Love of Fallen Angels Part 4
Friends and Questions
Sora ran across the whole island and back again, checking all of the usual spots for Riku.
'He's not in the Secret Spot, in town, at his house... maybe on the beach? No, I've checked that already.' Sora ticked the spots off on his fingers, then stopped.
'Riku might not be at the beach, but what about Paopu Island?' Shaking his head and wishing he had thought of it sooner- it was just minutes before he had to head home- he ran to the pier connecting Destiny Island and the tiny Paopu Island.
Sora nearly breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the unmistakeable figure seated on the tree hanging out over the side of Paopu Island. Only one person could sit there with so much easy grace and make it look perfectly natural.
'Riku.' Sora thought, suddenly nervous. Riku would still want to be his friend, right? I mean, Sora just found out that he- Riku- was an angel. No big deal, right?
Quietly, Sora continued down the pier.
"What do you want, Sora?" Riku asked without turning around. Sora nearly jumped at the unexpected sound.
"Well... I, uh..." Sora started, not looking at Riku- his silver-haired friend had sounded so cold, so defensive... It was like Riku was ready to either take off Sora's head or dive into the water.
"I just wanted to make sure you were okay. You took off kinda fast..." Sora said slowly, glancing up and seeing RIku's piercing green eyes looking straight at him in surprise and wonder.
"You heard what Axel said to me, didn't you?" At Sora's blank look, he continued. "The man in the black cloak, with the red wings."
"Yeah- you're an angel, right? A guardian angel?" Riku nodded slowly.
"It doesn't surprise you?" he asked Sora.
"It did, but you're still my best friend, right?" Riku blinked once, then smiled slightly and began to laugh. Uncertain if Riku was laughing at him or with him, Sora folded his arms and stared at his best friend, lips unconsciously forming a pout. Secretly, however, he was glad. He hadn't heard Riku laugh in two years- he had forgotten how musical it was, and how much he needed to hear it.
"You're so simple, Sora." Riku said, chuckling slightly. Riku hadn't realized it, but it was Sora's opinion that mattered most to him. He could deal with his wings being lost if Sora could help him. Funny- he hadn't known how heavy the burden of worrying over Sora's reaction had been until it was lifted from him.
"We don't always have to be complicated." Sora replied, stepping a few steps closer to Riku and offering his hand to help his friend down from his perch. "My mom should have dinner ready, if you want to come with me."
Smiling slightly, Riku took the offered hand and slid down off the tree. If he held it for a few moments longer than necessary, neither commented.
As expected, Riku was recieved warmly in Sora's house, Kyoko instantly ordering Roxas to go and set another plate for Riku. Back before Kingdom Hearts, this had been a common occurrence and Roxas was quite used to grabbing an extra plate for Sora's friend. Within seconds, all were seated and helping themselves to some delicious spaghetti and special meatballs made from a secret recipe handed down in Sora's family.
"This is great- thanks." Riku said, just before biting into a forkful of the noodles.
"You're welcome." Kyoko said. "Eat up while it's hot." Needing no further urging, the boys dug into their dinner, cleaning their plates in a matter of minutes. Roxas excused himself after dinner, making a hasty retreat to his room so he wouldn't be forced to help his brother and Riku clean up.
"Roxas! No fair!" Sora yelled, making as if to go after him, but Kyoko shook her head and motioned for Sora to sit down.
"Since you're doing the dishes tonight- don't look at me like that, I have to go grocery shopping- Roxas can do them tomorrow." Kyoko said. Sora wrinkled his nose- he hated doing the dishes, something about the soapy water with unidentifiable chunks of half-eaten food not appealing to him.
"I can help." Riku offered. "You let me eat here for dinner and I'm not doing anything." Predictably, Sora's mood brightened.
"Are you sure Riku? Sora can do it by himself-"
"-but this way I have company!" Sora interjected, standing and grabbing the plates on the table before anyone could say anything else. He walked into the kitchen area, dumping the plates in the sink and plugging it before running the water. Faintly, he could hear the sounds of Riku gathering the few remaining dishes on the table and heavy footsteps as Riku followed behind him.
"I'll see you later Sora- thank you for helping him Riku." Kyoko called as she gathered her purse and walked out the door. After the door shut, it was dead quiet except for some faint music coming from the general direction of Roxas' room and the running water. After a moment, Sora shut the tap off, sink being nearly full.
"So..." Sora said, trying to break the previously unnoticed tension between himself and the silver-haired boy. He began washing a plate in the sink, just to give his hands something to do.
"Anything you want to know?" Riku asked with forced casualness, slipping a towel off of the counter to dry the wet dishes once Sora cleaned them.
"About what?" Sora asked, handing the now clean plate to Riku.
"Anything. If you have any questions about... what Axel said earlier."
Sora hesitated before grabbing the next plate. Since Riku had confirmed that he was indeed an angel, Sora hadn't really thought about it. Now that Riku mentioned it, however...
Questions began to form in Sora's mind, even if he wasn't fully sure he believed in angels.
"Well... do you have wings?" Sora asked, not even really realizing that he had spoken until he saw Riku stiffen out of the corner of his eye. Sora winced, recalling that Axel had said something about Riku being a 'high offender' just after the red-haired man had learned that Riku couldn't 'sprout his wings'.
"I had wings. They're gone." Riku said flatly, putting the dry plate he held away.
"Sorry... I didn't know..." Sora said apologetically as he reached for the next plate to distract himself. It was quiet for a full minute before Sora worked up the courage to ask another question.
"... could you tell me why you don't have your wings anymore?" Riku sighed. Sora chanced looking at the silver-haired teen, eyes misting over when he saw the sadness evident in Riku's eyes.
"Officially, I guess it's because I betrayed you. I had given into the darkness and nearly killed you." Riku smiled sarcastically. "Some guardian I turned out to be- a guardian angel who kills the one he's supposed to be protecting."
"You're 'my' guardian angel?" Sora asked in surprise. Riku nodded, looking out the small window above the sink.
"Most people would have figured that part out by now." Riku teased lightly.
"But why me? Does everyone get a guardian angel?" Sora asked. The dishes lay forgotten in the sink, now that Sora was actually interested in asking questions.
"No- there aren't enough angels for everyone- and fewer are guardians. It's probably a good thing there are so few of us." Riku said, laughing bitterly.
"Why?" Sora asked. Realization dawned and he gasped. "It's because of what you said earlier, right? 'Abominations that were never meant to exist'..." Riku nodded slightly.
"How could you think that?" Sora asked, angry at nothing in particular and the entire world.
"It's true Sora. Angels are not natural creatures. In the normal stream of things, angels would never be."
"But still..." Sora said, turning back to the sink and picking up another plate. "... I don't like it when you think things like that." Quickly finishing the plate, he handed it to Riku. "Dry this for me?"
"Fine." Riku said, taking it. They were quiet for a few more minutes as they continued cleaning up.
"... if you're an angel, do you have special powers?" Sora asked as Riku was putting the last glass away. Surprised by the unexpected question, Riku dropped the fragile glass and it shattered upon impact with the floor.
"I'm sorry!" Sora said, turning quickly out of the room. "Don't move- there could be glass shards. I'll go get a bag..." Sora's voice trailed off as he searched, eventually coming up with a brown paper bag. He made his way back to the kitchen, kneeling on the ground beside Riku- who had apparently decided that a little broken glass was no problem and had moved despite Sora's request- and began picking up some of the larger shards. They both reached for the same piece of glass, Sora quickly withdrawing his hand. Distracted, he grabbed for another piece but was quickly brought back to reality when his finger skimmed the small shard and the sharp edge cut all the way up the side of his finger. Hissing, he stood.
"Sora?" Riku asked, looking up. He noticed Sora's bleeding hand. "Careful- glass is sharp when it's been broken like that."
"I know that." Sora said, sighing. The initial pain had faded- now it just ached a little. "I'll be right back- need to clean it." Sora started making his way over to the kitchen sink, but Riku suddnly grabbed him and pulled him back. Sora was taken by surprise and nearly fell, but Riku held him steady as Sora fell back against the silver-haired boy's chest.
"What are you doing?" Sora demanded, more embarrassed than anything.
"Watch where you step." Riku said. "You should be thanking me Sora- you would have stepped right on that piece of glass." Sora looked. Sure enough, there was a decent sized piece of glass that had somehow found its was a few feet from the impact zone.
"Thanks..." Sora said, trying and failing to ignore Riku's body behind him. "Uh... I need to go clean my cut. I'll be careful." To Sora's surprise, Riku didn't move except to bring Sora's injured hand up so he could see it.
"I suppose I should answer your question." Riku said. At Sora's blank look, he continued. "Your question about my powers- the reason I dropped the glass in the first place?"
"Oh." With Riku dropping the glass, Sora had forgotten about it. Carefully, Riku trailed a finger over Sora's cut, smearing the blood that was just beginning to clot.
"Cure." Riku said. A small green spark traveled down Riku's finger into Sora's hand, lighting up the cut and resealing it with pink, healthy flesh. That done, Riku released his hold on Sora, causing the brunette to stumble for a second before straightning up and examining his finger.
"All better..." he said, smiling. "I didn't know you could use magic..." Sora knew that magical power- or mage power- was fairly rare. Most people with the power became mages, but it still took years of training to master more than a few basic spells on your own, and Riku had had no formal training.
"It's something almost every angel can do." Riku replied. "Some specialize in certain spells but most have a variety. Most of the time we fight without magic unless our attacks are based on a certain kind of magic."
"How many spells do you know?" Sora asked. As Keyblade Master, he had been taught many spells to help him fight the Heartless, but he knew there was more to magic than the simple ones he had to learn.
"A few. More than you do, that's for sure." Riku said, smirking.
"What makes you say that?"
"Because you didn't have time to learn more than the basics and I know a few more advanced spells."
"How do you know I didn't learn advanced spells when you weren't watching?" Sora asked.
"I just do." The conversation fell into awkward silence, then after a minute Riku sighed and moved back to the sink, carefully picking up the rest of the glass shards and throwing them away. "Now how about we finish these dishes?"
"Okay." Sora replied, smiling. He moved beside his friend and picked up the rag again. He would have more questions for Riku later, but for now he was content with what he'd learned.
A/N: Sorry if Riku seemed moody and OOC, and if this was boring. It does get better! I promise!