AN/: I ended up heavily rewriting this chapter, and, said editing happened four years after this was all initially posted. So, keep that in mind.
Chapter 2: Desire for All that is Lost
Namine sat quietly on the shores of Destiny Islands, drawing.
"That's not another lovingly framed picture of Riku, is it?" came Kairi's voice.
Namine hastily hugged the sketchbook to her chest. She glared up at Kairi.
(It was a picture of Riku, of course, but Namine wouldn't call it 'lovingly framed'.)
Kairi laughed a little, and sat down next to Namine. She didn't say anything for a long moment, and then:
"'Nother one of those days."
The words were a little somber, but, mostly tired. The smile on her lips had vanished.
Kairi didn't have to elaborate for Namine understand. Namine knew. It was hard, waiting. It was hard, not knowing. It was hard, going through every day, when someone who was always supposed to be beside you was missing.
Sora's and Riku's absence were an aching hole in their lives, a feeling of emptiness that wouldn't quite go away, and it was hard to deal with that.
"Maybe they'll be back soon," Namine said, in a feeble attempt to cheer Kairi up. She had no special reason to believe that, just the regular it's been three months and it taking any longer than that seems silly reason.
Kairi laughed, bitterly. "Maybe," she agreed, except, she really didn't sound like she believed it.
Namine let her sketchbook fall back into her lap, sighing. She wished she knew what else to say.
"You don't know what's taking them so long, do you?" Kairi pressed. "You can draw those… those pictures…" She gestured in the general direction of Namine's sketchbook.
What she meant was Namine could draw pictures of what Riku was currently doing, sometimes, because of a connection between them. Namine didn't control it, though, and it happened randomly, without warning, and never when she wanted it to. So far, all her drawings had really told her was that Riku was in Castle Oblivion, maybe. Why, or what he was doing, was a mystery. Hadn't he said he hated the place?
Regardless… There were some other pictures, maybe. Namine started flipping through her sketchbook to find them.
"Remember those pictures I drew?" she asked. "Those ones of Sora—"
"I know," Kairi interrupted. She'd turned her head away so she wouldn't have to look. "I remember them."
The pictures Namine were referring to were pictures of Sora being dragged into a pool of darkness. They haunted the pages of her sketchbook, and, sometimes, her nightmares. She'd mentioned them to Kairi before, but each time she did, Kairi insisted more and more adamantly that they didn't mean anything.
"He's not gone, Namine," she said, on cue. "You can't tell me that he's gone."
Namine opened her mouth to argue, but, it wasn't worth it. It wasn't worth repeating herself again.
She didn't think Sora was gone, though. She just knew something had happened to him, and maybe, it was something bad. Riku's panic when he'd left under a hasty promise to look for Sora proved that, even without the pictures. There was a chance they wouldn't be home any time soon at all.
Knowing that didn't make waiting any easier, though.
It almost made it harder.
"Y'know what? Forget it. I hate being mopey," Kairi said, reaching for the schoolbag she'd brought with her. This, too, was on cue, and Namine started returning her sketchbook and pencils to her own schoolbag, smiling a little in anticipation.
From her bag Kairi produced a portable CD player and a cheap pair of headphones. Her favorite CD was already in there—or rather, a copy of her favorite CD—and she skipped a few songs into it before pressing play. The volume was as loud as the CD player would let, and though not ideal, the sound came through the headphones well enough.
Namine smiled a little at the familiar opening notes of the song. She kicked off her shoes (it was always best to dance barefoot in the sand) as Kairi did the same. The CD player was carefully set on top of Kairi's bag, so it wouldn't get buried in the sand or anything.
Kairi hopped to her feet with a flurry of sand, then held out a hand to Namine.
"May I have this dance?" she asked.
Namine grinned and took Kairi's hand.
"I thought you'd never ask."
This, in general, was not ideal, either. It didn't fill the emptiness Sora and Riku had left behind. It didn't fix any problems…
But it made the ache go away, a little. It made the worries matter a little less.
The unsaid still hung between them, as they spun around and laughed, but, in that moment, it didn't matter.
And that was enough. It would have to be enough.
xxx
"I miss them so much, Namine."
"Yeah. Me too."
Come home. Come home. We want you to come home.
xxx
"Why do you still sleep, here, in darkness?"
To say Sora shifted where he was would be incorrect, because, he did not move. He couldn't move, as far as he was aware. But, he could feel. He could hear.
"It's not like there's any way out, is there?" he asked.
He was not sure actually said the words, or just thought them. He supposed it made no difference, so long as whoever was speaking to him heard. He wondered who they were, but, decided that didn't really matter, either.
"There's always a way out."
"Then, show it to me! I want to go home," Sora said, or—
He started to say.
Then he remembered everything that had happened. How he'd gotten here.
"My friends… can I face them?" he wondered. "Can I go home?"
He'd said and done some pretty mean things to Kairi. He'd actively attacked Riku. And, well, he hadn't done anything to Namine, personally, but she'd still gotten caught up in this whole mess.
"Don't you hear them?" was the voice's only reply. "They're calling for you."
"Wh- Who is?"
They're calling…
- - - - They're calling…
- - - - - - - - They're calling…