Important Stuff

[lightyin]

A Little About the Universe this Riku Comes From

There’s a bit of backstory to this that’s important to Riku. This Riku is a canon one (ignoring the events of Coded), taken from about half a year after KH2.

Away from the main storyline of Kingdom Hearts, there’s a group of human-shaped Nobodies that operates independently from the Organization. They don’t have an official group name or a dress code, and they actually despise the Organization and think that they’re idiots for even considering wanting their hearts back.

There’s Layla, the leader of the group, Joshua, Niv, Kishui, and Peira. Most of them are after the goal of returning their home worlds, which were destroyed by Heartless years before the events in the first game. Allied with these Nobodies is an apprentice Death, a being who looks like a teenager but is older than even the Nobodies she’s friends with and goes by Kara. Did I mention she’s also an apprentice to Death itself? This is important.

Now to the Kingdom Hearts bits.

First of all, while the Riku Replica did die in Chain of Memories, he didn’t go away completely. Part of his (false) heart attached itself to Riku’s heart and made itself at home there, just barely strong enough that it didn’t get absorbed into Riku, but very weak, the Replica’s presence even overshadowed by that of Xehanort’s. The Replica’s body ended up in a purgatory-like world, where Kara located him, took a liking to him, and promised to find his heart and bring him back to life.

Sometime near the end of Days, she did. And relayed her findings to the Replica, telling him that she could bring him back to life, at a price. He agreed, even though she didn’t specify the exact price, just that she had to take a piece of whoever’s heart the Replica’s was attached to. She also didn’t mention that she had never done something like what she had promised to do.

Kara encountered Riku on Riku's Heart Platform. Riku demanded to know who she was and why she was there, but she said nothing. Instead, she approached him, stuck her hand in his chest, and removed his heart. She then split it in half and pushed the other half back into his body and disappeared. This action created a Nobody who was later found by the Nobody Layla and given the name Kishui.  Riku later went back to his universe and with Kara's help, relocated and re-merged with Kishui.  But he doesn’t actually have a big role until later.

In terms of things related directly to Riku, nothing of huge importance happens until after the events of KH2. Riku returned to the islands and attempted to return to a normal life. He was able to return to school with not too much trouble, whereas Sora had to take classes to make up for what he missed while he and Riku were gone. He was terrified that his parents would be angry at him for leaving home and was reluctant to even see them when he got back, but they were much more relieved than angry. Riku learned later that Kairi had made up an elaborate story about pirates and convinced everyone who asked that she, Sora, and Riku had been picked up by pirates after the storm hit the island and that they had let her go before the boys.

Riku started having nightmares about a month after returning to the islands, ranging from flashbacks to dreams of the islands being overrun by Heartless. During this time, he was also approached by Wakka, who hadn’t talked to him much before. Wakka mentioned having a dream similar to one of Riku’s dreams about the islands, Riku decided it meant something was going to happen, and started trying to prepare.

Unfortunately, the dreams turned out to be reality and there was a massive Heartless invasion one night. It was too big for Sora and Riku to handle, but them plus Kairi, Wakka, Tidus, and Selphie managed to take shelter along with some younger kids in the Secret Place. The islands were eventually destroyed around them, and the kids ended up in Radiant Garden.

Construction was still going on in Radiant Garden, and Leon agreed to let the kids from the islands stay in the hotel in the city as long as they didn’t interfere with the construction efforts. They could help, just not hinder. Otherwise they had free run of the city. Riku had fewer nightmares, but also started having trouble sleeping. He made friends with the Moombas hired to help with the construction, in part because he helped them and in part because he shared all the hiding spots around the city with them, especially a niche he found in one of the city’s walls that allowed him to see a good part of the city and be mostly hidden.

Riku and the Replica remet one day when it was raining in Radiant Garden. Riku had left the hotel out of boredom and noticed an unfamiliar cloaked person making their way through the city. Out of curiosity, he followed the person. He was noticed, and the person fled. Riku chased him into an alleyway, and once he figured out who it was, attacked and knocked him out.

Back at the hotel, Riku dumped the Replica (going by the name Shiru at that time, though he didn’t know it) on his bed, tied him to it, and left.

Sometime after Shiru’s arrival, weird things start happening with various worlds. Shadowy versions of Twilight Town and Destiny Islands appear, and new worlds become accessible by Gummi ship. Sora, Kairi, and Riku are suddenly pulled from Radiant Garden, separated, and plunked into a couple of those new worlds.

Regarding Riku's relationship with Shiru

Riku and Shiru have an interesting relationship.  They don't hate one another, but they don't get along.  Mostly, they treat each other sort of like brothers.  They're prone to arguments, both physical and verbal, often started by Shiru and usually ended when one of them knocks the other one out through fistfighting or someone intervenes and calms them down.

The two boys tend to stick fairly close to one another due to the instability of their hearts.  Shiru was brought back to life using half of Riku's heart, and the further apart the two halves get, the harder they try to rejoin one another and the harder the strain they put on the people they reside in.  The effect is usually not noticable unless both Riku and Shiru are on completely separate worlds.

Heart Instability

Due to Riku being light- and dark-based and his heart being more or less directly connected to Shiru's, overuse of darkness (by portals or Dark attacks) causes the light in Riku's heart to go into defense-mode and sends Riku into a semi-Heartless state similar to Sora's Anti-form.  He can't tell friend from foe in said state and will attack anything that gets too close to him (except Shiru).  However, he's not physically stronger in this state, and he can be brought out through loss of consciousness.

As of June 2011, this no longer happens, as Riku wa.  Riku can still use Darkness, though his attacks are much weaker than his Replica's are.

Now with horrible paint diagram!



Also, because of the fact that he has an incomplete heart, Riku (and Shiru) is drawn to people's hearts, especially those of other Rikus.

Lycanthropy

Less than a week after Riku entered the Dressing Room, Riku ran into a transformed werewolf.  They fought, and during the fight, Riku got bitten on the arm.  However, since he was in Heartless form when it happened, the infection became dormant and he was 'immune' to transformation.

He was sent back to his own world (unwillingly) in June, where he was explained why he kept having darkness-induced blackouts and what would help it--finding and re-merging with his Nobody.  While doing this made his heart slightly more stable and much less prone to making him turn into a Heartless, it activated the lycanthropy infection.