Chapter 1: A Duty Calls
Sora gazed upwards at the clear cloudless sky before closing them. The sun was shining brightly, casting its rays down as the water glittered like diamonds. He let out a soft sigh as he was lost in his thoughts. There was a small breeze but he took no notice of it. Sora remembered how it all began—how the three of them wanted to venture out of Destiny Islands to explore the world but things went terribly wrong.
Sora thought that he supposed something came out good like meeting new friends such as Goofy and Donald whom they reunited with their King. It took forever for Sora to find Riku while also regaining back Kairi. He hoped that nothing bad would happen to them.
"Honestly, how lazy can you get? You sure he doesn't have some kind of hearing problems?" a snarky voice remarked.
"Riku, don't be mean to him! He deserves to rest after saving the world," a female chastised him.
The boy, Riku, shifted his eyes upwards to give a glance at the girl who was beside him. He grinned mischievously.
"You sure you don't have a crush on him? I practically found you spying on him when he was training," he paused. "Oh yeah; he was half naked at that time."
"Riku!" the girl hissed though her face was being reddened from embarrassment. He chuckled evilly.
"You know, you should really mind your own business," the mumbling voice from Sora came which made Riku be surprised.
"Exactly!" the girl cried out although she couldn't help but to think about Sora's muscles. He really did had nice abs…oh God. Did she really just thought that out? The girl shook her head, trying to get rid of those thoughts.
Sora cracked open his eyes only to have his eyes meet with bright blue-green and blue eyes.
"And I'm not lazy," Sora pointed out as he pushed himself up. "Can I help it if I'm enjoying the view?"
Riku grinned. "Enjoying or sleeping?"
Sora scowled. "You're impossible…"
"Aww, but you love me, right?"
The brown-haired boy snorted. "Yeah right…"
Riku placed a hand over his heart, pretending to be hurt. Riku straightened up as he made a thinking look, studying his short friend. He sighed, having his hand run through his hair as he remembered the adventures they had. Although to him, his journey wasn't as fun as it was with Sora's. In some ways, Riku was almost jealous of him but he pushed those jealousy thoughts away since at the time, Riku was just happy that he had finally rejoined back to his friends.
Still though, the idea of being manipulated from darkness still haunted his mind, plaguing him from every dark corner of his mind. He even found that sleeping was almost impossible because of those nightmares. Almost every night, he would find himself awakened in the middle of the night.
But as long as he has his friends, he should be alright.
Sora sighed, closing his eyes, having flashbacks until a voice entered in his mind.
Remember this. You'll be the one who will open the door…
Sora reopened them and he found himself gazing across the horizon of the sea. Indeed he was, he supposed. Sora shook his head.
No, stop. No more thinking about Kingdom Hearts. No more talk of darkness.
He was home. He was with his friends. And that's all he should care about. Of course, there was one side of him where he longed to have an answer which was about his parents. He often wondered about them but he had no answers. Perhaps Merlin would know.
"Come on guys. Why so serious?" Kairi said, placing a hand on her hip. She brushed her auburn bangs away from her face and she studied the two boys. She made a thinking look before giving a small grin. "Hey, I've got an idea. Since you two love to be so competitive against each other, let's have a small match! Say…the loser has to the winner's chores for a month!"
Something sparkled in Riku's eyes. "The bet's too tempting but I've got a better bet. The one who wins has to confess his undying love for Kairi," he smirked as Sora widened his eyes before he hid his emotions.
Kairi gasped, having her eyes go wide as her face was being reddened. She hadn't expected that at all.
"Riku!" Kairi said, gently smacking him on his arm. "What are you playing at?"
"Nothing at all," Riku said lazily as he had his eyes fall down at Sora who was still trying to compose himself. Riku gave him a sly smile which made Sora clench his fists, giving him a small glare as Sora wanted nothing more than to throw Riku out at the ocean and say it was an accident.
"Oh," Riku continued. "And the loser also has to the winner's chores," he added, bringing back Kairi's idea.
"What?" Sora exclaimed as he picked himself up. "Oh, you're on!" he was excited to beat Riku since he had gotten rather great at fighting during his journey. But at the same time, he felt a little awkward with the other bet.
Sora merely thought Kairi as a friend. That was it…
Or was it?
All in all, Sora was confused with his feelings while Kairi smiled.
"Well, alright then. Let's go to the arena!"
After gathering their gears, the three of them were at their usual training area. In all honesty, Sora felt a little childish as he was holding his wooden sword. He had no idea what happened to his Keyblade.
Maybe it went into an eternal sleep?
Either way, he misses the magic it releases and the feeling you get when you take a hold of.
Riku's eyes sparkled with amusement as he stared at the determined Sora.
"Ready to lose?" Riku asked, smirking.
"Ha, you wish! You're talking to a pro!" Sora exclaimed, pointing the sword's tip forward.
"Ready guys?" Kairi shouted. "On mark...get set...duel!"
The two boys stared at each other before Sora made a move first by charging at him.
Smirking, Riku side stepped him before he spun behind him. As he spun, Riku lowered himself down in order to sweep Sora off his feet.
Sora fell down, giving out a small grunt. Giving out a charged yell, Sora turned his head around to see that Riku was ready to attack as he was leaping forward.
Acting quickly, Sora rolled to the left, letting Riku's sword plunge to the ground.
"Hey guys! We wanna keep this clean, right?" Kairi shouted.
Sora smirked. "Clean? Yeah right."
Sora then used his foot to kick Riku in the stomach and he stumbled backwards, allowing Sora to get up so that he could perform a halfway spin with his sword.
However, Riku quickly recovered since he automatically lifted his sword to be in front of him, blocking the blow.
The two gave a stare; their sly grins never left their lips. Riku twirled his arm around so that his sword went over Sora's weapon but Sora followed Riku's pattern and he blocked Riku's blade.
A sparkle of amusement twinkled in his eyes.
"I admit. You are better," Riku spoke. "You aren't that puny kid I used to push around."
"Hey!"
Riku smirked before he roughly pushed Sora from the side and then he used the same trick from before which was sweeping Sora off his feet.
However, Sora saw this coming and he leaped backwards, avoiding the sweep but Riku was faster and he did the same move again just as Sora was about to land on the ground.
Sora grunted, having his sword being scattered out of his hand. He was about to grab it but Riku kicked it away, kicking up some sand in Sora's face in the process. He pinned Sora's arm down before he climbed on him, pinning him.
Riku then raised his sword, getting ready to attack.
As he was about to attack, a demanding voice entered Riku's mind.
Kill him!
Sora stared at Riku who seemed to not stop the plunge. He raised his free arm in front of his face acting like a shield.
"Riku!" Kairi shouted.
Riku gasped and he seemed to have been brought back to reality since he plunged the sword a few inches away from Sora's shoulder.
Riku gritted his teeth as he pulled himself together, straightening up.
"I'm sorry..." he breathed heavily, getting off from Sora.
"It's alright..." Sora panted.
Riku shook his head, getting up.
"Wait, Riku!" Sora exclaimed as he also got up to go after him. He grabbed his hand, stopping Riku from going any further. "It was an accident, okay? I'm fine, really. It was a wooden sword."
Riku shook his hand off which made Sora be hurt but he didn't show it.
"What if it wasn't?"
Sora softened his face and he was about to reach out for Riku again when all of a sudden, his hand began to feel weird.
It felt light and fuzzy, tingling from all sides. It was then where Sora widened his eyes as he saw his hand being dissolved into white particles.
"What the?"
Riku turned around, widening his eyes. "Sora!"
He tried to reach out for him but failed since Sora disappeared.
"Sora, no!" came Kairi's voice as she ran up to him.
"What's happening to him?" Riku cried out.
"I don't know but look! It's happening to you too!" Kairi pointed out to Riku who also started to disappear in the same manner as Sora.
"And you as well!" Riku said.
Kairi brought her hand up, gaping at it.
And then, the white particles completely dissolved them away until they were gone.
Sora gasped as he suddenly felt himself being whole again. He patted against him, just to make sure that he really was whole.
He gave out a sigh. Boy, that was really scary. But what exactly happened?
"Sora?"
Sora turned around to see Kairi and Riku who also materialized behind him. The two of them wore a confused look just like how Sora did.
"Where are we?" Kairi asked.
Sora turned around, studying the room. That was a good question. He didn't know but something about this area was familiar. It was white with tall ceiling and marble floor. The huge windows were stretched down, symbolizing its fancy environment.
Riku walked forward as he squinted his eyes. In the far distance, he was able to make out what it seemed to be two tall chairs.
"I'd say we're in a throne room," Riku announced.
"What makes you say that?" Sora asked.
"Because those chairs look like thrones..." Riku jerked his head towards the structures. He gave another glance at it only to see that the chairs appeared to have something on it. "Something's on it."
Sora frowned. Upon them, he thought he saw something sitting there. Maybe it was his imagination but after getting a better look from the second time around, Sora widened his eyed with realization as he knew exactly where they were.
"I know that figure! It is someone. That someone is His Majesty, King Mickey!"
Author's Note: whoo finally got it done which is good because its like literally one in the morning so if there's any mistakes, I apologize :3 what happens next? Find out! Toodles!
