The Departure from the Safety of Childhood
Nine years have past, and Riku had grown into a tall and muscular teenager. Which he showed off well in his vest that was yellow in the front and black on the sides and back with a yellow collar. He tended to stay with the yellow vest style, even as a child, though as a child his vest had a larger collar and blue trim which zipped down below his collar bone.
His style had matured since then, and yet still gave off a vibe that was him. Such as: his vest having more detail to it with two crisscrossing straps that went over his chest and on is upper back that were trimmed with white and had a white stud on each end; his two blue bracelets with a yellow middle strip on his wrists had been replaced with two tight black bracelets while on his hands were a black and gray gloves that reached to the base of his thumb. His choice of white and blue shoes had mostly stayed the same with age. But he had replaced the black, knee-past shorts with dark blue-gray pants. A black belt with a silver rectangular buckle high on his waist secured his pants; however, most of his pants were covered by blue wading pants held up by black straps that were layered and had studs and were tightened at ankle with small black belts.
He had picked up the wading pants style from his fisherman dad, whom had taken him along on his catches on multiple occasions. During these times, his adoptive father had taught him many things about his way of life and trades, about fishing, rationing and balancing with the water population, and safety measures in case of being stranded at sea. Riku had even helped along with his dad with lumbering for wood to help repair and upkeep their boat, and at sometimes building boats for paying clients. Riku would have to say one of his fondest moments with his adoptive dad was the time when they built a raft together when he was smaller and went a little off shore to test it out. Nothing but the sun and the two of them with a cooler of cold drinks and ice-cream, dipping their feet in the waters, the memory alone always warmed his heart.
Surprisingly he had retained his pale skin, even after all those times spent helping his adoptive father with the fishing rounds and hanging out on the beach with his friends. His hair had grown shoulder-length, much longer than he had it as a child, and the bangs weren't as side-swept anymore. His mother would say he had inherited such complexion from his father, and was starting to look more and more like him everyday.
But Riku didn't really care for that, but would never say anything about it for his mother's sake. He had no fondness for this mysterious biological father, this 'Sephiroth'. The man was never there and was a bane in his side. Always having to hide from him, being separated from his original home because of him. Having to be taken away from his mother to only see her through the veils of a dream because of his corrupted existence. And what was worse of all, was this eerily subconscious urge of having to compete with him for his mother's love. The whole thing was ridiculous, being jealous over a man he's never even met before because he possibly had an advantage over Riku with his mother. It was childish, and irrational, he knew; but, he couldn't help it. He knew his mother still loved the man, he could hear it in her voice, but he could never understand how she could still love the man that keeps them apart. And deep down, in the darkest pits of his heart, Riku feared that she loved that man more than him. That one day... she would truly abandon Riku for him instead.
But that was pure foolishness. Darkened thoughts that he kept locked away in deepest part of his heart, locking the door and hiding the key. He knew his mother loved him, she made sure he knew it every time they would meet in their dreamworld. She would always listen, give him advise about his trouble, talk about her day or what she had been up to. She even started teaching him basic magic skills. Only demonstrating for him to try on his own when he wakes up, since she didn't want him accidentally casting Fire of Thunder on his room while he was still sleeping. She had heard his sincere wish of wanting to get stronger in order to protect those that were precious to him, ever since he was a little boy. He was such a good boy, a kind and loyal boy with such a selfless wish. And she would do anything that she could to nurture such a wish. For him, and for her, to ease her heart. For she knew she had to help get him strong, strong enough to keep him safe.
He was getting the knack for it. Although he felt like it wasn't happening fast enough. And the magic he cast were so draining, he'd end up having to eat double his usual intake during meals to make up for the energy lost. His dad thought it was cause he was a growing boy going through growth spurts, but he never said anything to correct these assumptions. His mother had said this was due to Magic taking up energy or an individual's ability-fueling gauge, MP, which is generally what limits the amount of time they're cast for a time. Magic could be either offensive or supportive, and their potency is determined by how strong the person's magical magnitude was. However, being an Ancient his Magic attribute was naturally higher than a normal persons', all he had to do was hone it and refine it. But she had advised him to be forewarned, Magical power is affiliated with wisdom and should be used carefully depending on the situation; sometimes a magic casts will not harm the enemy or may even heal them depending on their elemental. You have to learn and understand the magic that you cast; for it could save you, or it could be your downfall.
Riku tried taking her advice, but the magic wasn't working the way he wanted it. His sparks from Fire were barely over a flicker of a lighter in his hand, and his Ice was no bigger than an ice-cube. Well his Thunder had set a tree on fire once, but that was because it got a boost from the storm that was raining down that day. But that was not enough, he had to get stronger if he ever wanted to protect his friends and his mother once he made it out to the outside world. So while secretly working on his magic ability he had started taking martial art classes, with his father's permission, honing in on his hand to hand combat. While at the same time, practicing sword fighting with Sora. They had no teacher, no supervision, just the two of them going at each other with wooden swords. They both learned and polished their raw talent from an unpolished gem to a polished uncut gem. Testing their skill, Riku had even accepted the challenge from the other local kids to take them all on at once and won. Sora had tried his hand on it too, but that was already beaten to the punch. Even as Sora bet them as well, they would remark that Riku was still the strongest child on the island.
Both of them had always had a competitive streak about each other. One always trying to win over the other. Each of them pushing each other to the limit to make them both better than they were before. But they were always trying to beat one another, regardless of the challenge, always striving to be the victor. Some would say the both of them were the other's own greatest rival. But in the end, they were still friends. Loyal to end to each other. That's why they kept their own little secret to each other, their little secret of escaping off the island and having their own adventures out there in the outside world. Them... and Kiari.
"Give me a break, Kiari." Sora tiredly said out, suddenly jousted out of his nape in surprise when he saw Kiari directly looking over him. Rising on his knees as he turned around to look at her while she laughed at his reaction.
The girl had warmed her way into their close knot of friendship the moment she had recovered from her first day on the beach, without even having to try. The mayor had adopted her as his own, and she had fallen in with the rest of the main islanders soon after. The three of them have been almost inseparable since then, playing together and making plans for the future together. She never really talked about her past, saying she had no memory of it, but she had given Riku a flare of hope. If she had come in from the outside world, then there must have been a way for them to go out to the outside world too. Together the three of them could find a way and leave these islands for amazing adventures together, seeing the other worlds. Their small islands were starting to get too small for Riku and them anyway.
So here they were, much older than when they were kids, actually going through with their plan. Together they would build a raft on their secret hiding spot on the island and make their way out of there. Or at least he would it seems. Apparently, the two of them were lazing about on the beach. But he would give the two of them a moment to banter, just for kicks.
"Sora, you lazy bum." She teased at him. "I knew that I'd find you snoozing down here."
"No! This huge, black THING swallowed me up!" Sora insisted as an excuse, still possibly dreaming in his half-wake state. "I couldn't breathe, I couldn't - Ow!"
Sora rubbed his head, apparently Kairi gave him a good knock on the noggin to try and wake him up.
"Are you still dreaming?" Kairi said in assumption down to him, bending more to his level with her hands on her knees.
"It wasn't a dream!" He insisted before he started to doubt himself, still startled from the whole thing. "Or was it? I don't know."
"What was that place? So bizarre..." Sora continued on, finally waking up fully.
"Yeah, sure." Kairi jibbed at him while she passed him to look out at the sea.
"Say, Kairi, what was your hometown like? You know, where you grew up?"
"I told you before, I don't remember."
"Nothing at all?"
"Nothing." There was falsehood in her words, Riku could tell she wasn't completely telling the truth. He could hear the painful cries from her heart as she answered Sora's question. But he would not call her out about it, she must have had her reasons for not telling anyone otherwise. The memories of her homeworld must have been painful, must have hurt too much to talk about it. He had reason to believe she must have lost her homeworld as well, meaning that she was a refugee. In that way, Riku and Kairi were the same. They were both from different worlds, that have most likely been consumed and destroyed, and neither of them could or would tell another soul about it...
"You ever want to go back?"
"Hmm... Well, I'm happy here."
"Really..."
"But you know... I wouldn't mind going to see it."
"I'd like to see it too! Along with any other worlds out there! I want to see 'em all!"
"So what are we waiting for?"
"Hey, aren't you guys forgetting about me?" Riku called out, finally making his appearance known to them, holding one of the larger logs to be used to make the raft. He was picking on them a little for goofing off without him. "So, I guess I'm the only one working on the raft."
"Waaah." Sora sounded out in alarm as Riku tossed the log right at him by surprise. Kairi giggling at Sora's sloppy job at catching it while Riku approached her with a teasing scolding pose.
"And you're just as lazy as he is."
"So you noticed." She giggled a hand rubbing the side of her head at being caught before the excitement returned to her. "Okay, we'll finish it together. I'll race you!"
She challenged just as soon as Riku sat down to join Sora for a rest, after he had finally rolled the log off of himself.
"Huh?" Sora looked at her in disbelief.
"What, are you kidding?" Riku added in, in agreement with Sora. She would always start the challenge but never even came close to beating either of them.
"(Giggle) Ready?" Oh, so she was serious. "Go!"
Riku and Sora looked each other in the eye for a moment, before bolting up to the challenge. Racing for their usual finish line under the bridge, Kairi far behind them, giggling all the way. Sora was keeping up with Riku, side by side, this would be a close-call race.
A victor had remained undecided since the both of them were neck and neck with no real Ref to make the call. But after their fun they had buckled down, Riku started putting the raft together with the skills he had learned from his dad while Kairi guarded the door to their secret spot to keep the other kids away and Sora went around to gather more material and the supplies. Sora goofed off by playing around with the other kids during the whole day, but he still got the job done. It had been funny looking up from his work to see Sora jumping from tree to tree only to fall down like a drunk monkey. But Sora was tough and always landed on his feet so Riku didn't really have to worry about him. Even during his break from the raft, he even challenged Sora to a sword fight after resting on their favorite tree for a little bit. It had looked like fun watching Sora beat the challenges from the other kids, he wanted his turn too.
Sora would try to use the trees to his advantage, even tried climbing one to get away for a little bit. But Riku could still reach him, he could still jumped higher than Sora after all.
"You still don't got it."
"Ah man, that one was a really close one too." Sora huffed out in a pout, sitting down on the trunk of the bent tree to give himself a rest.
"Maybe next time, Sora."
"Heh, right! The score is 0 to 1, for now!"
"Heh."
"Hey guys." Kairi called over to them, crossing over the bridge to joined them at their favorite Paopu Tree. "I think we've done enough for today. Let's call it a quits until tomorrow."
"Sure." Sora nodded in agreement, turning his head to look over towards Kairi as she came over.
"Fine by me. The sun is going down soon anyway." Riku shrugged off, vouching for leaning on the trunk of the tree while Kairi went up to join Sora in sitting on it. For a while they just sat there, taking a breather while they looked towards the setting sun across the ocean.
"So, Kairi's home is out there somewhere, right?" Sora pointed out, starting the conversation after a long silence.
"Could be." Riku responded back, his arms crossed as he leaned on the tree. "We'll never know by staying here."
"But how far can a raft take us?" Sora pondered, leaning over to look passed Kairi over to Riku. Three kids out on the ocean in only a raft, looking for some unknown destination. That gave just purpose to ask some questions, AND raise some alarms.
"Who knows?" Riku honestly answered. "If we have to, we'll think of something else."
"So, suppose you get to another world." Kairi spouted out scenarios to Riku, just out of curiosity. "(Giggle) What would you do there?"
"Hmm..." There were many things he would do... see how big the outside world really is... look for a certain person. Meet her at last. But... these were things he could never openly say. Let alone he never really planned on how he would go about it once he got out there. "Well, I haven't really thought about it. It's just... I've always wondered why we're here on this island. If there are any other worlds out there, why did we end up on this one? And suppose there are other worlds... Then ours is just a little piece of something much greater. So we could have just as easily ended up somewhere else, right?"
"I don't know." Sora lightly shrugged off, making Riku almost smile at how easy-going and care-free Sora was about his own placement in the world. He just sat there, lying down on the trunk as he took all the world in with strive. Even so, he still got the point in Riku's contemplation, Sora still 'gets' him. He was just taking it all in, in his own Sora-way.
"Exactly. That's why we need to go out there and find out." Riku pushed off from the tree and walk closer to the edge of the little island uprising to get as close as he could get to the ocean. The world on the other side of the ocean was so close... all he had to do was reach out and grab it. He would do anything to get there, they couldn't stop now, not when they've already come so far. They were almost out of their cage that they called an island. "Just sitting here won't change a thing. It's the same old stuff. So let's go."
"You've been thinking a lot lately, haven't you?" Kiari pointed out, sensing but still not fully grasping the hidden meaning behind his words.
"Thanks to you." He honestly admitted to her, turning back around to face her. "If you hadn't come here, I probably would've never thought of any of this."
"..." Sora was pouting a little in jealousy out of the sheer sincerity Riku was displaying towards Kairi. Riku knew that Sora had a deep soft spot for Kairi, he could hear it in Sora's heart. He didn't mean any harm towards it, he was just thanking her for giving him the drive to go through with this. For showing him there was a way...
Sora's heart could suck it up for a bit.
"Kairi, thanks."
"Heh, you're welcome."
They started heading back to the boats, it was about time they headed back to the main island to have dinner with their families. Sensing the pouting emotions in Sora's heart, Riku decided to give Sora a break.
"Sora."
"?" Sora turned back around on the bridge, only to quickly catch the object Riku tossed at his hands.
"You wanted one, didn't you?"
"A paopu fruit..."
"If two people share one, their destinies become intertwined." Riku reiterated to him the legend while walking over to pass him on the bridge. "They'll remain a part of each other's lives no matter what. (Chuckle) Come on, I know you want to try it."
"What are you talking -" Riku just laughed as he kept on going; sensing the denial and embarrassment in Sora's heart, his Light was flickering like a candle as it wiggled and rived in Sora's fluttered emotions at being caught. He ended up tossing the fruit to the side and chasing after Riku in retaliation as they both tried to catch up with Kairi to the boats.
*** The next day ***
A new day, another day to work on the raft. Once again, Sora had woken up late. Being the last of the three of them to make it to the island. But who would Sora be if not Sora.
"Heh, about time you'd showed up, Sora." Riku smirked with a chuckle.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sorry I'm late."
"Hey, Sora. Our raft still needs a name." Riku suggested. "Let's see... How about Highwind? What would you call it?"
"Me? Well... hmm..." Sora pondered a little, tapping his foot until the thought hit him like a light-bulb. "Excalibur!"
"Hey, how 'bout..." Riku silently suggested, hinting a challenge.
"The usual?" Sora finished, already knowing what Riku was thinking.
"Let's do it!"
"You guys at it again?" Kairi called over to them from over at the bridge-way, sensing the two of them were about to have a challenge again. "All right, I'll be the judge. The usual rules apply: Take any route you want... First one to tag that tree and make it back here wins."
"If I win, uhh, I'm captain!" Sora said outside of Kairi's hearing, offering the usual stakes they use to wager. "And if you win..."
"I get to share the paopu with Kairi."
"Huh?!"
That got him riled up. Riku was looking forward to the challenge.
"Deal? The winner gets to share a paopu with Kairi."
"Wha... wait a minute..."
"Okay. On my count: 3," looks like Kairi wasn't going to wait. "2, 1. Go!"
Sora kicked it into gear after Riku. Pushed more with a drive than usual. Riku knew he wasn't playing fair, messing with Sora's heart strings like that, but at the moment he just could not care. Sora was really pushing it now.
Taking another route, Riku decided to jump off the bridge to try going for the check-point from the lower ground. Sora was still huffing his way through, trying to take the short cut from on top of the trees. But that was a risky move, any slip up and he would wind up on the ground with a more distance dis-advantage from Riku. But he had slipped, nearly at the end too. He ended up having to take the path right behind Riku, kicking a run with his feet extra hard. However, he did make the short-cut back with the trees fully, making up for the distance he had lost. So in the end, he won.
Just barely. Riku would have won if Sora hadn't taken any of the shortcuts and raced him foot for foot. But Riku would give 'em this victory. Besides, he messed up on one of the shortcuts, so that made up for most of the advantage he had.
"All right, we're naming the raft Excalibur."
"Yes! I consider this a 1 for 1 too! Double whammy!"
"Okay, ease up, Champ." Kairi cut in on his victory parade. "You guys still have to gather supplies. We're going to need provisions for the trip. And make sure you don't get the water from the ocean, Sora!"
"Gee, you do that one time, and they never let you live it up for it."
"Anyway, get going you two." Kairi waved them off, wishing them good luck on their search.
While they were walking off to get the supplies, Sora began to address Riku about his earlier wager.
"Hey, Riku. What was that wager all about?"
"Hm? What? It was a joke. Don't think so hard into it. Anyway you won."
"Yeah, right..." Sora reluctantly let it go only for the news of his victory get him all hipped up again. "So that means I'm captain, right?"
"Not even, you didn't call it a deal."
"Whaa, ah come on, Riku." Riku only chuckled as Sora whined in complaint, running after him.
He left Sora to his own devices for the most part. He would disappear while he looked for his quota of supplies. But in the end, Riku wouldn't worry, Sora always saw through on his part. He was oddly dependable for someone who was easily distracted. However, when he sensed a sudden darkness present on the island, Riku grew alarmed. Especially when it was so close to Sora's light and making it shiver, only for it to disappear just as soon as it arrived.
That presence... it came by that door with the keyhole.
Perhaps it had found a way through to their world, through the darkness. So if there raft didn't work, that was their next best option. Even if they had to plunge into the darkness, they were going to get out of there and see the worlds.
But... his mother never wanted him to get close to the Darkness. She always made sure that he understood the full dangers of messing with the darkness. But... she didn't have to know. It would be just a quick run through if they must, she'd never find out, like running through the hallway with the lights off in the middle of the night. The darkness would be all around, but they would still have a glimmer of light to show them the way from bumping through the darkness. There would always be a light; he'd just have to not fear the darkness.
Leaving earlier than Kairi and Sora, he decided to head back home to get an early sleep. They had a big day tomorrow so he would have to get some rest to get up early, and also... He would like to get some one last chance of advice from his mother about this whole venturing to the outside world.
. . .
"Riku, you seem so excited today." Aeris happily pointed out, glad to feel that upbeat spirit inside Riku's heart. He's been having it around a lot recently, something was up, she knew it. "What have you been up to?"
She had been sitting down on her knees in the grass, while Riku was leaning up against the tree's trunk. Pondering with his arms crossed at her assumption.
"Heh, how do you know I've been up to anything?" He countered with a grin, shrugging as if he was not giving away anything.
"(Giggle) I could tell. I can see it in your eyes." She smiled before lightly placing a hand over her heart. "And also feel it in our hearts."
"..." Was her connection to the hearts really that good? Could she tell what him and the others have been up to?
"And you can't deny it." She pointed at him in motherly lecture. "A mother's intuition is always right."
"Heh, so you say."
"But am I wrong?"
"Hm, no." Riku honestly admitted with a light laugh. Shaking his head off to ease the laughs away before looking off into the distance while his mother looked up at him, waiting for him to continue. "Me and my friends have been working on something. Something that might finally get us off of the islands."
"?!" She barely held back the flinch that was about to get out with a gasp, panicking at the idea that Riku might have actually found a way to leave the safety of Destiny Islands. Calming herself, she gave none of her worries away and listened on to what her son had to say. "Oh?"
"Yeah." He nodded, getting encourage that his mother seemed interested. Making him think that they were close to the answer. "We've been building a raft, hoping it would take us across the sea to the other side of the world. From there... maybe we'll find the way to reach the outside world."
"..." She calmed down at hearing his answer, knowing that for now he was still safe. But at the same time... didn't have the heart to tell her son that he reached a dead end. He had worked so hard on this for the past few days, based on the vibe his heart has been giving her recently, it would crush him if it was all for not. However... at the same time... It would be terrible if she let him, along with his other friends, go blindly out to sea over this. "Oh, Sweetie... That 'll never work."
"What?" He swiftly turned over to look at her in alarm, pushing off the tree in his shock. His hope was crumbling. "But... this has got to work! We planned it through and everything!"
"There is nothing out there, Riku... only more sea..." Eventually the world's border would have them turn around, safely back to the island. But until then, she feared how long they would be stranded out there, before the sun and dehydration could do its damage.
"No. That can't be right." Riku insisted, shaking his head, trying to ration this thing out. "Me and Kairi washed up on the islands from the ocean. There has to be a way out from there!"
"You two didn't come to your world from the ocean, Riku." She tried to explain to him without giving away anything. "You came from the sky."
"!" That was heart crushing. So then... all their efforts were for nothing? Unless they found a way to learn how to fly, they were stuck. "... Teach me how to do Aero."
"Riku!" He didn't honestly expect to use the power of wind to blow them up through the sky in a whirlwind. That was insane!
"Maybe I could learn to Levitate from there. I have the capability." Riku tried to reason out.
"Not before blasting yourself and your friends towards Light knows where!" She explained to him the workings of the Magic he was asking. "You could end up way out in the ocean; you could crash into a tree; or worse, kill yourself on impact with the ground!"
"We don't really know that until we try!"
"Of course I know that! I've been doing magic for years, long before you were born!" She shot back to him, shaking at how he was willing to put himself in danger for this. There was no telling what else he might try to do and there would be nothing she could do about it to stop him. "It's never going to work!"
"Something has to work! And I'm not going to stop until I find it."
"Why, Riku? Those islands have been your home for nearly all your life, why do you want to leave so bad? Why is this so important to you?"
"Why do you want me to stay so bad?!"
"!" She was startled at the tone of his voice, he had never shouted or taken such an angry tone with her before. But Riku was hurting, it felt like she was trying to keep them apart, as if she never wanted to see him in the real world. Her blocking him from his chance at freedom was really hitting him hard. He had felt betrayed...
"... You've been holding me back... Why do you always try to keep me here?! Trapped on these islands with nowhere else to go, like a CAGE!"
"Riku."
"No! I'm tired of this small place. I'm tired of this emptiness inside. I'm tired of staring out into the sun's vast distance, realizing that there's much more!" He huffed out, only to turn his face away from her as he hissed out the rest. "Only for it to be dangled tauntingly out of reach."
"Riku..."
"That's why we want to leave these islands. We're curious." Riku explained, simmering down from his rage. "But we can't quench our thirst if we're stuck on those tiny islands. I want to see what's out there, I want to see if I have better options out there than the one I ended up with."
"Riku!" She gasped in appall at his words. "You can't say that. These are the islands you were raised on. You have ties there."
"Yeah and they keep holding me back from what should rightfully be mine!" He growled out looking down at his hand as he clinched his fist. "The paths to the other worlds should be my birthright!"
"!" Now she was really frightened. He was starting to sound like his father...
What happened to her boy? Where was all this coming from?
"I will find a way for us to get off these Islands. You had a way of breaking through to this world. So there must be away of getting through- !" Yes, of course. That's when it hit him, the answer had been in front of him all this time. "A door... Of course... There must be a doorway here."
"!" How did he figure it out?
"But there's gotta to be more than just one. How can I- ... Of course. That door with the giant keyhole."
"!" This was getting out of hand. If he was talking about a certain door that she 'thinks' he's talking about than his world was in big trouble. If he can truly see the keyhole, then that means he has the means to open it. "No, Riku! You mustn't try to open it! It'll only lead to disaster, for both you and your world! It leads only to Darkness!"
"Then if the Light won't hand me the freedom I deserve, I'll get it from the Darkness!"
"Have you gone mad?! I forbid it. I won't allow you to destroy your heart over this!"
"I just have to find a way of unlocking the door..." Riku pondered aloud to himself, paying his mother's warning no mind.
"You will never open the door without the proper means of unlocking it." Aeris assured to him in confidence that he would never find the way now, thus stopping his destructive path. Unless he got his hands on a Gummi Ship to break a path through the worlds, he wasn't going anyway.
DOON
"!" They both jolted their heads to the right, in alarm at the sudden presence of darkness they could sense from outside their dreamworld, and flooding in to Riku's world, it was coming in fast.
"Heh, looks like I won't have to find a way." He smirked, turning away from his mother as he walked towards the direction the darkness was coming from, fading out of the dreamworld.
"No, you mustn't! Don't go. Riku!" Aeris pleaded with him, reaching out for him as he faded out of the dreamworld. "Don't go through that door!"
A dark crack had breached the vast blankness.
"!" Riku's eyes shot wide open as he became fully awake, the presence of the darkness growing stronger with his senses back to the real world. Sitting up in his bed, he absentmindedly got up and walked out the door, heading toward the house balcony as he followed the call of the darkness. His eyes looked to see that the call was coming from their island, coating it in a dark aura as the sea and clouds raged around it. "The door is open..."
Silently and without a care to his adoptive father sleeping in the room along the hallway. He made his way downstairs and out the door, blindly venturing back to the island through the storm, following the call of the darkness.
Why should he fear what his mother tried so hard to hide? She kept the truth about the darkness from him in order to keep them trapped there. To keep him locked up in his cage, safe and out of trouble like a good boy as she gallivanted the worlds doing whatever she did. But he was tired of being the good boy, he was tired of being chained. If the darkness was the only way of getting what he wants, then he'd just have to be the 'bad boy' in his mother's eyes.
There was a boat already on the island. He could sense Kairi's light by the door with the keyhole. Maybe she was checking up on the raft because of the storm and had gotten distracted. Sora was probably not too far behind either; he always had the lazy habit of showing up late to the party. But Sora would get there eventually, until then he could check on the door.
"!" The pathway to the door had been blocked. The tunnel entrance to the cavern had been sealed off by a big white french door, this one actually had a door knobs unlike the other. It was closed, and Kairi was on the other side of it.
Just as he was about to go through the door to make sure Kairi was alright, he could feel a great dark presence growing behind him. Turning around, he saw a great orb of darkness floating over the island by the paopu trees, drawing him to its power and what lies beyond its darkness.
Yes... he could use this. He can walk through the darkness to reach whatever lied on the other side of it. If he could get his friends through 'there', he might be able to get them off this island too...
"Where's Kairi? I thought she was with you!" Sora called out to him from behind, at the bridge. He could hear the worry and fear in Sora's voice along with the confusion, far louder than the echo of it coming from his heart. But... he truly had nothing to fear.
"The door has opened..."
"What?" Of course Sora wouldn't understand. He didn't know the things Riku knew, but in time... maybe he would come to understand. Just like he could.
"The door has opened, Sora! Now we can go to the outside world!" Riku could barely contain the excitement in his voice.
"What are you talking about? We've gotta find Kairi!"
"Kairi's coming with us!"
"?!" Sora couldn't understand the excitement in Riku's voice while the world was storming around them, and he didn't like it. Something about the way Riku was behaving was scaring him.
Riku looked up to the chaotic ball of darkness, a few lightning bolts going off around it.
"Once we step through, we might not be able to come back. We may never see our parents again." The thought of that put a sting in his heart for a moment. The idea of never seeing his adoptive dad again, or their fishing boat, but... He would not be held back from his destiny outside this small world. "There's no turning back."
"..."
"But this may be our only chance. We can't let fear stop us! I'm not afraid of the darkness!" Bringing his head back down to look at Sora, Riku offered him his hand. Silently asking him to join him, together they could all travel through to see what was on the other side.
"Riku..." Sora nervously called out to him, suddenly alarming at the darkness that was pooling around Riku's feet and sinking him in. No... it was climbing up him and pulling him in! "!"
Sora ran over to him, in the hopes of pulling him out, only for another pool of darkness to spring around his feet. He was sinking fast, much faster than Riku. Even so, he still desperately tried to reach out for Riku's hand. To save his friend.
But even still... He could not stretch out his hand far enough. Soon the darkness consumed the both of them.
Riku simply relaxed into the darkness, letting it flow around him as he sank further down into it. Their was a quiet peace to it, almost a lulling feel that was soothing to him. But suddenly a bright light shined through the darkness. Breaking through its infinite vase. It had forced him out. Soon he had found himself on his island once again, or what was left of it. It was falling apart and cracked into broken floating pieces as darkness was consuming it. The place wouldn't last long, soon the place would be completely destroyed. He was floating on a tiny piece of the paopu tree island, the grass long since gone and replace with desolate sand, with Kairi and Sora nowhere in sight. Things were starting to look bad.
Suddenly a dark portal had formed behind him. And a strange man covered completely in a brown robe with its hood concealing his face appeared from it. He looked to Riku, silently beckoning for him to follow.
Riku could see it. This man was offering him the only way out. Taking the plunge without hesitation, Riku walked through the dark portal, following the man into the darkness. Away from his collapsing island; away from the place that he had long known as his home.
. . .
"!" A maiden with eyes as green as the lifestream gasped as her heart stopped in silent fear. She ran out the building she had been in, rushing through the room's door, looking up into the starry night sky from its balcony. Watching as one of its lights faded away. Her heart grew unsteady, she brought her hands together by her heart as she silently prayed for the better. "No. Riku..."