Game Over

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the franchise that is Kingdom Hearts. I am merely a fan who wishes to write RikuxOC fanfiction. That is all.

What a strange transformation the world undertook when nighttime fell. The busy hustle and bustle of cities and towns gave way to the serenity and stillness of dusk, falling silent as the darkness brought with it sleep to all…

…Well, to all but a specific pair of teenagers on a particular street…

"Whew! Finally!" proclaimed the male of the pair; he stretched his long arms over his head and heaved a sigh. "That boss fight took forever! Xemnas should've just stayed dead when we killed him the first time!"

"Shhh!" His female companion urged, her face rapt as she watched the ending cut scenes play out on the screen. The boy followed her gaze and rolled his eyes.

"You must have watched this ending half a dozen times. Don't you ever get tired of looking at the brooding guy with the premature gray hair?"

The girl gasped, as if her friend had physically injured her. "It is not gray, it's silver! How dare you insult Riku that way!"

"So what? It's not like he can hear me," the boy deadpanned, his brown eyes fixed on the silver-haired boy on screen, the corners of his mouth turned down in disdain. "And if he could, I'd like to tell him a few things about what it means to be a man…"

Now it was the girl's turn to roll her eyes. "And what makes you qualified to teach him? You're the same age as him, you know," she pointed out, tossing a throw pillow at her friend. The boy dodged it easily, smoothing down the white blonde strands that had been ruffled by the pillow's passing over head.

"Yeah, well, I have the advantage, seeing as how I'm not fictional," he retorted, but the girl's attention had returned to the T.V., so he gave up for the moment and left the room to sneak a soda back upstairs. When he returned, the credits of the game were rolling, and his friend sat on the floor, moisture gathering in her violet eyes. Surprised, the boy set his soda down on the dresser and approached the girl.

"Ava, are you crying?" he wanted to know, kneeling down next to the girl and peering at her profile. The girl called Ava tilted her head forward so that her long raven locks hid her face.

"I have something in my eye," she lied badly, her voice sounding as if she had a bad head cold. And despite the fact that he could tell she was embarrassed by her weeping, the boy still laughed at his friend.

"Of all the things to cry about, you cry over a video game," he chuckled, shaking his head. Ava tucked her hair behind her ear so she could turn to glare at the boy.

"Screw you, Zephyr," she spat, miffed. "So what if I'm crying over a video game? The characters are really relatable, and the story is well-written—you'd have to be heartless not to cry."

"Are you accusing me of being a Nobody?" the boy called Zephyr wondered, still clearly amused. Already over her embarrassment, Ava grinned in response.

"Hey, if the long black cloak fits…" she trailed off with a shrug, and they both burst into a fit of laughter.

The laughter was short-lived, however; a moment later, Ava's mother entered the room, looking very tired and very, very irritated. At the sight of her mother, Ava and Zephyr sobered up at once.

"Ava, Zephyr: go to bed already!" Mrs. Paxton growled, jabbing a finger at the clock on Ava's dresser. "It's five o' clock in the morning, and NORMAL people are trying to sleep!"

"Sorry," Ava and Zephyr apologized simultaneously, looking sheepish as they scrambled into Ava's queen-sized bed. Without so much as a good night, Mrs. Paxton left the room, slamming the door behind her.

Ava cringed. "She's gonna be cranky tomorrow," she foretold with a sigh, reaching over to turn the lamp off next to her. "She's supposed to go in to the office earlier than usual."

"Thank goodness we don't have to go to school tomorrow. I don't think I'd be able to keep my eyes open after only two hours of sleep," Zephyr mused as he shifted on his side of the bed, getting comfortable.

"If we were Keyblade masters, we wouldn't have to worry about school at all," Ava teased, grinning in the dark. Zephyr let out a low chuckle that was interrupted by a yawn.

"Alas, wishful thinking," he replied sleepily, turning so that his back was to his friend. "Makes for some awesome dreams, though. Night, Ava."

"Night," Ava bade softly; Zephyr had already fallen soundly asleep, a skill of his that she had envied ever since they were children. She sat back against her pillows, staring through the darkness at her T.V. The world of Kingdom Hearts was a fascinating one, so much so that, no matter how many times she had beaten the games, Ava could never get tired of the storylines. It was so rich, so complex, that she found herself wanting to skip the boss fights just to get to the cut scenes—and she often had Zephyr play the fights for her. It was Zephyr who got a thrill from the strategy and fighting mechanics of the game—Ava was mostly just interested in the storyline.

And then there was Riku. Ava smiled to herself, thinking of the silver-haired pretty boy whom had succumbed to the darkness in the first Kingdom Hearts game, but by the time the second game had rolled around, he was learning how to harness and master the darkness within himself. He was Ava's favorite not because he was good-looking—although that was certainly a plus—but because he was, perhaps, the most complex character of them all. Ava often suspected that there were still many layers and shades to Riku that not even he knew about yet.

…Of course, she kept this theory to herself, because she knew Zephyr would just laugh at her if she spoke it aloud. She lay down with a yawn, turned toward her nightstand, where a plush version of Riku sat, a miniature paopu fruit clutched in between his tiny hands. He was the last thing Ava saw before she drifted off to sleep, a peaceful smile on her lips.

And so ended the last normal night Ava and Zephyr would have for a while, for in their states of deep sleep, neither became aware of the strange, bright light that was shining mysteriously from the center of Ava's T.V., engulfing them completely until they vanished. The light faded from the T.V. as soon as it had come, and all was still again in the darkness of the night.

A/N: ...So, I'm pretty sure I'm going to regret this, since I'm pretty much acting on a whim right now. BUT, it's a Saturday night and I have nothing better to do, so why not write Kingdom Hearts fanfiction? I sadly can't play the games right now (because my brother hogs the PS2 at home) so this will have to do for now. (And also because I really really really want Riku to have a girlfriend for some reason COUGH)

So, to you, dear readers, I hope you enjoy. It's not much right now, but my imagination tends to get carried away, so I'm excited to see where this will lead. I hope you enjoy~

~Reyna