-1Another one shot, in the same universe as Abscond and Heteromorphic. This one focuses on Cloud/Sora, with hints of LeonRiku and KairiYuffie.
PS. Empyrean is the highest realm of heaven, believed to be the home of the gods and angels.
Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts.
Empyrean
"You can't make me!" Sora screamed, his voice shrill and high like a banshee screech or the hissing of bats in a cave. It was redundancy, a trip back to adolescence when his voice cracked and Riku would make fun and Kairi would laugh. Though now he was facing an impossibility. Could he laugh without Riku and Kairi?
"Sora listen! We have to move! Your dad needs this promotion!"
Words of truth, spoken like a lie. Can you handle the truth? Sora can't. He wants to run away into his tiny bedroom, filled not with expensive materialistic items but with a stuffed Goofy doll, a few shells from the beach, Kairi's good luck charm, memories of what has been, and what could be promised.
"No he doesn't! We're fine the way we are!" And they were. They had running water and heat and AC. Sora had a PS2 and his mom had fancy slothes and nice jewelry. They weren't on wellfare, Sora could afford food in his stomach and clothes in his drawers, but like all people, his parents wanted more.
Why be okay when you can be great? Why be standard when you can be upper middle class? Why suffocate in a small house filled with memories and dreams when you can own a mansion that's silent and echoes just like the ones in Horror Movies. Then when the Grim Reaper comes you can say, look what I accomplished! Look what I got! But did it really matter, when the Grim Reaper took you away anyways?
"Sora, you're be selfish!" His mom's voice was even shriller than his, and he knew she was on the verge of crying. Because all mother's want to do is protect their children and give them the best, but sometimes mothers don't know what is best, and that's when they turn into serpents who turn around and eat their own children. Because for all their heat sensitive vision they are blind to what really matters.
"I'm out of here!" And jumping out his window like a madman escaping from prison, Sora landed in the warm sand of his childhood, where he and Riku would build sand castles and ate pineapple. They could build anything, be anything, and at the end of the day they could save Kairi from the evil witch like two princes riding on noble steeds. And when Sora got sad, Riku and Kairi could just smile at him and promise to be there because they lived like what, two feet away?
They say you never miss what you have until it's gone and they're wrong. Sora cherished every day he'd spent playing in the sand with Riku and playing dress up with Kairi. He'd always remember Riku telling him that yes, Sora, I do like boys, so could you stop calling me a fag, and his, here's my boyfriend Leon, he saved my life once upon a time.
He remembered Kairi's, I'm sorry Sora, I just don't swing that way, but we can still be friends. We can always be friends. We can smile together and play at the beach and eat ice cream sundaes on Monday, just to piss someone off. He remembered Kairi's, meet Yuffie, I guess she's my girl friend, if you really want to label it.
He remembered making out with Riku on a dare and scaring the tourists when Riku's hand brushed his behind, and how Riku had laughed and laughed and laughed, and how Sora had been scared because he enjoyed it. Oh my god, might he be gay?
He remembered splitting the legendary Paopu fruit three ways, a special vow that Riku would never share with Leon and Kairi would never share with Yuffie, because it was just for the three of them. That and the fact that the legendary fruit tasted like shit. Sora had spit his into the ocean, and Riku had joked that if a fish ate his leftovers they would be bound to that fish for all of eternity.
To quote Paris Hilton: that's hot.
So Sora raced across the beach, wondering where his giant, sneaker clad feet might lead him, and he found Paopu's Ice Cream (The Best Ice Cream on the Island.) To Sora and Riku and Kairi, this place was special. Two of his friends had found their significant others at this place. Running up to the store as fast as he could go, Sora didn't see the blonde coming from the opposite direction.
BANG! It was like a nuclear bomb being set off in his head. There went Destiny Islands and Riku and Kairi and the Paopu tree and the Secret place, replaced by stars whirling around the emptiness, teasing him about what he just lost.
"Hey kid, watch where you're going." There was a strong hand, one that spoke of generosity and a tough life, but he survived because he had to. There was a camera and an annoying reporter, and small town Sora might have blushed at being caught in only his jumper if the reporter hadn't shut off the camera and giggled, like a psycho chipmunk. Sora hated chipmunks.
There was blonde hair, as spiky as his own and then some, and bright blue eyes, with just a touch of green at their center, looking like a poison trying to overcome the blue. Like the leaves from the Earth trying to take over the endless blue sky. A small smile spread over thin pink lips, lips that begged to be kissed, but not be Sora, never Sora. Because even though Sora liked kissing Riku, he was not gay. No sir! He was just open minded. Yup, open minded to spreading his legs to this blonde Adonis! Wait, no, he did not think that.
The blonde ruffled Sora's hair, a smile on his face. "Like the style," he smirked, before heading into Paopu's Ice Cream (The Best Ice Cream on the Island.) Sora headed in after him, trying to convince himself that no, he was not staring at the other man's ass. That was something a gay guy might do, and Sora wasn't gay.
"Following me, are you kid?" It was a teasing remark, but Sora felt his anger bubble over anyways.
"I'm sixteen!" He shouted. The other man raised an eyebrow.
"Hi sixteen, I'm Cloud. Want to go out to dinner?" Those blue eyes with just a hint of green looked at him, and Sora wanted to blush but he didn't, because only gay guys blushed around other guys. Speaking of which…
"Sorry, I'm not gay," Sora smiled, happy for telling the other man that, even though he enjoyed kissing Riku and touching his best friend and he wanted to find out what it felt like to touch the blonde, he wouldn't because he wasn't gay. Honestly, he had no sense of style, and the last time he checked, that was half of being gay.
"That's okay. I'm not gay either. So, how about us two not gay guys go to dinner on a not-date?" The camera woman giggled again, lowering her lens. Sora blushed at Cloud, wondering how he was blushing on what was supposed to be the worst day of his life. Usually people cried. Sora was blushing.
He was leaving the island! He was supposed to be miserable! Still, his not-gay eyes roved over Cloud's not-hot body, and he gulped.
"I guess, as long as it's not a date."
And Cloud smiled at him, jotting down his number on a worn out piece of napkin, with a picture of a Paopu fruit dipped in ice cream. And Sora stuffed the phone number of the not-gay man into his not-gay pocket, and stared at him with not-gay eyes.
And then the rest of the day was spent crying with Kairi and sulking with Riku, because he was leaving. Leaving their childhood at only sixteen, in the middle of October. He would be back for Halloween, and Christmas as well, but their would be no more ice cream on the weekends at Paopu's Ice Cream (The Best Ice Cream on the Island.) Their would be no more playing in the sand or streaking Riku's hair pink or playing the dazzling night to Kairi's sheltered princess. He was moving away, though he was not moving on. His heart would stay here, with Riku and Kairi and Paopu's Ice Cream (The Best Ice Cream on the Island.)
Traverse town was twenty miles away. To three teenagers without cars, that's like eons. Still, Riku and Kairi both had older, car-owning partners (who they would never, ever take advantage of, yeah right…), so Sora knew that even if every time he saw Riku the other boy was walking with a limp (which had nothing to do with Leon) or Kairi had lipstick stains on her collar (Yuffie liked to leave marks), they'd still see each other.
Sora waited by Paopu's anxiously, wondering why he was so nervous about a not-date with a not-gay guy. Cloud walked up, this time without the camera woman, and smiled at him.
"Ready?" The older man asked.
"Yeah," the teen replied, ready to face his not-date on the worst noght of his life.
Later that night, when Sora asked Cloud why there was a camera woman around, Cloud replied that he was supposed to find heaven on Earth, tangible places that seemed like a dream. When Sora asked him if he'd found any, he replied, "Only one."
Sora had then smacked him for using the corniest pick up line in the book, and Cloud had given him one of those tiny not quite a smile smiles, and Sora had pouted and blushed. Why was Cloud hitting on him in their not-date anyways. Not-gay guys didn't do that. When Sora had told Cloud that, Cloud had smiled, leaning towards Sora and looking at him with bright blue eyes that had just a touch of green in the center.
"I'm not gay, I'm bi," he responded, his smile broadening. Sora's eyes widened in realization for a second. And then Cloud kissed him, and Sora realized what he meant by heaven on Earth. Yup, kissing Cloud like this was heaven. It was his own empyrean on the worst day of his life.