FanFiction.Net - unleash your imagination|
Author of 16 Stories |
Disclaimer: Once upon a time I had inspiration. I could come up with a dumb little disclaimer in seconds. Seconds. Now I'm dried up, guys. Used. Wasted. A disclaimer whore. The point is, I own nothing. Not even Sora. Thwarted at every turn. Stupid Squeenix.
Author's Notes: Oh, there's so much to say and so little time to say it. Firstly, for those of you who are keeping up with SGW: I'm so, so sorry for the huge wait, and I apologize, but I think it'll take a bit of time before I manage to finish the next chapter. It's just this huge combination of an obscene amount of schoolwork, work, and writer's block that apparently only bothered to hit that particular fic of mine. I haven't been idle, however; since the last update, I've written four or five other one-shots, posted solely on livejournal. Only one of 'em's Kingdom Hearts, however. The others? Ghost Hound and Katekyo Hitman Reborn! YOU GUYS, YOU HAVE TO WATCH REBORN. They're both fantastic shows, and while I'm in no way done with Kingdom Hearts, I've been divvying up my time between these three series for the past few months. Hopefully, an update for SGW will up soon. If not, though, I hope you'll forgive me. In the meantime, please feel free to enjoy what I've written so far. It's been far too long since I've written a Riku/Sora, and I hope you all like this odd little piece!
Dedications: To Red. Much, much love, dear. Please be well!
The night is cold.
The Heartless seem to have given them a temporary respite. For three hours now, no black shadows have risen from the brittle dirt beneath their feet, filthy and acrid and ready to twine short black limbs around the bodies of his soldiers. It's quiet, peaceful, and Riku is so very alone.
It's been ten years since the beginning of this mad war, ten years since the first of these monstrosities spewed forth from whichever demonic dimension they were made. Ten years, four months, two days. Riku knows because every night little Selphie makes a mark on her wall, shavings mixed with tears. The stone's half crevice now.
Half his men are lost. The Heartless keep getting bigger. The small black humanoid ones are now leviathans, oozing puss and filth, their stench omnipresent and vile, carried along the slightest breezes. The King's gone missing. They say he's gone looking for the savior.
Savior, the men whisper. Legendary, beautiful, he will deliver us from this hell.
Riku doesn't believe in any savior. He just wants the Heartless gone.
Cid's trying to find their source. He thinks he's close to a breakthrough. He's been working like a madman. Sometimes, in sleep, Riku hears him say a name. He doesn't want to think about who the woman on his lips might be. It's a beautiful name, though, Sherra.
It's been three hours since the last of the latest wave fell to their swords and staffs. The men have retreated into the castle, to wives or husbands or children. The blacksmiths are forging their swords. Merlin's renewing the wards on their haven.
Riku stands on the cliff, darkness enveloping him, ice wind whipping his hair, frost building on his eyebrows. He is so very alone.
two.
Kairi's safe. Riku almost falls to his knees from the relief of it.
They almost tore her away. So very close. If Leon hadn't shouted, if Aerith hadn't screamed, Riku would never have had enough time, Kairi would never have noticed. Bless them, bless them. Kairi is alive, wounded but well, and acidic blood crusts their sword. God, thank you, thank you.
She is his last link to humanity, his beautiful pseudo-sister. She is all that keeps him sane. He gnaws his lips to shreds with the force with which he holds this information in. She knows anyway.
She would have died.
No, I wouldn't have, she says. You need me. He needs me.
Riku, she says. He's coming.
three.
Once upon a time, in a far away land, a little boy became a knight.
He was bold, brash, as most heroes are. His eyes were like the sky, and his heart was a bird's. Free and wise, he defeated witches and wizards, traveled worlds, and saved the universe, with the help of his two most trusted servants. A boy, a talking wolf, a magical hawk. Together, they rescued princesses, conquered countless enemies, made the world safe for everyone.
He was such a brave little boy.
At the end of their travels, all three disappeared. Some say they retreated to a small countryside cottage and spent their days happy and content, in solitude. Others say they continued with their adventures; it's just that the written histories have been lost with the passage of time.
But some people say that they were locked away in a magical chamber by a kind, wise witch at their own request, awaiting the day they might one day again be needed. If the need is ever great enough, if the world ever in enough peril, they will rise, and they will fight. Oh, it'll be grand! Can you imagine?
Such a beautiful little boy. Eyes like the sky, they say. As blue as yours are green.
Yes?
His name, you ask?
Oh, Riku, darling. No one knows his name!
But some of us think it might be Sky.
four.
Riku stands on the cliff. Around him, mutilated corpses - men, beasts, oh, who can tell the difference anymore? - lay scattered, filling the air with putrid evil.
He is so very alone.
Dear God, he wants the King to come back. He wants his men to stop whispering. He wants Kairi to stop believing.
There is no savior, there is only science and war and blood, blood everywhere, black and wrong and high enough to wade in. There is only Leon with his gunblade and Cloud with his Buster sword and Aerith with her spells. There is only Cid with his ships and Merlin with his staff and Yuffie with her shuriken. Only Kairi and Selphie and Wakka and Tidus.
There are only soldiers, real and dying. His men are dying, but they are all that exist.
The sky is black above them. The clouds are green, and the rain burns. He is so alone.
There is no savior. The King is a fool for chasing dreams that won't come true.
five.
Riku, he's coming. I spoke to him in a dream.
He wants to see you. Oh, he wants to see you so badly.
six.
One day, they lose communication with Belle.
Aerith locks herself away in her room and prays for their safety. Leon and Cloud disappear for hours, and when they return they are soaked in black, blood burning patches in their clothing. Cid sits for hours with his face pressed against a computer screen, lines of text and numbers playing kiss-and-chase across the monitor, so quickly Riku can't read it. The children cry.
Kairi sits at her window and stares out. Her eyes are wide and dazed, empty pools of blue and violet.
Starts with an 'S,' she whispers.
seven.
The lines fall between Hollow Bastion and Agrabah, next. Selphie was speaking with Jasmine when it happened. Reports, status updates. Iago's been acting strangely. He says the wind's changed. Aladdin and Genie are - a pause. Aladdin? Wait, what's wrong? Aladdin, what's-
Then static, screeching into the silence as Selphie stares at a suddenly blank screen, Jasmine's frightened visage the last thing she sees. It takes three doses of tranquilizers before she calms down enough to relay any useful information. Four before she stops screaming.
Kairi hasn't moved for two days.
eight.
Halloween Town. The Pridelands. Land of Dragons. Deep Jungle. Olympus Coliseum. Timeless River. Space Paranoids. Atlantica. Neverland. Port Royal. Monstro. Wonderland. Hundred Acre Wood.
No one answers. There is only silence.
Riku thinks he's going crazy. All he sees is blood.
nine.
Five days. Riku thinks he can see Kairi's bones whittling away, the marrow thinning, the little fat she possesses dissolving into nothing.
There's no one coming! he shouts at her prone form. Stop it! Stop believing! You little bitch, stop believing! You're going to end up killed, broken, and then where will we be? Kairi, Kairi, look at me! Wake up, damn you, damn you!
C'mon, baby girl. You can wake up, I know you can! Just try! Your heart's still beating, you're still breathing. Come on, love, my beautiful little sister. Just wake up for me.
Fuck you! Fuck you, I hate you! Stupid bint, wake the fuck up! A crack of fingers against cheek. Kairi does not stir. He's not coming! Wake up!
Kairi. Please. I need you. You're all I have left.
I'm not strong enough to do this by myself.
Please.
I'm so lonely.
Kairi opens her eyes. Riku's heart stops in his chest.
Oh, Riku, she says. Sora wants to see you so very much.
ten.
War.
A Heartless throng rushes him, snarling, eyes wide, crazed, bestial. No intelligence in them. How can beings so stupid have come so far in destroying the universe?
He steps to the side, spins, slams his sword into the back of one of the dangerous ones. The dog ones. It keens, wails, but slumps anyway. Dead in seconds. Another from the right. He dances away, thrusts his sword through its mouth. From the sky. He shreds its wings to pieces, flings its broken body away from himself.
There is no savior. There is only the sword and the filthy vileness he has made it his life's goal to destroy. He needs no savior. Is he not enough!?
Wildly, he laughs, loud and long. Around him, demons die, die.
Sora can stay in his cave. What use do they have of him? The monsters will come anyway, and nothing a mythical hero can do will change anything. They are doomed.
Sora, he screams. His mind is a swirling, chaotic void. Oh, how he hates himself.
Sora! We don't need you!
Lightning crashes, the wind howls.
And a hundred feet away, Kairi falls.
eleven.
She won't wake up.
Her body is a broken, bloody mess. Her heart trembles, bird-quick, in her slender chest. She won't wake up. No one knows what to do.
Riku's mind fractures, shifts.
Kairi, he whispers. He kneels at her side and takes her hands between his. You'll live. I know you will, because there is no other option. You have no other choice. You will live. You're not allowed to die. It's just impossible.
You'll be okay, my dearest sister.
You can't leave me by myself. Please. Don't be selfish.
She won't wake up.
Riku wants to destroy the world.
twelve.
The earth is burning around him. All is darkness and death.
thirteen.
Once upon a time, Riku and Kairi visited Peter Pan and the Lost Boys in Neverland. It had been a bad day. Captain Hook had surpassed himself. Tinker Bell lay dying, poisoned. Her breath came in tiny, labored gasps. Around them, forest beasts growled. Peter knelt in uncharacteristic fear, his head bowed, eyelids screwed shut in concentration. Riku and Kairi stood silent, waiting, terrified.
Peter lifted his head slowly, gaze only half-focused. His eyes were turned inwards, at some unknown, unseen audience. And then he spoke.
She says...she says she thinks she could get well again if children believed in fairies.
Do you believe in fairies?
Say quick that you believe!
If you believe, clap your hands!
And Kairi, beautiful, kind Kairi, his sister in all but blood, put her hands together and clapped.
fourteen.
So this is what Riku does:
He stumbles onto the battlefield, tripping over himself, weaving unsteadily. His sword moves without his knowledge, impaling, beheading, soaking himself with hot, burning blood. Behind him, his men scream at him. Beg him. Don't do it, my liege. Prince, Lord, Riku. Come back.
Riku you fucker get back here.
You stupid little shit.
Riku, please.
Kairi will wake up, honest, she wouldn't want this.
Riku! Come back!
He sways on his feet, eyes intent on the sky, sword moving in patterns he knows not. The world goes to hell around him, demons fall around him, and he does not look away.
And finally, finally, he drops to his knees and wordlessly gives away his heart.
Sora, he screams.
The world is bleeding, the sky crying.
Please, he sobs. We need you to save us.
Sora.
Save me.
From the sky, a ship descends.
It is everything and nothing like the one Cid pilots. Colorful, bright, made with huge blocks, and speeding towards him so fast Riku can scarcely track it.
It halts suddenly, and a hatch opens. From it, three figures fall. One is small, white and blue, with a huge yellow beak and a magician's cap. The other's larger, black and yellow and green, buck teeth and a knight's shield.
The third, though...oh, the third, the third.
A boy tumbles from the sky, spins in mid air, and lands directly in the middle of battle. His sword is a key, and he wreaks destruction upon the Heartless like it was what he was born to do. Flesh flays from evil, mutated bodies, and the boy laughs, calls over his shoulders to his two companions. Riku can see them now, They're a duck and a dog.
Riku stands there, sword at his side while demons die before him. He has never seen massacre such as this. He has never seen wonder such as this.
The world fades away, until all he sees are laughing lips and wild hair and eyes deeper than the sky.
Lightning falls from the sky, Heartless are bowled over as a mage and a knight save a world.
And Sora walks forward, wearing clothes he's never seen the like of, and a smile so beautiful his heart stops.
He stops finally, smile softening but no less bright. Thin strands of brown hair dance in the wind. Sunlight, wonderful, glorious sunlight filters from quickly fading black clouds.
Savior, Riku whispers. He falls to his knees and stares openly up at the cheerful face of the boy who has, with the help of only two others, defeated what must be a thousand heartless in the space of minutes. You're him. You're Sora.
And Sora, Sora - he laughs, light and abashed and so very happy. It sounds like bells. The ones in Notre Dame.
Oh, Riku, he chuckles. I've been waiting forever to see you!
Riku's voice catches in his throat, strangling him. I know, he gasps. I know.
fifteen.
Kairi wakes slowly, eyelids fluttering, fingers spasming. If Riku cries, he'll never remember it later.
Her first words are I told you so, and Riku thinks he's never loved her more.
Her second words are It's been a long time, Sora.
Sora responds with Centuries, Kairi! I can't believe you still remember! I think Riku's forgotten all about me!
Yes, she answers. Her smile is warm. Naminé helped, but Riku never had an Other. But it's okay. We have years. Our entire lives. He'll remember again. Just give him time. A smile. There's nothing stronger than love, after all.
And Sora laughs.
No, he says, and when he turns to Riku it's with a grin in his eyes and a smile on his face and the sky clears and the black clouds turn white and the first birdsongs in a decade whistle through the air, lovely and pure.
No, he says. There isn't.
epilogue.
Once upon a time, a monstrous army appeared from a black, cold dimension. They ravaged the world, destroyed planets. Countless horrors, every day for ten years. We all lost hope.
But in our darkest hour, the strongest of our world made himself weak, and made one final plea for salvation. The most proud prostrated himself before the sky and cried for help. He had so very much to lose. He was so very lonely.
And the sky opened up, and the hero of worlds, that legendary boy, the Keyblade's Chosen One descended from up on high. A gift from God.
And a hundred thousand I love you's race through the air and turn a heart pure. Oh, world. You have never been so perfect.
At last, my son, the war is over.
At last, my son. You can come home.
end.
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.
- Max Ehrmann; Desiderata
:
:
:
:
