The Gathering

Chapter One: A World Without You

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Interlude…

"I close my eyes and I keep seeing things,

Rainbow waterfalls, sunny liquid dreams.

Confusion creeps inside me raining doubt.

Got to get to you, but I don't know how.

I had your number quite some time ago,

Back when we were young, but I had to grow.

Ten thousand years I've searched it seems and now,

Got to get to you, won't you tell me how?

Ease my mind.

Reasons for me to find you.

Peace of mind.

What can I do to get me to you?"

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"This should be enough for another night."

"Hope everything was to yer likings."

I nodded once, handing over the payment for the room. The inn keeper took the gil, inspecting me with curious eyes.

" 'Scuse me for mah rudeness," the man said in a rugged accent, "but are ya blind, son?"

My lip quirked slightly. Always with this…

" 'Cause if you are, I can get mah boy to guide you through-" Quickly I raised my hand, silencing the nosey inn keeper. He blinked guilelessly at my gloved palm.

"I assure you, I am not blind."

The old man's eyebrow rose in question. "Then what's with the blindfold, son?" He said scratching his head in confusion.

Someday, I swear that question will drive me to madness. Wait, been there, done that…

I turned away, leaving a bewildered old inn keeper in my wake. Stepping through the thresh hold, I inhaled a deep, cleansing breath as the cool rush of air caressed my face. The sun was shining brightly from the sky, dusting the small village with a healthy glow. Out of the corner of my eye I glanced at my traveling companion, his short frame leaning casually against the side of the building.

"Which do you think causes more suspicion," I began, looking up towards the rolling clouds. "A man who wears a blindfold but can see perfectly, or a man with glowing, golden eyes?"[1] The corner of my lip sneered upward in distaste.  But then, did I really believe that I was going to escape from that whole incident unscathed?

My friend laughed, zipping his cloak up to his chin.. "I choose a giant mouse with a funny weapon." He laughed dryly in his high pitched voice.

"I guess you're right," I agreed lightly. Though I couldn't help but somewhat disagree with that theory. Throughout all our travels, despite Mickey's small body, near ear-grating voice, and big goofy mouse ears, I had always been the one barraged with idiotic questions.

It just wasn't fair.

Sighing, I fingered the soft material covering my eyes. "The prices we pay," I mumbled guiltily, stepping out onto the cobblestone street with a click of my boots.

"Someday I'm going to get you a boat," Mickey replied lightly, pushing off from the building to follow my lead.

"Oh?" I glanced quickly over my shoulder. Mickey was smirking at my back.

"It must get pretty tiresome constantly swimming in all that self-pity."

Ouch.

I brought a hand up to my chest, feigning hurt. "You cut me to the quick, your Majesty."

"You cut yourself to the quick, my friend," Mickey said with a more solemn voice, his cheery demeanor replaced with something a little too serious for my liking. I opened my mouth to retort with something morbidly sarcastic, but was cut short as the King interjected.

"I think I would like to learn more about this world we stepped into. It seems strange that the last keyhole would have sent us to a place where there aren't any Heartless."[2]

"I suppose the town of Kalm[3] lives up to its name," I commented amusedly, watching a small boy chase excitedly after a puppy on the main street.

"Just because they're not here now, doesn't mean they won't be soon enough." Mickey stepped past me, making a bee-line towards the center of town.

"Maybe we were sent here for another rea-" My thoughts were cut short as something tugged on the ends of my cloak, effectively stopping me in my tracks. I looked down to see what manner of beast had snared me.

Large, blinking eyes stared up at me.

"Mister!" The little girl said probingly. Her tiny hands were wrapping securely around the tail of my coat, her bright amethyst eyes shining with a child's curiosity. The reddish-brown hair adorning her crown was cropped short, gleaming brightly with the early morning rays.

I looked over to my friend helplessly, asking without speaking for help. Mickey simply began to whistle, suddenly very interested in a loose stone in the cobble road.

Traitor. Feeding me to the wolves.

"Miiiister!" The girl repeatedly dejectedly, yanking roughly on the coat again. I sighed, defeated, squatting down to meet the child face to face.

"Yes?"

The little girl flinched with the irritation in my voice, instantly relinquishing her hold on the coat. She looked utterly crestfallen.

I cleared my throat, "What can I do for you?" I hoped I sounded a little less rough around the edges.

The girl's smile returned, her hands nervously fidgeting in front of her. She briefly looked over her shoulder to a group of children standing by a street corner. I followed her gaze, eyeing the onlookers as they giggled and pointed towards me and the child.

"Me and my friends," she said sweetly, wringing her hands, "we've never seen a blind man before." Her hands shot up to cover her mouth, as if in apology for sounding so direct towards the stranger. Innocence radiated from her simple gesture.

Inwardly, I groaned. I've been awake all of, what? Three hours? This must be a real record.

Nevertheless, I faintly smiled, feeling a little bit more at ease considering it was an innocent little girl asking, and not some old man that should know his manners by now.

"Sorry to disappoint you," I said, laying my gloved hand softly atop her head, "but I'm not blind."

"You're not?" She said, her bottom lip protruding in a pout. I wanted to tell the girl her effort was futile, that I had grown immune to the "pouty look" when I wasn't much olden than her. Sure, Sora had succeeded in using it against me a few times at first, but… I digress.

"No, I'm not," I retorted, withdrawing the hood from my head. The little girl's eyes went wide with surprise. The blindfold now forgotten, she instantly noticed something much more intriguing.

"Oh! You have silvery hair!" Without even thinking of the consequences, she reached up and tugged on a lock as if testing its authenticity. "My gran'ma has silver hair, too" she said, eyeing the shiny hairs between her fingers, "but she's old!"

I patted her fondly on the head, pulling the hood back around my face. No sense in tempting her to pull out anymore of my hair.

"I'm not old, either." I think my body objects, however.

She smiled, releasing the pale plate of hair. "I like you. You're diff'rent," she remarked as I stood upright again. "Mommy says I'm diff'rent, too. Mommy says that makes me special." She smiled openly up at me, stubbing the end of her shoe nervously against the ground.

"Well, special people deserve special things, don't you agree?" The girl nodded vigorously, though not really aware of what I meant. Digging deep into my pocket, I reached in and pulled out a shiny gil. Depositing it in the girl's tiny hand, I closed her fingers tightly about the piece.

"You use this to buy yourself something sweet, ok?" Her eyes crinkled with excitement, clasping the gil closely to her chest as if it was the most precious life elixir known to man. "Thank you, mister!"

I watched, briefly entertained, as the girl skipped joyously back to her friends, showing off her new present. A smile absently played across his face.

[Riku! Look at what my mom got me!]

I miss the simplicities of childhood.

"Ahem," Mickey coughed innocently. I glanced towards him, my smile instantly wiped clean.

"Well," the King said, starting back on the path towards the center of town, "There goes my theory about you being the most emotionless heart I've ever met."[4]

I frowned crossly, my coat fluttering in the breeze to slap at my companion's face as I quickly stalked past him. I guess my coat was on my side.

"She reminded me of someone, that's all."

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"Kairi?"

"Hmm?" She stopped in her tracks, recognizing the voice.

"Where are you going with that… stuff?"

Kairi, shifted her weight, delicately balancing the wooden planks across her shoulder.

"I'm going to find some way to board it up."

"It…" Selphie frowned in contemplation, and then her eyes went wide with understanding. She grabbed hold of friend's arm, tugging gently. "Oh Kairi… you can't. You just can't!" She said with pleading, sympathetic eyes.

"I think…" she paused, her eyes suddenly becoming blurry. "I think it's about time."

Selphie sighed, realizing her words would fall on deaf ears.

"Then would you like me to help you?"

Kairi smiled, a single teardrop rolling across her sculpted cheek.

"I'd like that."

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"Midgar?" Mickey squeaked out in his hiccup-like voice.

The man behind the counter nodded, continuing to tinker with the mechanics on a strange looking gun. I noticed how out of place the tiny tweezers seemed within the thick, stumpy fingers of the Weapon Shop owner's hand.

"Never been there myself," he said, slowly readjusting a tiny gear. "But the wife was born an' raised in that God-forsaken city."

"God-forsaken?" I repeated in a slightly bemused voice.

The shopkeeper finally looked up, setting down his tools and smudging his greasy fingers across the front of his apron. I honestly tried not to snicker while looking the man face to face, the rounded magnification goggles he was wearing causing his eyes to look entirely too large, bulgy, and bug-eyed.

I blinked as Mickey elbowed my thigh. Sometimes I wonder if that mouse can read my mind. Maybe we've just been together too long

"Yea, God-forsaken. That place is an utter hell hole. 'Less o'course you live on the upper plate." The man pointed upward to illustrate his point. "I hear it's not too bad up there, but not many people have the kinda money it takes to move onto the plate"

"I see," Mickey said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

The man pushed back the goggles, resting them atop his balding head. He tangled his hands in the cloth of his apron, bringing it up to haphazardly wipe the sweat dripping across his face. When he pulled it back down, this time I utterly couldn't resist the tiny snort that escaped from my mouth.

The shopkeeper had transferred the grease he had previously wiped on his apron all over his face. It seemed this man was unconsciously trying his best to get a rise out of me. I looked away from the blackly smeared face, intent on remaining collected.

"Shinra don't make it easy for simple folk like us to get ahead."

"Shinra?"

The man's eyebrows raised a considerable notch. "You don't know 'bout Shinra either? I didn't think there was a single place standing that hasn't been touched by Shinra's greedy hands. Where did you say you were from again?" He asked with a hint of accusation in his tone.

"Locked away from civilization," I added quickly, smirking at the dirty faced man.

Mickey frowned. "What he means," he said glaring up at me from beneath his hood "is that we don't get out much. We're from a very isolated village."

The man nodded in acquiescence, as if the explanation was nothing new to him.

"Shinra runs just 'bout everything on this planet. Hell, you might as well say they own the damn planet itself."

My eyes squinted at that. "No one should have that kind of power."

The man bent beneath the counter, searching in a cupboard for something. "Yea, well no one should own the planet either, but good luck findin' someone brave enough to tell Shinra that." His voice was muffled as he shoved his head deep within the hollowing.

"Evil buncha sorts," he commented absently between scraping and moving objects around. "Damned near heartless."

Mickey and I briefly locked eyes.

"A-ha!" I jumped slightly as the man rose in triumph, holding some sort of cork tube above his head. "Here it is!" He twisted off the plastic top from the tube, tilting it upside as some sort of rolled up scroll toppled out.

"This is exactly what you boys need," he said, unrolling and smoothing it out along the counter. We both approached the parchment, eyeing it with curiosity.

"What is it?" I inquired while trying to decipher the funny symbols.

"It's a map, boy!" He pointed to a marking on the edge of one continent. "That's us, Kalm," he slid his pudgy finger over a notch. "And this here is Midgar."

"What are…" I traced the outline of a strange shaped symbol, "all these funny pictures?"

The shopkeeper eyed me warily, taken aback that I could see the symbols despite the blindfold. "Aa those. Those are areas you'll steer clear of if you value yer head."

"What do you mean?" Mickey inquired, balancing on his tip-toes so that he could see the map on the counter.

Hmm, maybe I should suggest carrying a stool. That might cut his teasing out for a while.

"Well, we get a lot of travelers through here on account of we're the closest town to Midgar. People these days be migratin' in herds towards the city 'cause they hear of how great and wealthy it is. They think it's a chance to start over. Poor fools."

Mickey nodded.

"But we hear all kinda stories as they come through here, stories about monsters and demons and such."

Mickey and I exchanged meaningful glances.

"And every time someone would come through here and tell their story, I would make a mark on the map of the area where they claimed to have encountered these creatures." The man sighed dramatically, "Unfortunately, I hear that most of the time travelers don't come out of those areas alive… or at least badly injured."

The portly man jerked up the map, rolling it back into the cork tube. "Here ya are!"

Mickey took the map, his other hand reaching into his pocket, "How much do we owe you?"

The Weapon Shop owner laughed heartily, his face wrinkling in his old age. "Think nothing of it, boys! I've got a few other copies somewhere around the shop. No sweat off my back."

Mickey smiled at the man's generosity. "Thank you. You've been really helpful."

"Ah, just promise me if'n you get hungry, you'll visit the pub below Main Street bridge. My wife cooks there, and I know she wouldn't mind some new customers. The Weapon Shop's business has been slow lately."

Then you should have taken the money, I remarked dryly in my head.

"It's a deal," Mickey said reaching up to shake the man's hand. We walked towards the exit. I nodded my head in thanks when passing the owner, noting the still curious look he had about my blindfold. At least this guy had the decency to mind his own business.

"Well, what do you think?" I shut the shop door behind us.

Mickey stuffed the tube into his pocket. "If it were them, they would have been drawn to me by now." I nodded. "I don't think the boundaries of this world have broken down yet. However," he added, looking up at me, "when they do break, I imagine it will be somewhere in Midgar. If that place is really as evil as the shopkeeper said, someone there in Shinra might get a hand in it- might be recruited."

"Like I was," I added grimly.

"Possibly," Mickey agreed.

"Then what about these 'monsters' he was talking about?"

"Well, maybe we'll find out for ourselves. Come on," Mickey waved me to follow, "There's still many more people we can talk with."

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"Selphie…"

"Yea?" Selphie paused with her hammer over a nail.

"Did you ever wonder… wonder why when the worlds came back together, we were all drawn back to Destiny Island?"

Selphie scratched at her head with the handle of the hammer. "I suppose it's because we all came from here in the first place."

"Then," Kairi stared blankly at the plank they'd already placed over the entrance, "Then why wasn't he brought back here?"

Selphie let out a long breath, chewing on her bottom lip. "I suppose his work wasn't done. Something like that, you know?"

Kairi nodded, bending down to retrieve a nail. She placed it against the board, preparing to take a strike and then… it hit her…

"But I wasn't from the Destiny Islands."

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"Where are you from, stranger?"

No where. Every where. "Very far away," he replied quietly.

"Why don't you have a seat?"

He nodded, moving to rest on a bar stool.

"Are you thirsty? Can I get you anything to eat?" The bartender smiled sweetly at him, flipping her long hair over her shoulder.

"Water."

"Are you sure? I mean we have other-"

"Water is fine, thanks."

She nodded, walking over to the sink with a natural grace. Pulling down a cup from the rack, she glanced over her shoulder, watching the strange man as he sat motionless, his elbows resting comfortably against the bar.

"What brings you to Midgar?"

"I have business here," he said, nodding in thanks as he took the glass from her hands.

"Not a very talkative one, are you?" She grinned.

He smiled, tugging at a strand of pale hair falling from underneath his hood. "I keep to myself mostly," he said taking a long swallow of water.

"It's ok, I'm used to your type." She reached for a towel to wipe the counters.

The bar doors creaked loudly, swinging against the wall to signal someone's arrival. The hooded man watched intently as the face of the girl behind the counter instantly lit up, her eyes crinkling with a smile.

"You're back…" she said quietly, pausing in her dishrag duties.

"Where's Aeris," the newcomer questioned, his voice cool and smooth.

At the sound of the voice the hooded man swung around, slipping away from the barstool. His mouth slightly opened as a gust of surprise passed over his lips. With a creaking of worn leather, his arm hesitantly rose, as if making to reach out for the man standing tall and proud in the entrance way.

"You…" the hooded stranger voiced barely above a whisper.

Cloud's eyes narrowed dangerously.[5]

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It had been a long, tiresome day. Mickey hadn't been kidding about many more people to talk to. We had practically talked to every single person in Kalm.

My joints were aching and my head was heavy with sleep.

Sleep.

It's a useless endeavor, I admit. Sleep escaped me long since past, and I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to rest normally again.

I find it a little confusing that a heart, that I, still need sleep and sustenance to operate. There is still so much about all of this that confuses me.

I opened the shutters to the night sky, rocking into the breeze as it ran across my face. Sighing, I reached up to untie my blindfold, my darkly lit corner of the room becoming introduced to an eerie glow.

"Sora…" I mumbled wistfully to the night air. I wonder when it got to the point that I missed him this much. How long was it after the doors were sealed that I longed for his laugh, yearned to see his smile?

"Before everything began, I would have never guessed it would feel like this." I remarked casually to an empty room, beginning to unzip my leather cloak. I slipped it off my shoulders, the leather gliding like fingertips against my skin. It pooled on the floor around my ankles.

I laughed bitterly, resting my palms against the windowsill and leaning out into the open air. "A world without you[6]… how was I supposed to know it would be this painful?"  My smile crumbled around the edges.

You're so dramatic, Riku. Hell, I act like this whole thing wasn't all my fault to begin with. Well, maybe not all but most of it. A sizeable chunk of it. Nearly all of it.

Ok, so Mickey was right, I do soak in self-pity all day. I looked up into the night sky.

It's just that… things are so different now. Everything's changed. I've changed… haven't I? A star winked at me in answer.  

I wonder how much you've changed, Sora. What you look like, what you sound like. Are you with Kairi? Is she safe?

I slammed my fist down onto the wooden sill, splintering it in my frustration.

Why are there so many unanswered questions?! 

"Riku."

I donn't even have to look behind me. He's got "that look." I just know it. I guess we really have been around each other too long.

"Get some sleep."

"Aye, aye, captain." My voice dripped at him with sarcasm.

I turned away from the window, taking one last glance at the stars. I wonder, no matter where you are, can you see the same stars I do?

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Breathing…

Breathing was hard. It hurt.

Some kind of dulling ache was throbbing throughout my body, pounding relentlessly against my temples. A rushing sound was flowing all around, filling my ears with a familiar, steady thrum. I felt… heavy, anchored. Like somebody was sitting on my chest.

I opened my eyes to meet with a clear blue sky, feathery wisps of clouds moving gently with the wind. The ache began to subside, and my skin felt warm with rays from the sun.

A smell lingered through the air, something fresh and salty- the smell of the ocean.

Home. I'm home.

"Riku…!" A familiar voice called out to me in the distance. I attempted to sit up, but my body still felt anchored and bolted to the ground.

A steady thump was growing closer and closer, moving towards my direction. "Riku!" the voice called out again, closer this time.

The thump continued, until right up on me, stopping abruptly and kicking up sand onto my body.

"Riku…" A face leaned over my line of vision, blocking the pale blue sky. I blinked, waiting for the person to come into focus.

"It's beginning, Riku." Slowly, the face became clear, bright blue orbs smiling down on me.

"Sora…" I whispered brokenly. A burning sensation began to creep into my eyes.

Sora smiled, bringing his hand up gently to cup the side of my face. The place on contact zinged with energy, my skin feeling alight.

"It's beginning. Can you hear the call?"

I was still heavy, much too heavy to raise my arms. I needed to touch, to feel… to confirm that it really was Sora and not some cruel trick of the mind. Another apparition.

"Sora… what call?"

Sora laughed, his eyes crinkling in happiness.

"It's ok Riku. We'll go together."

He rose, moving back away from me.

"No wait! Don't leave me!" I was still frozen in place, immovable.

Sora paused, just barely within sight.

"We'll go together,[7]" he repeated, nodding to me as if I should understand, and then disappeared into the background noise with heavy thumps of running.

"Sora! SORA!"

"Riku! Wake up!"

I bolted upwards, thrashing wildly at the force that had pinned me down.

"Let me go! Let me go!"

"Riku, it's me! Wake up!" Arms were wrapped tightly about my form, dragging me downward. "Riku! You must dispel it! Wake up!" 

I slowly calmed, the familiar voice bringing me back to reality. "Mickey?" I whispered above a breath. I opened my eyes to look into the worried face of my companion. Mickey's face was splashed with a pinkish glow. He shook my shoulders with one good jerk.

"Dispel it, Riku!"

It was then that I noticed that the pinkish glow was emitting from all around me. I looked to the floor to see the glowing outline of the Heartless symbol.[8]

My fault. Always my fault.

I took a calming breath, my body shuddering involuntarily, and moved my palm in a slow circle through the air. My mouth moved with foreign words, a language incomprehension able to mortal ears.

Slowly, the sign of the Heartless began to fade, the glow diminishing into nothingness. The only light left was the golden smolder of my eyes.

Mickey let out a pained breath, releasing hold of my arms. He slumped wearily against the mattress.

"If the world border had already been broken, you would have just alerted every Heartless within a one hundred mile spread of our whereabouts." Mickey scrubbed agitatedly at his eyes in frustration.

"I'm… sorry." I looked mournfully down to my lap, the bed sheets wrapped in a maze about his waist. My fault. Always my fault.

"It's… not your fault. I know you didn't mean to." Mickey said, smiling sadly at me.

That's it. I swear he can read my mind.

"You've just never done that before… unconsciously I mean."

"I was having a dream." I added half-heartedly.

"Which one was it this time," Mickey remarked, climbing down from the bed to give me some breathing room.

"No… no, it wasn't like the others. It wasn't a memory. It was… different." I pulled the covers up around my bare chest.

"Oh?" Mickey said, reaching up to draw in the shudders.

"I was back on Destiny Island. Sora was there… and he mentioned something about a call."

"A call?"

I nodded. "He said that something was beginning. That he could hear the call. But…" I paused, contemplating the next part of the dream. "He said that we would go together. Do you think…" my head snapped over to meet Mickey's concerned face, "Do you think it's a sign?"

Before Mickey could open his mouth, a loud buzzing resounded through the air. Both our heads snapped around to look at the Kingdom Key resting on a nearby chair.

It began to pulse with a life beat, throbbing like a pumping heart. A glow radiated with each beat, the buzzing becoming almost melodic through the emptiness of the room. It hovered slightly into the air, spinning slowly in a circle. Around. Around. Around and around until…

It stopped. Everything just… stopped. The key fell lifelessly to the floor with a loud clang that echoed against the walls.

Mickey walked cautiously over to the key, bending to pick it up. It let out one last faint beat inside his hands.

"Tomorrow morning," he said, laying the key back down on the chair, "we leave for Midgar."

-----------------------------------TBC-----------------------------------

[1] Ok, so we've established that without the blindfold, Riku's eyes appear yellow and glowing like the Heartless. And we've also now established that even with the blindfold, he can still see perfectly. Am I going to explain this? Yes. Eventually. It's just pretty evident that Riku grows tiresome of always getting questioned about his sight.

[2] It would be obvious that Riku and Mickey don't have any transportation, like the Gummi Ship in KH1, so how would they get transported from world to world? Mickey mentions that the last keyhole sent them here, so you can infer that they've been world jumping through keyholes. But how? Of course, I will explain this in due time.

[3] Kalm is a city in Final Fantasy 7 that's a little outside of Midgar, past the chocobo farm. Um, but if you don't know what Kalm is, why would I expect you to know what the chocobo farm is? Uh… nevermind.

[4] Why did Mickey call him an "emotionless heart"? Well, we established from the prologue that when Riku broke free from the darkness, he couldn't recover his body from Ansem's wrong doing. So Riku's form is simply a heart in its purest form. He has no body, or shell, even though he's solid. So Mickey chose to call him a heart.

[5] The plot thickens! Err, something like that. You may be asking why Cloud is asking for Aeris when it's supposedly been five years since the worlds were put back together. Well, Sora already defeated Sephiroth, so he doesn't exist in that world any longer. Therefore, Aeris is still alive and kicking. Why did I do it like that? Because I've always loved Aeris and wanted Tifa to die instead, lol.

[6] A quote from Deep Dive. Most likely said by Kairi, but like I said in my introduction, I have to twist some things around to make this eventual yaoi.

[7] A quote from both Deep Dive and Another Side Another Story. This quote could very well refer to Riku and Sora, though it is unknown who said it. All we know is that it's said in reference to The Gathering mentioned in Deep Dive.

[8] In Deep Dive, the blindfolded unknown on the roof (who I've already identified in my story as Riku) seems to cast some sort of spell around the Dual Keyblade Wielder. It creates a glowing, pinkish, fiery Heartless symbol around the Dual, and at the same time seems to make all the Neo-heartless take a step back in fear. I've made this a power of Riku's, a little something left over from his time with Ansem. But that will be explained with the glowing eye thing, lol.