The Drawing

This was the part that Sora loved. The days out at open sea. The sky and the sea and nothing else for miles around. He'd love it more if his ship was whole. Every time he saw the bent mast he winced with guilt. Yen Sid would not have been happy to see his beloved ship in such a state. For some reason, he felt as if the man would know. As if he would be waiting for them in port, shaking his head.

At least now they had become a crew of three. When Riku wasn't adjusting the ropes (Sora helped, when he could be 'spared' from the helm), he was up by Sora's side, leaning against the railing and staring into the wind. It made his silver hair fly out behind him in the wind. Sora loved that silver – it was like he had been blessed by moonlight.

Naminé sat on the other side, her hair mirroring Riku's. She'd become something of a duckling to him – Sora was trying not to feel jealous. More often than not, she checked his reaction to things, before she formed her own. It didn't help that she was particularly fond of King Mickey. Her eyes would light up whenever she saw him, and she was obsessed with putting her finger on his front paws, "like they were holding hands."

At least there was someone around who was smaller than Sora. And she was cute as well – just like a little sister. He had to keep thinking of her like that. She wasn't Kairi.

She just looked exactly the same.

Which had certainly made it hard to not be disappointed.

"What's Morocco like?" Her voice was still quiet – still like holding your ear against a seashell to hear the sea.

"Warm," Sora replied. "Much warmer than here."

"Oh, good. The wind is much too mean here."

Which made him laugh. He nodded at Riku. "See? Finally, someone around her with some sense."

"I'm so sorry that I didn't grow up in the Caribbean." Riku's eyes narrowed with his sarcasm. "But England isn't that bad. We have – we have scones, and cricket and –"

"And a third of the discovered world under your control."

"You can't control the world." Naminé frowned. She still wore that white dress, with a large overcoat she'd found below deck over the top. As a particularly strong wind blew, she buried herself further into it.

"Tell that to the English, and the East India Trading Company." Sora tipped his hat back to better block out the watery sunlight.

"There's a lot of things we wouldn't have if it weren't for the East India Trading Company." Though Riku was hardly bristling with indignation. It sounded as though he was just repeating information – like he'd been made to do his timetables.

"And there's a lot of pirates who would still be alive if there wasn't the East India Trading Company." Sora replied. "Naminé, you're born from the sea, do you think anyone can claim any part of it as their own?"

"Of course not."

Sora smirked at Riku, who shook his head at him, though he was smirking too. As if to say 'I can't believe you'd have the gall to manipulate a girl who's three days old.'

"Born of the sea?" Naminé repeated. She looked down at herself. "I suppose I am."

"Like Aphrodite," Riku said. "She was born from sea foam when her father was cast into the sea."

"I didn't think a good Christian like yourself would believe in such nonsense." Sora was learning that he couldn't resist teasing Riku. There was just something about the way he clung to that cultured voice that made him want to poke a stick at the bear.

"We've already established that I'm not a good Christian," Riku shot back. "And once you see lightning materialise a chest with a girl trapped inside, you start to open your mind a little."

Sora found himself laughing. Laughing freely – that was the best part about having a crew that you liked. And it had been a rare thing.

"And as soon as we dock in Morocco, I'm teaching the pair of you to swim."

Riku grimaced. "Must you?"

"Is there a problem, Master Riku?" He could feel a smirk tugging at his lips, and he let his eyes slide over to the taller boy. Let his eyebrows raise so that Riku glanced away. He was torn between enjoying this and hating it. Now that he knew the truth, he could push it – he could push this. And teasing Riku never seemed to get tiring.

And yet Naminé was right there. It wouldn't be fun for her to witness just how much Sora wanted to flirt.

"I never have any desire to be drenched in sea water again," Riku said. "As soon as we make it to land, I am taking a bath, washing my hair and never going above deck again."

Which only made Sora laugh again. Oh, he thought, he was getting that boy back in the ocean.

"But the sea is –" Naminé paused, her eyes wide as though she was trying to pluck the right word from the sky. "Life. It's – like a friend, carrying you to where you need to go."

"Or drowning you," Riku murmured.

"Only to feed the fish at the bottom." She shook her head again. "Life."

Riku opened his mouth to argue, but then he stopped himself. His gaze softened, and Sora knew that feeling. There was just something about Naminé. She couldn't be refused, in anything. She was certain, and when she was certain about something, she couldn't be changed. And there was something beautiful in the way she was saying it.

He supposed this was what having a little sister felt like.

Naminé frowned, then, and leant back over the rail to stare at the sea. For a moment, Sora half expected dolphins to leap up and talk to her.

But then she turned back to them and asked, "how do we know I won't turn into a mermaid in the water? Or dissolve into seafoam?"

The thought panicked them both into tugging her away from the edge.

They would not lose this little sister any time soon.

Riku felt like they'd been sailing forever.

And yet he didn't mind it. If he was honest – he enjoyed this. They were in their own world that was full of blue and was beautiful. Just the three of them, and the animals, and nothing else. They were safe here – and he never wanted that safety to end.

When had he last felt this safe?

He was thankful for Naminé. She was the one who kept things with Sora at bay. He might still tease Riku and wink, and linger just a bit too long when he nudged him, but he didn't dare go any further when she was around.

Riku couldn't figure out if he wanted him to. Now that he had admitted it – here, where it was safe – he didn't know how to continue. It still felt as though they would be caught. And he still couldn't figure out if Sora was still joking – if he did, actually, love Kairi. If Riku was just something to occupy the time.

He would be used to that.

There was a much less rational part of him that couldn't help returning the teasing. That enjoyed it all – enjoyed the way that his heart raced and his cheeks flushed. Because Sora was sunshine incarnate, and he had been living in the dark for so long.

Because he could hear Sora snoring in the hammock on the other side of the crew's quarters and let himself imagine what it would be like to be next to him. To have that warmth next to him – Sora's arms around him, head on his chest.

To wake up and be able to kiss Sora awake, basking in the smell of the sun and the sea. He'd make a small murmur, and wiggle himself back against Riku. Tighten his grip, but then maybe pepper kisses against Riku's collarbone –

He tore himself from those thoughts whenever he could. Not going to happen. Couldn't happen.

And not when Naminé was following Riku everywhere. She gave him time to think about it. To try and figure out just why it couldn't happen. Apart from society and law.

He stayed in the cabin with her one evening, because it was easier to keep all of those thoughts about Sora at bay then. And he had wanted to go through the charts and ledgers. They were a mess, to say the least – it was like a child's approximation of what a ledger should look like. Almost every word was spelt wrong, and every letter was a different size to the one next to it.

So he took it on himself to write them out sensibly, and the girl was fascinated.

"Why would you need to record it all down?" She was feeding titbits to the King. He'd abandoned Riku easily for the idea of a piece of crusty cheese – he tried not to be offended. Donald was sleeping on her lap, and her fingers danced across his feathers. If a duck could purr, he would be.

"In case somebody needs to know where we've been and what we've found out." He was still trying to decipher if it was a four or an eight.

"Why would someone need to know?"

He rethought. "In case we need to know."

Naminé tilted her head to the side, rosebud lips smiling down at the mouse in front of her. Traitor, Riku thought, as the King stood on his hind legs and washed his face.

"But surely you know where you've been and what you've found out," she said.

"I'm not so sure Sora does."

"He's a lot more capable than he'd have you believe." Naminé finally looked up then. "He's a lot more capable than he believes, as well."

Which was not as strange to hear as it should have been. Some part of Riku knew that there was more to Sora than he made out. He had seen that, when Sora had been stood like a child in trouble in front of Barbosa – when he had jumped headfirst into a stormy sea without a second thought – when they had dived into their childhoods and Sora had seemed – wise and sad. The complete opposite of how he always appeared.

"You've only known him for a few days more than I have," Riku continued, scratching at the page, but not writing anything in particular.

"No, I don't think so." Now Naminé's gaze was clouded again. "I think – I know that I've known him for a lot longer than this. I know him."

"Can you tell me what's happening in his head?"

Naminé laughed. It sounded like a bell chiming. "No one can be sure of that."

Which made Riku chuckle.

He paused when Naminé leant her elbows on the table, her hair falling dangerously close to the lit candles.

"What's happening in your head, Riku?"

It caught him off-guard. He wondered for a moment, what to say – how much to say – what she wanted him to say.

"I still don't know if running was the right thing to do," he said. "I ran, but I didn't stop to think about where I was running to, only what I was running from. Now I seem to be caught up in something…important. Someone else's story, that I probably shouldn't be in."

Naminé blinked, then frowned. Her fingers kept stroking Donald, and the duck quacked in contentment.

"But if you're here, then surely this is your story too?"

If Riku stopped to think about it, he realised it was actually simple logic. She wasn't saying anything incredible, just plain, simple facts.

Turns out he needed more plain, simple facts.

This was his story, and he was turning it around.

He smiled to himself as he turned back to the ledgers. But then a thought occurred to him. Something to cheer Naminé up before he left for the night, because she always looked a little bit scared to be left in the dark on her own. Well, Riku could understand that.

He let the pencil sketch out a poorly drawn shape, but when he turned it to show her, Naminé's face lit up in a grin.

"Donald!" She picked up the duck, pulling him from his slumber and trying to get him to look at the drawing. He blinked, bleary eyed, at anywhere but the paper. "So there is a purpose behind it all."

"Well, it's not writing – it's drawing, but-"

"Let me try." She held out her hand to him, her jaw set determinedly.

Riku had no choice but to hand over the pencil.

She began drawing right away. But she also pulled the ledger away and covered the page with her hand as she did so. When Riku craned his neck to look she tugged it even closer.

"I'll show you when I'm done, Riku."

Sometimes she sounded like a Princess. Her tone was confident, clear and she knew what she wanted. He could believe that she was some Goddess that they'd found at sea and didn't want to get on the wrong side of her. And, Riku had to admit that she was cute. With her heart shaped face and long lashes, she was adorable. It was like saying no to a puppy.

His only choice was to raise his hands in mock surrender and wish her goodnight.

"Land ahoy!"

Sora probably didn't need to yell it, because both members of his crew who cared were stood right by him, but there was a sense of satisfaction that came with it. He'd been the first one to spot land.

There was something feverish as he and Riku rushed to adjust the sails. (Naminé helped as best she could, but couldn't keep a good grip on the rope.) There always was after days at sea. Finally getting to their destination – finally getting the Highwind fixed. It was exciting.

It was exciting until Naminé asked, "how do we know I won't disappear as soon as I set foot on land?"

Which made Sora's stomach jerk with panic. He looked to Riku, who shrugged. Neither of them knew the rules when it came to someone liked her.

Morocco approached – a cascade of amber, square houses stretching down into the sea. They were built into the cliffs like stairs for a giant, and palm trees dotted green through it all – like nature was trying to reclaim the whole thing.

It was early afternoon when they were close enough to start docking.

"You've been here before?" Riku asked. But he was pulling the sail in and it was hard not to focus on those biceps.

"Aye." Sora forced himself to focus on his own sail.

"So, you remember where to go for repairs?"

"I don't remember much of anything," Sora admitted. "I remember having a good time, but that's because I didn't leave the taverns for a week."

Riku gave him a look.

"This is a pirate ship, Riku, and I am a pirate. What did you expect?" He tied off the knot and re-adjusted his hat. "And we'll have to stop by them, anyway."

"Why?"

It was Sora's turn to give him a look. "Money."

They were safely docked within the half hour. Sora let Donald and Goofy down the gangplank first – they both looked more than relieved to be on solid ground again. Then he jumped down and offered his hand to Naminé. Riku was behind her, his hands hovering over her waist as though he was scared she was going to tumble any minute.

But she was sure footed, keeping her eyes on Sora's and slipping her small hand into his when she was close enough. She stepped from the plank and onto the concrete dock.

And didn't disappear.

He could hear Riku's long sigh as he followed them both.

Then the mission began. Sora found himself at the head of the crew – his crew, he realised – as they headed into Casablanca. He was in charge of a crew. People were depending on him. That was a new and troubling development. It was enough to make his stomach cramp and his lungs refuse to work properly.

He began asking people for directions, and quickly ran into trouble. They frowned at him, and couldn't quite understand what he was asking. After the third person shrugged and turned away, Riku raised his eyebrows.

"I thought you spoke Spanish," he said.

"I am speaking Spanish," he snapped. The sun was in his eyes when he looked up at Riku. "I don't see you being any help. Some good that Harrow education is."

"I'm fluent in French and Latin-"

"Aye, now's definitely the time for a bit of Homer." It was hot and he should be happy about that, but it was making sweat trickle down his spine. He was tired, stressed and people were expecting him to be responsible. They were expecting something of him.

"Homer was Greek, which I'm not as good at, but still passable."

"Are you English?" A voice asked. They turned to find a tanned dock worker, arms full with a large crate. "You need any help?"

Sora elbowed Riku in the ribs, winding him enough so that he could speak first. "My crew and I are looking for a couple of repairs done."

Riku elbowed him back, hard in the bicep.

The man looked over the three of them, Donald and Goofy and raised his eyebrows. Especially at Naminé's strange ensemble. Sora had fashioned a petticoat for her to cover her legs, but she still stood out like a sore thumb. Riku stepped in front of her, shielding her from view.

"Aye – old Cid'll help you out wi' that. Two lefts down that way, a right and then down the stairs. You'll see the sign from there. But he don't come cheap."

"Wouldn't want them to be," Sora said, tugging the rope he'd looped around Goofy's neck and leading them the way the man had said. He felt eyes on his back for far longer than was polite. It was something he had been used to, but for some reason it felt strange now. Uncomfortable that someone was looking at him and his friends like a sideshow.

Cid's shop was down a narrow stairwell cut into the side of the port. The walkway smelt of urine, and even when they were free of the cramped stone space, Sora could still smell it.

There was a row of shops set into the stone, sitting like trolls underneath a bridge. It was dark enough down here, that they all had their lamps outside lit. Cid's shop had a large, fleur-de-lis shaped sign over it and diamonds cut into the wooden doors. There was an inviting glow from the inside, that the other buildings didn't have. In fact, it looked neater than most of the others – wooden beams waxed and polished to hold it up.

"Are we sure about this?" Riku murmured, as Sora raised a hand to the door handle.

Sora smirked. He couldn't help it. "Scared, Riku?"

"Should I not be?"

Sora opened the door and put on his widest smile. "Hola, amigo!"

The inside smelt of sawdust and smoke. A huge fire burned in a grate on one side of the room – a large pot was sat on top of it, though nothing was cooking inside it. On the far wall as an intricately embroidered tapestry – Sora could imagine it would be worth a fortune. So, what was it doing here?

The rest of the space was taken up with workshop equipment – a carpenter's bench, tool racks, and a large collection of model ships. Fine ships, Sora noticed at a glance, if a little unorthodox.

A man was stood behind the carpenter's bench. At their entrance, he had straightened up and put his hands on his hips, his brow furrowing. He was big, blonde hair sticking up behind goggles and a long toothpick held between his teeth.

He spoke in Spanish. "Can I help you?"

His voice was low and gruff, like a bear's. He was frowning hard – trying to make himself look bigger and scarier. But another glance at the model ships revealed wheel-along toys and cups and balls too. Sora's instincts told him that it was an all act – that this guy was in fact a big softy. It activated the annoying part of his brain – the 'let's see how far we can get before getting a clip round the ear' part of his brain.

"I would have thought that was obvious," he said, leaning against the doorframe of the shop. "You repair ships, we have one we need repaired."

The man crossed his arms over his chest, still frowning and making the toothpick wave up and down.

"Where are you from, kid?"

That 'chamaco' irked Sora. He couldn't resist a dig of his own. "Havana, gramps."

"You sound like it."

"Excuse me?" Sora scowled at the man.

Riku was frowning at him, desperate to be updated on the situation and beside him, Naminé's eyes were wide.

The man just shrugged. "People don't speak Spanish here like that."

"I realised."

The man took a long breath, and looked the three of them up and down. "So why'd they send a kid to do the Captain's job?"

"I am the Captain."

The man laughed, loud and deep, but trailed off when he saw Sora's face. The smile tightened.

"You're kidding," he said.

"Can you fix the ship or not?" Sora pressed.

The man raised thick eyebrows at him. But then shrugged and uncrossed his arms.

"I can take a look."

Sora nodded, stepping back out of the shop to let him through.

"He says he'll take a look," he said, to Riku and Naminé.

"And I can speak English, chamaco," the man called over his shoulder.

Riku was smirking, so Sora elbowed him again. "Be quiet."

The man kept a brisk pace back to their ship, and they hurried to keep up. It got to the point where Naminé had to carry Donald, and Sora was half-dragging Goofy across the plaza. He was insistent on sniffing every cobblestone he could.

When they eventually reached the Highwind, the man let out a long whistle.

"Sink me! What the heck'd you do to the poor thing?"

"We got caught in a storm," Sora said.

Naminé frowned at him, and he pressed a finger to his lips. She nodded, but still looked troubled.

"I can fix it, easy. But it'll cost you." The man had his hands on his hips again, surveying the damage.

Sora turned back to him. "I never pay until the repairs are complete."

"Aye, I bet you don't. And then you're free to sail away without paying at all."

He scowled and mirrored the man's stance. "Better than paying for a shoddy job."

"Shoddy job? Shoddy job?! I've been in this business for fifteen years, you upstart and never once have I had-"

"Cid! It's been a while!" A new voice called.

No, a familiar voice.

And Sora turned to see a familiar man walking down the deck towards them. It had been a few years, but Leon still looked the same – same long brown hair and scar that ran across his nose. It should have marred his appearance, but it only gave him a rugged handsomeness. At the sight of him, he broke out into a smirk.

"And look who it is – the little lion himself," Leon said.

"You know him?" Cid asked. He didn't seem impressed.

"Sora was on my crew for a while." Leon clapped a hand on his shoulder and he found himself grinning. Then he caught Riku's eye – saw the raised eyebrow, and looked away again. "He's not a bad sailor."

"Bad enough to drive his ship into a storm." Cid jerked his thumb at the sad looking Highwind.

Leon's eyes narrowed. He looked down at Sora, who looked away at him too. He could sense Leon looking over Riku and Naminé. He put two and two together quickly.

"I think we need to talk."

Within ten minutes, Leon had got them a booth in the tavern closest to the docks and a ten percent discount off of Cid's usual rates. After some haggling, Cid and Sora had agreed to pay halfway through the repairs.

If Riku was honest, he wasn't sure how to talk to the man sat across from them. It seemed that Sora knew a lot of handsome Captains with rare, but heart-skipping smiles. This one just screamed angsty backstory with that huge scar – was clearly a tragic hero from a gothic novel. It made him feel impossibly shy.

Naminé was next to him, with her jotterbook and pencil and Sora was squashed in at the end. He had one arm around the top of the booth, protecting her. His hand happened to be placed so that his thumb grazed against Riku's neck if he leant back. Which was certainly no accident.

There was a girl next to Leon, with short dark hair, tanned skin and almond shaped eyes. She was from somewhere in Asia, but Riku couldn't pinpoint where. She had been just as excited to see Sora, measuring him against herself and declaring that he was as short as ever.

And Cid sat at the end of the booth, looking equal parts curious and equal parts tired.

"I don't believe you've introduced us to your crew." Leon took a swig from the tankard in front of him. Of course, they all had the same.

"This is Riku – we met in Bristol." Sora put his hand on Riku's shoulder and squeezed it. Enough to make his stomach flip over itself. "And this is Naminé."

"And where is Naminé from?"

Sora only missed a beat. He took a sip of his own ale. "I think we both know where Naminé is from."

The girl – she'd been introduced as Yuffie – let out a whistle from between her teeth.

"You did it," she said. "You actually went and did it."

Leon looked decidedly less impressed. "You could have been killed."

"But we weren't."

"And look what you did to such a beautiful ship." Cid shook his head, sighing into his drink.

"Spare me the scolding," Sora sighed. "We did it and we found Naminé."

"And what does Naminé think of all this?" Leon asked.

Naminé looked up as though she had forgotten where she was. She thought hard for a moment, then she sighed.

"I'm not sure I have the best opinion on the matter, because I can only remember the last week," she said. Riku tried to sneak a peak at the lodger – but she clamped it to her chest before he could see more than a haze of pencil. "But I know that I've been happy. And I know that there's a reason it was Sora who found the chest."

"Naminé just knows things, sometimes," Riku explained.

She was taking the tankard in her hands – it was so big it took both of them cupped around it – and he lifted it out of her reach. Watered down rum was one thing – but ale? He didn't think so.

"How can you know things when you don't remember anything?" Leon pressed.

It was almost freaky, that the three of them said it completely in time. "There's a difference."

The adults around them blinked, stunned. Then, Naminé went back to sketching and Riku took a long sip from his own tankard. He still despised the taste – it smelt like urine and didn't taste much better. But it would make him feel relaxed – feel capable. And that was worth the bitterness.

"So, what do you plan to do now? What's the next step in finding her?" Yuffie said. She was watching Naminé draw and Naminé kept glancing up and smiling shyly at her.

Sora sighed. "We wait for the repairs, and then we try to get as far away from England as possible."

"What did you do now?" Leon's eyes narrowed.

"Me?" Sora put a hand to his chest, his eyes wide. "I didn't do anything. It's this one, over here, who's in trouble."

His knuckles brushed against the back of Riku's neck. It was a soft, fond movement and he felt his face colour just from that. Leon stared at him. There were dark rings under his eyes.

"Runaway?" he asked.

"Barbosa's already sniffed out a money making opportunity," Sora explained.

"We haven't side hide nor hair of either of you, then," Yuffie said.

Riku smiled. He was unused to this – unused to finding his footing in the conversation – unused to smiling like he meant it.

"Thank you." It was surprisingly hard to get the words out when Sora's fingers were still on the back of his neck, running over the tiny hairs there and making them stand on end.

"Done." Naminé turned the jotter around to show Riku, and he blinked down at it. The shapes were simple, almost childlike, but the drawing was good. It was two small people, sat on a palm tree that sloped sideways in an arc. They were talking to each other, smiles on their faces – one with spiky hair, and the other with a bob.

Wait.

Sora was looking too, and his eyes widened. He stared at Riku for a moment, like he should know what that meant.

"Naminé, let's see?" he asked.

She passed it to Sora, and as he took it, RIku noticed his hands were shaking. Slowly, he turned it around to Leon and Yuffie, like he was revealing a magic trick. They both frowned at it, doing the same wide thing with their eyes – at mixture of utter shock and complete puzzlement.

"That's me and Kairi." Sora's voice was hoarse. "That was our palm tree. Naminé, how did you-?"

"I'm sorry, I don't know." She was partly leaning into Riku's arm, and he let it slip around her. "I just – saw the image and I started drawing. When I started drawing, I knew I remembered where it had come from, who it was and what you were talking about, but now…I don't."

Yuffie, Leon and Sora stared at each other. Cid looked completely lost and decided to down his tankard. Riku felt like doing the same. He put his hand around Naminé's shoulders and tried to give her an encouraging squeeze. She bit her lip and ducked her head so that her hair hid her face.

"You haven't done anything wrong," Riku murmured.

"She said there was a reason it was you, Sora," Leon said. "She's connected to you. At least you, if not you and Kairi."

"There must be some way to recall those memories. Even if it's subconsciously." Yuffie was getting excited now, tapping her fingers against the table as she thought.

Sora was still frowning down at the page. "But Naminé's her own person."

"I can try." Naminé's voice was still small. "I can try and remember. They're right. There's a reason I'm here with you, and I want to do it."

Sora was running a hand over his mouth, frowning deeply. He raised an eyebrow at Riku, who raised one back.

"We can't do anything until the repairs are done," he found himself saying. "Let's see what happens till then."

Which may just have been the first sensible thing that he'd said since leaving Bristol.