Eyes
Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own Kingdom Hearts, otherwise we'd see lots of RikuxSora goodness!
Warning: May contain shounen ai (boy/boy love) in the chapter. Please ignore if you are offended. Thank you!
"Donald! Goofy! Wait!" Sora cried, latching onto the gate for support. Donald abruptly ceased prying his human companion from the spot and crossed his arms.
"Fine, go ahead."
In a flash, Sora sprinted towards his raincoat-clad friend who was "watching" the scene in wry amusement.
"Come with us." Sora gazed at him with a desperate look. The blinded one only ran a hand through the spiky hair before placing a saddened smile on his face.
"Sorry…"
It didn't take his sight to know Sora was disappointed. Not that he wasn't either. Sora was his salvation, not that he'd admit it, almost an addiction. Riku needed Sora to be himself, whole.
Which was why Riku was getting a sadistical amusement out of this whole situation. He knew he would have to let Sora go. There were always complications to addictions…
"It seems that no matter what I do," His addiction solemnly muttered, "I always leave you behind." He grabbed his hand, squeezing it as if to not make Riku disappear.
"I'll be all right." He consoled. "It's not like this hasn't happened before. It'll be oka-"
"No." Sora squeezed harder, more desperate, as he bowed his head.
"I don't want to leave you alone again. Nobody should have to go through what you did alone like that."
Touched by Sora's determination and pure sincerity, Riku gave him a small, genuine smile, and stepped back, breaking the contact between them.
"Thanks, Sora." He whispered. Sora's comrades called out to him from behind.
"Come on!" Donald screeched in impatience. Sora twirled around in frustration and glared at the duck.
"Just wait! I wanna-" He turned back, instantly realizing that his rogue friend disappeared again. He frowned, slumping his shoulders in defeat.
"Yeah, I'm coming."
---
The only real movement in the whole room came from the shuffling of the cloaked one's pacing. The others were sprawled around, intent with listening to everyone else's thoughts. Their plan seemingly failed, regardless whether it was their fault or not. No one particularly cared either.
Well, Mizu didn't care. The others were either relived or fuming.
"Why are we just sitting here?! We should be chasing after him, capturing the Keyblade!" Axel, the only one up, cried.
"I remember chasing that idiot before. Believe me, that's not the way to do it." Raos cynically replied.
"What other way is there then? We can't surround him; you other idiot can't help but protect your precious Sora."
"Our mission is to acquire the Keyblade, not to murder the carrier." Mickey intervened.
"But if you kill the little pest, it'll be an easier way to Keyblade!"
"Not true, Axel." Riku stated. "If anything, that'll make the search harder. The Keyblade would have to choose a new master, and we'd have to start from scratch."
"Then what do you suggest we do?" Koro asked the group. They had to do something fast, and there wasn't much time left.
"Listen to the sides bickering!" Mizu mused with a smirk on his face. "Darkness and Light, always bickering like children, trying to dominate the other. It's amusing."
"Would you like to start making sense?" Raos blurted, annoyed by the constant riddles. It gathered the others' attention as well.
"Yes, we don't understand insanity, could you explain to us what is going on in your crazy mind?" Axel added.
"I believe every representative of our little pack has tried their own plan at one time or another. Both Raos and Axel, as sides of the darkness, opted to kill our dear Sora at least twice now. Mickey and Kokoro, as sides of the light, tend to protect Sora, regardless of the Keyblade. Riku, from the present world, has issues of his own."
Riku glared daggers at him for a brief moment while Mizu merely smiled.
"By now, you must have realized that neither light or dark could possibly win; it would defy their very existence. We, as Non-existent ones, have come to finally set balance to all four worlds." Mizu set an expression on his face that none could recognize and dipped his hand into the fountain he sat on.
"So let's do it the way the world in-between would do."
---
He knew where he was, but it was something he didn't want to see. Only his nightmares held what Destiny Islands looked like after leaving. It was not comforting at all.
Needless to say, it was much less comforting when he saw Sora.
He was propped up against the rock wall where the waterfall was, pinned with the dark vines entangling his torso and legs. Thorns pricked at his pale skin, scratching and tearing his clothes. Blood red shackles, also pinned by the vicious plant, chained his arms. Sora himself was unconscious, which was something Riku wasn't sure was a good thing.
"Riku?" Sora tiredly questioned, when Riku begun to hack the vines. He looked up, capturing Sora's pain-filled eyes with his own.
"Don't worry. I'll get you out of here!" He cried, reaching up towards Sora's face. The chained one only closed his eyes, allowing one crystal tear to escape. Only one word softly uttered from his mouth as the tear splattered onto Riku's cheek.
"Run."
The increasing rumbling sound behind him reinforced it.
He peered back, meeting the horribly disfigured vision of Darkside, mutilated with deep gashes, pierced by long thorns that seemed to be from an enlarged version of the plant holding Sora. It's eyes were no longer the curious yellow that all heartless adorned. Instead, a gleaming crimson took its place. It glanced at Riku, emotionless, and lifted its fist in the air. He summoned his sword and moved away from Sora, down towards the ruined beach. It soon followed, crashing a mangled fist to the ground, sending the sand particles flying into the air. Riku coughed as it filled the air and put his hood up as an attempt of covering his eyes. He slashed at the gruesome hand until his enemy lifted it back up. He backed up, le going over expecting the other fist to crash down soon.
Instead, Darkside reached into his body cavity, which was filled with blood-covered vines and retrieved two bloody broadswords. Wasting no time, the Dark one swiped both swords in a criss-cross fashion aiming to chop off Riku's head. Riku ducked just in time as the blades passed overhead. Recovering from the shock, he rolled to the side and dodged the sword that pounded into the beach.
What was he supposed to do now? Attacking his arms were out of the question, and Riku seriously doubted he could reach its head.
He dodged another swing from the monstrosity while going over any weaknesses in his mind. Riku was tiring out fast, and if he didn't come up with a plan soon…
A beam of light shot out and hit Darkside's head, causing the giant to stumble and drop his weapons. Riku turned to the source of the light.
Sora leaned against the stone wall, Ultima Weapon in hand, panting heavily. His eyes were lifelessly blank, staring at the two opponents. Riku had never seen Sora so empty before, and the sight terrified him worse than Kingdom Hearts.
"Riku," Sora's monotone voice rang out, looking at him through half-lidded eyes. "Aim for his head."
The terrified boy forced himself to turn back to the mutilated figure that was writhing on the ground. The creature's head was only a yard away, twisting in silent pain. Riku quickly impaled his sword through it's cranium which immediately spewed a dark liquid in a fountain. The writhing ceased, setting completely still. Riku twisted back to Sora, concerned about his brunette friend.
Sora managed to push himself off of the wall and stood limply, ignoring the blood running down from his wounds. He was just looking at Riku and that was it. There was no thought, emotion, anything reflecting in those pools of blue. He was like that even when Riku ran to him.
"Sora!" The Unknown cried, gently grabbing his shoulders. A gentle smile appeared on the said boy, finally collapsing from blood loss and fatigue. Riku panicked and knelt down, cradling the poor boy's body. Blood spilled onto his coat, creating even darker stains on the black fabric. The only proof that he lived was the erratic and shallow breathing emanating from his chest.
"Sora, don't go…" Riku choked, holding back the tears that blurred his sight. Sora genuinely smiled, gaining some emotion back in his half-lidded eyes.
"I'll…have to, eventually." He whispered back, letting a small stream of blood trickle from his mouth. He chuckled briefly, as if nothing was wrong about the situation.
"I…always have to…leave you behind." Riku grabbed Sora's hand for his life, praying to anything to help Sora.
"You said you didn't want to, remember?" His voice cracked and his tears fell, but he wiped them away with his sleeve quickly.
"I don't." His light smiled, "Idiot, don't cry…"
"I'm not crying!" Riku blurted before he could think. Sora chuckled again, closing his eyes.
"You're right. Silly me." He whispered.
Riku noticed that the world was fading around him, including Sora. His emotions went into a frenzy, sensing raging fury into mourning into total loss. Life without Sora…
It didn't exist.
Riku had never felt happier to wake up.
---
She stuffed the note down the bottleneck, briefly smiling to her memories, and twisted the cork in. The rushing water calmly greeted her ears, rushing around her feet and back to its depths. The ocean always understood her, always soothed when she needed it. It was like a second mother to her, much like the others on the island. But to those who left the ocean…
The water could be cruel sometimes.
A breeze caressed her hair, playing with the red locks until it died out. She closed her eyes and imagined her best friends were still here. They used to watch the sunset on this beach, just the three of them in mindless chatter, laughing at the silly antics they played. Everything went so well back then.
A small whimper caught her attention as she averted her attention to the figure sitting behind the Paopu tree.
"What's wrong?" Her voice cooed softly as the little girl stared at her. The girl's petite face pouted as tears sprang to her eyes.
"My fwiends went to see the otha side of the iwand, but they didn't come back!" She bawled. The older one patted her back in a comforting manner, smiling kindly at the younger one before her.
"It's okay. I'll keep you company until they come back, alright?"
The girl perked up, giving her a smile as she wiped the tears away.
"Okay."
A small silence filled the air, lulled by the soft ocean waves among them. The bottle in the teen's hands quirked the young one's attention.
"What's that?"
"Oh, this?" She squeaked, a little surprised. A quick depression hit her, and she covered it up with a smile. "It's a letter to my friends."
The little one tilted her head as she gazed at the teen.
"Where are your fwiends?" She innocently asked, gazing at her with wide, curious eyes. She mentally flinched, and settled for watching the horizon.
"They went away on an adventure."
"Like what my fwiends did?"
She paused, unsure of what to say. It was a large leap from what her friends did, but she couldn't lie.
"Uh, yes, kind of."
The little girl puffed her chest up, suddenly feeling indignant.
"I'll wait with you too, okay?"
She smiled, although the despair of it all weighed upon her on the inside. Fiddling with the bottle, offered it to her small companion.
"Here, would you like to send it to them?" She asked politely, and the little girl took it.
"How do I do it?" She cried, filled with excitement. She stood, intently listening on the instructions she was about to acquire.
"You just throw it out into the ocean."
And as she threw it out into the sea, voices filled the distance. Two boys ran along side the shore, calling out as soon as they came into the area.
"There they are! Hey, ova here!" She waved, running towards the bridge to get down. She stopped and turned, instantly locking eyes with the older girl in a silent question for permission. She nodded, and the girl brilliantly smiled.
"What's your name?" She asked, surprising the teen with the unexpected question. A small smile graced her lips as she bent down eye level with her friend.
"My name is Kiari. What's yours?"
---
Next Chapter preview!
"I'm not a complete idiot." The red clad one mused. The tone sounded playfully annoyed, but anyone would have felt the evilness that fitted the voice. The Unknown knew there were worse things than hearing his voice.
"No one must know of our plan, Ansem."
It was awfully bright for a man who hates the light. It was starting to get on his nerves too. Or maybe it was the fact that this man had, at one point in time, used him in the past. Whatever Mizu was planning had better work.
"Starting today, Raos, you will betray the Non-existent Ones and fight on the true side; the Darkness."
---
A/N: Sorry!! It took me a while but there were some things I had to take care of first. (sobs) I can't go to Otakon! (runs off bawling)