Greetings, friends. Welcome to the wondrous world of my most recent fanfiction. This one will focus on Riku and King Mickey and their time after the events at Castle Oblivion. I don't think there will be any pairings. If there are, they will be a very minor part of the plot.
Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to Disney, Final Fantasy, or Kingdom Hearts characters.
A young boy walked forward confidently, heading for the horizon, over which the sun was beginning to break. He wore a long black coat with a hood which he kept down. His shoulder-length silver hair swayed lightly in the wind as he stared at the approaching morning.
"It's the road to dawn," Riku said as he turned back to face DiƵ and the King. He smiled at his friend, the mouse. "And it's our path, right Your Majesty?"
"Of course, Riku!" the small king exclaimed. "I told ya' I wanted ta' walk the path of light and dark with you and intend to do just that." King Mickey walked calmly past DiƵ and took his place by Riku.
"Very well then," DiƵ conceded. "I will monitor the progress of Sora and Naminé while you take the 'way to dawn.'" Riku and the King nodded. "And Riku…" The boy stopped in midstep to look back at the mysterious bandaged man. "I believe I may have need of your services in the foreseeable future. If you will agree, I will contact King Mickey to give you the message if the circumstances require."
Riku nodded one last time before turning with the King towards the rising sun.
There is always sleep between part and meet
with our usual words on the usual street.
"Your Majesty, what happened to this place?"
They were walking along a cliff that overlooked a deserted village. Riku could see a few of the houses had been blown apart from the inside. Others looked like walls have been torn off with brute strength.
"I'm not sure, but this village was once very prosperous," the King replied as they continued walking. "It was attacked by Heartless, most likely. They came through and just destroyed everything. Probably took the peoples' hearts, too."
"That's awful," Riku grimaced. "I can't believe I ever allowed myself to be used by Ansem. That his minions could do something this evil to what was probably a very peaceful village… it sickens me."
"That's why he had to be stopped. And don't worry about letting yourself be used, Riku. He tricked ya'! He lured you in with promises of power, just like Maleficent did."
"But if I hadn't been so weak in the first place," Riku countered, "I wouldn't have fallen for the bait!"
"Riku, you were never weak," the King reassured him softly. "You and Sora hold the most powerful weapon of all." Riku glanced at his hand, thinking of his weapon, Soul Eater. "No, I'm not talkin' about a physical weapon. I mean your hearts!" Riku looked up at the King in surprise to find him grinning. "You had enough strength in your heart to defeat Ansem back in Castle Oblivion. What makes ya' think you won't have enough power to hold his power back?"
Riku smiled and nodded. "You're right," he said firmly. "Thank you, Your Majesty."
They continued on for a while in silence. It had been nearly two hours since they'd passed the demolished village when Riku spoke again.
"Your Majesty, when you said you wanted to walk the road with me, did you mean you were going to use the power of darkness as well?"
The King shook his head, causing his large ears to flop back-and-forth as he walked beside Riku. "Nope, but I want to help train you."
Riku nearly tripped over air, but regained his footing in time to prevent an embarrassing faceplant. "You're going to train me, Your Majesty?" he asked.
"Yep," the mouse replied, "but only if you stop calling me that. I told you, we're pals now, Riku!" Mickey shot Riku another big grin.
"Thank you… Mickey."
With a small nod and a small the duo continued on their journey.
"If you don't mind my asking, Mickey," Riku continued, "where are we going to be training?"
Mickey just shook his head again. "I haven't decided yet. There's lots o' places where the enemy could surprise or ambush us without warning."
"So where are we going now?"
"We're goin' to see my old master," Mickey replied proudly. "He lives near the outskirts of Twilight Town. He should know of a good place for us to train away from any Heartless."
Riku nodded and thought for a moment. "Wasn't Twilight Town one of the worlds inside the castle?" he asked, remembering the card world.
"Yep, but I'm not sure why. Twilight Town is the only world that we visited that neither you or Sora had ever been to before. I don't know why they included it."
"Maybe it has something to do with that replica of me that Vexen made?" Riku suggested. The replica had been almost exactly like him, except it entirely embraced the power of darkness.
"I don't think so," Mickey answered. "I think it has more to do with Sora and Naminé."
"What do you mean?"
"Welp, I'm not sure about this either." The King stopped walking and crossed his arms over his chest to think as Riku stopped next to him. "It's just a feeling I got when we met Naminé; I could tell she had a very strong connection to Sora." He looked up at Riku curiously. "And to you," he added.
"A dark connection?" Riku asked hesitantly.
"No, I couldn't sense any darkness in her at all," Mickey replied as they resumed walking.
"I thought every heart had darkness?"
"In most cases, yes. Even Sora and I have darkness inside of us. We choose not to follow it, though, and use the power of light instead. You use both light and darkness to fight, giving you an advantage. But this girl had no darkness whatsoever, and I've only ever heard of one other person like that."
"Who was that, Mickey?" Riku wondered aloud.
"Gosh, I can't seem to remember," the King replied dejectedly. "But that's okay. We're almost to where my Gummi Ship is."
"'Gummi Ship?'" Riku echoed.
"Yep! It lets me travel all over the place between worlds and -!" Mickey stopped walking and slapped his forehead, causing Riku to stop as well. "Oh no!"
"What?" Riku asked worriedly. "What is it?"
"When Sora, Donald, and Goofy defeated Ansem and sealed Kingdom Hearts, all the worlds became separated and disconnected. The Gummi Ship won't work."
"So how do we get to Twilight Town?"
"I'm not sure myself."
"Hmm…" Riku brought a hand up to his chin and closed his eyes so he could think.
So let us part like we always do…
And in a perfect world
I'll dream of you.
A bright light filled Riku's other hand, forcing him to open his eyes. When the light subsided, both he and King Mickey were shocked to find a new Keyblade resting comfortably in his grip. Riku quickly moved his eyes to inspect his new weapon even though he had no idea where it had come from.
The first thing he noticed was that the handguard had been crafted from two wings encircled around the handle; one wing was black and the other white. He then inspcted the hilt of the weapon and found it looked like a dragon's head and the blade its wing. Near the tip of the blade, he noticed, an angel's wing protruded from the blunt side. Finally, he saw with a slight twinge of disdain that the keychain attached under the handle was the shape of the Heartless symbol.
"I guess my old weapon was only suited for darkness," Riku muttered. "Just as well since it was the blade Ansem gave me."
"What are you gonna name it?" the King asked. Riku just shook his head and pointed the tip of the blade forward.
"It already has a name," he explained as a bright light shot forth from the tip. It stopped and expanded into a doorway of light. Through the doorway was a very familiar town with a very visible sunset.
"Way to the Dawn."
When I come to, let us meet
with our usual words on the usual street.
A/N: That's the end of Chapter 1/Prologue. Whatever you want to think of it.
The poem-like interludes are from the ending of KH Re: Chain of Memories (Sora's version). They actually fit in pretty well with those so I decided to use them. I may use the poem lines again and the lines from the poem at the end of Riku's game as well later on.
Big thanks to Mabinogi Fan from GameFAQs for writing the game script for Re: Chain of Memories. I don't know how much I'll be working on this, but this idea has been gnawing away at me for at least a month now so I might get a few more chapters done in the next few weeks.
Hope you enjoy it!