Riku had never thought that he would lose Sora.
Sure, he had technically lost him when he fell into the darkness and Sora became the Keyblade wielder, but even then, that didn't feel like losing him. Staring at him in an oval-shaped pod while he was in a coma- that made it set in that losing his light was so very, very possible. At first, he had rationalized that the very idea was impossible; Sora was light, brilliance. He was in everything. There was no way something as pure as him could be lost.
Then, months passed, and he didn't wake up. Riku didn't understand why, but there was a void in his heart. Something was missing, and he couldn't figure out how to fix it. Not until he saw spiky blond hair and crystalline blue eyes. Those eyes were like a wave, drawing him in and pulling him under, letting him swim to the surface and take a breath before taking him under once more.
He looked at Roxas, and all he saw was Sora.
When he met Roxas face to face for the first time, Roxas had scrunched his eyebrows, asking "Do I know you?" Riku had smiled, drawing him aside without another word. Roxas may not have been Sora, but he knew him like Sora did, and in the midst of broken gasps, writhing bodies, and feverish murmurs, he could forget that the two were not the same, that Roxas was nothing more than a replacement. Roxas almost filled the gap, almost felt right, and while he wouldn't make Riku feel whole, almost was better than nothing.
Sora may have been gone, but that was what remnants and memories were for.
