Take Heed, Take Heed
Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. Or Bob Dylan.
A/N: This particular idea has been eating at me for quite a while, so finally I sat down and wrote it a couple weeks ago. I thought I might add more to it later, but that doesn't look like it'll happen.
The picture in the newspaper was one Riku had never seen before.
Which was odd, seeing as how he was Sora's best friend, and they were expected to know everything about each other. Except Riku, for the life of him, could not figure out why Sora had disappeared.
He knew that it hadn't happened through kidnapping or anything like that- as goofy as the kid was, even Sora could hold his own in a fight against someone (something) twice his size. That fact had been proved numerous times over the past two years.
But the fact that it wasn't an abduction chilled Riku to the bone. He wondered, more than once, whether Sora had decided to go because of the place or the people. And either way… Why had Riku been left behind?
It didn't make sense.
The picture wasn't a hokey school photograph that newspapers usually posted for missing peoples- it was one of those rare, beautiful snapshots that only really come along once in a lifetime for each person.
Sora was- well, Riku didn't know where he was when the picture had been taken, and he sure as hell didn't know where he was now- standing in the sunlight, an almost shy smile on his face. His crazy wild hair seemed even worse than usual; it spun about his head in what Riku thought looked like a halo. His shoulders were bunched up against his neck in a shrug, and the camera seemed to be coming up from below him.
Riku could feel something in him break as he gazed at that picture.
The article was just your standard this-person-has-been-missing-for-so-and-so-and-it-would-be-very-helpful-if-you-could-find-him-and-he's-an-honors-student-so-he-deserves-to-be-rescued-or-found-thank-you-for-your-time. Riku ignored it, because as much as they said about Sora, none of it was really true.
It didn't say anything about the Keyblade, the heartless, Roxas, or anything that actually mattered. It didn't talk about Sora's infectious smile and his constant need to do good, or the way he was able to befriend pretty much anyone he came across.
Sitting there, Riku began to wonder if that's why Sora left. Because this world… It was so much less than before. They'd dreamed of coming back here, that single motive driving them onward through the battles and the struggles, when before they had wanted so bad to get out, and now that they were back home, it was Sora that had left instead of Riku.
Riku wanted to know how that made any sense, but no one ever answered him.
Kairi and Tidus and Selphie and Wakka were worried, but not as worried. They got on with their lives eventually, and Riku didn't see them that often. He spent most of his days out on the play island, trying to find any sign that Sora had left behind. An explanation.
No one bothered him, and he didn't find anything.
Kairi would often be waiting on his front porch, skinny arms propped up on her skinny legs, chin in her hands, wind in her hair. She'd get up and walk closer as he made his way towards the front door, asking how his day was and all that. Riku kind of wanted to ignore her, but just because Sora had disappeared, it shouldn't mean that he had to turn into a social recluse. (Even if he already had anyway.) So he replied, as friendly as he could muster, that his day had been fine, no, he didn't think he could hang out tomorrow, he had work, and bye Kairi.
He was beginning to suspect that she knew he didn't have a job. But that was alright, because she didn't say anything about it, and he didn't either.
Riku wondered if Sora had told Kairi where he was going. He'd always known the two had had a thing going on, so he supposed it was only natural that Sora would confess to his sort-of girlfriend that he was going to be leaving the islands for wherever. But it hurt. Because Riku sort of also wondered, again, why Sora hadn't told him. He began to worry that maybe he hadn't been as important to him as he had thought.
And that worry led to a realization that he'd rather had never come.
Riku locked the thought away, resolving to forget it, but it still crept out when he wasn't paying attention, haunting both his waking hours and his dreams. It repeated over and over in his mind throughout the day, a silent, horrible mantra that Riku wished would go away any time he opened his eyes. But the fact was there. Plain and simple.
Sora was his life. He loved him.
And now that the smiling little boy was gone, there was nothing… No one left for him here.
He still couldn't see why Sora had left, but now he could see why he should.
I got a letter on a lonesome day,
It was from her ship a-sailin',
Saying I don't know when I'll be comin' back again,
It depends on how I'm a-feelin'.
Well, if you, my love, must think that-a-way,
I'm sure your mind is roamin'.
I'm sure your heart is not with me,
But with the country to where you're goin'.
So take heed, take heed of the western wind,
Take heed of the stormy weather.
And yes, there's something you can send back to me,
Spanish boots of Spanish leather.
--Bob Dylan, "Boots of Spanish Leather"
A/N: I am NOT going to continue this. I don't even know where I'll go with it.
Also. Favorite Bob Dylan song ever. It's just so pretty.