Title: The Successor
Chapter rating: PG
Characters/Pairings: Riku/Sora, others mentioned in later chapters.
Warnings: Yaoi. Possible KHII spoilers.
Summary: Sora is mysteriously ill and Riku is willing to sacrifice anything just to save him.

o.o.o

Even when the times are at peace and the children of destiny are tucked away safely in their own homes and world, and the darkness was no more of a threat than a street rat, he still had a terrible vision.

It was of his home, his kingdom, his precious world falling into total darkness and no matter how hard he fought it; no matter how brightly his keyblade glowed with all of his might, nothing was able to keep it from swallowing his surroundings, and eventually him.

He woke up to the sound of thunder cracking loud behind the castle towers outside. His breathing was hard and he looked all around his dark room for an answer as to why it was he saw what he saw.

Next to him, a sleeping figure shifted with a content sigh and he smiled down at his wife wearily and managed his breathing so that he wouldn't wake her. There was no use in worrying her as well.

He got out of bed and put on his robe, thinking he could go for a little walk around the castle to ease his troubled mind.

But it wasn't much peace since the castle's tranquility was replaced with the sound of the raging storm outside, so he was forced to think of anything else to relax if not to keep him from totally thinking at all. He folded his arms together behind his back and nodded once with a smile to a knight that saluted him kind of awkwardly upon seeing the king being up so late.

But no matter what he thought of, his thoughts still drifted back to the nightmare he had and he let out a deep sigh, trying to analyze it despite the horrors of memories it wrought.

Well for one thing, the darkness wasn't completely gone, that he knew already. For as long as there will be hearts, there will also be darkness. It is a delicate balance that holds everything together and even the way we are as living beings. Darkness cannot be vanquished but it can be controlled. That is where the keybearers come into play.

And as a king, he also added, he must ensure that his people are happy, that their hearts are light and merry and that there shouldn't be a reason for the darkness to overwhelm them again. He vowed he would do that until his last breath; even the children took an oath before him to use the power of the keyblade to help him.

Blessed souls, Sora knew his job as Keyblade Master wasn't quite over yet and promised to put it to good use, he didn't have to anymore but he chose to, and Riku and Kairi were even more than eager to help support him.

The thought of the children was warm on his heart that it made him smile despite his worries. Stupid nightmare. Probably didn't mean much other than the recollection of the time spent in darkness. Apparently he and Riku were still recovering from that.

He thought of getting some warm tea when a sudden clinking of metal was heard from the knight that he had passed by down the hall and the iron-clad figure was seen running towards a commotion that was now being heard somewhere towards the castle front. He followed the knight and the noise until it led him to a group from Goofy's squad, with Goofy himself, all huddled around the tall doors of the entrance.

"Your majesty, quick!"

"What's going on?"

And through the flash of lightening from the open door behind them, the king was barely able to make out the two figures, one hunched over and holding another in his arms. The group made way for the king and his eyes widened at what he saw.

"Your majesty….please…help me." pleaded Riku over the storm behind him and through his ragged breathing. He was drenched from the storm, his silver hair plastered to his face that the king was barely able to make out the gem-like eyes he came to adore when they were together. In his arms, he held Sora who looked just as bad if not worse. He was unconscious.

They all watched the doctor exchange words with the king then bow in respect to take his leave. The king's small shoulders slumped but assured Donald, Goofy and his wife who had woken up to the commotion as well, that the boy would be alright. For now.

Of course Riku wasn't convinced and brought the blanket that was offered to him earlier tighter around him. Just now feeling the biting cold of winter rain seize his muscles and weighing him down so heavily that he couldn't move from his spot if he had to.

Daisy walked in carrying a tray of steaming cups of tea for everyone present. Riku refused at first, but Mickey took the mug and insisted, saying that it would help relieve him.

With an inward sigh of concern, he watched trembling fingers reach for the steaming mug while working up the energy to dare to ask "would you like to tell me what happened?"

Riku's sullen eyes only flickered onto him briefly before curling himself around the warmth of the steaming mug. But the look on his face suggested that he too would like to know what happened.

"I-I don't know." He replied helplessly and what sounded like a trace of tiredness in his voice. But the king tried again.

"Well can you at least tell me what led to this? Anything at all?" Riku stared at the king for a moment in thought, glanced at the others then lowered his gaze to the ground. Thinking back to the exact moment he believed that Sora had been placed under this strange spell.

They ran and ran until their feet carried them to the one place on earth they could say had truly belonged to them. Once their feet hit the sands they slowed to a stop to catch their breaths while glancing behind them and giggling all the way through.

They had lost the others at some point that were with them in the terrible act of mischief they've committed but didn't even care, probably best for them to have spilt up anyway after what they've done.

"We're sooo going to get expelled for that!"

"Expelled? Please…they don't even know who started it"

Sora broke out into laughter while leaning over, still trying to manage his breathing. "Not a good start for school since our return."

Riku couldn't help but laugh along with him at this. "Yeah, I guess so. But it was getting so boring; the school needed a little excitement."

By then, Sora had already straightened himself up and ended his laughs with a long and content sigh. "I swear, you live for the excitement."

Riku smiled knowingly and so does Sora. It was quiet between them, and all that caught their attention was the sound of the gentle rolling of the waves. Riku stared out into the black sea and Sora followed his gaze briefly before adding "but its good to know that some people don't change after all." to his last statement.

Riku lowered his gaze to the sand beneath his feet and kicked at it. Sora understood, but knew how to approach this sensitive subject. "I'm glad you know."

Since the time of their return not much was ever talked about what had happened, only that the story was told from each other's point of view. Riku hated talking about it, and it frustrated Sora at times, but only because Sora was trying to get across that he didn't want that particular time of their lives to ever come between them. Sora cared about him too much for that bit to ruin a good relationship.

When Riku felt the need to say something back, he thought of all the reasons why he hadn't completely lost himself to the darkness. It was because of of Sora that kept him sane, the boy's admiration for him, his keen determination on finding him no matter what, gave him the strength to also pull through to go back home with Sora as well. And this feeling he gets whenever Sora was around, a sense of joy, easiness, light-heartedness…

But he wasn't going to tell him that. It would just be too awkward, but he was tempted, tempted to say all that and more. "It's because…you kept me together…since then."

Sora only nodded, but deep down inside, he was grinning madly. His gaze was still on the open sea that just looked like infinite darkness before him, and like the one that still haunted them both. But Sora wasn't afraid of it anymore, because he was determined to continue saving Riku from that darkness for as long as they both lived.

His hands in his pockets brushed over metal and Sora brought it out to gaze at it, his precious weapon that was dormant in keychain form, and its light weight felt so assuring in the palm of his hand as if it were apart of him. Well it has in a way become apart of him, like an extra limb or something.

"What? Are your keyblade senses tingling?" Riku joked and Sora poked him in the ribs playfully. "Oh that reminds me…" Riku reached into his own pocket and took out a small bag, dumped its contents into his palm and gave Sora an awkward smile.

"Got this for ya."

Sora furrowed his brows together at the shiny, gold chain and looked up at Riku quizzically. Riku took his hand with the key in it to put it on the gold chain. "I don't like how you're always running around with something so valuable in your huge pockets, I swear you can fit you can fit 100 Acres in them, along with Pooh and his gang, you could very easily lose that thing."

"They're not that big!" pouted Sora, "and besides, I lose the keyblade it'll always come back to me…"

"That's not it." said Riku while slipping the keychain on the necklace and holding it out for him. "I mean that this could fall in the wrong hands, you'll never know."

It was silent between them again until Riku leaned forward to put it around Sora's neck. Sora's heart skipped a few awkward beats, felt his face automatically burn up as he thanked the dark night to cover up his face when Riku brushed up against him.

He has hugged the boy before, but it was never so…intimate, like this.

He took the time to let it all sink in, Riku's warmth radiating off of him, his musky scent and proximity gave him a strong urge to want to just plant his around Riku to lean in against him and hold him. Sora wanted to hold him, wanted to assure that he'll never lose him again. Wanted to make sure this was his best friend from before the incident with the darkness and keyblades and hearts.

And Ansem.

He wanted his best friend to be free of all those horrors completely.

But the moment ended all too soon when Riku pulled away as his fingers lingered on the small key at Sora's collar bone a bit longer. Sora smiled when Riku's gaze met his. "I like it, thanks."

With the light ocean breeze and the water nearly lapping at their feet, being the only two on the beach with the stars as their witness, they just gazed at one another. Each one waiting for the other to speak first, but felt like they didn't have to, that it was better this way. Riku could watch Sora all he wanted without anyone giving him a suspicious glance back, or cutting in to spoil the mood.

He felt like he could tell Sora everything at that moment; felt like he could do anything, this was his chance, his one and only chance. But where would he start?

Should he start by telling him exactly what he felt about the boy? About how everything is brighter whenever he was around? About how beautiful of a person their experience together made him grow into? Or about how much he wanted to touch those lips with his own just to see whether these feelings could be that sort of feelings or not? Because he was sure as hell confused and wanted something to be done right now so that he wouldn't have to think about it anymore.

But he had to be careful not to scare the boy, no way, not when he needed him so much. Didn't even know when he became so reliant on him for everything, so pathetic, maybe Sora would think of him as weak and pathetic. So this is what the darkness has turned you into? So pathetic…

"Sora I've been meaning to ask you…" he started and the fingers that were at Sora's neck were caressing his jaw instead. Sora felt his heart start to race along with a million thoughts running through his own mind.

Oh God, how do I do this?

Sora titled his head to the side, questionably. Riku was nervous, he could always tell when he was by the way he was licking those lips.

"You're my best friend, right?"

"Of course…" nodded Sora. Riku nodded along with him.

He took a deep breath as the pounding of Sora's heart grew more infuriating. As a matter of fact, it was getting pretty painful.

"Sora…I'm a little confused by something…" but before he managed another word, Sora surprised him by a hand shooting to Riku's chest to steady himself. Sora's face contorted to a pained expression as he placed his other hand over his heart and clutched his shirt there so tightly, he thought he could rip it.

"Sora?"

"I…don't feel so good Riku..."

"What?"

"Something's wrong…" he squeaked before leaning forward to where Riku had to support his weight, an immense pain just ripping through his heart that he had to cry out loud. Riku was horrified, he didn't know what to do.

"Sora...Sora!" Sora sank to his knee while crying out loud in pain, Riku ushered him down while examining him but couldn't seem to find anything wrong, and it only seemed like it was getting worse judging by Sora's deadly grip on his chest and loud cries.

Then after a heart-wrenching moment, it grew eerily quiet as Sora's gorgeous blues let out the last of their tears before falling shut. The hand clutched at Riku's chest fell limp into his lap. Riku was frozen in his place, trembling, panicking, with Sora passed out in his arms.

"…Sora……s-save… me…"

"SORA!!"

TBC...