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 7: A run-in with fate)
Night fell and Sora stumbled homeward, having been left to his own devices after the two troublemakers had been escorted from the bar. No one paid any mind to the brunette who, instead of going to work, stayed in the bar and drunk himself into a stupor. Or at least he'd tried to. Thankfully the bartender had stopped giving him drinks and had insisted he started to head home.
And so he did, stumbling along the pavement as though he was in the middle of a huge earthquake. The few people that passed by whispered to one another about drunkards and whatnot, but their insults went unnoticed by Sora, because he was far too intoxicated to care.
However, Sora being drunk had another side effect... he wasn't even heading home. The brunette managed to stumble his way down to the beach, where he promptly tripped because he wasn't ready for the change from pavement to sand.
"Eat dirt often? Or is this a first time for you?" Came a sarcastic drawl from nearby.
Sora struggled to his feet then slipped back into the sand helplessly.
"Woah... hey are you ok?" The drawl came closer and Sora found strong arms lifting him out of his sandy prison.
Sora wearily glanced up; barely registering the stranger's appearance before his stomach finally gave out on him.
He quickly found himself on all fours puking up all of the alcohol from before while the stranger held him gently around the middle so that he didn't fall in his own sludge.
After the deluge was over Sora passed out, leaving the stranger with very few options.
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(The next morning)
Sora awoke groggily, violently aware of the pounding in his ears. He did the only thing he could; he clapped his hands over his ears in an attempt to shut out the pain.
"Heh... that's not going to help much, here..." Strong arms lifted Sora to a seating position and gently pried his hands from his ears.
"Owwww!" Sora complained as a glass of cool water was forced into his hands.
"Swallow these..." Said the voice and Sora found two white pills being pushed up against his closed lips. Obediently he took the pills in and swallowed them followed by the water in the glass. He grimaced at the feeling of the pills going down his throat.
"Thanks..." Sora managed, making an effort now to turn his attention to his new friend. At the image that surfaced before his sight however, he immediately assumed he was still under the influence of his headache.
"X...xukir?" Sora made a feeble attempt at guessing.
A hearty chuckle erupted from the stranger. "Relax... you don't know me. I found you on the beach stumbling around drunk. You threw up then passed out in my arms. I didn't know where you lived... so I brought you to where I'm staying."
Sora didn't look very relieved, but at least he wasn't panicking now that some stranger had picked him up and taken him home. Somehow, Sora understood that whoever this person was, he'd rescued him. "Uh... thanks." Sora smiled. "I'm Sora..." He introduced from his place on the bed where he'd been placed.
"I go by Kai... nice to meet you Sora." Said the emerald-eyed man, smiling back at Sora.
"You 'go by Kai'? What does that mean?" Sora asked curiously, his headache fading a bit. He could see better now, 'Kai' was very tall with long silver hair and brilliant emerald eyes. He was wearing a long black trenchcoat over a royal purple undershirt and a pair of loose black pants. That's as far as he could see from where he was perched, but it was enough to continue to make Sora doubt his soberness. This man just... he just couldn't be... it had to be another trick of his mind like Xukir.
Kai looked thoughtful for a moment, "Well... Kai isn't my real name... it's a nick name that someone gave to me." He replied.
"Well... ok. But what's your real name?" Sora asked.
"I don't know." Kai replied looking sad.
"You don't know? How come?" Sora continued to probe.
Kai gave him a smirk. "You are awfully curious aren't you? I suppose I should take it as a compliment that you want to know so much about me. But as long as there are questions being asked... I'd like to get a few answered myself after we're done talking about me." He insisted, staring Sora down.
"Well... ok, I guess it's only fair." Sora grumbled, not really wanting to tell this stranger about himself... even though he admonished that the man deserved to know since Sora was asking so many questions.
Kai smiled and pulled up a chair. "Ok then. Well, to make a long story short, I don't know who I am. A very nice young lady found me several years ago and she helped me to get back on my feet. What happened before that though, I have no idea. I have no memories at all of who I was or how that girl found me. I finally left her to try and chase down my lost memories. I'm hoping to run into someone that I knew, before I lost my memories. Seeing some familiar faces is supposed to help with that kind of thing." He explained for Sora's benefit.
"Wow... but how do you know you even had any friends to remember?" Sora asked.
Kai sighed, "The young lady happened to know a little about my past. She said that I had a friend... and when I found them I would know it."
"Oh. Well that's lucky I guess." Sora smiled.
"Yeah... well now it's your turn. What's a guy like you doing getting yourself drunk? You just don't seem like the type to me." Kai asked slyly.
Sora had the grace to blush faintly. "Actually... I've been feeling really low for the past few years. Frankly I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner, and more often. You see my best friend died five years ago... and I... I guess I just haven't gotten over it." Sora said, tears threatening at his eyes.
"Wow... I'm so sorry to hear that. But still, somehow... you strike me as a happy-go-lucky type of guy. This person, your friend, must have been really important to you for you to be so depressed for five years... right?" Kai asked.
"Yeah..." Sora looked up and studied Kai curiously.
"Well then, if you two were so close, by the same token wouldn't they have wanted you to be happy in life? Instead of miserable all the time?" Kai suggested.
"Well... yeah." Sora said thoughtfully, and sounded quite surprised he hadn't happened upon this line of logic before.
Kai smiled, "So your friend is dead... you shouldn't drag their memories through the dust and cling to them in vain. You should remember the happy parts... and let out that smile that I know is in you somewhere."
And Sora did, beaming his first true smile in many years. "Wow... I don't know what to say. I feel so much better now." He said honestly. His smile faded slightly when he noticed the surprised glance in his savior's eyes. "What's up?" He asked.
"Your smile... I... I don't know." Kai said, running a hand through his silver hair and looking a little distressed. "Something about your smile... is very familiar to me." He said quietly.
Sora blinked and sat up. "Really? What do you remember?" He asked.
The cool waves washed along the beach. Big palm trees cast their shadows upon the sand as two very small boys raced along its edge, giggling as the ocean spray tickled them.
"You can't catch me! Na na na na na naaa!" Shouted the silver-haired one who was just ahead of the brunette.
"Rikuuuuu... you're too fast!" The brunette wined as he pumped his little legs as fast as he could.
"Na-uh, you're just too slow." The silver-haired boy responded with a laugh as they raced.
Kai snapped back to reality and shook his head. "I'm not sure... but whatever it is I'm sure that it was connected to your smile." Kai smiled. "C'mon... let's get you home... I'll bet someone is missing that smile of yours."
Sora blinked in amazement, he'd totally forgotten about the outside world! "Heh... yeah I guess so." He accepted a hand up from the older man and together they walked out of the apartment.
Sora led the way back to his own house on the island. Kai following along just to make sure that Sora made it alright, even though the younger man insisted he could find his way home by himself.
"Well here I am... home sweet home." Sora said.
Kai couldn't help but hear the slight amount of sarcasm in the brunette's voice as he unlocked the door to his house.
Sora stepped inside and looked around. "Kairi?" He called out. "You home?" He asked the air.
"Sora! Where on Earth have you been! I've been worried sick about you!" Exclaimed the redhead from the kitchen where she promptly ran over to him from. She nearly knocked him over in her zeal to hug the stuffing out of him. "Don't you ever scare me like that again!"
"Kairi... can't ... breathe." Sora gasped, trying to pry the young woman off of him.
"Oh... sorry." She smiled, releasing her hold slightly and settling for kissing his cheek, which made him pale a bit in annoyance.
"A-hem..." Coughed Kai, slightly miffed by being ignored.
Kairi glanced over to the other man in the doorway, and the coloring in her face dropped significantly. "Y-yes?" She asked quietly, disbelieving her own eyes.
"Oh... Kairi... this is Kai... he uh... saved me." Sora said blushing softly.
Kai bowed his head; "It's a pleasure to meet you Kairi. Your friend here was drunk on the beach last night. I found him and kept him safe." He explained.
"O-oh! Well, thank you very much for returning him." Kairi managed and ushered Sora inside for later when she'd shout off his ear for being so reckless.
Kai and her were now alone in the doorway, and before she could stop herself she finally voiced her reaction. "Riku?" She asked. Her face still quite ashen.
Kai blinked at her and raised his eyebrows. "No, my name is Kai."
"But... you look... exactly... the same." She insisted, not comprehending why, after all these years... she was seeing things now too, just like Sora.
"You are mistaken... surely there must be a lot of people who look like this 'Riku' person." Kai insisted.
"No... he was unique." She replied.
"Besides... how can I be him, if he's dead?" Kai asked smartly.
"Sora told you?" Kairi asked.
"Yeah. Well, I should get going now." Kai turned to leave, and was stopped in his tracks by the person walking up the path.
"Kai!" Chirped the blonde with a big grin on her face.
"Naminé!" Exclaimed Kai, racing forward to hug the blonde. "I thought I'd never see you again!"
Naminé smiled, "Same here. Well it was nice running into you."
"Yeah... see you later." Kai said walking off.
Naminé watched him for a while with a soft smile then turned around to face Kairi. Whose face read 'Spill' all over it.
Naminé gulped quietly. Uh oh.
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Hehe
rozukitsune
