-Zoo York-
A Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction
By: The Darkside Incarnate
-Chapter 1: Something More-
(Riku, Motel 6, 5:46 A.M.)
There's granite white skin, against too-bright yellow sheets; a bare chest still glistening with sweat. My chest, and Selphie, her naked body lying against mine, her legs intertwined with my own, her head cushioned against my abs. Wow, last night…it was just so…WOOSH!
I sigh, gently pushing the sleeping nude girl away. I put my hands behind my head, resting. It's WAY too early in the morning…I should sleep…these blankets really good when you're naked…
Wait, wait!
I get out of bed, careful to cover my privates (it gets cold down there!). I put on a pair of boxers, shrug on my pants and shirt. I grab Selphie's cell phone, deleting my number out of it. This girl was as skanky as they come, I don't want to go out with HER ever again, no, she was okay for a Friday night fling, but beyond that…well, she's not very important.
I grab my over-night bag, and, before I leave, I reset her alarm clock for noon. She told me she was a deep sleeper last night (lucky for me); she depends on her alarm clock for waking up at all.
I leave the hotel, careful to wink at the lady behind the check-in-check-out counter. She smiles back, a small smile. She's probably taking in my messy silver hair and my wrinkled clothes, wondering if I did the deed last night. Well guess what, pretty counter girl, I totally did it. And you know what else, I did it twice! But no way would I say that to your face. No way, not when there's a slight chance that I could make it with you—
Oh, never mind, you're not worth my time.
…or…I'm not worth yours.
I shrug, turning my back on Counter-Girl. She let's out a sigh as I walk out, apparently deciding that I did the deed.
---
Walking home, I don't have a car, unfortunately, but I'm saving up for one, and one of these days I'm going to get my dream car and drive it right out of Destiny Islands…or maybe I'd fly out of here first…then buy the car…then drive my way—oh, never mind the details. The point is that someday, I'm going to leave all this behind and find a better life. What kind of life? I don't know, but I'm sure as hell going to find out. There's a whole new world out there, just waiting for me to party my way into it. Yeah. Just got to…y'know…get some money…get on a plane…buy a house…a car…ugh.
I pass by a string of small shops, too absorbed in my own thoughts to participate in my annual after-fling window shopping ritual. There are necklaces hanging from nails, shirts and pants and coats on lifeless manikins, weary eyed workers behind wooden counters; mindlessly selling and exchanging tiny little trinkets that are totally useless but still sought after. It's the supply-and-demand spiral. Someone buys, someone sells, and someone makes a useless object look pretty. As if the world doesn't have enough beautifully useless things.
These shops are supposed to be quaint…cute…whatever. But they're not. They're just a way for tourists to waste their money and shopkeepers to gain the wasted currency. And it will go on and on till there's no more money left to spend. But of course, that will never happen.
I stop for a moment, taking in my reflection in the glass window; bright green eyes, pale skin, silver hair…the face of Riku Athens. There's some kind of emotion in those eyes…some kind of feeling that shines through. But I don't know what it is…but it's so strong and unnerving, I feel like the glass should shatter just by me looking at it.
This island is supposed to be magical. But I stopped feeling that the day that mom lost her way, the moment that dad started drinking and inhaling. I haven't felt anything from this useless hunk of space in a while…especially when Dad was so blinded by his drugs that he walked right in front of a truck, laughing as it carried his broken, mangled body away. This island is supposed to show you who you really are. But if this is who I really am—someone who screws endlessly, trying to feel something when there's nothing left to feel—then I want nothing more to do with me.
Cars fly by on the dew covered roads, people bustle by me, birds fly through the air, and the sun shines down in the first lights of morning. But I don't feel any warmth. The momentary giddiness that sex brought is gone, replaced by nothing but unfeeling numbness.
---
The neighborhood; a cluster of houses all bunched together, with their perfect green lawns and nearly identical configurations. Everything seems so dull here, so completely predictable…it only feeds the numbness that is gnawing on me. I feel like there's this hole…right there where my heart used to be. It gets bigger and bigger everyday, gaping and dark and twisted. I can't stop this…this terrible feeling that I just can't name.
But there's hope. If I can just get out of this town…off this island where all the memories lie…if I can just get on a plane and leave then I can be at peace. No more haunting. No more mindless screwing…just leaving my past behind me and never looking back. I just don't know how to escape though. And there are all these things that hold me here.
I stop in front of a plane white house, staring at it for a full moment. This house doesn't belong to me, or my mother. But it feels like home. It's where my best friend lives, and where I've gone for breakfast each and every day since I was twelve…since Dad died. But there's no more time for thoughts of mourning. Now I have to think of some way out of here…even though this house and all the people in it are one big anchor, holding me in this place.
I run up the porch steps, unlocking the door with my own personal house key. I walk in, hanging my coat on the hanger and striding into the kitchen. There, just where I expected them to be, is my best friend Sora and his two parents.
They greet me with smiles, especially Sora who jumps up and gives me a big hug; "Dude, you're late!" he says, as if this wasn't already painfully obvious. His parents nod in agreement, regardless, and I give them a shrug and a sheepish grin.
"Sorry, guys. I got held up at the house." A total lie; and they both know it, but Sora's dad is kind enough not to point it out, and his Mom would rather talk about it in private later. Their names are Dawn and Lisa Hikari, as well as their only son; Sora. Dawn has this bright blond hair, and Lisa's gifted with this hazel brown that her son shares. All three have the same eyes, a pretty brown color that shines in a better way then mine does.
"We made breakfast," Lisa says, just like always, and Dawn nods in agreement. Dawn's a quiet guy, barely every saying a word. But what he doesn't say with words he makes up for with his piercing looks.
Sora grins at me, "She made bacon!" he says, practically bouncing. "A-and eggs, and those little biscuit thingies with the jelly and she made gravy too just in case you don't want jelly, but really, who doesn't want jelly? I mean it's like it was made for biscuits—"
"People put it on bread too, Sora," I remind him, rolling along with the rant.
"Oh, to hell with bread. No one likes bread unless it has meat on it."
"Language," Lisa says, without looking up from the pancake she just flipped and caught with her frying pan.
"Right, sorry mom."
"You two go wash your hands; I don't want you getting dirt or anything on my food."
"Yes ma'am," Sora and I both salute. "We'll be right back!" The two of us run up the stairs, playfully pushing each other out of the way. This is the kind of silly family stuff that keeps me on Destiny Islands. If only I could take Sora and his whole family with me to wherever it is I'm going after I escape this retarded island. But that seams impossible.
Sora and I wash our hands, even though it feels childishly unnecessary. "So…" Sora starts, throwing a casual glance my way, "Did Riku and Selphie get hot and sweaty?" I turn to him with a glare, but he only laughs, which, naturally, makes me smile.
"Yeah, we did the nasty."
"Riku!" he says, in a fake scandalized voice. "You sexually active man-whore!"
I roll my eyes; "Since I'm not a virgin that automatically makes me a man-whore, yeah, thanks a lot Sora." Yeah, Sora's pure; totally pure. Sometimes I wonder if he even has a sex drive.
"I'm saving myself for the right girl. You, on the other hand, insist on screwing your brains out," Sora says, drying his hands. "Come on Riku, let's get breakfast." He leaves, and I follow.
During breakfast, Lisa drops two envelopes on the table. "You got your first acceptance letters!" I stare at the envelope.
"Wait…you sent my transcripts to New York?"
"…Well…Yeah…"
"Are you…allowed to do that?"
"Apparently."
"And I got accepted."
"A-yup," Sora says, peeking at both our letters. "The semester starts in three weeks."
"…You mean…I'm going to college?" Not exactly the escape I was looking for. But whatever. I can work with it. "So I'm going to study art at this…performing arts school?"
"Yep," Lisa says, touching Sora lightly on the shoulder; "Along with my son. You said it's what you always wanted to do." Okay, yeah, I like to play music. It was what I was going to do if I didn't party all my life. I just might be able to work this all to my advantage.
"Um…I'll be right back," I say, standing up from the table. I make my way upstairs, crossing Sora's room on the way. And right there, smack dab right under his window…there's a shiny black guitar. Sora's guitar, he wanted to take lessons and his mom forced me to enroll in the program as well, saying that it would 'Broaden my horizons,' or some such nonsense. It was a wide program, you could learn guitar, bass, singing lessons, all manner of woodwinds, horns…and percussion instruments. I'd been shanghaied into playing the drums.
Oh my god!
Why didn't I see it before???!
This is huge!
This is it, the idea I've been waiting for! Oh. My. God. Sora and I should start a band!
A/N I probably could've ended this first chapter a little bit better. But anyway, this is a Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction which will be pretty long. The only reason that Sora and Riku's parents are OCs is because I didn't want to waste time thinking up two random characters from the KH universe, because I would be unable to use them later.
Next time on Zoo York: Riku unveils his plan to Sora, who's unimpressed. Meanwhile, in Traverse Town, a young girl named Namine runs away from her abusive boyfriend, and meets up with Kairi, a beautiful scam artist with an uncertain past.