Disclaimer, et al: Alas, I don't own the characters! This chapter gave me hell. I underestimated the power of Axel, which was a very silly thing to do, and ended up having to rewrite it four times, so I have mixed feelings about the result. The one is a little more coherent than the previous chapters, and I promise that I do have a plot. I also promise that the vague Axel/Riku vibe in this chapter is a passing thing, and that the story will, in the end, be Riku/Sora. You've got to put up with your rain to get your rainbows, people. Thank God I got that cheesy sentiment out the way. The chapter title is a reference to the Joni Mitchell song River, and I urge you to listen to it.

02: Oh, I Wish I Had a River

There was a light on in the basement of Riku's building, and he leaned his chin against the railing attached to the steps that led to the subterranean entrance. A silhouette fluttered behind the glass, disrupting the light, and Riku counted two minutes in his head before a redhead flung the door open and tossed a bag of rubbish at the base of the steps. The man looked from the bagged waste on the ground to the trashcan--five yards away--to his left, and Riku lit a cigarette as he watched.

"Axel. Making an already filthy city even worse," Riku said, and exhaled a cloud of smoke.

"Might I interest you in the tale of the pot and the kettle?" Riku frowned and Axel made an elaborate imitation of smoking. Riku didn't want to tell him he looked like a old school movie star when he did it: his waist pinched in and one hand across his torso supported his elbow. "Well? Are you going to let me starve down here?"

Riku descended the steps and tossed the cigarette packet to Axel. He also picked up the bag of rubbish and put it in the bin. "How long have you been here?"

"There's a funny story there just bursting to get out, but you don't look receptive today, so I won't bother," Axel answered.

"I'm not receptive? You don't want to talk about it." He let it go when Axel ignored him in favour of lighting his own cigarette.

"You know if the old man catches you doing this again he'll have your balls."

"Don't."

"Your lungs are slowly crisping," Axel said as he took a draw and smiled with his eyes closed. "And eventually you'll be engulfed in the flames of your own sordid addiction."

Riku snorted and turned his attention to the tenements towering around them. The side street was cramped enough to hear every sound from the other flats if you kept your window open, and the sound of passing cars on the main street was drowned out by an arguing couple. Riku followed the sound to the second floor of the building opposite, and watched a shower of clothes explode from the window. Axel sniggered and pointed at the continuing waterfall of items.

"See what I mean? Engulfed."

Riku stubbed out his cigarette on the step and stood in front of Axel. "Yeah, we get it."

Axel followed him into the building and flicked the cigarette out the door before he closed it. The entry hall was tidy, but as they continued towards Riku's room it became apparent that Riku was not responsible for the order of the rest of the flat, since there was more crumpled paper on the floor than there was on his desk, and more clothes gathered in the corners of the room than there were in his wardrobe. Riku collapsed onto the bed without taking his coat off, and his bag hung from his shoulder for a few seconds before giving up and falling to the floor. He looked from the ceiling to the nightstand. A frameless picture was propped against the lamp.

Riku, however, noticed a subtle difference in the state of the room. "Why do you take my trash out?"

Axel sat beside him and unbuttoned Riku's coat. "Service for the cigarettes I can't afford."

Riku didn't move, and he watched the buttons slide, but Axel didn't open the coat after he'd unbuttoned it. He pulled away to switch the lamp on, and the picture fluttered on one edge. Axel's long fingers pushed it back into place. They lay there until the room darkened completely, while Axel swung his legs and Riku thought about the person across the street. He wondered how he ended up here, when all the other people seemed to be leaving.

Axel laughed, and he heard it reverberate through the bedsprings. "I'll iron that frown out when I can be bothered punching you."

When Riku didn't reply and continued to stare at the ceiling, Axel punched him in the arm anyway.

& & &

When Riku woke up his hair was plastered to one side of his face and a heavy leg was slung across his stomach. Axel's other leg was hanging off the side of the bed, but he still looked comfortable. A glance at the alarm clock confirmed that he'd slept late, so he shoved Axel's leg away and got up, which caused Axel to bolt upright, glance around the room in bewilderment until he finally settled down when he realised where he was.

Riku tore through his clothes until he found a suitable shirt. "Axel, it's eight thirty."

Axel stretched and rolled over to face him. "Again?"

Riku tugged on a new pair of jeans while he answered, "Yeah, again. I need to be at work by nine."

Axel grinned. "You know how they love that carefully fucked up look."

"I don't have time for a shower, Axel," he said, and tried to flatten his hair by running his fingers through it. "Make yourself useful and get me some coffee."

"And risk the old man lurking out from behind the sugar and recruiting me too? No thanks. I think I'll sun myself a little more."

"He doesn't lurk, and he's not trying to--Axel, get your shoes off the bed."

Axel shucked off his boots and stretched his legs. "You do know it's Saturday?"

Riku immediately felt the tension leave him, and he crawled over the end of the bed. "Move."

Axel complied. "Saturdays off. Must be nice to be you."

"Life's a beach," Riku said. His discomfort returned. He rubbed his eyes. Another glance at the clock confirmed the date. "They'll be getting ready for the carnival. School's out."

"The carnival Naminé's working for?" Riku hummed an affirmative. "So we could go see her. Wouldn't hurt, right?"

"It would."

Axel's hand moved up and it twisted into Riku's hair, and he tugged it softly. His lips were too close to Riku's ear when he started to speak. "I visit Naminé. You catch some waves. Or whatever it is you do there. Life's a beach," Riku shoved Axel's shoulder and rolled his eyes. "I'm not being cute, just fucking listen to me. Make a sandpit and bury yourself, or go with the crazy idea."

Riku didn't turn around, despite the fact that Axel was invading his personal space. "I told you I'm not going."

Axel leered and reached over Riku's head. He leaned in, about to kiss him, but at the last minute he tilted his head to speak into Riku's ear again. "Oh, but you are."

Axel sat up, straddled him, and shoved the photo from the nightstand onto Riku's chest.

& & &

Riku left his flat, minus one Axel, after he'd packed. He carried his bag with him--there wasn't much in it. In the middle of the day there was little to no human traffic close to his destination, so he ignored the subway and walked the two miles to the river. The riverbank was at the bottom of a steep slope, which ran from the edge of a school playing field, and Riku had to skirt around a group of kids in the middle of their weekend hockey session. He kept his eyes down.

After skidding the last few metres of the hill, he sat on one of the benches and flaked a few green chips of paint off the armrest. He pushed his collar up around his face and curled into his coat.

& & &

He is standing on the smallest island, and his boat is tethered to the dock. There's no one else there, and the wind through the drooping palms is the sound that replaces the standard noise of children laughing. Even the palms look tired. Riku empathises. It's the end of summer, but the wind is still warm enough to go outside without a jacket.

It is the end of summer, and Riku is fifteen. He looks around the beach and sees his usual spot, elevated from the rest of the coast. He remembers sitting there, Kairi bringing him cookies or ice cream, and he remembers Sora standing in front of him as he sat on the arch of the lone tree. Sora, blocking out the sun.

He's the oldest fifteen year old in the world.

He crosses the beach and walks to the outcrop of rock hidden by ferns as tall as he is, and he moves them from the mouth of the cave, careful not to break any of the stalks. The tunnel is already becoming too small for him to walk through comfortably, and he has to stoop to reach the part where it opens out. When he stands in the cave that used to serve as the best hiding place in the archipelago, the place filled with the most secrets in its rayless places, he can't decide whether he is growing or the island is shrinking.

He imagines that one day his home will contract so much that it will swallow him completely. He can imagine his teacher, today, talking about the death of stars, and the density so great that not even light can escape. He picks up a flint from the ground and glances, trying to find an empty part of the wall. There are so many pictures, from so many generations, and Riku has yet to contribute. He chooses a place next to a picture of a boy holding a sword, one he recalls Sora drawing and begging him to add his own image next to it.

He scratches the outline of a door onto the wall. He goes over the lines three times, just to make sure that it stands out amongst the other drawings, and as he does the idea comes to him. He is growing, or the island is getting smaller. He can feel his eyes looking at the horizon, and his home is losing focus.

He says it out load, and it echoes around the cave. I'm leaving. The tiny picture of Sora to his left stares at him, and he stares back. He looks away and draws a handle on the door, and a few minutes later, when he's still admiring his handiwork, something moves behind him.

Sora is standing at the entrance, grinning at finally catching Riku in the act of something childish. Riku stands and dusts the grime from his knees, and levels a stare at Sora that is both a greeting and a challenge.

"I was just leaving," he says, as he reaches Sora's side. He holds out his hand and smirks. "Come with me?"

Sora says no.

Riku leaves Sora to draw on the walls of the caves and to play at war on the beach as the sun sets. He unties his boat and rows back to the main island, and he doesn't look back.

& & &

Three hours and four cigarettes later, Riku had left the river and stood in a mass of people at the train station. The lit sign hanging over the rail network map had changed since he last saw it: it was now written in cursive. Posted around the map were numerous flyers for the restoration campaign; they were putting together a committee to help clean up the streets, donate to underprivileged areas and restore the city to its former splendour. Hollow Bastion. Riku felt the words form in his mouth.

It was nine minutes until the train was due to leave. He focussed on the flyer in front of him. If Axel was late then Riku could just go back to the flat. He could abandon this, and let Axel go where he pleased. There was an announcement, and the disembodied voice's accent was strange. It was that mix of Hollow Bastion and some unidentifiable location, similar to Axel's, and his own. Seven minutes.

Riku saw a girl with short brown hair speaking to a small group huddled around her. He watched her motion to the litter that inevitably blew into the station, and the graffiti next to the bathroom doors.

"I know the person who painted that," Axel's voice came from Riku's left, and he started. "Time to go?"

Riku hesitated and looked from his bag to the map, to the girl whose volume was increasing, and back to Axel. "No."

Axel grabbed the back of his neck and pulled him closer so their foreheads were flush. "I didn't want to have to say this, but you're being an insensitive asshole," Axel said. His voice was airy. "We need this."

Riku didn't move away, and he didn't care that people were staring at them. He closed his eyes and felt the breath he was holding, each rib like the bar of a cage. Five minutes. "You do."

Axel grinned and his tapped his fingers against the nape of Riku's neck. "Think of it as mutually beneficial."

Riku pulled away and lifted his bag. "That's the way it always is with me and you."

He left Hollow Bastion with more than he'd arrived with.