Before There Was
Author: Krys Yuy
Summary: Before the darkness, before Xehanort and Maleficent, and even before Kairi… there had been only Sora.
Pairing/Characters: Riku/Sora (Kingdom Hearts) friendship, implied shounen-ai
Prompt: before they go back to their world
Rating: PG/K
Word Count: 1,096
Disclaimer: I own none of the characters used. This fic is purely for entertainment purposes only.
Author's Note: A short ficlet written for akitoaya at LiveJournal. I tried another kind of writing style with the parentheses and I don't think it really worked. And I'm sure Riku's a bit OOC. I'm not totally satisfied with this piece, but it was a challenge working out my shounen-ai skills, even if this piece is more vague than anything. Hmm... well, I hope you still like it. Comments are love.
Before the darkness, before Xehanort and Maleficent, and even before Kairi… there had been only Sora.
Long before his best friend had ever wielded a keyblade, Riku had been there to protect him, to watch over him, to get him out of trouble (or into it). He was always right whenever it came to him. After all, the spiky haired brunette was almost annoyingly predictable when they were kids.
Riku remembered when Sora's mom used to bake cookies for him and Sora as an after-school snack. The treats were devoured quickly, the hyper brunette gobbling up his share without a breath. Riku, however, took his time to relish the flavor and carefully ignored the pleading eyes that inevitably turned to him while he was still in mid-bite. Now this was before Kairi, and Sora couldn't yet turn his baby blues on her (which almost always crumbled her resolve). Riku had more willpower to resist the puppy-dog eyes. He enjoyed making his best friend squirm, and found it quietly amusing when Sora tried to hide the fact that he was drooling over the last cookie of the batch.
The brunette's fingers never failed to inch their way towards his plate ever so slowly, but Riku managed to snatch the cookie just as Sora was prepared to make his move. His fingers would twitch and a certain gleam would enter his expression, and Riku, who kept a close watch on his best friend through the corner of his eye (never leave Sora alone in a room with unguarded cookies), recognized the threat and seized the chocolate chip treat first.
Riku had always been a bit faster, a bit stronger, and a bit better… That's why he took it upon himself to watch Sora. Who knew what would happen to the klutz if he didn't?
And so, after a few more moments of watching Sora pout, Riku broke his last cookie in half and stuffed it in the brunette's mouth. Torn between shock and slight irritation, Sora swallowed it in one gulp before letting out a sigh full of pleasure. Then the biggest, goofiest smile spread across his face just for his best friend.
Riku remembered the warm feeling that settled in his chest, his lips quirking up in an instinctive response.
This was the past where Sora relied on him for everything… until their two became three. Things got a little more complicated, and feelings changed, grew, twisted. The new trio became the new order, and the times with only Sora just became Before Kairi.
It wasn't until that dark day on Destiny Islands that Riku realized he couldn't predict Sora as well as he thought he could. His best friend turned his back on him – wouldn't take his hand – and he remembered being angry (so betrayed), so he took it upon himself to be her savior. The darkness seduced him easily, and Sora became the enemy, the one who refused to join him. He had left him – for what? – a duck and a dog and a shiny new key.
Gone were the days of cookies and smiles. It was a new day, a new world – and his best friend stood on the other side.
Maleficent offered him so much power to save Kairi (he had to protect her, she was all he had left), and who was he to resist?
But after came Hollow Bastion and Xehanort's Heartless and darkness (so much darkness) – poisoning him, tainting him farther than anything else had done. Riku looked at himself, discovering who the real traitor had been all along.
He had to make amends, had to make it right. So when he needed to stay on the other side of the door, he did it willingly because this was another chance to protect Sora and give him Kairi (because someone who could give in so easily to the dark didn't deserve her). He didn't deserve either of them anymore.
Time passed and he changed again, accepting the darkness inside him, choosing to battle it, utilize it instead of running from it. He would make this choice; he would step into the dark if it meant that he could save the brother (closer than a brother) he had failed to protect.
But when the machine opened, when Sora finally stepped out, memories restored, he wasn't really his Sora anymore. This Sora had grown up. His movements were those of a seasoned warrior (someone who had been at the edge of the world and back), a true champion for the light.
Riku knew he couldn't see him, couldn't let Sora know what he had done in order to repent for everything he had done. So he helped from the shadows, flitting in and out across worlds, always missing the Keyblade Master by mere moments.
His connection with Sora, however, wasn't something to be denied for long. The Castle That Never Was served as the setting for their reunion, and he felt ridiculously happy even though he knew he still wasn't worthy of Sora's forgiveness (of his tears). But power and determination flowed anew through his veins as they fell back into their pattern of bickering and teasing (so easy, too easy).
Xemnas should have been tough, terrifying – but Riku had Sora. He had his best friend back and there was nothing they couldn't do. They struck the final blow together… and then there was blackness.
Riku regained consciousness for what seemed like hours later, but he kept his eyes shut tight. He didn't want to find himself waking up to a new world. He didn't want to start over. He didn't want Sora to not be there.
He wanted the past back, even if there was no way to reverse time.
And then there was a warm hand upon his forehead, and he had to open his eyes because the touch was so familiar…
Sora smiled down at him and held out his hand, his eyes still so trusting and innocent after all this time that the warm feeling from so long ago flooded back and Riku couldn't believe it was real.
"Let's go home." Together.
Riku didn't answer because he didn't need to. He reached up and grabbed Sora's hand, and his best friend helped him up with a laugh, and suddenly, they were kids again and nothing else mattered except laughter and light (had they really just saved the world?) and Sora.
It was just the two of them again, like before, and their hands lingered together for a moment longer than necessary.
And Riku imagined that nothing had really changed at all.