"Sora."
"What?"
Do you wonder about them? How many we've killed (murdered?), left to disintegrate into dazzling spots of light? How many of them had lives? How many of them could think? How many of them were like Roxas, like Axel, like Namine?
He almost words it like that, but he thinks it will come out too harshly and make it obvious that he is worried. He stops himself and takes a shuddering breath inward that tells Sora more of his worries than he knows.
Sometimes, when Sora is just in the corner of his peripheral vision, Riku is certain that he is Roxas. The hair twists, flattens, and bleaches, the clothing whitens, the stature shortens, but when he finally catches up to Riku in the sun-drenched tropical heat, he is full of smiles and blue eyes lacking Roxas' essential sadness. When the spiky-haired boy is in that half moment between sleeping and waking (Riku's mouth twists as he is suddenly reminded of Neverland) and Riku is there to see it, his expressions are not his own. He will clutch at his pillow, his eyes more almond-shaped than usual, his fingers strangely slender, and his mouth in a straight-lined grimace that Sora barely ever used. But then he is up, questioning why Riku looks so bewildered and horrified, and Riku doesn't know what to tell him: in general the transformation is so shocking that he simply is left speechless.
Kairi is this way too. With her, it is even worse, however; the witch seems reluctant to give her more than a few seconds of philosophical conversation with Riku before she is there, being much less silly than Kairi ever would. Riku asked her this question first, and it was Namine who answered, blue eyes with black rims oddly creepy in the island's light, pale skin defiantly out of place next to Riku's bronzed, summer-induced tan. she only whispers a light, "Yes, of course," before giving Kairi back control. Blonde hair melting rapidly back to auburn, Kairi looks faint and it is not until the freckles on her nose return that she appears ready to speak. "What did you say?" she asks. Riku tells her to forget it.
Will it be the same with Sora? Riku does not want to see the boy who was not Sora, does not want to be reminded again of that lonely time in the drizzle when they fought and he lost. But he asks it anyways, just because if Sora answers, it will be worth it.
"Do you think they had hearts?"
o-o-o-o
A/N: You have been sucessfully drabble'd! Or short-fic'd, or whatever. Next chapter coming out soon, I assure you, because I have KH on the brain.