Sora drifted to the door in disbelief, while Riku lifted his arms to welcome him. Sora threw himself into Riku's embrace, grasping his clothes.
"Riku, I thought you had given up on me..." He sobbed, burying his facein Riku's chest.
"Sora, I've missed you so much; I could never give up on you." Riku ran his fingers through Sora's hair and kissed his forehead.
Sora stared up at him, still not quite his height. Riku had grown taller since they parted. "But, the letters...they stopped coming one day..."
"I...they did? When?" Riku knitted his brows.
"Months ago..." Sora replied.
"Maybe they got lost somehow...?" Riku suggested.
Sora shrugged. "You could just tell me what was in them."
Riku glanced over Sora's shoulder, then leaned in close to whisper, "I don't think it's something I want to discuss here; it's more of a bedroom talk kind of thing..."
Sora's cheeks reddened. He had been craving Riku's touch, but...
"I can't."
"What? Why not?" Riku asked.
Sora looked down at his feet. "I...it's one of the things I should've told you about in the letters...Riku, I'm a married man now..."
Riku's expression fell. "Oh...I see..."
"I'm so sorry, I should've told you sooner. We were betrothed the day I turned sixteen, there was nothing I could do - " Sora rambled.
Riku interrupted him. "Sora, it's alright;I understand. Now, who is the lucky girl and do I get to meet her?"
"Her name is Naminé..." Sora answered.
"You can meet her after you say hello to me," Kairi interrupted, rushing over with her hands on her hips.
"Kairi!" Riku let go of Sora to step into Kairi's open arms. "Are you married now, too?"
"Yes, the man whose father runs this store is my husband." Kairi explained.
"You know, if I had known Sora was being betrothed, I would've offered you my hand in marriage so I could be close to him." Riku mentioned.
"Why didn't we think of that before?" Sora shouted.
"Because you're dumb sometimes," Kairi answered.
Behind them, Zack walked behind them carrying a crate of supplies.
"There's the lucky man, now." Kairi nodded to him. "Zack, come over here!"
Zack set down the box before greeting them.
"Zack, this is my good friend, Riku Lockhart." Kairi introduced.
Zack gripped Riku's hand in a firm handshake. "Zack Fair, at your service. It's a pleasure to meet you."
"The pleasure is all mine," Riku exchanged.
"How long will you be staying in Boston?" Kairi asked.
"I'm not quite sure," Riku replied, "as long as my captain decides to keep me."
"Captain?" Zack offered.
"Riku is a soldier in the British army; we housed him years ago under orders of the Quartering Act." Sora explained. "He became like a brother to us."
"More than that, Sora," Riku offered.
Sora scrunched his face and looked away.
"Well then,you two hurry along to the inn; I'm sure Naminé's waiting for you." Kairi said, shoving the supplies Sora had bought into Sora's arms and ushering them out.
The doorbell rang as they stumbled out, Sora dropping boxes and tins of things. Riku bent to pick them up.
On their way, a certain question nagged Sora's mind.
"Hey Riku...were you in Boston on March fifth?" Sora finally asked.
"Yes, I was; in fact, I was caught in the middle of disciplining several colonists who thought it'd be funny to harass a soldier, and then fire on the rest of us." Riku answered.
Sora's stomach turned; so Reno and Axelhadseen Riku at the site of the massacre...
The door to the inn swung open as Naminé was serving a patron. At her first glimpse of Riku, she harbored a gleam in her eyes that told Sora she knew exactly who he was without explanation.
"You must be Riku," she said, gliding over to them.
Riku set down the boxes and tins he had helped carry and kissed the top of Naminé's hand. "It's a pleasure to meet my best friend's wife; I'm only sad that I wasn't invited to the wedding."
Sora glanced at the floor, laughing weakly. "I'm sorry, I didn't think you would be able to attend..."
"I probably would not have," Riku offered apologetically.
"I'm so glad I finally get to meet you," Naminé said.
"As with you," Riku said. "And, Sora, you didn't tell me you were going to be a father..."
Naminé laughed, patting her stomach. "Yes, I managed to succeed in convincing Sora to start a family with me after much begging."
"What do you plan to name the child?" Riku asked.
Sora smiled. "If it's a boy, Tidus..."
"And a girl?"
"I don't know what to name her if she's a girl," Sora admitted.
"How opposed would you be to the name Tifa, considering you're already going to name the baby after part of my past?" Riku suggested.
"Tidus is a name you know?" Naminé asked.
"Tidus was the name of a dear friend, though Sora never knew him." Riku explained.
"Well, I like the name 'Tifa'." Naminé agreed. "Sora?"
He smiled. "I love it."
Though Riku wanted to stay at his old room at the Destiny Inn, he had to return to the temporary campwhere manyBritish soldiers were staying.
Before he bid Sora goodnight, he gave him one lasting kiss.
"Riku...I still love you very much, but I'm afraid I cannot be disloyal to Naminé." Sora said.
"I understand, and I admire your loyalty. But think of this as our true goodbye as lovers." Riku suggested.
Sora nodded. "But this doesn't mean the end of our friendship, does it?"
"Of course not." Riku said. "Goodnight, Sora."
"Goodnight, Riku."
As often as he could for the next several days, Riku dropped by the inn to see Sora. Axel and Reno were happy to see him, although they grew bitter when they remembered what Riku had been part of at the massacre.
One night after Riku left, they pulled Sora aside.
"Are you going to tell him the other thing you need to tell him?" Axel asked.
"What other thing?" Sora wondered.
"You know, about being part of the guys that soldiers like he shot?" Reno finished.
"Oh..." Sora faltered, "I didn't think of that...but I wasn't at the massacre."
"Whether you were there or not,wewere, and we saw what happened. They shot at us, Sora! They fired first without any attempt at peace! It doesn't matter that you yourself weren't standing among the fallen, you must stand alongside them now!" Axel's voice rose, and Sora flinched.
"We know Riku was your lover, but someday you'll have to be honest with him; Naminé, too. We know you didn't tell her the whole truth." Reno added.
Sora narrowed his eyes. "How...?"
"Intuition," the brothers said. "Now, next time you see Riku, we expect you to tell him the truth."
Sora closed his eyes, nodding.
The day Sora and Riku saw each other again, Sora deeply feared telling him.
When they had spoke of the massacre weeks ago, Sora knew Riku felt as if he'd done nothing wrong, just followed orders.
That unfortunate day, Riku caught glimpse of a newspaper that recounted the event as Reno and Axel recounted it.
"Isn't this such rubbish?" Rikusmacked his hand againstthe paper. "That altercation, they thinkweshot first, when clearly they did."
Sora stopped pouring Riku's cup of tea and set the kettle down. "Well...What if...you're wrong?"
Riku set the paper down and chuckled. "Sora, I wasthere; I know what I saw."
"But maybe you arrived a little late?" Sora suggested meekly.
"Perhaps, but I arrived on time to stop them from injuring more innocent people." Riku agreed.
"The way you talk about them, it's like you think they're monsters." Sora said.
"Well, theydidhurt soldiers who were doing nothing wrong." Riku mentioned.
"But you lived alongside them once, surely you know they would do nothing unless provoked." Sora countered.
"I lived with you, and you're different; your family is loyal to the king, much unlike those rebels..." Riku offered.
"But...what if I'm not any different...?" Sora's voice became quiet.
Riku stared at him. "Sora...?"
"Riku...I am part of the Sons of Liberty now..." Sora finally confessed.
"No, I don't believe you'd get tangled up in a band of heathens like them," Riku dismissed.
"But it's true," Sora protested, "I know how to decode their messages and I've held meetings here in this very inn!"
Riku shook his head. "Sora, don't you understand what they're doing? They're trying to cause uprising in the colonies, and for what purpose?"
"They think the king's rule is unfair," Sora explained.
Riku scoffed. "Unfair? Our king provided you with a place to live, a place for a business like this to thrive, and you thank him by causing an uprising? And to do what, secede? There's no possible way that would happen, not with soldiers like me to keep things in line."
"But Riku, you yourself are not truly free under the king's reign. Imagine aplacewhere - if we had been younger - we could've married, where Axel and Roxas would not have had to be married in secret. It's silly to think that an island across the sea has so much power over thirteen colonies!" Sora objected.
"Do you even hear yourself? And I knew you weren't always terribly bright, but I knew you weren't an idiot!" Riku now stood, towering over Sora.
"I'm the idiot? You're the one who's following the king's orders like a sheep!" Sora shouted.
"Because I'd lose my life if I didn't!Sora, you don't understand; I'd be a traitor to the king. I have to serve our king. Go against it if you so choose, but know that we'll never see each other again if you do." Riku's eyes looked into Sora's, and Sora's heart shattered.
"No...Riku..." He could only whimper.
"Your destiny lies with the rebellion, as you have chosen it to." Riku affirmed. "Mine lies with the king, and it has been since I enlisted in the army."
"No, you're wrong! You can choose your own destiny, and no better place to do so than here in the colonies, in this new nation we'll make!" Sora insisted, tears welling in his eyes.
Riku shouted, "There will never be a new nation! Look at the troops you'd be scraping to build, whereas the king has been fortifying his empire for years! You have no chance, Sora. You might as well turn yourself in, and any others you know..."
"No, never." Sora muttered. He locked eyes with Riku. "You know what? Fine, go! Serve your king - yes, your king! There is no king in this nation. Serve him, die for him for all I care! But stay away from this family!"
Sora's eyes spilled with tears, and he scraped his arm over them to dry.
Riku's lips did not move. His eyes flicked to the space between the two boys.
"Go, and never come back." Sora said. "You're not welcome at this inn anymore."
Riku gave a slight nod. "I see...goodbye, Sora."
He turned on his heel, and the door creaked as it shut.