Riku

Riku

N/A

17

Male

Keyblade Master

Light

Riku has his family back at Destiny Islands but Kairi and Sora are like his family as well

Riku is a calm and collected person, one who always keeps his cool during moments yet fights with all the strength of his heart. Though a calm person he can be quite passionate about his friends. He is a very determined and selfless person who will do whatever he can for them without hesitation. Even if he must go through a harsh fate and even lose himself, he would gladly give himself for his friends. Riku is also very ambitious youth. As a kid he dreamed of leaving his world and as he grew he never gave up on that dream and eventually succeeded. No matter what he went through he never gave up and even acted as motivation for Sora from time to time.

Though his jealousy when he was younger had caused quite some trouble, Riku had matured and sought to make amends for his actions. It was because of his past deeds and weakness that Riku looks at himself with a self- deprecating view. Despite this, his resolve to set things right had become strong and he fulfills his duty as a keyblade wielder with all his strength. After returning to the light after having been stuck in the darkness for so long, Riku is slowly trying to become more optimistic and despite all that he had been through Riku still holds his rather light-hearted tendencies as well. He is a rather competitive person and always liking a new challenge, always challenging Sora from things like sparring and even races. Riku also tends to tease his friends also, usually teasing Sora about his crush on Kairi or about how emotional he could be. Overall his journey allowed Riku to mature and grow as a person, allowing him to see the world in a different light.

Pre-Main Story
Born on raised on the Destiny Islands, Riku was a young boy that spends most of his childhood playing with his best friend Sora off the main island they lived upon. As a young boy, he was always fascinated with the outside worlds and wished to leave the Destiny Islands just like another kid who was rumored to of done just that. It was during that fatefully meeting with a mysterious man from the outside worlds that Riku’s fate was set. When the keyblade wielder Terra arrived at the Destiny Islands and decided to speak with Riku, the young boy chose to casually explain his desire to leave his world in order to gain the power to protect his friends. Having impressed the keyblade wielder, Terra chose to choose Riku as a successor. To Riku, it did not seem like anything had really changed, but even so, Riku valued this encounter dearly and it fueled his desire to get off the islands while keeping their encounter a little secret between the two. A few days later Riku would meet another keyblade wielder named Aqua, who would proceed to urge Sora to protect Riku should he go down the wrong path.

Despite the meetings with the two keyblade wielders, Riku and Sora’s childhood remained a normal one and soon the duo was joined by Kairi, a young girl that had mysteriously appeared on the island one day. Together the three forged a powerful bond and spent their childhood together playing on the second island.



Kingdom Hearts 1
Having grown to the age of 15 and with the help of Sora and Kairi, the trio were able to finish their objective of building a raft to sail out to the outside worlds. At long last Riku’s dream of escaping the Destiny Islands had finally come true as they were to sail the next day, but the wheel of fate had already begun to spin and his escape would come in another method. With a strong desire to escape the island, Riku allowed the darkness of his heart to open the door to the world’s heart and in turn, attracted the darkspawn known as the heartless to invade the islands. Heading to the second island, Riku stood there as the world was beginning to be engulfed by the darkness. Unafraid of the darkness, Riku willingly chose to accept the darkness and sunk into it as Sora reached out in an attempt to pull him out. It was this moment that his keyblade awoke, but instead of joining with Riku, the keyblade would stay with Sora and aid him in his endeavors.

Waking up in the world of Hollow Bastion, Riku would encounter the witch named Maleficent who offered him assistance. Now that he had achieved his dream, Riku’s next goal was to seek out his friends who had been separated due to the fall of the islands. Maleficent began manipulating Riku into utilizing the darkness. She made an agreement with him that should he aid her in her quest to collect the 7 princesses of heart, he would then be able to find Sora and Kairi.

Working alongside Maleficent and her allies eventually allowed him to reunite with Sora in the world of Traverse Town. Sora explained that he obtained the keyblade and had been traveling the worlds with his new friends Donald and Goofy. It was at that moment Riku left when Sora wasn’t looking and observed Sora with his new friends. As he watched Maleficent began to plant seeds of doubt into Riku, making him believe that Sora abandoned him and Kairi and replaced them to run around playing hero with the keyblade.


With this, Riku began to fulfill his side of the bargain and kidnapped Agrabah’s Princess Jasmine for Maleficent. In return for his work, Maleficent revealed the location of Kairi. Riku would learn that the girl had lost her heart which in turn made Riku seek out a way to return Kairi’s heart. After hearing about a puppet who obtained a heart, Riku sought the puppet Pinocchio in order to use him find a way to return Kairi’s heart. Riku head into the mouth of the whale Monstro to retrieve Pinocchio and then ran into Sora once more. Seeking out Pinocchio, Riku pursued the puppet who would then be eaten by the heartless known as Parasite Cage. Working alongside Sora and friends they were able to free Pinocchio, but Riku took the puppet and fled. When Sora pursued, Riku informed him that Kairi was missing her heart and that they could work together to rescue Kairi. Sora rejected Riku’s offer as he disagreed with his friend’s action, but before they could speak any further Parasite Cage returned and Riku chose to leave.

Growing desperate in regards to restoring Kairi, Maleficent informs Riku that there is a way to return her heart. By collecting all 7 princesses of heart they would be able to gain access to Kingdom Hearts, the heart of all worlds. With access to Kingdom Hearts, there was a chance that Kairi’s heart could return. With Riku’s acceptance of the witch’s plan, Maleficent took the moment to also imbue Riku with the power of darkness. Now on board of Captain Hook’s ship in the world of Neverland, Riku would reencounter Sora once more and show his old friend the state of Kairi. Utilizing the heartless, Sora was sent into the ship’s brig. When Riku got word that the last princess of heart was not in Neverland he quickly took Kairi back to Hollow Bastion.

While at Hollow Bastion Riku took up the task of intercepting the Beast who had come to Hollow Bastion through the sheer power of his heart and desire to rescue Princess Belle. After slicing down Beast, Sora would arrive to stop the battle. It is here that Riku informs Sora that the keyblade he had been using was something that truly belonged to Riku. Summoning the keyblade away from him, Riku proceeds to leave Sora weaponless and in despair as he not only lost the keyblade but also lost Donald and Goofy’s companionship as they were instructed by their king to follow the wielder of the keyblade.

Returning back to Hollow Bastion’s castle with Donald and Goofy, Sora would eventually return determined to face off against Riku and save Kairi. After trying to strike Sora, Donald and Goofy chose to aid Sora in their fight. At that moment Sora’s heart was stronger than Riku’s and because of that, the keyblade returned to Sora. After losing to Sora, Riku ran off questioning why the keyblade returned to Sora. At that moment a hooded man appeared before Riku and informed him about why he lost the keyblade. The hooded man revealed that Riku should accept the darkness in order to allow his heart to grow stronger. By accepting the darkness completely, the hooded man who was known as Ansem the Seeker of Darkness possessed the teen’s body and begun to use it for his own plans.

Utilizing Riku’s body, Ansem begins to utilize the hearts of the princesses of hearts and used it to create the keyblade of heart. Ansem planned on utilizing the princesses to open the door to darkness, a door that held Kingdom Hearts beyond it. The only problem for Ansem was that the last princess had not been found yet. When Sora arrived to face off against Riku, Ansem revealed that Kairi was the last princess of heart and that her heart resided inside Sora. Ansem tries to release Kairi’s heart from Sora but is beaten back.

Sora proceeds to take the keyblade of heart and releases both his heart and Kairi’s heart from his body. Kairi returns back to normal and Sora is turned into a heartless. With Kairi’s return, the final keyhole to the door to darkness was completed and Ansem returns back, now having turned Riku’s body into something akin to Ansem’s original body. As Ansem prepared to finish of Kairi, Donald and Goofy, begun to hold back Ansem from within, preventing the Seeker of Darkness from moving. As Kairi, Donald and Goofy retreat they are followed by Sora’s heartless. Knowing who it is, Kairi’s light reverts Sora back to normal and together the four of them retreat from Hollow Bastion. Darkness pours from the final keyhole and Ansem is sucked into it.

Ansem arrives at the End of the Worlds and eventually Sora, Donald and Goofy face off against him. Ansem attempts to open up the Door to Darkness, but upon doing so he is overcome with light and at that moment Riku regains control over his body. As Sora and company attempt to close the Door to Darkness in order to prevent a surge of darkness from spilling out, Riku suddenly shows up on the other side of the door and helps them close it. Unable to join Sora in the realm of light, Riku was trapped in the realm of darkness as he attempted to close the door. Powerful heartless begun to appear behind Riku, but King Mickey Mouse would soon arrive to rid the heartless with a keyblade. Unbeknownst to Riku, Aqua had also aided Riku as well but had disappeared before Riku could notice. Together, the group managed to close the door with Sora and Mickey sealing away the door with their keyblades on their respective sides.



Chain of Memories:
After closing the Door to Darkness, Riku finds himself sleeping in the realm between the realms of light and darkness. Riku is soon awoken by a mysterious voice that offers him a chance to leave or for him to return sleeping. Choosing to escape, a card appears before him and the moment he grabs the card he is transported into a castle. Approaching a door before him, Riku utilizes the card he obtained to open the door. The moment he enters the doorway Riku suddenly realizes that he is back at Hollow Bastion. Once again the mysterious voice speaks once more explaining that this Hollow Bastion is actually a world built from his memories. After exploring the world in hopes of finding someone, Riku would soon find the only person in this Hollow Bastion was Maleficent. Maleficent proceeds to taunt Riku into using the darkness, but Riku declares he will not use it and fights her off.

After defeating Maleficent, Riku finds himself on the next floor of the castle. The mysterious voice begins to speak once again, telling Riku to accept the darkness, but upon Riku’s refusal, the mysterious voice appears before Riku reveals himself to be Ansem. Riku attempts to attack Riku but fails to do harm to Ansem. As things are looking bad for Riku a ball of light shows up before Riku. From that ball of light, Riku begins to hear King Mickey speak on words of encouragement to him as the ball of light enters Riku. Riku proceeds to fight off Ansem and eventually the fight come to a halt with Ansem as Ansem decides to allow Riku to traverse the words made from his memories and fall back into darkness. Riku declares that he will do so and prove that he will not be tempted by the darkness. With his, Ansem gift Riku more cards to different worlds and awaken’s Riku’s darkness to use as a weapon for him to use should he wish to. WIth that Ansem leaves and Riku continues onwards.

As Riku traverses through the castle, Riku himself with the ability to smell darkness. Mickey appears before him, but only as a projection as he is still currently in the realm of darkness. Nonetheless, Mickey encourages Riku and Riku continues through the castle. Eventually, Riku would encounter a man in a black cloak named Vexen who begins speaking riddles to Riku and states he works for Ansem but not the Ansem Riku knew. Disliking the scent Vexen held, Riku began to fight Vexen. Utilizing the fight to gather data, Vexen eventually chose to leave the fight the moment he had enough data and then proceeded to make a replica of Riku.

Moving on to the next floor, Riku encountered the replica of himself who he then proceeds to call a fake. The replica Riku process to claim he is better than the original and that he was a coward for fearing the darkness. The two begin to fight but eventually, the two come to a stop as the fake mocks Riku and leaves. Enraged, Riku chases after his doppelganger but fails to catch him and then is met with Ansem once more. Ansem begins to state that Riku should be just like the replica. After Riku’s disagreement, Ansem gives him more cards and leaves once again.

After utilizing most of his cards, Riku would encounter another man in a black coat identical to Vexen’s who also held the same scent. The man named Lexaeus proceeded to call out Riku’s fear of the darkness and demanded he utilizes it once more. The two begin to fight but Lexaeus strength proves to be overwhelming for Riku and he is knocked down. At that moment Ansem’s darkness takes over Riku’s body and with its strength, Riku manages to slice through Lexaeus and ends him. Awakening in pure darkness, Riku finds himself against Ansem who is about to take over his body completely once more, but Mickey’s light appears before Riku once more and foils Ansem’s attempt. Awakening back in the castle, Riku finds himself without Mickey’s light and proceeds through the castle once more.

Continuing onwards, the castle suddenly began to shake as Riku noticed that one of the powerful scents in the castle had faded. Another black-coated man appeared before Riku explaining that the scent that had vanished was that of the castle’s lord named Marluxia. The man known as Zexion began to reveal that Sora was in the castle as well and that he was the one to of beaten Marluxia. Zexion begins to inform him that since Riku was now tainted by darkness, Sora would not accept him due to being a hero of light. With that said Zexion gave Riku a card that would lead him to a memory version of Destiny Islands and then disappeared.

Utilizing the card on the next floor, Riku found himself at his homeworld. Every time Riku went to speak with one of his old friends Riku would find that they would disappear without saying a thing. Zexion appears before Riku once again and proceeds to note to Riku that through his travels through his memories, the only beings he had been able to meet were being of darkness. Zexion stated that only dark beings resided in Riku’s memories and when he began to deny this claim Zexion also noted that it was Riku who chose to discard them and plunge the island into darkness and upon that statement, the peaceful islands returned back to the state it was when the darkness invaded. Riku witnesses a version of himself turning into the giant Darkside heartless and then proceeds to do battle until finally, he slays the heartless. WIth the heartless slain, Riku suddenly notices Sora standing nearby and proceeds to speak with him. As Riku approached his friend, Sora suddenly began to attack him. After striking Riku with light and managing to harm him with that light, Sora proceeds to state that the light should hurt him and that Riku had fallen and become a being of darkness. Seeking to punish Riku, Sora proceeds to engulf Riku in a sphere of light.

Sinking into the light, Riku begins to believe that the light will make him fade away, but Kairi suddenly appears before him and lets him know that the light and darkness cannot defeat him and that he should not fear the darkness and utilize both light and darkness. Utilizing the power of darkness, Riku escapes the light and is able to realize that Sora is actually Zexion in disguise. Riku utilizes his new power and defeats Zexion, causing the foe to flee.

With Zexion taken care of, Riku continues on to the next floor where Ansem again begins to try and try and take over his body. Completely immobilized by Ansem, Mickey’s sphere of light appears before him once more and saves him from Ansem, only this time the Mickey that appears before him is not a projection but the actual Mickey who managed to escape the realm of darkness. Riku is overcome with joy at finally having a friend with him and proceeds to ask the king how he got here in the first place. When Micky informed Riku that he obtained a card that brought him to where he was, Riku decided to use the card to enter the next floor.

When Riku utilized Mickey’s card, Riku found himself in a twilight lit world he had never been into with Mickey missing as well. It is there that Riku encounters Ansem again, but this time Riku realizes that the Ansem before him is nothing more than a disguise due to the scent differing from the actual Ansem. Riku realizes that the one before him was actually the mysterious voice who guided him through the castle and gave him the cards to explore the castle in an attempt to face the darkness. The stranger removes his disguise and reveals himself to be a man named DiZ. DiZ informs Riku to meet with a girl named Namine and then proceeds to leave.

Exploring the world’s town, Riku would reach a large mansion and then reencounter the replica he had fought a while back. The replica begins to lament the fact that he is nothing more than a fake and that so long as Riku is around he will be nothing more than a shadow. The replica begins to try and get rid of the real Riku but fails and his body begins to fade away into darkness. As the replica fades away and laments his end, Riku comforts him by telling him his heart will not fade away and will go to the same place his will.

Entering the mansion, Riku proceeds to notice Sora sleeping in a strange pod along with a blond girl beside it. Realizing it is Namine, Riku inquires about what had occurred. Namine began to explain that Sora had lost his memories due to the plot of Marluxia and that she was trying to restore it with the pod. Namine begins to explain that he had a choice either to fight off Ansem and risk losing his body completely to the seeker of darkness or for her to use her powers to seal away Ansem and lose his memories. In the end, Riku chose to fight Ansem and thanks Namine for her help with Zexion as he realized that the Kairi that appeared before him in that fight was actually Namine in disguise due to her scent.

With his decision made, Riku moves on to the next floor and reencounters Mickey and Diz. Riku expresses his resolve in his choice and Diz gives him the final card that will draw out the darkness from him to fight along with a black coat that will prevent his new enemies from sensing his presence. Riku chooses to fight Ansem alone and after entering the final floor he faces off against the Seeker of Darkness. Riku fights off Ansem and emerges victorious but in a final move, Ansem releases a surge of darkness. Riku gets trapped in the darkness but Mickey saves him and the battle is finished.

Placing on the coat that DiZ gave him, Riku chooses to walk the road to Dawn and resolves to fully rid himself of Ansem’s influence completely.



358/2 Days
Riku begins to learn more about the enemies he had faced in the castle called Castle Oblivion. Riku learns that they are a group of beings called Nobodies who are the leftover bodies of those who lost their hearts and have gained sentience. The group called themselves Organization XIII and was ruled by Ansem’s nobody named Xemnas. Riku also learns that Namine is the nobody of Kairi when she lost her heart and also the fact that Sora also had a nobody as well named Roxas who was a part of the Organization and also wields the keyblade.

In order to suppress his darkness, Riku begins to wear a blindfold and proceeds to move around working to deal with the Organization. While working as an Organization imposter, Riku would find out that the Organization it utilizing the hearts that the keyblade releases when destroying heartless and uses them to create a false Kingdom Hearts with the intent of using it to give them hearts. It is because of this plan that the require Sora. Intending on keeping Sora safe while Namine was restoring his memories, Riku begins to work alongside DiZ so that his friend can regain his memories completely.

It was during a visit at Beast’s Castle that Riku would encounter Organization XIII’s 14th member who seems to be a young hooded girl wielding a keyblade named Xion. Riku fights her off, but the moment he knocks her down and removes her hood he notices her face looks exactly like Sora. Getting up, Riku proceeds to call Xion’s keyblade a sham and begins to warn her to get away from the Organization before eventually leaving.

Riku soon finds out that Xion was originally supposed to be a mindless replica of Roxas that the Organization could use as a backup to Sora and Roxas. The lost memories of Sora had been absorbed by Xion and it gave her sentience and without his memories, Sora could not reawaken. Xion eventually left the Organization and Riku would reencounter her again on the Destiny Island, this time she looked a lot like Kairi. Riku took the time to inform her that Sora needs the memories inside her. and that she needed to join with Sora so that he could reawaken. Riku allowed Xion the chance to think about what she is going to do and the two of them eventually begin traveling with each other for a few days until Xion returns back to her friends at the Organization.

During this time Riku began to train himself trying to have better control of his darkness until eventually, he got word that Xion was absorbing Sora’s memories at a much faster pace. t Xion abandoned the Organization and learned about her origin as a replica from Namine but eventually, she was captured again by the Organization. Manipulated by Xemnas, Xion and her best friend Roxas were forced to fight each other, the winner would absorb the loser. Roxas would emerge victoriously and Xion would be absorbed by Roxas. As she was being absorbed Xion urged Roxas to destroy the Kingdom Hearts that the Organization was making and to stop Xemnas. With Xion absorbed, everybody that knew her began to lose their memories of her.

Since Sora could not awaken without both Roxas and Xion, Riku chose to follow DiZ’s command and forcefully capture Roxas. Because Xion was inside Roxas, Roxas inherited her keyblade and wielded two keyblades. Though he forgot about her, Xion’s request still remained with Roxas and Roxas foolishly chose to challenge Xemnas and defeat him. Riku chose to intercept Roxas as the nobody was being pursued by heartless and though he was losing his memories of Xion he could hear her voice pleading him to stop Roxas as he wasn’t strong enough to fight the Organization. In a brief moment, Xion took over Roxas’s body and allowed Riku to utilize her keyblade to help stop Roxas. Together the two got rid of all the heartless before Roxas regained his senses and then the two began to fight. Though at first, it seemed that Riku had the edge, Roxas eventually regained Xion’s keyblade and Riku was able to confirm that Roxas was Sora’s nobody just from his reactions. Roxas gains the upper hand in the fight and Riku is left with no choice but to use the power of darkness completely. Calling upon Ansem’s power, Riku’s body transforms into Ansem’s and he is able to defeat Roxas and knock him out. Unfortunately for Riku, his body was unable to revert back to normal and he was stuck in Ansem’s body. DiZ appears before Riku and then proceeds to place Roxas in a digitized version of the world called Twilight Town in order to keep him away from the Organization and for them to work on merging him back with Sora.



Kingdom Hearts 2:
Having sent Roxas into the digital Twilight Town, Riku observes Roxas alongside Diz as they prepare him to merge with Sora while keeping his location a secret from the Organization. DiZ had managed to make Roxas lose his memories of the time he was in the Organization and for Roxas, he believed he was a normal citizen of Twilight Town that hung around his friends Hayner, Pence, and Olette. With each day Roxas would witness Sora’s past in the forms of dreams and slowly learn about the key wielding boy. Other than that Roxas lives a carefree life, but soon enough the Dusk Nobodies begin to invade the digital town and purse Roxas. Roxas awakens access to his keyblade and fights them off, but he left confused on who these creatures are. Riku appears in the digital town and prevents Roxas from taking certain actions such as going to the beach with his friends due to the fact that having DiZ make a beach in the digital town would also leave an entry point that enemies could use.

During this time, Namine begins making contact with Roxas and begins to slowly reveal the Nobody’s origin while Riku tries to stop her under DiZ’s order. Eventually, Roxas’s best friend from the Organization named Axel manages to sneak into the digital Twilight Town and then proceeds to either retrieve or eliminate Roxas. Unable to recall his best friend, Roxas is left confused and DiZ manages to drive Axel out of the digital town. Riku begins to question why DiZ was doing all he did and the man began to explain that all of this was done out of a desire for revenge. In the end, Riku was ordered to eliminate Namine after Sora has reawakened as she was a being that should not exist.

A few days later Axel would reappear before Roxas, but under DiZ’s command, Roxas rushes to the Twilight Town mansion that held the sleeping Sora. As he managed to get into the mansion, Roxas reencounters Namine and regains his memories while also finding out about his true origin and about his true fate. DiZ appears trying to prevent Namine from saying anymore and takes her away while Riku is fighting off the Nobodies that had managed to break into the town. While heading towards Sora, Roxas encounter Axel. Though he recalls his best friend, Roxas is forced to battle him as Axel had no choice but to eliminate him. Roxas defeats Axel and Axel gets away and Roxas continues on. Roxas would then finally meet with his original being and would then merge with him to fully complete Sora.

Before Sora could reawaken, Riku returned Sora back into the actual Twilight Town mansion and entrusted Mickey to guide them as he was ashamed to show his face to Sora due to his body being stuck as Ansem’s. Before Sora could reawaken, Riku chose to give Mickey some of Roxas’s belonging he had stolen from the digital Twilight Town and told the king to give it Sora as a means for him to be aware of Roxas. Riku proceeds to encounter Namine and Axel, who had decided to abandon the Organization. Though he was ordered to get rid of Namine under DiZ’s instructions, Riku decided to allow Namine to escape with Axel due to feeling that he owed them for what happened in Castle Oblivion. From here Riku begins working to foil the Organization’s goals while hiding his identity from both the Organization and even the now awoken Sora.


Riku eventually uncovers that the Ansem inside of him is the heartless of a man named Xehanort. Xehanort was an apprentice to a man named Ansem the wise and after betraying his master, Xehanort banished him away and stole his name before then proceeding to become a heartless and nobody. He continues to aid Sora and his friends in secret while also keeping contact with Mickey as well.

At some point, Axel attempts to kidnap Kairi in order to use her to get Sora to lose his heart and bring back Roxas. Riku foils this plan and has Kairi escape into Twilight Town while keeping his identity a secret. During a massive battle at Hollow Bastion, Sora, Donald and Goofy find themselves falling into darkness, but Riku arrives to aid them while hiding his identity. Opening a way for them to leave, Riku also leaves them a picture of Roxas and his friends for Sora before he leaves.

After finding out the Organization had kidnaped Kairi from Twilight Town, Riku proceeds to invade the Organization’s homeworld called The World That Never Was. Namine proceeds to rescue Kairi but the Nobody named Saix intercepts them. Riku appears and fights off Saix with his new keyblade called Way to the Dawn, a keyblade that had evolved from his Soul Eater sword. Saix proceeds to flee and Riku attempts to purse Saix but is stopped by Kairi. Having heard Namine call him Riku, Kairi stops Riku and removes his hood to witness what had happened to him. Namine fuses with Kairi with the latter unknowing and Riku proceeds to assist Kairi out of the Organization’s castle so she could reunite with Sora. At that moment numerous heartless begin to invade the castle as the Organization planned on having Sora destroy them all due to the fact that he was also in the castle.

Riku gifts Kairi a keyblade and together the two of them begin fighting off the heartless until Sora finally joins them. Riku proceeds to leave, but Sora stops him. Sora begins to thank him for helping Kairi, believing that he is speaking to Ansem and not Riku, but before Riku could leave, Kairi stops him once again. Kairi informs Sora that the one before him was actually Riku and Sora tearfully rejoices that he had finally found his best friend. Now reunited, the group proceeds to stop Xemnas from completing Kingdom Hearts. After defeating the remaining Organization members excluding Xemnas, the group proceeds towards Kingdom Hearts. After having heard the numerous Organization members call him Roxas, Sora is left confused and irritated and Riku then proceeds to tell Sora about Roxas.

Meanwhile, DiZ attempts to stop Xemnas but is beaten by some lesser Nobodies. Mickey saves him and DiZ reveals himself to be Xehanort’s mentor Ansem the wise and attempts to stop his apprentice’s goal by digitizing Kingdom Hearts with his machine. As the group catches up to DiZ and Mickey, Xemnas appears before Ansem the wise and taunts him as the machine begins to go haywire. The machine explodes and though Ansem the wise is gone, the machine managed to cause great damage to the artificial Kingdom Hearts. In addition to the damage to Kingdom Hearts, Riku also finds himself in his original body, having been purged of Xehanort’s heartless’s darkness due to the machine. With his true body, Riku joins Sora and they confront Xemnas together.

Upon the confrontation with Xemnas, Xemnas proceeds to teleport Sora and himself away from the others to do battle. Sora wins and the two return back to the others, but Xemnas begins to absorb the remainder of his Kingdom Hearts and vanishes inside of it. Riku and the others pursue Xemans into the Kingdom Hearts and after a difficult battle, they are victorious. With Xemnas defeated the castle begins to start falling apart. Riku attempts to open up a Corridor of Darkness for them to use to get out, but without his darkness, Riku fails. Just then Namine appears and opens up a corridor for them that leads to Destiny Islands. Mickey, Donald and Goofy enter the Corridor while Roxas emerges from Sora to speak to Namine before the two Nobodies finally rejoin their originals completely. Kairi enters the corridor, but before Sora and Riku could enter, the corridor closes and Xemnas is revealed to be alive. Sora and Riku fight him off and then find themselves in the realm of nothingness and together they fight Xemnas for the last time. Riku takes some heavy blows for Sora, but because of that they two of them were able to defeat Xemnas. An onslaught of Dusk Nobody appears but Riku and Sora manage to defeat them. Together the two manage to escape the realm of nothingness but find themselves stuck in the realm of darkness.

As the two friends catch up and accept being stuck in the realm of darkness, the two sit by the water of the Dark Meridian’s beach where Riku eventually notices a bottle with a letter in it. Realizing that Kairi wrote it, Riku gave it to Sora and this causes the Door to Light to appear before them. Entering it, Riku and Sora find themselves back at Destiny Islands where they reunite with their friends.

With their adventure over, Riku, Sora and Kairi begin returning to their peaceful life, but that all changes when they get a letter from Mickey stating to meet with Mickey’s master Yen Sid so that the two could take part in the mark of mastery.



Dream Drop Distance
Joining Sora and Mickey, Riku stands before master Yen Sid in order to take the mark of mastery exam so that he could obtain the title of Keyblade Master. Yen Sid began to express the need of new keyblade masters as Xehanort was to return as when a heartless and nobody is destroyed then their original form returns back alive. Yen Sid also began to explain to the two keyblade wielders about Xehanort's past. From Yen Sid’s words, Xehanort used to be an old man who was also a Keyblade Master. Master Xehanort manipulated the three past keyblade wielders Terra, Aqua and Ventus in order to forge the legendary keyblade known as the χ-blade. Eventually, Master Xehanort had managed to obtain a younger body but lost his memories and became the Xehanort Riku and Sora were acquainted with.

Yen Sid also proceeded to explain the history of the χ-blade and the keyblade war that had occurred because of it. From what Yen Sid explained, the χ-blade was the original keyblade that people attempted to recreate. It is the ultimate weapon that could be used to control Kingdom Hearts. The desire for the χ-blade caused the numerous keyblade wielders to fight for it and the keyblade war began. In the end, numerous lost their lives and the χ-blade was shattered into 20 pieces, 7 of light and 13 of darkness.

With the explanation finished, Yen Sid begins to explain the exam and what the two had to do. The master explained that the two would have to enter the realm of sleep and awaken the sleeping worlds that had yet to awaken after the defeat of Ansem. Together with Sora, Riku entered the realm of sleep and found themselves back in time before the Destiny Islands fell to darkness. They eventually find themselves on a raft and after fighting their old foe Ursula, they find themselves falling into the water where also find a keyhole to the realm of sleep. Utilizing their keyblades they enter the realm and find themselves in Traverse Town. Riku finds out Sora is in a parallel version of the worlds he is in and begins to complete his exam by awakening all 7 sleeping worlds. While in these worlds, Riku encounters the mysterious beings known as the Dream Eaters. As Riku traveled on, Riku works alongside the Spirit Dream Eaters who are benevolent Dream Eaters. Together Riku works with these creatures to fight off the Nightmare Dream Eaters that threaten the sleeping worlds. During his travels, he would encounter a mysterious white-haired male who would appear before Riku and speak about Riku’s experiences with darkness before leaving. Ansem the seeker of Darkness also appears beside the mysterious male, seemingly working alongside the stranger and also begins taunting Riku about his darkness before disappearing.

After a long adventure, Riku manages to awaken the 7th worlds and complete his objective, however, instead of awakening back at Yen Sid’s tower he instead finds himself in The World That Never Was. Confused on why he arrived in the world of the Nobodies, Riku explores the area until finally, he finds an unconscious Sora who had gotten his heart damaged and is trapped in a nightmare. Riku attempts to awaken Sora, but the manifestation of Sora’s nightmare appeared before Riku. Riku defeats it and begins to wonder why Sora is still asleep, but then the world begins to distort around him and Riku begins to hear Ansem’s voice.

Ansem begins to explain that Sora’s heart has fallen to darkness and that he is trapped in slumber because of it. Riku then realizes he is still in a dream and Ansem reveals that Riku is actually inside Sora’s dream. Ansem explains that back at Destiny Islands, Riku had actually seen the robbed Ansem and immediately felt something was wrong. Instinctively without knowing it, Riku dove into Sora’s dream and became a Dream Eater inside Sora’s dream, fighting off the Nightmares that plagued his dream. Ansem appears before Riku attempting him to unlock the darkness within him once more, but Riku refuses and does battle with Ansem. After battling and defeating Ansem, Riku finally makes it out of the dream and back into the real World That Never Was.

Rushing into the Castle That Never Was, Riku enters Organization XIII’s throne room where he finds the unconscious Sora sleeping on one of the thrones. Riku tries to reach him, but it knocked away by the mysterious white-haired stranger who revealed himself to be Master Xehanort’s younger self. The young Xehanort explained that they intend on using Sora as a vessel for Master Xehanort, a role that Riku was originally supposed to have had he not adapted to the darkness. Young Xehanort further reveals that Organization XIII’s true goal was to divide Master Xehanort’s heart into 13 pieces and place them into vessels. Some of the original members of Organization XIII were not adequate as vessels, but the group managed to collect 12 members which included himself, Xemnas, Ansem and Organization XIII’s previous member Xigbar. Young Xehanort explains that they utilized time travel to obtain some of their members. Since time travel involved discarding one’s body, Ansem managed to do so due to being a heartless and went back in time to have young Xehanort recruit members through time and gather them to the current time. Having prepared Sora to be the 13th vessel, the other members of the now True Organization XIII begin to appear and fill the vacant thrones around Riku.

The true Master Xehanort begins to appear on the last throne as he begins reviving himself back in his original body, but before Master Xehanort can fully revive himself, Mickey teleports himself into the throne room and casts the might Stopza spell to freeze time for everybody excluding Riku and Mickey. Mickey urges Riku to grab Sora and go, but young Xehanort immediately reveals he is immune to the Stopza spell and knocks Mickey away. Riku fights off the young Xehanort, but after the fight, the Stopza spell runs out and Master Xehanort fully revives himself. Master Xehanort reveals his true intention of obtaining the χ-blade by creating a second keyblade war by having 13 seekers of darkness class with 7 seekers of light. The fight would cause the recreation of the χ-blade and with it, Xehanort would have access to Kingdom Hearts. Master Xehanort attempts to insert his heart into the unconscious Sora and Mickey and Riku attempt to stop him, only to be intercepted by Xemnas and Ansem. At that moment Axel appears before Sora and saves him, revealing that he had returned back to his original self named Lea. Ansem attempts to stop them once more, but Donald and Goofy suddenly crash into the throne room and interrupts Ansem. With their plans foiled, the true Organization XIII escapes and Riku and the others return to Master Yen Sid’s tower.

With Sora still stuck in slumber, Master Yen Sid begins to explain that Riku had learned the power of waking during his exam and that Riku could dive into Sora’s dreams and reawaken him. With that knowledge, Riku accepts going into Sora’s dreams despite the chance that he would be trapped in there. Diving deep within, Riku encounters and armored Nightmare that Riku eventually defeats. With its defeat, Riku utilizes the power of waking and finds himself back at the Destiny Islands inside Sora’s dream. In there he encounters, Roxas, a boy who looks exactly like Roxas and Xion. Each of them asks Riku a simple question and when Riku answered they would disappear. Eventually, Riku would encounter Ansem the Wise, who reveals to be a digital version of the real Ansem that had been embedded into Sora’s mind. Deep within Sora’s mind, the real Ansem the Wise had stored all his data into Sora and Ansem reveals this along with the fact that Sora had reawakened.

Leaving Sora’s dream and reawakening back at Yen Sid’s tower, Riku finds Sora now reawoken. Yen Sid gifts Riku the title of Keyblade Master, but Sora does not obtain the title due to losing his powers because his heart had been damaged by the Organization. Despite this fact, Sora is overjoyed for his best friend and together they begin preparing to fight Xehanort.



Kingdom Hearts 3
While preparing for the fight against Master Xehanort, Riku and the others begin attempting to gather the remaining 7 guardians of light. So far their numbers included Riku, Sora, Mickey, Kairi and Lea who had just awakened the ability to use the keyblade. Mickey begins to tell the others about his old friends Terra, Aqua and Ventus who were three keyblade wielders whose lives were ruined by Xehanort. From Mickey’s words, Terra had gone missing while Ventus had fallen into a coma. Aqua had taken Ventus and hid him in an unknown place, but Aqua had fallen into the realm of darkness and was currently stuck there. Mickey also revealed that Aqua was there when Riku was trying to close the door to darkness but had to fight the incoming heartless which caused her to sink deeper into the realm of darkness. Upset that Aqua had to sacrifice herself for his sake, Riku and Mickey decide to enter the realm of darkness together to save Aqua, protected by new clothes gifted to them by Yen Sid to protect them from the darkness.

Together with Mickey the two delve deep within the realm of darkness and begin their search for Aqua. Eventually reaching the Dark Margin, Riku and Mickey find no trace of the keyblade wielder. At that moment a horde of Shadow Heartless join together and form a spire of heartless called a Demon Town began to attack Riku and Mickey. Riku does battle with it but is sucked into it and passes out. Riku is eventually saved by the heart of the bodiless Riku Replica he had met in Castle Oblivion. When Riku awakens he finds himself on the shores of the Dark Margin next to Mickey. Noticing his keyblade had been snapped into two, Riku leaves his broken keyblade for the Riku Replica to take and then returns back to Yen Sid’s tower to get a new keyblade.

Instructed to deliver new clothing for Kairi and Lea who were training at Hollow Bastion which is now called Radiant Garden, Riku and Mickey decided to do some investigating and realized that the reason the Xehanort that Riku knew was young was that that Xehanort had taken over Terra’s body. With that in mind, Riku and Mickey return back to the Dark Margin and once again fight the Demon Tower. During this fight, Aqua suddenly appears but is corrupted by darkness. Mickey is ensnared by the Demon Tower and Riku is left fighting off Aqua and the tower by himself. As Riku is in deep trouble, Sora suddenly appears and aids Riku. Together the two manage to defeat the Demon Tower and also restore Aqua back to normal and return her to the world of light.

With Aqua back, Riku and Mickey began to rest at Yen Sid’s tower while Sora and Aqua collected a now awakened Ventus from Castle Oblivion. With Aqua and Ventus, the 7 guardians of light had been gathered. Taking the moment to relax, Riku returns back to Destiny Island where he begins to speak the Riku Replica, whose heart now resided in Riku’s body. Riku admits he knew that the replica saved him before and the replica notes that he had something he wished to do and did not wish to disappear before then. With everybody ready, together they head to the keyblade graveyard to do battle against the 13 seekers of darkness.

After fighting a huge surge of Heartless, Nobodies, and Unversed, Riku and the others eventually encounter Terra who is possessed by a Master Xehanort from the past. Ventus and Lea are instantly knocked out by the possessed Terra and Donald use all his energy to make the possessed Terra retreat. A huge surge of heartless called the Demon Tide appears and both Sora and Aqua begin losing hope. The Tide immediately devours everybody excluding Riku and Sora. As Sora cries out having lost all hope, Riku attempts to motivate Sora and takes one final stand against the Tide. In the end, Sora and Riku are also devoured.

While this would mean that the guardians of light had failed, Sora managed to use the power of waking to restore everybody’s hearts and return them back to before they fought Terra. Just as the possessed Terra attempts to attack, this time Terra’s armor steps in and fights him. The armor that held Terra’s will managed to make the possessed Terra retreat. With that, Sora manages to call upon the power of the previous keyblade wielders who passed away on the graveyard and with their keyblades, Sora is able to defeat the Demon Tide. With that victory, one of the 13 seekers of darkness appears before them and reveals himself to be the past version of Riku when he was possessed by Ansem. Together, the past Riku and Xigbar call upon a hoard of heartless that surrounds the guardians of light. As they have trouble fighting them off, Master Yen Sid appears and opens up a path for the guardians of light to use while Donald and Goofy stuck with Yen Sid to help him.

Facing off against Master Xehanort and the other seekers of darkness, Master Xehanort creates a labyrinth that separates everybody. Riku finds himself fighting off against his past self, Xigbar, and Ansem. Eventually, Sora assists Riku while Ansem eventually leaves. Xigbar is eventually defeated and apparently commits suicide while the past Riku is defeated. The past Riku begins to state how he is the original one and it is at that point that the Replica Riku appears beside Riku and explains that the Riku before them was not the Riku possessed by Ansem but the Riku Replica of the past. The Riku Replica immediately dashes towards his past self and removes the past replica’s soul from the replica body. Riku immediately tells his Replica to take the body, but the replica refuses and as he disappears Riku realizes the Replica was saving that body for Namine.

With that fight over Riku and Sora split up and eventually Riku meets up with Mickey to fight off Ansem, Xemnas and Young Xehanort while Master Xehanort stood behind and offers support. Sora eventually joins them and together they defeat the three with Riku sharing final words with Ansem and even admitting that he would even miss him. Sora suddenly reveals that Master Xehanort actually has Kairi captive. Xehanort immediately stabs Kairi in front of them and completes the χ-blade which allows him access to Kingdom Hearts. The three attempts to stop him but are easily knocked away. The other guardians of light all gather together including the additions of Roxas, Terra, and Xion as well. It is then that Riku reveals that Master Xehanort is a portal that they can use to enter and fight against him. Sora, Donald, and Goofy decide to enter the portal while the rest use their keyblade to hold off Kingdom Heart’s power. Eventually, Xehanort is defeated and everybody joins Sora as Master Xehanort give Sora the χ-blade. With everybody giving him power, Sora uses the χ-blade and seals away Kingdom Hearts.

Victory is theirs, but Sora does not see it as a victory until they rescue Kairi. Unable to have Kairi wait any longer, Sora plans on using the power of waking to bring back Kairi. Mickey warns Sora that there was a great chance Sora would not return but Riku stopped Mickey as he felt Sora should do what his heart told him to. With that everybody left Sora to bring back Kairi while returning home. With Ansem the wise and the former apprentices Even and Ienzo back alive and well, Riku had them work on the replica body that Riku’s replica left and prepared it for Namine. When Namine was up and walking again Riku picked her up and took her to the Destiny Islands where everybody was enjoying themselves. Sora had successfully brought back Kairi, however for abusing the power of waking, he was unable to return back.

"You could say I am...the biggest nobody of them all"
"If the world is made of light and darkness... We'll be the darkness."
"Are you what's trapping him in that nightmare? 'Cause if you are... I'm what nightmares fear!"

The sound of waver was gentle and smooth while the air and breeze was light and held the taste of salt that was fitting for the shores of the small and tiny island. The sun was setting, leaving for the night, but just before it was about to leave it left over the radiant orange that coated the skies. Calm blue eyes stared out at the horizon as the beautiful star was slowly diving beyond the sparkling sea. It truly was a beautiful sight, but a sight the young keyblade master had seen numerous times all throughout his childhood. Even despite this fact, it was this one moment that Riku took the time to appreciate the beauty of it, the beauty he had never seen before.

His eyes calmly closed as a smirk formed upon his face. Riku couldn’t help but ponder why he saw this scene so much more differently, but the answer came to him rather easily. It was only 2 years, but those two years changed him immensely. He had seen numerous worlds, but it was because of that, that Riku was able to appreciate what he had before him, what he had abandoned so long ago.

Slowly, the silver haired male rose to his feet and dusted and sand that stuck on his clothing, his eyes unmoving from the scenery as his mind continued to reminisce about everything he had been through. He had been through so much and struggles so much, but he did not regret his choices in the slightest. He had given into the darkness, but the light had never left him and in the end, the darkness and light were both a part of him. He had lost so much, but slowly all that had been lost had been brought back. His fight was seemingly over, but Riku knew there was more to it. He had more to do and he wouldn’t stop until he got back everything.

A deep sigh escaped his lips as he glanced over at the keyblade that was standing with its tip firmly resting in the ground. Riku’s hand reached out and took the hilt of his blade and lifted it, pulling it out as he held it before him and narrowed his eyes. “May your heart be your guiding key…” Riku couldn’t help but say before closing his eyes and sighed, shaking his head as a soft smile formed upon his face. “You always manage to get in some kind of trouble…You’ve got someone special waiting on you, so don’t keep her waiting” Riku said as he placed his keyblade upon his shoulder, the twilight sky turning to the star coated night. “Just give us some time…Sora” Riku said as he glanced up at the stars.

Hidden by Staff

Zest, Warrior of Light

Via Confused Memories