When Sora made was about to go into the inn, he spotted the other three relaxing under the shade of a nearby tree eating what looked to be some kind of icecream. Something cold did sound nice after working away in the hot sun.
"Hey, guys." Sora waved as he walked over to them, promptly plopping down on the ground, fanning himself.
"Hi, Sora! How'd working with Riku go?" Ventus offered him the other half of his ice cream which Sora happily accepted. He wasn't exactly a fan of the salty taste of it, but just the coldness alone of it was enough.
"He was probably a big bitch the whole time. Riku's the worst when it's hot out," Roxas added with a snide smirk.
"You have experience with that?" Xion elbowed him with a laugh. It was good to see her all carefree. Sora still wondered what exactly all of them had gone through in that place called Oblivion.
"W-well, he used to make me help him with work stuff, and it sucked. He never picked you, Ven. Lucky." Sora tried his best to hold back a laugh as Roxas puffed up his cheeks indignantly.
"I was always busy training with Aqua and Terra. Not my fault." Ventus glanced over Sora curiously, perking up his ears. "You seem happy, Sora. Riku seems to have a soft spot for you."
"O-oh? You think so?" Sora felt like hiding his face but looked elsewhere instead. Had they noticed it too? Whenever he thought about Riku, his chest felt tight and his heart would beat and beat. It was the same feeling he had felt in his dreams which now he figured Riku had always been there. It really was like something out of a fairy tale. "He's usually pretty nice, but he seemed a bit pissed when I was talking with a girl from this town."
"Haha! Oh man, he got jealous." Roxas burst out laughing, slapping his leg a few times.
"Well, I did offer for us to go stargazing, so maybe that'll make him less..jealous." Was that what it had been? He did even make a show of jumping off the roof between them. Sora smirked at the thought of Riku simply getting pissed off from that. It was kinda...cute.
"Can you blame him, Roxas? You remember how he used to tell us about Sora's dreams, though he didn't know his name at the time. From what they told us about dream eaters, they have a deep connection with the other person's dreams and become extremely protective," Ventus said, though it was directed more at Sora.
When he was engulfed by dreams during the sleep spell, Sora remembered that whenever Riku was around, there was a starry sky overhead, though he never saw Riku as himself: usually a shadow with webbed wings or the unicorn. At the time, he had never questioned the identity of the being. Part of him didn't feel like it was necessary. He was content with knowing that something was there watching over him. The strange part was that those blurry images: the unicorn, the wings, the night sky, were really all he could remember from that time. The rest, all that he told him or what he did in those dreams, were all opaque and difficult to make out. His head started pounding whenever he tried to remember. Before that started, he stood up, looking towards the inn in the distance.
"Well, I should get washed up. I'm like ridiculously sweaty right now. See you guys later!" Sora waved before making his way back over there. Riku..he wondered why he always seemed so close yet so distant. It was like whenever Sora tried to reach out to him, he moved further away. The way he behaved..he must feel the the same..just maybe. Sora figured stargazing tonight was a good a time as any to try to close the gap between them.
Once Sora was in the room Riku had reserved, he started to pry off his sweaty clothes that were practically sticking to his skin. In the tiled corner, he filled up a bucket with cool water, starting to wash himself off. The cold water against his hot skin was sweet relief as he leaned his back against the cool tile. He'd definitely need to wash his clothes before tonight. Just thinking about going stargazing with Riku put a smile on his face, but at the same time, his heart beat faster as he thought what he was going to say exactly. "Hey, Riku, I think I might be..kind of in love with you?" Was that too forward?
Sora froze when he heard the door opening. The room conveniently had the washing area just right in the corner with no privacy whatsoever. Cyan eyes met sapphire ones as Riku nonchalantly walked into the room until he spotted Sora's bare back as he had turned around in the last second. His eyes scanned over him, following the curve of his back until he made himself look over to the window.
"Oh, s-sorry. I didn't know you were washing up in here. I can go," he blurted out, words coming out quickly in sheer embarrassment.
"No, it's okay! I was just finishing up," Sora blurted back, quickly scrubbing himself off. He nearly fell over as he reached for the nearest towel, tying it around his waist. Riku's whole face was red at this point. It didn't help that Sora was still only wearing a towel with his bare chest on display. "Well, I'll give you some privacy to wash up. I'm gonna go wash my clothes. Uh, see you later!" Sora figured it was fine just walking around in a towel. It was hot out after all, and after that, the room felt scorching. Once he was out of the room, he sighed as he facepalmed. Yeah, that was real smooth.
As the day went on, the sun slowly dipped towards the horizon, unleashing a multitude of colors against the sky. The sky began to turn indigo like the green of an ancient sea. Sora's clothes had dried quickly in the heat of the day, wearing them now instead of just the towel. Sora was enjoying dinner with Syeda, happy to eat some good food that wasn't stuff they just cooked over a fire or the Elven survival food. When she asked about Riku, Sora's was thrown back to that embarrassing moment earlier.
"So, you're going stargazing with him? Any special reason or just for fun?" she asked after taking a drink. Her dark eyes looked over him curiously.
"Oh, well..can you keep a secret?" Sora was sure he was safe in telling her about it. After all, she didn't know the others well..though the other three probably already knew anyway. With a nod from her, Sora took a deep breath as he collected his thoughts.
"It's kind of hard to explain, but I've known Riku for a long time. We hadn't met in person until a few weeks ago, but I just feel this connection to him. He's always been there..in my dreams. I know that probably sounds really weird, but it's the truth. I want..to at least try to express my feelings to him. Whether he feels the same or not, it's just something I need to get off my chest, or I feel like I'm going to explode." Sora circled his finger along the rim of the glass.
"Ah, I see. You have a crush on him, and you want to express your feelings, right? I think stargazing is the perfect setting to do that," Syeda said with a nod. "Haha, no wonder he looked so pissed off at you talking to me."
"I swear he's actually really sweet, a bit sassy and hard to read sometimes, but sweet. You see, in my dreams, whenever Riku was around, there was always a starry sky. In there, I think the night sky symbolized him or something like that. I figured because of that stargazing was the best way to go about this. It's something familiar to both of us." Sora found that the more he talked to her, the easier it was to form these feelings into words which is exactly what he needed right now. "Thank you, Syeda. I feel a bit better now talking to you. I think..I can do this!"
"Yeah! I believe in you. You have a strong heart." She smiled brightly, accepting the high five.
"A strong heart?" Sora placed a hand over his chest. Did he really?
"Of course. I'm not sure why, but I can tell. My old memories are foggy still, but the feelings from the forgotten memories still stick with me. I know you have a strong heart."
Glancing out the window, the sky was turning darker with a few stars beginning to twinkle. "Well, thanks for talking with me. I should probably meet up with Riku. It'll be night soon. I'll see you later!" Sora chugged the rest of his water before waving and heading to the inn's porch. Riku had agreed to meet him there around dusk. Although it was just stargazing, Sora still kept his keyblade fastened to his belt. It was a weapon special to him after all. He wouldn't know what to do if it got stolen.
Half an hour had gone by and still no sign of Riku. Sora sat on the steps and watched as the sky grew darker and darker with more stars popping up. Where could he be? It wasn't like him to just not show up. Sora sighed, resting his chin on his knees with a hollow, anxious feeling in his chest. He glanced up when he heard footsteps, seeing Roxas, Ventus, and Xion approaching.
"Oh, hey, guys," Sora said with a half hearted wave.
"Where's Riku? Isn't he supposed to be hanging out with you?" Ventus asked as he glanced around. "It's not like him to just disappear like this."
"Wait, did he stand you up? Oh, I'm gonna kick his ass." Roxas was already rolling up his sleeves, getting ready to go.
"Rox, he wouldn't do that. He cares a lot about Sora. Something must be up." Ventus chuckled as he placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Well, you know how he gets sometimes. He's all like 'oh, I wanna be alone blah blah..' Stuff like that. Sora, I will kick his ass for you." Sora couldn't help but laugh a bit at just how worked up Roxas was getting.
"It's fine, really. Maybe something came up. I mean, we are on an important mission and all," Sora sighed, though he seem to shake the empty feeling in the pit of his stomach. As Ventus was busy trying to hold Roxas back from running off, Xion peered around cautiously. Sora noticed a strange look on her face.
"Something's wrong.." she muttered and placed a hand on the hilt of her sword. Just as the other two glanced over, some kind of dark goop was slithering its way towards them from the shadows. They had little time to react as shadowy creatures ranging from big to small appeared from the goop, surrounding the inn. Each of them bore a strange emblem that Sora didn't recognize, but the other three seemed to be all too familiar with them. They quickly drew their weapons, backing up towards Sora. A multitude of red eyes peered back at them with nothing but malicious intent.
"Unversed," Ventus and Roxas both said. Roxas clutched at both his keyblades until his knuckles turned white.
"Oh, no, those monsters! They're back." Syeda peered out from the doors of the inn. "But why? What did we do to them?"
"It's not your fault. They're controlled by one person: Vanitas." Sora followed Roxas' gaze and saw a person walking in amongst the monsters. A cold, wicked laugh echoed throughout. Sora backed up some when he saw piercing yellow eyes.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't Roxy and Venty. Good to see you both," Vanitas cackled, stopping just a few feet away from them. "Thought someone was following my trail."
"Where's Riku? What did you do to him?" All of them stared at Sora at the sudden shout out of nowhere. All that was going through Sora's head were the scenes he had seen of Riku's memories with Vanitas beating him half to death. "You've done something terrible to him again, haven't you?"
"Haha, oh we meet at last, Sora: his little dream boyfriend. I'd love nothing more than a rematch with the Elven prince, but I haven't done anything to him. You have my word. I'm here for all of you." Vanitas drew his keyblade, pointing it directly at them. "Me and my Unversed."
"And how can I trust anything you have to say?" Sora mimicked his movements, drawing his own keyblade.
"Sora, listen. Vanitas has been manipulated by Xehanort all his life. That's why he's like that, so don't let what he says get to you too much. He wants to get under your skin," Ventus said softly by Sora's ear. "But if there's one thing I know, he doesn't lie very much. He tells the cruel truth more often." Ventus cleared his throat and faced Vanitas. "Listen, Vanitas. You don't need to do this. You can join our side. You can our brother."
That only seemed to piss him off more as Vanitas' wicked smile turned into a scowl, looking like he was about ready to charge at them. "Shut the fuck up! You don't know anything about me, goody two shoes! You elves got everything you ever wanted while I was treated like dirt, like a monster! Well, now you see just how much of a monster I really am!"
Xion ran out with her sword drawn, catching Vanitas' keyblade as he charged. She skidded back a bit just from the brute force of the collision but held her own. Roxas was quick to run in with both keyblades, jumping up for a downward slash but hit an Unversed instead. Though he was worried sick about Riku, Sora took a deep breath and joined in the fight while Ventus shot arrows from the steps when any Unversed came too close. Even though this was his first time seeing Vanitas, Sora had to do something. His heart..he could practically feel how much it was hurting. He'd figure out a way to get rid of the discord he felt emanating from Vanitas..somehow.
Riku shrieked as volts of electricity jolted through his body. His limbs went completely rigid before relaxing painfully afterwards. Steam rose up from his skin which felt like it was about to just melt off. Gritting his teeth, he glared up at the woman standing before him with a look of amusement.
"You know, you're really making this a lot of fun with all your struggling. If you just give up, the pain will go away," she chuckled, leaning down to his level.
"Larxene..I knew I sensed someone here. You know I'd rather die than give myself up or my friends," Riku said with a hoarse cough. Everytime he tried to get up, his arms felt like jelly as they inevitably collapsed.
"Gods, your heroic drivel is really starting to get on my nerves. I'm trying to be nice here. I could just as easily knock you out and drag you back, but I'm giving you a chance to have some common sense. After all, once your friends find out what you are, I'm sure they'll be turning on you." She shot another bolt of lightning at him, knocking Riku onto his back.
"They already know I'm a dream eater. So, what's your point?" As Riku coughed, a splatter of blood hit the ground and dripped from his lips. He didn't even want to think about how torn up his insides were right now.