Author's Notes: See chapter one for disclaimer and explanation.
I am very far under the impression that the worlds in the Kingdom Hearts universe are much bigger than they're represented in the game, and have far more people on them. I kinda find it hard to believe that the Destiny Islands are composed entirely of one tiny islet with a population that includes only Sora, Riku, Kairi, Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka. The plurality of "Islands" suggests more islands, anyway. It's the same concept that allows towns in most RPGs to be no more than six buildings with a maximum of a dozen residents, usually less.
Separate Destinies By Annie-chan Chapter Two: Terrible SecretIt was evening in Fate, the capital city of the Destiny Islands. The sun was beginning to set, and the shadows were growing long indeed, shrouding the side of the large island on which Fate sat. Riku, who was on the beach side of Fate, was watching the purple clouds and dark blue sky opposite the sunset.
It had been a long while since he had longed to get off this isolated island chain. First of all, the ordeal with the Heartless had awoken the citizens from the sleepy lifestyle they had led for generations, and since their world had been restored, they'd built larger boats and sailed out into the unknown ocean, as Riku and his two closest friends had once planned. In the years since the near-disaster with Ansem and the Heartless, more than two-dozen other small chains similar to the Destiny Islands had been discovered on the tiny water-world. The Destiny Islanders were not the only ones seeking other civilizations, and it wasn't uncommon for ships to meet or at least see each other as they crossed the deep water. In a scant three years, busy routes transporting goods, news, and people between the chains had opened up. The monotonous island life had suddenly acquired quite a variety to it.
The second reason that Riku's wanderlust had been dimmed was that his get-out-and-go attitude had been dealt a serious blow three years ago. In his desire to explore, he had left his heart open and vulnerable to the darkness to enter, and enter it did. Ansem had taken complete control of him after a time, his body, mind, and soul totally under his command. Only when Ansem had concentrated his attention on taking his true physical form did his hold on Riku's soul weaken. His spirit had somehow broken through to his mind, and he had fought back against Ansem as hard as he could, but his body had been beyond his reach, and no matter how much he had struggled, he had still been a prisoner of the man's deranged scheme to somehow master the darkness.
I was weak, he mused. I was the best fighter on the Destiny Islands, but my heart lacked strength. Truth be told, he was still the best fighter on the islands, as Sora's mastery of the Keyblade still did not surpass Riku's astonishing skill. Riku had lost to Sora in the Hollow Bastion because Sora had had the superior weapon as well as two others fighting alongside him. The darkness spreading through Riku's heart had probably also contributed to his loss.
I wonder why I'm so good at fighting, Riku wondered, lying back in the grass. I've always taken to weapons well, no matter what they are. I like the sword best, but I just have to try a little, and I can wield whatever I want with passable proficiency. Hell, I could take out Wakka with his own blitzball, if I wanted to. Granted, a playing ball isn't what you would call a conventional weapon, and using it as one wasn't terribly complicated, but the dark-skinned boy had an almost freakish ability to turn it into a lethal projectile. He was almost as good at knocking people out with it as he was playing the sport it was made for.
For years, as far back as Riku could remember, he had been having strange dreams. They were dreams of outlandish places seething with strange magic, people that he could only describe as breezy and timeless, and a strange sense that he somehow belonged in those places and with those people. They were usually very hazy, and he couldn't remember much once he woke up, but they offered the only clue to why he had such a natural ability to fight. He wasn't sure how, but he had the impression that this world he was dreaming of, however beautiful and peaceful it seemed, was surrounded by danger, and the inhabitants had to have an instinctive fighting ability, or they would not survive. If he really did belong with these people, it would be plausible that he would have their fighting instinct, wouldn't it?
Every since hearing that strange voice in Kingdom Hearts and Disney Castle three years ago, he had a strong suspicion that maybe those dreams were coming from that person, or at least they were related somehow. Maybe the voice came from one of those people, and they somehow had a connection with him. Riku had absolutely no proof of this, though. For all he knew, they could be totally disconnected.
They probably are, Riku thought, closing his eyes. I bet the dreams are just an escapist attempt by my own overactive imagination. His home life was less than perfect, and these wild fantasies about belonging with a strange, otherworldly people was probably just a desperate cry to get away. And, as for the voice in his head, why would he have connections with someone like that? He had been born in Fate and had lived here with his mother his entire life. He was sure there were plenty of powerful beings in the universe, and perhaps one happened to become aware that he and Sora had no way to get home, and they had taken pity on them by lending Riku the power to take them back.
I haven't heard that voice at all for three years, Riku thought, not even in my dreams. They've probably forgotten I even exist.
The sun had completely set, and the stars were now shining brightly. Riku continued to lie there and stare into the night, his green eyes reflecting the faint, glittering starlight.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"How was work today, Riku?" Kairi asked as they walked in the direction of the house Riku lived in with his mother. It was near the east side of Fate, and the shadows were beginning to elongate as the sun began setting.
"Not bad," Riku replied. "You wouldn't believe the group of tourists that came in today, though. I was the only one in the store at the time, and they probably made me get one of everything in the store out for them to look at and price, then they ended up buying some of the first things they looked at. I was probably with them for at least forty-five minutes, and I'm lucky no one else happened to come in while they were there." Riku worked as a sales associate in a souvenir shop near the beach. Since the island chains came in contact with each other, tourism had of course become common among those with money to burn, and everyone wanted a souvenir to take back home with them. Riku worked in one of the many shops of the like in Fate. He made a face as Kairi giggled.
"My mom's been teaching me all sorts of recipes lately," Kairi said. "As you know, I work in her little bakery as a cashier, but she said I should know just as much as she does about making the food instead of just selling it. She wants me to take over once she's old enough to retire, and she said the earlier I learn, the better."
"What about you, Sora?" Riku asked. "Got a job yet?"
"No," Sora replied, and the other two could detect a bit of hesitation to answer.
"What?" Riku grinned, teasing. "You're seventeen years old and still living totally off your parents?"
"Shut up," Sora growled with a mock scowl. "I've been looking for one, but I babysit those twin cousins of mine a lot. A large chunk of the time I could be job-hunting, I'm babysitting."
"I know, I know," Riku said. "Don't worry. You'll find one soon. Then, you'll have an excuse to not babysit those cousins of yours, and you'll be getting paid for what you'd be doing instead, to boot."
"There's your house, Riku," Kairi said, pointing. It was built about fifty feet up into a huge tree trunk on bridge-like supports, with a house below it and one above it. Riku's grandparents had bought and paid for it, and it had passed on to their only child, Riku's mother, upon their deaths.
"Y'know, Riku," Sora started, "we've all known each other since we were really young children, yet not once have Kairi or I been to your house. We've been by it and seen your mother a few times, but we've never actually been inside your house."
Riku paused. "Is there a problem with that?"
"No," Sora replied. "I was just wondering out loud. It's really weird, though, either way you look at it. You're our best friend, but we've never been in your house."
"I've always wondered about it, too, Riku," Kairi added. "I've just never brought it up."
Riku looked at the two, an unusually somber look in his eyes. "I don't expect that to change anytime soon, you two." Having that said, he turned and started up the wooden walkway that wound around the tree, leading to the houses perched against its massive trunk.
"Riku!" Sora called. "Is everything all right?"
"Everything's fine," Riku called back, turning and giving them a wave. When he disappeared around the trunk and reappeared again on the other side a little higher up, he saw that the other two, perplexed as they were at his behavior, had begun to walk off to their own homes.
Truth be told, he would have ripped his own eyes out before he willingly let on just why he kept his home life a secret from even his two dearest friends.
As he passed by the open window to his living room, his sharp ears picked up a squeak. It sounded like the squeal of mattress springs…
A rush of indignant anger shot through him, and he gripped the doorknob to the front door and threw it open with more vehemence than was probably necessary. His mom had brought home yet another of her "boyfriends".
"Damn it, Mom!" he roared, slamming the door shut. "You want to put on a show for the whole neighborhood?! What kind of empty-headed cathouse floozy are you?!" He pushed the door to her bedroom, which was ajar, completely open. He didn't even flinch at the sight of his naked mother perched atop an equally naked man who had to be closer to his own age than he was to his mother's. He had come home to this too often to flinch anymore.
"Riku!" his mother squawked, obviously taken by complete surprise.
"Which one is this, huh?" Riku gritted through his teeth. "How many have you brought home this month? Five? We're only halfway through the month! Have you ever stopped to think that there's another person living here, and that other person really doesn't like to hear you getting yourself stuffed every other night?!" He had lost all respect for his mother years ago, and didn't shy away from speaking to her like this.
"I didn't expect you home yet, and don't you talk to me like that, young man!" his mother spat back.
"It's six o'clock!" Riku said, pointing at the clock on the wall for emphasis. "I'm late! I told you I'd be home a half-hour ago! Besides, whether I'm home or not, you left this door open, the front door unlocked, the living room windows open…what, you didn't care who might walk by?!"
"Just who are you?!" the young man asked, clearly confused.
"Who am I?!" Riku asked in disbelief. "Who am I?! I'm her son!"
"What?!" the man exclaimed in shock. His reaction was enough to make Riku laugh, thought it was a mirthless laugh.
"I'll bet he doesn't know you're old enough to have an eighteen-year-old son, does he?" Riku grinned a little oddly. "He can't be more than twenty-three himself!"
"RIKU!" his mother shrieked, furious with her son. Riku absently waved her off.
"Go ahead and finish," he said blandly, his bitter laughter gone. "I'm not going to even bother, and I sure as hell am not staying here tonight." Without another word, he walked out. Slowly trudging up the wooden walkway, heading up to a high stargazing platform, he concentrated on his breathing, willing himself to calm down. He was still very angry by the time he reached it.
It was here that he usually let his pent-up anger toward his mother loose.
"Damn it, damn it, DAMN IT!" he shouted at no one, punching a thick branch. His knuckles popped with the impact, but he hardly noticed. Words couldn't describe the loathing he felt for his sole parent, and a deeper, even more intense resentment roiled just beneath the surface. His good-for-nothing father hadn't even stuck around to see him born. He was probably just another of his mother's brief, meaningless affairs, and there was a good chance he didn't even know of Riku's existence. If he did know about Riku, he obviously hadn't wanted a child, and had just walked away. For all Riku knew, he may live just a block away or so. Regardless of if his father knew about him or not, he couldn't help but feel a soul-deep hatred for him for leaving his son with a mother straight out of Hell.
His mother had made it quite clear on several occasions that she hadn't wanted him, either, which made Riku wonder why she hadn't given him up for adoption or even terminated her pregnancy. Abortion was perfectly legal in their island chain, if not always looked upon favorably.
She had me and kept me for the tax break, I'll bet, he thought bitterly, climbing up into a natural bowl formed by the tree's branches. The night was going to be warm, and the space was perfect for someone of his size to curl up and sleep in. It wasn't the first time he had slept out here, anyway.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The next morning, Riku walked slowly back down to the house. His body was a bit sore from sleeping in one position all night, but he had gotten used to it. He really didn't want to return home at the moment, but he needed to eat and change clothes so he could go to work in a couple hours.
He found the door unlocked. What a surprise. His mother usually hadn't the head to lock it at night, too tangled up with her current lay. When he opened the door, he found her seated at the table, smoking a cigarette and staring out the window with a self-pitying look on her face.
"Gee, where's your Lolita boy?" Riku asked, not a shred of concern anywhere in his voice.
"He left right after we finished last night," she answered, not sounding at all pleased.
"Aw, that's too bad," Riku snorted. Just as he thought. The fact that his mother had an adult son was probably the reason the guy had been scared off.
"It's your fault he left!" his mother accused.
"I'm sure it was," Riku replied. "Not like I care. It really gives me the chills that you want to mess around with guys barely older than your own son. Besides, I highly doubt either of you cared for each other aside from the fact that both of you were eager to jump between the sheets for a quick fuck." He opened the cupboard and pulled out a box of hot cereal mix.
"Don't you dare talk to me like that, you little bastard!" his mother shrieked, jumping up and rounding on him. She saw the box in his hand. "What the hell are you doing?! Why the hell are you still here?! If you hate living with me so much, why don't you just go?! You're eighteen years old, for Hell's sake! Why don't you get out and stop wasting my space and my food?!"
Riku dropped the box on the counter rather harshly and got a bowl out. "I don't think you should care about that. You should worry more about if I did leave. Every since I got my first job when I was sixteen, I've been paying you a part of each paycheck as 'rent'. I know you and your spending habits, Mom. You wouldn't want to lose that extra money each month that you get from me."
His mother had no reply to that, but she did have a look on her face that could sour cheese as he spoke.
"You know," he continued, finding a measuring spoon for the cereal mix, "I know you have an okay day job, but I somehow believe that the household finances are better than they should be, even with what I'm pitching in." He eyed her. "What, are you working the street corners when you get the chance?"
The slap that landed on his right cheek was so hard, it spun him halfway around and made his teeth clack down on his tongue, causing it to bleed a little.
"You worthless little shit!" his mother screeched. "How DARE you talk to me like that?! I'm your mother! I raised your sorry little ass instead of throwing you in the gutter where you belong!"
"You raised me?" Riku asked, infuriatingly calm as he gingerly touched his smarting cheek. "You didn't raise me, bitch. You couldn't care less about me. I was left to wander the streets and tag along with the other kids in town, spending more time with friends than I ever did at home. It's no wonder I spent a huge chunk of my childhood on the Party Island. Some mother you are." He finished through his teeth, his eyes narrowed.
"Oh, so you'd rather I had just abandoned you like that no-good father of yours?!" she shot back. "He left the second he found out about you! At least I had the decency to keep you, and you haven't shown me a shred of thankfulness!"
"Like you cared about my father, anyway!" Riku shouted, losing his cool. "He was just another roll in the hay to you, wasn't he?! Did he even know about me?! Are you even sure which guy fathered me?! And, how dare you call keeping me decency?! You kept me just for the tax break, you whore!"
"Shut your mouth!" she hissed. "I demand respect, damn it!"
"Respect?!" Riku choked out, hardly believing. "How can I respect a woman who's so sluttish, she didn't even care about having sex with some guy off the street while her kid, barely even school-aged, could hear every moan and scream in his bedroom on the other side of the wall?! I cannot even count how many times I've heard you in some clinch or another! I did not want to hear that! I did not want to hear you loudly fucking every man you came in contact with! You are sick! I can't believe you! You exposed me to sex when I could hardly even grasp the concept! If I had been the same room with you, it would have made no difference, would it?!"
"I'm a grown woman!" his mother shouted back. "I have my needs! One thing I don't need is a smart-ass kid who's too much of a pansy to think his mother wants an active sex life!"
"You sure as hell needed me," Riku said, his voice low. "I'm your punishment for sleeping around. You didn't even have the sense to use birth control as you were man-hopping, and you got pregnant with me. It's your fault I'm around, not mine. But, you still didn't learn, did you? You got your tubes tied the day I was born, didn't you? You just couldn't go without constant sex, could you? Not even having a tiny child in the house kept you from bringing men home every other day! You're nothing but a street hooker, is what you are!"
"Don't talk to me about sex!" she glowered. "How many slut girlfriends have you had?! How many times have you eaten out that little redhead bitch you always hang around with, huh?!"
Riku totally forgot about the cereal mix on the counter, and his face twisted horribly in rage. How dare she speak about Kairi like that?!
"You take that back," he said, his voice oddly tranquil. He grabbed her collar from across the countertop and yanked her toward him, making her hit the counter edge. "YOU TAKE THAT BACK!!!!!"
A shattering sound filled his ears, and he was thrown to one side by a sharp blow to the side of his head. He staggered and fell, letting go of her, and it wasn't until a minute later that he realized she had grabbed a flowerpot off the end of the counter and smashed it against his head. Potting soil and flowers were strewn everywhere, mostly on him, and he felt water and blood dripping down from his drenched hair.
"GET OUT!" she screamed, making his ears ring. "GET OUT! GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!" When he had grabbed her, the fear instinct had kicked in, and it had mixed with her rage and hate directed at her son, making her momentarily crazy. He saw a cast-iron frying pan in her hand, and she was just about to swing it down at his head…
He dodged instinctively, but wasn't quick enough to avoid the pan. It hit him hard on the shoulder, and he felt his bones creak against the strain. He was lucky they hadn't broken. Pain-wracked, he stumbled to his feet and ran for the door. To hell with this. If his mother wanted to kill him, there was no reason to come back here at all anymore.
His mother was still shrieking at him to get out, and she no doubt still had the pan in her hands, so he threw open the door and ran out, not even sparing a glance back. The problem was, there was a person on the other side of the door, and Riku ran right into her, knocking them both down in a heap on the wooden planks of the walkway. He heard the door slam before he even opened his tightly shut eyes.
"Riku!" a familiar voice gasped, and his blood ran cold. Looking up, his fears were confirmed when he met astonished blue eyes. It was Sora. His heart totally froze when he looked down and realized it had been Kairi who he had inadvertently tackled. He quickly stood up.
"Riku, what in the world is going on?" Kairi asked as she sat up, dismayed.
A dozen thoughts ran through Riku's head, the most prominent of which were to lie or run away. After a long moment of indecision as his two friends stared at him in shocked disbelief, he set his jaw, wiped blood away from his lip, and spoke in a hoarse voice.
"Come on, there's something I should tell you." He turned and walked toward the stargazing platform, not even looking back to see if they were following.
While up there, he told them everything in a carefully tailored monotone, hiding the depths of his intense emotions. Everything was confessed. There were his mother's whorish habits, the neglect, the lack of any love, his abandonment by his father, the screaming matches, the occasional beatings when his mother had "had enough", and his complete and utter loathing for the two people who had had the gall and poor judgment to bring him into the world.
Sora and Kairi listened in silence, completely horrified.
"Oh, Riku," Kairi murmured when he finished, no small amount of guilt in her voice. "We never knew…"
"I know," Riku replied. "You didn't know because I didn't want you to know. You have no idea how ashamed I am of my parents." His eyes glittered noticeably more than normal, and it was obvious he was forcing tears back. However, he blinked rapidly and refused to let them fall.
"But, why do you stay there?" Sora asked after a moment of silence. "You're eighteen, and you have a steady job. Why don't you find a place of your own? It would do wonders for your peace of mind."
Riku sighed. "I had a reason. My reason was that I'm paid minimum wage, and the only available housing in Fate that I can afford is in the slummy districts. All the better housing in my price range has naturally be snatched up first. I thought I'd rather stay here and just avoid my mother instead of living in the ghetto. Now, I'm not so sure."
"I have an idea," Sora said. "You could stay with me. I'm sure my parents wouldn't mind, and they probably wouldn't want any more for rent out of you than you give your mother, and you'd be in much better surroundings. I'm sure you'd be much happier there than with your mother. I'll hopefully be working soon myself, and once I turn eighteen, the two of us can get a place together. Maybe Kairi can live with us, too!"
Riku sat down, thinking it over. Sora had mentioned a few times before that he'd really like for the three of them to live together as roommates once they were all adults. It really did sound like a wonderful idea, especially now.
"All right, Sora," Riku nodded, his spirits lifting already. "That sounds great."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The next morning…
The three friends had ended up staying the night on the Party Island, along with Selphie, Tidus, Wakka, and several other friends. They hadn't yet talked to Sora's parents about Riku moving in, and they were planning to do it this morning. Kairi was sitting on the end of the dock, chatting with Selphie, while most of the others were either still sleeping or milling around different parts of the island, debating when to go back home for breakfast.
Riku was lolling about in a shady patch of grass, half-asleep. His tongue and shoulder were still sore from the morning before, but it wasn't too hard to ignore.
"Riku?" a voice said above him, making him open his eyes. He blinked. A police officer was standing over him. He sat up and saw several of his friends looking curiously over from where they stood or sat.
"Uh…" Riku started, a little confused.
"You're Riku, right?" the officer asked.
Riku nodded.
"We need you to come and ID your mother," the officer said.
"What do you mean, 'ID my mother'?" Riku asked.
"I hate to say this," the officer explained, "but your mother's dead. We found her body in a back alleyway near the city center. Looks like she was out clubbing and just ran into the wrong person. We're investigating to find out who killed her as I speak."
Riku was perfectly still for almost a minute. He felt no sorrow, just…shock. His mother had been screaming at him and attacking him with a frying pan just yesterday, and now she was dead? Murdered? That just felt…unreal.
He stood up. "All right, officer," he said in a flat voice. "I can come right now, if you want."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Well, I guess you don't need to come stay with me, after all," Sora said. He, Riku, and Kairi were sitting on the couch in Riku's living room. Since Riku was his mother's only child, and she had no will, her property reverted to him upon her death, which included the house. Since his grandparents had paid it off when they had owned it, he didn't need to worry about rent or mortgage, though he was responsible for maintenance and bills.
Riku nodded silently.
"Are you okay, Riku?" Kairi asked.
"I'm fine," Riku replied, "just weirded out. All my life, I've hated my mother, and now she's gone, just like that. It's such a big change so suddenly. I kinda feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone. I'm not happy my mother died, since I don't think anyone should be murdered, no matter how bad they are, but I can't exactly say I'm sorry she's dead, either."
Sora and Kairi nodded.
"You know, Sora, we can still live together," Riku said. "When you two turn eighteen, you can move in here with me. There's plenty of room for three people here."
"You mean it?" Sora asked.
"Of course," Riku answered. "You know I don't lie."
"You're the best, Riku!" Kairi smiled. "It'll be great, the three of us living together!"
Riku felt a smile tug at his lips. "I'm sure it will be, Kairi," he said. "I'm sure it will be."
To be continued…Author's Notes: This chapter was very hard for me to write, due to its subject matter. I'm sure it was shocking to plenty of you, maybe even hard to read, and I apologize. I don't really have an explanation for why I gave Riku such a horrible mother, so don't ask. Just accept it as part of my story. No, Riku wasn't lying about not being sorry his mother died. He was telling the truth, not covering up for some deep-down feelings he didn't know he had. He really does feel indifferent that his mother's dead, even though she was murdered. Maybe this makes Riku a bad person, but I'm not changing my story. Many people, sadly, have little or no respect and/or love for one or both parents, maybe even hate them, as Riku does. It's the unfortunate result of the upbringing he got as a child. Anyway, tell me what you think of this chapter in a review or an email to mangareader@hotmail.com, onegai shimasu!
