[His double had been lucky. He's chosen a road that had kept him from ever reaching the point he had found himself at back then, that would hopefully keep him from ever getting there.

He shakes his head, dry - almost desperate - laughter escaping him. He is thankful for that attempt to comfort him, but...]

But I knew. Not about Ansem, but-

I knew that whatever Maleficent was up to wasn't good. That she was just using me. And I didn't care. Not as long as it led me to Kairi.

...And at this point not even she mattered anymore.

[He has long stopped kidding himself... by the time he had fought Sora, he had no longer thought about Kairi. Only about the strength the Darkness had given him, only about proving that he was still the stronger one.

The scene around them changes at just that moment, the memory a little more a haze than before - but even so his... Ansem's conversation with Maleficent is clear enough... and then it appears in Ansem's hand.

The Keyblade of the People's Hearts.

Riku presses his lips together at the sight; he might not have been in control, but he had felt the Darkness, the unnaturalness of it.]