Chapter 16: "A Nightmare..."

Not much happened after Riku L. learned of Kei's abilities. The first thing he did after being led to a room of his own was check his watch. Another one of Riku's abilities was to teleport anything that belonged to him to his location. He was prepared to go off on Riku F. before learning of what had happened to him. He simply stared at the news, dumbfounded. "A-Are you fucking kidding me..? Jesus..!" He fell into a sitting position on his bed, running his hand through his hair. "F..." He figured it'd be best to leave him be right now, which is probably what F. decided to do as well after learning of L's news. "He's been through enough punishment..."

Riku sighed, laying on his back. He stared at the ceiling for a moment, wondering what the future could hold. He recalled his own words, saying them aloud. "No matter what world you're in...reality will always be cruel..." He lightly clenched his fist. "Well then I'll fight reality..." He glared at nothing in particular. "I'll beat this world's reality no matter how cruel it gets..." He raised his fist in the air. "Starting with this world's damned royalty..." He closed his eyes, letting his arm fall to his side. It didn't take him much longer to fall asleep afterward.

Riku rarely ever remembered his dreams, and/or rarely ever dreamed at all, so it was rather surprising that he found himself walking through the house of the Gilbinga family in his dreams. He watched as Gina and Haruto ran around the house, chasing one another and playing together. Riku smiled to himself, believing this was reality. He followed the two children, watching them run into the kitchen to hug their mother, alive and well, cooking a meal. Riku couldn't tell what time of day it was, but he didn't really care at the moment. He wanted to lose himself in this reality, a happy one.

He looked to the door, seeing Makou walk inside with his usual big grin. The children cheered and ran over to give him a hug. He lifted the two up, all of them laughing happily, Makou getting a bit embarrassed and blushing as Reina walked over and kissed his cheek. Reina's mouth moved, but Riku couldn't hear her voice. He couldn't hear Makou's voice either as he laughed, nor the children's. He tilted his head, a bit confused, but he ignored it when they looked to him and smiled brightly. He returned their smiles with his own, since Riku couldn't even hear his own thoughts, nor speak. It seemed like he wasn't even in control of his own body.

He began walking toward them before suddenly hearing the children's screams behind him. He noticed they were no longer in the arms of their father and quickly turned around. The two both seemed completely fine, but were frozen in fear, tears staining their innocent cheeks. He tilted his head a bit, confused, before turning back to look at Reina and Makou. His eyes widened as he realized he was suddenly wearing blade gauntlets, both of the blades run through Makou and Reina's hearts.

"It's your fault..." Makou's mouth moved, but the voice that came out wasn't his. It was dark and distorted, his eyes filled with disappointment and anger, all the while looking as dead as they did when Riku watched him die.

"This happened because you were too weak..." Reina's mouth moved this time, and the voice was a woman's this time, but it was vile and like nails on a chalkboard, her eyes filled with hatred and grief.

He shook his head, backing away from the two, the blades being pulled from their chests before they both fell to the ground, dead. He heard two piercing sounds from behind him, as well as two high pitched screams. He quickly turned to see Seto, stabbing the two children with his own swords with a vile and wicked smirk on his face. "The same will happen to everyone you care about... You can't save anyone, you're pathetic!" Seto's voice was his own, but it had an echo to it. Filled with rage, Riku dashed at him as tears streamed his cheeks. He stopped however as the two children stood up, as if they didn't have swords sticking through their chests, and Seto had suddenly morphed, looking exactly like Riku now, stabbing the children with his blade gauntlets.

"If only you had made it sooner...Mommy and Daddy would still be alive..." They spoke in unison, their voices sounding like those of little demons. More tears poured from his eyes as he watched more tears pour from theirs, as well as blood spilling from their lips. They both coughed and gasped before falling to the ground, dead as well.

He was suddenly standing behind them, as if he himself was the one who did them in. He stared at their bodies, clenching his fists tightly as he yelled in agony, but he had no voice. He grasped his head, being encased in his distorted, glitchy magic. He screamed louder and louder until he actually began to hear his voice, his magic exploding around him and destroying the dream completely.

His eyes shot open and he sat up, gasping for air and drenched in sweat. He looked at his arms to find that he was actually encased in his magical aura. He could feel the tears pouring out of his eyes and down his cheeks. He sighed, wiping his eyes with the back of his arm. He suddenly heard the pitter-patter of two children's feet, heading toward the room he was in. He guessed that it was Gina and Haruto, having asked someone where his room was possibly.

He sighed with relief, happy he woke up before they could get there. The fact that he could hear extremely well and even make out how many people there were didn't even phase him. He was too focused on the dream to worry about it. He waved his arm, calling his magic off, then looked to the door as the children bursted through.

"Riku!" They both shouted before running and jumping on him on his bed.

He laughed, hugging them both. "What are you two doing in here? How did you find me?"

"We asked around!" Haruto smiled happily.

"Ah, I see I see, I guess I'll have to make it more difficult next time." He snickered.

"Nooo!" The two whined.

He chuckled and ruffled their hair. "I'm just joking." He grinned.

"Riku's a meanie..." Gina muttered.

"A big one!" Haruto added.

Riku laughed. "Sorry sorry." He hugged both of the children, rubbing their heads. They smiled and hugged him back happily. "I promise I'll keep both of you safe..." He vowed in his mind.

Artemis leaned on the door, watching. "Am I interrupting?" She smirked softly, teasing.

Riku rolled his eyes. "Not at all boss." He teased back, holding both of the children and setting them down as he stood up.

Artemis rolled her eyes as well. "Come on and have breakfast, afterward..." She sighed. "Kei would like to speak to you..." Riku tilted his head slightly, wondering what he could possibly want.

The four all had breakfast together before Riku went off on his own to find Kei while leaving the children with Artemis. They seemed to like her so he wasn't worried. He knew Artemis would never do anything cruel to children, not to mention she was playing with them all throughout breakfast. "She'll be a good mom..." He chuckled.

His nightmare came back to him as he walked, wondering if it could come true. His eyes darkened slightly at the possibility just as he made it to where Kei was. He sighed to himself, stopping just outside the door of the room he was supposedly supposed to meet Kei in. "I can already tell this is going to be a pain in the ass..."