Chapter 3; School

After the first day with Alena, Riku started to feel comfortable around her; like there was a strong force attracting him to her. Daryl and Renee had a lot to ask about all of it, but when they had heard all that they could from Riku and Darcy and when Alena showed them her talent they didn't mind. It was quiet in the house most of the time, so Riku was sure it wouldn't bother Alena, and she would be company for him.

Renee and Daryl were off very early the next Monday to go to the doctor's, as they had done every week for two months. Riku had forgotten about Alena when he first woke up to find the house empty and immediately felt a pang of loneliness. It was the kind of unhappiness that was hard to brush off, and he wondered if he would be a selfish older brother when the child was born.

"After all," he said to himself, breaking the silence as he walked down the stairs. "A baby requires a lot of attention. I can't expect to see much of Daryl and Renee after this…" He trailed off when he heard something from downstairs.

"The weather should be nice today, up in the 80's. It's a great Monday for kids going to school too, because the storms won't hit until after seven tonight. Back to Mary to tell about driving this morning…"

"Why is the news on?" Riku murmured as he walked in the door to the living room.

Curled up on the couch sat Alena smiling and holding her face in her hands. Her worn little dress was beside her, and she was wearing a light purple sundress in its place. When she heard Riku come in, she grinned brightly, causing Riku to blush and grin back.

"How do you do that, anyway?" Riku asked as he sat down beside her. "It's like I don't have a choice to whether I smile back or not, you make me." He leaned his head back against the maroon couch, facing her.

Alena reached out and touched Riku's hand, sending colors flying through his brain to send a message. They were bright colors that morning, showing how good of a mood Alena was in at that moment. She squeezed his hand and got up, pulling him out of his thoughts.

"What is it?" He asked as he saw her impatient look. He was surprised to witness her tug to try and make him stand up, so surprised that he laughed, making her angry. "No, I'm sorry, I'm getting up." She quickly pulled him into the kitchen and pointed at a picture on his refrigerator.

It was taken only a few months before, when Daryl, Kairi, Sora, and he had gone to school together for parent-teacher conference day. Sora had come up with an entire game that day involving 3 balls, a bat, his head, and a brick wall—Riku cracked up at the memory. He had watched the game in an amused awe, wondering how in the world Sora ever thought up such strange things.

When Riku looked back up, he found Alena running to the living room again, just to return with two backpacks and another grin. She held one out to Riku and put the other on herself.

"Oooh no!" He cried, giving her a disapproving look. "How would you survive school? Can you read or write? We both know you can't talk." Tears started to fall down her cheeks, and Riku stopped. "Aw, come on, Alena…" He grumbled, grabbing a tissue from the counter and wiping away her tears. "Come on, it's hard enough at school for me, it'd be hell for you." Her reaction to this was both shocking and hilarious.

With a quick motion, Alena grabbed his hand tightly, all color draining from her face. Swirls of black and purple mixed together in Riku's head and he sensed her fear. Much to her surprise, though, he laughed.

"It's a figure of speech, dear." He stated, smiling softly at her ignorance. Her eyes widened a little in realization, and she calmed down. "This is going to be difficult… See, if you get confused over me saying that, you'd never make it in school. People say all sorts of things at school that are inappropriate and rude." Riku explained taking her hand and marveling at the swirls of colors.

"Mm…" Alena murmured, looking up at him and shaking her head. The color focused on orange, a determined, mildly angry orange that told him that she wouldn't be giving up any time soon. She obviously really wanted to go to school, much to Riku's surprise. Then, when he sighed in a defeated way, she flashed a blindingly bright smile and ran off to get ready; leaving him feeling embarrassed and confused.

After a little while, Alena ran back down the stairs in the same purple sundress that Renee had loaned her but with her hair all made up in braids that winded down her back. She ran into the kitchen and collapsed into a chair by the refrigerator. Riku watched with mild amusement from the couch, ignoring the TV to watch her.

"What do you plan to eat this morning?" He asked, drawing her attention. "Do angels eat certain things? I mean, can you eat meat or…" He stopped when he saw the look on her face. She had become very pale and shook her head violently. "You're a vegetarian?" Once again, she shook her head, looking over at a plant in his window and petting it softly. "You don't eat that either because it lives?" He guessed, his voice becoming sarcastic. "Then what do you eat? I mean, there's milk…" She smiled and nodded to this, holding out her hands as if expecting him to use magic to get her milk.

"Mmm…" She hummed, closing her eyes and tilting her head back and forth. Riku got up from the couch and went over to the refrigerator, pulling out milk and a cup.

"There, you dork." He laughed, putting down the cup for her.

"How dare you call her a dork!" A voice cried from the doorway. There stood Darcy, not surprisingly. "I don't understand," she came over to him in a flash. "Why you think," she continued, her movements almost too fast to see as she grabbed a cup. "You can get away with that." She had already poured herself some milk before Riku had time to comment.

"Did you come in here to yell at me or steal my milk?" Riku asked sardonically.

"Both!" Darcy answered immediately, her face serious. He couldn't help but start laughing at the sight of her. "What's funny?" She asked, her eyes narrowing to slits.

"You!" He cried, shaking his head. "You two are so interesting. Are you coming to school too, Darcy?" His grin made her uncomfortable, so she became even sourer. Quickly, she drained the contents of her cup and slammed it down on the table.

"Of course!" To this, Alena cried out and ran to hug her, knocking her over in the process and sloshing some of her own breakfast.

Riku carefully stepped over the girls and grabbed a paper towel, mopping up the milk with a sort of uncontrollable happiness (along with the urge to bust up laughing). He turned around and threw the paper towel in the trash, picking up a piece of paper and a pen on the way back. Both of the girls were back up by now and watching him curiously.

Alena touched his hand just as Darcy asked, "What are you doing?" Swirls of confusing colors entered his head, making him dizzy; the colors were asking him the same question as the older angel.

"I'm writing a note to Daryl and Renee to tell them where you are, Alena." He said it as if it were completely obvious. "If they come home and you aren't here, they may go looking for you. I'm just telling them that you're with me." As he explained this, he started to write the words on the page. The colors in his head switched to shades and feelings of amazement.

"It's not that hard, Alena. Don't be impressed with him--he's probably an amateur anyway!" Darcy frowned, pouring more milk into the cup that had been emptied right before Alena had jumped on her. She leaned over and poured more into the younger girl's cup as well. Both of them drank the substance thankfully.

"You know, if you guys had told me you were so hungry I would have fed you earlier." Riku laughed lightly, finishing his note and using a magnet to stick it to the fridge. "We're about out of milk, though, so remind me after school to get some." He turned in time to catch Darcy's nod. "Great, so… Are you ready?"

It only took the three of them a few minutes to get to school with Riku by their side. He seemed to know every shortcut in the city, but some of the things (like cars) seemed to scare Alena. When the three got to a large building in the center of the island, they were surprised to see two more people waiting for them.

"Riku!" One of them cried out, running forward. "I heard that you didn't come home--we were worried sick about you!" Kairi cried, hitting him in the arm and making as angry of a face as she could muster.

"Riku, I knew you'd be back!" The other person, Sora, walked up with his arms behind his back and a huge grin on his face. "Kairi was a little worried there for a little bit, but I knew you could take care of yourself." His eyes seemed to be begging Riku to compliment him on his good work.

"What are you talking about?" Kairi's laughing voice cut in. "You were rushing about, nearly crying, wondering whether it was something you did that made him run away. You should have seen him, Riku. I'd never seen him in such a state!" She laughed happily, grabbing his hand while Sora blushed and punched his arm playfully.

"There was no need to worry…" Riku murmured guiltily, remembering his thoughts the night before. He swore that he'd never admit that to anyone else, though. He'd never try to kill himself again either--maybe he was needed a little after all.

"It's incredibly rude to leave Alena over here without introducing her or anything." Darcy's voice called out. When Riku turned around, he found her pouting profusely, arms crossed and full lips pulled down in a frown.

"I'm so sorry, Alena." He said, trying not to laugh. "I suppose I should introduce you." He took Alena's hand with the one that Kairi wasn't holding and pulled her forward. "This is Alena, you guys."

"Hey!" Darcy called again, hurt apparent in her voice. "You're gonna introduce me too, aren't you?" Her childish tone made him grin, surprising Kairi and Sora as they looked at him.

"But Darcy, you only said that I needed to introduce Alena--which I was getting to, by the way." He let go of both of the girls' hands and turned around. "Maybe you should rephrase what you said, and leave the introductions to me, hm?" He held out his hand as he said this, and she came over to take it.

"You're mean." She stated, frowning. "Alena thinks you're nice, but you're mean."

"I don't hear you rephrasing anything…" Riku reminded her lightly, grabbing Alena's hand again and pulling both of the girls to the school. Kairi and Sora just stared in wonder.

"Meanie!" came the reply. "Ok… Maybe you should introduce me and Alena 'cuz it's rude not to." She huffed and looked away from him. "…Please." This part was muttered because she didn't want him to hear, but she had been 'raised' better than to not say it. Unfortunately for her, he did hear and his smile grew even wider.

"Sora, Kairi, this is Darcy." He grinned back to his friends. The two of them threw each other a worried glance and ran to catch up with their best friend.

"Hi, I'm Sora." Sora was the first to speak. "It's nice to meet you, Alena, Darcy." He nodded to both of them as he spoke. Alena quickly grabbed his hand to communicate, making both him and Kairi jump.

"U-um, hi, I'm Kairi." Kairi growled, peeling Alena's fingers off of Sora's hand just to feel the same amazement as he had a moment before. "What in the world…" She murmured, staring off into space--concentrating on the colors, from the look on her face. Alena beamed at them, her face lighting up beautifully as she realized that they liked her form of speaking. Riku felt himself staring at her smile, but it took him a few minutes to pull away, in which time Kairi recovered enough to notice his difficulty.

"That's Alena." He finally said, shaking his head softly. "She can't actually speak, but she can do that." When he looked up, he saw the slightly evil smile on Kairi's face and immediately felt worried. "What?"

"You're awfully pretty, Alena." She commented, ignoring Riku. Alena blushed lightly and tilted her head back and forth in a happy dance. She touched Kairi's hand again, sending waves of thanks to her. "Are you sure it's safe to be walking around in a sundress with a face like that? You may attract boys you don't want."

"You let me take care of that." Darcy spoke up, sending Kairi a look that actually scared her. "I'll protect Alena no matter what--it'd be in those boys' best interest if they stayed away. Not to mention the fact," she turned to Riku as she said this. "That Riku is technically responsible for her right now. Your father would be very angry if he knew that you let anything happen to her."

"I wouldn't let anything happen to her even if he didn't care!" Riku retorted, anger flashing across his features.

"Nothing except letting her fall in the water and maybe even drown!" Darcy cried out, waving her hands around. "You didn't even catch her either--you could have saved her a lot of pain, you know!"

"If I had tried to catch her, it would have killed me, woman!" Riku cried out. Alena's face changed from happiness to worry in an instant and she reached out her hand to touch Riku. Before she got to, though, something happened that shut both of them up. The bell rang.

Riku swore, making both of the girls gasp in horror. "Yeah, yeah, I know, I said a bad word." He grumbled, pushing them both toward the door. "We're going to be late, though. I haven't even told the principal that you two are going to school here!" As he said this, all three of them ran into the hall, disappearing from Sora and Kairi's sight.

"Huh…" Kairi mumbled, turning to Sora. "Those three are… weird. Riku never acted like that before…" Sora nodded and grinned over at her. "I wonder how his teacher will react if he and that Darcy girl start fighting like that in class…"

"Or better yet, if Alena has to break them up!" Sora laughed as they both started up the steps. "How will she introduce herself to the class?"

"This is going to be a really interesting day!"

"Ah, Riku--you're late, as usual." When the three of them finally made it to class, Mr. Carlisle was waiting for them. "I don't suppose you have an excuse this time?" He snapped, turning to face him. He was surprised to see two girls standing next to him. "You got a few girlfriends now?"

"They're my friends, and they're girls, if that's what you mean." Riku responded, blushing slightly. "They'll be going here for the last couple of weeks of school. Let me introduce you to them--this is…"

"I'm sure they can speak for themselves." Christopher Carlisle replied, cutting him off with a wave of his hand. He was once again shocked when the three shared meaningful looks and started laughing. "What's so funny?"

"Well, Alena is kind of like a mute." Riku explained, pointing over to the blond girl on his right. "I mean, she can only say her name and maybe Darcy's--and she has trouble with that even."

"Alena!" The little girl smiled, looking from Mr. Carlisle to Riku and back. Her excitement made everyone feel guilty for their bickering. Alena tried to walk over to the teacher to show him her way of speaking, but Riku and Darcy both grabbed at her.

"…Well, take a seat then." The teacher sighed, shaking his head. "Alena, you sit to the right of Riku, and you--the other one--you can sit in front of him… That's the only spots available… But if you talk…"

"Got it." Riku shrugged off his attempted threat and continued walking, pulling the girls along with him. "I hope you guys are ready to learn something boring and probably pointless in the real world." He said loudly, ignoring the growls coming from his least favorite teacher. "Don't worry, Alena, I'm sure you'll enjoy yourself more than anyone else here… You tend to get excited over weird things, after all…"

The day went surprisingly fast with Alena and Darcy there by Riku's side. They didn't run into any real trouble until they got to lunch. Riku had to give Darcy and Alena his milk and buy them extra of their own in order to make them happy (and have Darcy stop complaining), but he liked having other people at the table. Kairi and Darcy really were getting along very nicely, and Alena seemed to enjoy watching everyone talk from Riku's side. When the three finally decided it was time to go home, they had wore themselves out from laughing and talking and learning. It had been a good day.

It was hot and humid outside at 3:20 when it was time to leave. Kairi groaned out loud and wiped sweat off of her forehead while Sora crouched over. All of them were worn out by the heat almost immediately, and none of them knew what to do to make it better. After the day before, none of them mentioned the island for fear that Riku would freak out (or because they didn't know it was an option).

"I cannot walk anymore!!!" Darcy cried out after walking a few blocks away from the school. She sat down in the middle of the street and crossed her arms unhappily. "It's hot and sticky and miserable…"

"And we all have to listen to you." Riku added under his breath. Darcy heard him even though he'd said it quietly.

"Excuse me, Riku, but you're one of the most depressing people I've ever met, so if I were you, I'd fix myself before pointing out flaws in others." She snapped irritably.

"Yeah, I may be depressing…" He admitted slowly. "But at least I'm not insufferably annoying!" He turned around and strode toward her, feeling the urge to yell and scream at the girl in front of him.

"Why do you two constantly fight?" Sora asked, huffing for air. "Do you like each other or something? The only other people I've seen fight like that is my cousin and her boyfriend--they make me sick sometimes…" But no one else heard the rest of it; they were all too busy denying his accusation.

"Like her?! How could anyone like something like that?" Riku snorted, shaking his head and wondering why he was so embarrassed. In the meantime, Darcy was saying things similar to what he was about how much of a disgrace he was and why she could never like him. Just when the two of them were about to fight again, a thought dawned on them.

"Where's Alena?" Riku asked, looking around in a sudden panic. "Alena?!" He ran back down the street where he had come and saw the little figure sitting on the sidewalk looking quite tired. "Alena, you scared me to death." Riku stated when he was finally by her.

"Alena, oh Alena!" Darcy pushed Riku aside and hugged her friend. Alena looked even more faint than before when she did that, though, and Riku was sure that she was just hot.

"Get off, you ditz! She's overheating." Riku got back up quickly and pulled Darcy away from Alena. "Here, I have some water. Don't drink it too fast or you'll get sick." He pulled his backpack off his shoulders and got out a bottle of water, handing it to her. She took it and gulped it down thirstily. "Can you walk?" When Alena touched his hand to show him, it only showed colors of exhaustion, so he turned around and pointed to his back. "I'll carry you then."

"W-what?" Darcy was startled, but when she turned to him she felt that his intentions were pure. "You… But you're hot too…" To this statement, all Riku could do was laugh.

"You've never been to some of the places I have!" He said happily. "I've been to a desert before, you know. It was hotter than this--and the days lasted longer." He was surprised to find her eyes wide when he turned around.

"And?" She mumbled grabbing his hand as Alena clambered up onto his back. "I've heard of deserts, but I've never seen any." She explained, waiting expectantly.

"I didn't know you'd be interested…" He said truthfully before beginning to explain. "Well, it was really hot and there was sand everywhere."

"There's sand all over here too!" Darcy interrupted, looking out at the beach that was drawing nearer and pointing.

"Yes, but where I was there was no water." Riku said patiently. He looked back for a second to check on Alena. Her little hand touched his neck for a moment, and he knew that she was interested in his story as well. He smiled slightly before returning to the discussion. "Sora would know a little better than I would, of course…"

"Yeah, I was there too--you see…" Sora started to talk, but he was cut off by Darcy.

"I want you to explain, Riku." She said earnestly, looking from Riku to Sora. "Not that I don't believe you, but… I like how Riku's voice sounds." She smiled happily as she said this, not even noticing the blush rise in both Sora's and Riku's faces.

"Maybe they really do like each other…" Sora whispered to Kairi who smiled and nodded. She scooted a little closer to Sora, taking his hand as she waited to hear the rest of Riku's story.

"It'd be interesting to hear his side of the story anyways, would it? Another side, another story…" Kairi murmured, wondering why the words sounded so familiar to her. "It'd help us understand him… Maybe."

"Well," Riku had started again. "There was a little city in the desert, but it was much different than anything is here. They had carpets all over the place--some of them even flew! You'll have to ask Sora for those details, though, because I never flew on one. There was a pretty princess who lived there too… It was my job to…" He paused and looked into the innocent eyes of Darcy and found that he couldn't tell them the whole truth. "Well, I had a different job than Sora, regardless." He murmured, brushing the topic off.

"Was there any… magic stuff there?" Darcy tried to keep her voice calm, but her face looked a little worried. "Magic is bad--that's what I've always heard." She explained when he gave her a puzzled look.

"Many things are bad." Riku responded. "But they are all over. Yes, there was magic--the flying carpets were magic, in fact. There was one man who was evil, and used magic to try and capture the princess." He stopped and listened to both of the girls gasp before continuing. "But he failed. It wasn't until… a very confused boy showed up, that she was caught. He learned later that his actions were wrong, and he was trapped in the Kingdom Hearts for a long time…"

To this, Darcy was surprised to feel emotions of sadness, hate, and guilt coming off of Riku in waves. She understood what he meant, and knew he was sorry. "Well," she said quietly, squeezing his hand. "God forgives if one asks." When he looked over at her, she conveniently looked away, distracted by the ocean.

"Does he…?" Riku mumbled, following her eyes to the ocean. "Even to those who leave those who love them? In which case, even my parents would also be forgiven… I don't know how I feel about that." He waited a moment before turning around to Sora and Kairi. "I'm sorry, Sora… I was just as bad as them, weren't I? I left you behind…"

"Yeah, but you were just trying to save Kairi." Sora responded, shrugging absently. "I'm not mad--I always knew that we'd all meet up again. You can ask… Oh wait… I guess you can't ask them, can you?" His face gave a forlorn look before turning and smiling again. "Well, I always believed in you guys."

"Thank you." Riku turned back around before looking back at Alena; she had fallen asleep. "Do you guys want to come over to my house or go play in the water first?" He asked after a second of watching the girl's innocent sleep.

"I wanna play in the ocean." Darcy said matter-of-factly. "I've never played in water before--I always heard that it was fun, though… And wet." The group laughed quietly as she said this.

"I agree with Darcy." Kairi spoke up, pulling Sora forward to keep pace with Riku. "It's hot and it'd be the perfect time to play in the water… Don't wake Alena until we get there, though… She looks so peaceful."

"Sounds like a plan." He replied.