Hey guys, yeah it's been bloody forever but I'm starting to change this story a little bit. Due to my lack of writing, I'm sure you'll enjoy this chapter!
I do not own any Kingdom Hearts or Disney-affiliated characters. I do own Laura and this story idea though!
Laura slammed the door to her guest room shut behind her as she haplessly made her way to the empty white sheeted guest bed. She slouched into it, slowly pulling the sheets over her shoulders before turning to face away from the door, and towards the window beside the bed. She gazed at the moon that looked so similar to her own she could recall so well. Those many sleepless first nights at Adam's took their toll on her memories, long hours awake and alone forever burned into them.
"Mom..." Her mother was forever gone. Gone into the ground, away from the gift of life that seemed, to Laura, to be filled with the haunting realisation that it is sometimes lived alone... Despite the new-found people around her, the magical animals; they were not familiar to her. Sora, Kairi, Donald, Goofy, Mickey... Riku. The mention of their names did not place a weight in her chest quite like his. Why did his name bring shivers across her scalp and spine? The feeling was soon to be discovered as familiarity. Empathy.
Tears welled up in her eyes. "So what. So what if he sympathizes with me... It... it doesn't mean anything. I'm still on my own."
Riku silently listened to her soft voice, so pained in tone. It took all of his strength to remain in the shadow of the wall untouched by the moon's light and to not approach her. There he remained, tense and quiet. He knew very well that she was speaking of him and his unspoken understanding of her situation.
Laura closed her eyes and took the sheets in her fists, bringing them up to cover the lower half of her face. Her voice began to weaken, tears beginning to flow out and down her cheeks onto the bedsheets.
"This all had to happen one after another. Year after year, something else. So dark..." Her throat closed up as she tried to hold her mad desire to cry out. She remained silent for a few moments before quiet sobs emerged.
Riku flinched at the sight of her saddened, broken state. He watched as her upper body moved so weakly to the sound of her cries, and as she pulled a pillow toward her. He felt her squeeze it in a desperate emulation of safety in such unfamiliar surroundings.
It was all too surreal. His heart cried a tie to a mirror image of what his body had wanted to exert many upon many times, yet never had the power to. She could let it all out, unlike his own decrepit habit of holding all of his anger and frustration inside. It made his mind race to the darkness in his heart that he had given so much effort to quell.
"I have no light. That king was wrong... How could I when all I'm surrounded by is dark-" his involuntary movement toward her snapped his mind back to reality, and his heart lifted to his throat as he placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Laura, I..." She jolted from the hand placed on her arm and the concerned voice, yet did not move to face the person whom the hand and voice belonged to. Riku exhalled, regaining the confidence he had momentarily lost, and moved Laura to face him. His gaze was met momentarily with hers, full of shock, which soon became embarrassment as she cupped her hands over her face with a groan.
"Oh, god, you don't want to see me like this, just forget it, I-"
"Hey." Riku interrupted her rambling, moved her hands from her face, and onto her stomach. Moving her pillow from beside her to support her back, she sat up, still embarrassed. He noticed that once again her gaze had left his, and had moved down to his hand that supported him beside her. Despite this he kept his eyes on hers, intent that eye contact was important in trying to read her.
"Why did you run away from me like that?" Laura could feel his genuine concern for her well-being from his troubled tone. Similar to Adam's, yet different somehow. What was it?
She kept her gaze on his hand beside her. Despite his amusement for her committment to refuse eye contact to have been more than slightly out of context for the moment, he couldn't help but to try and take Sora's advice to brighten a situation.
"You know, if you keep avoiding eye contact with someone, they'll think that there's something wrong with them." He accepted victory when he watched a small smile creep across her lips, yet her gaze remained sound.
"If you could walk a day in my shoes, you'd know how I feel right here, right now..." Her answer that danced around his question caused him to frown slightly. Her eyes travelled from his hand up his arm to his chest, where scars peeked out from his plain white v-necked shirt. They caught her attention, and seemed to speak to her eyes of vigour and sinister events. She could sense the darkness that waited within him.
"Sora, Kairi, Donald, Goofy, King Mickey, you... You're all around me now, making me not necessarily alone, but you would know anyways, wouldn't you? Even then, it's not the same." he gasped at her remark. He knew what she was going to say next.
"You know what it's like to lose everything you love." Riku clenched the sheets in his fist at her added reply. With his other hand he then took hers and placed it over his heart. Laura felt an overwhelming wave of pressure against her heart. It was as if the darkness within his was pushing against her in an attempt to repel her hand from his chest.
"Doesn't it scare you? My darkness?" His sudden direct question caught her off guard, as did his sudden urge to show her his heart. He expected her to retract her hand from his chest in repulsion and disgust, yet it still remained. She closed her eyes and gave him a slow shake of her head. "I know what it's like."
Her answer made his lungs feel heavy and unable to retain air, causing him to be hard of breath. His sudden urge to throw his darkness out into exposure to such a stranger became overwhelming... and that this stranger seemed to peer inside of him fearlessly to the darkness kept locked within made it all the more unbearable. Yet there he stayed. The instinct to run away and hide was not present this time around.
He found himself bringing his own gaze to hers this time. He placed his hand over hers over his chest, and wrapped his fingers around it firmly. She watched it happen, unsure of the gesture. She had always hindered that variety of human contact, yet she knew he wasn't going to let go.
"Funny how it feels, when you find someone that's felt just like you." her breath became a small bit heavier for a moment as he finally replied to her. His gaze moved from their hands, to her eyes, and over to the hand that supported him moving to her other side that faced the window. Laura watched as he stayed suspended over her, hardly noticing his body slowly lowering to hers.
"Riku..." His breath danced around her lips and the tip of her nose, his silvery hair beginning to mesh with her blonde waves unravelling from their formerly straight disposition on the bed. His mind began to become consumed with the feeling of familiarity, his body becoming intoxicated by her small breath against his slightly parted lips.
This was something he lacked, something he never knew. Something he was curious of, something he craved... yet within the darkness he knew no comfort or safety to allow such an opportunity. Her chest rose and fell with nervous air and he could sense the tension in the short and warm air between them. The short distance was as close as he's ever been in a long time...
Which he quickly closed.
Laura exhaled in surprise as his lips tenderly met hers, her hand dropping to her chest and his to her other side. He held himself above her still, shifting his legs to be on either side of hers over top of the blankets that confined her. He began another kiss after inhaling for air.
Riku felt through their second kiss two strong feelings within her heart: comforting warmth and intensity. Both welcomed his call, yet stood so differently and separately from each other. Ending the kiss, he stared into her eyes, once again allowing each other to feel their breaths. Her eyes finally met his.
Her lips were parted, and were attempting to find words to communicate to him. She was calm compared to before, he could sense it - he'd led her away from the darkness attempting to seize her emotional weakness. Biting her lip and closing her eyes for a moment, she opened them again and placed her hands on his forearms.
"I feel slightly... relieved, Riku..." He exhaled through a smile at her remark, his gaze toward his chest.
"You're not the only one. Laura, I... I hope-"
His mumbling was halted by her movement toward him. Laura wanted to erase any doubt within him of whether or not he was needed by her. She moved a hand to his cheek and moved in for another kiss, much deeper than the first or second. This act having provoked him, he pressed his body against hers, moving more and more into the kiss. The feelings he felt of safety and belonging exerted by his being so close to Laura at that moment were taking him over, rendering his body unable to respond to his nervous wreck of a mind... safe for the slight shaking of his body.
Laura felt as if his heart was becoming connected to hers, all of their emotions, hopes and fears conjoining together. She felt his constant need to detach himself from all others in fear of the worst of his darkness causing harm to those closest to him. She felt the fear of the darkness approaching as a threat and the fear of becoming succumbed to it, and kissed him deeply once again to quell them, for now.
She attempted to temporarily wash away his worry by pouring in her warmth and comfort into his heart, which in turn caused him to exhale deeply as they kissed again and again. It was working, and in turn caused her to feel safer and wanted in a world full of strange.
For once, she'd felt accomplished and sure of herself. She was also sure that he wasn't leaving her room any time soon.
Once again sorry for the hiatus... Crazy life stuff. So, what are your thoughts? Things obviously escalate in real life all the time, so why not incorporate some maturity into my series... Yay or nay?
Remember to give me feedback!