Sometimes those Days lead us down a twisted path compared to what we remember.

"Why won't you quit?!"

He was tired. His body ached. Yet something, he desperately struggled to remember urged him on. A promise made, the face and voice of who he made it to just barely fuzzing in and out of his memory. Into battle that night, he'd practically chanted the name like a mantra as he fought the rules of reality itself to prevent that person from vanishing to him. Yet his encounter with that boy, the silver-haired one with the blindfold who also wore the Organization's robes had thrown his mental balance off. Words were exchanged; it didn't matter to him anymore what they were or why the two of them had been fighting. And then that boy spoke up again.

"Come on Sora, I thought you were stronger than that."

It didn't matter, but the memories awash in his mind that brewed, then distilled from his own told him who his opponent was. Told him that it was Riku. The name should have carried some weight of familiarity, but it didn't. Instead just his voice, that taunting remark somehow instantly resonated with something that Roxas just felt and reacted on, not having a chance to think about it.

"Get real! Look which one of us is winning!"

Immediately his hand almost cupped over his mouth. The words were familiar. He -no, Sora had said them before. But then that left the new question in his head: who was Sora? A subtle note of panic erupted in the back of his mind as some part of him detached from the battle grasped at the ether for that name he'd been struggling to remember.

"So it's true. You really are his Nobody... I guess Diz was right."

Riku's tone of voice lacked the condescending notes of mockery that his previous comment held. Instead there was something sober, almost regretful in the way he made that remark. A remark made as if his opponent hadn't been standing there at all.

It was enough to make Roxas' blood boil as his hand fell away from his face. The hand that wasn't clutching Oathkeeper balled into a fist. His expression shifted from confused to downright furious. Another person that seemed to have all the pieces to everything, to the person he sought to remember, to who he was and perhaps to everything he was trying to save. His memories were so badly jumbled, he only know that it felt like everyone else knew everything about him, except himself. His temper flared as he shouted back as loud as his voice would allow him.

"What are you talking about?! I am me!"

His body had recovered. Recovered enough to push him forward, to finish this so he could resume his task... the promise. He could remember it after this. But he would strike Riku down and then move on. He had to move on. Moving on was the only way to fulfill that promise... to get his friends back... friend...s? He didn't show it as he called Oblivion back to him, immediately charging his opponent with both Keyblades, but part of him was both sure and yet not that he even had a friend other than Axel.

"And no one else!"

Roxas didn't give a chance for the silver-haired boy to speak again. Instead he rushed in as quickly as he could, weapons bared as he swung hard and fast. Oathkeeper came in a wide arc, yet the speed of the movement surpassed what it should have been. Oblivion followed in a crossing path. This round of attacks had been faster than his foe could anticipate -at least that's what he figured. Riku seemed to have been too off-guard to draw his own weapon, or maybe he couldn't for some reason. Whatever the reason, it had him back tracking to avoid the savage assault coming in. More swings came, narrow misses -practically sheer luck that Roxas' aggressive push was so carefully balanced. If the blond let his guard down enough to extend his reach a mere fraction of an inch with any movement, the fight would be brought to a very abrupt and brutal end.

The forward push paid off. An glance of almost maniacal rage burned in Roxas' eyes as Riku backed against a set of double doors. He brought Oblivion down with his full forward momentum behind the swing -narrowly missing as his target rolled forward... or vanished. He couldn't tell, because rather than just burying itself in the wood, the attack burst through the door and sending an abrupt hail of splinters down the hallway it was connected to.