be safe than sorry. Besides, he was strong enough even without the darkness, or so he believed. Getting his weapon into a ready position, Riku shot a glance back at Axel.

"What's this supposed to be?" he snapped. "Some kind of trap?"

[burning-remnant.livejournal.com]

Axel raised his hands in front of him, palms out, as though to say 'not me!' He feigned shock.

"Not at all! This is my friend...Aros. Don't let the hissing fool you, he can be quite chatty when he feels like it."

[way-to-midnight.livejournal.com]

Aros crawled forward on all fours... his hollow yellow orbs never leaving Riku's face. He didn't recognize him... which meant that he wasn't the Riku in Sora's memories. That... stirred something in the heartless, but before that he needed to deal with the toy being pointed at him. He hissed, and opened one of his talons wide. There was no need to attack Riku, not here, not yet, but he could still put out a warning.

In one swift movement (for if nothing else, Aros was fast) he rushed clean past Riku, pulling Soul Eater from the others hands. He spun as he completed the movement, his yellow orbs staring blankly back at the other two, Soul Eater firmly gripped in one of his talons.