Here's something I just wrote one night while listening to Levanter on repeat. It's such a beautiful song and I recommend that you give it a listen. There's a Korean version, an English version, and a Japanese version. Here is a link to the song: watch?v=Fpgd3ac3_nM

sleep tight

"Are you ready for tomorrow?"

"Hm? Oh, yes. Why wouldn't I be?"

Kairi and Riku had been lazing in Sora's room for longer than they could try and guess. Kairi had positioned herself on his bed, while Riku had perched himself on the desk, careful not to knock anything over or hit the lamp dangling near his head. Both knew the space should feel cozy, familiar – they had spent countless days in here with Sora – but it felt simultaneously too big and too claustrophobic without him.

Riku readjusted himself, delicately lifting his leg, which had been dangling off the side of the desk, and tucked it underneath his other one. "You sure? You don't know what they'll do. You could wake up and your brain could be replaced with oatmeal."

"Hey!" Kairi leaned forward to swipe at her friend, the latter letting out a short bark of a laugh as he evaded her.

"Careful, Kairi, you'll hit the lamp," he said teasingly as she scooted back into the corner of the bed, smoothing out the now-rumpled covers beneath her.

"I was aiming for you, but that was close enough," Kairi grumbled, suppressing a smile. She looked up at Riku, and that one glance was all it took for them to lose their composure.

"I don't… even… know why we're… laughing this… hard," Riku forced out between deep gasps, having gripped onto the corners of the desk as not to fall off.

"It wasn't even funny," Kairi giggled. Once the laughter had died down and Riku had wiped his tears (which he refused to acknowledge), Riku sighed.

"No, but really, Kairi, are you ready?" His tone wasn't as lighthearted as it was before.

"I told you before. I'm ready," she said simply.

"Kairi…" Riku looked down, licking his lips. She could see he was tugging at the sleeve of his glove, which he hadn't yet taken off. "I'm not going to lie, I'm a little scared about all of this. I mean, you're going under, and we don't know how long Ansem will be taking in whatever it is he's doing. We don't know how long it will take for you to wake back up. I know this probably won't happen, but it could take… it could take years."

Kairi swallowed. She hadn't thought of that possibility. She knew that she would be sleeping for a while, and Ansem told her the process probably wouldn't be too disturbing. It would be like any other sleep, he said. But… years?

She inhaled, feeling the coolness flood her nose. It would probably be one of the last times she would consciously feel that for a while, she realized. "That is true, but…" She tried to keep her voice as calm as she could. When she thought about it, he had to admit that she was a little scared. But she had to keep it together for Riku. If he was scared – which never really happened – she would have to be the stable one here. She looked Riku in the eye. "I would do anything to get Sora back. Anything. Even if it means going under for years. I trust Ansem, and besides, it's for a good cause."

Riku nodded, breaking eye contact. "Yeah." The room was filled with a long, long silence. Kairi expected the silence to make herself more unsure, but she found that it only made her choice more solid. It was for the better. It was for Sora.

"Kairi." Riku's voice cut her thoughts in half.

"Hm?"

"I'd like to show you something. Is that okay?"

"Well, yeah. Wanna sit down here?" She patted the space next to her on the bed. Although Riku hesitated, Kairi soon found her friend plopped down next to her.

"What is it?" She asked him.

"Well…" Riku dug around in his pockets until he pulled out his Gummiphone. The screen lit up, his lockscreen wallpaper a picture of him, Kairi, and Sora, all beaming at the camera. A hand was poked up behind Riku's head in a bunny ear shape – Sora's hand, Kairi remembered – and Riku's hand was positioned in a shaka sign, the other arm wrapped around Sora's shouder, crouching to meet his height. Kairi was on Sora's other side, visibly standing on her toes to get to Sora's height, hands on his shoulder for support. As Riku swiped the screen open, Kairi smiled sadly to herself.

"So anyway, you know how you can download games and stuff on here?" Riku asked, fingers dancing over the screen as he sifted through various apps. "Apparently you can do that with music, too."

"Oh?" Kairi leaned closer to get a better look at what he was doing.

"While we were travelling around – you know, after we came back here the first time? – I downloaded a bunch of music from all the different worlds. At first, I thought they wouldn't play once we left the world, but they all work just fine."

"That's cool! You have to teach me how to do that," Kairi replied, realizing as soon as the words came out of her mouth that she wouldn't really be needing that skill anytime soon.

"Sure, when I get the chance," Riku said, selecting an app and clicking a name. "As I was saying before, I found this song and now I can't really stop listening to it. To be honest, it reminds me of Sora a little."

"…oh?" Her voice had quieted.

He nodded. "Yeah… have you ever heard of the word 'levanter' before?" Kairi hummed as she shook her head. "Me neither, I think. I may have heard it in passing from one of the parents, like, once, but that's really all. Apparently, a levanter is a strong Mediterranean wind." He shrugged. "I don't really know what the Mediterranean is, but Sora may have mentioned it once? It might be an ocean thing."

Kairi nodded, resting her head on Riku's shoulder. He hadn't cut his hair in a while, and it was reaching the length it used to be at when he was 15. It wasn't as long as it had been before he cut it into the short, spiky look he had worn it as recently, but it was just long enough to put in a ponytail if he wanted to. A lock brushed against her cheek, and she let out a breathy laugh.

"Anyway, that's what the song was called. "Levanter". It's about letting go of something that you didn't expect to lose, I think. Uh… yeah. So." Riku's finger hesitated over the 'unpause' button, but after a barely audible shaky breath, he pressed it.

The faint sound of a keyboard faded in.

"Oh, and before the actual song starts," Riku murmured quietly and quickly, pressing the pause button. Kairi looked up at him. "What? I don't want to ruin the song."

She laughed softly. "Good choice, I guess."

He smiled warmly at her, then looked back down at the phone. "As I was saying, there are multiple versions of this song in multiple languages, but we're listening to the English version since we'll both understand it. The original song is in a language I'm pretty sure neither of us know – Jiminy said it's called… Korean, I think? – and there's a different version in Japanese, which you understand, but I don't. Well, I'm learning."

"And you're doing great," Kairi said.

"Thank you, Kairi. I'm glad someone appreciates my efforts here." Kairi let out another soft laugh. She missed the warm parts of Riku that slipped away when Sora did. "This is a version in English, which we both understand. I… I'm going to start it again. That good?"

Kairi nodded, and Riku unpaused the song. The keyboard faded in once again, and eventually, so did a hi-hat.

Never wanted anything so much as you, never crossed my mind that I could ever lose

I had this picture in my head of all the promises you made

But you turned 'em into dust, empty handed now I'm lost

I know I gotta let go, with no regrets you're already gone.

Kairi closed her eyes, wrapping her hand around Riku's arm. So far, the song was mellow, but not in a way that makes you disinterested.

I let my dreams tie me down

Is it too late, can I break out?

They say it's darkest of all before the dawn.

Kairi felt her lips turn up slightly. The higher register was soft and dreamy, and made her feel both warm and somewhat sad at once.

I wanna be myself, I don't care

Yeah I gotta be myself, just don't care

And now that your weight's come off my shoulders, I realize that I can fly

I needed to find me, now I know the key was inside of me all along

I'm listening to my heart, let it guide me, I feel the light, I feel the light.

She could feel a soft vibration from Riku's shoulder as he part hummed, part sang with the song.

I never stopped to find my way, I always thought it was a race

To win it all and that you were the prize

The closer I got the more I lost, my soul, it was slowly fading

She opened her eyes, looking up at Riku as the song continued playing, rough vocals mixing with a soft instrumental. He seemed almost spaced-out, something that she didn't see often in him. He didn't look sad, or happy, or anything really. He was, in a sense, anywhere but here. She reached her free hand out to tap his shoulder or fix his hair, but put it back on her knee again, resting her head back on him. They had gone through so much, and they could afford at least one more peaceful moment, right?

This is the end of the road

I'm holding out for a new hope

'Cause it's the darkest of all before the dawn.

By this point, she had a gist of the song, and began humming along with the chorus. Her eyes fluttered shut again, as they continued to listen to the song. They hadn't budged for so long that she felt like she had petrified, but it wasn't a bad feeling. The pure absence of movement – an odd feeling, but not unwelcome. Kairi realized, with a pang of melancholy, that she hadn't had the chance to stay still for several years now, and that starting tomorrow, that will be all she knows for the foreseeable future.

She could feel Riku's breathing slow, and what usually was an uneven rise and fall of his shoulders became a uniform, soothing rhythm. His breaths were almost in tandem with the music. Kairi came to another realization, one that filled her with yet another much stronger pang of melancholy: on her last night truly, truly awake, she would not have wanted to spend it anywhere else.

The music stopped.

It's all good now.

The instruments chimed in again, and Kairi let out a little breath that she had apparently begun holding when she wasn't noticing. The chorus refrained, and the music faded out. For a while after that, neither of them moved.

"Riku?" Kairi whispered finally, cracking an eye open and looking up.

Riku opened his eyes like he had just woken up from a deep sleep. "Mm?"

"It was good. It was really good."

"Yeah?" He smiled, albeit a little weakly. "Glad to hear it."

She hummed. More silence. "Riku?"

"Mm?"

"You know I love you, right?"

"Hmm?" Though still sleepy, this one was more playful, matched with a single raised eyebrow.

She laughed, swatting at him as she lifted her head off of his shoulder. "No, not that way, weirdo."

She could hear him chuckle, more of a rumble than anything. "I know, Kairi. I'm only playing." A pause. "I love you too."

"Good," she smiled. "And I'll still love you, even when I'm asleep. No matter how long I'm in there, it'll still be me. Same ol' Kairi, snoozing or not."

A sad smile crossed Riku's face, then was gone. His eyes were shining – with tears, maybe? – and he was toying with the sleeves of his gloves again.

"Let me, these can't be too comfortable at this hour," Kairi offered, reaching over and tugging lightly on the glove. He watched silently as he let her peel the gloves off of him.

She handed them back to him once he was done and watched him roll them up and stuff them in his pocket. "I'll miss you. A lot."

"I know. But I'll be back."

"I know, but… I can't help but feel like I'm being left alone here, you know? I mean, Sora's…" he couldn't bring himself to say the word – "… and now you're going under and we don't know when you're coming back out. It'll be just me."

"Aw, come now," Kairi said, trying to make her tone as comforting as possible. In truth, she was probably another sentimental word away from waterworks. "You won't be alone. You have the King, Roxas, Naminé, Terra, Donald, Goofy…"

"I know that," Riku said. "It just won't be the same. I grew up with you two, and I loved you both more than anything. I still do. It just hurts to have both of these things taken away from me, even if they will come back someday."

Kairi opened her mouth to speak, but settled on looking up to blink back tears instead. "Great, Riku. Now look what you did," she said, trying to keep a lighthearted tone but sounding more like a mixture between that and choked up. "You're the second guy to make me cry on this island specifically in the span of three months."

"I don't know whether to take that as an honor, or…" Riku said. Kairi let out a wet laugh and gave Riku a light punch in the arm. "Who was the first, though?"

"…it was Lea."

"Where does he live?"

"Riku!" Kairi laughed, tilting her head back forward and wiping her nose. "In his defense, he cried too. It wasn't a good night."

"I'd bet," Riku chuckled, ruffling Kairi's hair. After their laughter died down, he flopped back onto the bed, the mattress whoosh-ing under his weight.

"Kairi?"

"Yes?"

"Promise me you'll come back."

"I promise, Riku. I'll come back."