Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, if I did then life would be beautiful
Key:
- Dream State -, Flashback, ' thoughts ', " Dialogue "
----------------------------------------------------------------------------- A change in writing style/time/place/whatever (will notate in () which one)
Author's Note: This is the sequel to An Alternate Ending
Rating: M - for language and graphic images in later chapters
Warning: This is still a Sora/Riku fic… yeah. XD. Deal with it.
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(Chapter 6: The forgotten one and his shadow)
A 21-year-old man walked casually down the street. He had long silver hair with black streaks running through it. His bright green eyes scanned the pedestrians as he passed by. An almost... sinister hue hinting in the dark pupils of his eyes. As he walked down the street a chocolate-haired young man about his own age, that didn't seem to be paying any special attention to where he's going, ran right into him. Green eyes met electric blue.
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(Sora's Pov)
I had been walking down the street when suddenly I ran right into someone. I looked up to apologize... and flash! I saw his green eyes and it triggered an instant reaction inside of me. "R-riku?"
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"R-riku?" Came a startled reply from the brunette. Silver eyebrows arched in mild interest, then the man went back to walking, ignoring the younger man's surprise.
"Hey! Wait! Riku!" The brunette followed along and clamped a tanned hand on the older man's shoulder. This time however when the silver haired man turned around to stare at him... he no longer saw the resemblance. After all ... there were streaks of black in this man's hair!
"Oh... I... I'm so sorry!" Sora muttered sheepishly, his face turning red as a tomato. "I... I guess I mistook you for someone else"
"It's alright... you'd be surprised how often that happens to me." The man replied softly, grinning at Sora. "My name is Xukir... and yours?" The man offered a hand.
Sora shook it and offered a half-smile, "Sora."
"Well, Sora, I was just heading down to the bar. Would you like to come with me?" Xukir offered.
Sora considered the offer seriously. It had been a long time since he'd done anything other than go to work and then go home. Perhaps this outing would be a good first step back into reality.
"Sure... why not." Sora replied falling into step behind Xukir. As they walked Sora took the time to study this strange man. Sora had met all sorts of people in his job as hotel manager... and it was always his inclination to find out everything he could about them.
"So... where are you from?" Sora asked politely as they turned the next corner.
"Oh... here and there, I'm a wanderer." Xukir said.
"Really? Wow, I'll bet that's interesting. Meet all sorts of people; see all kinds of places. But wouldn't you get home sick? Or ... wish that you had a place to call home?" Sora asked curiously, rambling out loud.
Xukir chuckled, "Actually I generally keep to myself... there are few people, like you, that I spend any time with at all on my travels. I think I'm searching for something, but I don't know what."
Sora nodded sagely, "Well... yeah. I mean you're a wanderer... so you'd have to be searching for something."
The two entered the bar and paused a moment at the door for their eyes to adjust to the darkness before they walked in and found a place to sit.
Xukir insisted on paying for the drinks and then relaxed into his chair.
"So... tell me more about this 'Riku' person that you mistook me for earlier." Xukir said conversationally, sipping his beer.
Sora's smile fell slightly and his electric blue eyes found something fascinating to stare at on the floor. "Uh... nah, that's not really a good conversation."
Xukir raised a silver eyebrow. "Oh come on now, it can't be that bad. You were chasing after me like you'd found your best friend!" He reminded Sora.
Sora seemed thoughtful, then resigning himself to the inevitable he took a very large gulp of his wine, coughed a bit, then set his drink down on the table and got his wits about him.
"Well... Riku... he... um. Well, he was my best friend." Sora offered, starting with Xukir's comment.
"Was?" Xukir asked.
"Yeah... he... he died... five years ago." Sora managed, clearly making an effort not to come to tears.
"He died? I'm so sorry to hear that." Xukir said... and although his voice sounded anything but apologetic, Sora didn't notice his odd tone of voice and broke into sobs.
"I killed him! I killed my best friend... " Sora sobbed.
"Shhh! Get a grip on yourself man! Seriously... you can't still be blaming yourself after five years!" Xukir said in alarm, glancing around to make sure they weren't bothering anyone.
"No! You don't understand... I really killed him! I was the one with the keyblade in my hands... he was the one bleeding on the other end." Sora said sharply.
Xukir looked surprised, "So... you're a murderer? Then what the hell are you doing out of jail?"
"No! I... I didn't want to kill him! We were friends. Best friends." Sora tried to explain.
"Can't have been that great if you killed him." Xukir said bluntly.
"Look, you have to understand! I wasn't myself... if I only hadn't denied my own heart... if I only hadn't let the darkness take me in... I would never have killed Riku... I loved him." Sora sobbed.
Xukir's expression calmed slightly. "Loved?" He asked in confusion.
"Riku... he... I hadn't seen it. I was just a dumb kid. He wanted me... and I refused him. Why? Because I didn't understand it... oh how I wish I had understood. Riku loved me. And... I loved him back... I was just too stubborn to admit it."
As Sora ranted and rambled... Xukir was paying exceptionally close attention, more attention than any normal person would have been giving Sora as he drunkenly spilled his heart out to this guy he barely even knew.
But surprisingly, he wasn't the only one giving Sora his full attention. Someone sitting nearby was also watching the brunette with a very strange expression in their eyes...
"And after his death I've been seeing him in myself... everytime I look at my reflection in anything. And the doctors say that it's normal... but it's NOT normal! Normal people see the dead in OTHER people... not themselves. And you're the only person that I've ever seen him in besides me! How does that make any sense!" Sora rambled some more, at the moment he was venting his annoyance at the psychiatric system. This part in particular was interesting to both of his onlookers.
"You see him in yourself...?" Xukir muttered softly, gathering Sora's surprised attention.
"Wha? Uh yeah." Sora stumbled in his tirade, surprised that he still had an audience.
"That's not normal at all." Xukir responded quietly.
"I KNEW it! Tell me more!" Sora insisted, leaning over and paying rapt attention... well as rapt as he could being drunk.
"Well, from what you've told me so far... I'd say that the moment he died a piece of him found it's way into you." Xukir offered, watching Sora's reaction carefully.
Sure enough a lightbulb seemed to have turned on in the brunette's head. A memory swam before his eyes... of that final strike. How Riku's body had slowly begun to disappear into sparkles. Sparkles of both light and darkness. Sora vaguely recalled some of those sparkles heading towards him, following the light of the keyblade. Sora had grabbed at them, trying to hold onto them... and they'd disappeared into his skin. He hadn't thought much of it at the time.
"Yeah!" Sora replied finally, nodding and waiting for Xukir to continue.
"Well, technically... that happens very rarely... but it means that Riku is actually... sort of alive. Inside of you. That's why you can see him in yourself. Because he really is a part of you." Xukir explained.
"Alive?" Sora's expression was priceless; his eyes went wide as saucers and a brilliant shimmer of hope flared within their blue depths.
"Well... uh... not exactly alive. Anyway... if you ever want to get over him, you're going to have to let them go." Xukir said somberly.
"How?" Sora asked, his happy bubble bursting and leaving him even more pathetic looking than before.
"Well, you have to want to get over him. You have to consciously will him to go away. You have to want him to leave, and want to forget his memories. They're being a burden on you Sora! Don't you want them to go away?" Xukir said, gripping the boy's shoulders and shaking him.
"NO!" Came a shout from the other side of the room. Moments later a blonde young man tossed himself at Xukir and knocked him away from Sora, the two of them wrestling fiercely on the bar's floor. Immediately the bartender called the police and hopped over the counter top to stop the fight.
Sora sat there completely stupefied by the whole mess. Who the hell was this other guy? Where'd he come from? And what business of his was it that Sora may or may not have said yes to Xukir anyway?
Xukir fought off his attacker, the two of them rolling across the floor and crashing into tables. Fists flew as one or the other gained the upper hand and there were many bruises forming on either man.
At last the two men were pulled apart, lips and noses bleeding profusely. Xukir managed to get a good look at his attacker before the police started their questioning to figure out who it was they were supposed to arrest.
Blue eyes... electric blue eyes.
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Buahahaha... can you guess who? Sorry this chapter took so long; I couldn't decide whom to introduce in this part.
rozukitsune
