Notes: So, the end of KHIII drove me crazy, like, spiraling into depression crazy, and I just had to do something about it. After making some rants on tumblr, a lovely person who posts as kh-soriku clued me in to the whole The World Ends With You theory - in which Sora is dead and is in the Shibuya Underground during KHIII's secret ending: Yozora.
I refamiliarized myself with the TWEWY characters in Kingdom Hearts canon (Dream Drop Distance's Traverse Town) because honestly, I'd forgotten about them. It's the tutorial of the game. I kinda check out during those. Big mistake in this instance.
Anyway, I ran with it.
For those who know TWEWY really well - this is a Kingdom Hearts fic. So, while I use some elements for TWEWY, the story primarily revolves around Sora and Riku. I don't think there will be any of the the TWEWY characters, other than the Reapers, The Conductor, and Joshua. (Who I've done my research on. So I know things Mickey doesn't. Yeah.)
For those who don't know TWEWY at all ... a lot of my effort in the first chapter is to familiarize you with it as far as I can without spoiling too much. There's a lot of information in there at the beginning. PLEASE leave a comment if you're confused about anything and I'll try to explain it as best I can, and rework the chapter if I have to.
Thank you for reading.
Phoenix Down
It had only been a few weeks and the world was once again spinning off its axis, marked not by a bang or a hiss, but with the squawk of a duck, the crunch of sand as he was held back by his friend, and that friend's exhaultant laughing "hyuck."
Riku turned to the two of them with a smirk as Mickey raced over to keep Donald from running off to … What were they looking at?
He turned towards the line of their gaze, and the smile fell off his face. Not understanding his own reaction, his stomach twisted and rolled and his feet carried him forward and then stopped nearly as soon as he began.
Sora. Kairi. Sitting there in the distance on the paopu tree, hands in each other's, Kairi smiling. And Riku should have been smiling too, shouldn't he? They were alive and home and all should be right in the world, all his faith in Sora confirmed and realized and …
And then a tear rolled down Kairi's face, but her smile stayed. It was that smile again. That understanding, faithful, heartbreaking smile that Riku immediately recognized as Kairi's reluctant but supportive assertion that Sora had to do something he needed to do and, like it or not, she couldn't- wouldn't be able to- stand in his way.
In that same instant that Riku stepped forward again to break into a run, the very moment he opened his mouth to shout, Sora vanished, and Riku froze. Kairi's face, her strong mask shattered at the seams, her head stuttered to drop, and the only thing heard over ocean waves was a single choked cry. Shoulders shaking, she hunched over with her hands over her eyes, and Riku finally shook off his strange reaction and ran.
"Kairi!"
Kairi startled, stood and spun. Riku skid to a halt in front of her and her shaking stopped. Her tears overflowed.
"Riku," she choked out, and Riku looked away, looked over to the shore, briefly noted the worried looks on their friends faces and silently thanked Mickey for sending them all off the beach and not racing up to the paopu trees. Meeting Kairi's eyes again and swallowing the anxious lump wedged in his throat, he felt relief slowly trudge through it.
"I'm glad you're okay," he said. She shook her head. Not okay, then. What now?
"Riku," she tried again, clenched her fists, squeezed her eyes shut. "Riku. Sora… " Eyes opened.
"Sora is dead."
It was like stopga, like the world had completely frozen at her words. No trees rustling, no waves crashing. "What?" he knew he said but couldn't hear it; there was no sound or light or color. Everything had a grey edge. "But I just saw him, what?" Her eyes widened and a mockery of a chuckle escaped her lips.
"That's amazing," she murmured. "You've always had a strong connection, but -" Kicking at the sand and biting her lip, she grimaced, then babbled, "I'm sorry he didn't have enough time to say goodbye to you; I know he would've if he could've-" Riku's hands shot out to grab her by the shoulders.
"Kairi!" he exclaimed very nearly desperately and resisted the urge to shake her. This couldn't be happening. Not Sora. Not …
Slowly - and too slowly because Riku needed answers the second the words 'dead' and 'Sora' were put together in a sentence - Kairi steeled herself and her eyes went hard.
"The lich," she said. "The lich got his heart. He … he abused the power of waking. To save all of us," she gulped. "Sora told me that Xehanort warned him. He warned him that the power of waking wasn't for traversing worlds to reach hearts. And when he went to save mine - Sora lost his connection to the world," she cried, "And now the darkness has him in the abyss, in. . . Riku, he-"
"NO!" Riku shouted vehemently, "No, Kairi. Don't say it again. He's not -" his hands dropped to his sides and became fists, "He can't be. Whatever it is we can get him back. I've saved him from something like this before. I can do it again." Kairi shook her head.
"He's not in the Sleeping Worlds this time, Riku. That's what you're talking about, right? Before my training? Master Yen Sid told me all about your Mark of Mastery exam. This is the next level, Riku. Sora's -"
"He's with the Reapers." Mickey said quietly and Kairi and Riku both startled, not having heard him approach. "In the Underground."
Kairi nodded. "That's where Sora found me. Without my memories. They took my memories. We were together, but I didn't know who he was. And he," her voice hitched and cracked. "They took Sora's faith. His optimism. His light. He was so, so … God, he was a shell."
That was not Sora. That was beyond not Sora. His ability to see the good, the hope in every situation was unparalleled. . . It took a lot worse than Kairi losing memories to make Sora spiral out: these things, these Reapers, were powerful.
Mickey turned to Riku. "These Reapers play a game with the dead. They take the things you value most as an entry fee and then make you play for a second chance at life. If you lose, they erase you from existence."
"That's sick!" Riku yelled, horrified, insides positively churning at even the thought. Sora didn't deserve that. No one deserved that.
"We made it through." Kairi whispered. "We won, if you can call it that. For seven days we played their game." she shuddered. "I still believed we could do it even though I couldn't remember why we were even trying. Even though Sora didn't want to try at all. Towards the end he let me know that he knew who I was. That I had been someone important to him. He explained what had happened to me… I really didn't remember him at all. It hurt him so badly."
It must've. Sora had essentially - and Riku still could barely even associate dead with Sora - but Sora had died to rescue her, had been stripped of his light, and she didn't even know who he was? Riku couldn't even imagine how painful that must have been.
"He was so sure everyone else probably had forgotten him too. He kept putting himself down - about what killed him and how he failed saving me. He talked about you a lot, Riku. Mostly doubting that he was missed by you or anyone."
Of course Riku had missed him! If he'd had any idea Sora was-
"God, it was the worst," Kairi continued. "We were almost erased on the sixth day. He just completely shut down. There was another team that finished the mission that day though, so we made it through." She looked down at the sand. "The final day the Game Master defeated the other team and they were erased. Sora just … snapped. He lost it. Even without my memories I knew it wasn't like him to get so … dark about it." she frowned. "The Game Master went down, and Sora just kept hitting him. It was horrible."
Riku staggered back a step, watched Kairi drop back down to sitting on the paopu tree, hands clutching the wood, nails digging into the bark.
"I pulled Sora off of him, got him to a bench to sit down. And then another man, the Conductor appeared, clapping his hands and congratulating us. Like this was all some fun little show," she looked away. "Then he gave us back our entry fee. . . and I remembered everything. Sora looked like he was going to be sick, he - you gotta have a light to really see the shadows, right?" Riku looked down and away, frowning.
"Anyway, I thought he was gonna. . . " she took a breath. "And then he just jumped up, and he was smiling so wide and I realized he hadn't the whole time he was there and-" she hiccupped, fresh tears rolling down her face. "He was so happy. Said: 'Kairi, we can go home!' and this monster said all smugly 'Well, one of you can.'" Kairi slammed her fists down on the tree and rose in anger.
"Apparently there could only be one winner - and I was it." Shaking herself, her demeanor crumbled.
"And Sora barely even faltered. He just sat back down next to me and grabbed my hand. Told me he was glad. Asked me to say hello to everyone and that as long as he had us all in his heart he'd make it home to us . . ." she whispered. "I smiled. And I heard the beach-"
"And that's when I called out to you." Riku said and Kairi nodded. "But I saw Sora. I'm sure I did."
Mickey shook his head. "Sora wasn't here, Riku. You may have seen a glimmer through your connection, but no one on the beach even mentioned seeing Sora. Not even Donald or Goofy. They all only saw Kairi." Riku punched the tree with a backwards swing.
"But he still exists, right? He's-" Riku swallowed. "He's dead but he's not gone. He needs help. I have to- There's no way he's gonna get through this alone."
"How do you think you're going to help him, Riku?" Kairi asked in frustration. "You're not dead! This, this world is split in two - the Shibuya UG and the RG. Even if you made it there you'd end up in the Realground with the living. Only the dead can get in the Underground." Riku whirled around to face her.
"It's Sora, Kairi. I can find his heart. That shouldn't even be a problem. He had no problem finding mine." he said.
Mickey frowned. "But Riku, Xehanort was not lying about abusing the power of waking. You need to be careful or else you could end up meeting the same fate as Sora. If you end up dying, and especially if you do in the process of trying to save him, I have no doubt Sora will go after you and the cycle will repeat itself - until you're both erased from existence." A short silence fell over them until broken by sandy shuffling feet.
"There's one more thing." Kairi said quietly, "I heard one more thing." She hesitated a moment, biting at her lips anxiously. "It could have been the wind, but I don't think it was … when Sora said that as long as he had us in his heart he could get home … I could have sworn I heard -" she frowned.
"I know I heard it. That guy, the Conductor, he said: '"It'd be a pity if you didn't.'"
"Then that's likely Sora's new entry fee." Mickey said sadly, eyes drooping. "That could mean one of two things - either they've taken his memories, or possibly worse, the connection that we all share."
"How is that worse? Aren't they the same thing?"
"No, Riku," Mickey replied. "You can have memories of a person without a connection, but not a connection with a person with no memories of them. It's a loophole so that they can take a double fee. If they've completely severed Sora's connection with you, with all of us, then he'll lose his memories too as an aftereffect. And that means-"
"No path to get to the world through his heart."
"RIght … unless you can find Joshua." Mickey murmured and Riku's eyes widened.
"Joshua?" Vaguely, Riku remembered him. "That kid from Traverse Town? The one in Sora's dream?"
Mickey nodded. "Uh huh! Shibuya is Joshua's original world. I don't know much about him, but he might just know what to do." Riku clenched his fist.
"Back in Traverse Town, Joshua was able to talk with both of us even though the world was split. He used a portal to go between. If I can get him to let me through …"
"You'll have to hurry, Riku." Kairi said quickly. "Before they start the next Reaper's Game. The Reapers really don't like winners, and if Sora's lost his memory he's going in blind … and you can't get through the walls without having a pact with another player …"
"Sora can make friends with a rock. I don't think he'd have a problem on that end. He'd find someone."
"Still." Kairi smiled. "It'd be better if it was you." Riku smirked.
Fondly, his smirk melted into a smile, "Was really starting to think you didn't want me to go."
"I don't." she replied, grin growing watery. "I couldn't imagine life without the both of you. I'm going to be worried to death. But it's Sora. Who could stop you?" Riku laughed, the smallest bundle of nerves in his gut subsiding.
"Only Sora probably. And he's not here. So." RIku turned to Mickey, raising an eyebrow in question.
"Oh, Riku." Mickey said sadly. "Please be careful. Don't underestimate anyone." Riku nodded and Mickey sighed in worried resignation.
"Then," Mickey put his hand to his own chest, clutching the fabric. "Let your heart be your guiding key."
Riku pulled out his keyblade.
Focusing on finding Joshua wasn't nearly as easy a way to find his world as Riku had hoped. Trying to get to any world he hadn't been before was always a somewhat difficult task, but searching for some kid's heart that he'd barely talked to before and had nearly zero connection to was almost impossible. By the time he landed he was absolutely exhausted. He must have been fighting for hours. But it was nighttime in the world where he landed, and that gave him some semblance of hope. If he was in the right place and it was still the same day that Kairi had left, he might still make it in time.
Grunting and getting to his feet, he gasped. This place was absolutely enormous; huge skyscrapers and thousands of lights - from windows to traffic signals - some blinking, all blurring out the sky.
Riku was seriously starting to get worried. How was he ever going to find Joshua in a place so ridiculously large?
And then there was a flash in the corner of his eye, and Riku felt the weight of his keyblade in his hands, felt his reflexive spin to cover his backside. He stopped mid turn and stumbled at the smirk on the face before him.
"Fancy seeing you here," cocky attitude and pale features greeted him, "Is your friend having another little nap?"
"Joshua." Riku said, awed and surprised. At least one part of this had been easy.
"Well?" Joshua smirked. "Not that it's not interesting to see you again …"
"Sora's dead." Riku blurted, and dammit he had not meant to say that so bluntly. Maybe his subconscious was going for the band-aid effect. Rip it off quickly and it doesn't hurt quite so badly. Surprisingly enough, Joshua just nodded.
"And I'm guessing he's here. That is a tough one. Should be okay though." he shrugged.
Riku watched, open mouthed as Joshua simply turned around, hands in his pockets, and started walking towards the portal he'd appeared from. Joshua must have heard - or not heard - any movement behind him, so he looked over his shoulder.
"Well? Are you coming or not?"
Riku hesitated for only a moment. He ignored the warning chant of "Too easy, Too easy, Too easy" barreling through his head.
And he followed.
The Underground seemed very nearly identical to the place Riku had just been, and if not for the chill and strange sense of emptiness in the air, he might have thought that nothing had changed.
Looking around briefly, Joshua then turned to face Riku, pulling a few objects from his pockets. "A few things," he said. "Take this pin. It marks you as a Player." Riku narrowed his eyes and Joshua rolled his. "You're illegal. Not dead, not bound to the rules. But you don't want them knowing that."
"The Reapers?" Riku asked and Joshua lifted an eyebrow.
"Or the other players. They need to believe you're just as desperate to win this game as anyone else." he laughed "Trust issues are pretty common down here. Sure you gotta start with a lie, but if they don't see that pin they're gonna assume you're a Reaper. Also, take this," he said, tossing Riku what looked like a rectangular block. At Riku's puzzled look, Joshua rolled his eyes. "It's a flip phone. You'll get your missions on it." he smirked "Players also get a timer burned into their hands, but you won't … so don't let any of them see. I highly suggest you play dumb about as much as you can. And don't start whipping out Keyblades. They're not going to help you here." Joshua tapped his chin. "I think that's about it. Good luck, then." Joshua began walking backwards to the portal and Riku reached out.
"Wait! I didn't get to . . . ask … you-" a sudden extreme lethargy came over him; Riku couldn't keep his eyes open, everything blurring and starting to fade.
He didn't feel the pavement when he hit it.
He did feel the bump on his head when he woke up. Rubbing it absently and getting to his feet, Riku found himself impressed by the sheer amount of people walking around and a little disturbed by their robotic stagger down streets and through the scramble.
"Hey!" a voice shouted. Riku's head swiveled to his left, heart picking up pace.
Sora.
"C'mon, somebody's gotta be able to hear me! Hello?" Definitely Sora. But where was he? There were just so many people and Sora was so … short. He scanned the crowd again. And again. And then, there! As long as those spikes didn't belong to a hedgehog or a houseplant, that had to be him, jumping up and down, trying to find someone who could see him.
Riku stood back for a little bit just to watch as Sora stomped around, climbed on cars, did backflips - anything to get someone to notice him. Sure it made Riku a bit of a jerk to leave Sora hanging like that, but he needed the moment to just take him in. He needed to see that it was still Sora, that Sora still existed and it was really and truly him.
Kairi proclaiming that Sora was gone, had died, would probably haunt him forever. The mere thought of it, especially while watching him, right now, running up in front of people with his tongue out and and his eyes crossed, getting inches away from people's faces trying to get a reaction - the idea that anything could kill a spirit so inherently good was nothing less than absurd. Whether he would remember or even recognize Riku at all, it didn't matter. Riku had to make sure Sora remained in existence. Some lights were never meant to go out.
It was with that thought and at that moment that Sora appeared a hair's breadth away, his finger up his own nose, and his head tilted to the side. Riku's eyes widened in surprise, and immediately after Sora's did too, both jumping away from each other in embarrassment.
"YOU!" Sora said accusingly. "You can see me!"
Riku felt like he had missed a stair, like the world had fallen out beneath him. He didn't know why, but he hadn't quite expected this to hurt so much, here his lifelong friend standing in front of him with absolutely zero affection in his eyes. Not a glimmer of recognition. There should be a hug here, or at least an excited "RIKU!", but there was nothing. Is this how Sora had felt his first time around when Kairi didn't remember him? This was so screwed up - and so much worse than last time Riku had to save Sora from some villain's scheme to destroy him from within.
"You…" Sora said more quietly this time, unsure, "You can see me? Right?"
Riku bit back the urge to call him an idiot. Not the time for their normal teasing, especially because right now there was no "they" in their friendship. Best not to alienate him before he could help him. God was he going to have to walk on eggshells with Sora? Sora was the one person Riku was used to being entirely himself with! But later. He could think about this later.
"I can see you." Riku said as calmly as he was able, and Sora's eyes lit up like Riku had just hung the moon. Riku barely held back a gasp - he'd received that look before, so many times, and he never realized he had taken it for granted until now.
"Oh man, that's great!" Sora said. "I was beginning to think I was a ghost!" Grinning wide and scratching the back of his head he turned to Riku. "So, this place is weird, huh? Oh!" He looked away in embarrassment. "Sorry. I'm Sora and um ... can't tell you much more than that, but, nice to-"
"Riku." Riku interrupted. God, he did not want to do introductions. And Sora's ghost comment. Jesus.
"Riku." Sora repeated, head cocked to the side and eyeing Riku thoughtfully, "Riku." In a motion Riku probably should have expected, Sora reached up to Riku's face, squeezed his cheek, and pulled. "Yeah! You have a good face, Riku. I'll trust you." Sora smiled wide and tugged on Riku's cheek harder.
"Okay!" Riku half laughed, half yelped in pain. "Okay, Sora. Now, stop it!"
Sora released him, eyes still glittering.
"Huh." Is all he said.
Moments later, that "Huh," was followed by "Ow! What the-" and a beep from two phones.
Sora flexed is fingers in and out, staring at his palm in confusion - a crimson, jagged numbered counter reading 59:59 ticking down upon it. Riku grabbed his phone out of his pocket, read the message, and frowned deeply. Gently, he grasped Sora's shoulder and put the phone screen in his view.
Reach 104. You have 60 minutes. Fail, and face erasure. - The Reapers
It had begun.
