Somehow, Riku had managed to get himself roped into some kind of scheme on Sora's part, the brunette dragging him into the gummi ship and piloting it to Hollow Bastion with him barely able to squeeze a word out.
He'd managed to hiss a few curses at him during the flight before fuel got low and both had to resort to stupid grins to keep it running; by the time there was no danger of them falling into nothing-space they'd arrived.
"Sora, I really don't think this is a good idea" Riku muttered as the brunette tugged him out of the ship. "I don't have the best memories of this place."
Here, where he'd lost himself, his heart, his best friend. Let himself become consumed by the dark, and finally realized how truly blind he'd been. How petty and foolish his entire crusade was, and how much it had cost him.
Sora gave him a reassuring smile, yanking him out of the ship with a yelp and an off-balanced tumble onto the ground. "We're not going anywhere near those places, so don't worry about it. Trust me, this is way less Hollow Bastion and more Radiant Garden now!"
Radiant Garden. Yes, Sora had mentioned the name change. Riku sighed irritably, allowing himself to be dragged out of the gummi garage and out into sunlit streets.
Riku felt his jaw slide open slightly. Indeed, this was a town, a fractured, ramshackle town, but the pieces, coming together as they did…somehow as a whole it felt greater than them. Like Hollow Bastion was no longer the dark crevice at the edge of insanity but a reprieve, a home, a shelter.
"Great, huh?" said Sora eagerly. "The restoration committee's been workin' hard…myself included!"
Sora pulled his membership card out of his pocket and flashed it proudly, the 'Sora' clear as day.
"Are you sure you're not just breaking things?" Riku asked, and Sora pouted, before rubbing his hair.
"You know, they don't let me near the maintenance stuff, now that I think about it…" he said, looking bewildered, before shrugging it off.
"I wanted to show you this place just in case you ever got stuck or needed somewhere to go on your travels. We won't be stickin' together…so you need to know there's somewhere safe to go!"
Riku blinked, before a small smile dawned on his face. Of course. Sora wouldn't have purposely dragged him here to rub past wounds in his face...probably hadn't even occurred to the brunette.
"I'll introduced you to the crew" said Sora proudly, beginning to walk through the streets with a determined familiarity. Riku rubbed his hair, dismissing the annoyed twang he still got every time he thought of Sora's other friends, the ones who he didn't know, the ones, for a time, he had no purpose knowing.
He felt a sharp pain in his shin and he yelped, shooting the brunette a glare, before seeing a darkly serious expression on Sora's face, one he barely recognized.
"And no grouching, Riku" he said sternly, and Riku raised an eyebrow.
"Coming from the one making that face?" he retorted, and as soon as it was there the expression melted away, the younger boy giving him a confused look.
"What face?"
Not good. Not good. Not good.
Riku quickly stamped out the sudden terrified flutter in his heart as him being idiotic and straightened himself, shaking his head. His mind had probably exaggerated it. Sora wasn't even capable of making expressions like that.
They headed deeper into the down, eventually coming down into a fairly populated area, Sora suddenly breaking into a run and bursting through a door.
"Boom, baby!" he shouted, grinning exuberantly as Riku massaged his forehead from behind him.
"I apologise on the behalf of the entire Destiny Islands for any pain and suffering Sora may have caused you" he muttered, and Sora pouted at him.
"Hey" said a gruff voice from a table. "Sorry, you've shown up at a bad time- everyone's out on rounds 'cept me."
"Heya Leon" said Sora, waving merrily. "S'ok, I plan on doing a full set of introductions!"
Leon's brow furrowed a little, glancing toward the silver haired boy standing behind Sora. "Who's that?" he asked.
"This is Riku!" he said, and Leon's eyebrows immediately raised before a smile dawned on his face, a rare sight to behold.
"So you're Riku. I was expecting someone shorter."
Riku raised his eyebrows at this. "Shorter? Sora, what exactly have you been telling people?"
Sora grinned, putting his arms behind his head. "Nothing, I swear!" he said, but he could see the deviousness as clear as the water back home. Riku looked disgruntled, rubbing his eye with his palm for a bit.
With a yawn, Leon stood up from his seat, ruffling his hair and walking over. He looked tired; he always did, but sleepless nights weren't uncommon to the older man. He was pretty much used to it, if he was entirely honest; nearing thirty he probably should be…
He winced a bit at the thought, and the two boys in front of him gave him a curious look.
"You ok, Leon?" Sora asked, and the other brunette nodded.
"Yeah…just getting old" he muttered.
"Yeah, shouldn't you be married by now?" said Sora, rubbing his chin, before clicking his fingers. "How 'bout Aerith! You'd make a cool couple AND your kids would have brown hair! You could totally name one Sora!"
Leon folded his arms. "Since when was that your business?" he asked, though there was a mild smirk on his lips. "Aerith and I are purely friends. We grew up together."
"I really don't think this is your field of expertise, Sora" said Riku, sighing. Sora pouted, putting his hands on his hips.
"Then what is?"
"Destroying Heartless, Nobodies, and Nightmares" retorted Riku, ticking them off his fingers. "And getting yourself into trouble."
"Oi! I can do more than that!" said Sora indignantly, folding his arms. He tapped his head for a second, thinking.
"Uh…I do pretty well during musical numbers?"
Riku gave him an outright horrified look at the statement. "I'm not sure I want to know where THAT became relevant!"
Sora grinned, before glancing back to Leon, who had developed an odd expression.
"Something wrong, Leon?" he asked, giving the elder brunette a raised eyebrow.
"Nothing" he said shortly, before exhaling, running his fingers through his hair. "I just realized I used to have a friend like you, that's all."
"My condolences" quipped Riku, and Leon chuckled.
With a large bang, the door of the burrow burst open, revealing an exuberant Yuffie, who promptly walked into the room and put Sora in a headlock, beginning to run her knuckles over his head.
"Hey, hey, hey! Ow, Yuffie!" he protested, trying to wave her off.
"Y'know, some WARNING when you're about to go 'poof' for another year would be nice!" she said loudly, before letting him go, the younger boy staggering backward and rubbing his head.
"That hurt" he said with a grimace, before giving Yuffie a grin. "Anyway, you know that's not my style."
"Make it your style!" she retorted, before suddenly realizing the presence of Riku.
"Who's this guy?" she said, giving him and up and down look. "He's cute. He your boyfriend, Sora?"
"W-what?!" Sora spluttered, immediately going cherry red. "Of c-course not! This is my best friend, Riku."
"Oh, so he is your boyfriend!" she said cheekily, and Riku sighed loudly.
"Ah, don't worry" Yuffie said, putting on a mock-reassuring voice and patting Riku's shoulder. "He'll come around eventually. Maybe Leon should explain the ins and outs to him. You know. The repeated ins and outs."
Leon shot her a dagger glare at the comment, and she skipped away out of his reach to avoid a clip on the head.
"Aerith sent me~" she cooed. "I dunno why. Cloud's reappeared and she says Leon will want to see him. Apparently he asked for you."
If Sora and Riku hadn't actually witnessed it, they wouldn't have believed it. Leon's eyes went wide for a few moments, before rushing out the door at the speed of light, almost bowling both Riku and Yuffie over.
"I have never seen him do that" said Sora in surprise, before tearing after the brunette man.
In the market square, Cloud was leaning on his Buster Sword, Aerith helping to prop him up. Leon leapt the wall, landing in the square as Sora, Riku and Yuffie came tearing up behind him to look over.
"Squall!" came an exuberant voice, and everyone—especially Sora and Yuffie—looked over wide-eyed at the grinning blond.
"You—" Leon whispered, his feet moving of their own accord, reaching Cloud. "Are you…?"
"I did it. It's over" Cloud said, breathing out a relieved sigh. "Absolutely, this time. I'm back."
Without warning, and much to Sora's surprise, Cloud seemed to forget his injuries and threw himself forward, wrapping his arms around Leon's neck.
"Don't we have this the wrong way around?" Leon asked wryly.
"Shut up" Cloud mumbled. "'N you're the only one who can carry me home."
"Right, right, ok" Leon said, shifting them so Cloud's arm was over his shoulder. "Glad to have you back."
Leon was smiling and Cloud was smiling, and so was Aerith, a wide beam that made her eyes sparkle.
"Oh" said Riku, watching the proceedings. "That man…must've been who he meant."
"Never seen Cloud do that before" Sora said in surprise. "He looked really happy."
"I can hear you" the blond said, as Leon had been helping him up the stairs. "And yeah. I am. For the first time in a long time…I feel like myself again."
"Really? That's good to hear!" Sora said, grinning widely. "Riku, this is Cloud."
The silver-haired boy nodded his head, and Cloud gave him a small grin.
"Ya know, he kinda reminds me of you when you were younger" Cloud said, glancing toward Leon. The brunet rolled his eyes.
"That's just because he's taller than Sora" Leon said cheekily, and Cloud frowned at him, beginning to bat him half-heartedly as they kept moving. Sora and Riku watched them leave, listening to the banter.
"I'm not short—"
"Just embrace it. You're short. If you weren't short that Iron Giant would've taken your head off. And you'd be able to reach the top shelf."
"You deliberately built the top-shelf too tall and you know it, you big ass."
"Did not. It came that way."
"You renovated those cupboards and suddenly I can't reach the coffee cups. I'm not an idiot, Squall!"
"Yeah but it's really hilarious when you have to get the stool—"
Yuffie adopted a big grin, indicating in the direction they'd disappeared in.
"That's you two in ten years" she said, grinning merrily.
"It wouldn't be so bad…if I didn't think this was a long time coming" Riku said, folding his arms.
"Yeah" said Sora, his face thoughtful. "I didn't know they were so close. Leon's always busy and Cloud was always chasing after Sephiroth."
Riku said an eyebrow at Sora. "Sephiroth?"
"It's a long story, I'll tell you later. Come on, I'll introduce you to the rest, then we've got somewhere else to go."