Sora takes a bite of macaroni and feels herself grimace. The unbelievably disgusting taste of the paopu fruit still hasn't disappeared yet. It's making it hard to enjoy her dinner.
On the other hand, the inner warmth she's been feeling ever since she finished the last piece is very pleasant.
"Is something wrong with your dinner?" Father asks, amused.
"I ate something unbelievably disgusting. The taste is lingering."
Father raises a curious brow.
"What exactly did you eat?"
"It's a secret," she answers with a grin. Only the people who've shared a paopu fruit knows what they taste like, and Sora isn't about to break that tradition. It just wouldn't be polite. Or as funny as keeping it secret is.
Her reply makes Father give her an amused look.
"I see," he says in a way that lets her know he won't pry. For now. "In that case, what did you and Riku do today?"
"Lots of things. We talked, sparred, and worked on our project."
"The project I'm not allowed to know about?" Father asks with mock innocence. Sora plays along with a serious nod.
"The very one."
Father chuckles.
"But you'll tell me eventually, won't you, dear?" he asks. While he's alright with her keeping secrets, he does expect her to come clean eventually.
"Of course," she answers honestly. "Eventually," she adds, because she won't tell him until she and Riku have returned from their journey. She has to, Father would never let her leave if he knew what they are planning.
"In that case, I will do my best to contain my curiosity," Father quips with a smile. Sora chuckles.
She's going to miss him while she's gone.
After dinner, she and Father do the dishes together like usual. She's putting the last of it away – stumbles and clutches at her chest because
(the door has opened)
it's cold, colder than she can put into words, a chill so deep it claws at her very heart and she has to
(hide)
run, flee, has to get away and
(remember)
it's here except it can't be here but it is and she knows this feeling, somehow she knows but she doesn't understand, she can't
(remember)
doesn't want to
(remember)
has to – blessed warmth snaps her surroundings into focus. Sora blinks with confusion as she sees Father's worried face right in front of her. She realises that the wonderful heat she's feeling are his hands, grasping her shoulders. She also realises that he's kneeling on the floor.
...He's kneeling on the floor because she's slumped down on it. When did that happen?
"Sora, what's wrong?" Father demands. Sora opens her mouth to answer, except she realises she can't. She can't explain what's wrong, just knows that
(the darkness has come)
something is. Something is terribly wrong.
(for her)
It's so cold.
"I don't know," she answers, dazed and confused and so very cold.
Father lifts a hand and places it on her forehead. Sora closes her eyes as she clings to the wonderful heat.
"You're freezing!"
Of course she is, how can she be anything else? In fact, how is Father still this warm?
Sora opens her eyes when wondrous heat cups her cheeks, the sensation helping her focus a little more. She sees Father look at her with concern.
"Let's get you upstairs," he says gently. Sora tries to smile to reassure him. Judging from the way his expression grows more worried, she doesn't succeed. "Come on, dear, up you go."
Father takes hold of her hands and Sora remembers that she has to grip them back. He stands up. Sora does the same.
She almost falls down again, her legs unable to support her weight. Father quickly steadies her.
"Easy, Sora, there you go. Do you think you can walk?"
"I think so," she answers, though she's not completely sure that she'll be able to. Father grimaces as he looks her over intently.
"Maybe we should go to the hospital," he says, more to himself than to her. Sora forces herself to push through the impossible cold and to think. She doesn't need to go to the hospital. She needs to
(hide)
have some time to gather herself. Needs to make sense of what she's feeling.
"No, I... I think I just need to lay down."
Father wavers, but after a moment, he agrees with a soft sigh.
"Alright, let's get you to bed."
Following Father's lead on auto-pilot, Sora is barely aware of where she's going. Father's warmth is an anchor she desperately clings to. Despite that, the impossible chill bites deeper into her with every step she takes. Sora shivers.
So cold.
She blinks with confusion when she realises they've stopped moving.
They're standing in front of her bedroom. Father opens the door and leads her towards her bed. Sora sits down in a daze and shivers as Father lets go of her. The loss of warmth means that everything
(is dying)
feels even worse.
Father kneels and pulls off her shoes. Sora lays down and curls into a ball as Father tucks her in. The blankets fail to chase the painful chill away even a little. Sora shivers again. This time she doesn't stop.
She wishes Riku was here.
"I'll go get the thermometer," Father says. Sora closes her eyes and listens to him leave.
Why is it so cold?
(the light is being consumed)
Sora knows she needs to figure out what she's feeling, but she just doesn't have the energy to even try. She only opens her eyes when she hears a noise.
The noise is Father returning. He sits down the edge of her bed and takes her temperature. Sora closes her eyes again and clings to the warmth of his hand when he lays it on top of her head.
"You don't have a fever," he says, concerned, but Sora is more focused on the wondrous heat now stroking her hair. "Are you feeling better?"
She's feeling worse.
"Not really," she understates. She doesn't want to worry Father more. Not when he
(will die)
won't be able to help.
"Where does it hurt?"
Sora can't answer that. She doesn't feel hurt, not exactly. She just feels
(the darkness)
so cold.
"Sora?" Father prompts gently. Sora forces herself to open her eyes.
"I'm not hurt. I'm just... I'm very cold."
Her answer makes Father frown, but he quickly softens his expression for her.
"Try to get some rest, dear. I'll take tomorrow morning off and we'll go see the doctor."
Sora manages to summon a smile for him.
"Alright, Father," she agrees to put him at ease. Father gives a smile back, though he still looks worried. He leans forward to kiss the top her head.
"Get some sleep, Sora. I'll come back after I've managed to clear my schedule."
Sora almost finds the energy to grin.
"That's going to take a while," she quips in a voice that comes out far too weak for her liking. She's still counts it as a win, seeing as it makes Father chuckle.
Father fusses over her some more. If she wasn't feeling so awful, Sora would have grinned. Father can be such a worrywart.
"It's probably just a cold," she lies for his benefit. She knows it isn't just a cold. But telling Father that would only make him worry even more.
"Of course, of course. Just a cold. Nothing to worry about," Father agrees, trying and failing to sound confident. Sora manages to summon another smile in the hope that it will soothe his worry.
"Go," she says. "I'll stay here and rest."
She's glad to see that her words lessen Father's worry, just a bit.
"Call if you need anything."
"I will."
Father strokes her cheek. Sora closes her eyes and basks in that blessed warmth. She hears him let out a soft sigh.
"Get some rest, dear," he says. Sora opens her eyes as the warmth disappears. She watches as he leaves her room and closes her eyes again. This time she forces herself to work through her feelings.
Why does it feel as though it'll never be warm again?
(it won't)
Why does it feel as though there's something out there?
(there is)
Something... something that hungers.
(for her)
Sora tries to recall where she knows this feeling from, the answer so close yet so far out of reach. It's almost impossible to think through this cold, yet she knows she has to
(hide)
think – a deafening roar makes her shoot upright, completely disorientated. Her eyes snap towards the window when a flash of sickly purple illuminates the room and that same roaring sounds the instant after, so loud it drowns out her every thought.
Sora stares out the window, confused by what she's seeing. She's seeing
(the world bleed)
...a storm?
No, not a storm. Something worse.
(the heart of this world)
Something terrible.
(is dying)
Something familiar.
Another flash of twisted lightning illuminates the violent clouds rapidly spreading from the island and Sora is overtaken by utter terror, not even the too loud thunder able to distract her from the sudden understanding of what part of her has known this entire time.
Riku.
Sora shoots out the bed, panic clawing at her mind.
Riku is on the island. She doesn't know how she knows that, doesn't care either, it's true and that's all that matters.
Riku is on the island. Riku is out in this storm that isn't a storm and she has to get to him, has to make sure he's safe.
(no one is safe)
Sora ignores the impossible cold and the shivers wracking her body, Riku the only thing on her mind. She has to get to him before it's too late.
Bolting towards the door, she abruptly remembers that Father won't let her leave in her current condition, and spins towards the window instead. Thunder drowns out the sound of her slamming it open. Sora climbs down the drain and starts running towards the docks. She has to
(hide)
get to Riku.
Nothing else matters beyond that.
Sora jumps out of her boat the moment it hits the shore and strains her eyes as she desperately searches for any sign of Riku.
"Riku!" she yells in between the roars of thunder, knowing he's near and hoping he's near enough to hear her.
"Sora!"
She whirls towards his voice and another flash of sickly purple shows Riku running towards her. Sora dashes forward herself, meets him halfway and throws her arms around him, needing to touch him, feel his warmth, needs to know that he's here, that it's not too late yet.
(it already is)
"Riku, we–"
He laughs, picks her up and spins her around and what is he doing?
"The door! It's open!" he shouts with glee and what's wrong with him, how can he be happy when
(the world is dying)
this shouldn't be happening but it is and they need to
(hide)
"Sora!"
Gasping for air and clinging to Riku's warmth, the only thing preventing her from freezing and they need to run!
"Sora, what's wro–"
"We've got to run!" she yells, not knowing why only knowing that they have to, can't stay here, have to
(hide)
run!
Twisted lightning reveals that Riku is grinning with exhilaration and the image is so wrong, why isn't he afraid when
(the darkness is here)
"Yes!" Riku shouts with incomprehensible glee. "We've got to run because the door is open! Now we can go to other worlds!"
What is he saying? That's not what's happening, how can he think, can't he hear, see, feel – the earth heaves and sends them crashing down the sand, Riku holding her close and Sora clinging back with desperation.
And Riku laughs. Sora can't understand how he can do that, how he can look up at the storm that isn't a storm with a fearless grin.
"Come on! I'm not afraid of the darkness!"
Abrupt silence, all the more unnatural for how complete it is and she knows what isn't a storm heard Riku challenge it and it's answering and Sora meets Riku's eyes for a moment that feels like it lasts forever before they're engulfed by D҉̡̕͟͡a̵͡͏r̕͘͠k̡͡͞n̵̴̕͜è̶̢̕s͠͏͘͝s̵͘҉͢g̕r̶̕e̕͜͜e̷̴d͜e̡͝n͏̴̵v̀y̕h̸u҉n̕gers͝͞҉̵҉o҉̢ ̀͞͏̢m̵͟͠͝u҉̢͘c͏̀h͢͡ ̧̨̀͠͠ĺ̴͞i̴͞g̷̶h̡́͟t̵̀͢(can't have her)w̸҉҉á̢͢n̨͢͠t͞͝͡i̕n̡͞g͘͜c̸ra̴̡vi̷̢n̨g͝҉ ͞͏thè̷ ̴̧l̕͜͠ìg̵̡͜h́t͏҉(can't)p̡u̶̴ll̸̡i̷n̸g̕͠͝t̷̀é̷̛a҉r̵͏i͞ń̀g̴w̧҉anţ҉ ̡͝t̢h͜͡e͠͏̴ ̷̧l̴͏i͘͞g͝͡͏h͏̡t̷͡͠(have her!)
Light shatters the Darkness.
Sora whimpers, dazed and hurt and so impossibly cold.
A warmth is held within her hand. Sora looks at the warmth. She sees that she's holding a
(Keyblade)
...giant key?
No, so much more than a key. Warmth and Light, shield and weapon both, holding back the Dark–
Riku.
Sora jumps to her feet, the agony it causes meaningless, frantically searching for Riku even though she knows it's useless, knows he's gone with a certainty she can't explain.
"Riku!" she still shouts, unwilling to believe he's gone because he can't be gone except he is.
Riku is gone.
(the darkness has taken him)
Sora sobs, harshly bites down her lip to prevent more from escaping and forces back her tears, can't break down, not now, she has to think.
Riku is gone. But he isn't dead. She knows that in the same way she knows that he isn't here.
So where is he?
(lost between worlds)
The door.
Sora starts running towards their secret place and the strange door within. It has to be the one he was talking about, she just has to get there and find him – Darkness slithers across the sand and Sora freezes, her mind unable to comprehend what her eyes are telling her is there. She can only watch with horror as voids somehow rise from the sand.
Twisting and slithering and absent, indescribable and ever shifting. Her eyes instinctively slide away from the things, except everywhere she looks more and more are rising.
She's surrounded.
No matter that they don't have eyes, Sora can feel them watching her, feels their envy and hunger and she's frozen, can't move, hardly dares to breathe because this is impossible, can't be real and she
(knows what they are)
recognises these things – one lunges at her with impossible speed and Sora sees its form twist in mockeries of claws, knows that it's about to tear her flesh apart and something inside of her (reacts).
She (spins) on her heel to avoid the attack and (changes) her hold on her (Keyblade). When the (heartless) misses, she (retaliates), (freeing) the (heart) and (ducking) out of the way of another attack at the same time, making the (heartless) overextend and allowing her to (strike). She (kicks) another (heartless) away and (jumps) into the air to avoid two other attack, (flipping) upside down and (swinging) her (Keyblade), (freeing) two more (heartless) before she hits the ground. She (uses) the small opening she's created to turn her landing into a (roll) and (frees) another two (heartless) before she finishes (flowing) to her feet.
Part of Sora realises that she's moving in ways she shouldn't be able to but she can't spare any more thought than that. She needs to keep (moving), can't afford to stop.
She'll (die) if she does.
There's no end to the (heartless). No matter how many she (frees), more keep on coming.
They are so hungry.
Sora screams as a (heartless) claws at her back and the frozen agony almost makes her falter but she (doesn't), (kicking) the (heartless) away instead and (dodging) another attack in the same movement. She (compensates) for the loss in mobility and (ignores) both the pain and the blood dripping down. The wound (isn't fatal) and she can't afford to stop moving.
Sora doesn't know how long she keeps (fighting). Time is meaningless, nothing but a constant struggle for survival. Her surroundings are only important in how they influence the (battlefield).
It feels like an eternity has passed when without warning every (heartless) melts into the ground.
Sora almost falls down from exhaustion, only managing to (stay upright) by leaning on her (Keyblade), but she quickly (lifts) her head to search for the (heartless), has to remain (aware) of – the sky.
The sky is broken, it's bleeding and dying and the ocean has vanished, nothing but that dying sky all around her, Darkness tearing it apart the seams and the piece of land she's on is crumbling more with every breath she takes and Sora finally understands why this is so familiar, understands where she knows this horror from because images are assaulting her mind, images of people screaming and crying and running and she remembers.
She watched her world be destroyed. Saw it devoured by Darkness.
Just like this one.
Her eyes (snap) to the Darkness still on the ground as it finishes pooling together and then it starts rising.
Sora can only watch, every thought obliterated by terror as Darkness rises and rises and rises, blocking out the broken sky and still it keeps rising.
A Void of greed and envy and hunger and Sora is frozen, can't tear her eyes away no matter how much she wants to, can only look at it.
The D҉ark̵n̨e̵s̸s̕ looks back.
Sora screams as a twisting mass of absence moves to crush her even as she (leaps) to the side to avoid it. It hits the ground where she stood not a moment before and shatters the last of the land and Sora screams again as she loses her footing and is drawn into D̨͘҉̨á͜͏̧ŕ͘҉̀͠k͜͞ņ̸͘ę͠͏s͏̴̷͘͟s͞͠c̶l̶͡a͢͡w͘i̷͢ng̵̢t͞e͡a̵̡ŕ̨̕i̡ng̶w͘͡a҉n̴͘͝t҉͝ ̵t̷h̴e̷̵ ̵́l̕i҉̶g҉̢h̡t͏̀͝(can't have her)r̢̛a͢͢g̴e͜͟hu͝ǹ͏̀ģ̕e̶rgr̷̶͡e͢͏e҉d̶̀ģiv̢҉e̕̕͝ ̷̵t̷h̵̡͜é̴̕ ̴̵l̵iģ̢h҉̵t̨̧͡and she is f̴a͠ll̨i̷n̛ģ...
...
Riku gasps for breath, agony obliterating every thought.
It hurts. It hurts so much.
Riku keeps gasping for air, every breath more painful than the last. Time is meaningless, nothing matters beyond the struggle to breathe.
An eternity passes before that struggle becomes a fraction less agonising. It takes another eternity before the pain lessens a fraction more.
Eventually, Riku becomes aware that his eyes are closed. It takes forever before he finds the willpower to open them, but he does succeed.
He sees the sky. The sky is blue.
There's something wrong with that. Shouldn't the sky be... something else?
Riku closes his eyes again as he tries to think over the pain in his chest and the roaring of his mind.
...The roaring isn't coming from his mind. It's coming from... around him?
Wanting to know what's causing the roaring, Riku opens his eyes again and lets his head lull to the side.
He sees waterfalls. That explains the roaring.
...Except there's something wrong with what he's seeing. But what?
Riku absently brings up a hand to rub at his aching chest as he keeps staring at the waterfalls, trying to figure out what's wrong with them.
The water. It's falling upwards.
That can't be right. Water is supposed to fall down, not up. How is it going up?
Riku closes his eyes again and forces himself to focus. His mind starts to clear and images appear – Sora.
Riku's eyes snap open and he jumps to his feet – he screams, falling to his knees and clutching at his chest as pain overwhelms all else. His heart feels like it's been turned to ice, like it's about to shatter into a thousand pieces.
It doesn't matter.
Riku clenches his teeth and pushes through the pain, forcing himself to get to his feet.
"Sora!" he yells, spinning around as he searches for her, panic growing when he fails to find her. "Sora!" he repeats, the unnatural water making his voice echo in strange ways but that doesn't matter, nothing does except for Sora.
Where is she? She has to be here. Both of them were swallowed by the darkness so she has to be here!
She isn't.
Riku ignores the irrational certainty that she isn't here because of course Sora is here. He just needs to find her.
Determined, he moves forward to start looking for her – he halts as he becomes more consciously aware of his surroundings. Riku sees the ground fall away in front of him and realises that he's standing on the edge of a cliff. He turns around. And sees another edge.
Fear rises as he looks more closely at what he's standing on.
He's standing on a small platform high above the water.
He's trapped.
No, this can't be happening! He and Sora were supposed to go to another world, they weren't supposed to have been separated, he isn't supposed to be trapped and Sora is supposed to be here!
So why isn't she?
Both of them were swallowed by darkness, just like he was told would happen. So why isn't Sora here?
Riku focuses on the last thing he remembers. He recalls the darkness, the impossible cold and how it had clawed and pulled. Riku hadn't been afraid though. Not when Sora was there with him. Not when they were finally going to another world.
Then it had all gone wrong.
One moment he was holding Sora, and the next he... wasn't.
Had... had he let go of her?
No, he wouldn't have, he would never have.
Did Sora abandon him?
No, of course not. Not on purpose. He knows that, doesn't understand where the thought even came from.
Riku takes a few deep breaths as he forces himself to calm down, to control his fear and panic. It doesn't matter what happened. What matters is finding Sora.
He looks around again. This time he does it more slowly, studying his surrounding in a way he hadn't before.
Those impossible waterfalls are all around him, towering high above the cliff he's on, caging him in. There are other platforms within the waterfalls as well. Platforms higher than his own.
The platforms are floating.
Riku's breath hitches as understanding dawns. He did it. He actually did it. He's one another world.
Without Sora, it's meaningless.
Riku returns to looking for a way off the island. He walks along the edges and sees more of those floating platforms below him as well. He soon realises that there's only one thing he can do to get out of here.
He has to jump.
Riku looks at the nearest island that's lower than his own. It's... possible to make the jump. But it'll be difficult.
If he doesn't manage to jump far enough, if he misses... he'll fall to his death.
The knowledge makes him hesitate and look for another way out. It doesn't take long to come to the conclusion that there's no other way.
He has to jump.
Having no other choice, Riku walks towards the edge opposite of his goal. He closes his eyes.
Breathe in. Breathe out. Focus.
He opens his eyes, nothing on his mind but making the jump.
He runs, faster, faster, come on!
Jumping with all his might, the island nearing – missing, falling, screaming, no!
Riku stops falling so suddenly he doesn't even understand what's happening at first. He's looking down at the water beneath him. He's no longer falling. He's somehow floating in the air. What –
He starts to rise. He's flying!
What's going on?
Riku tries to move but finds that he can't. He can only move his head, every other part of him refuses to obey his commands. So he lifts his head, craning his neck as much as his position allows. Trying to see where he's going, trying to figure out what's going on.
How the hell is he flying?
He flies higher and higher, moving towards the largest island within the cage of waterfalls. There are ruined gates on that island.
In front of those gates is a woman. Even at this distance, he can see that she's wearing a long black robe and some kind of headpiece in the shape of horns. She's also holding a tall staff with a glowing crystal on top.
...Is she controlling his flight? Is she using magic?
Riku almost can't believe he's even thinking that. Which is stupid, he's on another world. Why shouldn't magic be real here?
As he gets closer to the woman, Riku stares at her with astonishment.
Her skin is green.
Another world, he reminds himself.
Sora would love this.
The thought would've made him flinch if his body wasn't still frozen.
His flight halts when he reaches the island. As he hovers right above the floor, Riku can only keep staring at the woman. This close, it isn't her skin that's the most unnerving thing about her. It isn't even the headpiece he now realises are actual horns.
It's her eyes.
Venomous yellow with slitted pupils. It's like looking at a snake, instinctively raising his hackles. As he watches, those unnerving pupils contract, the sight so disturbing yet oddly mesmerising at the same time.
The glow of the crystal blinks out and Riku drops to the floor. While he manages to stay on his feet, he has to let out a hissed breath from the renewed flare of agony in his chest.
The woman lets out a soft chuckle. Riku lifts his head to look at her again, suspicion rising. Who is she?
"My, what have we here?" she asks in an oddly lilting voice, sounding so very amused. It raises his hackles even further.
"Who are you?" he demands.
The woman's purple lips curve into a secretive smile that instinctively makes him want to punch her. She bows, the movement a little too graceful. A little too fluid.
Riku's hackles rise even higher.
"I am the ruler of this world. You may call me Maleficent," she says in that lilting voice, before she straightens and tilts her head to the side with what seems to be curiosity. For some reason, the sight is... terrifying is a strong word, but it's definitely disquieting.
"And who might you be, my unexpected visitor?" she asks. Riku resists the irrational urge to hide. Instead he crosses his arms instead and scowls up at her defiantly. He isn't going to let her intimidate him.
"Riku," he answers curtly.
"Riku," the woman – Maleficent repeats slowly, seeming to taste the word. It makes a shiver of dread run down his spine. "Tell me, Riku. How did you come to be here?"
"Why do you want to know?" he counters harshly, can't help it. She's just so... unsettling. The longer he's within her presence, the more unnerving she becomes.
She's too tall and too thin, her limbs too slender and her movements too graceful. Even aside from her unnatural colouring and creepy eyes, everything about her appearance rubs him the wrong way. Off in a way he can't quite put into words.
Maleficent raises a slim brow in response. The gesture is as elegant as it is disturbing.
"This is my home. I should think that reason enough to explain my interest in your arrival."
Riku feels his scowl deepen. The worst part is how reasonable her words are.
"If my arrival is so unexpected, how did you even know I was here?" he bites back.
"Such hostility," Maleficent says while her pupils contract creepily. "Whatever have I done to deserve a reaction such as this? Did I not save your life but a moment before?"
Riku keeps scowling, even as he's forced to admit to himself that she's right. He's acting irrationally.
He doesn't care. He's hurt, Sora isn't here, and this woman's presence makes his every hackle rise. He's entitled to being irrational.
Riku keeps silent.
Purple lips curve into another secretive smile. Riku resists the urge to punch her in the face and run.
"To answer your question, I felt your arrival," she explains, amused in a way that only aggravates him further. "The disturbance was impossible to miss. Yet I know not the specifics of how you came to be here. Would care to enlighten me?"
Riku opens his mouth to say it's none of her business – realization strikes and his arms fall to the side as sudden urgency overtakes all else.
"Sora– my friend– a girl, red hair, blue eyes, did you see– feel her as well?"
He waits for her answer with bated, hope and fear entwined in equal measure. He ignores the part of him that insists Sora isn't here because of course she is.
She has to be.
Those creepy pupils contract again.
"I fear your friend is elsewhere. None arrived on this world but you."
Riku hears a wounded sound escape him and has to close his eyes, refusing to believe it, can't believe it because if Sora isn't here than where is she?
He needs to find her.
Riku looks back towards Maleficent with determination. She can use magic. She was able to sense his arrival.
She can help him find Sora.
"My, this girl must be dear to you," Maleficent says with a curiosity that makes every hair on the back of his neck shoot up straight. Riku ignores it. If she can help him find Sora, her creepiness doesn't matter one bit.
"Can you help me find her?"
If she can't, Riku won't waste any more time with her.
Her pupils do that creepy contraction again while she gains a pensive expression. It causes an instinctive flash of terror that Riku ignores.
"...I may be able to offer assistance."
Riku feels a harsh breath escape him as relief overwhelms all else, so strong it makes him lightheaded.
"But first I would ask you to indulge my curiosity. How did you come to be on this world?"
"I opened a door, darkness came through and brought me here," he summaries, far more focused finding Sora.
Venomous eyes widen slightly and those creepy pupils turn into the thinnest of slits. Then Maleficent gains an expression that can almost be called kind. Almost.
"Oh, you poor boy. Worry not, I'm certain your friend managed to escape as well," she says in the way of someone who's trying to be reassuring without actually believing what they're saying.
"Escape?" Riku repeats, dread rising with a vengeance. What does she mean by that?
Maleficent looks at him with an expression approaching pity.
"You don't know," she says softly. Riku has the impression that it's more to herself than to him.
"Know what?" he demands. What is she talking about, what's wrong?
What happened to Sora?
"My dear boy," Maleficent says and Riku resists the urge to snap at her that he's not her dear anything. "I fear your world has been destroyed by Darkness. It no longer exists. I'm sorry."
Riku can only stare with rising horror, refusing to believe her. It can't be true, she's lying, of course she is. She has to be. His world can't be gone.
"You're lying," he whispers, the denial falling from his lips almost without him noticing. She has to be lying, it can't be true, can't be!
"I wish I was," Maleficent says with that expression of near pity. "But I'm not. I would never lie about matters such as this."
"No!" He shakes his head, trying to get rid of her words, her lies. "My world isn't– you can't know that!"
"I fear I can. The same happened to this world as well. When this world's Door opened, Darkness came and devoured all in its path. Only with the greatest of magics was I able to save this small fragment. I'm truly sorry, my dear boy. But your world is gone."
Riku falls to his knees, unable to keep standing, desperately not wanting to believe her yet so scared that she's right.
He knew as soon as he opened the door and saw the darkness come through that he'd made a mistake. He tried to convince himself that he hadn't, chose to focus on the exhilaration of going to another world instead of his disquiet, his certainty that something was wrong.
But it can't be true. His world can't be gone. Everyone he's ever known can't be gone! Wakka, Tidus, Lightning, Balthier, Mom. Mom can't be dead, none of them can be, everyone he's ever known can't be dead!
They can't be dead because of him.
Riku sobs, closes his eyes as he feels tears fall down, doesn't care, feels like he's drowning because it can't be true, please don't let it be true, everyone can't be dead, he can't have killed them all, can't have destroyed his entire world and everyone can't be dead!
Sora is alive.
Riku desperately holds on to that certainty, clings to the way he knows it's true. He doesn't care if it's just an illusion of his mind, has to believe it no matter what.
It's the only thing still allowing him to breathe.
Sora is alive. It doesn't matter that he can't know that because he does know it. Sora is alive.
He has to find her.
Something cold touches his shoulder. Riku opens his eyes on instinct, nothing on his mind but the knowledge that Sora is alive, that she isn't gone. That she isn't dead like everyone else is.
Everyone is dead because of him.
Maleficent has bend down and the cold he's feeling is her hand, gently grasping his shoulder. She's looking at him with an expression that can almost be called compassionate.
"Fear not, dear Riku. I will take care of you. We shall find your friend together."
Her words make him let out a wounded noise and he closes his eyes again, tears falling down, still unable to accept that everyone is dead because of him.
Everyone except for Sora.
Determination rises, the only thing preventing him from shattering into a thousand pieces.
Sora is alive. Sora is alive and he will find her.
No matter what he has to do.