Chapter 1
Mister, you are grounded... until you die ― Franny Robinson; Mother and Trainer of Frogs; Todayland
"OW! AHH, MY BACK!"
No sooner had Kairi taken back the small, star-shaped charm in Sora's hand, Riku toppled over and squirmed a little in pain. Kairi, needless to say, was quite astonished.
"Riku, what's the matter?" she said, as Mickey jumped back a little in shock.
"Back... hurts... gaaah!" Riku said, bringing himself upright again, but not standing.
"Sora, what happened to him?" Mickey asked, and Sora winced a little as the thrill of their recent reunion was replaced by the stomach-crunching memory of events that had happened mere hours before.
"Well... Riku jumped in front of Xemnas and kinda saved my life back at the castle," he reported, scratching the back of his head. "I kinda forgot about that."
"Oh, have you?" Riku said sharply, glaring in his direction. "I was leaning on your
shoulder almost the entire time after."
"Yeah, well... I forgot!" Sora replied, as Kairi crossed her arms and sighed worriedly. This was the last thing they wanted. "You were walking and swimming just fine a minute ago!"
"That was adrenaline!" Riku retorted, before wincing again in pain. Mickey looked to his two servants for help, and Goofy scratched his head.
"Shouldn't we do somethin'?" he said. "Maybe get 'im back to th'mainland?"
"That sounds good, the sooner we get home the better. Right?" Kairi said. "We're all rather in need of rest. Do you think a Potion would help, Your Highness?"
"I think – ahh! -- that would help some," Riku said, yelling a little in the middle; Mickey nodded in approval. "Sora, you got any?"
Rummaging through his massive pockets, still slightly frowning from the recent change in mood, Sora found a Hi-Potion and held it in the air. "I think this might be enough for now." He gave it to Riku, who uncapped the bottle and gulped the cool green liquid down, and felt its soothing numbness spread over his body.
"I have no idea why I didn't think of this sooner," he said, and attempted to get up; he was still very sore, and his back hurt regardless of the remedy. "I'm gonna – uggh – need a little help walking until we get home, I think."
"I'll help," Kairi offered. "Didn't you say you were using Sora earlier? Your shoulder must hurt some."
"My shoulder isn't sore!" Sora replied, but Kairi ignored him and knelt down to lift up Riku.
"It's called 'being nice,' Sora," she said, winking at him cheekily. "You deserve a rest."
"What she said," Riku added, smiling slightly. "Besides, all that we did with Xemnas? I'm exhausted too."
"Oh... well, thanks," Sora said, flushing slightly and smiling. Mickey and the rest of them smiled too, relieved at the break in atmosphere.
She smiled. "Don't mention it," she said, before a slightly horrified look came on her face. "Oh," she said.
"'Oh,'? What's going on?" Sora asked. "Something the matter?"
"...I forgot to look for a boat," she said, biting her lip. "There's no way off!"
"Aww, come on!" Sora said, dropping his arms and groaning along with Donald . "That can't be true!"
"Talk about – ughh – bad luck," Riku said. "First we can't get home, then we can go home, then we can't get off the island to get really home."
"Pardon me, fellas, but I think I have a solution," Mickey said, smiling; he approached the shore and faced the mainland, and clapped his hands together. "Y'might wanna step back a bit."
"What're y'gonna do, Your Majesty?" Goofy asked, and Mickey gave an almost rebellious grin.
"Wait and see," he said, and raised his arms with a sudden movement.
The waters immediately began to part, rising high in the air and falling to the side, clearing a straight line through the sand, which dried and formed a traversable path for them. Sora's jaw fell wide open, as did Riku's and Kairi's; Donald and Goofy could hardly believe their eyes, either.
"Woah, where did you learn how to do that?" Sora asked, and Mickey smiled, looking back at them.
"Just a little somethin' I learned from Yen Sid," he replied. "C'mon, Riku, we should get you home."
"That was awesome," Sora said, and Riku sighed a little with a chuckle as Mickey led the way. He and Kairi and Sora followed behind, with Donald and Goofy bringing up the rear. The sound of the sea churned softly around them, before Mickey attempted to cheer them up a little with conversation.
"Excited to be home, you two?" he asked, and Sora smiled a bit hesitantly.
"Yeah, well, I'm gonna have a wicked punishment coming my way, I think," he said. "I mean, I was gone for how long? Almost two years!"
"A year and a half," Kairi noted. "It's only October; we left last June, remember?" Sora remembered.
"I bet your parents'll be so happy to see you again, Sora," Mickey said.
Kairi looked at Mickey in a somewhat strained fashion. "Your Majesty..."
"No... Kairi, it's okay," Sora said. "Your Highness, I don't live with my parents."
"What?" Donald said. "You didn't tell us that!"
"I don't think th'subject ever came up, Donald," Goofy said. "Where're your parents, Sora?"
Sora shrugged. "You know as well as me, I suppose," he said. "My aunt – I live with her, you know – she said that they just... disappeared when I was too little to remember anything, and she had to raise me."
"Well gosh, Sora, that's awful," Mickey said softly. Kairi and Riku were silent.
"No! It's not that bad," Sora said, smiling with his usual optimism. "My aunt's totally like a mom to me, I love her to death. She's the best!"
"A-hyuk! Well, Sora, that's wonderful t'hear," Goofy said. "I'd like t'meet her! D'ya take after her at all?"
"I don't know so much about that," Sora said, laughing a little.
"Don't you ever wonder where your parents are, though?" Donald said.
"...sometimes," said Sora.
"Maybe they were taken by the Heartless!" Donald continued, and Sora did nothing for a while.
"Maybe they were. I don't know, really. Nobody does, and my aunt doesn't talk about what happened," he finally replied, reverting to a quiet mood again.
Riku and Kairi practically stiffened up in the silence; they both knew this was somewhat of a touchy subject for Sora. One incident in first grade involving them discussing families in class had him bursting into tears because he didn't have a mother or father like everyone else. True, it had been a long time since then, but Sora always seemed to try and avoid the subject of his family when making new friends.
"I doubt she knows anything, really. But hey! What matters is that I'm cared-for, right?" Sora continued, and Kairi and Riku hoped that the subject would remain changed.
"That's right," Mickey said, sensing the tension. Riku and Kairi breathed a subconscious sigh of relief as, "Riku, I hope you have a full set of parents," he added with a chuckle.
"Oh, I sure do, Your Highness," Riku said, mustering a smile. "Though... man, I'm gonna be in some deep trouble with my mom. She's seriously gonna kill me, I think."
"Riku, she will not," Kairi said, nudging him a little with her arm.
"Yeah, Riku, c'mon," Sora added, looking over his shoulder at them.
"Ohh, believe me. I think she actually will this time," he said, stiffening up a little in fear. "This isn't, like, stealing an ice cream bar from the store. This is... we were gone for such a long time, and my mom isn't one to forgive easily. At least your aunt forgot about you for a whole year, Sora; you're gonna get off easy."
"Hey, stop it!" Sora replied. "Riku, your mom is not gonna kill you."
"Yeah she will," Riku said, and Mickey was rather disturbed to see that Riku's tone wasn't one of sarcasm or light-hearted joking. "She's seriously gonna take that spear off the wall in the living room and cut my head off with it, like she said she'd do when I was little..."
"Calm down, man," said Sora, and Riku became very interested in the sand as he limped along. "How about you, Kairi? You've got it easy; you were only gone a few days, at the most."
"Yeah, that's true," Kairi replied. "I'm still probably in for some major trouble," she added with a slight laugh. "No big deal, though. Oh gosh, wait until you see how tall Wakka is now... you should start working on paraphrasing, they're going to want to know everything. You too, Riku, unless... you don't want to talk about it."
Riku was quiet for a good long while, and Kairi bit her lip. "...sorry, I mean, if you really don't want to talk, I understa―" she began.
"It's okay, no need to apologize," said Riku, and smiled, finally looking up. "I'll just shave off some of the details. No need to worry or anything. How long until – ow! -- we get to the mainland?"
"Dunno, doesn't look like much further," Sora replied, pointing to the shoreline in the distance. They walked in silence for the rest of the way, but everyone seemed content not to say anything.
Once they had reached true land, Mickey turned around and placed the water back where it belonged with a gentle sweep of his hands, and smiled. "Well, who lives closest to shore?"
"Riku," Sora and Kairi replied at the same time, and Riku groaned again.
"My mom's gonna kill me," he said again, and Kairi nudged him gently.
"Stop that, Riku, she'll be glad to see you," she said. "It's down the street and by the shore, Your Majesty."
"Can't miss it," Sora added with a laugh. "Your parents are filthy rich, Riku, you got one of the biggest houses on the island!"
"Shut up," Riku replied, nearly turning red, and Mickey's eyes widened a little in surprise, as did Donald's.
"Rich?" said the duck. "You never said you were rich."
"I don't think I ever got a real opportunity to talk to you," Riku said, wincing a bit near the end of the sentence.
"Still, I haven't heard anything like that," Mickey added.
"I suppose personal information just... doesn't seem as important when you're out savin' the worlds, huh?" Riku said, and Sora and Mickey both laughed, although a little half-heartedly.
"I suppose you're right," said Mickey softly, as they continued down a road near the beach, until Kairi stopped in front of a beautiful white building, dark ivy trailing over its face. The lights were on inside, and Riku immediately grew rather hesitant to come closer.
"Riku, I'll go knock on the door," Sora offered, and Riku nodded, gulping as Kairi backed away a little. With a few light raps, Sora made his presence known, and a male voice from behind sounded.
"I'm coming, I'm coming! Gosh, who could this be at this hour?" it said, and Riku sighed.
"Thank goodness, it's my dad," he said softly, as a slightly-built and none-too-handsome man with glasses came to the door.
"Yes― Sora! Holy― Sora! Is that really you?" he said, nearly jumping back a foot after seeing who was at the door.
"It's me, Mister Thatch," Sora said, smiling. "How are you?"
"Oh me? I'm fine, I'm great, I'm... where in the world have you been? Why aren't you home, I mean―" he said, the words nearly melding together in his excitement. "My goodness, you've gotten tall."
Sora couldn't help but laugh; Riku's dad was always pretty funny when he got nervous or excited, and Sora always found it rather laughable, even though this wasn't necessarily the right time to be laughing. "It's good to be home," he said simply.
"Oh yes, I bet it is, really. Gosh, where have you bee―" he said, before stopping himself. "Say, Sora, you... didn't happen to find anyone else while you were... out wherever you were?" he asked.
"Actually, he did," Riku said, freeing himself from Kairi and gingerly moving forward. "Hi, Dad."
Riku's father was silent for several moments, having to slightly look up in order to see his son's face properly. He muttered something softly under his breath, before swallowing and adjusting his glasses.
Then, he began to get very excited.
"Holy cats, Riku! Riku, you're home! You're home! Oh gosh, oh goodness, get inside! Get inside, let me see you! Oh wait until your mother sees you, she's going to... well she's not going to do anything bad,but you're home, you're home!"
Ushering Riku inside, Sora and the rest followed as he plopped onto the couch, still in quite a bit of pain that wasn't helped by his recent unassisted walking. Riku's father began yelling to someone in the kitchen in a strange, incomprehensible language, receiving a feminine reply that probably belonged to Riku's mother. The words seemed somewhat familiar to Mickey; he had heard them, once, when he was a younger mouse... but where?
"What are they saying?" he asked Sora, as the speech continued, and the boy shrugged.
"Heck if I know," he replied. "Riku's parents are from the other side of the world, now that I think about it."
"Another island," Riku added, eying the kitchen uneasily. "They speak another language there, I... think."
"Really," Mickey said, listening in once again as a woman with a knife entered the room.
Instantly, it became apparent where Riku got his good looks from.
His mother had beautiful, snowy-white hair that hung somewhere near her waist, and large blue eyes that were a direct contrast to her tanned skin. Her lovely face, however, contorted into one of seriousness as soon as she saw her son on the couch, with the most frightened expression Sora had ever seen on his face.
"Rikunamoen. Thaddeus. Thatch," she said, her voice soft and low.
Whenever Riku's mother used his full name, it always meant that he was in trouble.
"...Hi, Mom," he said, his voice hardly more than a peep.
The next thing they knew, she was flinging herself at him, knife still in hand, screaming in the strange language that they had been hearing for the past few minutes.
Riku covered his head and cowered at the far end of the couch, and Sora jumped in front of him, just in case something were to happen. He and Kairi were shocked; Riku's mother was strict and sometimes harsh, but this was over the top!
His father managed to stop her and took the knife from her hand as she continued to yell at Riku in their strange language. Riku began to speak back in the same tongue, as if trying to defend himself, and everyone else present began to feel extremely uncomfortable. Sora didn't budge from where he stood, even though the knife was now safely in Riku's father's hand.
"Umm... should w'leave?" Goofy said, scratching the back of his head. "I hope we're not intrudin' on anything."
The argument stopped immediately at his words, and Riku's mother looked at them all, suddenly calmed, her mouth hanging slightly open.
"Who are these people?" she asked, her eyes darting from Donald to Goofy to Mickey and back.
"Missus, uh, Thatch, was it?" Mickey said, attempting to be as polite as possible. "I'm King Mickey Mouse, I helped your son get home in one piece!"
"Did you, now?" she said, glancing briefly at Riku, whose hand still covered his head, before returning to them. "Then I believe... I must thank you." Sora and Kairi breathed a sigh of relief, and Mickey almost felt that he did one as well.
"Really sorry for my wife's behavior, but... wow, you're a king?" said Riku's father, adjusting his glasses again and glancing at his wife disapprovingly.
"Yes; I'm from another world, y'see, me an' Donald an' Goofy too," said Mickey, then held his finger to his lips in mock secrecy. "It's supposed to be a little bit of a secret, but, whelp, the cat's outta the bag now, huh?"
"Of course," Riku's father replied, rather resolutely; the strange, almost certainty of something in his tone made Mickey pause for a moment, while Sora and Kairi couldn't help but feel slightly confused as well. Riku was still a little too scared to notice anything.
"I thank you for taking care of our son and bringing him home, but he still must be punished," Riku's mother said; her speech was oddly formal, and an outsider could guess that she wasn't speaking her first language. She glared at Riku. "Stop that foolish nonsense with your arms, Riku, and go to your room."
"What? Mom, I just―" Riku began, quickly dropping his arms from his head, but was silenced by his mother's palm being thrust towards him.
"Riku, my darling son," she said, not looking at him, but her tone much gentler, "I am overjoyed to see you safe and at home, but your absence is inexcusable. To your room. Now."
"Mom, I―" Riku started, but his father shook his head.
"Do as she says, Riku. I think we have a lot to talk about," he said softly. His eyes downcast, Riku got up and leaned against his father's shoulder almost immediately after. His mother noticed.
"What is wrong with him?" she demanded. "Was he hurt?"
"He saved me from, uh, some danger, Missus Thatch, and he's a little hurt," Sora explained ("A little?" Riku said under his breath). "He needs to rest, too, so, uh, don't be too hard on him. Kay?"
Riku's mother glared at Sora, and Sora gulped. He almost expected her to start blaming him for everything, but instead she simply said, "Sora, the way I treat my son is none of your business," she replied harshly. "I expect that your aunt will be none too pleased to see you also returning home so late."
Sora grimaced a bit, but managed to turn it into a sort of half-smile. "Yeah, but I'll be okay."
"Can Riku meet with us tomorrow? I'd like to give the King a tour around the island, and it wouldn't be the same without him there," Kairi said, trying to lighten the mood with a strained smile of her own, before looking at the mouse in question and adding, "that is, if you'd like to stay for a little while longer."
"Another day won't hurt, I think," Goofy said. "Minnie and Daisy'll understand. Whaddya say, Your Majesty?"
"I suppose," Mickey said, with a gentleness in his voice that was almost trying to dissuade himself from suspicion. There was something strange about Riku's parents, he was sure of that. Just what exactly was strange, he wasn't sure, but he knew it was there.
"Great! I'll find you a hotel on my way home," she said delightedly. "Please, Missus Thatch?"
"We'll see," she replied coldly. "Come on, Riku, upstairs."
"What about your back?" said Sora, and Riku managed to crack a slight smile as his father led him up the stairs.
"I think I'll be fine after a bit of... sleep," he replied. "See you tomorrow, you guys."
"You sure?" Kairi asked. Riku nodded. "Bye, Riku," she replied, and addressed the remaining people in the room. "Sora, do you want me to come to your house with you?"
"Naw, I think I'll be fine," Sora said, and smiled with a wink. "You need to get a hotel for those three."
"Right," she said. "I'll come by in the morning to pick you up, okay?"
"Sounds good," said Sora, heading towards the door. "See you later, Kairi, Donald, Goofy, Your Majesty."
"Night, Sora," she said, and he was gone into the night. As Kairi and Riku's father led them out of the house, Mickey took one last look into the doorway, and saw Riku's mother glaring at them from the frame as she watched them leave.
She was positively terrifying; an almost tangible feeling that they were not wanted in her home seemed to loom around her, and although he wanted to leave as quickly as possible, there was something in her eyes that kept his gaze locked in hers.
"Your Majesty? This way," Kairi said.
"Oh, right. Sorry, Kairi," said Mickey, as he had almost wandered down another road. "Now, where are you taking us?"
"There's a nice hotel down the coast," she explained. "I'll have my father foot the bill."
"Gawrsh, will he be okay with that?" Goofy asked. "I don't want us t'be any trouble..."
"He'll be fine, really," Kairi said. "Excited to have such honorable guests, at the very least! I can come get you in the morning after you get some breakfast, then we'll go to
Sora's house and Riku's, and you can meet all my friends and see the sights!"
"Sounds wonderful," said Goofy. "Don't it, Donald?"
"I just wanna relax a little," Donald replied. "Enough with the Heartless, just... some good ol' R&R."
"I'll say!" Goofy said, and the odd-looking foursome continued on to the hotel.
Needless to say, the concierge was quite surprised to see Kairi that evening, but was even more surprised at the three outlandish "men" that were with her.
ºoº
Later that evening, as the trio prepared for sleep, Donald sighed.
"What a place," he said, looking out the sliding glass door that led onto a balcony, giving them a marvelous view of the beach. "It's so different from what we saw back at the End of the World, or whatever that was. Right, Goofy?" Goofy snored in reply from his bed, and Donald sighed a little. "Lummox," he said, before noticing that Mickey was behaving rather oddly, leaning over the edge of the balcony and looking out to sea. "Somethin' the matter, Your Highness?"
"Just got... things on my mind," Mickey replied. "Just things."
"What kinds-a things?" Donald asked, and Mickey shrugged.
"Riku's parents, I suppose. There's something about them that... I don't know, I can't put my finger on it," he said.
"You know them or somethin'?" Donald offered, but Mickey shrugged again.
"It's like... I know them from somewhere, but I've never met them, at the same time," Mickey said. "Gosh, I wish I knew."
"Maybe it's from bein' around Riku so much," Donald said, smiling a little, and the corners of Mickey's mouth barely turned. A little discouraged, he returned to the room. "Get some sleep, Your Highness. Don't you wanna see the island tomorrow?"
"I will, and I do," Mickey replied. "I'll be fine." As Donald was about to shut the door, the king suddenly spotted something; a blue glow, not too far down the beach. "Donald, look at that!" he said.
"What is it?" Donald said, rushing back to the balcony and looking out.
"See that light?" said Mickey.
"What light?"
"That blue light down the beach."
Donald strained his eyes, and indeed saw something. "What is that, a lighthouse?" he asked.
"No, it's... coming from one of the houses," Mickey said, squinting to see clearer; he could see a window it came from, a second-story one, in a white house with ivy...
"That's Riku's house," he declared softly, and Donald peered closer to find it was true.
"Really? Looks like he sleeps with a night light, then," he said, chuckling a little. "Isn't that somethin'!" Seeing Mickey's strange expression, he continued and began to walk away. "Don't worry about it, Your Majesty. Get some sleep."
Leaving and closing the door, Donald went to sleep on the couch while Mickey watched the glow until it disappeared mere moments later, the strange familiar feeling refusing to leave him alone.
Strange words, and blue lights, and people with hair like starlight, and lessons that had been learned and forgotten a long, long time ago.
What could it be?