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Riku's sitting at a table near the front, his boots plopped on the desk, writing furiously in a notebook.

He's concentrating so hard he wouldn't notice if a giant tried to sneak up on him. He's so confused his hands are shaking. He's so pissed off that he wants to punch the wall until either the wall or his fist breaks.

He's just figured out something about his friends and enemies and the bar, and he has no idea what to do about this knowledge at all.

And Ansem's voice, over and over, shooting daggers into his head and heart:

I told you so I told you so I told you so

[OOC: Warning for a not-quite-right Riku, and the possibility of having to deal with Ansem.]

[tiny tags: wanijima akito, billy kaplan, zexion]

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"Heart or not," Riku says, staring at the notebook. He doesn't even bother to look up, at the moment.

He's tired of this shit, he just wants to get it over with.

"Excuse me?"

"Excuse me," Riku says. "I'm just trying to keep track of all the apparent changes around here."

Fucking status quotas.

"Ah." Xaldin avoids snickering only by ten years worth of faking emotion, "Heart. Xigbar, me, Zexion, Axel, and Demyx. Without heart, but here to my knowledge, Lexaeus, Larxene, and Roxas."

Riku twitches at the name Larxene.

"I see," he says. "Thanks."

Pause as he makes notes on the notebook.

"Xemnas is here too."

"I haven't run into him." Xaldin says, "Which is probably for the best, considering how Xigbar and I left the World That Never Was."

Riku laughs. "It's always for the best to avoid that bastard."

"We've noticed." Xaldin's voice becomes beyond dry.

Every now and again a Dragoon shows up with a post-it note fastened to her chest. Xaldin reads them, writes responses, and sends her away again.

"Once he finds out about all the hearts..." Riku waves a hand. "He'll either get vengeful or try to manipulate."

"I've known him a lot longer than you have." Xaldin's voice goes bitter and flat, "Believe me. We won't underestimate again."

"Good."

Riku shifts uncomfortably in his chair.

"I'm sure you can take care of yourselves, but if any of you - need anything - help with hearts, adjusting to them, finding other ways to get them if it's already been exhausted - I'm willing. I don't... hate anybody."

"We don't have plans for the ones left." Xaldin says quietly, "Xigbar and I are recovering. It's not easy." For a moment he looks like what he is: a good man who has had the realization of all the evil he's done forcibly dropped on him in such a way that he can't hide from it. Then he metaphorically picks himself up and shakes it off, "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Riku knows what it's like. He's had Ansem inside him for a long time. The things he did, the things he might have to do -

Well. There may be a few things in common.

Not the genocide. Xaldin would pray, if he believed in anything except Space and Wind, not the genocide.

"Why are you taking census?"

Riku only killed when necessary. Genocides were far beyond his capabilities, no matter what Mickey had done.

"Because I discovered a few strange facts."

Wry grin.

"Care to explain?" This is the least nerve wracking conversation he's had with one of Mickey's people yet. No screaming, no weapons, no post traumatic breakdown.

Xaldin is waiting for the punchline.

Maybe it's because Riku's always had sympathy for their side. Or maybe it's because he sees no use in fighting any more.

"Two parallels," Riku says. "Mickey mentioned a treaty in here. No such things exists where I come from. There's... two versions of all of us, apparently."

Ffffuck.

Xaldin is silent for several long moments, then mutters quietly,

"Are you prior to the rejoining of Sora and Roxas, or post?"

"About to grab Roxas, where I am," he says. "But I know people from my future, here. It didn't exist for them, either."

"Does it bother you?" Xaldin asks curiously, "That Roxas will lose everything he is and become less than a memory?"

"Of course it does," Riku says, a little sharply. "It's wrong, but it seems to be the only way to bring Sora back."

"The Roxas here hasn't been captured by any version of you." Xaldin says quietly, "And I don't know that I can reconcile destroying him, rabid dog that he is. I've let, or killed, too many." He settles cross-legged in the air and watches Riku, "Do you trust Ansem?"

Riku laughs.

"You mean the one in here?" he asks, putting a hand over his heart.

"No. I mean the one who calls himself DiZ."

"Hah!"

Riku laughs even harder.

"I only work with the son of a bitch because Mickey requested it. He's a bastard and if someone skewered him, I wouldn't blink twice about walking away."