Crowned Hearts Chapter Six

By Blue Dragon

Sora and Tidus slowly pulled their heads out of the dune and shook the sand out of their hair.

"Gee, we really did go high. Riku was right!" Sora said, looking around him and noticing that the sun was setting.

"What happened? We must have fallen asleep or something"

"Who cares? We're awake, so now we can go to that party out on the beach right? Doesn't it start now?"

"Sora, don't you think it's strange that we're having parties and stuff right before Crowned Hearts?"

"Yeah. It's definitely to spark the mood up. That way people will be really ready to party"

Sora and Tidus both stood and brushed off their clothes, deciding that Riku had long since left them to "sleep".

Riku had one more stop before he would go to the blowout on the beach. It was a nice time to spark up the party mood because it was the only the day after tomorrow. Things seemed to be happening so.slowly. Riku remembered he had just met this girl that day, but it seemed like six hours had stretched out into three days because of all the experiences he had gone through because of it so far.

Riku was going to talk to his dad, a man-to-man conversation.

He found it interesting that the Sephiroth in the coliseum had been similar to his father, in name and appearance. His father, Sephiroth Osterot, was from and island called Cetra in the destiny islands, and his mother was from the island called Home. People that called themselves the Al Bhed mostly inhabited home. His mother was Rikku Osterot.

As it got a little darker outside and Riku approached his home down the street, he spotted Chuckis walking towards him from the opposite side of the road, and he began walking alongside him.

"Hey, Chuckis"

"S'up Riku?"

Riku explained his predicament that he had been caught in to Chuckis.

"Jerris told me all about that. You're going to ask her, right?"

"Of course. Later I'll be going to that beach party, but after a quick talk with my parents."

"Mind if I join you?"

"If you want"

Chuckis and Riku made their way into the house that was Riku's through the big mahogany door and into the kitchen, which was the first stop.

"Hello, Riku, Chuckis" Mrs. Osterot greeted the two boys.

"Hi, Mrs. Osterot" Chuckis responded. Riku's mother was preparing dinner over the hot stove.

"Hi mom. Where's dad?"

"Your father is in the living room, polishing his sword"

The boys walked through the open doorway to the living room to find Sephiroth Osterot in his black suit from his accounting job wiping polish over his treasured sword "My Baby" a. k.a. the Masamune.

"Hello boys. I see you got home a little late today"

"Chuckis, would you mind helping me set the table?" Mrs. Osterot called from the kitchen.

"Not at all, Mrs. Osterot!"

Chuckis ran a hand through his messy brown hair and ran over to the kitchen.

Riku sat down on the couch next to his father who seemed very transfixed with polishing his sword.

"Dad?" Riku asked his father. Sephiroth answered without looking up from his work.

"Yes, son?"

"Did you know that there was a guy in Olympus Coliseum that looked just like you? He had the same name, too. Everything was right except for his voice. He sounded like a guy straight from NSync"

"That doesn't sound like a pleasant thought" he responded still polishing.

"He even had a sword and a black cloak that looked straight from a video game!"

"That, I wouldn't mind"

Father and son got a good laugh from the statement.

After a while, Riku go enough courage to ask his question.

"Dad, how did you meet mom?"

Sephiroth finally put his sword down and started staring into space as if in deep thought.

"I was about fifteen years old, and my class was taking a field trip to Home. I saw you're mother there on the beach, as beautiful as ever guiding our tour group. She was a little older than me, but I was still desperate for attention. No one else seemed interested in her, oddly enough, so I didn't have competition. Near the end of the tour I slipped down a sand bar and hit my head on a rock. She carried me all the way back and tended to my wounds. We talked all night and shared out first kiss. A magical time."

Sephiroth's eyes seemed to well up as he remembered and forgot all about Riku.

I bet someone that you don't love may look normal to other people sometimes, but if you can love someone they could be as pretty as anyone.

Riku went to the kitchen to find Chuckis finishing his work.

"Hey mom, Chuckis and I are going to go to that party now"

"Alright then. Stay out as long as you want, have fun!"

"Thanks mom, bye"

"Bye Mrs. Osterot!"

The two boys ran down the street back towards the beach.

"Chuckis, are you going with Jennifer to Crowned Hearts?"

"Yep. But I haven't asked her yet."

"Is Jerris going with Morgan?"

"Definitely! I'm kind of jealous, but oh well."

Riku ran faster and Chuckis ran to meet his pace. It was now dark outside, about 9:31 Destiny Islands Pacific time, and the party would start in about fifteen minutes.

"Do you think that beauty is in the eye of the beholder?"

"I think all the girls on Destiny Islands are hot, but you tend to notice mostly the ones you love and care about"

"That makes sense," Riku said as they approached the beach.

When they arrived, Everyone from school was there dancing around the many flames lit, eating fried chocobo, chocobo pudding, stuffed chocobo, baked chocobo, chocobo liver, chocobo ice cream, chocobo sandwiches, chocobo soup, chocobo tail, chocobo feet, chocobo stomach, chocobo cocktail, chocobo 'n eggs, sirloin chocobo, raw chocobo, strained chocobo, cooked chocobo, chocobo cider, chocobo nutmeg, chocobo on a stick and chocobo turds.

Selphie was on her back in the sand next to Tidus, the two were holding hands.

"The sky is beautiful. The stars seem to divide it like a big puzzle"

In fact, Selphie was right as the stars gave the sky a cartoonish look.

"Almost as if they were shattered skies," she continued.

Tidus looked at Selphie.

"Did you get that from something?"

"No. I made it up, why do you ask?"

"It sounded like it was from some game."

A flock of birds flew overhead.

Riku was surprised he didn't see Lisa. As a matter of fact, none of his friends had really met her yet. He would have to introduce her to everyone the next day.

He left the party early, which was near midnight and went home. Of course his parents were already asleep. Riku simply crawled into bed and slept there, eager to meet Lisa again the next day.