Versus Undistorted, a Kingdom Hearts fanfic series by Raberba girl for Cherished Tenshi's 100 Song Theme Challenge

Extreme Encounters (theme 26) [rough draft]

For Christmas 2015

Summary: On Christmas Eve, Sora made a friend. On Christmas Day, Riku gains some allies. Sequel to Treasure of my Heart: Holiday.

o.o.o

Even half-asleep, Sapphique had the feeling that something was wrong, and when she finally realized what it was, she sat up in bed with a gasp. It was nearly 6:30 on Christmas morning - and Sora hadn't come to wake her up yet.

Ven had always dragged his parents out of bed for Christmas so early that they'd finally had to set a rule that he couldn't wake them before 5:00. But Sora...was it simply that he was a different sort of child? Or that he was still too young to know the significance of December 25th?

Or was something wrong?

Sapphique flew out of bed and down the hall. She could tell from that the living room was still dark except for the Christmas tree's glow, so she swerved into Sora's room first.

The sight brought her up short. Sora lay curled up in bed (alive? He was alive, right?!), but he wasn't alone. A second small figure, maybe four years old, was curled up beside him. The child had silvery hair that nearly seemed to glow in the darkness, and he (she?) sat up abruptly at the woman's entrance. They stared at each other for a minute.

"Who are you?" Sapphique finally whispered. There was no response. She flicked on the light, and the tiny intruder was revealed in more detail. It was a boy (probably) in what looked like expensive-looking pajamas, though the hems near his ankles were dirty, and his feet were bare. She saw a pair of even dirtier socks discarded on the floor, as if he'd walked here with no shoes. He had beautiful aquamarine eyes that were now fixed intently on her, and she saw the tension in his body, as if he was poised for flight. "How did you get in here?" she asked.

"...He said I could," the child finally spoke in a low voice.

"He...Sora?"

"..."

She raised her voice a little, now trying to rouse her son. "Sora. Sora, wake up." He stirred a little and mumbled in sleep, which relieved her. The boy was still alive, and hopefully unhurt. She went over to the bed, noticing how the strange boy quickly slipped to the floor and started to edge away. "Hey," she said sternly, "stay here. I need to talk to you." He sucked in a breath and dashed out the door. She sighed and stooped down, gathering her own child close to her chest. "Sora...Sora, wake up, sweetheart."

"Mama," he murmured, his fingers curling into her T-shirt.

"Sora. Sora. Come on, baby, wake up."

His sleepy blue eyes finally cracked open. He smiled when he saw his mother, looking so precious that she couldn't help smiling back. Then he blinked, sat up straighter, and asked, "Where's Riku?"

"Riku?"

He twisted in her arms, staring around the room. "Riku? Riku?!"

"Riku...you mean, that boy?"

"Mama! Where's Riku?!" Now looking distressed, Sora started trying to wriggle out of her arms. She set him on his feet, and he immediately began trotting for the door.

"Sora! Come back!"

"Riku's gone! I have to find Riku!"

"Sora!" She followed him out into the hall.

Sora was practically running now - he halted in the living room, looked around again, then cried in a loud voice, "Riku! Riku, where are you?!"

The front door was wide open. Sapphique hurried to close it - and jumped back with a startled cry when she saw the small figure standing on the porch, just behind the door. They both backed up, staring fearfully at each other.

Sora popped up by his mother's legs. "Riku!" he cried happily.

"...I have to go," the boy muttered.

"Riku!" Sora ran straight at him.

"Sora!" his mother cried.

Sora was already hugging him. "Come back, Riku! Open presents for Christmas!"

"I have to go."

"Rikuuuu!" Sora stared at him in dismay, still holding onto him tightly.

Sapphique swallowed. "Riku? Where are your parents?"

"..."

"Why are you...wandering around outside at night, with no shoes? It's cold."

His voice was shaky when he finally answered. "Do you...do you like Christmas?"

Sapphique stared at him, at this strange, beautiful, terrified boy who sounded so desperate.

"On Christmas we open PRESENTS!" Sora declared.

They were both surprised when Riku sank down into a crouch, hugging his knees tightly. "Those presents were for me...and they burned them. They hate me. They hate me so much. I wish Santa had stayed and helped me fight, but he just left some stupid boxes, I don't even know what was in them, and he left me, I'm always all by myself, and I can't do it anymore and I HATE THEM."

There was a long silence. Then Sapphique bent down and tried to pull Riku into her arms. He resisted her at first, but when she said, "Come inside, love, I'll get you something to eat," he sagged against her and cried into her shoulder. She had no idea who this boy was, yet already she was feeling protective and maternal... Sometimes she wished she'd been able to have more children of her own, but with the way so many others seemed to appear on her doorstep, it took the bitterness out of that longing.

"Mama, what's wrong with Riku?" Sora asked in concern as they went into the house.

"He'll be all right, sweetheart. He just needs some friends to love him right now." She hooked her foot around the edge of the door to close it.

"I'm his friend, Mama!" Sora cried instantly. "I told him, we're friends now and he can have Christmas with us, right?"

"That's right." She stroked the Riku's hair soothingly, surprised and amazed at how soft and silky it felt. "Riku, if you don't have anywhere to go for Christmas, you'll stay with us for today, right?"

He dragged himself back upright and miserably wiped his nose with the back of his hand. "They'll look for me," he mumbled, "and they'll find me. I'm tired of them hurting me. I can fight them a lot, but not all the time - it's so hard, because I'm alone, and I'm too little, and I hate it."

"...Who's 'they'?" she asked.

"Kadaj and them...my brothers..."

A chill went down her spine. Kadaj, one of those troublemaking triplets... Riku was a Crescent? Even as she recoiled from the idea, it made sense. His hair alone was proof enough.

Yet no matter how strange and dangerous that family might be, that didn't negate the fact that the child she was holding in her arms was obviously unhappy and even more obviously needed help. "They...they're your family? Did you say they hurt you, Riku?"

Looking uncomfortable, he started struggling to get down.

"Please don't run away, Riku. We want to help you."

"...If I stay here, they'll find me. They'll wreck everything."

'Is he really a Crescent?' She could never have imagined that anyone in that family would be worried about another person. Riku had been nervous and wary, but hadn't yet been rude or destructive. It was strange, seeing a Crescent behave with common decency.

"We'll handle that if it happens. You just relax and try to enjoy Christmas, all right?"

Her husband, Kal, came shuffling into the living room, yawning and tousled. "What's going on? Did everyone start Christmas without me?"

Riku started to back away, but Sapphique took his hand and tugged him close to her side. "Honey, this is Riku. He's a friend of Sora's, and he's going to spend Christmas with us. Is that all right?"

"Uh...well, sure." Kal looked surprised and a little confused, but he smiled at Riku amiably enough. "Hello, Riku."

"H...Hello."

All of them were startled when the phone rang. Sapphique frowned, then went to answer it.

"Sapphique?"

"Hami?" He and his wife were invited to the Kings' home for a Christmas brunch, so she had been expecting him to call at some point, but not this early. She also had not expected him to sound so tense and worried when he did call.

"There's been- Have you noticed anything in your neighborhood yet? Any sort of disturbance?"

"Well..." She wasn't sure if Riku's appearance had anything to do with what was upsetting him.

"Sapphique, the Crescents are on the move, we've already gotten a few reports, and I- Are you all right? Sora and Kal, is everyone-?"

"We're all right, um, for now. But..." She glanced at little Riku, who was looking at her anxiously. "M-Maybe you'd better come."

"I'm already on my way." He hung up abruptly.

Sapphique put the phone down, now staring at the little boy. "Riku, sweetie...when you said your family will f-find you...what did-?"

Riku's face fell, and the sight of his sadness made her heart ache. "I have to go." He turned away.

"Riku, wait!" Sora and his mother cried, almost in unison.

"What's going on?" Kal asked.

"Riku, listen to me!" Sapphique knelt and grabbed his arm, trying to stop him from walking out the door. "Are we in danger?"

"Yes."

It made her cold, how easily he said it, as if it was obvious. She was immediately terrified for her family, but- "Riku, surely you're not planning to go back to them if they'll hurt you?! All by yourself?!"

He gave her a strange look. "Of course. If I go home, they'll leave you all alone."

"Riku...!"

There was a sound of a car hurriedly pulling up to the house. Riku's eyes darted around, and he seized an umbrella from the stand by the door, gripping it like a weapon, the awkward weight of it making it sway in his tiny hands. Sapphique tugged aside the curtains and exhaled in relief. "It's Hami..."

"Mr. Carlson~~!" Sora cheered happily.

"Who is it?" Riku said tightly. "Is it my family?"

"No, it's-" Sapphique opened the door for Hami as he hurried up the porch steps.

"Is everything all right so far?" he demanded.

"Yes, I-"

Hami's eyes flew to Riku, and the two of them stared at each other for a second.

"...Hello there," Hami said, his voice very measured.

"Hello," Riku said tightly, still gripping his 'weapon.'

"...What're you planning on doing with that umbrella?" Hami drawled conversationally, though his stance was still tense.

"Hami, he's frightened," Sapphique said. "He said his family is coming for him, and-"

Hami glanced sharply at her. "He's alone?"

"Yes, he and Sora were playing together earlier-"

"Playing?!" Hami looked at the boy in surprise.

"Mr. Carlson~!" Sora bounded out and happily attached himself to Hami's leg.

"Hey there, Sora," Hami said, picking up the little boy to hug him even as he still looked at Riku in surprise. "You...made a new friend, huh?"

"Yeah! That's Riku! We're friends and we played Tin Soldier and Ballina."

"Ballerina," Riku corrected softly.

Hami's eyes suddenly widened. "You came here to play with Sora," he realized, "and now your family's coming to get you back."

Riku cocked his head warily. "Yeah. I have to go let them find me before they come here."

"Ohhh, kiddo..." Now with compassion in his eyes, Hami reached down to ruffle the boy's hair, but Riku flinched away before he could touch him. Still with Sora in his arms, Hami crouched down and said, his voice now soft and genuinely friendly, "So you're Riku, huh?"

Riku swallowed and said nothing.

"Heh. We knew about you, running around with those troublesome brothers of yours. We've picked them up a few times, but you're such a sly little fox, you've never been caught."

Riku's lips quirked in a brief grin.

"Are you afraid that I'm here to arrest you?"

"Are you?" Riku said warily.

"No. Not unless we catch you breaking the law, but you're not breaking the law right now, are you?"

Riku's eyes flickered away for a moment.

"Riku's my friend," Sora told Hami chattily.

"Riku, it seems like your family's causing trouble on the way here. I think you might be trying to protect your new friend, and that's good - but the thing is, I want you to be safe, too. And I don't think you'll be safe if you're with your family."

"I'll be fine," Riku mumbled.

"Are you still sad, Riku?" Sora asked.

Hami reached out and laid a very gentle hand on Riku's shoulder. "Let's say we go somewhere safe and figure out how we can help you, okay?"

Riku gave him a strange look. "Nowhere is safe. Mother's cells are inside me, so they can always find me. I'm supposed to be able to find them, too - I can't yet, except that one time I found Loz, but when I'm bigger I'll be able to do it."

There was a distant crashing sound.

"Get inside," Hami suddenly ordered. He pushed Sora into his mother's arms and tried to herd the Kings backward, away from the door.

"The Crescents are coming here?" Kal said in alarm. "This kid, he's a Crescent...?!"

"Riku needs our help," his wife said fiercely to him.

"All right, all right," Kal said soothingly, trying to squeeze her shoulders in a comforting gesture even as they all still stumbled toward the back door.

It was too late. The house shook as it was hit by an invisible force, and every single one of the front windows cracked or shattered. Silver-haired invaders were entering as if they had every right to do so - the man who was so rarely seen but the most feared, the woman who couldn't be human, and the three whooping boys scrambling in through broken windows, heedless of the shards. Hami stepped in front of the Kings, his hand on his gun.

Riku walked out to meet them, astonishingly calm. His voice was as scathing as an adult's. "I can't believe you all came chasing after me."

"We didn't say you could leave, Riku," the boy Kadaj said gleefully, all three of them pouncing at that small figure like dogs about to tear into prey. Just before they reached him, long strands of hair shot out like tentacles and seized Riku in a sickeningly inhuman display. Sapphique already had Sora's face pressed against her, trying to shield him from the sight of violence. She struggled to cover his ears as well as he asked, "What's happening, Mama?"

That impossible hair whipped upward, slamming Riku's tiny body against the ceiling- Sapphique nearly choked with horror, and then astonishment when she realized that Riku had thrown back his feet and hands in time and was now bracing himself against the ceiling. His expression looked more annoyed than frightened.

"Do I need to beat the arrogance out of you?" Jenova hissed. "What has ever made you think that you can cut yourself off from us when you are obviously required?"

"You never told me to stay," Riku snapped. Any, any other child his age would be incoherent with terror, how was he even capable of defiance...?! "You've told me over and over and over again that I'm weak and useless, so I thought you'd be happy to get rid of me for a while."

"We wanted you, Riku!" Kadaj shouted up at him.

Riku started to speak but ended up saying nothing, simply glaring at Kadaj with an overwhelming expression of rage.

"Why did you come here?" Sephiroth asked. His voice, quiet as it was, sent chills down the spine of each human.

For the first time, a flicker of fear finally crossed Riku's face, but it was gone again in the next instant. "I didn't come here," he said, sounding almost bored. "I was just walking, and it looked interesting, so I came to investigate."

'A four-year-old knows a word like 'investigate'...?' Sapphique thought.

"Hmph. Better you having to dirty yourself with human filth than me," Jenova snapped - and her hair loosened. Sapphique nearly screamed as Riku started plummeting to the floor, but Hami managed to catch him in time. Riku stared at him, looking very surprised.

"Mama, I can't see," Sora complained.

"Ssshh, baby, ssshhh...!"

"Give him back!" the triplets were insisting, tugging at Hami as they tried to get to Riku. "He's ours, give him back!"

"Not yet," Riku told them. "He's a police officer, he's gonna arrest me."

The boys stared at Hami, who was dressed in ordinary clothes, but when Hami pulled aside his jacket to show them the badge on his belt, all three of them backed away, looking upset and frustrated.

"Hmph. So you don't have the No Arrests advantage anymore," Yazoo said with a scowl.

"Yeah, you suck, Riku," Kadaj declared, pouting like a child trying to pretend he was getting his way when he obviously wasn't.

"You be nice to Riku," Loz ordered Hami. "Don't handcuff him too tight, and don't lock him up with any stupid humans. If you treat him bad, we'll come to get you."

"Riku will be taken care of," Hami said evenly.

The three boys looked uncertainly at their parents. There was a long silence, during which Riku and his father looked very intently at each other, Jenova eyeing both of them with a frown as if she suspected something was happening but wasn't sure what.

Then Sephiroth nodded to Riku as if they had been talking, and walked away.

"You're leaving?!" Jenova yelled after him.

"I have no more use for Riku at this time," Sephiroth called without slowing down or looking back.

The triplets were fidgeting toward the door as if they were about to leave, too. "Come back as soon as they let you out! We wanna play!"

"I'm mad at you," Riku growled. "You burned all my presents. I'll play with you if you make me a new present - that WASN'T STOLEN. Then I'll play with you. But if you guys are too weak to give me a not-stolen present, then I don't want to waste my time playing with you!"

The three boys exchanged wide-eyed looks, then suddenly ran off, yelling in excitement.

Jenova glared at the humans. "That creature is mine. Get your filthy hands off of him."

Hami started to say something, but Riku put a hand over his mouth, then tilted his head thoughtfully and pushed. Hami jerked his head away and stared at him. "Oh, look, I got licked by a human," Riku remarked.

"Wh- I didn't-?!"

Riku squirmed until Hami let him down, and began making his way toward his mother. "And I slept in one of their beds, so their germs are all over me now, and from when I walked here barefoot through all those gross human streets, but if you really want me to come with you, Mother, I will." He reached out toward the woman, who actually skipped backward, staring at him in horror.

"Don't touch me!"

"But I'm tired and weak, Mother. I think you might have to carry me," Riku said, trying to lean on her.

"Get away from me! Filthy creature!"

"Yeah, it's really gross. I don't wanna stay here and work, but I have to. Unless you want to do it instead."

"You stay away from me," she hissed. "Stay AWAY."

"When can I come back?" Riku asked piteously.

"When you're not FILTHY anymore!" She stormed away.

Hami came slowly up beside Riku, the two of them watching the Crescents retreat. Sapphique's arms loosened around her child, and she could feel herself trembling. Kal was staring, wide-eyed and astonished. Sora looked around at the mess and asked in surprise, "What happened? Why was everybody yelling?"

"I...It's okay now, baby...it's okay..."

Riku finally turned back to the others and said, "I'm sorry about all the windows. I can't fix them."

"Riku," Sapphique said faintly, but couldn't manage anymore. 'That was his family?! He was used to that?! All of that was so normal to him that he wasn't frightened, that he's learned how to resist it, that he's forced to show such bravery...?!'

"This is crazy," Kal said. "Hami, we can't let him go back to that family." Sapphique gave her husband a grateful look.

Hami sat down heavily in the closest chair. "We can't keep him out of that house."

"What?!"

"We tried... With the older brothers, we tried to save them, but those parents...they're not human. They..." Hami raised his head and gave the family a heart-rending look. "There's nothing we can do, except look after them as best we can when our paths cross."

Riku approached him, staring. "You tried to take my brothers away from my parents?"

"Yes, Riku," Hami said sadly. "We tried, a few years ago, but we failed. I'm sorry. We...we're too weak to help you."

Riku touched his knees, gazing at him in wonder. "You're weak," he whispered, sounding strangely happy. He even started to smile. "I'm weak, too. If we're both weak, then we can...help each other." His smile faded. "Right?" he asked, looking hopeful and afraid. When Hami put his arms around him, Riku stiffened, then finally relaxed into the hug without returning it.

"I'll do my best, Riku," Hami whispered. "I couldn't save your brothers, and I couldn't save...I couldn't save Ven..." Tears stung Sapphique's eyes. Hami let go and gazed earnestly at Riku. "But I'll do my best. I promise to never give up trying." He took out a card and gave it to Riku, who held it with both hands and studied it curiously. "Can you read those numbers, Riku?"

Everyone was a little surprised when Riku read out the digits almost as well as a much older child.

"Right... That's my phone number, Riku. Any time you need my help, if you can dial that number, I'll come find you. I want to help you, Riku."

"...Thank you," Riku finally whispered, carefully tucking the card into the front pocket of his nightshirt as if it was a treasure.

Since Hami was already at the Kings' house anyway, he called his wife to come over and then helped Sapphique and Kal (and Riku, who joined in without being asked; then Sora, who happily wanted to be involved despite everyone's worried orders to keep away from the dangerous shards) clean up all the broken glass. Then everyone's attention seemed to automatically turn to the tree, and Sapphique's eyes widened when she realized that most of the gifts were for Sora, whereas obviously none were for Riku.

"Preseeeeents!" Sora cheered, and dove into the pile of gifts before she could stop him. He ripped off the wrapping paper of the first package as Riku watched curiously.

"Sora, honey-"

"YAAAAYYYY!" Sora cheered, holding aloft the action figure. He dropped it and started to grab for another box, then paused and looked at Riku. He tilted his head. "Riku's turn!"

The older boy looked a little alarmed. "What?"

Sapphique was too mortified to say anything, so Kal said awkwardly, "Uhh...maybe we should save the rest of the presents for later...?"

Sora held out the gift to Riku. "Riku's turn!"

Riku took the box and looked at it. "That's your name, not mine."

"You can read?" Mrs. Carlson said, surprised and interested.

Riku carefully sounded out Sora's name on the label, then looked up at the adults as if anxious to know whether he'd gotten it right or not.

"That's meeeee!" Sora cheered.

"This is your box, Sora," Riku said, handing it back.

Sora grabbed another box. "Riku's turn!"

"This is yours, too."

They might have gone through the entire pile like that if Sapphique hadn't said frantically, "Who wants breakfast?! How about we eat some breakfast first, then we can open presents later!"

"I'm not hungry, Mama!" Sora protested in dismay.

Riku was studying her. "You don't want Sora to open his presents?"

"I...I..."

"Riku," Hami said gently, "this is Sora's house, so it makes sense that all of the gifts would be for Sora, doesn't it?"

"Duh."

"Riku's turn!" Sora insisted.

"No, Sora," Riku said, "all of them are your turn. Open it."

Sora stared at him. He looked down at his gift. He carefully set it aside and picked up another gift and held it out to his new friend and said tentatively, "Riku's turn?"

"No. Not my turn. It's never my turn. All of these are for you; none of them are for me. See? Look, this is your name, not mine. Your name starts with an S in English and a So in Japanese. My name starts with an R and a Ri. It's different."

Sora pouted. Then he picked up his new action figure and pounded it on the gift label of the present Riku had shown him. "Pwch pwch pwch pwwwcccchhhh! Dead," he announced. Then beaming, he pushed the present back at Riku. My name is gone! RIKU'S TURN!"

"...Okay." Riku opened it, to the adults' relief, tearing uncertainly.

"Riku got a sword!" Sora cheered.

"Worst sword ever," Riku commented. "Way too blunt."

"It's a toy, Riku," Hami clarified, looking a little pained that Riku did not seem to be joking. "It's not meant to be a real weapon or hurt anyone." Riku eyed him as if he didn't understand the concept at all, which broke Sapphique's heart yet again.

The boys soon got the hang of it, opening all of Sora's presents together and dividing up the loot between them. The adults helped to free the presents from their packaging, and the children were soon chasing each other around the room, sending shredded wrapping paper flying as they wielded toy weapons and made enthusiastic sound effects.

Riku spent the whole day and another night with the King family, more happy than he had ever been in his life. Unfortunately, he knew he would have to go home soon to avoid rousing his own family's suspicions, and was very quiet by the time breakfast was over.

"Honey," Sapphique said, brushing imaginary dirt from his clothes and smoothing non-existent tangles from his hair, "you can stay with us, you know. For as long as you like."

"No, I can't. I have to leave, but I want to come back." Riku looked at her longingly. "Sometimes. Maybe. When I need to hide for a while. Can I hide here?"

"Yes, darling, yes, of course!"

"Okay. Thank you." He stiffened as she hugged him when he wasn't expecting it, but then relaxed a minute later. When she finally pulled away, he turned to Sora to say goodbye, and was surprised to be hugged by him as well.

"Bye, Riku!"

"Bye."

"Come back and play!"

"I will." Riku started to walk out the door.

"RIKU!"

Riku glanced back inquiringly.

"Riku's presents!" Sora said urgently, hopping up and down as he pointed at the toys strewn everywhere.

"Oh!" his mother exclaimed. "Yes, Riku, please take some toys with you."

Riku fidgeted, hesitant. "No," he finally decided. "Kadaj and them will break them." He smiled. "Keep them here, Sora. We'll play with them every time I come see you."

"Play with Riku!"

Riku smiled again, then turned and walked away. He missed his new not-family already, and hoped they really would be waiting for him like they promised whenever he needed them.

o.o.o

Author's Notes: One year ago in December 2014, I posted Treasure of my Heart: Holiday. I'd hoped to be able to finish the sequel soon, but it took a lot longer than I anticipated; sorry...! I finally finished it, though! 8D

This was originally going to be an installment in my Sapphire Eyes challenge series, but Sapphique's POV wasn't working, and she wasn't really as much of a main character as she probably was supposed to be. I ended up re-assigning this story to a different challenge.

Complete: 14/100