Title: Reflections: Riku ( Epilogue )
Author name: Ari Powwel
Author email: eight_muses@hotmail.com
Spoilers: none, but Riku's final fate
Summary: Riku encounters another, trapped inside Kingdom Hearts.
(Warning: backstory messed up beyond belief and OOC.)
DISCLAIMER:
This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by various
publishers including but not limited to Disney Interactive and Square Co., Ltd.
No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
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'Enough of those memories,' Riku told himself firmly. 'It's all in the past, it doesn't matter here.' He stood and walked around a bit, still thinking to himself. What would he do when (or if) they all got out of Kingdom Hearts? There was no way things would go back to how they used to be . . . not with Sora, not with Kairi . . . he'd tried to kill Sora, for Light's sake! Admittedly, he hadn't really had a sense of right and wrong, then, but he doubted he would ever forgive himself for that, and if he couldn't, how could he expect them to?
It didn't occur to him that they wouldn't see it in black and white, as he did.
'Why am I even getting my hopes up?' Riku asked himself quietly. 'I mean, it's not as if Sora's just going to come back straight away. He'll want to stay with Kairi, and she won't want him to leave . . . he won't want to, either, and the days will become weeks, weeks will become months, months will become years, and eventually it'll become 'Riku who?'' he sighed.
'Do you really believe this?' a voice jumped at him from the darkness, making him jump.
'Who's there?'
The man chuckled, rather coldly. 'No-one that you'd know. But, you weren't talking about me. You –'
'You heard all of that?' Riku was a bit embarrassed. He hadn't meant for anyone to hear it; hell, it had been hard for him to admit it to himself!
Riku could almost hear the man nod. 'And much more.'
' . . . Oh.'
'I believe you were talking about this girl? Kie-rie?'
'Kairi.'
'Well, what were you talking about earlier?'
Riku couldn't bring himself to talk about it. 'It was nothing.'
'It didn't sound like nothing. I've heard you talking about her before.'
Riku felt the blush jump to his face. All he'd been talking about for the past who-knew-how-long had been listened to by this man? He'd said pretty much everything; he never thought there was someone there besides himself and Mickey.
The man seemed to notice how he was feeling. 'I remember once, I was about fifteen, sixteen, I met this girl . . . she wasn't really the most wonderful, now that I look back, but to me, she was an angel. She was an ordinary-looking one, but her personality . . .' he sighed. 'Her personality was the quirkiest of anyone I've ever met. Quite a temper, but once you'd apologised, or done whatever needed to be, she'd burst right out into cheer again. Some days she would explode for no reason, but then later on . . . she'd end up being the best peacemaker of us all,' he reminisced, 'never losing her temper with people, patient to the end . . .'
'What happened?' Riku asked, curious in spite of himself.
'Well, my friend and I liked her a lot. And after awhile, I realised that we both felt more for her than we let on. We loved her. And it would come down to her, myself, and my friend. And I got cast aside, like that tired old blade that's not your first, and it's not the one that you know was made for you . . . the one that you just forget about.
'So what was I supposed to do? Be the nosey neighbour next door, peering through windows to see what was happening? Be the gracious sidekick, sickeningly happy that my best friend had gotten the girl I loved? Live the rest of my life knowing I could be living it with her? I didn't think so.
'I left that place . . . searching. For what, I'm not sure. I wanted to escape her, to learn about myself, to do things. I wanted to discover my family . . .' the man trailed off. 'I found my mother. She was called Jenova . . . then I found files about a project. The Jenova Project.
'The Jenova Project was to produce people with powers of the Ancients . . . my mother . . . was to have been Ruler. But the people sacrificed her people . . . to survive.
'I decided then, I wasn't going to just stand by. Not with the powers of the Cetra . . . I turned. The darkness became a part of my life. Eventually, some people rose up against me, and they were destroyed,' he paused. 'Or at least, I thought so. They rose up again and sealed me away from the light of day. I was locked in here. After awhile, I met a man. He said he and some others were going to open the door . . . and if I wanted, I could help them. I could get revenge on those who wronged me.'
His voice hardened, 'I agreed, and we arranged something. He would let me out, and in return, I would fight for him. Apparently he arranged matches at a tournament. I was to fight in the Platinum Match. Hades never thought someone would make it that far . . . and if they did, I could destroy them. Now, every once in awhile, I can leave, to take my revenge on those who destroyed my mother's people.'
Riku didn't say anything for awhile. That man was . . . a bit creepy. 'What were . . . their names? Your friend, and the girl?'
'His was Cloud. Cloud Strife.' The man sounded like he held absolute hatred for Cloud. Riku had met him once . . .
'And the girl?'
'Aerith.'
'So . . . that's what happened,' Riku finished. He couldn't let this man tell him such a personal story if he wasn't going to share something in return. So he'd told him what he'd wanted to know. He almost heard the man's nod.
'I wondered about that.'
Riku sat in silence a moment, then asked the question that had been nagging at him. 'What's your name?'
'My name? . . . Sephiroth.'
Just as Riku was about to say something, a slice of light appeared before him, as if a sword had ripped through the darkness. For the first time, he could see the man he'd been talking to.
He had silver hair, similar to Riku's own . . . and Ansem's. Riku scowled angrily. Damn Ansem . . . damn him to hell! Sephiroth had aqua eyes, and two leather straps crisscrossed over his chest. He had a long black jacket, jagged at the ends. A pair of black boots, black gloves, and black pants completed his outfit. But that wasn't the most noticeable thing about him . . . a huge black wing stretched out of his right shoulder blade, feathers drifting from it slowly.
'Remember, Riku, if you want something enough, there will always be a way of achieving it,' Sephiroth smiled, a dangerous smile, and stepped through the rip, which sealed behind him, leaving Riku in darkness once again.
You're finally free, Riku . . . but imprisoned once again.
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~ Fin ~
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