"Where is he?"
"Where's who, honey?"
Nadia looked up at her mother with suspicion written all over her childish features. Her big eyes were narrowed, her mouth zipped shut, her forehead crinkled. "Him."
"Sora? He went to go visit his parents, honey."
"Oh, really?" Riku asked, entering the kitchen. He had donned only a bathrobe, but that was secured tightly around his middle. His silver hair went uncombed and his blistered feet went bare. Water ran between the hairs of his legs in little rivulets to the wooden floor.
Kairi ignored his disheveled appearance for the time being. "Yes. I told him they'd moved to the main island and he wanted to go see them. He'll be gone a week or two. Tidus took him."
She might have been mistaken, but Kairi thought she saw a momentary wave of relief wash over Riku's face. She shrugged it off. She had her own feelings to worry about.
Sora had left barely an hour ago and already she was missing him. Still, maybe they needed a little time apart after that argument two days ago. She hadn't begun to process all that was said, had tried to ignore the matter as completely as possible.
If he can't believe that I love him… Oh, God, I'll just die!
Nadia was smiling now and skipping around the kitchen. Riku was slumped at the table.
The clock in the study struck eight.
Kairi sighed and held her forehead with one palm. Her first day without Sora had begun.
~*~
The clear blue water of the open sea ran over his wrist. His arm cut through the water, hanging over the side of a sleek rowboat.
"So, how've you been?" Tidus asked from the middle of the boat, where he gripped the twin oars with trained hands.
Sora lifted his gaze from the crystal surface. The sun was rising in the sky and the higher it got the more it beat down on him. He was getting impatient to tan after the sunburns he had suffered through. Yuck. The skin on his arm was peeling.
"Hello?"
"Oh, yeah, sorry. I… I'm just glad to be home," Sora said, avoiding the question as best he could. He didn't want to think about the past ten years ever again.
"We're all really glad," Tidus said. He pushed forward and the oars dipped into the water before jabbing through it. The boat moved steadily forward, slipping across the quiet morning sea.
Sora adjusted his position, sitting in the front of the boat with his back nestled in the bow. He stretched his legs along the sides and let his arms scrape the water.
"Comfy?"
"Yeah…"
The man felt a little awkward. He hadn't seen Tidus for ten years, and back then they hadn't been that close of friends. Sure, they'd sparred plenty, but that was more or less it. Now Tidus had a job; he took goods back and forth between the islands every week. A salesman…
Everyone has changed so much…
"With your hair like that, you really don't look like Sora," Tidus was saying as he threw himself into another turn of the oars.
"It's just hair," Sora replied, a little defensive. "I'm still me."
"Of course you are," the other man assured him, nodding. His blond hair had been bleached white-yellow by the sun, and it shone fiercely in the early morning light. His skin was very dark, a contrasting the brightness of his eyes and hair.
"We were…together for a year and half, maybe…"Sora slid his tongue over dried lips. He had been reliving that morning since it happened. Over and over, the images of her desperate face flashed through. Thinking about Kairi in another man's arms… Thinking about Kairi in Riku's arms…
"I was lonely…"
"Something on your mind?" Tidus asked.
"Yeah." Too much, Sora added to himself. I either think about Kairi and Riku, or about… About everything else. God! Dear God, why the hell did I have to go through this? Why the hell did destiny choose me? That damned King… That damned Ansem… Damn the Heartless and Maleficent and all the enemies that came after!
Sora didn't want to, but he closed his eyes and began to remember.
"We have to go on."
Donald looked up at Sora's face in disbelief, sputtering something incomprehensible. He gestured at the body that lay behind them, the body draped in shadows.
"I know, I know," Sora tried to say, looking down at his remaining partner. Sometimes Sora couldn't believe the words coming out of his own mouth. But three years of battling evil was more than enough to change any naïve island boy, wasn't it?
He had a right to be so tough—didn't he?
Damn it all! Donald wasn't moving. Sora screamed at him. "We have to go now—or his sacrifice will be for nothing!"
Donald yelped as the ground behind began to dissolve. The Darkness was coming.
Coming fast.
"Either we run or we die. Get going or we'll never finish this!"
The duck's webbed foot pounded the ground and he crossed his arms. "We can't leave Goofy!"
Didn't Donald understand? Goofy was gone. He'd already played his part in this twisted game.
Sora erupted. His face grew hot as blood soared through is veins. "You idiot," he growled. "You'd better run with me or you'll die. You'll die here like he did—but at least his death had a purpose!"
There was a pause as eternal as death and as short as life. The two looked at each other. Then the shorter one took a deep breath.
"Run ahead, Sora," Donald said very gently. "It's all lost now. I'd only slow you down." He turned and began to walk.
"No, hey, that's not what I meant!" Sora exclaimed, reaching out his hand. Donald was going toward the Darkness. "Donald! Donald!"
Sora gasped as sunlight filled his eyes.
"Hey, you okay?" Tidus was saying. "You looked like you were in a trance or something."
The brunette rubbed at his eyes, trying to get the stinging sensation to go away. He realized he was sweating and could hear rapid thump thumps beating in his chest. Please, not that day. Not that day.
Oh, God, not that day when my Hell started. When my seven years of fighting alone began. Please, please. Not that day, not that day, not that day, not that day…
"I guess I was just tired," Sora lied. He could hear seagulls. "Are we almost there?"
"Yeah. Just five more minutes. The tide is kind right now…" Tidus sounded a little distracted as he concentrated on beaching the boat, steering with and against the lapping waters.
Sora took his hands from the water and shook them off. He didn't feel nervous about seeing his parents. Talking to them might be a distraction. His past he wanted to forget. Part of his present he wanted to forget. Hopefully, this was the right place for him to run.
~*~
Riku sat on the dock alone, the fishing pole resting in his loosely cupped hands. The sun was going to bed, but the man wasn't ready to follow suit. He sat alone and tried. Tried not to think.
"Riku means nothing to me!"
The fishing line made small slices in the water, pulling right and left. It looked like it was playing.
"I thought I loved him but I guess I was wrong…"
He shrugged the pole a little, making the bait dance beneath the surface.
"I was just lonely!"The fish weren't biting tonight.
"Riku…
He yanked the line from the sea, throwing the entire fishing pole back to the beach.
…means…
It bounced, clattering as its parts hit one another.
…nothing…
The side of the man's head began to pulse slightly and then steadily worsened.
…to me…"
His stomach rose in his throat and he vomited into the sea.
"I thought I loved him…"
Riku leaned back and let the sheer pain drag him into unconsciousness.
"…but I guess I was wrong…"
At last, a moment of rest.
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I apologize. This chapter was horribly short. I'm a little ashamed to put it up, but I thought I'd throw something out there after being away.
Hmm…you know what? The more I write, the more I start to conclude that I'm really a messed up person on the inside. I mean…I just do horrible things to characters I love half to death… And no one is ever allowed to be happy! Ah… Poor me, being so crazy. X_X Oh well, you all had a warning. The category for this one is angst. I'm gonna have to up the rating since I have some minor swearing. I've never been really comfortable with swearing…but I figure I must put it in if it's appropriate. My friend Sam just read fatalis—although he honest-to-goodness SHOULDN'T have since he hasn't played KH yet! I just lent it to him today!—and commented about my avoidance of "certain words" when they should have been there. Boo. Leave it to a guy, I tell you. Not my fault I'm a proper young lad-ay. Yeah, I know this is really unimportant, my grumbling and all. But, while I'm at it, I'll inform everyone I'm going to fail my Advanced Algebra test on probabilities tomorrow because I just can't tell when to multiply and when to add and when to use combinations and when not and AHHH! *yanks half her hair out*
*ahem* One more note: you can all thank Koorino Megumi for suggesting more on Sora's ugly past get put in there. Oh, and it will. Gonna fatten this baby out too. Sora, join the club of sufferees.
¡Hasta luego!
