Disclaimer: Not mine.
Warnings: Some yaoi, weirdness, angsty, a little AU
Part 3 of 4. Ending still to be decided; tragedy or reunion. I'm sorry if this chapter goes a little fast.
Please read and review.
~*~*~*~
With one last blow, Sora sliced Ansem through his empty heart.
The fiend shrieked in agony. Sora was blinded by a flash of white light, and time and space once again defied all laws set before them.
He was floating in an ocean of nothingness.
Riku?! Where are you?!
He yelled mentally and verbally. . . .
But recieved no answer.
"Please!" Sora cried out desperately. His tears crystallized on his cheeks and broke off. "I need you!"
I need you. . . . .
. . .I need you. . . . .
. . . . . .I need you. . . . .
He listened for a few moments, then collapsed, crying, in weary despair.
"Sora. . . ." a voice suddenly whispered to him. The brunet whipped his head around wildly in search for the source of the sound, but all he could see was swirling smoke.
"Riku!" he cried. "Where are you?! Please, come back to me!"
"Shh, my love," the voice soothed. "You're so close now. . . . I'll be with you. . . ."
Sora felt warmth flood into his body, as arms of shadow wrapped around his exhausted form, covering his back, shoulders, and chest.
"Riku," he choked softly to the mist. "What happens now? I'm. . . lost. . . ."
"Follow your heart," blew the voice. "You have to believe. . . ."
"I. . . . I miss you," Sora breathed brokenly. "And it hurts." He squeezed his eyes shut and lowered his voice to where it was almost inaudible. "It hurts so much. . . ."
A deep laugh echoed around the darkness. With a bright flash of hellfire Ansem emerged, fully regenerated, his eyes gleaming with malice. The shadow of Riku's soul darted away just as quickly as it had come.
"No!" Sora exclaimed into the void. "Don't leave me!"
"Stop your whining, boy," Ansem sneered down at him. Sora spun around with horror and rage.
"You!" he screamed at his rival. "Why are you back?! I killed you!" Ansem's grin widened.
"Yes, me," he smirked. "Why do you look so surprised, fool? The darkness lurks in all places; in the holes, behind the stars, -everywhere-," he spat. "You cannot destroy it. Just as you cannot destroy me. For I -am- the darkness!"
Sora almost roared with frustration, which only furthered Ansem's amusement.
"The darkness, however, can vanquish both the light -and- the shadows," continued the demon smugly. "Just as I disposed of your 'friend'."
Sora narrowed his eyes and clenched his fists, breathing heavily.
"Shut up," he hissed venomously.
He lies.
You're still here with me.
You have to be. . . . .
You have to come back. . . .
No.
I have to stop -lying- to myself.
It only makes me weaker!
No matter how much I might hate it, I know that he killed you that day.
Right before my very eyes.
It was in that damned castle, Hollow Bastion.
Hollow.
How appropriate.
Before we started our fight, you had still been in there, somewhere.
For your eyes still shone with deep sadness, even as your body tried its best to send me to my grave.
But after I won. . . . then he got angry.
His mind control was failing, and you were fighting to return to me.
We will always be a team, Riku.
And we were winning.
That coward got desperate, and did the only thing he could to ensure that we never prevailed.
The darkness had been too weak.
I remember every detail of when he shoved you out of your body, in a transparent, spirit form. He then used magic to knock you unconcious, so that I didn't even have the pleasure of seeing your eyes.
No matter how deep down you had been within his grasp, he wasn't affected in the least as he raised his own tainted Keyblade, which had started to glow bloodred, and looked me straight in the eye.
As his gaze pierced through me, he plunged the knife into your heart.
I felt pain electricute me like I had never felt before, nor will ever feel again.
As he stabbed you repeatedly, with each wound he uttered a word.
"Always."
"And."
"Forever."
I hate him.
I foolishly attacked, and he captured me and took me away.
And now, here I am.
This is what I have become.
A worthless shell, hating everything.
Even you.
And my love for you the only thing keeping me going.
One thing about you that I am puzzled by.
You hardly ever smile.
Sure, you laugh, smirk, and even twitch your lips upward, but you have never truly smiled.
Maybe you were destined for the darkness.
I'll never know.
For when you disappeared in that exploding flash of light, you left.
Gone without a trace.
Until these moments right now.
"All hearts begin in darkness, and all so end," growled Ansem's voice, snapping Sora back into reality. "Even yours."
Sora stared.
. . . . . Mine?
My heart?
Is that why I failed. . . .?
No!
You were just here with me two minutes ago!
I didn't fail!
I couldn't have!
But Ansem said. . . .
Something clicked in Sora's brain.
That must mean. . . . oh god. . . .
All this time. . . . I've been so stupid. . . .
He. . . . he lied!
Darkness -needs- light to exist, and light needs the darkness!
Darkness is -weak-!
It -has- no power alone!
That's it!
"No," said Sora suddenly, stopping an advancing Ansem in his tracks.
"What?" he spat.
"I know now, without a doubt," the Keyblade master said, placing his hands on his chest. "KingdomHearts. . . . is LIGHT!"
The door slammed open, and a brightness like none have ever seen poured out, engulfing Ansem. The dimension started to rumble
"W. . . what?!" Ansem gasped as his body started to disentigrate before his eyes. He turned his shocked eyes toward Sora, mouthing in madness and fear. "The. . . . Light. . . ." he gasped out, and with those words, his body detonated in a shower of shadow, and the remains were destroyed in the blink of an eye by the light.
"Sora!"
The Keyblade master heard a voice call to him, and sprinted toward the doors as fast as the wind.
With a shriek of agony the abyss began to be sucked away around him, and as he jerked his head around, he saw Kairi, surrounded by Heartless trying to drag her into the darkness.
"K-Kairi?!" he screamed.
"Sora, you have to close the door!" she shouted desperately, fighting with all she was worth, but losing. "It's the only way! AAA!" One of the Heartless bit her fiercely on the leg.
"Kairi!" cried Sora, starting to run after her. "Hold on!"
"DO IT!" the girl shrieked. "DO IT NOW OR--" She was cut off as the Heartless mobbed her and she melted into blackness.
"KAIRI!" Sora screamed. "RAGH!" He let out a raged grunt as he turned on his heel and ran back to the door, every bit of matter around him swirling into a dimensionhole, soul cries and tornado winds at a deafening level.
He threw his body against the door with all of his strength, and pushed desperately.
"Close!" he demanded frantically.
It refused to weild, and the shrieks around him became louder.
"NO!"
He jerked away from the door and tore out his Keyblade, brandishing it in fury. It started to glow.
"In the name of light and darkness, of love and hate," he commanded raggedly, tears forming in his eyes. "Kairi. . . and. . . Riku. . . ." He closed his eyes in pain; his Keyblade starting to shine even more brightly.
Sora wiped away his tears, then looked up with determination. "I order you, as the Keyblade Master. . . . Shut away the darkness!"
A burst of heat erupted from his Keyblade, burning his hands and shaking his arm violently. He could not let go.
A seal burst into fire on the door as Sora screamed in pure agony, and it slowly began to close. When it door had fallen back into place, the world trembled again and a Keyhole appeared.
Sora's Keyblade began to suck in all the light from around it, then, as a tear from its master struck its hilt, one final beam of light blasted from the tip and hit the hole. With an earsplitting explosion, the door disappeared in a flash of white light.
The shockwaves knocked the brunet to the ground, and he rolled over and covered his head.
The Keyblade cooled, and allowed him to release his grip on it.
Sora angrily thrust it into the air, where it was sucked up into the void. . . . which grew bigger.
Everything emitted a shrill cry in blinding wrath as it flew by, vacuumed up by the black hole, and Sora clung to the sandy floor for dear life.
The sharp sounds echoed and swirled around him until he was driven out of his mind, the images flaring over and over. . . .
Suddenly, it all stopped.
There was dead silence.
Sora cracked an eye open, to cautiously survey his surroundings, and was met with the sight of a velvety, deep navy blue sky in which millions of stars glittered about him.
His eyes, still red from crying, he opened fully in mystification. Pricks of light surrounded him in all directions as far as the eye could see, shimmering in pacific quietness.
"Where. . . . am I?" he whispered to himself.
His body was seemingly walking on air in the middle of the universe, and as he looked up, starlike worlds began raining down around him. He gazed at the beautiful sight in wonder, and caught one of the sparkles on his hand.
It was Destiny Islands.
Sora suddenly began to cry.
He cried for himself, his friends, and. . . . everything.
He had fulfilled his task.
He had saved them all.
But he had lost everything he had loved in the process.
Well. . . . I guess this is it.
Here. . . the end of all things.
. . . . Why?
Why did it have to be -me-?
How I wish everything could've happened so differently.
How I wish for it all back, the good, and the evil.
But no.
I am here.
Here to be at peace forever.
Sora held out his hand, and the tiny world floated out into the air, soon fading in the darkness.
The brunet let a sad smile grace his lips, as his eyes watered.
I need to stop being so selfish.
Now, I know that you are safe.
Without me, perhaps, but you'll always be in my heart.
"Riku. . . ." Sora sighed, a tear slipping down. "I know you can't hear me, but wherever you are, I want you to know that I said goodbye. . . ." His voice cracked, and he held a hand to his heart, looking up. "And know that I'll remember you forever."
Two more tears escaped.
It had been so long, and so hard. . . .
"I know that you didn't keep your promise," he continued shakily, his voice filled with emotion. "But I forgive you, love. I forgive you. . . ." Sora broke down and collapsed, crying his heart out, where he intended to stay for eternity.
"You underestimate me, Sora. I'm a man of my word, and I -always- keep my promises."
Sora froze.
Not daring to believe what he had just heard, he slowly raised his head, eyes widening in disbelief.
Riku was kneeled in front of him holding out his hand, eyes glimmering with the same playfulness that they had held all those years ago.
"R. . . . Riku," Sora gasped in astonishment and doubt.
Riku nodded.
Sora suddenly beamed and launched himself towards the other, tears streaming down his cheeks. Riku's eyes also glistened, and a single salty droplet escaped.
Time seemed to slow down as Sora lept forward, hurling himself into the other boy's embrace. The once Keyblade master positively cried a river as they squeezed each other to death for what seemed like an eternity.
"Oh Riku," he sniffed. "I thought that. . . . that. . . . you were gone from me forever!" Riku squeezed his eyes shut as he held Sora more tightly.
"I would die before I left you," he said in a ragged voice.
"But you did!" sobbed Sora. "You did!" He gave a shuddering wail.
Try as he might, Riku could not escape more tears from sliding down his cheeks. He put his hands on Sora's shoulders and tilted the other's chin up, so that their gazes were level.
"Sora, I. . . . I. . . ." Riku choked, looking his deepest friend straight in the eyes. "I love you."
The brunet's mind spun out of control as a hurricane of memories barraged him once again, and his knees went weak.
I. . . . I love you. . . .
So long ago. . . .
Oh god Riku. . . .
Sora became trapped in a whirlwind of emotions, and his eyes watered over too much to see anything.
All he could decipher in the midst of his confusion was one instinct.
He knew there was only one more thing he had to do. Then he would be complete.
He looked directly into the soul of his once-enemy.
"I love you too," Sora whispered, and kissed Riku with all of his heart.
The last thing he saw before his world went black was Riku's face.
He was smiling.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
tbc?
Again I want to thank all my wondeful reviewers: Ocean-eyed Songstress, Sora Otaku, Ryasha, Rinoki Rio, LeafKiD, and Lonely Cowboy. You guys mean so much to me. Especially right now.
I just want to give a little credit to Chingy's One Call Away, which I was listening to while I wrote the last part of this. That song made me cry.
Warnings: Some yaoi, weirdness, angsty, a little AU
Part 3 of 4. Ending still to be decided; tragedy or reunion. I'm sorry if this chapter goes a little fast.
Please read and review.
~*~*~*~
With one last blow, Sora sliced Ansem through his empty heart.
The fiend shrieked in agony. Sora was blinded by a flash of white light, and time and space once again defied all laws set before them.
He was floating in an ocean of nothingness.
Riku?! Where are you?!
He yelled mentally and verbally. . . .
But recieved no answer.
"Please!" Sora cried out desperately. His tears crystallized on his cheeks and broke off. "I need you!"
I need you. . . . .
. . .I need you. . . . .
. . . . . .I need you. . . . .
He listened for a few moments, then collapsed, crying, in weary despair.
"Sora. . . ." a voice suddenly whispered to him. The brunet whipped his head around wildly in search for the source of the sound, but all he could see was swirling smoke.
"Riku!" he cried. "Where are you?! Please, come back to me!"
"Shh, my love," the voice soothed. "You're so close now. . . . I'll be with you. . . ."
Sora felt warmth flood into his body, as arms of shadow wrapped around his exhausted form, covering his back, shoulders, and chest.
"Riku," he choked softly to the mist. "What happens now? I'm. . . lost. . . ."
"Follow your heart," blew the voice. "You have to believe. . . ."
"I. . . . I miss you," Sora breathed brokenly. "And it hurts." He squeezed his eyes shut and lowered his voice to where it was almost inaudible. "It hurts so much. . . ."
A deep laugh echoed around the darkness. With a bright flash of hellfire Ansem emerged, fully regenerated, his eyes gleaming with malice. The shadow of Riku's soul darted away just as quickly as it had come.
"No!" Sora exclaimed into the void. "Don't leave me!"
"Stop your whining, boy," Ansem sneered down at him. Sora spun around with horror and rage.
"You!" he screamed at his rival. "Why are you back?! I killed you!" Ansem's grin widened.
"Yes, me," he smirked. "Why do you look so surprised, fool? The darkness lurks in all places; in the holes, behind the stars, -everywhere-," he spat. "You cannot destroy it. Just as you cannot destroy me. For I -am- the darkness!"
Sora almost roared with frustration, which only furthered Ansem's amusement.
"The darkness, however, can vanquish both the light -and- the shadows," continued the demon smugly. "Just as I disposed of your 'friend'."
Sora narrowed his eyes and clenched his fists, breathing heavily.
"Shut up," he hissed venomously.
He lies.
You're still here with me.
You have to be. . . . .
You have to come back. . . .
No.
I have to stop -lying- to myself.
It only makes me weaker!
No matter how much I might hate it, I know that he killed you that day.
Right before my very eyes.
It was in that damned castle, Hollow Bastion.
Hollow.
How appropriate.
Before we started our fight, you had still been in there, somewhere.
For your eyes still shone with deep sadness, even as your body tried its best to send me to my grave.
But after I won. . . . then he got angry.
His mind control was failing, and you were fighting to return to me.
We will always be a team, Riku.
And we were winning.
That coward got desperate, and did the only thing he could to ensure that we never prevailed.
The darkness had been too weak.
I remember every detail of when he shoved you out of your body, in a transparent, spirit form. He then used magic to knock you unconcious, so that I didn't even have the pleasure of seeing your eyes.
No matter how deep down you had been within his grasp, he wasn't affected in the least as he raised his own tainted Keyblade, which had started to glow bloodred, and looked me straight in the eye.
As his gaze pierced through me, he plunged the knife into your heart.
I felt pain electricute me like I had never felt before, nor will ever feel again.
As he stabbed you repeatedly, with each wound he uttered a word.
"Always."
"And."
"Forever."
I hate him.
I foolishly attacked, and he captured me and took me away.
And now, here I am.
This is what I have become.
A worthless shell, hating everything.
Even you.
And my love for you the only thing keeping me going.
One thing about you that I am puzzled by.
You hardly ever smile.
Sure, you laugh, smirk, and even twitch your lips upward, but you have never truly smiled.
Maybe you were destined for the darkness.
I'll never know.
For when you disappeared in that exploding flash of light, you left.
Gone without a trace.
Until these moments right now.
"All hearts begin in darkness, and all so end," growled Ansem's voice, snapping Sora back into reality. "Even yours."
Sora stared.
. . . . . Mine?
My heart?
Is that why I failed. . . .?
No!
You were just here with me two minutes ago!
I didn't fail!
I couldn't have!
But Ansem said. . . .
Something clicked in Sora's brain.
That must mean. . . . oh god. . . .
All this time. . . . I've been so stupid. . . .
He. . . . he lied!
Darkness -needs- light to exist, and light needs the darkness!
Darkness is -weak-!
It -has- no power alone!
That's it!
"No," said Sora suddenly, stopping an advancing Ansem in his tracks.
"What?" he spat.
"I know now, without a doubt," the Keyblade master said, placing his hands on his chest. "KingdomHearts. . . . is LIGHT!"
The door slammed open, and a brightness like none have ever seen poured out, engulfing Ansem. The dimension started to rumble
"W. . . what?!" Ansem gasped as his body started to disentigrate before his eyes. He turned his shocked eyes toward Sora, mouthing in madness and fear. "The. . . . Light. . . ." he gasped out, and with those words, his body detonated in a shower of shadow, and the remains were destroyed in the blink of an eye by the light.
"Sora!"
The Keyblade master heard a voice call to him, and sprinted toward the doors as fast as the wind.
With a shriek of agony the abyss began to be sucked away around him, and as he jerked his head around, he saw Kairi, surrounded by Heartless trying to drag her into the darkness.
"K-Kairi?!" he screamed.
"Sora, you have to close the door!" she shouted desperately, fighting with all she was worth, but losing. "It's the only way! AAA!" One of the Heartless bit her fiercely on the leg.
"Kairi!" cried Sora, starting to run after her. "Hold on!"
"DO IT!" the girl shrieked. "DO IT NOW OR--" She was cut off as the Heartless mobbed her and she melted into blackness.
"KAIRI!" Sora screamed. "RAGH!" He let out a raged grunt as he turned on his heel and ran back to the door, every bit of matter around him swirling into a dimensionhole, soul cries and tornado winds at a deafening level.
He threw his body against the door with all of his strength, and pushed desperately.
"Close!" he demanded frantically.
It refused to weild, and the shrieks around him became louder.
"NO!"
He jerked away from the door and tore out his Keyblade, brandishing it in fury. It started to glow.
"In the name of light and darkness, of love and hate," he commanded raggedly, tears forming in his eyes. "Kairi. . . and. . . Riku. . . ." He closed his eyes in pain; his Keyblade starting to shine even more brightly.
Sora wiped away his tears, then looked up with determination. "I order you, as the Keyblade Master. . . . Shut away the darkness!"
A burst of heat erupted from his Keyblade, burning his hands and shaking his arm violently. He could not let go.
A seal burst into fire on the door as Sora screamed in pure agony, and it slowly began to close. When it door had fallen back into place, the world trembled again and a Keyhole appeared.
Sora's Keyblade began to suck in all the light from around it, then, as a tear from its master struck its hilt, one final beam of light blasted from the tip and hit the hole. With an earsplitting explosion, the door disappeared in a flash of white light.
The shockwaves knocked the brunet to the ground, and he rolled over and covered his head.
The Keyblade cooled, and allowed him to release his grip on it.
Sora angrily thrust it into the air, where it was sucked up into the void. . . . which grew bigger.
Everything emitted a shrill cry in blinding wrath as it flew by, vacuumed up by the black hole, and Sora clung to the sandy floor for dear life.
The sharp sounds echoed and swirled around him until he was driven out of his mind, the images flaring over and over. . . .
Suddenly, it all stopped.
There was dead silence.
Sora cracked an eye open, to cautiously survey his surroundings, and was met with the sight of a velvety, deep navy blue sky in which millions of stars glittered about him.
His eyes, still red from crying, he opened fully in mystification. Pricks of light surrounded him in all directions as far as the eye could see, shimmering in pacific quietness.
"Where. . . . am I?" he whispered to himself.
His body was seemingly walking on air in the middle of the universe, and as he looked up, starlike worlds began raining down around him. He gazed at the beautiful sight in wonder, and caught one of the sparkles on his hand.
It was Destiny Islands.
Sora suddenly began to cry.
He cried for himself, his friends, and. . . . everything.
He had fulfilled his task.
He had saved them all.
But he had lost everything he had loved in the process.
Well. . . . I guess this is it.
Here. . . the end of all things.
. . . . Why?
Why did it have to be -me-?
How I wish everything could've happened so differently.
How I wish for it all back, the good, and the evil.
But no.
I am here.
Here to be at peace forever.
Sora held out his hand, and the tiny world floated out into the air, soon fading in the darkness.
The brunet let a sad smile grace his lips, as his eyes watered.
I need to stop being so selfish.
Now, I know that you are safe.
Without me, perhaps, but you'll always be in my heart.
"Riku. . . ." Sora sighed, a tear slipping down. "I know you can't hear me, but wherever you are, I want you to know that I said goodbye. . . ." His voice cracked, and he held a hand to his heart, looking up. "And know that I'll remember you forever."
Two more tears escaped.
It had been so long, and so hard. . . .
"I know that you didn't keep your promise," he continued shakily, his voice filled with emotion. "But I forgive you, love. I forgive you. . . ." Sora broke down and collapsed, crying his heart out, where he intended to stay for eternity.
"You underestimate me, Sora. I'm a man of my word, and I -always- keep my promises."
Sora froze.
Not daring to believe what he had just heard, he slowly raised his head, eyes widening in disbelief.
Riku was kneeled in front of him holding out his hand, eyes glimmering with the same playfulness that they had held all those years ago.
"R. . . . Riku," Sora gasped in astonishment and doubt.
Riku nodded.
Sora suddenly beamed and launched himself towards the other, tears streaming down his cheeks. Riku's eyes also glistened, and a single salty droplet escaped.
Time seemed to slow down as Sora lept forward, hurling himself into the other boy's embrace. The once Keyblade master positively cried a river as they squeezed each other to death for what seemed like an eternity.
"Oh Riku," he sniffed. "I thought that. . . . that. . . . you were gone from me forever!" Riku squeezed his eyes shut as he held Sora more tightly.
"I would die before I left you," he said in a ragged voice.
"But you did!" sobbed Sora. "You did!" He gave a shuddering wail.
Try as he might, Riku could not escape more tears from sliding down his cheeks. He put his hands on Sora's shoulders and tilted the other's chin up, so that their gazes were level.
"Sora, I. . . . I. . . ." Riku choked, looking his deepest friend straight in the eyes. "I love you."
The brunet's mind spun out of control as a hurricane of memories barraged him once again, and his knees went weak.
I. . . . I love you. . . .
So long ago. . . .
Oh god Riku. . . .
Sora became trapped in a whirlwind of emotions, and his eyes watered over too much to see anything.
All he could decipher in the midst of his confusion was one instinct.
He knew there was only one more thing he had to do. Then he would be complete.
He looked directly into the soul of his once-enemy.
"I love you too," Sora whispered, and kissed Riku with all of his heart.
The last thing he saw before his world went black was Riku's face.
He was smiling.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
tbc?
Again I want to thank all my wondeful reviewers: Ocean-eyed Songstress, Sora Otaku, Ryasha, Rinoki Rio, LeafKiD, and Lonely Cowboy. You guys mean so much to me. Especially right now.
I just want to give a little credit to Chingy's One Call Away, which I was listening to while I wrote the last part of this. That song made me cry.