Call
21
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"What's wrong with your friend?" asked Mickey with concern.
Sora sat with the warrior mouse on the edge of the Paopu platform and watched the sea foam brush up against the base, occasionally glancing up to see the ocean sleeping on the horizon. Sora knocked his heels against the little plateau and pressed his weight upon his palms, leaning back on his hands. He turned to Mickey and said, "I don't really know what he's thinking, not that I ever do, but for now I think it's just best to leave him by himself. Riku has been through a lot lately, and though I don't really know what's going on, I think he might at least have more of a clue than me."
Sora and Mickey took a peek at Riku who was, at present, sitting on the dock at the far side of the island staring intently at his right arm. He avoided looking at his friend and the mouse, or rather, completely ignored them all together, or perhaps even forgot they were there, but either way he never stole a glance in their direction. Sora was becoming worried, but was somehow strangely relieved, because there was a spark of hope that maybe Riku was actually taking the time to think things over finally, and wasn't just wallowing in the sand anymore.
Lightly Riku brushed his fingertips along his once broken arm, submerging himself in the pleasant, yet painful memory of Yuffie's high elixir hugging the cracked bones in his arm, messaging and healing, filling him with warmth. And then there was Yuffie, smiling at him with expectant eyes, sparkling with excitement like an explorer who'd finally come across his long awaited treasure. Riku did not know how he hadn't seen it before. The Keyblade…Master…she'd been looking for him…and finally found him.
The second she'd found her way home she did whatever she could to make it there, even if that meant using him.
Why?
With Mickey here, the supposed King, there was no doubt he'd finally be able to make his way off the island, perhaps find Yuffie and take her back, but what would the point be in that when she probably would never go? Yes…Riku wanted Yuffie back…more than anything in the world right now, but how much does that matter when she herself had spent extraordinary efforts in trying to get away from him in the first place?
Thinking back on everything Riku realized just how embarrassingly stupid and naïve he had been. A raft? A sail? Was he mad? Did he really think he'd be able to get anywhere on such an incompetent makeshift vessel? Yuffie had known all along…about everything. Riku hated thinking about her. The image of her face in his mind cut through him…saddened him beyond reason…and infuriated him.
In their last moments together all Riku remembered himself thinking was don't go.
Don't go don't go don't go…and she went. And what were her last words?
"I just wanted you to know…the time we've spent together…I didn't dislike it."
Riku replayed this scene in his head over and over again, listening to that same sentence until is was no more than a drone of an echo. He racked his brain over it as if it were some sort of puzzle, as if it were some kind of secret coding, like there was a hidden message in those words that far exceeded the understatement of her miniscule farewell, and the more Riku thought about it, the less likely it seemed.
He chuckled to himself as one does when they laugh at their own stupidity. What was he expecting? For her to say "I love you?"
Riku's chuckle morphed into a raspy laugh that scraped against the wind instead of riding with it as it usually did--like it used to when Yuffie joined in--and Riku dragged his fingers so roughly against his arm they left swelling lines of pink skin. It didn't hurt at all.
The only other explanation was her using him. That made more sense than anything he'd been able to come up with thus far. Their meeting was completely by chance, but she used it to her advantage, bought herself an excuse to stick around, then left the second she was able.
Riku thought of all the times they'd spent together; all the insults they'd exchanged, the jokes, the festivals they'd attended, the dinners at home, and yes…even their fights. Every single memory was pain for him. No girl besides Kairi had ever refused him before, but this went far beyond his inflated male egoism. This was utter betrayal.
And that's what it'd come down to. All the confusing thoughts, the memories, the conflictions, all filtered out into one word.
Betrayal.
Betrayal.
And another question…
What to do now?
Sora looked up in surprise when Riku was suddenly standing over them. "Sorry about that," he apologized when he'd finally come to join them. He smoothed a handful of silver spikes behind his ear only to have them fall around his eyes again upon his release. "Aw, that's okay," Mickey said, jumping to his feet. "Have a lot to think about?"
"Yeah…" Riku said with a slight drag in his voice. He smiled at the ground, shoving his hands into his pockets, and though he wasn't looking at Sora, Riku could see him staring at the pink scratch marks on his arm. Sora didn't question it. "So…what were you thinking about?" he asked with concern. Sora shuffled back, bringing his feet up in front of him, then spun to face Riku, crossing his legs Indian style.
"Stuff," Riku told him. Only because Sora already knew. "And the two of you?"
Mickey looked at Sora, then looked up into Riku's eyes and said, "Well I hear you're the Keyblade Master. That is what you told me, right? Is that true, Riku?
Riku himself wasn't sure. When Mickey inquired about the Keyblade Master, Riku told him only what he thought, but clearly indicated he wasn't sure. Riku had mixed feelings about telling Mickey everything, since there was a good chance he'd draw his own conclusions about Yuffie and himself, but…
"Mickey, how did you know Riku was here? I mean, the Keyblade Master?" Sora asked.
Mickey stretched a smile over his face and swiped his arm through the air, retrieving his sparkling Keyblade like the snap of a whip. "He told me," the mouse king said proudly.
"Told you?" Sora asked with a tilt of his head. Riku didn't question Mickey at all. He knew exactly what he was talking about. When the keyblade first made it's way into Riku's hand he only knew because it announced it's own appearance.
The keyblade is exactly like a living thing, a weapon with a pulse and a conscience of it's own, and a being certainly capable of choosing it's own master.
"Keyblades are just like people," Mickey explained. "In a way they share relationships with each other and even seem to have their own opinions about each different one. When a keyblade encounters another that it likes, it glows, producing warm, ticklish vibes, almost like it's excited, and calls out to it like a long lost friend. That's how I found you, Riku."
Mickey turned to Riku who was, at the moment, engrossed in Mickey's explanation every bit as much as Sora. Riku blinked at Mickey in surprise, shocked that his Keyblade had such characteristics. "Bit when I got here," Mickey continued in puzzlement, "my keyblade stopped calling and became silent. Your keyblade was nowhere to be found, Riku, so where did it go? That's what I'm trying to figure out."
Riku looked at the ground without emotion. He squinted his eyes at the white stone and squeezed his fists together inside his baggy pockets. Rarely did Riku ever relax his fingers, and when he did, only did so because the skin stretching over his knuckles were exhausted and turning white. He pulled them from his pants, allowing them to hang at his sides, and lifted his head to look Mickey in the eyes.
Was he the keyblade master? Yes, the keyblade appeared to him and even spoke to him, but was it on purpose or by accident? He'd had the keyblade, yes, but all of two seconds before Yuffie took it from him. When Yuffie left, the brief connection between the keyblade and himself had snapped, disappeared, and Riku wasn't sure if he would ever see it again.
Did that make Yuffie the real keyblade master?
"I…" Riku began. "I lost it."
Mickey looked bewildered, as did Sora. This would have been the first time he was hearing this, since Riku never told him anything about Yuffie's departure, but now Riku figured he'd have to hear about it. He would have learned the truth sooner or later anyways.
So Riku told them. He told them about Yuffie's set up, about the door, about the note, about their meeting, and about her goodbye. What he did not mention was the kiss they shared, the single memory that was more than anything else, like the deep puncture of a sword. He also neglected to label her set up as an act of betrayal, and left the two of them to draw their own lines to that conclusion. Perhaps they would draw lines elsewhere, to a different conclusion than the one he'd come up with, but with how hard Riku had been thinking things over he doubted there was any other possible explanation.
"Yuffie did that?" Sora exclaimed, leaping to his feet. "She really went through that door?"
Riku nodded.
"That's impossible! I can't believe it…" Sora whispered to himself. "There was really something like that on our island?"
"That must have been the door to this world then," Mickey said. Sora and Riku stared at him, thrusting questions at him with their eyes. He continued. "Every world has a door that leads to the Universe," he said. "But only one. I don't know if it's a coincidence that the door happened to be located on the birth place of the Keyblade Master, but maybe this only serves as further proof that you're the one. What the keyblade master does is lock those doors, securing the safety of that world."
"Why would the Keyblade Master need to lock them?" Riku asked before Sora could get a word out.
"So that heartless are unable to trespass into that world."
"Heartless?" Sora questioned.
"Monsters born from darkness. They steal people's hearts and destroy whole worlds. The final duty of the Keyblade Master is ridding all worlds of them."
"Don't worry, they won't attack here. Once this door closes again, it will lock and disappear…" Yuffie's voice suddenly echoed in Riku's ears.
So…she knew? About the heartless? Everything Mickey is telling them now…she knew about all of that? But what did that mean? Does that mean she really wanted the Keyblade to protect them?
No…no, that isn't it. If anything sealing the keyhole was only an act of compensation, as a way to make amends for her betrayal. Or maybe it was just to show off her skills as the new Keyblade Master. But what if it wasn't? Riku was getting confused again.
No…Betrayal. Only betrayal would make his heart shake with so much anger. Whether or not Yuffie was trying to protect him, whether or not she meant any harm, the fact remains that she had left him after saying she would stay. And that all by itself was a betrayal.
"So does this mean Yuffie is the Keyblade Master?" Sora asked Mickey. Riku sharpened his attentiveness, waiting for an answer.
"Gosh, it's hard to say," Mickey said, shaking his head at the ground. His ears were like two huge circular fans, and with every shake of his head a breeze would whip across the white stone, stroking the small strands of vegetation growing in between the cracks. "The Keyblade appeared in Riku's hand, but Yuffie was the one who wound up taking it with her. If Riku was really the Keyblade Master he'd be able to call it back to him."
All eyes were on Riku now.
"Well, Riku?" Sora asked expectantly. "Have you tried calling it back?"
Riku, slightly at a loss, turned from him to Mickey and said, "No. I haven't."
"Well," Mickey perked up. "Why not give it a shot?"
"But how do I--"
"Just call it. If the Keyblade has chosen you as it's master it will answer you. But you must use your heart to do it, because that is how a Keyblade speaks. Through the heart of it's master. You have to see the keyblade in your mind, feel it in your hand; it's just like imagining yourself reuniting with an old friend."
Riku did as he was told. Riku was too preoccupied with Yuffie at the time to really get a good enough look at the keyblade, but he remembered it's brilliant silver glow. He stared hard at his hand, contracting and retracting his fingers, feeling the warm, life-possessing steel in his grasp, and called inwardly, Come.
He kept trying to imagine the keyblade in his hand, fighting with it, destroying monsters, and continuously called in his mind, Come to me.
But every time he imagined this, it was not really the keyblade he saw, but Yuffie. Uttering the words made him think of her, of Yuffie stretching her hand toward him, offering him her palm so that he in turn, could take it and draw her into his chest.
Come…come…Riku whispered despairingly inside his mind. He tried with all his heart to reach out to the keyblade, or rather, to it's wielder, and one last time called, Please come to me. Please come back…
Nothing.
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Damn, where have I been, right?