Boredom messes with your mind. Especially if you've read a really depressing fan fiction the night before…
Riku watches Sora and Kairi chat happily as he carves a piece of hard driftwood. He's making fish hooks. They have bone and metal hooks, painstakingly fashioned into their current shapes, but just in case he's making many simple and quick hooks. A fish can easily swallow a hook, and he has seen it happen to Sora more than once. When that happens he has to follow him to the beach the next day and look for more wire and various bits of rubbish. One day they just happened to find a girl instead.
The conversation has swung over to him now.
"We would've lived our whole lives on this island," he says somberly. The idea of living forever and happy with Sora and Kairi doesn't repulse him at all. In fact, that's almost like a dream come true really. The main reason for his fear and disgust is the whole world of possibility that was ripped away from them without any notice. He and Sora are explorers. There's a wanderlust that drives them to all corners of the Destiny Islands. Thinking of how the vast potential of the universe was currently locked away angered him. His friendship with Sora was built on those long treks through woods and swims through flooded caves that pushed their lungs to the limits. It was like a trove of happiness waiting to be discovered. That's where the fear came in. The possibility that the three of them could have never been able to experience that untapped happiness scares him. He can just imagine the isolation that would inevitably interject their lives as they grew up in an unending state of just existence. They would rot away, first in mind, then in body as they remained on this island prison. He goes over the last two words in his head with some bemused irony. A few years ago, give or take, he didn't even know this island was a prison. Life with Sora was idyllic and naïve. Whoever said that ignorance was a bad thing? The mixed feelings are volatile enough to make him throw himself headlong into his work. He deftly cuts hooks with clean cuts. Later he will wrap them with wire that has glass or shiny tin strung on to appeal to the fish as lures.
"Riku, are you sure you don't want to slow down? You're going to cut yourself!"
"I'm fine Sora."
Right as he says those words, the knife slips through a curve in the wood and into his hand. Instinctively, he drops both knife and wood onto the sand, which is now splattered with small droplets of red. This was unusual. Usually he was the one warning Sora not to do anything stupid. Not the other way around. He feels as if his mind is slipping into an abyss sometimes. He can tell he's become moodier lately as well.
"Aw, told you so!" Sora complains as he helps up Riku from his seat on the ground.
"Never mind. Where's Kairi? I don't see her."
"She went to the beach to make a good-luck charm or something like that."
"We'll need all the luck we can get. I'll go bandage this up."
"I can help."
"No, stay here and keep repairing our gear."
"Ah, killjoy," Sora replies heartily. Riku gives Sora a small smile before leaving.
This is a prison break and no one can stop them.
-o-o-o-
Riku takes the large, sharp scissors and begins hacking away at his hair. He ignores the stinging in his scalp and the blades mercilessly tug and saw through each strand. Silver locks fall to the ground in fistfuls and he chops away with abandon. Whenever he looks into a mirror nowadays, his long hair only brings up memories of scary people and regret. He needs to do something, or he's going to go crazy. That is, if he still has any sanity left at all.
He asked Sora to find the best scissors he could and bring them to him. When he's serious, Sora can tell, and in moments like these you can trust him with almost anything.
"C'mon Riku; you'd better stop or you'll go bald!"
It's an uneasy attempt at humor, painfully obvious to Riku. He must be scaring Sora. He drops his arms to his side and the blades fall limply from his hand. Sora slowly walks over and gingerly picks up the scissors. For some reason, he seems almost afraid to touch them. He picks them up with his fingertips and Riku can see the blood smeared on them. He glances down at his hands. They are trembling and cut. A look in the mirror tells him there is more blood in his hair. For some reason, he feels no pain. He just wants the shaking to stop. A deep breath, clasping his hands tightly together- nothing works.
"Riku? Get it together!"
He laughs shakily and forces himself to calm down. The exercises he learned for controlling the darkness work just as well for suppressing emotions. He's about to hold his head and rest for a moment when Sora grabs his wrists.
"You're going to get that stuff all over your face. What're we going to tell the others when we have to go wash it off?"
"It's already in my hair."
"Uh…" Sora stops talking for a moment. "W-well we can use magic to heal your hands, right?"
"You're right. Give me a moment."
"Really?" Sora objects as he draws out the vowels of the word. Riku sighs and turns away his gaze.
"Actually, maybe not."
"Thought so."
Sora summons his Keyblade and cast a rather crude Cure onto Riku. Magic is not Sora's strong point, but even a Cure from an amateur is enough to heal the wounds on his hands. There's another, stranger effect of Sora's magic on him. His mind feels so much lighter and the darkness in his heart seems to almost shrink away from the magic.
"Your magic sucks."
"Hey, I'm not Donald y'know!"
"Still room for lots of improvement."
Sora pouts and sits on the lone chair in the room.
"I was trying something, but I guess it didn't work."
"Hmm, I really don't enjoy being used as a test subject."
The look Sora gives him makes him cringe a bit.
"Relax, I was joking."
Sora keeps the bad expression for a couple minutes, and then drops it.
"Maybe we should go to Yen Sid about your hair."
"I want it short."
"I know that, but look at it."
Riku turns to the mirror in the room and stares. The whole cut is rather lopsided and uneven.
"That's a problem."
Sora nods.
"You think you can fix it?"
"No way."
"Dammit."
And that's the end. Please review; I'm like a rabbit that dies without company.