THE END

We enter the moment the sky falls.

I took a single breath, and the world snatched it away in a blast of starlight.

I float in nothing. This is nothing new, and like times before, I will leave this place to rejoin the ones I risk my life for. It's a simple process. I simply remember who I am, who I fight for, and where I was

This living place...the pulsing grounds, the smell of darkness fouler than the shadow that once plagued my heart...it's numbing. I don't know what will happen, what the outcome will be. For a brief moment, Braveheart trembles in my palm.

I am first to stir and regain my wind. The iron smell is potent unlike before. I try to reach out to Mickey, but I get nothing. Outside of smell, I can't detect anything else. For a moment, I think that I float in darkness again, but I come to. My body twitches, and everything has come back.

My eyes open to Kairi struggling to stand. The moment she gets there, she grimaces and collapses again. I help her get to a rock for balance.

"Where's…?" she starts, but sharply inhales. She reaches for her foot. "I...I can't feel it, Riku."

"Lea! Sora!" I call. "Kairi, stay out of sight." She ducks behind the boulder and I finally spot Lea helping Sora up. He takes a vial from his pouch and places it against Sora's mouth. The motion makes me double check my pockets to count the potions I have left. Five. Two elixirs, two potions, and one megalixir for everybody if we really need it.

I know they're nothing but adrenaline kicks, but seeing Sora liven up again from Lea's potion warms my heart just a little. He's alright. I watch as he sprints to Kairi's side, inspecting every inch of her to make sure she's okay. My smile widens. We all survived.

That makes four of our group...but did the others…avoid the explosion? A crack of thunder roars by the plateau. Bolts crash from the sky and illuminate the rest of us.

The Wayfinders are far ahead, buying the time we need after the hit we took. The light shapes her silhouette perfectly: Aqua leads the pack. She shields her comrades with one of the most impressive Reflegas I have ever seen. She follows it with a sparkling blast that launches nearly twenty shadows into the air, creating space on the front line. Terra and Ven follow behind her, finishing off the shadows and keeping the enemy occupied.

She is doing everything in her power to keep her friends intact and make the battle less formidable. I see so much of myself in her.

I still can't locate Mickey nor Donald and Goofy for that matter.

Sora catches my eye as he steps forward, holding his side. Despite the growing dread around us, he is all my eyes want to see. Everything slows around us. Another thunderbolt from Aqua splits the sky. Sora's Keyblade trembles in his own gloved hand.

"This is it!" Sora says, firm unlike his stance. He looks at me. "We're the only ones who can do this!"

I look back at Kairi to see how she's holding up. Half her leg is dark dark red and her boot is at a grotesque angle. She wipes her mouth with the back of her hand, another red streak appears. Her eyes are harder than I've ever seen.

No wonder Sora is shaken up…

I motion towards her, even for a bit of comfort before we move forward, but she waves me off.

"GO!" she mouths to me, massaging her foot and keeping her breath steady. "I'm always with you."

I bring a fist to my chest and nod to her. My footsteps are light, cushioned by the soft ground. Sora twitches when I place my hand on his back. With teary eyes, he looks to me for guidance. That's how it was when we were kids, anyway. I was the prodigy, the endgame. The idea of it still puts a smile on my face.

He still doesn't understand how much I need him to feel the confidence in myself.
Starting to wonder if he'll ever...

"Where's Donald and Goofy?"

"I don't know. I can't find Mickey either. They would want us to keep moving. They need us up there."

Sora hangs his head. "Right. Are you ready, Riku?" he asks me. The crack in his voice is so subtle.

I pat his back and gaze upon the great cliffs before us. "It's now or never."

A beat. Truly, it was now or never.

Outside was a smile, but within me, in the deepest parts of my twilight heart, there was longing. Despite our extended time away from the island, the scent of him always brought me home to the sands and the surf. The crash of the waves against the shoreline, and the fizz left behind. The creak of wood from the towers we jumped across. The zipline over the trees…

His warm presence brought the feeling of home and safety. Sora swept away my despair and my fear of losing those most important. Sora was everything. He is everything.

If I say nothing now, I could be lost and never get the chance again.

"Sora," I begin. I can't bring myself to make eye contact yet, but I feel that gentle warmth from him anyway. "It's amazing that wanting a raft brought us to this, huh?"

"Yeah," he says. "And after this, we should actually use one. Just for fun, anyway."

"I'd like that." I face him completely. "As long as I get to be with you."

Sora's grin is wide and stupid like it always is. My heart melts.

"Of course you will! You, me, and Kairi. We'll live the best years of our lives as Keyblade Masters! Come home, relax, and then see new places. It sounds like the beginning of something new."

Time is running out. I can feel it. I throw my hand over his and bring it to my chest. His expression changes when he feels my quickened heart rate. I close my eyes.

"Sora." I have to pause. The lump in my throat hurts. "I...know who is most important to you. I helped make sure your memories of Kairi woke you up. But with end coming, I need you to know what my heart is saying, and what I need to say to you."

He's confused. He doesn't get it.

"Riku-"

"I'm more than happy to call you my best friend," I interrupt. "I'd die for you, but you must know that through everything - Xemnas, the Sleeping Worlds - I've come to love you."

Sora squints at me. God, he's thick in the head.

"Riku?"

"Sora. I fight with you because I love you. It took me a while to hear the words forming my heart, but this pounding doesn't lie. It can't." A weight lifts and I feel so...light. "You are my light. The one that's most important to me..." That's all I can do now. I start to walk away from him, breaking contact. His arm is slow to return to his side.

"Riku, why are you saying this to me now?" Sora asks as if we still have the time of day. As if on cue, another explosion erupts on the plateau before us. The Wayfinders need us.

"I needed to tell you at least once if this is how we're gonna go out."

I run towards the explosion. Thankfully, the immediacy of the situation hides my cowardice to hear any response from Sora. I know what the answer will be, but I let my heart feel fluttery. I said what I needed to, and the responsibility I put on myself is almost off.

Perhaps it was irresponsible to put even more conflict in his heart during the heat of battle, and with Kairi suffering nonetheless. A blast descends upon us. It's brief, but I remember falling like that once. Sora did too. With luck, he'll forgive me in the end. In our end.

Stars fall all over, but in their light, I will prevail.

TODAY

We enter the moment the sky falls.

The sky - distraught - waits for the ocean to meet him.

Kairi remains in intensive care, stable.

Sora remains at her side, finally getting some sleep after everything.

I wait outside her room in a sling.

I left her a vase of flowers decorated with pink ribbons and a little pinwheel shaped like a paopu fruit. Some sentiment for that small likeness I had what seemed like ages ago. My hand touches the window, and while I'm so happy for these dorks and how much they adore each other, a part of me feels left out. Cast aside…

"Hey."

I flinch. Lea, decorated in his own slew of bandages, stands next to me all of a sudden. "Lea-"

"How's she doin'?" He's focused on the bed. Stern.

"They," I say, "had to take her foot."

"They what?" Lea raises an eyebrow. He leans into the window as if to see under Kairi's bedsheet. "What good is your guys' magic if you can't mend a foot? You didn't get that girl Aqua to help?"

"Once we got her boot off...uh...it was too late to reconnect and heal it."

Lea frowns. "Oh." He scratches his head. "Well a metal foot is as good as a magic one. Better, even. Huh, maybe she'll finally be at my level of cool."

I roll my eyes. "It could have been a lot worse."

Lea points to my arm sling, then to his neck brace. "No shit. We all could have died. And not lose our hearts, I mean, kid. We could have actually died forever like those before us." He gives me a light shove, but it's enough to make me adjust my balance. "I'll be back. Make sure Sora's okay, too."

He leaves, and I'm thinking about Sora again instead of my own thoughts. A lot of things happened during the War. I hoped he could forget anything I said and I would be left with saying what I needed. He heard me, and that is all I need.

When I look into the room again, Sora is awake. His eyes are right on me, and for the first time in my life, I can't read his expression. It feels blank, even his eyes. And the guilt sets in.

He leaves his chair, and I flee down the corridor. I can't face him. Not yet.

My heart brings too much to the surface and I won't think straight around him for some time. I refuse to vanish in their time of need, but my first move is to get advice. Help. Anything to stop the pounding.

Stars fall all over. I don't know how long I will last until I drown.