Ventus flew out of the blue portal to the Lanes Between, emerging into a new world that actually looked and felt real familiar.
A homely town of narrow streets and divided districts, surrounded by grass fields and forest.
It was stuck in some kind of eternal night - it was just kind of like that here, from what he remembered...from Sora's Heart.
Traverse Town, this place was called!
If Sora and Kairi were gonna be anywhere, it'd be here!
Ven flew down to land in front of the entrance to the First District - like the big sign said over it. He dematerialized his armor, then slowly pushed open the door and took a look around. It looked a little crowded - but pretty safe and normal. None of those Heartless running around or anything! His mind at ease, he stepped fully into the town.
He did his best to move through the crowds, around groups and partners and everything else going on here. His eyes were drawn to the big, two-story café on the left-hand side of the plaza, a big corner all to itself, and an open area with a roof stretching out over a bunch of tables with candles on them. There were a lot of people seated there, conversing and enjoying meals together. And as he watched, he saw this woman with long black hair and red eyes come hurrying out the cafe's front door with a tray in her hands. She had on this purple dress with black strings on it, and those heeled shoes sorta like Aqua loved wearing.
For just a moment, as that woman turned, laughing and going to place the contents of the tray onto a table, some strange feeling went through Ven's Heart. That dark hair whipping about... But he shook it off and hurried forward! He gave a lot of excuse me's as he went, till he'd reached the cafe's entrance. But that woman had already gone inside. So he went in too. She felt familiar, and that could only mean she knew Sora and Kairi! If anyone knew what'd happened to them...she had to know.
Ven looked around the inside, over heads and more tables. There was a music machine filling the place up with some nice tune - but he couldn't get distracted here! He stepped around the tables and went for the long counter stretching almost the whole length of the cafe's far wall. It was next to some stairs leading up to the second floor.
He stood awkwardly, putting his hands up onto the counter, craning his neck to peer into the kitchen area.
Every so often he caught sight of that dark haired woman again, moving back and forth. Then, finally, she emerged out into the front of the cafe! She came right over to Ven with a kind smile, resting an arm on the counter and leaning in toward him. "Hey - you're a new face around here. Did you just get into town?"
Ven smiled back at her with relief. "Uh, listen, ma'am, my name's...Ventus. I'm looking for Sora and Kairi."
The woman's red eyes got huge. "V-Ventus...? But- you were...? Well, I suppose that's not the strangest, most impossible thing to ever happen in this World, is it?" she went on quickly, flushing for some reason. "And it isn't as if I'm one to talk..." she said under her breath, shaking her head, a strange look crossing her face.
"Huh?"
The woman startled, raising her hands at him. "Sorry! The name's Tifa. Anyways, Ventus...about Sora and Kairi..."
"What happened to them? The last I remember, we'd gone to Radiant Garden to try and defeat Maleficent," Ventus said, fearing the worst now. "Did they win, did we-"
"Ventus...that- that was a couple of weeks ago now," Tifa said carefully. "We did succeed, yes, but...a few days back, Sora and Kairi, and Xion too, they went off to try and solve the root of the problem. Some...Door To Darkness. It was thought that locking it away, or destroying it, maybe, would...solve everything. Fix all of this. That was the hope, at least."
"So did they do that, then? Did they-"
Tifa shook her head, sighing loudly, even in the crowded café. "We still don't know yet. They haven't returned, Ventus. But we still have every confidence that they will! So- so if you stick around, they're bound to come walking back in here, just like you did!"
Ven put his hand over his heart, bowing his head. Door to Darkness...? Why did that sound sorta familiar, too? It wasn't from Sora, it was from...
Crap. History lessons.
Except he'd never been great at those. He'd slept through...more than a few...
Enough to make Eraqus pretty angry...
But come on, what was the use in learning about history when you were a Keyblade wielder?! All you had to know was about your enemies, and about your own self and abilities! History didn't factor into it!
Well...he'd thought that, anyways. Until Master Xehanort had gone and dragged up ancient history with that whole X-Blade business...
But that had been a one time thing!
"Uhhh...Ventus? You alright there?" Tifa was saying.
Ventus startled. "H-huh? Oh, yeah! Fine. Great. I'll...wait for Sora and Kairi to come back. Xion too! That's...good idea!" He paused, looking around himself. "Oh, and if you need help with anything, just ask me! Except I've never...worked in a restaurant before..." he admitted shyly.
Tifa laughed, pushing off from the counter. "Wow, well aren't you sweet! It's nice to finally get to meet you. Sora talked about you so much, you know that. Tell you what, for now, how about you go on over to Second District. There's a hotel there, you can check in - meet some of the others who run things around here. Aerith should be manning the desk over there, in fact. Just take it easy for a while, how about? It can't have been...easy to go from a...Heart inside someone else for a decade to a full blown, alive-person of your own again. Trust me, I- I know that one well," she finished quietly, hesitant. Almost anxious, now...
Ventus gazed at her. Then he beamed at her. "Alright! Second District - hotel - gotcha! Thanks, ma'am!"
"Oh, please, I don't think I'm that old! Just call me Tifa. Or...Miss Lockhart, if you really have to!" Tifa conceded, looking really relieved.
"Okay - Miss Lockhart. Thank you! See ya around!" Ventus waved at her as he turned to leave.
Everybody here had such faith in Sora and Kairi, that was clear to Ven immediately.
So he'd have to have faith too. They'd pull it off, they'd come back again! And then...they could really start to be friends!
Ven knew it in his Heart. Because in his Heart...he was still connected to Sora. And that light of Sora's...it hadn't died. Ven could still feel it out there.
"So...not to sound like a really broken record...But. What. Are we. Doing here?"
"Well, I can see we're not practicing tranquility in any way, shape, or form," Terra replied, amused.
Riku glowered, balling a fist. Then he breathed, letting it go. "I'm serious! We're just hanging out, we're just-"
"Yes," Terra said, in a slightly more firm tone. "Okay, Riku - what did you expect us to be doing?"
"I...I dunno?" Riku said, frustrated. "What about- battling the Heartless, cleaning up my mess, or- or- going to find Sora and Kairi again, so I can help them! Or...something!"
Terra gazed at him, crossing his arms. "Because you feel guilty sitting around doing nothing?"
"Not this again!" Riku burst out. "Come on! I just- I can't- why's that so bad?!"
"If you can't ever just stand still and have a clear mind, how are you going to ever have a clear enough mind to know what to do next? To know where to go? Stop pacing, stop thinking, stop worrying, Riku. Just breathe, and be in the moment, and-"
"And WHAT?!" Riku shouted, stepping forward, his fist raising at the man. "Maybe you're used to this, seeing as you're the guy who apparently sat on his ass for ten whole years instead of getting up and doing something about the mess he left behind, but I actually want to start fixing mine a hell of a lot sooner than that, you know! So either help me do that, or get lost! I don't need you! Yeah, you know what?! I don't NEED YOU! I can do this on my own!"
"Riku - calm down," came the man's steely tone, as he took a step forward, towering over Riku. "Get yourself - and your darkness - under control!"
"My- what-?" Riku sucked in a breath, letting it go in a harsh quaver. He blinked, and suddenly he realized that his whole arm was just...exuding darkness. That fist he had aimed at the man still...it was trembling, billowing with dark power...wanting to be unleashed on him- Riku gasped, shoving his arm down and grabbing his fist in his other hand. He tried to breathe, he tried to just- he tried, dammit- he just-
He breathed, and breathed, and he risked looking down again...to find the darkness had receded. "I- sorry, okay? I'm sorry, I didn't- mean- I just..."
Terra stepped away, turned away, striding off down the street toward town's edge.
"H-hey...hey wait, you can't- leave me - HEY!" Riku raced after him, shoulders shaking, panic in his Heart. Fear. "Don't-"
Terra stopped. "So which is it? Do you want me to stay, or do you want me to leave? Can you do this on your own, Riku?" He didn't sound angry, or upset, or even...disappointed. Just...conversational?
"I...I didn't mean that! I- I'm just- these feelings are just squeezing me inside and I can't- I c-can't...please... I just want to make it all stop..."
"Riku...listen to me. This is very important. The most important thing I could ever tell you. But it's also going to be the hardest to hear."
"What?"
"You cannot brute-force forgiveness...or atonement...or redemption. And it is not a little adventure you can just get done in a couple of days and call it a day. This will be a life-long journey. It will stay with you your entire life - the things that you've told me...that you've done. But if you truly want to be a better person, to do better for the people around you...then you will keep moving forward down that road. You will walk that path, for the rest of your life. Every day. Every moment. Every second, when you have the choice between doing what you did before, and making a change. Every second, when you have the choice between giving up and forgetting it all...or keeping on with it."
Riku shook his head, dropping his chin to his chest as a strangled gasp escaped him. He fell flat to his rear on the ground, hugging himself. "T-then maybe...I c-can't do that! Maybe I don't- want to- it's too much, too big, why bother?!"
Terra knelt down before him, and then he sat down right with him, looking...a little ridiculous to Riku, in all that armor, with that great big cape of his. He just...leaned back on his hands, like anything. Any other day or time... "Well, it's either that, or I can lock you away somewhere and throw away the key," he said casually.
"What?!"
"If you don't want to try and make up for your crimes, then you have to pay for them," Terra said reasonably. "That is how things work on most worlds, isn't it? Even on your islands?"
"I- I...fine. Then do that. Lock me up. You should have left me to die, anyways...back on that desert world."
"Ah, but that would be letting you get out of it too easily."
"Huh?"
"Riku, you are going to walk this path...and I am going to be right here for you, right beside you, every step of the way."
"Why...?"
"Because it's what my Heart feels is right. What about yours? What does it say?"
"I..." Riku shut his eyes tight, bringing a hand to his chest. "I don't know, okay? I don't know...I just- I'm- tired. I'm tired of-" He broke off as a jolt went through his Heart. As memories swam to the surface.
Back in Traverse Town...weeks ago...and him, confronting Kairi there...and her...
Her, with that exhausted, agonized, desperate look on her face as she had...goaded him, insulted him, tried to outright force him to- to end her life. Her, insisting she was tired of it all, of the fighting, of her feelings, of- living with all she had right then. He'd never in a million years have thought Kairi was the literally suicidal type, but back then...she had been. And it had seriously disturbed Riku. Enough to jar him out of his own head, his dark thoughts and feelings about her.
And yet...despite how she'd acted that day...
Weeks on from then, and Kairi was still...going on, going strong. She was still...putting everything she had into...anything she did. Into her...Keyblade mission, into her- what she valued, what she wanted to do. Even if it was the hardest thing in the world, even if it was seemingly impossible. And she'd done some seemingly impossible things...repeatedly. It might have even made Riku jealous again... No, being honest: it did! He was feeling jealous again! But even so...
But even so, he could only laugh at himself - and marvel at her.
Maybe...the strength that mattered most...was the strength to keep going. Keep moving forward.
He breathed, and he breathed...and he stood back up again. His shaking body calmed, and he let his arms fall away from himself.
Terra stood again, too, rising strong and true, that cape behind him. He stepped in, and he put a hand on Riku's shoulder, gazing down at him. "We're here, Riku...because my Heart told me we had to be here. For what, or why, I don't precisely know yet. But you have to have the patience and self-control...to wait and see, and figure it out. Because once you know...you'll know. Your friend, Kairi, she already knows this as well. I'll do my best to be your companion and guide on this journey...but in the end, your greatest guide will be your own Heart to follow."
Riku nodded, breathing again. "Okay. And- I'm sorry, for all that...the things I said."
"Don't mention-"
Terra suddenly yanked Riku into his arms and whirled around with him, that cape flying out wildly. Some kind of powerful, blue energy wave slammed into Terra's backside, rocking the street and kicking up a huge cloud of dust.
Terra let him go and shoved him back, then whipped back around with Keyblade in hand. His free arm was back behind him still - keeping Riku back.
Terra gave his Keyblade a great swing before himself, and the dust blew out in all directions, making the street visible again.
Riku peeked out from behind Terra, and saw a man standing before them. Mid-twenties, maybe, with long blue hair, and a huge X shaped scar on his face. Orange eyes. He wore a long black coat, gloves and boots, and in his hand was a...massive weapon. A claymore, blue and silver, with a spiked end.
Now, what happened next, Riku wasn't even sure how it was physically possible. But, Terra - despite being nothing but a mind inside an empty suit of armor - tensed. Tensed up, as he locked eyes with the blue-haired man.
Terra raised his great Keyblade and pointed it at the man. "Who are you, and what do you want?"
The blue-haired man spread his arms, as if inviting Terra forth. A smile came to his face, showing teeth. But to Riku, it didn't look...entirely confident. Those orange eyes flickered to Terra's Keyblade once or twice. He definitely hadn't been expecting anything like that, Riku mused. "What I require, I will take," the man answered, in a cold voice that was totally at odds with that smile of his. Even his posture. Like it was all a big...act or something. "And you may call me Saix - although, it's not a name you should bother committing to memory, as you won't be alive long enough to find any use in it."
"Heh." Terra's head cocked. "Now, I know you don't believe that," he said casually - a smirk heard in his voice.
Saix's eyes flickered to Riku - narrowed near imperceptibly. "I assure-" he began.
Terra flew forward faster than Riku could even blink, a golden light surrounding his entire body! Just, one moment to the next, he was gone from in front of Riku, and was right in front of the blue-haired man! Terra's massive sword rammed into the man's chest, and then Terra was carrying the man backwards down the street on his blade! Terra skidded to a halt and swung his blade to the side, sending the man flying into the front of a decrepit, abandoned little shop. Saix went through the stone, shattering it and causing the front of the building to collapse down on him.
Terra turned and ran back for Riku, tossing his Keyblade up as he went. It turned into his hover vehicle, swooping down behind him. He jumped up onto it, then snagged Riku's arm as he passed him, pulling him up onto the vehicle as well. The engines burst, and they rocketed up into the sky!
"Hey!" Riku shouted over the rushing winds. "Why're we running?! You had him, you-"
"Maybe!" Terra cut him off loudly. "But I couldn't risk you."
"What're you talking about? Risk ME?"
"He was after you, Riku!"
"Me...? Why?!" Maybe a stupid question to even ask for a guy who had...helped bring ruin to many worlds, and personally...murdered a man, but...
"I have no idea - but we're not staying to find out."
"Maybe we should," Riku yelled out. "Maybe I deserve-"
"Maybe you do," Terra agreed, cutting him off strongly. "But that doesn't mean you should actually be forced to take it. No one should. Revenge, cruelty, it's not justice. It's pointless!"
"Is it? I think there's some valid-"
Suddenly, a swirling dark portal opened up in the air, twenty feet out ahead of them - and maybe half that above them. Out of that portal came Saix, lunging with a purple glow, his eyes burning yellow like a Heartless, a guttural scream escaping him!
Terra swerved his hover bike and dipped low - but Saix came down on them too fast - too late - and his mighty Claymore, now with giant spikes on its end, swung down to impale the back of the bike! It was hardly a foot or two from Riku's backside! Terra glanced back, then immediately put them into a furious barrel roll. Saix stayed lodged to them, stayed with them! His free hand seized one of the protruding metal fins on the back of the bike, and his feet came under him on either side of the thruster. He was way too secure now to just fling off with some maneuvering.
Terra tried anyways, going into a forward loop, then just...spinning out of it and heading nearly straight down for the ground - towards endless forest with high mountains in the background.
Saix let out an animal yell behind Riku, yanking his weapon free - and readying it to be swung to cleave Riku in half at the waist.
Terra suddenly released the controls to his bike, flipping and twisting backwards, flying past Riku and slamming into Saix - knocking them both off the vehicle, spiraling into open air together!
"NO!" Riku yelled, twisting to keep track of them. But this wind, and the vehicle was still heading for the ground! Riku faced forward and seized the controls, leaning forward and giving them a good pull. The bike swooped up - but not in time to avoid diving into the trees! He flew between the trees, smacking into branches - and then he hit a particularly large one that knocked him clean off the bike. And knocked all the wind from his body, too.
Riku hung there, gasping, listening to the vehicle fly onward - and then there was a great big crash as the forest shook...and went still and silent again. He breathed, and breathed...and then he let go, falling...farther than he expected to. He hit hard, crumpling. He lay there, pained, heaving, hand to his chest.
"Terra...why...for me...?" he gasped out, staring up into the trees.
A dark portal appeared off to his left, and Saix came striding out of it. Well...haha, limping out of it. He had serious injuries on his form, and darkness was practically rising from his body like smoke. But it wasn't power rising...it was power...leaving?
Riku scrambled to his feet again, staggering and bracing against a tree. "What do you...want with me?" he gasped out.
"To see...whether or not you're worth anything at all," Saix's cold tones came to him. "Worth letting live...worth killing. You are not the remarkable one in your little band of children, are you, Riku? No, that would be the keyblade wielding princess. Kairi...a girl who has bested you time and time again. A girl who is so important and powerful that she is one of seven lights that keeps this entire universe itself...spinning. A girl chosen by destiny and fate itself...to be its 'champion' and 'protector.' Hmph. Compared to all that she is, was, and will be...how could you ever hope to compare? You are a nothing child, from a tiny island, desperate to be a part of things far beyond his own comprehension. Desperate...to be special, yourself. To be important. To be powerful. But you are none of those things, boy. You are not special, you are not important, you are not powerful. Your very existence itself holds no value to this World - nor to any of the truly important ones within it."
Riku gritted his teeth at the man as emotions flared in his Heart. He curled a fist at his side, trembling.
Saix held his weapon out before himself, giving a grin. "Come now, then, boy, and show me your meager skills. The paltry power you think you possess..."
Riku closed his eyes, hand going to his chest. He could feel the darkness growing, rising...feeding, just as Terra had said, on his own emotions. His negative emotions. That jealousy that was back again, yes, that anger, all those bitter thoughts swimming around in his head now once more...
Riku opened his eyes, and the darkness seeped out of him, wrapping around his body to form his dark suit and bat-wing blade weapon. It rejuvenated his body, healed his aches and pains. He pushed from the tree, taking a step forward. He swiped his weapon through the air, and grinned back at the man. "Well, that's a mistake you're going to regret making later."
"Doubtful. But, come and try. Let the insignificant child of the trio throw his little temper tantrum about not being the coddled one-"
Riku flickered in and out of existence, reappearing before the man and slashing for him.
Saix raised an arm, and took his blade on it. On his arm, not his giant claymore! He gazed at Riku with those amber eyes. Then he shoved out and swung his weapon in full; Riku backflipped away, sailing to land on forest ground, kicking up leaves and dirt.
Riku raised a hand of dark flames, letting loose a barrage of Dark Firaga blasts!
Saix swiped his weapon across himself, destroying them before they reached him. Then he ran for Riku and leapt up to swing down for his head.
Riku cartwheeled out of the way and slashed back for him - but the man turned and caught his blow on his weapon. The man's weapon didn't even move; Riku's blade bounced off like he'd tried attacking a brick wall. Riku snarled, his anger rising, darkness wafting from him more intensely, and he threw himself back at the man again!
Saix blocked him, shoved back at him with a casual motion of an arm, and then power exploded, sending Riku skidding back to slam into a tree.
"Gah!" Riku growled, shaking his head. He drew more of his own power out, gathering it all, more and more...and then he unleashed it all with a scream, blasting out waves of darkness in all directions! Leaves were burned away, trees nearest him were felled, collapsing onto the others and felling them as well. The ground was a scorched, darkened mess. Wispy tendrils of dark power floated on the air, twisting around the area.
And Saix...was still standing exactly where he had been?! He lowered his weapon slowly, his face utterly expressionless. "Was that truly all you had?" he said, in bored tones. Then, Saix swung his weapon, sending out a massive wave of blue, fiery energy.
Riku raised his sword and set his feet, preparing to block - but it was useless: the energy wave slammed into him like a truck, taking him up and sending him flying backwards into the trees. He rolled through the bushes and came to a stop when his ribs slammed up against the base of a tree. He let out a long, agonized gasp, his fingers releasing his sword. It rippled and vanished...and then so did his dark suit. All his power...just fled him.
Leaving him...with nothing.
He heard footsteps through the bushes, across the ground, and then Saix stood over him. Gazing down on him with a look of cool disinterest.
"You going to...kill me now?" Riku rasped out.
"Now why would I waste my time doing that?" Saix replied flatly. "You truly are so unworthy of an opponent; I'd rather not expend any more energy on you than necessary."
"Yeah...? And does that...include...this gloating?" Riku tried his best to snark at the man.
Saix gave him a nasty look, then turned to walk away.
Riku heard and felt another dark portal being used...and then it was gone.
And the world was silent.
Riku lay there, wishing someone would just come and put him out of his misery already...
After several minutes of self-pity - and self-loathing - Riku again heard footsteps approaching him.
He raised his head, half expecting to see Saix again (but hoping it was Terra).
It was neither of those two men.
It was, in fact, a girl.
A girl his age, with shoulder length dark hair in a bob cut, wearing a silver jacket with a fur collar. She had on plain gray pants and a loose gray top. She was all messy, and dirty. But her face, and her eyes...
Her eyes were a strange pink color, that almost glowed like neon lights.
"Are you all right?" the girl spoke, in a rather thick voice. A thick accent? Or was it just her voice, itself, really? Who could tell? Not Riku...
"No..." Riku admitted, groaning his pain.
The girl eyed him up and down, in an open, critical way that almost had Riku feeling really uncomfortable. Then she sighed, strode forward, and knelt down beside him. She gave her head a shake, then held out a hand to him. "My name's Erin. What's yours?"
"Uhh...Riku...?"
"Are you sure about that?" she said, in an almost...amused tone.
Riku almost glared. Then he sighed, gasping as fresh pain went through his ribs. "Well- I feel like I got run over by a truck, I fell several hundred feet, and I got thrown into a tree like a toy, so... No, I'm not sure what my name is."
The girl - Erin - she laughed. A deep, rich laugh. "Really?"
"Nooo, I just decided this was a nice place to take a nap..." Riku retorted, wincing. "Agh..."
"I'm sorry," she said, sounding sincere about it. "How about I help you up, and get you somewhere you can get treated for your injuries?"
"Y-yeah...? That'd be great, right about n-now...Ow..."
The girl leaned forward over Riku, reaching for him carefully. As she did, her top fell a good distance away from her body, exposing her chest area beneath. Riku did his best not to even look - but - something caught his eye there anyways.
A tattoo, on her upper left torso region - almost near her collarbone. The strangest tattoo Riku had ever seen: it was black and green, and depicted an hourglass, but...the green sands within it were actually moving. It was slowly, slowly dropping down to accumulate at the bottom.
The girl froze over top him, her eyes finding his. Fear crossed her face. Doubt. Hesitation...
"Uh - sorry..." RIku said quickly, shutting his eyes and turning his head away.
"It's fine..." came her response, as light hands grasped his body and began to lift him from the dirt with a...surprising strength.
AN: WOOH we got a bit of Ventus lol! :D Get to introduce him to the Traverse Town crew, get to write him being a fluffy cinnamon roll lol I heckin love him srsly omg, annnd I got to write some more big Riku/Terra development! Seriously we got some huuuge shit with them coming up. xD It's kinda hard to balance their story versus Kairi's. I could have written it as its own side story novel LOL. :D But I am doin my best here!