Disclaimer: I still don't claim to own anything. *sigh* As much as I'd love to own Axel, that'd be human trafficking, and that's usually frowned upon by the Establishment. D;

A/N: Nothing new to report; here's chapter 4! Hopefully this chapter will be a nice break from all that doom 'n' gloom from chapter 3. Please forgive any stupid spelling/grammar mistakes—I finished this bad boy at 1:00am. I'll clean it up later if I have to. *cough* ONWARD!

Bon à lire!

-Slay

A Day of Mercy

Chapter 4

The Day of Mercy

-o-o-o-

When morning broke, Riku was kicked out of the first notable dream he'd had in a long time—much to his agitation.

He'd been sailing tormented black seas on a lone raft, watching with dismay as the world flickered out, leaving him to die in the squalling waves. Yet while the tempest tore around him, something poked through the rampaging abyss: a suffocated gasp of light that seemed miles away. The next thing he knew, Sora was there beside him with that stupid, amazing smile on his face, one of his hands pointing toward the gasp of light, the other reaching out to Riku.

Riku was about to take his hand when—bam. Blades of sun raked across his human face and snapped him awake. He was already groggy, and when he realized just what going through his head, he swore at himself. What the hell was Sora doing in his dreams? And why was he so reluctant to wake from them?

"Dammit."

He stood up and moved through the morning glow to pull on his clothes, tucking the amulet safely beneath his shirt. His stomach growled. Good. Something trivial to take his mind off of its inevitable plunge into dementia. He double-checked the munny in his pocket before leaving the mansion, slipping over the front gate and heading back toward town.

-o-o-o-

With his stomach full and the whole day ahead of him, Riku took to wandering around and doing exactly what he hated doing: thinking.

Rather, he was focusing really hard on not thinking.

About Sora.

Dammit.

He grimaced at the pavement under his steps. What the hell was wrong with him? How had he not learned his lesson? He'd been burned so many times before, and still his heart found the audacity to play with fire.

It didn't matter how many times he relived the past failures, or envisioned the petrified faces of people he loved, or recalled the gruesome way the monster lashed out when he was so deeply hurt…he couldn't stop himself from latching on to shallow glimmers of kindness when he saw them. How stupid could he get?

Axel was probably right; Sora was probably just as endearing and kindhearted as he seemed. He was probably benevolent and forgiving. He was probably a wonderful friend to have.

But how wonderful…how kindhearted…how forgiving would he be when he came face-to-face with the stuff of nightmares—a massive, carnivorous monster framed by scary, unattractive myths? How benevolent would he be toward those murderous teeth, or those intrinsically cold eyes? With adrenaline pumping through him, throwing up red flags and screaming from his every nerve to escape, would he even remember who it was behind those eyes?

…No.

No, he wouldn't. Fear would choke his kindness to death and stamp out every good feeling he had. His memories of who Riku really was would shrivel up and crumble to dust, and all he would know was terror. Those spectacular blue eyes would freeze over and run away. And it would start all over again.

It was for that reason—that brutal reason that should have put all of his temptations to rest—that he had to avoid Sora. He had to wrap things up in this town and leave before he got too attached. It was already going to be hard, but the sooner he took off, the faster he would get over it.

Riku stopped walking and nodded his head determinedly, having officially decided to get the hell out of here before he could make the same stupid mistake again. He would round up some supplies, scrape together some extra cash, and leave in the dead of night—all without running into Sora. Yes. He could do that. Easy. After all, Twilight Town wasn't that small, and he wasn't anywhere near the place where he'd met Sora. Honestly, what were the chances of running into him again so soon?

"Hi, Riku!"

"Oh, hey Sora." …

Wait, what?

Riku looked up to find the flamboyant brunette he was hell-bent on avoiding standing right in front of him and jumped.

"Where the hell did you come from?"

Sora glanced to the sky thoughtfully. "We—ll, I rolled outta bed, I got dressed…Oh! Had eggs for breakfast…Brushed my teeth…a—nd now I'm here!" He smiled brightly and rocked on his heels, bouncing where he stood. Did he really have that much energy?

Riku rubbed his right eye to stop it from twitching. "Well…Well what do you want?" He grumbled.

"I saw you standing here by yourself and thought maybe you were lost or something," Sora explained, swinging his arms lazily. "Do you need directions anywhere? I'd be happy to help."

Uncharacteristically flustered, Riku crossed his arms and glared at a store sign across the way: Moogle Mike's Bakery. "I-I don't—I'm not lost!"

"Are you sure? It's not a big town, but there're a lot of nooks and crannies, y'know? And sometimes the streets get all wacked up." Sora chuckled. "Even I get a little turned-around sometimes."

Oh that was comforting.

"I think I'll manage," Riku grunted defiantly, though the more he looked around, the less oriented he felt. Maybe directions weren't a bad idea… No. No, no, no. This was the guy he was trying to stay away from. If he wanted directions, he could get them from someone else. Someone who wasn't so…Sora.

"You want a tour?"

Riku blinked. "What?"

"A tour," Sora repeated, linking his hands behind his head. "—of the town. You're new around here, and I said I'd help any way I could. If I gave you a tour, you wouldn't have to worry about getting lost."

"I'm not lost!"

Sora grinned shrewdly. "Never said you were. I just mean as a future reference, a tour might be pretty helpful."

Riku frowned. "Thanks but no thanks. I've got stuff to do." He maneuvered around the boy and started walking, completely unsurprised when Sora followed after him.

"Really? But it's Saturday. What could you possibly have going on?"

"Like it's any of your business."

"Ooh, someone's not a morning person."

"Isn't there someone else you could annoy today? My schedule's full."

Sora was chortling at him. "Are you always this charming?"

After a minute or so of walking, with Riku huffing unhappily and Sora springing along like he wasn't trampling someone else's personal boundaries into the dust, the brunette pointed to one of the buildings and said, "That's the Moogle Mart where my older brother works. He started there a couple months ago, and I remember him talking about this one guy who used to come in every day for pretzels…"

-o-o-o-

"…and if you kept going that way, you'd get to Central Station. There's this really cool clock tower there where you can watch the sun set over the water. Rox took me up there once. The view is pretty amazing, but I'm not a fan of heights, so…"

Riku wasn't one hundred percent sure how he'd let himself get roped into a two-hour tour of Twilight Town, but by the time it was done, he found he didn't really regret it. Sora was actually pretty knowledgeable about the town's layout, and seemed to have an embellished story about every spot (which was probably the reason it took two hours to circle the town).

After popping from store to store in Tram Common—where Riku had definitely not gotten completely lost—the two of them had stopped by the Sandlot to watch people beat the snot out of each other with blue bats. "It's called Struggle," Sora elaborated, pointing from player to player as he briefly described the rules. "Roxas and his friends enter tournaments every summer. They're pretty good at it. You and I should try it sometime!"

Sora had also divulged quite a bit about his family. Apparently he lived with his mother and two brothers: Roxas, his twin ("I'm four minutes older, though."), and Cloud, who was the eldest of the three and only in town until something went through on the other side of the island.

"Do you have any siblings, Riku?"

"Oh, no."

From there they proceeded through Station Heights and down Market Street, which was a different experience now that Riku was coming to recognize his surroundings. They passed a crooked back alley, which apparently acted as a shortcut to Sora's house ("You should come visit! Ours is the one with the blue door.").

In the end, they wound up in Sunset Terrace, a sunny outcrop of buildings on a plaza overlooking the sea, cut by narrow canals and a single tramline. Sora insisted they grab treats of some kind, and even though he openly expressed his disinterest, Riku shortly found himself in possession of a sunglow sweet called 'paopu sherbet'. He made a face at it, which caused Sora to pout and nudge him in the arm. "C'mon, try it," he implored. "You'll like it."

"Hmph."

Riku was about to discard the frivolous thing when Sora disappeared from sight. He paused, turning around in confusion and finding Sora standing a few feet back. He was about to ask what was up, but the look on Sora's face stopped him dead.

In spite of himself, Riku already thought Sora's eyes were stunning, being so blue and honeyed and big…but now they had melted into zaffre pools, glazed and smooth with almost-tears, holding Riku completely captive from under bashful black lashes. Sora stood slumped, defeated, clinging delicately to his own cup of sherbet like a berated child. "Please, Riku?" His voice was so soft and small, his lower lip pushed out pitifully.

Riku's heart lurched; for a moment the breath was sucked right out of his chest, and all he could see was Sora standing there, completely dejected with those damn disarming eyes of his. Riku couldn't physically blush, but if he could, he was pretty sure this was where he'd do it. He hauled his eyes off of Sora and glared down at the paopu sherbet he was readily going to toss, ignoring the racing pulse in his veins. "Fine," he grunted. "If it means that much to you—"

Before he could finish, Riku's mouth was invaded by something cold and flavorful. Sora had taken the liberty of slipping a spoonful of his own sherbet between Riku's lips, the usual, stupid smile having returned to his face like nothing happened.

"Agh! Soohwah!" Riku flailed to knock Sora's hand away, annoyed. That whole thing with the eyes and the pout and the please had been a rouse! And he had fallen for it! And—and that sherbet stuff actually tasted pretty good. Sweet with a pinch of tropical tang, its texture smooth against his tongue. His expression must have changed, because Sora burst out laughing.

"Good, right?"

Riku composed himself and cleared his throat, glancing at the cup of sherbet in his hand. "It's okay," he shrugged.

He finished the whole thing.

-o-o-o-

Late afternoon found them leaning over the railing of Sunset Hill, watching the ocean rustle and shine like crystalline silk beneath a brazen, cloudless sky. Riku had dropped his hood, finding with surprise that the sunlight felt heavy and warm against his skin, rather than sharp and uncomfortable. He thought it extremely strange, but couldn't really bring himself to care at the moment. A sultry breeze swept up from the coast, brushing them with the salty breath of the sea. Sora hummed into the wind and smiled. "Good festival weather."

"Mm."

"Speaking of which…" Sora flicked away the brown tufts that had strayed into his eyes. He gave Riku a sideways look. "Are you sure you don't wanna spend the Summer Festival with us? It really will be a lot of fun—way better than spending the week alone."

Riku snorted. "How do you know I'm gonna be alone all week?"

"Are you gonna be alone all week?"

"No."

Sora smirked. "You're a terrible liar."

Riku started, alarmed by the solid sagacity that had settled in Sora's face. His mouth was curved wryly, and after a second he quirked an eyebrow at Riku's silence. When it became painfully obvious that there would be no rebuttal, Sora returned his attention to the ocean. "It's all in your eyes," he said. "They don't match what you're saying at all."

Officially disturbed and a little violated, Riku threw up his hood and leaned heavily on the railing, looking anywhere but at the brunette who was, apparently, more shrewd than Riku gave him credit for. He didn't know what to say. He didn't know how to react. No one had ever called his bluff before, let alone someone he'd known for barely two days. It was vexing. Every time things started to clear up, Sora came and tossed a wrench in the works, and Riku had no idea what to do about it.

He was startled at first by the sound of Sora's voice, and then again by the words he was speaking;

"I don't know what happened to you, Riku," he said softly. "And I don't expect you to ever tell me, but…" He turned his head and ensnared Riku in those eyes again, a sincere half of a smile lingering on his lips. "I do want us to be friends. And I don't want you to go on thinking everyone's against you just because of how one person hurt you in the past."

Blue eyes drifted back to the sea they so resembled. "There are plenty of good people out there. You just can't give up looking for them, y'know? …Anyway…I guess what I'm trying to say is…whatever they did to you…" His smile came back fully-fledged, lighting his face with an amiable warmth. "I'll never do. I promise."

Riku couldn't stop himself from scoffing.

"What?"

"Like I've never heard that one before."

"…Riku…"

He didn't dare look over at Sora. Instead he ground his palms against the wood railing, staring bitterly over the ocean. "It's easy to promise you'll never hurt someone." He said dryly. "It's easy to promise you'll never stab them in the back or abandon them." He hunched his shoulders briefly, beating back the emotion threatening to choke his words. "But keeping those promises is a different story."

"Riku…"

Sunset was hours away, but Riku suddenly felt a desperate urge to flee back into the forest, back to the mansion, away from this mess of hope and confusion, away from Sora. He chanced a look at the brunette, and his heart nearly broke at the sadness he found there.

It was no rouse this time. Sora was genuinely upset. "At least give me a chance? Please?"

Riku shook his head vehemently. "Sorry, Sora." He tore himself away from the railing, avoiding the blue eyes he'd infected with sorrow. "I'm all out of chances."

With his fists buried in his pockets, Riku strode away down the hill, his heart openly aching when Sora didn't follow him.

A/N: Well…it was almost a happy chapter… ^^; C'est la vie, stories need plots and plots need conflict. *sigh* I'm sure Riku will learn eventually… Maybe the Summer Festival will help spur his spirits? Find out in Chapter 5! Thanks for reading!

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Flame for a chakram to the face!

Adios, me amigos!

-Slay