Riku believed in Sora the way Sora believed in him. As if one could not exist without the other. Riku knew that they were once opposites. He and his heart were full of darkness, but Sora. Sora. He was full of light and truths. Sora's heart was one that was endless, but in the best way. He was full of love and compassion, something Riku lacked and failed to understand for a long time until Sora reached out to him.
They both strived to be the best.
Strive. What a funny word. To achieve goals and dreams, one must never stop striving. That's what Riku learned from Sora. Riku might have been a true Keyblade Master, but that didn't mean anything to him until he said the words himself. They didn't mean anything until Sora said them. Sora congratulated him and promised to be better.
That was the kind of person Riku wanted to be. Someone who wanted to know how to be better. How to do good.
He wanted to strive to be better.
Strive. Strive. Strive.
Be the best him to make up for lost time. Be the best him for his friends. Be the best him for Sora. Be the best him for himself.
There were days where the darkness wanted to come back so bad. There were days where he just wanted to quit. There were days where he just wanted to be better. Sora picked up when he was feeling that way. Sora would be there to make him feel better. Sora was doing the same. He was doing what Riku would have done. He was going to be picking up the pieces when Sora did not choose to break.
No one ever wants to break. No one chooses to break. It just happens. And there would not a damn thing that Riku could or would be able to do. He would only be there to pick up the pieces of Sora's memories and of his heart and mend them together. But that was a problem. These are like mirrors you smash. Just because you can put them back together does not mean they will turn out one hundred percent perfect. They will be disoriented. They will be misshaped. They will not be the same.
But Riku will be there to make them feel the same. He would be there to make them feel right. He will make Sora feel whole again.
Strive. Strive. Strive. Strive. Strive. Strive to be there. Strive to rise above. Strive to understand. Strive to fall in love. Strive to be one. Strive.
Sora was too perfect to be here. He did not deserve to be in a world too imperfect. But at the same time, this world was also beautiful. Beauty and perfection do not connote to each other. They are two different things. One was something we can see. The other was not. It was something intangible. It was a concept that few reach, and Sora was one of them.
This world lacks many things, and people like Sora was one of those things. Riku and Sora know the power of the world, and they know the cruelty of it all. They know what this world is capable of. It is capable of wondrous and disastrous events. It is capable of everything.
The world is a beautiful place like it was yesterday and will be tomorrow. But the only way it will be was if Sora stayed by Riku's side. And Riku knows that this was a desperate cry, but when two things balance each other out, how could he not be desperate. When Riku and Sora hold each other, they hold each other so that nothing can come between them ever again. So that they forget that the world exists around them. So that they forget that the universe exists. They hold to forget and to remember.
When a gravitational pull is what binds two people together, you cannot take them away. They will find a way back. Their pull is too strong to deny. There would be a path that will take them back. They're separated, but the pull will bring them together.
Love is a gravitational pull, and this was a bond what will not break. Sora knew this and Riku did as well. It just took them time to realize that this was a feeling that was not going to go away. Love does not just fade in a second, just like how it does not appear in an instant. Love blooms like a flower; it blooms at a steady rate, in which we find ourselves slowly realizing our love for others.
Love itself is not a flower. Flowers die when they run out of water, they become weak and nimble. Love dies when two people begin to repel from each other. Love dies when there is no longer an effort to go forward. Love dies when we no longer feel it. Love dies when we give in.
This was another thing Sora and Riku knew, but they knew what it also meant to fall in love and they knew that love was simply a force that you cannot play around with. Love is not a one-sided game that you can play with whenever you please. Love is a game that takes two people. It is a tango of emotions, and it takes practice. It does not get perfected after a performance.
But once you do figure out the rules of love; once you figure out love itself, a new world opens. And you go forward. You just keep moving. You begin to strive.
Strive. Strive to find love. Strive. Strive for a perfect world. Strive. Strive for the things that we care for the most. Strive. Strive for the ones we love.
Strive. Strive because the world is a beautiful place like it was yesterday and will be tomorrow.