so raise your banner, fight your war (kh3 spoilers!!)

[dawnward]

[ it's been weeks without Sora, a void left behind in the wake of his disappearance. though in many ways they've succeeded and won so much - in the end, they've lost something so vital. and as King Mickey has gone home and the others have gone their separate ways, it's Riku who finds himself inexplicably alone, too. somewhere out there, Sora's alone too.

and Kairi? Kairi returns to that forest suspended in time to train, hoping to find Sora. Lea joins her, he finds out, as Riku examines her gummiphone updates. all of them are scattered in their own ways, gone back to Twilight Town or Land of Departure. but the islands are empty without his friends, and in his own way, Riku follows the path Ansem - Xehanort's Heartless - bid him go: he'd told him there was so much more out there to seek...and to seek it.

if anyone had told him he'd be doing this a year ago, two years ago, he'd have laughed at them.

but here he is, wandering from world to world, taking down his own notes, providing updates via gummiphone to the king. he takes pictures when he can as a reminder of the good things as well as the bad, even when he destroys Heartless time and time again. something to take home, something to show Kairi when he sees her.

something to show Sora when he finds him again.

in his travels, he disembarks in La Cite des Cloches, recently brought back from its slumber. and even in wandering the world on his own, hands in his pockets, no one seems to pay him much mind. no one even remembers him. but the tolling of the bells tells him an old friend is still there in the clock tower, and the world has recovered from the fire and brimstone it was thrown into. the heartless aren't even that bad, he finds, when he has to fight them.

it's late in the evening when he starts back towards the gummi ship, and when he heads around the cathedral, he sees the trail of a familiar black coat.

that can't be right.

Riku follows, sticking to the shadows, and quietly chases the figure back into the cathedral and up the back stairwell.

they should be dead, he thinks. there can't be anyone else. then who-- ? ]

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[madannoshashu]

[ He hasn't felt this free in a long, long time.

The meeting with the others went about as well as could be expected, all things considered. It was more bittersweet than anything else, seeing his old comrades again after so many years. He'd watched them rip themselves, each other, and even the world itself apart, and he hadn't done nothing to stop it. After something like that, nothing could ever be like it was ever again, and he hadn't expected it would be. Some things can and need to be worked out, of course, but if nothing else, he knows how to be patient.

And so he leaves. He gives the others the time and space they need while he re-acclimates himself to the Master's blade. It felt like being re-united with an old friend when he picked it up -- the sole remnant of his first life, having lived so very many. There was the box, too, of course, but he didn't feel the same sense of attachment to it as the blade his Master had given him.

So he spends some time covering ground he's covered before. Visiting other worlds and making use of the weapon that was always rightfully his. The Heartless fall easily, as easily as he remembers, and it feels like slipping on an old, well-worn glove.

Finally.

He walks slowly through the city of the bells tonight, partially enjoying the sights but also attuning his senses. He is watchful and silent, a whisper of a shadow and no more.

He pause. His head turns slightly, his face obscured by the dark hood. He stares hard at a particularly long patch of darkness and remains unmoved as it begins to wriggle and stretch. Golden eyes light up the bell tower rooftop, and all of a sudden, it seems, dozens upon dozens are Heartless spawn from out of the ether.

He chuckles softly. Assuming a readied stance, a Keyblade Riku should recognize very well materializes in his hand.

Prepare yourself, kiddo. The fellow in a dark coat may not have sniffed you out, but the Heartless have, and they'll be coming for you too. ]

[dawnward]

[ The shadows grow long between them, and myriads of Heartless eyes spring up, watching him perilously. Their attention is split evenly between him and the person in the coat, and Riku realizes he can't hide any longer. Not unless he wants to let whomever this is fight them alone.

If he's even going to fight.

But he catches sight of the Keyblade just before the Heartless leap out, his eyes widening. Another one? It can't be. They'd rid the world of them, so why--

It doesn't matter. The Heartless are upon them. Riku leaps back with practiced ease, the sound of his boots hitting the wooden floor hardly making a sound. The creatures claw after him and attack the man in the coat, which throws him. He can't afford to watch him and fight, though; his Keyblade manifests mere moments before he swings it, an arc of energy swirling around his arm and blade in equal measure. The dark, the dawn - both are his now, and he wields them like old friends. He launches himself into the thick of the Heartless, dispatching them with ease. ]

[madannoshashu]

[ Uninvited company, huh?

Seemingly unphased by the intrusion, No Name sweeps down in a smooth, deadly arc as Heartless after Heartless falls to the dark, glimmering blade. The way he wields it, he's almost as much a wraith as they, a shadow cutting down lesser, smaller fragments of night.

He doesn't say a word throughout, and eventually, due to sheer numbers, the two Keyblade Masters are forced closer to one another, almost back-to-back.

Still, he remains silent, fighting on in a fluid, seamless fashion. Every so often, though, he seems to anticipate Riku's moves, and acts in turn to complement his strikes.

Whoever this is, they have most certainly met before. ]

[dawnward]

[ It's weird, like this. This person is an enemy, he assumes, and rightfully so. But the both of them have a common threat between them and it becomes strangely natural to simply fight side-by-side, each thrust of the blade complementing his partner. And while he doesn't quite recognize all of what this stranger is capable of, he can see enough.

So it takes little effort to simply follow suit, like some kind of twisted dance. Riku twists and summons Dark Firaga, which swirls around them in a protective arc, burning the Heartless back. When it looks like too many are closing in, he brings up a brief shield to protect them. All of it is fluid, like he knows exactly who he is.

Or, rather, he knew the echo of this person.

Ansem? It can't be. It's not likely. But still...

Riku slices through another swath of Heartless. Out of the corner of his eye, he marvels how easy it is for this stranger - and his Keyblade - to dispatch so many in such a short amount of time. He's powerful, whoever he is. ]

[madannoshashu]

[ It's a marvel, truly, that this comes as naturally as breathing when it's been such a very long time.

The stranger ducks and weaves, brief bursts of lightning and ice flaring out to push the creatures back. His is a dexterous style, powerful without sacrificing speed. There are times to, he'll even appear amongst clusters of them to rip a hole in their ranks. It's so fast, it almost doesn't seem to be moving at all, but rather warping from place to place, and retreating just as quickly.

The pair succeeds in pushing them back, in breaking through at least partially. It's at that moment, he raises the dark blade and makes a quick, broad slash. A brief burst of light cuts across the room, and it's almost like, for a moment, space itself seems to tear, ripping the shadowy Heartless apart with it.

Riku will be untouched, of course, but he may get a sense of exactly what his "ally" (enemy??) just did. ]

[dawnward]

[ Riku moves as the cloaked man does, bobbing and weaving, fluid in motion. Where his partner seems to slip through fabrics of reality, there one minute and gone the next, Riku moves almost similarly - he ducks out of existence in a flurry of dark-dawn energy, coming back with a follow up with the blade in his hand.

It's nothing, though, in comparison to the sudden rip in space that opens up and swallows up the Heartless as if they were nothing but toys.

He's breathless, wild-eyed, as he takes it in. How could he have...

Wait.

Riku spins and lashes out with power, dark energy tearing into almost all of what's left of the Heartless, sending them back to the ether. His gaze is hard now, calculated, narrowed in focus on the partner fighting beside him. ]

[madannoshashu]

[ Not bad.

A crooked slash of a smile turns the corner of his mouth, and he doesn't waste any time after Riku wipes most of the Heartless out. He simply moves, a ripple of shadow through space itself, cutting through the last of them with swift, sure strokes.

Once every last one of the creatures has been eliminated, he straightens. Turns to look at Riku and peers at the young man from beneath the dark cowl.

He says nothing. The Keyblade remains in his hand, though, and now with the fighting over, it is even more obvious. There is no way to mistake that unique design, and he doesn't bother to hide it. ]

[dawnward]

[ With the last of the Heartless destroyed, the room is suddenly very still, the shadows returning to their normal resting places. The glow of evening just above them, through the rafters, makes the world seem a dusky red-purple as the sun dips below the horizon, casting them in dark.

Riku's gaze is fixed on the man before him. Neither of them have banished their Keyblades. It's enough of a tell. ]

Shouldn't you be gone?

[ He doesn't know exactly who it is...but he strongly suspects he knows, unfortunately. His grip tightens on the blade in his hand. ]

[madannoshashu]

[ There is silence -- a lengthy pause as the words sink in.

Finally, though, a soft laugh escapes from under the hood. ]

Now, there's a novel concept. Being gone, finally and forever!

[ He doesn't take his hood off, but he doesn't need to. His voice is recognizable enough. ]

I guess that's your fault, isn't it? For falling for my little stunt.

[dawnward]

[ He stiffens at the sound of Xigbar's voice. It isn't the person he expects though it's exactly who he imagined it to be, from the way he moved, the way he fought. It coaxes an edge to his voice. ]

It's a concept that none of you seem ready to stick to.

[ If Xigbar is alive, then...are the others? But, no, he's claiming it was all a stunt-- ]

Thirteen Keyblades were made. We thought you must have been one of them when you supposedly died. So why are you here? Xehanort and all of his iterations are gone.

[madannoshashu]

[ Why is he here? Such a simple question, and yet the answer is immeasurably complex.

Xigbar simply scoffs. ]

Thirteen clashes between Light and Darkness, kiddo. Doesn't say anywhere in the rulebook that you gotta croak in order for it to count.

[ Obviously. Otherwise he wouldn't be here. ]

Besides...I wasn't about to die over nonsense like this.

[dawnward]

But it was the sort of nonsense that others should have died over. Just not you.

[ There's a dark edge to Riku's voice as he remembers what Xehanort did to Kairi. At the sacrifice his replica had to make. The despair in Ansem's eyes when he told Riku he only wanted to defy his fate. His gaze narrows further. ]

Why do you have that?

[ The Keyblade, he means. ]

[madannoshashu]

[ Xigbar just laughs quietly at that. ]

People die all the time, kiddo. For much stupider reasons than all of this, I might add. It just means I have priorities - like you.

[ As for the Keyblade itself...well. He lifts it up and turns it around so Riku can see that strange eye gazing from the tip. ]

A beauty, isn't it? Passed down from Master to apprentice, this Keyblade existed even before the great Keyblade War that plunged all the worlds into darkness.

[ Lowering it again slowly, his gaze stays on Riku. ]

The lineage of Masters has ended, and so it comes back to me.

[dawnward]

[ The eye is what draws his gaze first, the color a deep blue and fine-pointed. In fact, as Riku watches it, it feels almost...like it's calling to him. Like it's watching him. It's unnerving.

He's so used to golden eyes that this... It's strange. It's the same color as Sora's. As Kairi's.

His brow furrows. ]

Then--

[ He pieces what Xigbar says together but nothing makes sense in that regard. ]

What do you mean, it's come back? You never had a Keyblade to begin with.

[ But no, that's not true, is it. Riku's seeing the fragments line up and he doesn't like what's being spelled out. ]

[madannoshashu]

[ A much throatier chuckle emanates from beneath the hood. ]

Never, huh? That's an awfully long time, even for me.

[ Especially now, at the end of his long vigil, with so many lifetimes under his belt. ]

What? Did you think I was lying when I told you I was worthy? That the only reason I stuck around...was for this?

[ The Key in his hand. ]

I was the first to wield this Keyblade, and now that the role I had to play is done, it is mine to wield again.