Puppet Master

Luring a rightful Keyblade Master to the darkness without his ever suspecting the strings that tie the hapless puppet to its master.

Notes: The trick of capitalizing pronoun(s) in place of proper noun(s) is copied from Synonymy by Ruaki. (You can find it in my favorites.)

It was five in the morning when Riku waded out into the sea.

He didn't normally go into the water in the wee hours of the morning, nor was he normally inclined to enter the water fully clothed.

Today was different. His fourteenth birthday had brought with it the amplified restlessness he'd been feeling all last month, amplified to painful proportions, until he felt he would willingly enter the world of death just to escape the sudden, inexplicable affliction.

He breathed in deeply and plunged his head under the water. The current dragged at his clothes and hair, spreading them out to hover aimlessly around him, their ministrations soothing.

He'd always been dissatisfied by his life on the Destiny Islands in a vague, far-off sort of way. Life was repetitive, but neutral. No wars came to their Islands, no disaster beyond the occasional storms and acts of nature. Never had Riku actually considered sailing off, away into unknown places.

The raft had been his idea.

"We can travel to other places in this," he had said, and They had believed. It had been a game to Them, but to Riku it was a perfectly serious and natural thing.

To get off the Island, they needed a method of travel. And since no one would give them a boat and Riku's own mother was too paranoid even to let the now-fifteen-year-old step out the door without explicitly letting her know where he would be at any time, asking to be allowed on sailing or fishing expeditions had been completely out of the question.

Riku didn't mind. He liked building things, and working with Them on a single task and goal was very comforting.

"Guess I'm the only one working on the raft," Riku said, shaking his head. Riku tossed the log to Him, knowing full well He wouldn't be able to catch the piece of wood without falling flat in His back. "And you're just as lazy as he is!"

He never noticed Her increased uneasiness and trepidation as he himself grew more immersed in the work of the raft.

He stared out to sea and wondered what it would be like to sail to its ends. To cross the borders of the worlds—

Riku turned to Him before He could poke at his leg, "Did You get everything? I gave my stuff to Her already." And couldn't help thinking there was something She'd forgotten to ask them to pick up. Something vitally important—

Riku watched Him kick the ground a few times before His face brightened.

"Okay. This decides the winner." Riku jumped off the branch of the Paopu tree he'd been sitting on.

Walking along the shore at sunset, Riku made sure his bare feet were well away from the water as he thought. The two of Them were sitting on the pier, talking about who knew what. It didn't matter. Soon they would be sailing and—

His brow wrinkled. Sailing? But that was so slow.

It was five in the morning when he jumped out of his boat, a precise motion that eliminated the necessity of his feet touching the shallow water near the pier, and turned towards the Secret Place.
He was on the small individual island, unaware of how he got there. It didn't matter. What mattered was the swirling darkness above. A way to cross the borders of worlds, without the mundane task of sailing across open sea.

Riku turned and He was there.

"She coming with us!" He couldn't say how he knew. He hadn't seen Her, only had a vague notion of her brightness as She'd approached him, so bright he'd had to cover his eyes and turn from Her, even as She'd reached for him. But She was coming and She was safe. That was a fact that could not be disputed.

But why did He have such an upset look? Riku raised a hand toward Him, beckoning. They would go together, and Kairi would meet them there. That was how it would be.

Riku's hand closed on air as Sora failed to close the distance in time, the Darkness whisking him through Destiny Island's Keyhole, away through the corridor of darkness.

And all of a sudden a triumphant laugh bubbled from his chest, and Riku passed out.

-Ending Notes-

This story as a whole was supposed to be subtle, but, like most of my writing exploits, it didn't turn out that way. TTTT

In the game, very few Heartless go into the water after you. It's a property of the game (as you can't fight while you're in the water,) but I chose to turn it into a plot point. Hence, the not-so-subtle symbolic use of water.