Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, sadly. But I do own the video game, KH2 as of three days ago, and the KH2 Guide! XD!
AU: Sora was captured by Heartless and taken to a castle, where Riku is looking for him when we start the story. Another self-explanatory AU later.
Summary: When Riku runs across a mysterious girl named Avalon who seems to have a real grudge against Kairi, he is given a choice: give Avalon some of his life so she can go back in time and redo everything so that Kairi never existed, or do the same and erase Sora from existence. What will he choose, and what will the consequences of his actions be?
Pairings: None for now. Could be Rikairi or Sorriku, depending.
Chapter One: The Time Stream
Riku walked through the dark corridor quickly, his steps echoing through the silent hall. There was not a sound in the entire castle save for the footsteps and a low, rattling breathing that led the silver-haired teen from room to room and hall to hall. The castle seemed endless, every room and hall leading to another in an eternal maze.
The breath stopped outside one room, and Riku turned the knob hastily, only to find it locked. He summoned the Oblivion Keyblade to his hand and tapped the knob twice, stepping back as the door was unlocked and swung itself open.
He stepped quickly inside, looking at the dark room. There was a toy chest in a corner, where moth-eaten dolls were hanging out over the side. The pale pink, toy and heart-filled wallpaper was ripped in places, and the pastel pink curtains were torn and hanging limply. There was a large bed off to one side of the room, complete with a shredded canopy and several smelly throw pillows and moth-eaten, pink sheets. Several storybooks with missing pages were scattered about the floor. He could almost hear the echoes of laughing children in the room.
Riku let out a sight of relief and joy when he saw that Sora was lying on the bed, seemingly untouched by the Heartless. However, he was still worried; Sora seemed to be sleeping... but so had Kairi after she'd lost her...
Riku refused to think about it. He stepped over to Sora, and his worry grew at the boy's unnatural sleeping position. He was lying straight on his back, his legs together. Riku had been to sleepovers with Sora plenty of times, and he knew that Sora liked sleeping all spread out on his stomach. Also, Sora's arms were crossed over his chest. In either hand was a doll. One looked uncannily like Riku, and the other like Kairi.
"Hey... Sora!" Riku whispered, nudging the younger boy, "It's me, Riku. I've come to rescue you."
But Sora's eyes were still shut tightly, his gently rising and falling chest the only indication that he wasn't entirely dead. However, he did show some response- the hand that was holding the Riku doll tightened a bit, and Sora's eyebrows moved a bit.
"I've got to get him out of here..." Riku muttered. As the Oblivion Keyblade disappeared, he slipped on hand beneath Sora's legs at the knee, and the other beneath Sora's back. He lifted the feather-light boy easily and turned for the door.
However, it was shut, though he'd left it wide open. Several dolls were lying limply around the door. Riku's heart began to beat loudly, and he held Sora closer to him. Sora still hadn't moved from his position- he wasn't entirely straight anymore, but his legs were still stuck tight together and his arms were folded across his chest, and he was still holding the dolls.
Riku strode swiftly to the door and tried to open it, but it was no use. It was locked again. He released Sora's legs, using his left arm and right knee to balance him as he summoned the Oblivion Keyblade back to his right hand. He tapped the doorknob twice, but the door didn't spring open again. It was as if the dolls were holding it shut.
Riku's eyes narrowed with frustration. How was he going to get Sora out of the castle now?
He turned and his sharp eyes scanned the room for anything to use, but there didn't seem to be anything remotely like a weapon or key in the room other than the fusion of both that he held in his right hand.
When he turned back to the door, he jumped back from shock and nearly dropped Sora. All of the dolls were standing up, looking at him with their blue, button eyes, but one in particular caught his attention.
There, right in the front, was a Sora doll. Riku didn't know how he'd missed it before- he'd probably been too preoccupied with the real Sora to care about some dumb dolls. The Sora doll looked at him hopefully, then turned, jumped up surprisingly high, and attacked the doorknob with its little, plastic Kingdom Key Keyblade.
It worked; the door unlocked. The other dolls moved swiftly aside as Riku passed, nodding appreciatively to the Sora doll, praying that it wasn't now the vessel for Sora's heart and mind.
Riku ran along the corridors that seemed familiar, trying to backtrack his way through the castle, but it was no use. The castle walls and doors seemed to move and have minds of their own. Once, he accidentally wound back around to Sora's room. It seemed pointless to keep taking turns, so he decided to just follow the red carpet that was rolled out on the floor.
The carpet led him to a door that he'd never seen before. It was large and white with an oriental dragon decoration curled around the frame. The door itself was encrusted with jewels and precious stones and metals, including Orichaelcum.
The doors swung open of their own accord. By now, Riku had gotten quite tired of the castle's magical antics, but he stepped inside the room anyway.
The room greatly reminded him of the halls in Castle Oblivion. It was white with white flowers made of stone surrounding the circular walls. The floor was covered by white tiles and in the center of the room was a giant, floating, heart-shaped diamond that was surrounded by a floating, spinning, gold ring that had many strange and ancient runes carved into it.
"You've arrived," a woman's voice echoed through the chamber, and in an instant she appeared in front of Riku. She was tall and thin, with long, flowing, golden hair and deep, sapphire-blue eyes that had catlike pupils. Where here ears should have been, there were small, white wings, and she had a regular pair of large, white wings on her back. She wore a long, white dress that looked like it had diamonds in the thick skirts. Her smile was warm, but Riku felt tense and uneasy around her, probably due to the dark Heartless mark on her chest.
"Who are you?" Riku demanded, "What did you do to Sora?"
"I only gave him what he desired," the woman replied, "He was so tired from fighting off the Heartless when he arrived at the palace gates, so I opened up the castle for him. He found his way to that room- the only suitable bedroom here- and lied down on the bed. Try as he might, he couldn't sleep, for worry that the Heartless would attack him, so he said, 'I wish I could sleep and not worry about the Heartless,' so I cast a spell on him that would let him sleep forever, undisturbed."
"I don't think that's what he meant," Riku growled, "Wake him up."
"I can't, you see. Those dolls contain the spell, and your likeness comes out easily enough-" before Riku could move away, she pulled the Riku doll easily from Sora's hand, "But the doll of that girl won't come free, no matter what I do."
"So he's still got his heart?" Riku asked.
"Of course. It was very tempting, but he wished for sleep free of worry from the Heartless, so I couldn't take his heart if I'd wanted too," the woman sighed, "Oh, it's been so long since I've eaten. I was never any good at stealing hearts, it just seemed so mean..."
"But the Sora doll-"
"Just an animated likeness of him that I put in charge of protecting the boy. Even a false Keyblade will give a self-respecting Heartless a shock."
Riku looked at Sora, then said, "You grant wishes, right? So I wish that he was awake."
"I'm afraid I can't do that. You see, direct wishes are really up to me," the woman said, "I decide a wish, and then the person has to give some his or her energy to decide which way the wish falls. He gave me some of his life for sleep, just as he would have given me some of his life to stay awake. I don't eat hearts, so it's the only way I can stay alive..."
"Then make a wish," Riku said.
"Alright..." the woman's smile broadened, "Here's my wish for you... someone will be erased from existence. It will either be Sora, or that girl, Kairi. Decide who will be erased."
"What?" Riku gasped, "That's not what I-"
"How many times do I have to say it, dear?" the woman smiled even more brightly, "It isn't about what you want, it's about what I want. And you see, living here all alone in this castle means I don't get much entertainment. Oh, when Ansem (Riku cringed at the name) used to visit me we'd have the grandest of times together, but I haven't seen him for so long... so you see, it's been very dull. Now that I have a chance at some fun, do you think I'm going to give it up so you can live happily ever after, watching your best friend get the girl that you've always wanted for yourself?"
"That's right. I love Kairi..." Riku said, "But so does Sora. If I erased him... but I can't do that to my best friend... but I can't do it the girl I love, either... it's impossible!"
"Maybe not," the woman said happily, "If I erase them from existence- turn back time and make it so they never were at all- then you wouldn't have memories of them, no guilt, nothing... of course, keep in mind that each of them played a large part in the way things are now. Get rid of Sora, you might not love Kairi. Get rid of Kairi, you and Sora might not be friends. See, it's impossible to tell wrong from right when you're dealing with time... but I know a way to see.
"This crystal is sort of like my link into time. It lets me alter the time stream, but it also lets me see the outcome of the altercation before I make it. So lets see what the worlds would be like if Sora had never existed, starting with the moment that you met him..."
The ring of gold around the heart whirled, glowing and sending light everywhere until the whole room glowed. And then, Riku was on Destiny Islands, almost ten years ago, when he as a five-year-old had met Sora as a four-year-old.
Riku saw his younger counterpart sitting alone in the brightly colored daycare center, stacking big, multi-colored blocks into a tower. He reached for the last block that he needed, finding that a big, very fat kid had taken it and was holding it high above Younger Riku's head.
"That's not right!" Riku said to the woman, "Sora was the one who had the block, and he gave it to me..."
"But Sora doesn't exist," the woman said, "Let's see how this little story continues..."
"You want this, baby?" the kid mocked, "You want it?"
"Yes, please..." Y.R said, "I need it."
"What you need is to be tougher!" the kid said, kicking down Y.R's tower. Tears formed in Y.R's eyes. "You gonna cry?" the older kid mocked, "You gonna cry, crybaby?"
Time flashed forward a few years.
Younger-Riku was seven now, sitting on the beach, watching the tides come in, playing lazily with a tiny sand crab. He saw a raft floating amidst the waves, with red-headed girl on it.
"Hey!" slightly-older-Riku waded out to the raft, "You okay?"
"Yeah," the girl nodded, "I'm Kairi."
"The name's Riku. Come on, let's get this raft to shore..."
Another handful of years passed, and this time...
Not-much-younger-Riku was fourteen and not-much-younger-Kairi was thirteen. They were sitting on the Paopu tree together, watching the sunset. Not-much-younger-Kairi was sitting in not-much-younger-Riku's lap, her head resting on his shoulder. It was obvious that they were a couple, and the real Riku couldn't help but feel a sense of longing for this setting...
One more year, the destruction of the island...
"Kairi!"
"Riku, we can leave now. Let's go!"
"Not like this. The darkness is evil- it will destroy us if we give in to it! I know you want to see your home, Kairi, and we will, all we need to do is wait out the storm and go on the boat..."
"Don't you see? There won't be a boat to sail on, or a beach to depart from, or an ocean to sail! The darkness will give us what we want, Riku, I've seen it! Trust me!"
"NO!"
Kairi vanished into the darkness, and the Keyblade appeared in Riku's hand. He fought off the Heartless and Darkside, but it wasn't enough...
In an almost fast-forward like sequence, the highlights of Sora's journey flashed through the crystal, except it was Riku instead of Sora, and Kairi instead of Riku. And at the end, when Kingdom Hearts was opened...
There was no one to help Riku close it. The Heartless swarmed out, devouring Riku and everything else. They spread through the world like wildfire on a dry, grassy plain, and everything was destroyed...
"Dreadful, isn't it? I always knew that the girl was bad news," the woman sighed, "Ah, well... so you've decided, haven't you?"
"No," Riku said, "I want to see the universe without Kairi before I do anything."
The woman sighed again. "Suit yourself."
"Stop it, that tickles!"
Seven-year old Riku grinned as he poked six-year-old Sora in the tummy again and again, making the younger squeal with delight and laughter. Older-Riku looked at the ocean, and... nothing. No Kairi. The day went on, and younger-Riku and younger-Sora played together.
Fast forward a few years...
"Hey, Sora!" ten-year-old Riku waved vigorously at his friend, carrying a picnic basket.
"Nice timing, Riku!" nine-year-old Sora smiled, "I'm starving!"
Younger-Riku opened the basket and pulled out sandwiches, apples, crackers, and pudding cups. Little-Sora's eyes went wide. "YUMMY!"
A few more years...
Thirteen-year-old Sora and fourteen-year-old Riku were playing on the beach with their wooden swords. Sora slipped, and Riku bonked him on the head accidentally with the sword. Sora immediately whimpered and put his hand to his forehead, and Riku rushed to him, forcing his hand away to give him a good look at the bump.
Finally, the destruction of the island...
It didn't come. The island stood strong, and Riku and Sora had joined their boats together. Riku's boat held all of the supplies, and Sora's boat would be the passenger side. Between them, on the wooden planks, was the sail.
"Get some rest," Riku said to Sora. "We're going tomorrow, no questions."
"Okay!" Sora said.
Riku looked over at the supplies to double-check everything, and noticed a half-eaten Paupu fruit in it. Grinning, he took a bite. "Very slick, Sora. Very slick."
As it turns out, they did get to another world. This happened by process of Sora falling in the ocean, Riku diving after him, and both of them turning into mermen. Yup, Atlantica is just a fall-off-a-boat away. And of course, they went to other worlds. They really mixed it up in Halloween Town, and both of them were on the nice list in Santa's workshop.
They met Leon and the gang at Hollow Bastion, since their world was never destroyed. They even met Ansem, and the woman was with him. It was pretty easy for Sora and Riku to tell that they were married. Monstro was a gas, and they just loved the vine-surfing in the deep jungle. They ended up as the Olympus Coliseum Champions for two years running. And they solved the whole Cloud/Sephiroth conflict. Alice got off scotch-free on her trial. Aladdin and Jasmine were finally married. Peter Pan got his treasure, and the two learned how to fly.
Disney Castle was nice, too, and Riku ended up cursed at Port Royal for a little while. They helped break Beast's curse and Mulan couldn't have gotten her medal of honor without them. They went back to Olympus Coliseum and dominated all of the tournaments again, and they got sick off of Sea-Salt Ice Cream in Twilight Town. They checked up on Aladdin and Jasmine, and they got to help deliver Christmas presents in Halloween Town. They even won Sebastian an award for his musical. The Winnie the Pooh book was never destroyed (sadly).
No Heartless. No Nobodies. No separation. No fighting (except over who got the last Sea-Salt Ice Cream bar). No broken dreams. No sad farewells. Just paradise.
"I've chosen," Riku said.
"Then which will it be?" the woman said.
"I choose..."
Okay, readers, there you go! Review and choose! Your reviews decide who gets erased from existence and who Riku ends up with!
Ansem: Choose a world without Kairi, please! I'll give you ice-cream and Heartless-proof your entire life!
Kairi: Don't erase me! I'll... uh... well, I can't do anything, but TO ALL YOU FELLOW HOMOPHOBES, if you erase me, Riku ends up with Sora!