A/N: The product of a crappy day and my absolute heartbreak over Aquanort.

~ Too Late ~

Sora knew something was wrong because Riku wouldn't meet his eyes.

"Riku!" he called, descending the stairs two at a time in the Mysterious Tower to catch up to him. "Riku, wait up!"

He did, slowing at the last stair, hand on the railing. He clutched it tight, like he did before while Yen Sid droned on and on and on. His fist was held in a ball at his side the whole time. Not that Sora had been watching.

And that wasn't even the first thing. When they arrived, Donald and Goofy pushed Sora aside to rush the King, and Sora split his face smiling because the King meant one thing: Riku was there, too. But when their eyes met, they didn't. Riku wouldn't look back. He was strangely interested with the wall to the side, gripping one of his arms. Sora was more concerned in his clothes, ragged and discolored from dirt and battle. He had scratches all along both arms that Sora knew to be from Heartless, but the gash across his cheek – it was healed enough from… potions, most likely, since it wasn't bleeding anymore but that didn't come from any Heartless Sora had encountered. But Master Yen Sid was so determined to talk at the time, that he didn't get the chance to give his best friend even so much as a hello until he was practically running out of the room.

Sora huffed when he met the other keyblade master at the bottom of the stairs, leaning on his knees to catch his breath. "Gees, you could have at least said hi." He hoped it didn't sound… angry, or desperate, when he said it, but… He'd missed Riku. Didn't Riku miss him back?

"Sorry," Riku said immediately, which was already another red flag because Riku did a lot of things but apologize was not one of them, "I… I was going to fix my arm."

Sora shook his head, eyebrows knitting together. "Curaga," he said, hands hovering over the arm. The swelling abated substantially within seconds, green tendrils of magic flowing into Riku's pale skin. "There!" he said with false cheer. He wanted to tell Riku to stop getting hurt, to heal himself when he did, but he felt like his words would fall on deaf ears.

Riku's shoulders dipped, the tightness magically stolen by Sora's magic. "Thanks," he muttered. Yet, his lips remained pursed, eyes staring somewhere off to the side. Sora frowned, taking a step closer, a tentative hand resting on Riku's still tense on the stair rail, and waited.

When Riku said nothing, no explanation, Sora grabbed the hand attached to the unharmed arm, and pulled. They wouldn't be missed for awhile, anyway. Riku made no protest, but Sora realized five steps in that he had no destination in mind – so he dragged them to the room they shared during the Mark of Mastery exams. The silveret hesitated at the door, finally speaking, "Sora, we don't have time–"

"Explain to me why you can't look at me in five minutes, then," Sora insisted, huffing and glaring over his shoulder. Riku, called out, winced, and then stared back, the dark rings under his eyes shadowed more in the poor hall lighting.

Riku allowed himself to be pulled into the room and sat next to Sora at the end of a neat, untouched bed. His strong arms rested on his knees, head dipped in exhaustion or something, that he would be forced to talk about if Sora had any say in the matter. And when it came to Riku, Sora had a lot of say.

"What happened?" Sora prompted softly, turning toward him.

Riku sighed, perhaps now thoroughly convinced that this conversation would be happening. "It's Aqua," he said, voice low.

"…Who?" Sora asked. Still, there was a feeling about the name that made Sora warm, happy. Maybe he knew her.

"You don't remember?" Riku said with no surprise in his voice, "she visited the islands, once – told you to watch over me, keep me safe in case I went down a dark path." He looked up, to Sora with a soft smile. "Guess you kept that promise."

"Heh," Sora giggled because Riku's grin was so fond and grateful and had the irreversible effect of melting him. "Guess so. But…"

Riku looked down again. "She saved me, too. I didn't know till recently. She sacrificed herself in the Realm of Darkness so that the King and I could escape. That's why we went back to the realm – to save her, but –" He stopped, fists clenching on his knees, "We were too late."

"She wasn't… there?"

"No, she was there…" Riku was stone, barely moving even for breath. "Xehanort got to her, she was shrouded in darkness. If we had just gotten there earlier–"

"Riku, it's not your fault!" Sora interjected, grabbing his tense fists. He searched his face for some sign that Riku wasn't seriously blaming himself for things that he had no control over. But of course, he held no such mercy for himself. "You and Mickey will find a way, you'll–"

"What if we can't?" Riku growled, harsh and angry enough that Sora winced. His aqua eyes, filled with shame, looked to the side again. "In your dreams, I barely saved you and now I failed to save her. What's the point of being a 'master' if I'm not strong enough to save anyone?"

He immediately stilled like he said too much, like the moment a glass dropped to the floor and shattered and all he could do was stare at it.

"You're always doing this," Sora said, frowning and dipping to look more into Riku's face that he was so desperately trying to hide. "You don't have to do this alone. You won't do this alone. You have the King, you have me – together we'll find a way to bring Aqua back." He was so certain, it shone in his eyes. Because Riku could do anything he set his mind to, despite everything Riku told himself. Because being a keyblade master did mean something; that his best friend had amazing light and strength that everyone could see except himself. Because Sora would do everything in his power to make Riku see it.

"And anyway," Sora said, brighter as Riku finally looked back, hesitantly meeting his eyes, "Just 'cause you lose one fight doesn't mean everything is over. Do you know how many times I've fought Xemnas, err– Ansem, err– Xehanort?"

"You could at least get your arch nemesis's name right," Riku muttered. Sora's eyes lit up as a small smile grew on Riku's lips.

Sora shrugged, grin wide. "Nah, I mean, arch nemesis is giving him too much credit. He's just this old evil dude I have to put into retirement." He cockily put his hands behind his head, chest puffed out.

Riku bumped his shoulder, barely enough to sway Sora, but Sora let himself be swayed. "Don't say that around Yen Sid. He'd lecture you for at least a week."

"Have you even met Donald? Getting lectured is my state of being." Sora pushed him back, happy that they were back to bumping.

Riku leaned back on a hand, eyes still a little sad but at least they were meeting Sora's now. They reminded Sora of the islands, the sweet blue swell of the ocean crashing against the shore. "That duck hates me," Riku said, chuckling ruefully.

"He does not," Sora corrected. "He's like that with everyone."

"So he assaults everyone with that staff, gotcha," Riku replied sarcastically. He tilted his head like a challenge, like a dare to tell him he was wrong.

So, he didn't. Instead, Sora narrowed his eyes. "Mhmmmmmm," he hummed, and leaned in. Riku's eyebrows raised, and then, Sora pinched his cheeks. "And you know what Donald taught me? No," he was messing with Riku's mouth now, forcing a smile with two fingers digging in, "sad faces."

"Sowa shtaa-" Riku tried to pull Sora's hands away, leaning even farther away to try to escape. But because Sora was attached to his face, he fell forward with him, giggling – and he wouldn't let go because that would be admitting defeat.

Riku finally wrangled Sora's hands off his face, leaving Sora a disorganized mess across Riku's side. The latter just gave up and laid back against the bed, holding Sora's hands to keep them from renewing the fight but really the brunet was just happy their fingers were intertwined. Sora told him so by giving a little squeeze to their hands. Riku smirked and squeezed back.

Then he sighed. "It's been five minutes," he said, though stayed still.

"And you're still not looking at me," Sora lied, though Riku was currently staring at the ceiling. He scooted up a little to kiss his cheek.

But Riku turned his head. "Yes, I have–" And their lips met. The surprise made it short – though it left a familiar but pleasant tingling across Sora's skin.

"Oh, sorry," Sora said, though what exactly he was apologizing for, he wasn't sure. Riku must have thought the same thing because he stared at Sora blankly before leaning in and deliberately catching his lips again.

Riku's lips were always soft and smooth and sweet. Grounding. His eyes may be the ocean of Destiny Islands, but his arms were home wherever they happened to be. Already things were becoming uncertain and Sora didn't have many answers but he hoped Riku knew that Sora considered them one. Well, maybe a few.

Sora was smiling when they pulled away. Riku's lips were quirked too; the turbulent sea in his eyes had calmed. "Thanks," he said like a sigh.

"For what?" Sora asked.

"For being you, I guess," Riku replied, ruffling his hair.

"Oh, well, good because that's something I can keep up." Sora winked, propping himself on an elbow. They rested their joined hands on Riku's middle – and Sora made an honest effort to avoid thinking about the pale skin and taut muscle underneath his white shirt.

"You're a dork," Riku said with no bite. He was getting drowsy, evident by his lidded eyes and slow breathing. Sora had heard time flowed differently in the Realm of Darkness, and wondered when Riku had last slept.

"I can go," Sora said, "so you can sleep." Riku grimaced, and so the brunet added, "C'mon, you know they are going to be talking for at least another hour."

"Not everyone can just laze about like you can," the silveret weakly argued. His eyes were closed.

Sora shook his head. "I'm about to cast a very lazy Sleepga and lock you in here."

"I have a keyblade, too, y'know… Can unlock doors…" It was clear it took significant effort for Riku to reply at all. He was so stubborn. Sora sighed with a smile, sitting up to try to slip away.

As Sora was trying to untangle their fingers, Riku gripped a little tighter. Riku peered at Sora through tired slits. "Stay?" he asked.

Sora momentarily forgot how to breathe. Oh, and I'm the sap, Sora thought, but smiled brilliantly and gave in. He nestled back into the spot he was in before, using Riku's shoulder and upper arm as a pillow. It was a little awkward with both their jackets on; Riku's arm would likely fall to pins and needles. But they only had less than an hour anyway, and he was warm. Maybe Sora was tired too, because his eyes drooped easily.

Donald and Goofy could find them later.

A/N: I feel like Riku would take it kinda hard if they couldn't save Aqua. This entire scenario will likely be ripped to shreds when KH3 comes out but for now, this is my take lol. Also, Donald would totally smack Riku with his staff for cuddling with Sora, so he's in for a rude awakening pfft.

I'm always ready to chat on tumblr or twitter! tumblr handle is astraia-writes, and my twitter is KaiserinAstraia, if you're interested :) can't wait for kh3!