Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, because seriously… me… own KH… get real…

Leo: I can't believe it… it's the final chapter…

Molokai: Wow… then you get to finish your other works, like Tortured Soul and I'm Not Gay…

Leo: Yea, so you guys can look forward to seeing the updates to those ones pretty soon… and now let's go to the finale of this story… and considering that it is the final chapter there won't be any final comments by me at the bottom of the page… so please read and review…

Chapter 12 – Finale

The band's plan was to keep Sora under constant supervision, wherever possible, meaning that he was kept under 18 hour constant surveillance by any one member of the band or by Riku. The other six hours were for everyone, including Sora, to have some sleep so they could recharge for the next day, where it happened over and over again.

This went on for a couple of weeks, where the band managed to finish their second album, with some killer new songs made by Sora, and it also included some of their earlier works that Sora made such as Sweet as Sugar and the acoustic song that Sora was singing, while Leon was eavesdropping whilst they were in Destiny City called Feeling a Moment.

With their latest album soon to be released, the band went on to make videos to whatever the producer thought would be the best songs for the mainstream public. So instinctively they went back to the place where they had their other videos done to begin with, right where their first video was recorded, edited and made into a hit. When the band got out of their bus, it felt… right.

There they spent an entire day shooting for one of their hits, which was all that they decided to do so far, as the prepared themselves for the big release of their second album. This required the entire band to be present at one of the leading music stores for special signings and a special discussion that their label insisted that they had, much to the band's displeasure.

So the band were currently retiring to their own places for the rest before the big release day for them, and of course, Riku was carefully looking over Sora making sure that he wasn't doing anything stupid. But for the fourth time that night alone, Riku found that Sora was quiet, calm and very peaceful, as he lay in the bed, looking up at the ceiling in a feign interest trying to sleep.

"Sora?" Riku questioned, slightly nudging his love in the side to get his attention, which he quickly got by the ex-brunette.

"Yea, what is it Riku?" Sora lightly spoke, his voice rich with love and compassion, that the other male quickly noticed.

"You alright?"

"Yea, just can't get to sleep that's all…" Sora trailed off as he went back to looking at the strange discolouring of the room of his apartment, probably caused by the upstairs neighbour, who normally ignored or hated the singer.

Riku smiled and gave his lover a quick peck on the lips before wrapping his arms around Sora and pulling him in close. The silver haired male then rested his head against Sora's, receiving an intoxicating smell of berry that was normally in the singers shampoo and conditioner that he always used. The smell lingered on Riku's nose which made him burying himself into Sora's head, if it were possible, to try and keep that tingling sensation within him.

"Riku…" Sora moaned a little as nuzzled himself into his lover's chest, hearing the small beats of the other's heart. The repeated beating and his extreme comfort within the arms of Riku started to make the singer drowsy, becoming filled as a wave of contentment rushed through him dragging him off to sleep.

The next morning, Riku awoke to find his arms empty and the sounds of rushing water coming from the bathroom area. Just as a precaution Riku slowly entered the room to find Sora quietly showering, and luckily for Riku and his control over his "urges" he was blocked by the cloud of moisture flowing from the tops of the shower area, as well as the fogged up screen door.

"Riku are you spying on me?" Sora coolly asked, with his back facing Riku, causing the other to jump slightly where he was.

"N…No Sora… what makes you think that?" Riku answered slightly scratching the back of his head, muttering out an answer.

"Let's see… one you entered the room and looked at me… two, you're still here… and three…" Sora turned around and opened up the door and looked at Riku, whilst hiding himself behind some of the glass, "you're looking straight at me with a scarlet blush right across your face…" Sora gave a small laugh as Riku's face turned the same colour as that of a tomato at Sora's comments.

"Well can I join you?" Riku slyly asked, taking off his shirt and pants slowly, not letting no be an answer for his love.

"Obviously, considering that you are taking off your clothes… hey!" Sora squealed a little as Riku wrapped his arms around Sora's waist, and closed the door, making sure that no one else could see them, if the intruded.

Riku started giving small kisses on Sora's shoulder blades, which soon turned into small nips and licks. Each time Riku slowly closed his teeth around Sora's skin, the younger male gave a small gasp and moaned, once the other's tongue touched the surface. With each moan that Sora gave, it enticed Riku to go further, giving himself into his sexual needs.

Sora gave a quiet, but apparent moan once Riku's hands reach the other's thighs, gently stroking the insides of them, causing the younger to fall limp against Riku's grip, making him completely manipulated.

"Riku, stop…" Sora struggled to get those words out, considering that he was enjoying it as much as his lover was.

"Why?" Riku question pulling his arms away from Sora, holding his hips instead

"Because by the clock on the wall, we're not even dressed yet, and we're supposed to be at the store in twenty minutes."

"So?"

"The store is a twenty minute drive from here…"

Both men hurried to get properly showered and dressed and began to head out of Sora's apartment before the younger male quickly told Riku to wait as he did one small thing before they left. This small thing that he wanted to do actually took five or so minutes, earning him a quizzical look from the other male, only for him to dismiss it as the hurried towards their car and drove off.

Exactly twenty minutes since they left their apartment, they entered the store to find their label producer managing to hold off the crowd that were anxious to see the band and get their new album. Seeing this sight, the two snuck in through the back door and caught up with the rest of the band, who immediately got on both of their cases about their tardiness to this event, earning a bunch of apologises from Riku who took the blame for this occurrence.

However, since they weren't that late, their wasn't any major rioting going on, and within minutes the iron gates that closed the shop lifted, allowing the hoard of fans to bombard the band as they started to sign the albums that were being purchased by these people. Whilst the first ten minutes were hectic as multitudes of albums were pushed under their noses for them to sign, the action settled down as security managed for the fans to line up and actually orderly proceed towards the band members who individually signed those albums, giving it back to the fan who normally stared at the front cover in shock.

However, for the most part, Sora kept looking at the time on the wall, not that he was disinterested in signing a bunch of albums for his fans, he just kept watching the seconds ticking over. Out of the corner of his eye, Leon saw this, whilst signing album after album, determined to find out what was going through the singer's mind.

Finally lunchtime came, and the band members were able to take a break to go and grab something to eat in the mall, whilst able to dodge the mass of people that were eager to approach them for autographs and that. They all ordered from the nearest shop and brought back their lunch to their signing desks where they all started to talk about the hype of their next album, and how that would great for them if it were able to spread overseas. Heck, even Sora was involved in the conversation, which Leon noticed, and he stopped looking at that infernal clock on the wall that seemed to be stuck at nine in the morning.

Once the food was finished, the band was slightly relieved to hear that they had an hour and a half to do whatever they pleased before the final session of signing before the interviews with some select members of the press.

"Sorry guys, I really need to go…" Sora said hastily as he raced into the nearby bathroom to attend his needs. Everyone noticed the speed of Sora's exit, but they all shrugged their shoulders and went back to discussing the possible future of the band and themselves as artists as well.

However, their interests on Sora's whereabouts were raised as they looked at their watches to find that the singer had been missing now for an hour, considering that their conversation was very long. Leon decided to look around some areas of the centre to see if he went window shopping, whilst Riku went to search the bathrooms… just in case.

For Riku, once he stepped foot inside that room, it was if time itself slowed down…

He noticed a distinct smell of fresh blood in the air, and small blotches of the red liquid trailing along the ground. His eyes widened thinking about Sora and his normal tendencies, and raced to where the trail led…

And when he laid his eyes upon the end of the trail, it felt as if the entire world was about to crash down around him. His heart had stopped beating for a few seconds as he looked at the scene in front of him.

There, huddled into the hidden corner of the pristine white bathroom was Sora. His eyes were slightly gazed, and his lips parted as he slowly drew in much needed breaths. He was breathing heavily due to two horizontal slits on his wrists, draining away his blood, which was trailing off towards the exit of the bathroom.

"Sora…" Riku managed to say after moments of staring at his dying boyfriend, who just sat in the corner, slowly breathing, staring at the far wall.

"I…I'm so sorry…" Tears began to fall from the corners of the singer's eyes as he attempted to stand, but realising that he's lost all strength in his arms and legs, he just collapsed back into the corner, sobbing.

Riku knew that he needed to stop the bleeding around Sora's wrists, and to get help immediately, but he couldn't leave Sora's side. Something within Riku knew that this is the way that Sora wanted to go, and he should be by his side until the very end. Caught up within his inner conflict about whether to save Sora or to be by his side, his mind was made up when he heard the door opening.

"QUICK! CALL THE AMBULANCE! NOW!" Riku yelled at whoever it was, as he grabbed Sora's nearly limp body and helped him stand as he moved his boyfriend towards the sinks in the room. There, he turned on the water and started to clean up the wounds on his wrists, only for them to continue pouring out more blood onto the younger male's arms.

"Riku… it's no use… I cut it really deep…" Sora's breathing started to get even heavier as he spoke.

"Why Sora… why?" Riku began to cry as he looked into the hazy depths of Sora's eyes.

"My will…" Sora began to speak but he started to cough up blood, cutting himself off.

"What about your will?"
"My will… has everything… you want…t…to know…" Sora finished as he began to close his eyes, giving himself into death's clutch, but Riku had other plans.

"Sora… you are not dying on me you understand…" Riku's tears were starting flow at a rapid state down his cheeks as he felt Sora's life force drain from within his arms, slowly but surely.

"I'm…so…sorr…y… I… lo…ve…yo……" Sora never got to finish his sentence as he fell limp in Riku's arms, his sapphire eyes, turned dull and a blank stare replaced the sadness and depression that they held.

Sora… was dead…

------------------------------------------------( 2 weeks later )---------------------------------------

The lone will sat on top of Sora's old bed, it was unfolded and read by Riku to the rest of the band, who were morning the loss of their closest friend and partner. The will had described the way in which he wanted to have the funeral, which allowed his parents to commit what service they wanted.

However, there was a small letter attached to the back of the will for the band's eyes only. On it was Sora's departing gift to them, his final lyrics, which he spent most of his final days writing it for their next album, if the band ever wanted to continue on without him.

For all of them, he wrote them all separate notes about why he decided to kill himself, and gave them his final wishes and promises, as well as his hopes about their futures. For Riku, he hoped that he would be able to move on and find true love. For Leon and Yuffie, he wished them the best wedding, and left them his wedding present of two rings. For Cloud, he wished him good luck on a promising guitaring career, and Tidus received a congratulations for releasing his signature bass guitar.

The band sent two identical letters to two different locations, but the same reply came back. One was sent to Sora's family, who instantly started to arrange the funeral preparations. The other went to Namine and Roxas, who instantly replied back saying that they would be there, and give their own little speech.

When it came to the funeral, there was a grand procession into a huge chapel, with candles and wreaths placed around the coffin. The priest gave a small but heart-warming eulogy about Sora's life and how he had his own place in heaven by now. Then it came for his family to give their own speeches about Sora and then a local band played one of his songs as the casket was taken out of the chapel.

However, out of all the seats that were taken, seven people were missing.

In fact, when the coffin was taken into the back of the hearse, the car went in the completely opposite direction of the cemetery. The car did arrive at the top of a small cliff, overlooking the sea, with the sun hanging low above the horizon, casting a beautiful orange glow over the sea. On the cliff was a large cherry blossom tree that was in full bloom, and underneath it were six people.

The seventh person step out from the passenger seat when the car arrived, and help carry the coffin towards the cliff, where it was laid down gently. There, the seven people, who were the band members, Riku, Roxas and Namine, all opened up the coffin and gently picked up Sora's body and placed it onto of a small alter that they had prepared on the cliff.

The alter was surrounded by small white and purple flowers of all varieties. Once Sora was laid upon the alter, Leon grabbed one of Sora's favourite lyrics and laid them atop of him, soon followed by his classical black Les Paul guitar, that had been stripped off all of its' metal.

The seven people stood around the alter before Leon was the first to start a speech about Sora.

"Sora… I'm sorry that you thought that this was the way to go. I know you did it to stop all of the pain, and I know that you did it to stop us from hurting, and we all thank you for it. If you can hear this speech, then I hope you can understand our grief about your departure, but in the end it was your choice. I thank you for what you have done for the band, preparing us our record deal, helping us get two albums next to our names and a killer tour, the band and I appreciate it. But I think I should hand it over to a person that probably knew you better than anyone else." Leon stepped to the side to let Roxas step up to the head of the alter and gaze upon Sora's unchanged face.

"I feel like the enemy of the nation right now Sora. I overreacted about your sexuality, and I wish I could go back and change it Sora. God, I wish I could stop what I did, because in fact… I didn't mind at all. I was just so shocked that I knew you for thirteen years and to have you see me for the first time in four years to have you say that. Fuck, I was an idiot Sora…" Roxas collapsed at the alter and started to cry, "Fuck Sora, did I drive you to it? I'm so sorry…" Namine came over and helped her distressed brother to his feet as he tried to regain composure, allowing Riku to have the final speech.

"Sora, you were the only one I could consider as my true love. I know you want me to move on but I don't think I can. You were everything to me Sora…" Riku was trying to hold back the tears that were about to fall, but he couldn't. One by one, the tears started to fall from his eyes and he continued, "Sora, you were always there for me, and I never was there for you. I caused that first cut in your right arm, when I said that I loved another person and not you. I caused you to be what you became when you could have become even more… I'm sorry that I held you back… and I'm sorry for everything I've done wrong Sora." Riku lightly kissed two fingers in his right hand, then placed them on Sora's forehead.

Once Riku stepped away from the head of the alter, Leon reapproached it, this time with a small ceremonial stick. At one end was a small amount of burnable material, which he alighted and then after a small breath, he lit the alter.

As the flames spread over the alter and over Sora's body, everyone remained completely silent as the flames burnt everything they touch. It was Sora's final wish was that his family could have the funeral, but the select seven would have their own proper farewell. The band and Riku had discussed with Roxas and Namine that Sora probably would love to be in a setting like this and cremated, instead of buried in the Earth or stuck in an urn.

When they could see that their own cremation was nearly completed, Cloud took out an acoustic guitar from a nearby guitar case and started playing a small melody whilst the flames continued to flicker in the soft wind.

Whilst Cloud was playing, an amazing sight happened. Some of the cherry blossoms were swept away with the wind, creating a storm of pink petals that began to float from the tree down to the ground, though some soon eventually were swept off the cliff and onto the sea.

When the flames died down, revealing the ash remains, everyone collected a handful of the ash and stood near the edge of the cliff. They all looked out over the ocean and felt another small gust of wind on their backs scattering a few more petals from their backs as they simultaneously let go of the ashes, casting them with the petal into the ocean.

And with the wind continually upon their backs they looked over the view in front of them, each individually reflecting upon Sora and how he would appreciate this view. Leon broke the silence to give his final farewell.

"There he goes… a solo voice in the wind."

THE END