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Kingdom Hearts
For Riku's Sake
by Vash
Disclaimer: No one in Kingdom Hearts belongs to me.
Summary: Riku is injured during a Struggle with Sora.

-Chapter 1-

"You sure you want to take me on, Sora?" Riku grinned.

"I can beat you easily, Riku," Sora retorted. Their challenge
was sincere, but so was their friendship.

"You and what army?" Riku taunted.

The referee's voice broke into their banter.

"Let the games begin!"

Sora thumped Riku, causing him to drop sixteen purple Struggle
Spheres.

Riku gathered as many of the dropped spheres as he could while
Sora gathered as many as he could, taking a moment to thwack
Sora, making him lose about twenty.

He got in two more thwarks for an additional total of ten, and
was picking up the eight sphere when Sora struck him hard enough
to throw him five feet away.

"Look out!" He heard Kairi yell. But as she had yelled it during
game he assumed she was pointing out a sphere she thought he'd
missed and did not look up.

As Sora picked up the spheres Riku had dropped, he heard a hated
voice call out to him. "Mind if I watch you tidy up?"

"I'm not tidying up, Hades," Sora growled, not looking up. He
wouldn't lose because of this jerk. If Riku had set this up, Sora
was going to have a word with him about sportsmanship later on.
Though he had to admit, there were no rules against distracting
your opponent. "I'm Struggling."

"Oh really?" Hades inquired smoothly. "Against who?"

The referee had put a barrier around the remaining spheres, so
Sora couldn't pick them up. "Tie game!"

"What do you mean tie?" Sora demanded.

The referee pointed, a stern look on his face.

Sora looked in the direction the referee was pointing in. Suddenly
he was running, his keyblade in hand, toward Hades. Hate was in his
eyes, and he was determined to focus all of it into getting the vile
jerk and his ugly black hearse off of Riku!

Riku lie pinned under the vehicle, it's front left tire resting on
the small of his back, blood running from his mouth. It would be a
miracle if he were still alive.

Sora was about to use thunder magic, when Merlin called out to him.
"No! You'll electrocute Riku! You have to use brute strength! It's
the only way!"

"Someone call for a hero?" Hercules called as he ran around the corner.
He saw the pale-haired young man trapped under the vehicle Hades was
driving. "Oh no!" he cried out. He was probably too late to save the
young man's life, but he had no intention of letting him die as a
parking space for Hades.

"You distract Hades and I'll get the car off your friend."

"Thank you," Sora agreed.

As Sora launched a full on attack against Hades, Hercules grabbed the
back of the bumper and dragged the car back off of Riku.

Sora ran over to Riku, and was about to pick him up when the referee
stopped him.

"Don't move him," he warned. "His spine's probably injured. I'll get
an ambulance."

"Riku," Sora asked, concernedly. "Riku?"

Riku opened his eyes and tried to get up, but his legs would not
cooperate with him. "Sora?!" he cried out. "Sora! Help me, please?"
tears fell from his eyes. "I can't move my legs."

Sora took Riku's hand, a feeling of helplessness assailing him. He
couldn't even hold Riku without risking him further injury.

The ambulance came and took Riku to the hospital.

Sora followed with Kairi, Hercules, and Roxas' gang. He would have
given anything to have Donald and Goofy there, too. But they had to
attend to their duties at Disney Castle. He would write to them
later and let them know what had happened. They would want to visit
Riku in the hospital.

He sat writing to them in the waiting room, his heart heavy as he
mentally reproached himself for not paying attention. For focusing
too much on the game. If he hadn't, he told himself, he probably
could have saved Riku from this fate.

Now Riku, one of the most active, most playful, young men he'd ever
met lie in the hospital, his spine crushed by Hades' ugly black
hearse. And the likelihood was that he would spend the rest of his
life in a wheelchair.