Atlantica part 3

Slash Dance Revolution

The next morning, Kairi opened her eyes to find Riku already awake. He was staring up at their sky full of stars. On Sora's moon, the little clouds of darkness were swirling about, dancing to something Kairi couldn't fathom. For a little while, she watched his teal eyes follow their shapes, wondering how anyone could be so close and feel so far away all at once.

"You're awake," he said after a while, not looking at her.

She almost felt like a child getting scolded, even though his tone was neutral. But she resisted the urge to duck her head and play asleep. Propping herself up, she replied, "How long have you been up?" She kept her voice quiet, mindful of Sora on Riku's other side.

"Awhile," he said, voice shrugging hard enough that his shoulders didn't even have to move. He didn't say more.

"What were you thinking about?"

He closed his eyes and inhaled, forcibly keeping his jaw from clenching. We shouldn't even be here right now. A real Master would have already started waking them up at dawn to train every morning. A real Master wouldn't have even let this situation with where they were sleeping happen in the first place.

Instead, he'd been selfish and lazy, and it could get either one of them killed.

Riku opened his eyes. "What we're doing today," he answered, voice mild.

Kairi watched his face, trying to suss out what that even meant, but she came up empty. "We've got dance lessons tonight, but otherwise Ariel said we have the day to ourselves."

"Good," he replied, and for the first time that morning, he glanced at her. The clouds on the moon stilled. "We're training today."

She grinned, "I'm excited."

He sat up, climbing out of the blankets and scooting around Sora's splayed out legs to the edge of the bed. "Don't expect it to be easy," he said over his shoulder.

"It wouldn't be training if it was," Kairi replied, just getting the words out before he slipped through the canopy. After nudging Sora awake, she climbed out her own side and went back to her room.

After breakfast, Riku gathered them in one of the castle's courtyards. It was an open lawn of fresh green grass, with a low tiled wall facing the ocean and a row of colonnades along the opposite side. All three of them were in the clothes provided by the three Good Fairies. They collected in a rough triangle in the center of the lawn.

Sora yawned, stretching his arms over his head. "What are we doing out here again?"

"Training," Riku replied. "Remember?"

"Oh, right. You're going to teach us what Aqua told you about."

"That's Master Aqua to you," Riku said sternly. "And while we're out here, you'll address me as Master Riku." He locked eyes with each of them until he got a nod. Sora took it up a notch and saluted. Riku frowned, but he didn't correct him.

Kairi grinned, tucking her arms behind her back. "So what are we learning today, Master Riku?" she asked, putting a teasing lilt on his title.

"Before we learn anything," he said, tone sharp enough that it wiped the grin off her face, "I need to know what we're working with. So you two are going to spar, and I'm going to watch you. No magic, and don't hold anything back. We have to be prepared for whatever threatens the worlds next."

"Why can't we use magic?" Sora asked, just barely beating Kairi to the question.

"Because magic runs out," Riku answered, folding his arms. "You only have so much energy. I want to know how you fight without it."

Kairi bit her lip, shifting her weight. Magic had been the focus of her training with Merlin. His philosophy was brains over brawn. Even Lea had insisted she lean into her magical abilities.

"If it comes down to it, you're not going to beat anyone head on. Get in, get out, get it done. You're not that strong, so you've got to be smart and fast, got it memorized?"

She needed to prove herself here, but without her magic what chance did she have?

"Keyblades out," RIku ordered. When his friends complied, he summoned his own, using it to wrap each blade in a protection spell. This would prevent them from inflicting any serious injuries on one another.

At Riku's bidding, Sora and Kairi walked to opposite ends of the courtyard. Sora fiddled with his necklace as he walked. He'd never even thought about fighting Kairi before. He didn't want to fight her - what if he hurt her? Or worse, lost to her? He'd never be able to look either of them in the eyes again. He'd spent his whole life trying and failing to measure up to Riku. He was happy that his friend was a Keyblade Master. He'd never been so proud of anyone ever. But that didn't mean he hadn't lain awake at night, chewing himself out for failing his own test.

Stupid, stupid, stupid, he thought, turning to face Kairi. She slid into a fighting stance, holding Destiny's Embrace with both hands. He watched her for a beat, then did the same.

Kairi took a deep breath in through her nose, using her diaphragm like Lea had taught her. If she was going to succeed, she had to use everything she knew.

She crouched, circling to her left, violet gaze locked on Sora. In through your nose, she thought, breathing in, down to your stomach. Out through your mouth. Repeat. She wasn't sure she could win, but she hadn't thought she would ever beat Lea before, either.

Sora charged straight at her, but not at full speed. Kairi had fought alongside him enough to know he was holding back, and it pissed her off. She kept circling along the arc she'd already started, but faster now, racing to get behind him and hit his back. Sora swerved with her, picking up his pace. Kairi waited till he got close, then jumped, slicing at his head as she flipped over him. He rolled, barely ducking under her attack. She landed, and they both turned to face each other again. Sora didn't hesitate this time, charging her once more. Kairi stayed still, catching his swing on her blade. She intended to push his blade up, then kick his legs out from under him, but as soon as their Keyblades clanged together he jumped backwards.

"What are you doing?" Kairi growled, charging forward. She moved fast, slashing once, twice, three times. Each time, Sora smacked her sword away, but kept retreating.

He frowned at her. "Uh… sparring?" He planted his left foot and pivoted, trying to side-step out of her line of attack. Kairi saw him do it and flipped easily over his head, swinging for his ribs once she was behind him.

"Quit holding back!" She snapped as he just barely caught her attack on the Kingdom Key. Twisted awkwardly, he turned until he could shove back against her with both hands.

"I'm not!" he protested, forcing her backwards and breaking their lock.

Kairi dropped low, not even bothering to give that a response, then kicked his ankles out from under him. He caught himself with a clumsy sideways roll and when he straightened she wasn't anywhere to be seen.

Just in time, he looked up. Kairi had leapt into the air to dive at him, Keyblade in mid-swing at his head. Sora just barely got out of the way. She hit the ground instead, but with enough force to dig into the earth, dirt flying around them. The ricochet made it hard for Sora to get to his feet. She wasn't about to give him that chance, either, swiping at him once, twice. The second swing caught him in the right hip. The protection spells blunted the blow, but it still knocked him off of his feet entirely.

"You are!" Kairi insisted, bringing another blow down at his shoulder. He managed to block that one, shoving her off and regaining his feet with a wordless yell.

Darting sideways, now at full speed, he shouted, "Just remember, you asked for it!" Practically a blur, he threw himself at a nearby column, spinning around it to gain more momentum. He caught Kairi in the shoulder as he flew past her, then shoved off the wall and barreled into her again, knocking her backwards. The third time she jumped out of the way, and for awhile she stuck to that, leaping out of reach of every dart and lunge.

"Now who's holding back?" he quipped. He dashed at her again, but this time she leapt straight up instead of sideways.

"Not me!" Kairi called, throwing herself at him. Her words morphed into a yell as she plummeted down, aiming not for where he currently was but for where she knew he would be. Destiny's Embrace collided with his back, knocking him to the ground. He bounced once, then scrambled upright. Kairi was running at him, Keyblade up and ready.

Sora opted to spin out of her way, darting sideways, but she followed him. Keyblade outstretched, she hurled towards him like a top with teeth. He just caught her attack on the Kingdom Key, but her momentum nearly ripped it out of his hands. He dropped to one knee, ducking under the force. Destiny's Embrace cut over his head with a whoosh, and he slammed the Kingdom Key up into it, trying to rip the blade out of Kairi's hands. She leapt with it, refusing to let go. But she hadn't planned for the jump, and her landing was sloppy. Sora was at her back, swinging, and he knocked her forward.

She twisted on her knees, catching his next strike. He kept hammering, yelling with the force of each swing, trying to get her to yield. Kairi locked eyes with him, holding her Keyblade up with both hands. Her lips parted in a snarl as she struggled to get her feet under her. Slowly, slowly, she twisted first one foot, then the other until she was crouched on the ground, weapon above her head. Her arms ached, and she could tell Sora was nowhere near tired. Their eyes were still locked.

At the same moment, they moved - Kairi swung out a leg, trying to kick Sora's out from under him. He wasn't there, though. He'd leapt backwards, Keyblade in the air. With a motion almost too quick to catch, he swapped out the keychain on his sword. In a burst of light, it transformed, but Kairi didn't have time to take in its new appearance. With a laugh, Sora held it aloft. She caught sight of some of the red blade before it flared brightly again, morphing into a glider. He hopped on board, riding the handle like a surfboard and circling Kairi once before flipping off of it. The Keybalde transformed again, this time into a long red and black blade of a much more traditional sword shape. Kairi braced herself, glaring.

"Let's finish this!" Sora called, and she realized his whole outfit had changed, taking on greens and grey-yellows where red had been. She stepped forward, charging to meet him, but didn't make it very far. With three quick slashes, Sora closed the gap. Yelling, he stabbed forward, sending out pillars of swirling black microbots. They swarmed around Kairi, encasing her in a sphere made of thick black bars.

Kairi yelled, slashing at the bars, but they simply repaired themselves behind her. Sora stood, arm extended as he held the empty handle of Nano Gear. His gaze was level, but he was frowning, breathing deeply in and out and focusing on keeping her trapped.

From the sidelines, Riku walked between them. "That's enough," he stated, glancing first at Sora, then at Kairi inside the sphere. Exhaling, Sora dropped his hand, and the bots fled back to his Keyblade. Kairi landed on her feet, scowling. After a beat, she released Destiny's Embrace and it vanished in a burst of light. Sora dismissed Nano Gear too, walking towards her with his hand outstretched.

"Good fight," he said, smiling. Kairi didn't return his smile or take his hand. Instead, she turned to Riku.

"You said no magic!"

"I did," Riku agreed, glancing at Sora. His face was neutral, but it came off cold, and the younger boy dropped his hand and his head.

"I didn't think that was magic."

Exasperated, Kairi harrumphed. "What else could it be?" she asked, spreading her hands.

Sora rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "That's just stuff that the Keyblade does," he said with a shrug. "Magic is like fira and blizzard and stuff."

Kairi dropped her hands, blinking at him. Sora could do crazy, amazing, incredible things… and yet he had no idea what was and wasn't magic. He didn't have the faintest clue what he was doing, but somehow he did it anyway. It was baffling to her.

Riku glanced between his friends again. Sora was studying the ground, shoulders twisted away from them ever so slightly. Kairi was looking away too, rubbing her right arm and scowling.

"Well, at least we learned something," Riku muttered.

"Sorry," Sora murmured, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Didn't Donald teach you about that?" Kairi asked him, eyebrows furrowed.

"Donald's… not the best teacher," he answered, spreading his hands with a sheepish grin.

"Well, that's part of why we're doing this," Riku said, one hand on his hip. "Kairi, you probably know the most about magic out of all of us. Could you catch Sora up on the basics while we're here?"

"Okay," she agreed, nodding. She glanced at Sora, offering a small smile. He looked dubious at best.

"I know some things," he muttered, glancing at the ground.

Kairi put a hand on his arm. "I know you do. We've just got to fill in the blanks." He met her eyes, and this time, smiled back at her.

"We wouldn't be here if you didn't," Riku added. Sora looked up, studying the expression on his face. He nodded. He thought he got what his best friend meant. Without him, Kairi wouldn't be here. The truth was, if Riku hadn't saved him in that final hour, everything would have been lost. That really could be said about all of Sora's victories - he couldn't close the door without Riku. He couldn't defeat Xemnas without Riku. Riku had dove into his dreams and plucked him straight from Xehanort's clutches. Sure, Sora may have struck the final blows, but he wouldn't have even been there if it weren't for his best friend. In Sora's mind, he hadn't saved the worlds - Riku had.

Speaking of Riku, the older boy was watching him, teal eyes narrowed, searching. Sora glanced away, up at the rippling clouds and clear blue sky. Lacing his fingers together behind his head, he asked, "What are we doing next?"

Riku shifted his weight, sliding from his well-practiced slouch to stand tall and straight once more. "Forms. Kairi, I'm guessing you did some of these with Merlin?"

"Lea taught me some. Merlin was more interested in… mental exercises."

"Sora, did Goofy do anything like this with you?"

"Like stretching and stuff?"

"Sort of. They're series of poses that mimic fighting, so that when you're actually in battle you don't have to try to remember how to move. Your body just knows."

"Oh, uh, no… we didn't do anything like that," he admitted, looking down again.

"Then we'll start at the beginning."

Spreading out, Riku led them through the first few sets Aqua had taught him, throwing in some things from King Mickey as well. First, he showed them the action, including the chants Aqua had taught him. Some were simple sounds to build and release power. Others were small phrases about the nature of the heart, the balance between light and darkness, and the Keyblade itself. After leading them through the form several times, Riku would step back and watch them do it themselves, correcting where necessary until they could do it perfectly.

Sora's training with Donald and Goofy had been haphazard, on an as needed basis, usually via shouted instructions during or immediately after fights. Kairi's training with Merlin had been free-spirited and vague, looping through whatever he felt prudent at the time. Working with Riku was an entirely different world - he was precise, bringing intensity and purpose to every action. He accepted nothing but perfection, but was also patient with his explanations. By the end of it, both Sora and Kairi felt proud of their progress.

"What now?" Kairi asked, sending her Keyblade away.

"The last thing we're doing today is meditating. Master Aqua insisted that every training session end this way, so that we take in what we've learned with a calm, clear mind and go forward with a ready heart," Riku recited. He was oddly nervous about leading them through this, as it was almost as new to him as it was to his friends. Sitting in stillness with his thoughts wasn't unusual behavior for him, but letting them pass through without judgment, without following them, was a different skill entirely.

Nevertheless, it was part of the routine. And, much to everyone's surprise, Sora did as asked without complaint. He settled cross-legged on the grass next to Kairi, facing Riku, and rested his palms on his knees as they did. Riku began talking, leading them through the first phases of this exercise, so Sora closed his eyes and tried to breathe.

The sole of his foot was itching.

See, you're going to mess this up t-

Stop thinking, you're not supposed to be thinking. Breathe. In… out… in…

Riku's voice, "Keep your attention on your breath. When your mind wanders, guide it back."

He knows you can't do this. He knows you're distracted. You'll never be-

Focus. It's like magic. Just focus. In…

There's a bug crawling on my arm. My face itches.

Unconsciously, Sora began bouncing his right knee.

"Remember to stay still, sitting tall, following your breath where you feel it the most," Riku spoke again, trying to recall the gentle way Aqua had phrased things when she'd led him through this last week. There had been no judgement in her guidance. He could fail, was even expected to fail, and that was all right.

He wasn't used to that.

Growing up, his parents had always had high expectations for him. Even in play, the children around him expected him to be the best - the strongest, the bravest, the smartest. He knew he was different long before Terra ever bequeathed him a Keyblade. His secret had spurred him forward. Of course he was stronger and braver and smarter than them; he had a destiny none of them would ever know of.

Then he'd gone and fucked it all up. His failures had cost Kairi and Sora their hearts, and it had taken over a year to fix his catastrophic mistakes.

Failure wasn't something he planned to do again. But, here, in this small and strange exercise not only was he failing, he was actually succeeding by doing so. It was hard to wrap his head around. So he kept focusing on his breath and trying to use Aqua's soft, encouraging phrases to guide Sora and Kairi along with him.

"It's all right if you get distracted, just bring your thoughts back to your breathing."

Sora did stop bouncing his knee. He didn't manage to stop his train of thought from careening all over the place, but his body held still, and that was something. After what felt like an eternity, Riku released them.

"We're doing that every day?" Sora asked, opening his eyes.

"Most of it," Riku replied, standing up. "We can't do everything every day. It would take too long. We didn't cover magic at all, and Aqua said she had more to teach me later. But we are going to do forms and stretching and meditation every time."

Sora groaned, flopping over onto his back with an exaggerated huff.

Kairi shoved him, laughing as she said, "Aw, c'mon, Sora! This'll be good for us. Besides, Riku worked really hard to teach you."

"Hey! You had plenty to learn too," he argued, propping himself back up on his elbows.

"We all do," Riku interjected, and something about his voice made the other two still.

"Then this is perfect," Kairi said, giving him the warmest smile she could muster.

Riku nodded at her, but he couldn't summon one back.

Following training, they split up to bathe and change. Kairi was reluctant to get back into this world's restrictive clothing, but she did what she had to. At least baths here were nice.

Dance practice wasn't until after dinner, so Riku grabbed the two of them for a short history lesson. Kairi followed that with a session on magic with just Sora. He was seated at the desk in Riku's sitting room with Kairi leaning over him. Pieces of blank paper sat on the desk between them, ready for any notes either wanted to draw up. Kairi was having a hard enough time figuring out what to say, much less writing anything down. She was becoming more and more frustrated with both Donald and Merlin's lack of ability to explain anything.

"But you just focus and it happens!" Sora insisted, twisting himself and the chair to face her, equally frustrated but in the opposite direction. He couldn't understand anything Kairi was saying. He was tired of being talked down to and tired of feeling even stupider than he had after their sparring match.

Kairi stifled a groan and leaned back on her heels. "I mean, sort of, but there's more to it than that." She ran a hand through the hair framing her face as she thought.

"When you cast a spell, you have to be thinking about what you intend to happen, and you have to really want that. And…" she trailed off, trying to find a new way to say the thing she'd been repeating for the last ten minutes. Without beating Sora over the head like Merlin would have by now. "And…" she tried again.

"See!" Sora cut her off, "You can't even explain it, so how am I supposed to understand?" He crossed his arms, pouting like he had when they were little kids and Riku had beaten him again. But they weren't children anymore and he needed to understand this.

Kairi scowled at him, voice rising without her meaning to, "I'm getting there, but you have to be patient and try!"

"I already know how to do magic!"

"But you don't understand what you're doing!"

"I don't need to!" He glared at her, their faces inches apart. "You and Riku think you're so much smarter than me, but you don't even know what I can do because you haven't been there! I've been doing just fine by myself!"

Kairi flinched back, dropping his gaze. He was right - she hadn't been there. She might recognize some of Sora's fighting style, but she didn't have the slightest grasp of his magical abilities. And she really had no idea what all he'd been through to learn them.

"I don't think I'm smarter than you," she murmured, staring at the floor with her arms wrapped around herself.

Still coiled tight with anger, Sora snapped, "Then stop acting like it." Kairi's head shot up.

"You know what? Forget it." She turned on her heel, calling over her shoulder as she left the room, "Figure it out yourself." She slammed the door shut behind her.

Riku let Sora and Kairi tackle the magic lesson on their own. It would be good for them to spend some time together and perhaps selfishly, he didn't want to be there to watch. He slid out of the room, letting his feet take him wherever they wanted.

This is how it's supposed to be, he told himself. Get used to it. But somewhere in the back of his mind a quiet voice asked, But what if it isn't? What if you could have more?

For a moment he thought about the future, of an island full of Keyblade wielders, trained by him and Sora and Kairi. Defenders of the Realm of Light. The sun was shining, and he heard laughter. It was a good daydream, but it immediately crumbled under any scrutiny. Like so many places, Destiny Islands was full of people whose lives didn't need to be disturbed by the reality of other worlds. If he continued being a master anywhere, it would probably be the Land of Departure. He tried to imagine what that world was like now, no longer locked as Castle Oblivion. Sora had given it a vague description when he'd been retelling the story of how he and Aqua saved Ventus, but like with most of Sora's stories it was the people and the events that were important, not the scenery.

He couldn't help the way his mouth quirked up, smiling at the memory. He could listen to Sora talk about other worlds for hours, even if he was a little over the top at times. But his smile faded quickly. What were their lives going to look like in the future? Their friendship? They'll probably go home, he mused.

But he wasn't.

The worlds need you. No one had said it to him, not directly, but he still felt it all the same. When he'd accepted a Keyblade from Terra, and again when he'd passed his Mark of Mastery exam, he'd become part of a legacy. And who knows? He knew Sora wanted to become a master as well, even if he didn't think his best friend really understood what that meant. Kairi too. They'd always done everything together, the three of them, so this might not be any different.

But they weren't children anymore, and he wasn't sure he wanted that future for either of them. Or for himself. No going back now, though.

Somehow in his musing he'd wound up on the castle roof, curled against a turret as he stared out over the town below him. One foot dangled over the side of the parapet, while his other leg was tucked up to give his arm something to rest on. He was supposed to be calling Aqua. She'd wanted to know how training went and said she had more to teach him. That's what he'd meant to be doing, but with his friends in his room he'd struggled to decide where to have that conversation instead. "Might as well do it up here," he mused aloud, digging into his pocket for his gummiphone. Maybe she could answer some of my other questions, too.

He dialed her number, and it barely rang before being answered. Even up this high, the gummiphone could only seem to pick up audio. He'd yet to get any video in Ariel's world, and this conversation wasn't going to be an exception.

"Hello?" someone answered.

"Ven?" Riku asked. Regardless of how long anyone knew him, almost no one called him Ventus. "It's Riku."

He heard Ven's voice calling faintly, "Aqua! It's Riku."

Then Aqua in the distance, "Oh! Here, let me speak to him." There was a shuffling sound, and she said, voice much clearer, "Hello, Riku. How did it go today?"

"Fine," Riku replied. Then hearing the dismissiveness in his tone, he added, "They did well. Just a few hiccups."

"Tell me what happened."

"Most of it was fine," he insisted. "We've just got some things to fill each other in on."

"Meditation went all right? I know you were worried, but you're really quite good at it for a beginner."

"Meditation was fine. Sora even did it."

"That's wonderful," Aqua said, smile evident in her voice.

"Kairi was great. Merlin did a good job catching her up. And Sora's Sora," he chuckled. "He can do things I'm not even sure I'll be able to do someday."

"He is unique. But Riku, it's best not to compare. All of your situations are extraordinary, and because of this so are your abilities. The thing to focus on is where each of you can improve and grow, not how to measure up to one another."

"Right. Thanks, Aqua."

"Of course. Did you need more material, or do you think the three of you will be working on what I've already taught you for a while?"

"I'm ready to learn more, but I also have a question for you."

"Please, ask me anything."

He paused, double-checking how he wanted to word this. "What's going to happen later, when we're older? What does being a Keyblade Master even look like longterm?"

Aqua took a moment with her answer too. "Hmmmm… it's hard to say. The only masters I knew were Master Eraqus and Master Xehanort. My master lived here with us and taught us everything he knew. Ven, Terra and I plan on doing the same. However, long ago there were many Keyblade wielders, each from their own worlds and many of whom traveled from world to world protecting the realm of light. What each of you decides to do with your future is up to you. What does your heart tell you?"

"I'm not sure," Riku answered honestly.

"That's all right. There's no hurry. I'm sure when the time is right you'll know."

"Yeah, you're right," he agreed softly. Something made him hesitate, but he shoved past it. "What else do you have to teach me?"

It was Aqua's turn to pause, and Riku found himself clenching and unclenching his empty fist as he waited. He forced himself to stop right before she answered, "Well, where did we leave off?"

There wasn't as much time, so Riku only lingered on the roof for half an hour, listening to more tales of Keyblade wielders long gone and practicing the next phase of meditation. Mentally, he made a list of what else they needed to work on some other time: healing, defensive magic, advanced offensive magic, and Keyblade magic - Sora wasn't the only one capable of altering his Keyblade and eventually he would need to be able to do it without the aid of the Good Fairies' clothes.

Dinner was soon, so he said his good-byes and scrambled down from the roof to go check on Sora and Kairi. He slipped through a window and headed towards his room, but he didn't make it far before he ran into Kairi and Ariel.

"Riku!" Kairi gasped, dashing over to him. He was surprised at the worry in her voice, the way her eyes were wide and frantic. She grabbed his hands, clenching tight enough to hurt. "I can't find Sora and then we couldn't find you either and… and…" she gulped, swallowing around what he could only guess were tears. Why was she crying?

"What happened?" he asked urgently, looking around, feeling for darkness.

"Sora and I had a fight," she admitted.

He glanced back down and saw only the top of her head. Her shoulders were hunched as she tried to pull her hands out of his. He hung on - if Kairi was this upset and worried something was wrong. He remembered looking for Sora on the night of the party on the beach, and he remembered watching his best friend shatter the sky and leave him on the plains of the Keyblade Graveyard. He remembered the weeks of being home not knowing if either of them would ever make it back and felt that empty yawning fear start spreading through his core again. But Riku knew he couldn't sense any darkness, and he knew that Sora had taken to vanishing whenever he was upset here. So he stuffed the fear down and asked, "Where have you looked?"

Kairi glanced back up at him. "I started in your room, and we've been looking from there. I was trying to find him to apologize, but we haven't seen any sign of him anywhere, so I went looking for you and then you were gone too-"

"I'm right here, Kairi," he cut in, silencing her headlong rush of words. She was clinging to his hands again, eyes still wide. "And Sora can't be far off," he added, "We'll find him."

Something about his tone must have worked, because she quit clinging quite so hard and took a deep breath. "Okay," she said, "Where should we look next?"

"My room was the last place you saw him?"

"Yes…" She glanced away again, and this time he let her pull her hands out of his. She folded them across her chest, looking down the hallway towards his doors.

He kept his voice level, trying to be soothing. It must have been a pretty bad fight. "I'll check there, see if I can find any clues. Why don't you keep looking around out here, since you know where you haven't searched yet?"

Kairi glanced back at him. "That's a good plan," she agreed, giving him a weak smile.

"It'll be all right, Kairi. It's Sora - he wouldn't have gone far."

"Right," she agreed, but she didn't sound all that certain.

They split up, with Ariel following after Kairi. Riku headed straight for his room. He didn't need a wolf's nose to tell that Sora had been scared - the scents of terror and something else clung to the room like ghosts. He took in another deep breath, looking at the papers scattered on the floor.

Darkness. The smell was darkness.

It was faint, but it was also unmistakably a Sora smell. What the hell had happened here?

Blank papers aside, nothing else in the study appeared to be touched. The bedroom door was open, so Riku did the logical thing and walked through it. The canopy around the bed was laying oddly, and the window was open.

He jumped straight through, Riku guessed. He'd known Sora for longer than he could actually remember. It wasn't hard to picture him running, jumping over the bed, and vaulting out the window. The strange thing was why? Nothing had been here to chase him, and a simple fight seemed unlikely to draw such a strong reaction that he could smell it. Fear might be the only emotion with a scent, but it took an awful lot of it to leave behind a trace. He looked out the window and knew Sora could land that jump in his sleep. Well, as a figure of speech. Sora slept like a pile of seaweed, or a sunken ship - sprawled all over the place, heavy and hard to move.

His gaze tracked out to the horizon. Sora probably went for a walk, okay, no, a run along the beach or a swim. Riku could go try to find him, but it wasn't like his strange sense of smell worked for tracking purposes. And what good would it do? Sora would come back when he was ready. He always did. Though Riku couldn't think of the last time hurt feelings and sharp words hadn't been dealt with via tackles and sword fights that led to mumbled apologies and offers of food or doing the other's homework or something similar. He wasn't counting what had happened since they left home. That wasn't the same thing. None of it was the same.

He looked out the window one last time, hoping for even a glimpse of a silhouette, but the ocean was too far away as it was. Might as well go find Kairi and help her calm down.

"He's not in the castle," Riku announced as he rounded a corner. Kairi and Ariel were a ways ahead of him, going towards the library which was honestly the last place Kairi thought Sora would be. Still, she wasn't going to stop until she'd combed every inch of this stupidly massive building. She turned around, frowning at her other best friend.

"How do you know?"

"My window's open." He shrugged.

Kairi looked down. Unconsciously, she picked at the hem of her right sleeve. Riku watched her fingers fidget with the edge of it.

"Why don't you two go rest until he comes back?" Ariel suggested gently, placing a comforting hand on Kairi's shoulder. The younger girl met her gaze with a reluctant smile.

"All right," she agreed. Riku's eyes narrowed. "We should wait in your room, Riku," Kairi continued. "He'll probably come back through there."

Wordlessly, he nodded, turning to head back that way. Kairi skittered to catch up, heels clicking on the marble floor. When she reached his side, he glanced at her out of the corners of his eyes.

"What happened?"

"It was just a stupid fight," she said, looking away.

Riku waited. Obviously it was more than that.

Kairi stayed quiet, heels click click clicking as she walked. The sound made him grit his teeth. Both of them were too patient — or stubborn — to break the silence before they reached his study. He opened the door, feeling her eyes on the back of his head. She sank into a chair in a pantomime of practiced grace, smoothing out her skirt behind her. The motion was so wrong, too practiced and perfect and feminine for the girl who'd grown up wrestling in the sand with them, digging for mushrooms and climbing palm trees, whose hands were calloused in all the right places and who pulled out thorns with her teeth.

He leaned against a wall and Kairi wondered if he'd practiced that in a mirror when they were younger. The motion was so routine, the final position exact. She'd seen it a thousand times but for some reason right now it made her want to hit him. I'm above you, and I'll always be above you, it seemed to say. Above us and beyond us, she thought. Neither she nor Sora would ever measure up to this near god across the room from her, all sleek and poised and infuriatingly sure all of the time. Not all of the time, her memory reminded her, softening her expression and the set of her shoulders. He hadn't been very certain last year, begging them both for forgiveness in the only way he knew how - by protecting them.

Riku saw it and decided to ask his question again. Neither of them had said anything for too long. "What happened, Kairi?" he repeated, voice almost soft against the faint sound of ocean waves blowing in from the bedroom.

"I was trying to explain, but he wouldn't listen. You know how Sora is -"

"Stubborn?" Riku supplied.

Kairi sighed, looking for words, "Defensive. Remember when we were nine? And he couldn't figure out fractions so he just kept insisting that they didn't really exist and the teacher was making them up?"

That made him chuckle, just once, under his breath. "You believed him until you talked to the Mayor."

"He was more convincing then," she said, unimpressed. He shifted his shoulders against the wall, so she asked, "What are you getting at?"

There wasn't any point beating around the bush. "He was scared," he explained, voice slow and quiet, "And you were scared. Something happened."

"I was scared because I couldn't find either of you and I thought you'd left me again!" Kairi barked before she could stop herself, hands curling into fists on her lap.

His eyes widened, remembering again the long span of weeks without the two of them and how often he'd wondered how Kairi had endured it. How many times had they abandoned her? Was it really unreasonable she'd be scared they would do it again?

"I'm right here, and Sora's just down on the beach. We would have heard the gummi ship take off."

She rolled her eyes, taking a deep breath to hold in her response to that as she crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair. She wouldn't look at him.

"What?" he snapped.

"You really do act like you think you're smarter than us."

Then it was Riku's turn to study the carpet and not say anything. Kairi sighed again.

"That wasn't fair; I'm sorry."

He glanced up at her, meeting her eyes. "It makes sense that you were frightened. I just don't understand why he was." Looking away again, he added, "We've abandoned you more than once."

"It wasn't your fault," she said right away.

"That's not true," he corrected, tone dull where it should have been sharp.

Another stalemate. She had no idea what to say to that or what he even meant. The silence stretched on.

Once she'd had a moment, Kairi asked, "How do you know he was scared?"

"Ansem left me with a very good sense of smell," he answered.

"I don't know why he felt that way," she replied, dodging his thorny statement.

Riku shook his head. "Something's wrong."

"I feel it too." She fiddled with her hands in her lap. "What do we do, Riku?"

He'd give about everything in any world to actually have an answer for her. Instead, he said, "We have to wait for him to come to us."

"Because that worked so well with you," Kairi pointed out dryly, one eyebrow raised.

"We're not the same person. Sora actually asks for help."

"Not anymore," she said. "He learned that from you."

Riku shook his head. "No," he stated, "he learned that on his own."

You don't even know what I can do because you haven't been there! I've been doing just fine by myself!

Kairi looked away again.

Riku watched her for a moment, weighing the way her hands were clenched in her skirt and the guilt in the corners of her eyes. "Kairi?"

She looked up at him, surprised. "Yes?"

"How did you do it? Forgive us," he clarified. Then, looking away, "Forgive me?"

Her hands stilled, tensely held in place. She studied the pattern of fibers in the carpet, gaze bouncing back and forth between every twisted strand. It took her a moment to find words, another two to say them. "You're my best friend. I was angry about what happened for awhile. Now I'm not."

"You have every right to be angry," Riku said mildly, though he felt anything but mild. He couldn't look at her.

Kairi shook her head. "Not about that. I wasn't angry at you for using the darkness, or whatever else you did." She clenched and unclenched her jaw, teeth gripped around words she didn't want to say. She didn't want to talk about this.

Infuriatingly, he waited, refusing to speak.

"You never told me what happened," she finally forced out. "You and that witch carried my body around for weeks? Months? Neither you or Sora ever told me how long it was. I don't even know what you did to forgive you for. You never told me." She swallowed, looking up at the intricate cornice work on the ceiling. "And then what? You went off and did… whatever while I stayed at home waiting for the both of you. For just you. You didn't even come get me when-" she shut her mouth hard, grinding her teeth. Her arms crossed over her chest, hands clinging to her shoulders to try to stop them from shaking. She swallowed down angry tears and shook her head. "No, sorry."

Riku shook his head mutely, the motion short and sharp. Carefully, he walked over to the chair beside her, slouched and hesitant like he'd been not so long ago, when his hair was long and there wasn't a title before his name. He sat down, one hand resting on the arm of Kairi's chair, as close to her as he dared.

"Three weeks," he said simply, voice low. Kairi looked at him, arms still wrapped around herself. "You were…" he hesitated, looking for a word, "…out for three weeks, maybe a little less."

"What happened?" she nearly whispered.

"Nothing happened," he insisted. She raised an eyebrow and he looked down. "Once I knew where you were I didn't let you out of my sight. You were safe."

"With Maleficent? Riku, I'm not stupid."

"Why do you think I was there?" he demanded, jaw set. They watched each other, eyes hard.

After a moment, she lifted her chin. "What did you do?"

"To find you?" he asked, not hesitating. "Anything."

She swallowed, unable to drop his gaze. His teal eyes were burning, and she knew he meant it now as much as he had then. Her hands drifted from her shoulders, going to rest on the arms of her chair. But his hand was there and she didn't dare set hers on top of it. Not when he was looking at her like that.

Riku couldn't handle the quiet, so he went on. "I kidnapped Jasmine, brought her back to Hollow Bastion. I guarded them, the princesses, when I wasn't Maleficent's errand boy. I tried to kidnap a kid, a puppet. I thought- I thought that he would help me find out how to get you your heart back." He paused, taking a steadying breath. "I fought Sora, over and over. I said things… things I never should have said."

"Riku…" Kairi murmured, and this time she did take his hand.

He shook his head. "I'm the reason the Islands were destroyed."

"What are you talking about?"

"I stayed behind that night, remember?" She nodded once, so he went on, "I opened the door. I was going to take the raft myself, alone. I just wanted… I don't even know what I wanted."

"I tried to get Sora to leave with me without you," Kairi said abruptly, causing Riku to jolt. She dropped his hand.

"He wouldn't do it," she added. They watched each other again, searching. "I was scared of you. My best friend. And I didn't even know why."

"You're a Princess of Heart," he spoke slowly, carefully, "your heart is pure light. And mine, back then? Pretty dark." He looked down. "Of course you were scared."

She shook her head. "That's not an excuse. You're my friend; I never should have been scared of you. I should have helped you."

Riku looked up at her with a small, sad smile. "I wouldn't have let you."

"I still should have tried!" she insisted, banging her fists against the chair.

"Hey, that's enough of that," he admonished gently, taking the hand closest to him and slowly uncurling her fingers so that her nails quit biting into her palm. Then he did her other hand, watching their fingers, expression soft through his eyelashes. She remembered him looking up at her through his hair the same way, before she'd cut it for him. He'd asked her to, the night before they were supposed to leave for their test.

"I need to be able to see clearly if I'm going to pass," was all he'd said. So she'd pulled out her scissors, and he didn't say anything when it became immediately obvious that they weren't sharp enough.

"What else did you want to know?" present Riku asked her.

"You'll really tell me?"

"Yes. Whatever you want to know."

She hesitated, mind suddenly blank even though she knew she had a hundred questions. She never got a chance to ask any of them. There was a knock on the door, and behind it Ariel ushering them to dinner.

"He's not back yet," she fretted, following Riku anyway.

"He'll be here soon," Ariel insisted, " and you know how upset Louis will get if the food comes back cold."

"Fair point," Kairi reluctantly agreed. It was best not to upset Chef Louis.

Thanking every god in Olympus for magic itself, Sora blew the last of the water from his hair with an Aero spell. See? I know how to do magic, a part of him groused, banishing the Kingdom Key. Shut up, his train of thought immediately added, irritated. There was no point in being petty. He just had to go in there and apologize.

Dinner had already started, though guessing by the soup bowls in front of his friends, it was only the second course. He hadn't missed much. There was a steaming serving waiting for him in between Riku and Kairi, but he didn't even get close before Kairi had marched up to him, eyes blazing.

"Where were you?" she demanded, fists clenched. "We looked everywhere and couldn't find you!"

Sora glanced away, rubbing the back of his neck and chuckling awkwardly. "I just went for a swi-" but before he could finish the sentence Kairi had thrown her arms around his neck. He froze, staring at the top of her head in shock. Wasn't she mad at him? She'd seemed pretty mad at him.

"I thought you were gone," she murmured, pulling back with a distinct sniff. She wouldn't look at him as she wiped at the corners of her eyes. Sora swallowed, unsure what to do or say. Suddenly, all her anger was back as she straightened her spine and stomped at him. "Don't do that again!"

"Okay, okay," he agreed, holding up his hands in defense. Her glare softened and she lowered herself back into a much less aggressive posture. "I'm sorry for scaring you," Sora added quietly.

"You should be!" Kairi snapped, a fraction of her irritation springing to her face. Just as quickly it was gone. She stared at the black and white marble beneath their feet. "I'm sorry too, for yelling at you. Earlier, I mean," she clarified, glancing up at him.

"I yelled too," he pointed out, shrugging and looking away.

Riku walked up behind them. "Come eat," he said, voice quiet. Sora dared a glance at him, but couldn't read his face.

"Sorry," he murmured, just in case. Riku just shook his head.

The trio returned to their seats, and Eric instantly changed the subject, drumming up awkward conversation. Slowly, with Ariel's helpful prodding, they began to relax and speak normally again. But something still hung in the air that no one was willing to address.

This sensation followed them into the ballroom for dance lessons. Initially, Eric had planned for this to be the session they would dance with each other for the first time. Seeing the three teenagers now, that seemed like a great way to make sure this lesson was as awkward and useless as possible. So he summoned Carlotta and Grimsby for Riku and Kairi and had Ariel stick with Sora. Maybe she could cheer the normally buoyant boy up.

Kairi hadn't been present for the first round of dancing, but she'd been filled in during lessons since then, and had caught on easily. Even Sora was more or less on the same playing field now, so Eric began with a quick warm-up waltz. Then, he introduced another popular style of dance, the third kind they'd learned so far. This one was faster, with creative footwork that both followers and leaders could improvise on.

Riku picked it up quickly and instead devoted most of his attention to watching Sora and Kairi out of the corners of his eyes. Ariel was already teasing Sora, getting him to laugh and loosen up without much effort. Kairi was all over the place, one minute confident and laughing, the next tripping on her own feet and apologizing. Grimsby took it all with his usual grace. His steady attitude helped the young woman settle into the routine, eventually. But she was still struggling with the faster improvisations by the end of the hour. For whatever reason, she had trouble coming up with anything interesting to do. So she mostly just kept time until her partner came back to closed position with her. By the time the lessons were over, her frustration was obvious to her friends.

Sora and Riku hung back as Eric, Ariel and their staff cleared the room.

"You guys go on ahead," Kairi offered, smile thin and unconvincing. "I'm going to practice a little more."

"Do you want help?" Sora offered, holding out a hand. His tone and movements were gentler than normal- still apologizing, Kairi guessed.

Her smile got a little warmer, "Okay," she said, taking his hand and sliding into the starting position. Glancing over Sora's shoulder, she saw Riku hovering by the door. "We could both use your help, Riku," she called. "You're as good at this as you are at everything else."

Sora turned to smirk at his best friend. "Yeah, show-off. Come teach us how it's done," he ribbed.

Riku rolled his eyes, but as he walked over he was smiling. "All right," he said, holding out a hand to Kairi, "you first."

She glanced at Sora, who shrugged and grinned and let her go. She moved into place by Riku, and Sora dashed off to start the gramophone up again. Almost instantly, Riku began leading her through the steps they'd practiced earlier, perfectly on beat. For the first few movements she was oddly nervous, but soon the routine of it took over. A grin split her face, and she saw the corners of Riku's eyes tip up with the slightest smile.

"Just follow my lead," he said as they neared the part she struggled with. Technically, they were supposed to separate, still holding hands but otherwise moving on their own. Instead, Riku nudged her shoulder, leading her around in a series of spins and flourishes that ended with her wrapped in her own arms, her back to his chest and both her hands in his. One twist and he'd led her through undoing it, pulling her gently back into the standard position just in time.

From the sidelines, Sora started clapping and she couldn't help but laugh. "That was amazing!"

"You did half of it," Riku retorted, but he was smiling just as much as she was.

"Show Sora how to do that," Kairi insisted. So Riku did, breaking it down step by step until both of them understood what was happening. Not only could they replicate it, they had some idea of how to improvise within it.

Or at least Sora did, dipping Kairi instead of one of the spins. As he brought her back up, he said, "Jump!" So she did, launching herself high enough to flip over once before landing next to him again.

"I was going to catch you!" he protested, pulling her back into the dance anyway.

"Next time!" she giggled.

"Slow your fall with an aero spell," Riku added, "You'll stay more in time that way."

"Okay!" she replied, liking that idea. When they reached that part again, Sora repeated what he'd done, dipping her gently. She leapt up at just the right time, flipping once and then gracefully floating down into his arms. They beamed at each other; faces warm. But the music didn't let them stay there long, and they kept moving to the beat in perfect time. They danced through the next few bars of the song, but Kairi's brain was chewing on an idea. She waited until the next space where they were supposed to separate. When Sora sent her for a spin, she cast streams of fire out from her free hand, trailing ribbons of flame around her as she twirled.

That definitely caught Sora's interest, and for the next few steps he found ways to accent them with flames too. Soon they were just playing, weaving fire and water and blizzard spells around themselves as they moved, laughing and complimenting each other's magic.

Wanting in on the fun, Riku caught her on the end of a far-reaching spin, easily sweeping her into closed position. Kairi laughed, enjoying herself too much to bother protesting. Sora didn't complain either, caught in the mood and the music.

Riku led her around deftly, leaning into the more complicated steps Eric had shown them and making up a few things of his own. He also played with magic, accenting Kairi's flames with contrasting purple dark fire. Every new thing made her giggle, delighted. The three of them danced around for what felt like ages, spells getting more and more elaborate. Towards the end, Sora turned half the room into an ice rink, sending Kairi skating on blades she made with her own blizzard spell. She melted all of it with a burst of flame as she slid back into his arms, sweeping the remaining water around them into the air. It danced about in swooping, splashing ribbons until she evaporated it with another fire spell.

Over an hour later, they flopped on their backs in the center of the room, happily exhausted and still laughing. Kairi closed her eyes, reaching out and catching Riku's hand. Her right hand still held Sora's and she squeezed them both tight. "I wish it was always like this," she murmured.

"Me too," Sora said right away.

"It will be," Riku added, even if a second after the words left his mouth he knew that wasn't actually possible.

"Yeah!" Sora agreed, and Kairi hummed in the back of her throat, eyes still closed. Contented silence settled over the trio as they caught their breath. They laid still, eyes closed, long after their breathing had settled into a normal rhythm.

"We should go to bed," Riku finally said, resigning himself to moving, to being alone soon.

"Yeah…" Kairi sighed. "It's getting late." Slowly, she sat up, letting go of Sora and Riku's hands. Riku followed suit, and then they noticed that Sora had fallen asleep.

"Lazy bum," Kairi murmured affectionately, kneeling back down beside him and shaking his shoulders. "Wake up, Sora!" He jumped, jolting awake as he often did.

"Sorry," he chuckled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

"It's all right," Kairi said soothingly. "It's been a long day."

The brown haired boy hung his head, looking away from them both. "Kairi, I'm really sorry… about earlier and for scaring you like that."

She stood up, then bent down and took his hand again, pulling him to his feet. "I forgive you, and I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have stormed out like I did."

Riku put a hand on both of their shoulders. "We can all do better tomorrow."

Sora nodded, grinning. "Right!"

"We should get some sleep," Kairi said, voice reluctant.

"Oh," Sora replied, deflating a little as he remembered that from tonight onward they were going to have to sleep in their own rooms.

Riku started heading for the ballroom's double doors. "C'mon then. It's late."

Slowly, they meandered back to their rooms one at a time. Sora's was closest, and after saying good night to his friends he slipped into the room, shutting the door behind him. Immediately, his gaze wandered to the large blue glow visible on the horizon. It had gotten much bigger over the course of their stay, which Sora took to mean it was gradually coming closer. He scratched his shoulder, then tugged his shirt over his head. Looking at it made him anxious, so he did his best to stuff the feeling down and get ready for sleep. Fortunately, all his magic use and training that day made him plenty tired, and he swiftly settled into slumber's arms.

Notes:

Wow, uh, it's been awhile. I've been a little distracted with a recent promotion at my job, which is very exciting but means I have even less time and energy to focus on this. Got a bit of writer's block too. But, in good news, I've recently had another burst of creativity, so there will be another update next week and hopefully the week after as well! So be on the lookout for that.

Chapter title this week comes from The World Ends With You OST. Just seemed appropriate for a chapter with this much physical and verbal sparring. Sorry if it had you expecting something else though. ;)

I hope you all are staying safe during all of the craziness going on right now. Stay inside as much as you can and practice good self-care. Wishing you all the best!