The Night Within My Eyes
Description: A sequel to Kingdom Hearts II. When a gummy ship crashes into Disney Castle, King Mickey calls on Sora and Riku to help a previously unknown world rid itself of some very familiar Heartless. Eventual pairing: RikuxOC, plus some SoraxKairi because they're cute. Rated T because I can't see myself ever writing K.
Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts and its characters are the property of Square-Enix. But you knew that already.
Eight
"Confirmed, Highwind, you are cleared to land. Please proceed to landing dock 3."
"Dock 3. Got it," Sora replied. He had taken Donald's place as pilot as soon as it became clear that the poor dispatchers of this tri-world could not understand a single word that came from the duck's mouth. The offended mage had retreated to a corner and was still grumbling to himself. Everyone else had gathered around Sora in expectation.
"I'll alert the President of your arrival," the male voice on the other end continued. "Welcome to Midgar. And please tell Yuko that all of us here are very glad she's safe."
"Roger. Highwind over and out."
Riku glanced over at Yuko to see if she had any reaction to the message, but as expected, she showed none. She had hardly said a word their entire trip. In fact, he could only think of two times that she had spoken since he told Sora to leave her alone: once to tell them the channel to broadcast to Luca and once to give the same information for Midgar once Luca had told them of the President's location. He knew something was bothering her, and he found himself very much wishing he knew what it was.
"Gawrsh," Goofy said as Sora guided the ship closer to the ground, "it's all lit up and sparkly!"
"It's so pretty!" Kairi added. She leaned forward over the edge of Sora's chair to get a better view.
Riku turned his eyes to the grand city of Midgar and saw thousands of glittering lights spread out before him. Their sheer number gave the night-covered planet a kind of artificial day. The sight was mesmerizing, and it held his gaze tightly - until he heard a small sound of pain from the girl beside him. He turned his eyes to her and blinked at the despair in her face.
"Yuko?" he questioned in a low voice so that the others would not hear.
She answered in the same tone, although he could not tell if she spoke to him or to herself. "There used to be so many more. And now they're gone." She turned away and retreated to the back of the ship where she would not have to see the view from the front window. Riku debated whether or not to follow her and finally decided, in spite of his own desires, to let her mourn alone.
Once the ship had settled into the dock and Sora had powered down the engine, he pushed the button to open the side door and rose from his seat with a smile. "We're here," he announced. "Lead the way, Yuko."
She replied with a simple nod and stepped out of the ship to the dock. Riku followed after her, much to the surprise of Donald who had started to exit himself, assuming the reticent boy would linger behind as he always did. Once everyone had left the ship, they gathered about in a loose circle. Riku looked to Yuko to take the initiative, but she stood still as if waiting.
"Yuko!" someone called from farther down the dock.
Riku turned toward the voice and saw a tall man in his forties coming towards them at a fast walk. From the man's confident air of command to his expensive-looking suit, the newcomer exuded importance and power. Two young men in SeeD uniforms followed him at a respectful distance but with a look that clearly said they would protect him from any threats.
At the sight of the man, a genuine smile lit up Yuko's face. "Mr. President," she said.
The man walked straight up to her and, unexpectedly, enveloped her in a hug. "I am so very glad you are all right," he said. His voice shook slightly, telling of the worry that he had suffered. "You were gone so long, I had begun to fear the worst."
Yuko had gone rigid at the awkward physical contact, but at his final words, she relaxed a bit. "I thought," she teased gently, "that you knew I would come back. You had such faith."
He stepped back from her to smile down into her face, although he did not remove his hands from her shoulders. "Forgive me. In my fear, my faith wavered." His soft brown eyes traveled over the rest of the group, and his face brightened. "But you are back now, and you've brought help."
Yuko stepped back out of the President's hands and turned to them. "Yes. This is Sora, Riku, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy. Everyone, this gentleman is Devalin, President of Luca."
Riku straightened out of his usual half-slouch when the President's eyes rested on him briefly. They already showed a trace of disappointment, as Yuko's had done upon meeting him and Sora. Even though he knew their skills would convince the man otherwise, for some reason Riku didn't want to add bad posture to the reasons why Devalin would initially consider him not up to the task at hand.
The President bowed slightly to the group. "I am honored to meet you." He hesitated a moment as his eyes continued to scan over them. "Yuko, where is Sydney?" When she lowered her head in response, his eyes saddened. "I see." He sighed gently and ran a hand through his light brown hair. "Well," he continued in a stronger voice, "if we want time to mourn, we must make it for ourselves."
He turned to the visitors and addressed them again. "Thank you so much for offering us your assistance. I must admit, you are a bit younger than I had expected, but I've grown used to depending on the younger generation." He gave Yuko a fond smile before continuing, "I assume you came as an advance force to discuss strategy and your troops will be arriving shortly?"
"Actually, Devalin," Yuko replied before anyone else could speak, "there are no troops. They are the reinforcements. Just the five of them. But," she continued quickly as a look of horror spread over Devalin's face, "they've dealt with Heartless in the past. And Sora and Riku can both use Keyblades like I can. I think they will be of great help."
When Devalin continued to blink at her in shock and dismay, Sora added, "Mr. President, sir, I know we don't look like much, but we've fought these enemies before. We all have a great deal of experience. Well, except Kairi … ow!"
He reached down and rubbed his leg, shooting a nasty look at Kairi who had turned her head innocently away as if to say she had no idea how her foot had slammed into him.
"I … see … " the President replied as he tried to recover his shaken confidence. "I suppose that any reinforcements are better than none, but I-"
"Sora!" Goofy interrupted with a cry. He pointed beyond the place where the SeeDs stood watch, towards the entrance to the dock. Two small pools of black crept forward at amazing speed.
Sora's face darkened. "Shadows," he said. His Keyblade flashed into his hand. "I'll take care of 'em."
As the SeeDs backed away in horror, Sora ran right up to the little Heartless creatures, waited for them to poke their heads out of the ground, and sliced through them both with ease. Riku watched with only mild interest - until he saw two more sneaking up on the President.
"Look out!" he called, pushing the older man out of the way and calling up his own blade. Two lazy flicks of his wrist dispatched the threat. He caught Sora's eye briefly as they both heard four popping sounds, followed by the clanks of armor. Riku spun and sliced the head off of one of the Soldier Heartless that had appeared from thin air, killing it before its feet even hit the ground. Sora took out the other three with a sliding move that gutted them in quick succession.
"Show off," Riku smirked at his best friend. Sora just grinned at him.
"Aw, phooey!" Donald griped from behind them. They turned to see his irritated face. "How come we didn't get to have any fun?"
Sora laughed at him. "You can have the next bunch, Donald." He shifted his attention to Yuko and Devalin. "Is everyone all right?"
She smiled at him, impressed. "Yes, we're fine." Beside her, the President just stared in wonderment.
"Good," Sora nodded. Riku watched as the other boy settled into the role of leader. He was in his element again, easily taking charge of the situation. "Okay then, why don't we - ?"
A scream from outside cut him off. A moment later, a female SeeD ran in, crying, "Mr. President! Heartless!"
"What kind?" Sora asked her, taking the interruption in stride.
The young woman blinked at him for a minute in astonishment before finally replying, "The small flying colored kind."
"Donald!" Sora and Riku called together.
"Oh boy!" the duck cried. He sped off, his feet flapping loudly against the ground.
"Um, should I go after him, ya think?" Goofy asked, wandering up to Sora.
"Sure," Sora replied. "He'll need help if there are any green ones. Here, take this just in case." He pulled an Ether out of his pocket and gave it to Goofy. Goofy smiled and, with a twirl of his shield, followed after Donald. They could already hear cries of "I got it!" from outside.
Sora stared vaguely off in the direction of the battle and commented, "These are pretty low-level Heartless."
"Yeah," Riku replied, "but it doesn't sound like these worlds had much defense against them at all. The apprentices probably aren't bothering to send in the bigger ones since the small ones can do the damage for them."
"Yeah, you're probably right. I just hope there are some decent ones closer to their base, or this won't be any fun." He grinned cockily. While Riku shook his head at him, he turned around and gazed back at the others. "Hey," he said in surprise, "look at Yuko smile. Now there's something I didn't think I'd see so soon." He leaned his head back and found Riku's eyes with his own. "Feels good to put a smile like that on someone's face, doesn't it?"
Riku looked back as Sora had done. Yuko was beaming at the pair of them; no trace of sorrow, anger, or worry remained on her face. Kairi had come up next to her, and now she leaned over and said something in her ear. Both girls laughed at the comment.
Riku's heart pushed against the inside of his chest. Again, he felt pain at the sight of someone so happy, but this was very different. This pain was wonderful. This was something he would gladly experience a thousand times over. This amazing joy at seeing a smile on that normally sad face and knowing that, in part at least, he had put it there.
"Yeah," he answered Sora softly. "It sure does."