Prologue the Second: Another Side, Another Story
So cordial, so rotten…
- begin - reverse -
Riku blew his hair out of his face, stuffing his hands in his pockets and walking down the road from his house towards Sora's. Certainly the brunette was up long before Riku was, as Sora was an early riser and Riku was most definitely a fan of sleeping until at least noon, but he knew that Sora might still be home, or at least someone at his house would know where the younger boy would be. He turned a corner, and encountered a small group of girls who were walking toward him. He scowled when they froze at the sight of them.
"Good morning ladies," he greeted, trying to be civil.
"Ri-Riku," one of them sputtered, nearly walking into one of her friends. Another let out a high-pitched, nervous giggle. The rest of them scrambled to subtly move away from him, though they didn't succeed so much in being subtle.
Riku bit back the anger that was boiling in him. What did he do to deserve being treated this way? Why were they so terrified of him? He yanked one of his hands out of his pockets as he passed them: a swift flash of movement. He smirked as the girls shrank back from him as if afraid that he would hit them, and ran his fingers through his silver hair. He got some sort of sick amusement out of using their misplaced fears of him to make them cower. He wondered idly if this was some remnant of the darkness residing within him.
"Did you see that?!" one of the girls whispered when she thought Riku was out of earshot.
"I know! I don't know why those two ever came back," another girl said cuttingly. Normally, Riku didn't let the words bother him, but that comment was far crueler than he was used to. He could feel his face twist into a grimace.
A third girl launched into some exaggerated version of Riku's tragic fall into darkness. He knew the story: He was drawn to the darkness by the power it offered, and he fought even his own friends to further his own power. He apparently dragged Sora into the darkness with him when the Keybearer tried to save him, and finally, by some miracle, they were pulled back out of the darkness and lived their lives out as tainted rejects in the light. The details were always altered as the story-teller saw fit, but that was always the essence of the story.
Riku stuffed his hands back into his pockets and wondered if he had exceptionally good hearing, or those girls really didn't have any idea how far their voices carried. He could hear the shrieking voice of the story-telling girl as she reached the climax of her story, blocks away. He was walking along the docks, and could see a small figure sitting out on the docks of the Island, alone. He knew instantly who it was.
x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x
Riku beached his boat, and walked towards the dock. He grinned at the expression on Sora's face: his eyebrows were furrowed and he was staring at the horizon with his eyes practically bulging out of his head. Sora looked restless, and he fidgeted where he sat.
"What are you thinking about, Sora?" he asked, pulling his shoes off. He sat down and dangled his feet in the water.
I'm going to miss the ocean. Water is so forgiving. Not like people.
Sora sighed. "I'm thinking about how much it sucks being short," he answered, sounding grumpy.
Riku let out a laugh. He could see Sora from out of the corner of his eye and could tell that the younger boy wasn't buying it. Sora could always see through his insincerities. It occurred to Riku that maybe that was why he had remained friends with him for so long, no matter what happened. But at the same time, he sometimes – like right now – wished that Sora couldn't see through his mask, because he knew what would be out of the brunette's mouth next.
"You tell me what you're thinking about," he said. His voice was calm and relaxed, but Riku could hear the commanding tone beneath. Of course, it was a question that Riku would not answer. The silver haired male almost laughed when Sora tried to glower at him. The brunette was the furthest thing from intimidating.
"I'm not kidding, Riku. Tell me what's wrong."
Riku let out a long breath. There was many things wrong, but he hated to tell Sora about them, because Sora would get upset and it was pointless to dampen his spirits when there wasn't a thing in the world he could do to help.
"Nothing you can fix," Riku answered finally. He kept his eyes on the horizon, refusing to look at Sora; his resolve would break if he did.
"You aaaalllllways say that," Sora answered, his frustration obvious in his voice. "I'm sure there's something that I can do to help, even if it's just by listening to you vent," he continued, trying to help.
Riku's expression softened. He frowned and his eyes fell to the water at his feet. He knew that the only way to end his hurt was the leave the source: the Islands. He contemplated leaving the Islands a lot, though he never told Sora that. He never ended up leaving, because being separate from his last connection to humanity was infinitely worse than the abuse he endured at the hands of the other Islanders. And so, he would not add to Sora's problems, because Sora already did so much for him simply by being there.
"You already have the weight of the world on your shoulders. I'm not going to unload my own stupid problems on you," Riku answered finally.
"You're mad about how people are afraid of you," Sora said quietly. Riku could see him wringing his wrists with his hands out of the corner of his eye, and wondered how Sora had guess. Then he smirked, bitter; how could Sora not know? It was always the same thing that Riku was upset about.
"They'll come around eventually, I know it."
Those words hit Riku hard. Sora really didn't know just how terribly the other Islanders were to him. He was tempted for a moment to tell Sora about the girl who had wished that they'd never come back to taint their islands paradise, but cast aside the idea as soon as he thought it. Reminded of the girls he'd met on his way, his anger was rekindled, and he looked Sora in the eye.
"No, Sora, they won't come around eventually. It's been six months. Even if they were going to start treating me like a person again, I don't know how much more of this I can take in the interim!" It took all the self-control Riku had to keep his voice from raising into a shout. He took a deep breath, and it occurred to him that the girl had said that she wished both of them had stayed away. "Can't you see it? They treat you the same way they treat me. Sometimes I think it's worse. At least they don't hide their distain around me. With you, they pretend like they still love you…" he said, regretting his words as soon as they were out of his mouth. The look of pain on Sora's face was almost as painful for Riku to see as it was for Sora to experience.
"I don't want to talk about my problems. You're the one who's depressed," Sora answered.
Riku frowned. He wanted nothing more than to take back his words. How could he have been so cruel? He was momentarily at a loss for words, before he decided that the least he could do was share the brunette's pain. "We're both depressed, Sora. You're just better at hiding it," he offered, scolding himself silently for not being any better at comforting.
"I figure that if I just keep pretending long enough, that it will become real," Sora said sadly.
Riku froze. The Sora he knew was a vibrant person, endlessly more precious to him than anyone else on these Islands. He was not going to let the people here destroy Sora. Riku set his jaw stubbornly, and decided it wouldn't bother him in the least to leave the Islands if Sora came with him…
"Sora, I…" he began, before the little brunette interrupted him.
"The one thing, the only thing, in this world that I wish for, is for things to go back to the way they were before all the Heartless attack. I wish that things could go back to the way they were supposed to be," Sora said, his voice cracking with exertion.
Riku felt his heart sink. Sora wanted to stay. Of course Sora wanted to stay. This was his home. But it wasn't Riku's anymore, and now that he'd decided finally to leave, he couldn't bring himself to go back on his decision. He watched Sora for a long time, etching the face of his light into his mind. He had no idea how long it would be until he saw the brunette again. On instinct, he grabbed Sora by the shoulders and planted a kiss on his forehead. He surprised even himself with that. Sora's eyes were wide when he pulled away, the tears spilling out of the sky blue orbs.
"I hope you get what you wish for, Sora. You deserve it."
With that, Riku left. Something inside him screamed at Sora to call out, to tell him to stop, to tell him to wait, but it never came. And Riku was sure he would never come back.
