Author's Note: This was written by me, Peachy. A little SoRiku for a change of pace. Very canon, too; well, the closest to canon I've ever been. Lol XD
So yeah, set at various times during KH I, tried to keep it accurate plot-wise, with the addition of the boy-love, of course ;P. The last scene is how I think KH I should have ended. If not with the yaoi, then at least with Sora's ultimate decision about Riku and the doors. (Not trying to give anything away…lol.) I mean, seriously. What the hell KH?! Though, I suppose if they did it my way there would be less need for a sequel. Lord knows CoM would've been all but unnecessary. But whatever, Disney/Squeenix, whatever. Have it your own angsty way. XP
Anyway, I hope you enjoy it! Reviews are, as always, greatly appreciated! :D
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Requiem in Darkness
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Sora sat on the shore by the edge of the sea as the sun went down. He watched seagulls soar past and heavy clouds float by, blending with the vibrant pinks and oranges of the midsummer's sunset. The cool evening breeze tousled his spiky brown locks, but Sora did not lift a hand to brush the strands from his face. He didn't do much of anything that late summer's evening, simply sat on the shore of a beach that held everything for him, and nothing at all. He watched time pass. He saw the light of day slip away in a dazzling array of colors, but it was the night sky he waited for. He waited for the night, because the darkness was the only thing that kept him close to the only one he'd ever give his heart to. If that one would only let him. If that one would only come back and find him.
"Sora?"
The voice of one of his best friends, one of two, carried on the night air as the soft pitter-patter of steps resounded across the sand.
Kairi came to stand beside Sora, hands clasped behind her back in a girlish gesture that made her cute. Most of the things Kairi did made her cute. Over the past few years, she'd even grown to be sexy. A sexy girl who was fast becoming a young woman. Sora had fancied her once. He even thought he'd loved her. But then there was deep laughter and arrogant smirks and a mass of silver hair, and Sora's heart had swelled to bursting. And now his heart burned and ached and crumbled, but it would not bring back those smirks, that hair, and those stunning aquamarine eyes of his lost friend; his lost love.
"You've been out here all day and night. Are you okay?" Kairi asked in her breathy, feminine voice.
Sora turned his face and met Kairi's eyes with a small, sad smile.
"Sure."
Kairi gazed at one of her best friends, one of two, skeptically, and sat down in the sand beside Sora, folding her long legs underneath her daintily.
"Look at ya, Kairi. You're a princess. Our very own princess of Destiny Islands."
Laughter flitted across Sora's memory and made his hands clench into tight fists. Kairi looked at him questioningly.
"Are you thinking about him right now?"
Sora nodded, unable to find his voice.
A moment of heavy silence passed between the two teens, Kairi looking at Sora and Sora gazing at the sea in front of them.
"You must be missing him pretty badly, huh?" Kairi made it a question as she watched Sora quietly.
"Yeah. I…miss him." Sora replied, fighting the stab in his heart at the unintentionally loaded question.
Kairi nodded and gave a small sigh, her sapphire eyes flicking to the vast expanse of water stretching to the horizon.
"Me too. I mean, it was always the three of us. And before I came here, it was the two of you. You must miss him even more than I do. I can't believe he's just…gone."
Kairi was unable to hide the shock and sadness in her voice, and a lump formed in Sora's throat which he tried his damndest to swallow down. He couldn't take much more of this conversation. Or maybe he just had to make himself talk through it. Maybe he needed to accept it and move on. Accept that he was gone, and perhaps never coming back again.
The very thought brought salty tears to his eyes, and Sora closed them slowly, very slowly, and reopened them, fighting to keep those tears from falling.
Suddenly, Kairi reached out and took one of Sora's hands in her own, meeting his surprised and pained gaze with a gentle one.
"He'll come back, I know it. Wherever he is, whatever he's going through, he'll find his way back to this shore, to us. He'll find you, Sora. I'm sure of it." She added, and Sora's eyes grew even wider.
"Kairi?" he said in a voice barely above a whisper.
Kairi laughed, a high, pleasant sound like the jingle of bells, and stood, eyes still on Sora's own.
"Oh, come on, Sora. You really think I don't know who that paopu's for that's been conspicuously lying beside your bed for months? I'm not dumb, you know. No one gets that look in their eyes when thinking about a friend, even a best friend. That's a lover's look, Sora. I'm just hurt that you didn't want to tell me."
Kairi pouted her bottom lip and crossed her arms over her torso, but her eyes held no real hurt. They held amusement, affection, and underneath it, sorrow, sorrow for a friend lost to the darkness.
"He should know what he left behind. He's an idiot for running off and missing out on the love of the famous Sora, master adventurer and unofficial Prince of Destiny Islands."
She smiled at him then, a wide, warm smile that made her eyes sparkle with sincerity. Sora's cheeks had turned a vibrant shade of red as he stared at his friend in speechless shock. Had it really been that obvious? And if it had, had he realized Sora's feelings, too? And had he left, knowing…?
"And no, Sora, I don't think he knew how you felt. Unlike me, he's a big idiot, and even more dense than you are when it comes to that stuff. If he had known, I'm not convinced he'd still have left." She said, looking down at the flustered brunette.
"Kairi, how do you always know what I'm thinking?" Sora asked, surprise and acute embarrassment mingling in his expression.
"I can tell by your face. You're bad at hiding your feelings, Sora. It's why you're such an honest and sincere person. It's a good quality to have, unless you're trying to be discreet. Then again, you've decided to fall for someone who's incredibly clueless, so I don't think it's going to pose a problem for you." Kairi replied, her smile widening.
Sora didn't respond, and Kairi turned to walk back to the island.
"Kairi," Sora called to her.
Kairi stopped in her tracks and spun around to face the brunette, who still sat cross-legged on the shoreline.
"Yes?"
"Do you really think…if he'd known, he would have stayed on the island?" Sora said, just loudly enough for Kairi to hear.
"Sora, I think if Riku knew how you felt about him, he wouldn't have left you for anything in the world." Kairi said, her smile kind and sincere and deeply sad all at once.
She turned and left for the hut, and Sora couldn't stop the hot tears that cascaded down his cheeks at the sound of his lost friend's name.
Sora sat and wept on the shore by the edge of the sea, alone save for the memory of silver hair and striking aquamarine eyes that haunted him whenever there was darkness.
--
Sora was panting, his shirt clinging to his back with a slick sheen of sweat. All around him, hundreds of Heartless sprang forth to attack him, and still it was not enough. Nothing would break him, not body nor soul, as long as he held the Kingdom Key and the memory of that lost, beautiful boy who had unknowingly captured his heart.
A trio of Heartless dove forward with all their strength and speed, but Sora cut them down, one by precious one with swift slashes of the keyblade. They disappeared into the purplish-black darkness they came from, and Sora had a moment to wonder where those clouds of darkness led before he was jumped by more of the black, boneless creatures.
Kairi was found and safe with his faithful companions, Donald and Goofy, and his power as the Keybarer seemed to grow with each cutting swoop of the weapon. But his other best friend was still lost out there in the darkness. And he would bring him back to the light, by God, he would bring that boy back. Even if it meant killing every last Heartless in the process. Even if it meant dying himself.
He cut down his last assailant and sank to his knees in exhaustion, not entirely physical. If—no, when—he found Riku, that boy would certainly have some apologizing to do. All this trouble because the older boy had been so desperate to escape his humdrum life on the island that he had fallen into the darkness, thinking it was his only route to a different life. A better life.
Sora choked on a bitter laugh that bubbled out of his throat, and the sound of it scared him. He needed to stay positive; if he gave himself over to anger, fear, or doubt, he may as well fling himself in front of a pack of Heartless without his keyblade.
Kairi's voice flitted across his mind, soft and soothing.
Don't give up, Sora. I'm with you, and Donald and Goofy are, too. You can beat the darkness, Sora. You can save him.
Kairi's quiet encouragement made him rise to his feet and straighten himself up, hands clenched into determined fists.
Undaunted, Sora called his keyblade to his hand and began to march forward in measured, purposeful steps in the direction of the dark portal in the distance that led to the End of the World.
He would not—could not—let himself look into the darkness. Because if he did, he didn't know what he would see, and Sora was afraid that once he stumbled down that path, he wouldn't be able to stop himself from falling.
--
The doors were closing.
Sora, Donald, and Goofy had been struggling, with all their might, to close the doors to Kingdom Hearts on the millions of Heartless waiting inside. The King had appeared with a keyblade of his own, and told them to close the doors, and to leave the Heartless to them. "Them" was the King and his companion, Riku. The very boy Sora was trying to save.
Saying he was stunned by the sudden reunion with his best friend would be grossly understated. It was more like his heart had stopped beating for a brief span of moments, and the harsh noise of battle was suddenly reduced to white noise in the very far distance as he looked into those painfully familiar aquamarine eyes.
Now, he struggled against the King's orders and his friend's movements to keep the doors open. Riku tried to push the doors closed once and for all, and Sora knew they were running out of time, but he could not bring himself to close those doors and lock Riku in on what was surely be his own death. Not after all he'd been through to save his beautiful, lost boy. He couldn't lose him now. He just couldn't.
"Sora! Close the doors, now!"
Riku's deep voice was like a shock to the system after being without its sound for so long. Sora shook his head over and over, frantically, pushing against the momentum of the closing doors with every ounce of strength left in his body.
Both boys' eyes were raw with emotion, and Riku had to fight ferociously against the nearly overpowering desire to fling himself outside those doors and into the arms of the little brunette he had missed so badly. His little best friend who had scoured the universe looking for him. At it had been all Riku's fault. All this disaster and heartbreak because he couldn't deal with the prospect of living on Destiny Islands for the rest of his existence.
Riku shook his head free of such thoughts, partly because he knew they weren't true and partly because he needed to focus on the events of the moment.
The fact was, he knew the doors had to be closed, or else the Heartless would invade the outside world and destroy everything they touched. And he knew that not even Sora and his mighty keyblade could defeat the millions of creatures that were beginning to make their way towards the distressingly slowly closing kingdom doors.
The doors needed to be closed, and Riku was on the wrong side of those doors.
So be it, he thought.
If this is what it takes to save the world, to finally help Sora…then so be it.
"Sora! You need to let go. The Heartless are going to escape and destroy every world there is if we keep this up. The doors have to be closed."
"No!"
Sora's voice sounded like he was on the brink of tears. The boy looked up into his best friend's eyes, and Riku saw that he was, in fact, holding back tears, his cerulean eyes wide and round with the effort.
"No, Riku, I can't let you go! Not after all I went through to find you! I can't let you die like this!"
The tears had begun to spill down Sora's cheeks as he redoubled his efforts to keep the doors open, which by now had moved so only a few feet of open space remained.
Riku felt guilt and pain like a sharp stab in his heart, and it was all he could do to keep from crying himself.
"Sora, it's okay. I gave up my life with you and Kairi on the island to follow a path of darkness. This…is my redemption for doing so." The older boy said solemnly, his arms straining against Sora's own struggling.
Sora looked into the silver-haired boy's eyes, and there was a look in them that Riku had never seen before. It was anger, and fierce, burning determination, and underneath all that, a deep, grieving love that made Riku's heart throb painfully against his chest.
"Riku, this is not the time to get all righteous on me. Do you really think getting your redemption means giving yourself over to the Heartless and leaving your friends, who've come all this way to rescue your sorry butt? Well, I don't, and I'm not letting you go."
And with that, something inside Sora broke. An ethereal light emanated from his body and his keyblade, which had sprung to existence in his right hand without being called.
Suddenly, the doors froze, giving Sora just enough time to grab Riku by the shirt and pull him out of Kingdom Hearts before the light faded and the doors closed with a finalizing thud.
Before Riku could thank, or protest, or say anything at all, Sora lifted himself up on his tiptoes and pulled the older boy down into a crushing kiss that sent them both careening to the ground below them.
Never breaking contact, Sora straddled Riku's waist and kept his mouth plastered to the other boy's, running his small hands over Riku's face and hair and chest with such a raw need that it left the older boy absolutely breathless.
Riku kissed Sora back, his hands exploring the brunette's neck and down the expanse of his back as the reality of what was happening began to sink in.
He had always loved the boy, as far back as he could remember, but he never would've imagined in his wildest dreams that Sora would ever feel the same way toward him. So he had kept the little brunette at arm's length, shielding his crippling crush with cool smirks and sarcastic words.
But now, feeling the intensity of Sora's kiss, Riku finally realized that he could've had the boy as his own for months, maybe even years now, and the thought brought stinging tears to his eyes and down his face before he could think to stop them.
Riku ran his tongue along Sora's bottom lip and the smaller boy immediately opened his mouth and allowed its entry, his frantic hands finally coming to rest tangled in Riku's mass of silver hair.
Riku let out a loud groan before he could stop himself and clutched at Sora's hips desperately as the kiss deepened.
Tears and sweat mingled on both boys' faces as they rolled in the dirt and dust, completely absorbed in the feeling of each other. Sora broke contact first, pulling his mouth away from Riku's and none too gently punching the older boy square in the jaw. Riku was sent reeling backwards, but Sora remained straddling his friend's hips, pinning the older boy in place even as he fell on his back with a thud.
"What the fuck, Sora?!" Riku said as he rubbed his now throbbing jaw, anger and confusion mixing with the passion in his eyes.
"That," Sora panted, tears beginning to dry on his cheeks, "is for leaving me. And this—"
Sora leaned down and pinched Riku's arm, hard, eliciting a string of profanity from Riku's lips.
"—is for making me search all over the universe for you. And this—"
Sora bonked Riku on the head lightly with his fist, too physically and emotionally spent to injure the older boy any further.
"—is for not having the guts to tell me how you felt about me all this time."
Riku normally would've flipped out at Sora for acting how he was at the moment, but the look in the smaller boy's eyes was positively heart wrenching, and the harsh words died in Riku's throat.
"That last one goes for you, too, you know." He said, his voice hoarse from crying and from his passion for the brunette boy.
Sora blinked at the dirty, tear-streaked face of his best friend, and his heart felt like it would break all over again. He suddenly collapsed, his body crumbling onto Riku's chest. Riku wrapped his arms around his friend's waist and held him in a tight embrace as Sora began to sob all over again, his face buried in Riku's shirt and his small frame shaking with the effort of his weeping. Riku held him until he stopped crying, his head resting on the nook in between Sora's neck and collarbone.
The sun was setting as Riku lifted his love's limp body in his arms and carried him to the Gummi Ship, lying him down on the sparse twin bed set up in the back of the deck. The evening colors played on Sora's hair and face, the tension and worry replaced by the blank expression of sleep.
Riku lay down beside the sleeping boy, placing a gentle kiss on his forehead before wrapping an arm across Sora's stomach and drifting off into a sleep of his own.
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THE END