Yeah, I'm writing again. Yay for me. No Starlights this time, though, or even Trek (gasp!). Instead, I'm writing the KH boys! Hopefully this WILL end up Soriku, although I'm not so great at the shounen-ai and yaoi stuffs. Well, that's what this is for, lol. Practice!
They don't seem out of character to me, but then again, I consistently suffer from artists'/writers' blind eye. Please point out discrepancies or OOC-ness, and it would be nice if you suggested changes, but please don't be mean about it XD. It's been a while since I submitted anything here...
There are so many people who insist on writing Sora as excessively childish. While it's not bad (I actually find it kinda cute, lol), it doesn't quite seem in-character to me. So I'm going to see if I can balance his frequent naïvety with a slightly more mature outlook. Shouldn't be too hard...I like to think I'm like that. XD
This fic assumes that each of the three games and the time between them all has taken about two and a half years, and although Sora wouldn't remember the events of Chain of Memories, time would have passed, so I figure he'd just assume he'd been asleep in that pod that whole time. I have not played CoM, but I have access to a fairly accurate storyline summary (Yeah for Wiki :D). Any errors are almost certainly mine, in any fact from any of the three games.
Oh, and forgive the title. I need to get back to Latin class...it's probably not grammatically correct. Then again, it's tentative. I'll probably end up changing it, so if you like the story, you should favourite it. Just to make sure you can find it again. Go ahead, translate the title if you want to (or can XD). Latin is one of the greatest languages in the world. I wanna learn Classical Greek. Just because.
Kingdom Hearts and all the characters in it do not belong to me. They're copyrighted to Tetsuya Nomura, Square Enix and Disney.
Gotta remember to put that when I first upload next time...
Enjoy!
The Destiny Islands.
An ominous name for such a peaceful place. So peaceful, in fact, that the calm and quiet had only been broken by a handful of storms in the past twenty years. The seasonal changes were signalled by a cooling of the tropical heat and gentle winter rains. No thunder and lightning threatened the towering, tree-sloped mountains, nor the homes nestled in the valleys.
Home to little more than 150 people, and with room for perhaps a hundred more, it was a tiny place, nestled in its little corner of the universe. The white sand beaches were places to relax, while the shaded palm forests and cool mountain caverns provided near-endless nooks for children to play at rescuing damsels and slaying dragons. For the teenagers, these groves offered shelter for secret trysts and games of "Truth or Dare" and "Spin the Bottle".
For a single trio of friends, the Destiny Islands were a refuge from everywhere they had been. Once, they had wished to see other worlds. Now they had realized that while their world was not the most exciting place, it was theirs, and that made it more precious to them than all the others out there. On their journeys, they had made many friends, but they had also made - and defeated - nearly as many enemies.
A young man slept in his room, in a bed positioned beneath a large window. As the sky clouded over, filtering away the light of the moon, so too did his face, his brow furrowing slightly in his sleep. His softly spiked brown hair ruffled slightly as the wind threaded its way into his room through his open window.
A soft moan escaped his lips, harmonizing with the tone of the now-whistling wind. As the flow of air over his bed ebbed away and then grew again, the door to the bedroom began to move. It slammed closed with a resounding bang, startling the sleeping teen so much that he sat straight up in bed, brilliant blue eyes snapping open in fear.
'HeartlessRikuKairiKeybladeRaftIslandsOhNoIDon'tWantToGo!'
Sora was halfway across the room from his bed before reality came rushing back. He gripped the back of his desk chair so tightly that his knuckles turned white. Without conscious thought on his part, the Keyblade had even materialized in his hand, so attuned to his energies that the momentary spike in adrenalin from his half-nightmare had pulled it from wherever it went when he wasn't using it.
The brunet teen spun his desk chair around, flopping into it with a heavy sigh and letting the Keyblade return to its interdimensional pocket. Nearly three years had passed since the day the Heartless had attacked his home. Since then, he has taken two different journeys to the Heart of the World, Kingdom Hearts, to keep it from being exploited, the second one ending just months before. First by the Heartless Ansem, then the Nobody Xemnas. Both had been shells of a brilliant, if entirely too ambitious young man named Xehanort, whose experiments with the heart and darkness had started this whole mess.
It was funny how he could still remember it all. Every battle with the Heartless and Nobodies. Fighting Maleficent, Jafar, Ursula, Captain Hook and Oogie Boogie. His final battle with 'Ansem', who had possessed the body and heart of his best friend Riku. The locking of the door to Kingdom Hearts, with Riku and King Mickey on the other side...
"Sora?"
Speaking of Riku...
Sora turned around. Silver hair still tousled by slumber, Riku leaned up against the doorframe of Sora's bedroom door. His bright turquoise eyes, still half-lidded, were narrowed further as he regarded the other teen. "You okay?" He asked softly, canting his head.
Sora, Riku and Kairi now shared a home together. Kairi had pretty much always been an orphan, at least since the Heartless attack, and whether Riku's parents still existed or not was still a mystery to Sora. The brunet's mother, his only living family prior to the Heartless invasion, had not been seen since that day. Sora wasn't completely certain how he felt about that. Sure, he'd loved his mother, and he missed her now that she was gone, but somehow it was a relief not to have to explain what had happened in all the time he'd been away.
"Hello? Sora?"
The shorter teen shook his head, partly to clear his head and partly to relieve Riku's concern. "Yeah, I'm fine." He replied, staring off into space some more to prevent the silver-haired teen from reading the lie in his eyes. One aspect that seemed to be shared by the Keyblade bearers, or at least by Sora and King Mickey, was that they wore their hearts completely on their sleeves.
And in their eyes. And their body language...
Thus, it didn't matter where Sora was looking. Riku pulled another chair over and sat down in it backwards, propping his elbows up on the chair back and tilting his head to meet Sora's bright blue gaze with his own. "Are you sure?" He asked, raising silver brows.
Sora shifted uncomfortably, his gaze sliding up and to his left. His trying-for-careless expression shifted as well, to a sort of half-grimace. Riku couldn't help but chuckle softly. If there was one thing the brunet teen truly hated, it was being caught in a lie.
"C'mon, Sora. What's wrong?"
Sora shrugged a little. There was a long pause as Riku waited, knowing that the other teen just needed a little time to sort out his thoughts.
"I'm not sure, really." He replied finally. "Maybe it's just the storm. It's so similar to the...the night the Heartless attacked. And...I think I've been having weird dreams, too. I can't remember them, but every morning I've woken up with the adrenalin pumping. It's like something's coming, and I know it's coming, but I don't know what it is or when it'll come. So I guess that just has me on edge. And tonight..." Sora turned to look out at the stormy black sky, looking distant. "I guess I'm just seeing the storm and relating it to 'something bad is going to happen'."
Suddenly, he laughed softly, turning back to Riku. "I'm just being silly, I guess. Storms are random. They don't always bring bad things."
Riku reached out and ruffled Sora's spiked hair affectionately. "That's true." He agreed. "But you should probably listen to those instincts of yours anyway. They're probably better than mine, and maybe even Kai-" He stopped suddenly, watching Sora. The brunet teen had suddenly sat straight up in his chair, looking out his window with a startled expression. "Sora? Are you spacing out on me again?"
"Did you hear that?"
Riku blinked. "Hear what?" He asked, puzzled.
"That shout. I just heard someone shout outside." Sora fidgeted a little. A sparkle of energy flickered near his hand, as if the energies of the Keyblade were fighting with the brunet's unconscious control over his weapon. Riku's thin silver eyebrows rose sharply as he eyed Sora rather critically.
"Do you want to go out there?" Riku knew, from long experience, that Sora would probably end up out there anyway, investigating until he found something or he convinced himself that he imagined it. 'Might as well go along too, just in case. I mean, it's not like I'm actually still tired or anything.' He mused wryly. Glancing at the window, he saw the water pooling on the sill and realized it had actually begun to rain. He stood and walked over, tugging the window closed and saving Sora's bed from a thorough drenching.
While he had been distracted, Sora had risen to his feet, Keyblade in hand. The gold handle glistened softly as if lit from within, and the silver keychain twinkled softly in what little light there was. His lips quirked into a half-smile. "Just to be safe, I guess." He agreed. He knew just as well as Riku did that it would bother him until he got up off his ass and went out there. Riku nodded with a wry lip-twitch of his own, summoning the Way to Dawn in a flicker of soft grey light.
"We'll let Kairi sleep, for now." The silver-haired teen reasoned softly as the two of them crept down the stairs and to the door. As they slipped on shoes, Riku had the presence of mind to grab an umbrella. If they had to fight at all, it would be more of a hinderance than a help, but at least they could keep themselves dry before such a situation arose.
Or, at least Riku could keep dry, seeing as Sora had walked straight out the door without a backward glance.
God, he could be completely and utterly maddening at times.
Closing the door against the rain, Riku looked around outside, tightening his grip on the umbrella so it wouldn't be wrenched from his grip by the wind. "Sora!" He called. "Sora, you idiot, you're gonna get soaked! Come back here!"
No answer, although in the light from a flash of lightning, the silver-haired teen caught sight of a trail of muddy depressions in the soil that could have easily been footprints. Soft curses escaped his lips as he followed the trail, keeping a lookout for the younger teen.
'If he gets sick, it's entirely his fault.' Riku fumed, trudging through the mud. Hopefully he wouldn't, though. Sora had never been the best patient. "Sora!" He called again.
A good twenty minutes went by without a trace. Then, as he called Sora's name for probably the fifth or sixth time, Riku heard an answering shout. He looked up to see the brunet on the ridge, jogging down the slope to where he stood. A couple of feet away, Sora's foot skidded on the muck and he pitched forward. Instinctively, Riku grabbed ahold of his shoulders, keeping him from doing a complete faceplant in the mud.
"Did you find anything?" Sora asked, blue eyes wide as he righted himself. One silver brow arched as Riku eyed him sardonically.
"Other than you? No." He replied, letting the Way to Dawn disappear so he could take ahold of Sora's arm and pull him under the shelter of the umbrella. "What about you? Anything out of the ordinary?"
Sora shook his head. Now that he was out of the rain, his arms came up, crossing over his chest as he began to shiver. He looked sideways at the taller teen. "I guess th-this was kinda a s-stupid idea, huh?"
Riku couldn't help but smile a little. "Yeah, kinda." He agreed, ruffling the sodden chestnut spikes of Sora's hair. "But we both know you wouldn't have been satisfied unless you came out here and checked for yourself. So now that you've checked, let's head home. You're going to catch a cold or something if you stay out here much longer."
Sora nodded, fighting to keep his teeth from chattering. Despite the relatively warm air, he was freezing. "C-C'mon."
The two of them hurried back to their little house, keeping an eye out as they picked their way down the trail. They reached home without incident, although Sora had frequently looked around and behind them as if expecting something to jump out and yell "Ooga booga boo!". Somehow, he felt like he'd spent too much time in Halloween Town...
With the wind at their backs, Riku fought to open the door, then fought to keep it from slamming shut as they hurried inside. Looking down at his sopping wet pyjama pants and t-shirt, Sora gave a sheepish chuckle. "I guess I should p-probably go change, huh?"
Riku gave him an up-and-down glance, looking rather amused. "Probably a good idea." He agreed, setting the umbrella down. "I think I'm going to try and whip up some cocoa or something. You want a cup?"
Sora grinned. "Yeah, sure. I'll come back down, then, once I dry off." He replied, creeping up the stairs so as not to wake Kairi. Grinning too, Riku slipped his shoes off and went into the kitchen to see what he could find.
The brunet teen came back down in dry clothes about ten minutes later and was greeted by the scent of warm milk and chocolate. Riku sat on the living room couch, already sipping a softly steaming mug. He lifted his head when he heard Sora's footsteps and nodded towards the kitchen. "Yours is on the counter." He told him. Pulling a U-turn, Sora picked his mug up off the kitchen counter and took it into the living room, sitting on a chair. He took a first sip from the cup in his hands and hummed softly.
"This is good." He commented. Riku grinned over his mug.
"I guess I'm not hopeless in the kitchen either. Maybe between Kairi and I, we can teach you not to blow anything up." He teased softly. Sora stuck his tongue out at the silver-haired teen, looking slightly miffed.
"I didn't blow anything up..." He muttered, sitting back. "Won't you ever let me forget that? It's not like it was a huge mistake."
Riku's smile broadened. "No, it wasn't, but to watch you react whenever one of us mentions it is rather amusing." He admitted. Sora just pouted, folding his arms over his chest, causing Riku to chuckle.
The two young men sat in silence for a little while, sipping at the mugs in their hands. When his was nearly empty, Sora set it aside, leaning back against the back of the chair. "Hey, Riku?"
Riku blinked, raising his head to look at the brunet teen. "Yeah?"
"D'you think it's really all over?"
The silver-haired teen took a moment or two to think about that. "I don't know." He admitted finally. "It'd be nice if it was, although, to be perfectly honest, I'd love to hijack that Gummi Ship and go around to all those worlds you visited. I managed to see some of them, but while you were still asleep in that pod, I was pretty much stuck harassing your Nobody...that Roxas kid. And then...after the darkness took over again...I sorta operated on autopilot for a while, I suppose, so I don't remember a lot. I do remember that city with the Emperor...telling him about that gigantic Heartless that had just popped out of the mountains."
"The Land of Dragons? Mulan's world?" Sora asked, interested. "D'you remember fighting me?"
Riku blinked at that, although he took a couple of minutes to think before he responded. "Kind of." He admitted. "On the mountain, right? With all the little yellow flying Heartless?"
"Yeah!"
"Yeah, I sort of remember that fight. And then you called my name, and I ran. I didn't want you to see what I'd had to do to beat Roxas. Besides, you wouldn't have recognized me anyway." He chuckled. "After that, I don't remember a lot until I ran into Kairi. That would have been in the World that Never Was."
Sora nodded, leaning forward to rest his elbows on the arm of the chair and propping his chin up on his hands. "It'd be fun to travel to all those worlds again...see how Mulan and the Beast, and everyone else are doing. I'd even like to see Disney Castle again, while it's not crawling with Heartless." He thought for a moment or two, looking distant. "I wonder if the Beast is still the Beast. And I wonder what Belle calls him if he's back to being a prince."
"Perhaps his name?" Riku suggested, one brow quirked slightly.
Sticking his tongue out at Riku, Sora made a face. "You know what I mean."
The silver-haired teen sighed a little. "I wish I could have been travelling with you. I think I could have even put up with those weird friends of yours to see all those other worlds."
Sora grinned. "Donald and Goofy, Riku." He suddenly began to snicker, clapping his hand over his mouth to stifle the noise. Riku blinked at him, surprised.
"What's your problem, Sora?"
Sora laughed helplessly for a few moments more before he managed to get ahold of himself. "It's just...I suddenly imagined what you would have looked like if you'd been with us at the Pride Lands. It was pretty funny."
"Why?" Riku canted his head, intrigued. "How would I have been...different?"
The brunet squeezed his eyes shut, on the verge of another laughing fit. "There are no humans in the Pride Lands. So I couldn't exactly walk around as a human. Donald changed us all into animals so we could fit in better. If you'd been there, you probably would have ended up a lion cub, just like me."
Riku's brows rose, and a surprised grin lit up his features. "You were a what?" He gave a short, surprised laugh. "A lion cub?"
Sora shrugged, turning his palms upward as if to say 'Oh well', still grinning. "Lions are basically the humans of the Pride Lands. I guess I was too young to have been turned into a fully-grown lion, so I was a cub instead."
Riku chuckled and started to reply, but was cut off by a rather large yawn. "It's getting really late, Sora. How about we go upstairs and go to bed, and you can tell Kairi and I about your four-footed adventures tomorrow?"
Nodding, the brunet stood, grabbing his cup and taking it to the sink. "That's a deal." He yawned too, turning towards the stairs. Riku caught up with him, slinging an arm over the shorter teen's shoulder.
"So...what else did you have to turn into while you were off adventuring?"
Sora laughed. "Well, Atlantica's underwater..."
A friend of mine, while proofreading my hard copy, complained that Riku was 'too nice'. XD Don't worry, guys. He hasn't gone completely soft. Hold out on me, 'kay?
Love to all who've read even just this far.
Ivy J. (previously Kou-chan or Kou Taiki-san)