Kingdom Hearts One Shots Series
11 – Freestyle

Pairing: Riku x Reader

Sequel to 'Storm'

Following the conclusion of high school, we got into the same university. Despite different subjects of study, we were still together. Our feelings were only increasingly warm and tender for each other, it felt as if with each day, we fell in love with each other more and more.

And more good news too; we managed to make some friends. Sora and Roxas were cousins, who we met during university fresher orientation. Sora was the happy-go-lucky guy who could be really naïve but was definitely cheerful. Roxas, however, balanced him out with more levelheadedness, albeit with more hot-headedness too. Nevertheless, they were both great and loyal friends. Soon, we were also introduced to Axel, Roxas' older best friend. He might seem very cool and laidback, but he truly cared about his friends. And it was always great to see Riku hanging out with them, especially when he smiled more than he normally would. Had anyone ever told him that he had such a charming smile, and he should do that more often? Probably not, so I guessed I should remind him.

Riku got a part-time job as a photographer. Yes, it sounded odd and not his type, but he said that he could earn more savings this way, and he gained himself a new hobby too. His skills were so impressive that he obtained an once-in-a-lifetime chance to travel to Deep Jungle for wildlife photography. He was thrilled. "It'll be fun," he said, while walking around his room to toss everything he needed for this trip into his luggage. I was watching him from a chair in a corner. I had mixed feelings; I was happy for him and his achievement, but at the same time, I could not help but worry. This was a jungle we were talking about here, who knew what lurked in there? I wished I could go, but I had very important exams coming up and I could not afford to ditch everything and leave. Regardless of my apprehension, I did not want to tie him down. I wanted him to flourish, not wane in his guilt. I had already done that in the past, albeit unintentionally. I did not wish to repeat what made his life sad.

"… Please come back safe. I'll be waiting for you, and your photos, alright?"

"Yeah, sure. You… take care of yourself while I'm gone, OK? I'll call you every night."

"You'd better. I love you."

"Love ya~"

"… A massive storm hit Deep Jungle last night. Authorities reported floods due to overflowing rivers. There is still one man out there in the jungle when the disaster struck; a twenty-two-year-old photographer. However, the local search and rescue team could not locate the man, nor do they know of his whereabouts… Authorities were still searching the jungle, as there is a possibility that a leopard might have got to him…"

Our correspondence of two weeks broke like a tense string just like that. This news was broke to me by Sora, Roxas and Axel. They tried to keep it away from me initially, but I happened to overhear them one day. I was devastated, but even that word was an understatement; I lived my life after learning about the truth like a zombie. I cried a lot in the first week every day. I would always see his face in my dreams, but whenever I reached out for him, I would find myself choking in sobs in the wee hours of the morning. As time went on, lethargy and depressive emotions took over and I would never want to step into his room in our flat. It would kill me to see anything that reminded me of him. My friends came over many times, to check on me or just to try talking to me. Olette and Kairi were especially worried sick.

I just felt like I could not go on anymore… Riku… Why did you have to leave me like this?

1st June, 13:13

People are rushing in and out of the house, carrying flowers, documents, decorative objects and whatnot. I watched on, sighing every now and then. The last days of wedding preparation were just as chaotic as I thought it would. Why would anyone want so many flowers anyway? I was not super enthusiastic about this… I hardly had the energy to get up every day, let alone manage this mess.

I glanced at a girl carrying a big framed photo walking across the room. That photo pictured a couple; I was in it. And also… Seifer. Speaking of which, he was not here since morning. It was his wedding too, for god's sake. It was not fair to leave everything to me. Well, I was given the choice to let the professionals do their work, but I insisted on contributing to the preparation. Occasions like these were hard to come by. Were people not supposed to cherish them? What a snobbish person, taking everything for granted. Roxas especially hated him. I heard their grudge started way back in their teen years, but I did not know the details.

Seifer had been trying to woo me since university. Now that… he was gone, Seifer could finally advance in his plans and kept up his efforts. I pushed him away at first; I pushed everyone away. Eventually, after months of persistence, or perhaps I was clouded by loneliness, I slowly accepted whatever feelings or mere interest he had for me. Sometime later, my family approved (or rather, arranged) our relationship and marriage in order to associate with the wealthier class, so that our lives would not be so hard.

Roxas was very mad. It was the first time I saw him lose control. He could not comprehend why I replaced the man I loved with someone else. Sora and Axel had a hard time calming the blonde down. In the end, he told me he was still angry, but had no authority to oppose. The rest of the days he exhibited more angst than usual. Sora and Axel could not understand either. To be fair, sometimes I questioned myself of my decision. How was this happening? How did I gave up my feelings for someone I truly loved to someone else? Was I going insane? But my family seemed happy with this arrangement, and they told me that I would be happier and better off with Seifer. I wanted to retaliate and just refuse to kingdom come, but what grounds did I have? Riku was dead… even though official reports stated he was missing.

I sent out the invitations. The trio received them as well. I never heard a reply from them. And that had been one year ago.

When I had some down time after a day's work, I would inevitably think of Riku. Even looking out to the sky could strum some nostalgia strings in me; the times we were together, from when we were kids back in Destiny Island, that stormy night in the forest until we were separated, the time we met again in Traverse Town, the revelation of our pasts and resultant confession, the moments we fell in love with each other, the times we were in university… until the day he left me.

I wanted to cry, but no tears came. I might have dried them all up by now. All the memories were still there, but it was as if some, if not all, had died along with him. I took in a deep breath. I had to comply with my family's wishes. What could I do? They never liked Riku to begin with. What was I thinking?

Perhaps I should sleep. It would be wise to save some energy even if I truly did not want to face tomorrow.

6th June, 09:31

"Where the hell had you been?! What happened to you?!" screamed Sora, staring at his laptop screen with his eyes wide. He received a phone call from an unknown number this morning. When he decided to ignore it, the caller sent him a message, telling him to start a video call with a particular account. And here he was, almost having the living daylights scared out of him by none other than Riku himself.

Riku winced at the loud volume from the brunette. Good god, it had been ages since they last met, yet Sora was still the same old megaphone. He frowned and said, "Tone down, will you? Let me explain…"

[Flashback]

It was in the middle of the night when Riku was out, trying to capture shots of nocturnal animals. This jungle was a treasure trove indeed. He had taken so many amazing landscape and wildlife photos. He could not wait to share these with his love. She would be surprised to see these, especially that little lemur he came across the other day. He could imagine her squeal if she discovered its photo.

However, whatever plans he had for tonight or his girlfriend were completely flushed out when the storm hit like a truck. He was very far away from his cabin, and he unfortunately had lost his way back in the dark. While he was trying to find a way out, he slipped on a wet rock and lost his footing. Riku rolled down the rocky slope, knocking into a few tree roots and boulders along the way. When he could finally see something among the flashing lightning and rain, he was shocked to see himself falling off a cliff straight into the sea. Riku managed to resurface and tried to swim around in hopes to find a shore near the jungle. What he did not see coming was an incoming tree branch; it broke off from a tree due to the howling gust and hit his head. The ferocious waves washed the unconscious man out to somewhere.

Sometime later he was woken up by people who rescued him from the sea. Upon enquiry, he learned that he ended up on an island a few hundred kilometres away from Deep Jungle. The people decided to repatriate him since he was very weak, unstable and partially conscious due to the blow to his head. They managed to find his ID card on him, and the place of origin read "Destiny Island". And since they also could not afford to wait, they got him onto a ship and sent him back without proper procedures. It was found out when they reached Destiny Island that Riku had lost his ID card and passport in the chaos, possibly on the island. He was confined in a hospital since then. At some point, he cut his hair short because it got too hot and harder to manage-

"Wait, you cut your hair?!" Sora seemed to have just noticed the painfully obvious. Riku slapped a palm onto his forehead and grumbled, "Argh, shut up, Sora! Let me continue!"

[Flashback continued]

To his worst luck, no one on Destiny Island could recognise him because he left for Traverse Town before the system was updated to include all current resident data, and he left when he was young; no one remembered him at all. So he was somehow "stranded" in his own hometown. It had been three years since. Due to the fact that he left his money and cards back in Deep Jungle, he had not been able to do much other than lying on his bed like a potato. He finally had a phone lately, but he was only allowed to stay in his ward due to his injuries. He could finally move and get around more following physiotherapy for many, many months. He tried contacting his beloved, but she never picked up. So one day he got frustrated and decided to call Sora…

[Flashback ended]

"Ah… but still… you cut your hair? I am so not used to it," Sora said. Riku really wanted to punch him through the Internet. Riku groaned, "Don't just focus on my hair, goddammit…"

"Hey, Sora. What's with the screaming?" Roxas came into the room, still yawning. His slumber was disrupted by Sora's exclamation. Sora quickly jumped up and pulled his cousin over, saying, "Rox, it's Riku! He's alive!" Roxas blurted, "Wait, what?" He came closer to the laptop screen and blinked his bleary eyes. "No way… what happened?!" Riku had finally had enough and said, "Ugh, I don't want to explain that again! Sora can tell you later, but tell me first, what happened to _? How is she? Is she there?"

Both guys shut up. A troubled frown appeared on Roxas' face and he reeled back from the screen and looked elsewhere, refusing to say anything. Sora bit his lip and mumbled, "Uh… you see, Riku… she is going to… get married… in two days…"

Riku almost overturned his laptop. He stuttered in disbelief, "W-what did you say?! Why?" Roxas yelled, "We thought you were dead! She thought you were dead! How could you do this to us?!" Roxas was getting mad, but Sora tried to put out the fire, "Calm down, Rox. It was not his fault. This is why…"

After more explaining from both sides, Roxas finally cooled down. But now, everyone started to worry. Roxas said with a frown, "The wedding starts in less than 48 hours, so what do we do? We can't just let her marry that jerk!" At this point, Riku started to feel guilty and low-spirited. He looked down at his hands and muttered, "So she decided to marry Seifer, huh? It's my fault… I insisted on going to that place… if not, nothing would turn out like this…"

Strangely enough, Sora was awfully quiet. Roxas noticed that and said, nudging Sora's right arm, "Hey, what's wrong? You're oddly quiet." Sora nodded and said determinedly, "Roxas, call Axel. We have to save this relationship from becoming a tragedy." Roxas was confused and asked, "Huh? How?" "… We, are going to crash a wedding…" Sora said, trying to be serious, but his growing smirk betrayed him. Roxas closed his eyes and sighed, "Oh god…"

6th June, 11:49

"… I will cherish the moments we spent and will spend together… God that sounds weird…" I was rehearsing the lines to be spoken at the altar during the wedding. I had to look into the mirror to actually see my expression while I spoke. I tried to muster a smile, but it looked so fake that I might as well just paste a laughing mask over my mouth. Every word from me carried no emotions whatsoever and it scared me; I was never this devoid of feelings. After a few more attempts, I hurled the papers written with the lines out into the air and just let them fly everywhere and scatter around the already messy floor. I had better things to do, like mentally going through the stages of the ceremony. Frustrated, I shuffled over to sit on my bed. My gaze landed on the hanging calendar on the wall. 8th June was circled with bloody red. His birthday… and also my wedding. What irony; it just had to be on his date of birth that I would also "kill" him with my betrayal.

My thoughts wandered back to the day at the airport where I saw him off…

"Don't worry, I will be back. And maybe we finally might have an ending unlike that book you still cannot finish." Riku said, ending with a slight smirk. "Hey! I'm a slow reader, unlike you who likes to rush things through! Do you know how long a writer takes to write a book? To finish it within days or even hours is just disrespectful, you know," I defended myself, pouting at him. He just laughed light-heartedly and ruffled my hair. He said, "There, you see? It's not that bad."

Well, I finally, painstakingly finished the book a year ago. I was still as slow as ever, but at least I reached the ending. It was a happy cheesy ending, with the couple marrying no less. However, our story would never have an ending… forever.

A single tear slid down my cheek and I started trembling. Slowly, I lay down and curled up, but I did not full-blown cry. I just wished Riku was here for me…

6th June, 12:28

Axel drove through Twilight Town as fast as he was allowed to. "This is just great. We had not been in contact with _ since last year, after she announced the wedding. Do you think she is still in Traverse Town?" said Roxas from the shotgun seat. Sora replied, "She has to be. I mean, the last time we saw her there, she did not seem to be moving anywhere else." Axel looked at the road ahead and said, "This is going to take a long while. Traffic congestions are everywhere. Plus, we have a long journey on the highway and also the summer holiday crowd." Both cousins groaned at the redhead's words.

"Did you remind Riku to start preparing?" asked Roxas. Sora nodded and said, "Yeah. Too bad we can't pick him up. Destiny Island is too far away…" Axel added, "Right… so what do we do once we find her?" Sora said with the determination he showed before, "We grab her, get out and get to Riku." Axel thought about it and said, "You do realise we might need a bloody quick way out by then. Any ideas?" Sora paused to think, but then he shrugged and said, "I don't know, I'll make this up as I go." Roxas tried to stifle a bubbling headache by massaging his temples. He muttered, "Ugh, I can't believe this is actually happening. And I thought he was dead too… Darn it, we really can't fail both sides now."

After twenty minutes, they got out of the town area and onto the highway. It was not very congested, but still quite some cars around. They were about to reach the exit to Agrabah when a huge sandstorm descended. Everyone had to stop driving and wait it out unfortunately. Axel muttered, "Crap, looks like we don't have a choice. I might ram into others." Roxas stared at his phone and said, "The forecast said the sandstorm will be over in thirty minutes… How great. Maybe I'll try calling her…"

6th June, 12:13

Riku finally finished his video call with Sora and Roxas. He felt really hurt. How could his girlfriend marry Seifer? He was very aware of Seifer keeping an eye on her since university, but he never dared to make a move due to Riku's presence. Sora mentioned that she had no choice in this matter. "Does she still love me? I was gone for three years without any news… Ha, this is probably karma…" he thought, spiralling into despair.

"… No! I can't lose faith, especially in her!" he mumbled, standing up. They did say they would help to get her back. He added, "I need to trust every single one of them out there…" As if to convince himself, he nodded and went off to his closet, rummaging through. Ten minutes later… "Great, I have nothing presentable…" Riku had no idea what to do now. Everything in his closet was pulled out and tossed onto the floor. They were all athletic wear and some were even from his childhood. He smacked a palm to his face and mumbled, "I need a wardrobe change…"

Just then, his phone rang. He picked it up and as soon as he answered, a voice came through, "Yo! How are you doing, buddy? Just checking up on ya." It was Tidus, a friend he made while he was hospitalised. He was in the bed next to his; apparently he broke his ankle in a Blitzball match. He was as cheery as always. "Yeah, nothing much…"

Tidus' voice sounded a bit concerned, "What's up? You sound like you're down in the dumps… Don't worry, I'll be there to cheer you up! See you in three!" "No, wait-" Too late, he hung up before the silver-haired man could say anything. Three minutes later, Tidus barged into his room. He was astonished to say the least. "Man, what happened here, a hurricane?" Riku was about to say something when Tidus saw a photo on the table at the wall. "Oh, is this the girl you always talked to me about?" Riku sighed and said, "Yeah, that's her." Tidus laughed, "You are one lucky man…" But then his tone changed a bit, "Say, aren't you going back to her, now that you have recovered?"

That hit him, hard. Riku lowered his head and mumbled, "Well… I don't think so… not anymore." Tidus exclaimed, "What?! Why? That's horrible…" "She is… better off with somebody else who can provide her with a better life…" Tidus was having none of it, "No way in heck! How can you just let someone you love go like that?! You haven't even tried! Or is it because… you have nothing to wear?"

Riku stammered, "H-how did you know?" Tidus sighed, "Well, duh. Your closet is a mess and your clothes are everywhere. C'mon, I know someone who can help!" As soon as he finished, Tidus grabbed Riku's hand and pulled him out while also calling his other friend. Riku thought, "Oh lord…"

6th June, 15:00

"Ugh… so thirsty…" Roxas groaned, gripping onto a water bottle. They got out of the sandstorm an hour ago and needed water. And because everyone else stuck in the sandstorm had the same idea, almost all the available drinking water in the stores were gone. Therefore, they had been stopping at each resting station possible to stock up water. They never thought about bringing some with them when they left their house. While they finally got to quench their thirst, they were still not able to contact the girl. She might have changed her number.

Sora asked, "Where even are we?" Roxas checked his phone and said, "Eh, ten minutes to Pride Lands." "And still hours away from Traverse Town," continued Axel. Roxas closed his eyes and sighed. Sora suddenly said, "Speaking of Pride Lands, there is one song I know about that place…" Roxas snapped his eyes open and warned, "No, don't you dare…!" "In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight~" Sora started singing off-key and it was driving Roxas nuts. So he yelled, "Stop it!" He was about to scramble to the back to strangle Sora when Axel gasped, "Whoa!" Axel did an emergency brake and the cousins almost choked on their seatbelts.

"What the hell?!" exclaimed Roxas. Axel muttered, "Two lions, dammit." Sure enough, about five metres away were two lions, most likely escaped from Pride Lands Safari. They were startled by the metal box in front of them. One thing for sure was that both animals were not amused and started growling. "OK… I think I'm going to go around them slowly," said Axel quietly, but staying completely still otherwise. Roxas whispered, "Maybe not? It looks dangerous…" All of a sudden, the lions ran towards them. Roxas and Sora started screaming and Axel immediately hit the reverse gear and backed up rapidly. The lions gave chase and Axel "drove" like that as fast as he could for a few minutes before he found a junction where he drove into some bushes. While the lions were looking around, Axel quickly drove back out onto the highway and sped away with the lions hot on their tails. "Crap!"

6th June, 14:15

Selphie was extremely excited and happy. After all, clothes shopping for any gender was her greatest passion. After browsing numerous shops, she led the guys into yet another groom clothing store. "Come on in! The owners here are the loveliest people ever," she giggled and skipped into the store, with Tidus and Riku following behind. Three plump ladies came out and greeted them. Selphie said, "This is Flora, Fauna and Merryweather. I'll leave this love-stricken sap to you." "Ooh, such a dashing young man! Let's see what we can do for you." The lady in red dragged Riku over to a rack full of suits, while Tidus and Selphie were trying not to laugh. Riku thought in dismay, "Oh god, there are so many choices…" Soon enough, the ladies were bickering over colour choices, mostly surrounding red, green and blue. Riku sent a helpless look at Selphie, and she gave an encouraging smile and said, "Well, they're like that, but they are amazing at their job, haha…"

6th June, 20:00

Everyone could finally thank their gods when the sign read "Traverse Town" finally popped up on the highway. At this point, Roxas was driving since Axel was tired out of his mind after the lion chase. Sora suggested, "Let's go to her flat." Soon, they parked their car for good and knocked on the door they remembered from one year ago. The door opened to reveal a different woman, the landlady to be exact.

"Oh, hey Aerith. Is _ here?" Sora asked, grinning. However, she shook her head and said, "No. I'm afraid she had already moved out six months ago." The guys were astonished. "What? We've trying to call her, but we could never reach her, not even social media. Do you know where she is now?" asked Roxas, trying not to get agitated. "Um, I don't know, really…" Aerith said apologetically. Roxas prompted, "How about trying to recall the day she left? She would have to meet you to hand over the flat keys when she moved out, right?" "Please, this is important," added Sora.

Aerith started to think and slowly saying her thoughts out loud, "I recall seeing a young man pick her up. His car was full of her stuff… he also brought many workers to help her move. That was how I got a chance to chitchat with him… I think I heard him say that he made reservations at a very extravagant place for their wedding… not in Traverse Town, since he said there was no such venue here. It is… oh! A castle. He said 'a castle'." "What the…" Roxas' eyes went wide. Axel said, "But there are so many castles out there… like the one in a forest, the underwater one, the odd-looking and morphed one and another one in downright creepy white like hospitals…" Aerith looked at them and said, "You all seem very distressed. Why don't we go in to sit down and talk?" "… Sounds good."

After explaining their situation, Aerith said thoughtfully, "Oh, I see… I'm very sorry, but I wish I can help out more…" Roxas sighed, "God, I'm so tired…" He then took out his phone and checked his messages. Suddenly he stopped moving and stared at the screen. He announced, "Guys, I think I know where it is… Hollow Bastion." Sora jumped up and asked, "What? How?" Roxas sat up straight and showed them his phone, "The invitation. We tossed it away, sure, but she also sent us an electronic copy via email!" "We should hurry over!" said Sora, rushing with Axel to the door. Roxas was about to thank Aerith when they heard Axel's voice, "What in Bahamut's name is this?!" They got to the street where Axel's car was parked, only to find a wheel clamp on it. "Oh dear…" said Aerith, putting her hand over her mouth. "Crap, now what?" sighed Axel. Aerith said, "Only the town council can remove it, but they only start working tomorrow morning at nine." "You know what, we need rest," said Sora, looking at them. Roxas breathed, "That has to be your only sensible suggestion today…" "You guys can rest here tonight. I have some empty rooms," said Aerith, walking back to the flat. "OK, let's crash…"

6th June, 18:30

After the squabbling, Riku could not take it anymore and chose a white suit to shut everyone up. "OK, that actually looks even better on you. We're settled!" And with that, they finally left the store for good. "Do we need flowers?" mused Tidus. Selphie said, "That's for brides, I think…" They continued walking until Selphie exclaimed, "Oh my god, we need a ring! But the shops on the island are all closed now…" Just as Riku and Tidus thought she was going to give up, she quickly said, "Never mind, I'll research online and buy in store tomorrow!" Tidus shrugged and said, "Alright then… I think I'll just go home and rest up now. See you all tomorrow then!"

"Everyone devoted their time and efforts on me… Alright, I have to believe in myself. I can do this. I just haven't tried it yet…" Now with revived vigour, Riku headed home, rearranged his clothes, hung up his suit and was now researching for the perfect ring online and planning the meet-up tomorrow.

6th June, 23:35

Riku received a message from Sora, explaining that they would head over to Hollow Bastion to get _. Also, the wedding will be on 8th June morning. He started to get desperate and searched for flight tickets, but with no luck; either he would get there too late or the tickets were all sold out. "Good god… I'll just have to wait for them to bring her back… _..."

7th June, 10:10

Axel finally dealt with the town council and freed his car, with a small fine of course. They thanked Aerith and bade her farewell. It would be another whole-day affair for them on the highway since Hollow Bastion was at the very far end of the map. "Hopefully we can reach there and still have time to prepare. Hollow Bastion is normally not easy to enter. Especially now with such an event, we will need some kind of invitation or authorisation," said Roxas, trying to do some research on his phone. Axel said while driving, "The electronic one will have to do, or else we might have to sneak in uninvited."

7th June, 10:00

I was still on my bed, not wanting to move. Right now, we were temporarily staying over in the castle of Hollow Bastion for the wedding tomorrow. Exactly twenty-four hours later I would be living an even more different life, just not in a good way. The drive from Seifer's house was stifling, so as soon as I got here, I locked myself up to get some private moment. My eyes wandered from the ceiling to the dress hanging on the wall near the mirror. It was perhaps the wedding dress every girl dreamed about, it was sparkly, soft, flattering, but… not right. It felt wrong. To further emphasise that, this castle was downright creepy to me. Only Seifer would go and book this entire place to show off his wealth, as if no one was aware of it. To be fair, I kind of miss my old flat in Traverse Town, where all the fond memories were, including Riku's…

I sighed. And then someone was knocking on my door. I reluctantly got up and opened it to see Olette and Kairi, my bridesmaids for tomorrow. Olette tried to smile, "We brought you some food!" Kairi said, "Are you OK?" I merely sauntered back to my bed and sat on it. Kairi sat down beside me tentatively and said, "You still need to eat. Tomorrow is… important." Only they knew of your inner struggles without you voicing them out. Olette put the food down on the vanity and said, "I know we all don't like him, and Kairi and I don't really approve this… but we will be there to support you on the day."

"Oh well…" I sighed and stared ahead of me, already dreading tomorrow.

7th June, 10:00

This time, the trio was about to head to the jewellery store. It was a Sunday and the stores were… not open. Selphie, however, refused to give up and dragged Riku and Tidus over to the market square. A black-haired man with a red bandana was manning a stall, his eyes scanning the younger people before him. It was a bit unnerving, but the man had many interesting stuff at his stall to look at. "Well? What do you have in mind?" asked Selphie, poking Riku's arm. Of course he did; a simple yet elegant one would do the trick. _ never liked frilly things. In the end, he had his eyes on a silver ring with a gemstone shaped oddly like a mushroom embedded on it. "Ah, I see you've made your choice, mate. That'll be 50 000 munny," the stall owner said.

"What the heck?!" Tidus could not believe what he had just heard. Riku stared at the owner with wide eyes and said, "I don't have that much money… and this is very important to me." The stall owner thought about it for a few seconds, then he said while adjusting his bandana, "Then we shall invoke… parley."

"Oh come on, man!" Tidus said exasperatedly. "Captain Jack Sparrow, if you please."

7th June, 21:21

Sora sighed heavily, "Oh… my god. We're finally here…" They took longer than expected, not because of any natural disasters, but because… "Why did your car just have to break down in the middle of the road?" grumbled Roxas while getting off the car. Axel grumbled too, "How was I supposed to know it would stall out on me at a time like that?" None of them had the energy to quarrel. "Guys, we need a place to crash and we also need a plan for tomorrow," said Sora, looking around for any accommodations.

They managed to find an inn run by a young woman named Tifa and her partner Yuffie. While they were at the counter, Roxas asked, "We're tourists visiting Hollow Bastion, do you have any info on the castle?" Tifa thought for a bit and said, "I don't think the castle is open for visitors tomorrow. I heard there will be a wedding there and the whole place is rented out." Sora added with a grin, "It's OK, we just wanted to take photos of the exterior and we want your opinion on the best viewing spot." Yuffie butted in, "Oh, I can tell you more about it!" They then got into a long discussion, and also stories about a restoration committee of this area.

8th June, 07:11

I was already awake. I could not sleep much during the night anyways. I had already showered, and now people were doing my hair and makeup. Let us hope that they can conceal the dark circles under my eyes, or any signs of sadness while they were at it. Soon, I got into my wedding gown. Honestly, I had never imagined myself to look this dolled up. I never thought about having this day in my life. Every girl should be at their best at this moment, so why did I feel so miserable inside?

Kairi and Olette were done with their preparations and were now eating a light breakfast to tide them over the ceremony. Kairi spoke up, "You should probably eat something. Things would get… difficult if one of us slipped up. Seifer is not going to put up with anything today…" "… Fine," I sighed, reaching out for a slice of bread and started eating. After that, they helped me to put on any jewellery to make me more presentable to Seifer.

8th June, 09:00

"Sorry, only paper invitations are accepted here," the girl at the castle entrance said apologetically to Roxas and Sora. Well, they did not have the time to find a printer to print it out anymore. They had to leave and hide in an alleyway after the girl got concerned and called the guards. "Shoot, now what?" muttered Roxas. Sora said, "Didn't Yuffie say there was a backdoor? We will have to sneak in through there."

Moments later, they snuck into the worker's changing room and managed to steal the workers' coats and they blended in. "We need to hurry. Let's split up, I'll find Seifer, you'll get _," whispered Roxas and quickly went separate ways. He had to use a bandana to disguise himself as well. He came across another worker delivering food and stopped him, "Is this for the groom? Let me handle it, I need to see him too." After almost losing his way in this maze of a castle, he finally arrived at the groom suite. From the outside, it sounded as if Seifer was the only one inside. Roxas tried the door and thankfully it was unlocked. He peeked through to find no one inside so he quickly got in and closed the door. Only the sounds of water running could be heard from the bathroom, and Seifer's suit was on the bed. Roxas thought about stealing the suit, but he also noticed a bottle on a table. Upon closer inspection, it was a liquid laxative. He proceeded to pour out two tablespoons worth of it into Seifer's soup for good measure. He then left the plate on said table.

As he gripped onto the suit, the bathroom was opened. "Holy crap!" screamed Roxas' mind. He ran to the door immediately with the suit and got out. Seifer, surprisingly, did not notice anything but the disappearance of his suit. "Odd, where is the suit?" Roxas quickly hid himself next to the door shouted from outside, "Sir, I just brought you your breakfast but I noticed a stain on you suit, so I'm taking it for a quick laundry, and will bring it back to you!" Seifer pondered for a bit while Roxas was praying that he would not notice anything else. Finally he said, "Sure, but be quick, or else you're going to get it. And shut the door." "Yes, sir," Roxas almost exclaimed and closed the door without letting Seifer see him. "Well, let's eat…"

8th June, 09:50

Sora regrouped with Roxas in a dark corner of the castle. "Have you… found her?" Roxas asked, still panting from the run before. "No… you?" replied Sora, he was exhausted too. "Well, I managed to throw his suit into the janitor's." Roxas said. Sora sighed, "I cannot find her anywhere. She must have headed to the ceremony hall already. Roxas smacked a palm to his face and said, "Great, we have ten minutes before the ceremony begins. What do we do now?" Sora stared at Roxas for a while. When Roxas gave him an odd look, Sora said, "I have an idea…"

8th June, 10:00

In the castle hall, organ music blared and the entrance doors opened to reveal the groom first. He walked down the aisle alone in a pride stride, dressed in a smart white suit and hair slicked back nicely. Everyone's eyes were on him. He got to the altar with Merlin, the godfather, waiting there. The best men and bridesmaids walked in after him. Lastly, the only other person everyone was waiting for walked in, with an older man beside her.

I was looking at the floor during the walk down the aisle, trying to let the organ to drown out everyone, all the memories and my feelings. Finally, I reached the staircase to the altar. My father gave my hand over to Seifer and stepped aside. Hmm, I never really took notice of Seifer ever since the preparations started, and his hand felt and look skinny. Perhaps he did put in a lot of effort in this. I just hoped he would also put in this much effort in our future life and not just the wedding. Suddenly, I felt a jerk on my hand. I looked at him, questioning silently why he did that- wait a minute, why was his scar looking so… flat and fake? And why were his eyes blue instead of greener?

"_, Roxas here. Do not say anything. Just listen to me. Somehow, Riku is still alive and well, and he is still waiting for you. You cannot marry Seifer," Roxas whispered loud enough for me to hear. The godfather went on babbling about the wedding and did not hear him. I whispered back, "What?! How?" He looked at me and then I added, "Even so, it is too late now… I had to do this. Do I even have a choice?"

Roxas suddenly decided that he had had enough and spoke louder, "Then are you just going to leave him hanging there?! To just forget about him, about your times together, about your feelings?!" Everyone shut up at once and horrified gasps could be heard. Seconds later, the doors swung open violently to reveal the real Seifer in his bathrobe. He held his stomach and screamed, "Why did no one tell me that the ceremony has begun? And what the hell is wrong with my soup?!" We stared in shock at Seifer and I could feel Roxas' grip turn colder. And at that moment, someone yelled, "Look at his spiky hair! He's a fake!" I whipped around to see Roxas' hair and sure enough, the spikes had bounced up from their slicked back position. "Stupid hair gel…" Roxas said through gritted teeth in panic. Seifer recognised him too, "Roxas?!"

Roxas growled and turned to look at me, saying, "We don't have time! Are you coming or not?!" I did not know how to react and after one second he added with more seriousness, "Riku is still out there, hoping to see you. He almost died in the process!" Seifer had started to storm over to us. I took one last glance at everything and everyone in the hall and then back to Roxas. I grabbed his hand started sprinting down the altar. Seifer was about to pounce on us when Olette stuck her foot out and tripped him over. She gave me a wink and mouthed, "Go get him!" I smiled just a bit and we proceeded to jump over Seifer's body. As soon as we got out of the hall, Sora yelled, "This way! Quick!" He led us out and just as the guards were about to close in, a car honk blared and everyone started dodging the car. Axel yelled from the car, "Get in!" We successfully got in after I decided to detach and throw my long train at the guards and slowed them down.

"Holy crap. That was close," breathed Roxas, looking behind to see if anyone was following us. Axel muttered while glaring at the road before him, "Let's hope we can get out of here in one piece…" After some sharp turns and drifts à la Fast and Furious, we finally reached the highway and lost our pursuers. "Good god… We did it…" Sora sighed, slumping down in his seat in the front. "I can't believe your plan worked. But why did you have to use this hair gel on me? My hair stuck back up too soon!" started Roxas, not very amused. "How would I know we will need it? I would have gotten some from Axel if we had the time," Sora retorted. Axel retaliated, "Hey, my hair is natural, OK? I never used hair gel." I yelled, "Enough!" The guys finally shut up and I cleared my throat. I said, "Thank you, and now… tell me. What in Kingdom Hearts' name happened?"

8th June, 16:02

On the sandy beach of Destiny Island, only Riku was there. Tidus and Selphie were spying from somewhere to see if their plans worked in the end. Riku was wearing his white suit, complete with the ring and flowers from a florist named Marluxia. Selphie decided that they should get the flowers anyway. Yesterday, they managed to haggle with Jack Sparrow and got away with half of his initial offered price. It still almost broke the bank, but good enough for last minute preparations.

He heard someone yelling his name from a distance, and his gaze followed the source of the voices and saw four people running over. Sora was at the very front, waving and yelling. Roxas quickly followed behind. Axel was behind the whole group and he saw a girl behind Roxas… "_?" Riku said to himself, still could not believe his eyes.

I could not believe what I saw, and I had to stop momentarily to register the sight before me; Riku was there in a white suit with flowers… He was alive. My lips trembled a bit and I resumed running. Riku started to run towards me too. At some point, Sora, Roxas and Axel fell behind me while I charged ahead. This looked like a scene with "Chariots of Fire" playing in the background. When Riku got close enough, he extended his arms to try to engulf me in a hug. I also extended my arms, and then…

I punched him square in the face.

He fell onto the sand. He shook his head a bit and stared at me with wide confused eyes, but he did not get up. I proceeded to scold him loudly, "How dare you… How dare you! You jerk! You made my life hell! I had to marry someone I loathe so much and you almost ruined my life, damn it! How dare you, Riku!"

Everyone was just as dumbfounded, if not more than, as Riku. They just stared at us like we were crazy. And while I was still ranting, Riku got up and grabbed my hands. His warmth shut me up like magic. To calm me down, he said, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for disappearing without any trace. I'm sorry for saddening everyone, especially you. I'm sorry for almost ruining your life. But…" He readjusted his grip on my hands and looked at me in the eyes. He continued, "But will you allow me to repair your life?" And he proceeded to get down on one knee, holding out a delicate silver ring and said, "Will you marry me?"

Despite being damn sure my tear reservoir was dried up, I could still feel tears flowing down my face. I hastily wiped them away, smiled and said, "Well, what do you think I'm dressed like this for?" I held his hands tight and ended with something I would never say to anyone else, "I do."

Riku looked like he was about to cry too. He quickly slipped the ring onto my ring finger and got up. He dropped the ring box and cupped my face, looking in my eyes. I wrapped my arms around his torso and smiled at him. He finally closed in and slammed his lips against mine and I gladly returned the kiss, pouring whatever feelings I had been holding back into it. I could vaguely hear people cheering and wolf-whistling. I felt his tears falling onto my face and I lost it too, as if the dam finally broke. We had to break the kiss, but we ended up hugging each other tightly, as if fearing one of us would disappear if we loosened our grips.

I rested my head on his chest and he rested his chin on my head. We were both crying and laughing at the same; it was ridiculous. We were such sad sacks, maybe that was why we had to marry each other. He said in between soft sobs, "I thought I'm going to lose you forever…" I mumbled, "Me too." My embrace tightened and he stroked my hair. I let out a sob and said, "I don't care if we're going to freestyle this proposal and the wedding. As long as you're with me, I'm happy…" He nodded, kissed my head and said, "Yeah, I agree… You know, the suit, the ring, the flowers and everything were so troublesome to get." I chuckled, "Ha, tell me about it."

Selphie was swooning and squealing, "Aww that was so sweet!" Tidus smiled widely at the couple while busy trying to keep Selphie from falling onto him. Sora was about to cry. Roxas laughed and patted his back and was just glad everything was worth it in the end. Axel was smiling at the scene before him. "So guys… can someone wipe off the scar on my face now?" Roxas finally said after thinking whether to ruin the atmosphere now or later. Sora looked at him, scratched his head sheepishly and said, "It's permanent marker though. We might have to rub your face in lots of rubbing alcohol." Roxas exclaimed, "What?! And what about this hair gel?!" Axel merely said, "A hot shower should do the trick." Roxas groaned tiredly, but then he sighed and said while looking at the couple, "Oh well, as long as they are happy, I can deal with this shenanigan…"

After a good while, I spoke up, "You cut your hair?" Riku just sighed and said, "Why doesn't everyone notice it until much later? My hair was so long before for god's sake." I giggled and said, "It suits you." "So, shall we let this be our ending?" Riku whispered and pulled away to look at me. His face was so ethereal with the sunset golden rays. I nodded and said, "Yeah."

The End

This is the sequel to 'Storm'. Not gonna lie, I was either smirking, grinning or full-blown laughing when writing this. This was so much fun to write, and perhaps a compensation for its prequel (it was only six pages while this has a whopping fifteen).

Obviously, I do not own any Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy franchises. Or even Captain Jack Sparrow. I, however, do own the plot of this story.

Until next time then!