A horrible fic written by a horrible person.
Life wasn't perfect. It seemed that even after saving the world, things didn't change much. Evil lurked around every corner, and minds had never really met salvation.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters.
Whispers In The Dark
After the first week, the screams became normal. Shattered glass and broken chairs lay scattered throughout the room. A picture on the wall of two small children watched everything that happened in the house with bright eyes peering through a sharp crack in the glass cover.
Saving the world's hadn't been easy; of course it hadn't! But neither had the transition from that type of life back to the days of old. Those around them had no clue. They couldn't possibly understand a story so far-fetched and bizarre that it might as well not even existed, save for the memories and images, those blurry marks stained across a fresh mind, and the physical scars of battles past. Nobody could possibly believe a word they spoke, that was nonsense of fairytales. The missing children brought about much speculation, but it had been assumed they were simply lost at sea for years, and the psychological effects that followed had just been from isolation and hallucinations of false memories. Thus, the rumors had been put to bed, buried so deep in the covers that nobody bothered to uncover the truth.
The only psychologist on Destiny Islands was puzzled as well. She allowed the boys to have a home to themselves, distanced from the rest of the village, in order to analyze their progress and to avoid any unwanted attention from nosy passerby.
That, and for their own safety.
Neither of them could pretend things were normal. Not the way Sora would fall to his knees and clutch his head until the screaming fit subsided. Or the way Riku couldn't sleep without the lights on, for fear of the darkness taking him away.
Yet, they never spoke about it. Never attempted to reach an understanding, or solve the problem. They just let it prolong. Sora kept it to himself when his chest felt like it was being torn in four different directions. Riku hid the evidence whenever he gave in to the darkness.
A stable coffee table sat in the center of a ring of dusty chairs, the most cemented, believable, thing in their lives at the moment. Countless times, lifeless eyes dulled over that table. Weak fingers wrapped around a ceramic handle, shaky hands raised the cup to a pair of chapped and bloody lips, a thin blanket hung loosely around even thinner shoulders.
Sora heard footsteps behind him as he stood near the sink, eyes gazing out at the clear water and sandy shores of the beach. They were heavy and uneven. Riku must not have slept well. But bad sleep was better than no sleep.
The sound of footsteps faded into a sharp silence at the bottom of the steps. For an eternity, no one spoke, the silence hanging in the air thick and unavoidable.
Finally, Sora broke the silence. Without turning around to acknowledge Riku, he simply said, "I'm heading into town later." His voice was monotone, as if he really didn't care about Riku's opinion on the matter.
Silence followed for the next few minutes. He could nearly picture his silver-haired friend blinking slowly, as if attempting to comprehend the words.
Then, after an eternity, he heard, "for what?"
"We're out of coffee."
A slight, "oh," followed, and then more silence, in which Sora turned away from the window to face his best friend. He couldn't meet Riku's eyes, because he knew if he did, if he looked up into those hollow turquoise pools for any type of sign, he'd find nothing but his own terrified reflection staring back at him. And that was something he didn't want to see.
"How's your leg?" He asked timidly, unsure, as if he were speaking to a dangerous stranger rather than his long-time best friend.
The response was still slow, at least in a normal person's standards, but it came a lot quicker than Sora figured it would. "It's healing. I can stand walking on it now."
The smaller boy gave a short nod. His eyes skimmed over his friend's knuckles. They were covered in bruises and cuts, some of the blood still fresh. Maybe he'd pick up another set of bandages while he was out.
Of course, he couldn't blame Riku for his own scars. What he did when under the influence was something he had no control over. And when he finally exhausted all of his strength and collapsed into unconsciousness, he would awaken with no memories of his previous behavior. Sora knew that Riku would never intentionally hurt him, but that still didn't stop him from trembling whenever his friend was nearby.
Riku stood still as a statue, eyes fixed on some indistinguishable spot on the wall, while Sora left to get dressed. In truth, he felt that something had been taken from his friend. Not his heart, no, but something more like his soul. His motivation. Sora couldn't say much more for himself.
The sun hung high in the sky, a blazing ball rising from the east. Even though the tropical weather was enough to make even the most hardy of islanders break a sweat, Sora felt like he was freezing to death inside of his big hoodie. That was the first sign of something being wrong, and he knew that if he wasn't strong, the others would take control of his body.
On weak legs, he made his way towards the back of the shop. He'd taken the long way around, just to avoid as many people as he could. He hadn't dared to look at himself in the mirror, fearing what his reflection may hold. Luckily, he wasn't well-known on this half of the island, and the chance of running into someone he knew was slim to none.
The boy shuffled around the little shack, searching for the supplies he needed. Exhaustion crept up, and Sora had never felt as tired before as he did now. But he needed the coffee to keep him awake.
He could feel the curious eyes of the shopkeeper on his back, making him feel even more exposed. He hoped the man wouldn't try to talk with him. He knew he must've looked pretty rough, and his choice of items would just draw up more suspicion.
The aisles only stood up to his chest, several of them only half-stocked with various items. Nearly everything on the island had to be shipped in from the mainland, and oftentimes, the shipments would arrive late or only half-full. Sora sure didn't miss the struggles and hardships of living out this far, but as a kid, it had never been this bad. Or maybe he just hadn't noticed it because he was too busy playing outside, and things such as this weren't the things kids worried about.
All he knew is that he would give anything to be able to run across that sand without a care in the world. Live in a time where none of this disaster had struck, where he could run and play with the other kids instead of living an endless nightmare and having to prevent his body from sleeping for fear that when he woke he wouldn't be himself anymore.
"You look rough, kid."
Great. Of course he would draw attention. "Yeah," he answered quietly, hoping the man would hurry up and tell him the price of the items. "I've just been sick."
The man gave him a raised eyebrow in surprise, but said nothing otherwise. As soon as Sora paid, he slipped out the door as swiftly as possible. It was still pretty early in the day, so there weren't really a lot of people outside. He spotted a few kids playing down by the harbor, but aside from that, the beach was empty.
Sand filled his shoes. Had the sand always been this bad? He couldn't remember.
The walk back felt much longer than the walk over had. Eventually, the little cottage appeared over the horizon. Sora wondered how long he'd been gone. He wondered if Riku even noticed, or if he had completely lost all track of time in his mindless haze.
With every step he took, Sora felt the exhaustion setting in. He could now feel the sun's rays zapping at his back, draining his strength. He felt the familiar strain on his heart. They were fighting for control.
Just a little more…
With his last burst of strength, Sora pushed open the front door to his new home. Weary eyes glanced about, as bony fingers dug in the bag for the coffee. He was growing weak. Vision fading, strength vanishing.
A faint sound came from the living room, and he figured Riku was watching something on TV. Although, knowing it was Riku, his eyes were on the screen but his mind was elsewhere.
The coffee tin hit the floor when Sora clutched his heart. It was the last thing he remembered before darkness clouded his vision and his mind went blank.
Sora woke groggily, feeling like he'd been on the losing side of a massive riot. That is, he felt horrible, like someone had ripped his insides out, twisted them around a bit, and shoved them back inside without bothering to see if everything was in the right spot. A blurry image appeared in front of his eyes, and Sora realized, with panic, that he couldn't move.
"Sora?" Came the worried voice of his best friend.
"Riku?" The silver-haired boy came into view, his face just above Sora's, a pillow in hand. "Why… What happened…" But he really didn't need an answer to that question. Simply, he had passed out, one of them had awoken inside his body and attacked Riku.
The boy slowly lowered the pillow, but kept Sora pinned in case this was a trick. "You passed out at the door so I put you in bed. But then you came down and attacked me."
Sora shut his eyes. "Which one?"
There was a momentary pause, in which Riku moved off of Sora and sat beside him, eyes stuck on the opposite wall. "The bad one…"
He wanted to apologize. To say he was sorry for being so weak. But his voice hurt so bad, and his body ached. Instead, he decided to get more information on his situation. "How long was I out?"
The older boy glanced at the clock, took a few minutes to calculate the math, then answered, "seventeen hours."
The brunet blinked. His body must've forgotten what it was like to sleep. With a groaning pain, he forced himself up to a sitting position. Had Riku been here all of this time?
"He came out once more after you were in bed again."
Sora took the time to study his friend. New cuts, bruises, and a deep gash running down his arm, narrowly missing the vein. Fresh blood still seeped out of the knife wound. He hadn't even the time to patch himself up.
"I bought some bandages," Sora offered. "I could wrap up your arm…"
For a moment, his friend didn't reply. Then, he finally said, "okay." He left to go get the bandages, and Sora fell back against the bed. He frowned at the thought of his best friend smothering him with a pillow to keep him from attacking anymore. He hated feeling weak, not having control over his actions. Faintly, he wondered if Riku felt the same about the darkness.
In a swift moment, his friend was back up the stairs, bandages and alcohol in hand. He sat back down on the bed, and Sora reached for the supplies.
"Figured it should be cleaned first," Riku spoke.
Sora didn't respond. Instead, he simply got to work. It wasn't the first time he had to mend up something on his friend, especially now. Riku was always reckless whenever the darkness took control, and he would tend to hurt himself while he went on a rampage destroying everything. Sora feared the day that he wouldn't come out of it alive.
He remembered the last time that Riku's darkness took hold. He nearly choked Sora to death. And the time before that when he'd bashed Sora's head into the wall and nearly broke his arm when he tried to free himself. The power was inhuman. Untamed, destructive.
And Sora didn't know how to make it go away. It scared him. He hated to see Riku like this. Something must've happened. Maybe he was wrong when he heard that the darkness could be controlled. Maybe it was just too strong of a power. But Riku had overcome it before, so why was it different now?
Riku didn't even wince when Sora cleaned out the cut. Could he feel anything anymore? With a frown, the boy continued his work, watching his friend's wound bubble up slightly, with all of the bad bacteria being killed off. Gently, he unraveled the roll of bandage, spotting a previously unnoticed bite mark on Riku's hand.
The guilt just increased. He knew Roxas wasn't bad. Roxas would just hit Riku a few times and try to run away. This other boy, this being of hatred and rage, sought to destroy everything that mattered to Sora. That included his own body. The others, he knew there were others, because he had felt them, were weak. They rarely took control, and when they did, he could easily snatch it back, almost as if they didn't want control over him.
It was all so confusing.
Riku's arm was warm. Or maybe Sora was just cold. He wrapped the bandage up tight, the entire length of it barely enough to cover the deep cut. He wondered how much blood Riku had lost from that. Finally, Sora tucked the end under one of the flaps, and pinned it down for extra measure. Just before he could pull his hand away, Riku snatched his wrist.
The boy blinked in surprise. "Riku?"
But the boy didn't explain. Instead, he stared into Sora's eyes with a gaze so intense that Sora couldn't look away. After a moment, he released his grip and the gaze. "Get some rest, Sora. I'll be here in case…"
Anything happens…
The boy wanted to protest, but sleep demanded his attention more than anything else, and soon, he found himself drifting off into dreamland.
Seagulls passed overhead, their familiar caws filling the ears of the islanders, as they continued on their daily tasks. Sora ran down the length of the beach, searching for stray sticks that he could use to help build the fort he and Riku were making in the woods. They had planned to use it to ambush Tidus and his crew the next time they passed through the trail.
While heading for the woods, he spotted Riku near the shore. "Riku!" He called out. The boy turned his head, shocked, as soon as he spotted Sora. In an instant, he ran towards the boy, gripping his shoulders tightly.
"Sora! Wake up!"
Sora tried to shake his friend off. "I am awake! Let go, Riku!"
Fear shown heavy in his eyes, as he shook his friend violently. "Wake up, Sora!" His voice was urgent, and it sounded a lot different than it normally did…
"Sora! Wake up!"
Blue eyes popped open, meeting panicked sea green ones. Sora adopted a similar expression. "What's wrong, Riku?"
"You need to leave."
Sora blinked. "What..?" He didn't understand.
Riku grabbed at his hair. "It's coming, Sora. I feel it. It's gotten stronger."
The darkness. Sora's hand instinctively rested on his throat, the way it always did whenever he thought about Riku and the darkness. His friend saw the motion, and dropped his gaze out of guilt.
"Sora, listen. You need to get away. I don't want to hurt you again."
Sora wished there were another way to do this. He had no idea where he would even go. What would he do if Riku followed him into town and started attacking people?
"I can't leave you…"
Riku sighed. "Then you'll have to use the keyblade on me."
Sora gasped. "What? Riku, I can't do that…"
His friend narrowed his eyes. "Then I'll kill you. There's no stopping it this time. I feel the power." His gaze traveled out the window, his eyes sad and distant.
"You're asking me to…"
"Get rid of me. Sora, this is it." He grabbed his friend's shoulders. "I can't control it. And I couldn't live with myself knowing that I hurt you again."
"And you think I can?" Sora shouted, tears rimming his eyes. "You're my best friend, but lately we've been treating each other like complete strangers! We've even been cut off from everyone else. Mom, Kairi, Tidus and the others… It's like no one even cares anymore. It's like you don't care anymore…"
Riku furrowed his brows. "What are you talking about?"
"You've never even asked how I was doing. I at least pretended to care. I've always taken care of you after you hurt yourself. I can't even count how many nights I've stayed awake to make sure I wouldn't hurt you. And even now, it's still not enough…" He hung his head. "You can just get rid of me, Riku. Then you'll make everyone happy."
"What are you talking about? Everyone liked you better than me. Kairi, Tidus, Wakka, even Selphie."
"I don't care what they think! You were the only one I cared about, but clearly that was stupid because you don't care about me! This thing never became a problem until we grew apart."
Riku stared at him. "I don't understand…"
"You never understand…" Sora shut his eyes, squeezing away the tears. "Why can't things go back to the way they used to be? When we were kids. When you had emotions."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
Sora gritted his teeth. How dense could Riku be? He wasn't trying to make his friend mad, but he just wouldn't understand. "Every time I looked at you, you were just hollow, lifeless. Like your mind was somewhere else. The only emotions you ever showed were rage and hatred. I know this wasn't what you expected when you came back, but this is how it ended up. I hate being afraid of my best friend-"
"Darkness is negativity," Riku cut him off. He looked at Sora as if he'd just gave him the answer to the universe. "Quick, Sora! Tell me something happy."
"What?" The change in emotions shocked the brunet.
He grabbed Sora in a hug. "Tell me about when we were kids. When we used to race and get ice cream."
Sora blinked, slightly confused. He could feel Riku's heartbeat thumping in his ear. "Um, we used to race all the time, and we would play fight with our swords. You kept teasing me that I liked Kairi, and you got mad at me when Tidus and the others found the island."
For a moment, Riku didn't say anything. Sora could hear his breathing, amplified by their close proximity. Then, finally, "I think it's working, Sora. Keep talking."
"Uh, well, I'd always challenge you to a fight, but somehow you always beat me no matter how much I trained! And then you would always cheat whenever we played video games."
A laugh came from Riku. "You know, Sora, I was happy back then. Didn't seem like it, but I was. All I ever thought about was leaving that island. But look where I ended up."
Sora took a deep breath. It made sense, in a way. "Would you have changed your mind? If you had known it would end like this."
Riku took a long moment to think, his body tense, but warm. Sora almost regretted asking the question, wondering if he had angered Riku in some way.
Finally, the boy shook his head. "No. I mean, I was a horrible person, but you stuck with me through it all. I wished it would've ended a little better, but… if I died right here in this bed, I would be okay with it."
Sora felt his cheeks grow warm. "Riku, I missed being friends. We-we can fight this, can't we?"
The older nodded. "Yeah. Just gotta stay strong."
Sora brightened. "Then we can meet Kairi and the others again?"
"Yeah. It'll be like it was before." There was a slight pause, before Riku added, "The reason I acted that way…" Sora looked up at him. "Why I acted like I didn't care, was because it was easier that way. The darkness feeds off of negative emotions. So anger, sadness… it was just easier to pretend I didn't feel anything."
Sora snuggled up next to his friend. "It's okay, Riku. I just wish I would've known. I wish I would've known that I could help you out." He pulled away a bit, to look into Riku's eyes. "So, is the darkness all gone?"
"For now." Riku fell against the bed, pulling Sora with him. "How about a little nap?" He asked with a smile.
Despite the fact Sora had just slept for over a day, he could still feel exhausted. And with Riku beside him, his heart was stronger than ever. With a smile, he replied, "a nap sounds great!"
There was originally a different ending, but it was too depressing, so I switched it out with this one instead. Interpret this however you feel necessary.