Volume 3
Chapters
Chapter 11: Memories of Yesterday
Story
Chapter 10: Harrowing Wail
A burst of darkness comes out as Rei's body fades into darkness. It tries to escape, bouncing off the walls, but Lius has sealed the room. The heartless thrashes around, confused and panicked, roaring in pain. The room is filled with whispering voices, a collection of Rei's intrusive thoughts and sadness. It makes eye contact with Lius and lunges towards him, the words "liar" suddenly overwhelming the room. Lius, surprised by its level of cognition, prepares for battle. He dodges the heartless' initial charge and swiftly deflects its ranged attacks. Lius manages to overpower its erratic movements and land a final blow. The heartless beast fades away, but leaves a dark figure. It summons its own blade and once again rushes towards Lius. When Lius blocks it, the darkness is blown off to reveal a girl with long black hair. Lius knocks her away, shocked.
"What a surprise! To think, after all these years you would still be buried in that body.
Allow me to give you a warm welcome, Riko."
Chapter 11: Riko
Curiously, Lius asks what she remembers and challenges whether she really is Riko. Riko admits that things are fuzzy, and that she knows that there are things missing. However, she remembers enough about Lius, calling him by name, and knows that he can't be trusted. She could recognize his stench the first time he appeared in Disney Castle. As they fight, Lius continues to question her existence, now knowing that she has been somewhat aware during Rei's lifetime. Riko says none of that matters. That what matters is who she decides to be now, in this moment. The years have helped her make peace with the memories she has lost and have helped her make peace with Rei's mistakes. Now, she will take advantage of this chance to finally fight against Lius while Rei cannot. It's true that she cannot feel anything. She's painfully aware of how empty she feels as a nobody, how disconnected she feels from her memories, but that simply helps her focus on her resolve. She will not let Lius confuse and manipulate her. She knows how to see through it.
Lius asks if she knows what happens if he destroys her. As a nobody, she will be absorbed back into Rei, and will disappear. Riko says she doesn't care. She made her choice and has lost her right to exist. Rei has a chance to live her life, and she will not interfere. Even if she will never hear her voice or know of her existence, she trusts her other self to live a life she will be proud of. Lius laughs, commenting that it's an interesting perspective, but not one that he can relate to. With that, he takes the vial of dream eater essence, and releases its contents. A shadow of a Nightmare Chirithy appears. It rushes towards Riko and consumes her. Lius tells her this time, he will completely erase her and that she should have learned to hold onto her existence. The Nightmare begins corrupting her, making her hair white. The body goes limp as Riko's consciousness fades. Lius takes control of the new nobody and commands it to destroy itself. Without hesitating, she summons her blade and stabs herself. With nobody and heartless destroyed, Rei reappears but remains unresponsive.
Lius calls out into the room, inviting the spectator to reveal itself. With the barrier he had put up, it would have been pointless to try and run away anyways. From the shadows, DiZ steps out. Lius comments that he knows he's not with the Organization. DiZ asks if that is the case with him, and Lius labels himself as a simple acquaintance. DiZ then asks why he would force the process of deconstructing and reconstructing the self on this one girl. Having studied the connection between heart, body, and soul himself, he asks Lius what he had hoped to learn. Lius explains that he wants to understand the sense of self. In a universe of nobodies and heartless, where does one consciousness end and another begin? How can you ever be sure that you are yourself if you have broken memories or an incomplete being? Lius then asks DiZ as a fellow scholar if he believed that nobodies could retain their sense of self once they become whole. DiZ answers plainly that if nobodies were never meant to exist in the first place, whatever self they had come up with themselves wouldn't matter. It should disappear into nothingness where they belong. Lius puts on a sad smile, but concurs with DiZ's statement. In return for not reporting him to Organization XIII, Lius requests DiZ to deliver Rei to King Mickey, who is making his own way through Castle Oblivion. DiZ reacts to the familiar name and gives a nod to Lius, who then takes his leave.
Vexen interrogates Lius, baffled by what could have driven him to release that much dark energy all at once in the middle of the castle. Lius ignores him and simply hands him the card he had created from Rei's memories, requesting he uses it as data for a replica he can use. Axel questions why there was so much work for a single card and grabs it before Vexen can. At that moment, Axel sees a glimpse of Rei's memories and drops the card out of shock. Vexen picks it up, annoyed, and begrudgingly starts working on the replica. Lius comments on the interesting phenomena that Axel experienced, and tells him to think about how it must've felt if he had the luxury of a heart. The chapter ends with a view of Lius back in his realm, the gate between realms slightly ajar. He looks exhausted and dejected as he recalls DiZ's words.
Chapter 12: A New Path
Rei enters her Dive to the Heart. She steps to her pillar and looks around, confused. Behind her, another figure appears behind her with long white hair. Rei asks who she is, but as she looks up, the Harrowing Wail appears. Both have Nightmare symbols on their chests. The heartless roars and Rei is overwhelmed by the whispers. Rei's memories begin to flood back into her. Darkness creeps around the pillar. Through all the noise, a faint voice is calling her name. Even though she hears it, Rei can't call out it and can't move. She desperately fights off the darkness, but before she is completely consumed, a light drifts down and drowns out the darkness.
Rei wakes up to the call of her name. Around her are King Mickey Mouse and the mysterious man DiZ. He asks her what she remembers and asks if she feels different than before. As she tries to remember, the memories Lius made her relive come to the forefront of her mind, and she begins to tremble. Mickey, sensing her distress, tries to comfort her. However, when she recognizes him, she instantly pushes him away. The whispers get louder in her head, her paranoia overcoming her thoughts. She becomes terrified at the thought that he knows what she'd done, and that he'd hate her for it. The negative thoughts flood into her head as she backs away from both of them.
Mickey again tries to calm her down, asking her if he remembered him and if she remembered herself. She nods. He introduces DiZ as the one who saved her and brought her to him. Mickey explains that he's been so worried and was so happy to see her. He doesn't want her to worry about explaining anything or pushing herself too hard. He's just glad that she's safe. She tries to calm herself, and shakily tells the King and DiZ what she's experiencing. DiZ explains what he saw, and how he hypothesizes that Lius' tampering with her nobody has caused an effect on her heart and conscious being. Mickey reassures her that he's here for her now as well as several other people that are willing to help.
Mickey explains what has happened since Rei's absence, recounting the story of Sora and his fight against Ansem. Rei feels pangs of jealously when she hears how highly the King talks about him and the amount of people he has saved. While she was running away from the darkness, he had been running towards it and had even been brave enough to defeat Maleficent. The King's words begin to drone out, her focus strays as her jealousy and sadness grow louder. It isn't until Riku enters the room that she snaps back to reality, realizing where her thoughts had taken her.
While Riku and Mickey go to directly confront Ansem, DiZ encourages Rei to meet with Naminé. He could sense the drastic fluctuations of darkness within Rei. Riku has proven himself capable to confront his own darkness, but it had taken him time to reach that point. Rei goes to Naminé and sees Sora. He was the person who was able to do what she could not, the person who could be a real hero. Naminé tells Rei that though the links to Sora are still weak, they're there. She gives Rei the same offer she gave Riku, to lock away the darkness within her and the memories with it. Rei admits that reliving the memories is nearly unbearable, that she wishes she could lock it all away and never have to feel this pain again. However, she had spent so much time running away, and other people came to fix the problems she played her part in. She'd like to do her best to face this darkness and make amends for what she's done.
Returning to the King, she asks if she could join him and Riku on the road to dawn, to learn what it means to live between light and darkness, something she thought always had to be separate. They both gladly accept her, leaving Sora at Castle Oblivion with DiZ and Naminé.
References
Original Characters
Lius • Harrowing Wail • Riko • Rei
Kingdom Hearts Characters
Disney Characters
Mickey Mouse • Donald Duck • Goofy
Locations