Disclaimer: I don't own it, because if I did, I wouldn't be here writing fanfiction about it.
Sora stood on the shoreline, the water washing gently against his toes with every wave as it broke on the sand. He wiggled his feet idly, burying them deeper in the soggy sand as he stared out over the horizon at the sinking sun. The small island that had served as a childhood playground for him and his friends sat solidly out in the ocean, nearly black against the brilliant oranges and purples of the sunset. For fourteen years, this had been the extent of his reality, the only world to really exist. Sure he knew even then that other worlds had to exist, since there was no other way to explain the appearance of the mysterious girl who'd become one of his best friends, but in his mind they had been a vague idea of something beyond, something he'd never experience for himself. Boy, had he been wrong. Now, as he looked at the first pinpricks of light in the evening sky he thought of the places he'd visited and the friends he'd made on his journey.
He missed them a lot. Sure, he had the people most important to him back, but he wanted to be able to argue with Donald again, talk Jack out of another crazy ploy to help Santa with Christmas, or train with Leon.
"Sora!" Snapped away from his reminiscing, the boy turned his head in the direction of the voice. A well-shaped masculine silhouette was jogging towards him, the fading sun glinting off of silver hair hanging past the figure's shoulders. As the other drew closer, Sora could see the glowing aqua eyes of his closest friend, Riku, and the slight smirk on his face as he brushed a few sweaty strands from his face. "I've been looking for you. You need to throw some stuff together."
The brunet's eyebrows drew together, furrowed in confusion. "For what?"
"We're going to Radiant Garden. Apparently the King told the Restoration Committee that we were coming to visit them, and now they're planning a party."
"Why would he tell them that?"
"Does it matter? Either way, we're going."
Sora's face brightened immediately at the news. "Really? Then you can meet everyone! Is Kairi coming, too? I love parties! …But wait…" His face was contemplative again. "How're we going to get there?"
"I'm assuming that we'll take the gummi ship that appeared in my garage along with the note from the King."
"How did a gummi ship just appear in your garage?"
"I'm not in the habit of questioning two-foot-tall rodent royalty."
"Good point."
"I tend to have those. Now go pack! And make sure that you have something formal for the party. I'm going to help Kairi get her stuff to my place because, yes, she's coming too. But we have to leave tonight. Even with the gummi ship it'll take a while to get there."
"Gotcha!" Sora was off like a rocket, leaving large, shallow footprints in the sand as he ran towards his house. Words couldn't describe his happiness at being able to see his other friends again and introduce them to the two most important people in his life.
Riku and Sora fidgeted slightly as they stood on the street corner in Radiant Garden. Their legs felt strange, and they tried to get rid of the uncomfortable jelly sensation that could be associated with standing on solid ground after flying in a gummi ship for a few hours. Sora grinned at Riku, who was looking curiously at the market and its patrons. "Well?"
"It's a lot different from the last time I was here," he answered finally.
"Riku, the last time you were here you were in Ansem's castle and a little bit possessed by a mad impersonator scientist who went on to lead a group of wackos bent on retrieving the hearts that at least half of them lost purposely. I'm pretty sure you could say the same about any other world."
The silver-haired boy smiled slightly, though it didn't reach his eyes. "Good point."
"I tend to have those."
"Hey, you lazy bums!" Both boys turned in slight fear toward the voice behind them. An angry redhead stood with both hands on her hips, foot tapping impatiently, surrounded by luggage. "Don't think I'm going to carry all of this by myself."
"But Kairi," the spiky-haired brunet whined, "most of that luggage is yours, and it's heavy." This was, in fact, the truth; of the five bags on the ground, three belonged to the female member of their trio.
"Why'd you need to bring so much stuff, anyway, Kairi? It's not like we'll be here that long."
"Because," she began, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world, "I need choices. What if I'd only packed one outfit for tonight, and then hated it when I put it on? Plus, I needed a pair of dress shoes, because I can't wear these shoes to the party. And then there's my make-up and stuff…"
The two boys shook their heads, muttering about how they would never understand girls, but each of them acquiesced to pick up a piece of Kairi's luggage in addition to their own. With Sora leading the way, the trio trampled their way across the rebuilt town. Every so often they would stop for Sora to point out something that connected to their adventures somehow, or for Kairi to speak about something she vaguely remembered being in a particular place when she'd lived here as a child. It occurred to them somewhere along their way from the gummi garage to Merlin's house that, as much as Kairi had embedded herself into life on Destiny Island, this was her true home; her birth family's legacy was now mostly a mixture of ruins and machines, but it was hers nonetheless.
Standing outside of Merlin's house, which looked exactly as Sora remembered it, Sora raised his fist to rap on the wooden door and was knocked to the ground instead by a whooping blur of black from above. "Sora! Yay, you made it!"
"I'm happy to see you, too, Yuffie," came Sora's voice from the pavement, "but can I stand up now, please?"
"Ohmigosh, yeah, sorry!" The hyperactive ninja girl scrambled up from her perch on the brunet's back and helped haul him to his feet before turning to the other two teens, who were eying her warily. "Heya! I'm the Great Ninja Yuffie! You must be Riku and Kairi. Sora's told us so much about you!" She paused for a moment. "That's entirely true, too. He rarely shut up about you guys."
"Yuffie!" screeched an embarrassed Sora as Riku and Kairi laughed. "Did you have to say that?"
"Yep!" Now if you'll excuse me, I have to escape before Cloud and Leon find me." She bounded off without another word, obviously up to no good. Kairi blinked, amazed that she'd found someone who rivaled Sora's bouts of hyperactivity.
"Yuffie! What – Oh," a deep male voice said as the door to the house was forcefully yanked open. A brunet man stepped out, a blond close at his heels, neither of them looking particularly pleased. "Hi, Sora."
"Leon! And Cloud! Hi! This is Kairi, and that's Riku." The teens were rewarded with an acknowledging grunt and nod from Leon, while Cloud just looked them over, eyes narrowing in mistrust at Riku. "So, what'd Yuffie do?"
"We don't know; that's the problem."
Sora laughed as he moved, allowing the two men to get through the door to search out their quarry. He shook his head, still amused when they could no longer see the pair's backs. "That's Cloud and Leon for you."
"Not very sociable, are they?" Kairi commented, considering their latest acquaintances.
"No, but that just makes it funnier to see them together." His voice lowered, whispering conspiratorially. "I think they like each other."
Kairi seemed to consider this, but Riku only raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Are you sure?"
"Kind of. Why?"
"I don't think they like anything."
Laugher bubbled up from Sora as he and his two friends danced about the town hall. It felt so good to see these people again, especially for a purpose that didn't include deciding the fate of the universe with a giant key and magical abilities. Kairi laughed right along with him, and Riku's half-smile grew marginally wider. They moved wildly to the music, uncaring of whether or not they looked like absolute fools because they were honestly, truly happy.
The music slowed and the trio moved off to the side for refreshments as couples formed to dance a waltz. Sora felt momentarily sorry for Cloud, who seemed to be injuring Aerith with every move he made, but brightened when he saw Leon taking the pretty woman's place. He nudged his friends and nodded in the direction of the two males. "See? I told you so."
Riku sniffed. "Sora, just because they're dancing… and Leon just saved Cloud from falling …and …" There was no way now that Riku could deny that Sora was right, with the couple kissing in the middle of the dance floor. Sora just grinned wider.
"I think it's sweet," Kairi put in. "Plus, it's great that they can love each other regardless of gender."
"Huh. I'd never even thought about that," Sora said slowly, as though he'd never even registered Leon or Cloud as being male in the first place.
"Well, it makes sense, doesn't it? I mean, the body doesn't distinguish pleasure from a man differently from pleasure from a woman, so why should the heart do differently?"
The two boys turned and blinked at Kairi, slightly dumbfounded by this bit of indisputable rhetoric. She looked from one to the other a few times, then rolled her eyes heavenward and turned back toward the dance floor, clearly exasperated. Sora couldn't figure out why. It was like she'd expected something from him, and was now upset that it hadn't happened, but he was clueless as to how to rectify the situation.
The moon shone through the window of the room that had been prepared for the three of them. Sora sat in the windowsill, letting the cool breeze drift over him slowly as he looked towards his sleeping friends. A million thoughts were running through his head, and he knew he would have to carefully consider each one before taking any action.
Hours later, as the first faint tints of pink showed themselves on the horizon, Sora came to his decision. He knew that his friends might hate him for what he felt, but he had to tell them; he couldn't keep it bottled in anymore.
"Hey, Riku," Sora began as the large group cleared the table after an elaborate breakfast cooked by Aerith, "can I talk to you outside?"
Riku looked slightly confused, but nodded anyway. Kairi glanced at her friends as they moved toward the door, but turned back to washing dishes as though nothing was out of the ordinary. Sora led the older boy down the streets, fingers tapping his legs, until they reached the quiet seclusion of the Bailey. The brunet hopped onto the ledge overlooking the town as Riku leaned against the wall next to him.
"What's this about?" the silver-haired teen asked when it seemed as though Sora was never going to actually speak.
"We've been through a lot of things over the past couple years, haven't we, Ri?" Unconsciously, Sora had reverted to using his childhood nickname for his friend. The slip told how nervous he was about this, since he hadn't called Riku that in years. "We've been to new worlds, met new people, done some pretty crazy things… And all that time, all I wanted to do was to find you and Kairi, and go back home. But…"
Sora bit his lip, unsure about how to continue. He felt Riku move closer to him, though he couldn't bring himself to look at his friend. "Sora?"
"I'm not happy, Ri. All those experiences, they changed me. I can't live on Destiny Island anymore, where no one knows about other worlds, or anything beyond our town, for that matter! It's not like when we were kids and we thought it would be fun to see other worlds; I have to leave this time, for my own sanity." He paused for a breath, finally turning to look at Riku. "I'm going to ask Leon about getting a place here, as soon as I can."
He searched his older friend's eyes, hoping to find some clue as to his thoughts, but they gave away nothing. Finally, Riku's lips parted to speak. "Do you think he could find a place big enough for two?"
To say that Sora was shocked by this response would have been the understatement of the year. "You want to come with me?"
"Of course. You think I feel any differently than you? Besides," he continued, though this time he was the one avoiding eye contact, "I don't think I could stand living there without you."
There was more silence, and then a muffled yelp of surprise as Sora touched his lips gently but firmly to Riku's. They continued to kiss, moving closer to one another, as though it was the most natural thing in the world for them to be doing. When they broke apart for air, there were no flowery declarations of love; there was no need for them. There was only Sora's hand in Riku's hair as the older teen moved his head to nuzzle against the younger male's neck.
Three teens clambered aboard the gummi ship. After talking with Leon, it was agreed that Sora and Riku would take Kairi home, talk with their parents, and pack whatever they needed to bring with them. During this time, Leon would prepare for them a little place that had conveniently just opened up. When they'd returned from the Bailey, Kairi had taken a glance at their clasped hands, rolled her eyes, and returned to her conversation with Tifa. She was upset that the boys were leaving her, but she didn't feel the same inclination to leave and so had to be satisfied with their promise to visit when they could. Everything would be different now, but different didn't always have to be a bad thing. They were happy, and that was all that mattered.
A/N: So, that didn't go where I expected it to at all. This, my dear readers, is an excellent example of automatic writing. I sit there with a pen, and things come out of it. When I started this out, I expected the focus to be a lot more on Riku and Sora, and less Sora-centric. I like the way it turned out, but seriously, I had no plans for Sora to want to permanently leave Destiny Island. This was mostly started last year, in class, to alleviate some boredom.
Looks like I'll be able to work on more fics now, though, since my university is suspended while the TAs are on strike. Yippee. I feel like we're in a siege and I should be boiling oil on my stove to pour on unsuspecting persons. Ah well. Akuroku gets attacked next!
Please, tell me your thoughts by using the lovely button of a debatable colour!